ibVPN Review

ibVPN – the finest all-round VPN service, offering unlimited entertainment and unassailable online privacy? Close, but not quite.

ibVPN stands for Invisible Browsing VPN, and according to the official website, it’s praised all over the world for its lightning speeds and great customer support. While we’re not completely on board with the speed claim, ibVPN is an excellent product in almost every other aspect.

Still, there are several drawbacks that keep it out of our Top 10 (or Top 20). Most of these flaws are related to ibVPN’s limited server network and its needlessly complicated pricing structure. That said, with more time to improve, ibVPN could certainly make a best-of list or two in the future.

Now, let’s take a closer look at where ibVPN succeeds and, unfortunately, disappoints as a service.

Is ibVPN safe?

In terms of security, ibVPN offers a surprisingly comprehensive feature package:

• Industry-standard 256-AES encryption
• OpenVPN, SSTP, L2TP/IPSec, SoftEther, PPTP protocol options
• Stealth VPN & Shadowsocks
  
• SOCKS5 proxy
• Multi-hop (Double VPN)
• Tor over VPN
• Kill switch
• DNS, IP, and WebRTC leak protection

For all connections, ibVPN’s tunneling default is OpenVPN, which is universally accepted as the best in the current market. If you prefer other protocols, like SSTP, L2TP (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol)/IpSec (Internet Protocol Security), or PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol), those are available as well.

For more experienced users, ibVPN also offers several advanced features, which put this provider above most industry competitors. Some of these include Double VPN, or multi-hop, for an extra layer of security, a kill switch against connection drops, and Shadowsocks plus Stealth VPN for securely bypassing online censorship.

Overall, these security offerings are as good as you can get, making ibVPN truly safe to use.

Does ibVPN log your data?

Short answer: minimal logs.

While ibVPN does have a pretty robust no-logs privacy policy, the service collects and stores your “provided name and email address for identifying user accounts,” as well as injects certain third-party cookies for marketing purposes. Although some online privacy purists might find this objectionable, this amount of logging shouldn’t be a dealbreaker for the average VPN user.

Another plus for ibVPN’s privacy is its jurisdiction. The service is based in Romania – the privacy-friendly country whose Parliament ruled the EU Data Retention Directive to be unconstitutional. This means that ibVPN is under no obligation to provide or share your data with government authorities and you’ll have a little less to worry about in terms of law enforcement getting their hands on your info.

Speed and performance: how fast is ibVPN?

We installed the ibVPN app for our speed tests, and this is where ibVPN faltered. Once the app was installed, connection latency increased ten-fold after we connected to the nearest server. The upload speeds also dropped considerably.

ibVPN speed test results

For reference, these were our baseline speeds before we connected to ibVPN from Europe:

We then connected to several ibVPN servers around the globe. This is what we found.

UK

• Download: 4 Mbps (drop-off: 99%)
• Upload: 10 Mbps (drop-off: 95%)

US

• Download : 42 Mbps (drop-off: 82%)
• Upload: 3 Mbps (drop-off: 99%)

Australia

• Download : 3 Mbps (drop-off: 99%)
• Upload: 3 Mbps (drop-off: 99%)

Needless to say, these results are atrocious. Surprisingly, speeds on US-based servers were considerably higher than those in Europe, from where we connected to perform our tests.

Note that these results aren’t gospel. VPN speed depends upon several factors. The most important factor is your location relative to the server you’re connecting to, followed by server load and possible connection hiccups on both ends. In other words, your mileage may vary.

ibVPN server coverage

ibVPN operates 180+ servers in 40 countries, which is a moderately-sized server network. These numbers might not be in the ballpark of the most popular VPN providers like NordVPN or Surfshark, but they’re not rookie numbers, either. Barring extremely heavy loads, most of these servers should handle internet traffic adequately, at least in theory.

IbVPN servers are spread across every continent, which means you should have no problems finding a server nearby. The notable exception here is Africa, with servers only available in South Africa.

Does ibVPN support my device?

You can install ibVPN on more platforms and devices than you can possibly own:

• Windows
• macOS
• Linux
• iOS
• Android
• ChromeOS
• DD-WRT and Sabai routers
• Raspberry Pi
• NAS Synology
• Boxee Box
• Browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera
  

With the help of SmartDNS, you can also run ibVPN on smart TVs, game consoles, Apple TV, and Chromecast.

Again, this is some extensive multi-platform compatibility. What’s more, ibVPN’s native apps are intuitive and easy to use across every platform.

Not to mention their high customizability and “Connection Wizard” options that automatically tailor optimal security and privacy settings to your needs like streaming, torrenting, or bypassing censorship.

P2P and torrenting: is it allowed with ibVPN?

While ibVPN allows torrenting, you’ll need to subscribe to the Torrent VPN or the Ultimate VPN plan. After you do that, you can download torrents using any server you want.

Unfortunately, ibVPN’s rather mediocre download speeds prevent us from wholeheartedly recommending this service for hardcore torrenters. While it’s good to have the P2P option, you can get better speeds and less restrictive pricing plans elsewhere.

Does ibVPN unblock Netflix and other streaming platforms?

This is where streaming and chill fans should get excited because ibVPN comes with the Smart DNS technology which can reliably bypass most geo-blocks, Netflix included. While it doesn’t change your IP address, Smart DNS can trick streaming platforms into perceiving your location as legitimate and giving you access to any geo-blocked content library.

Using ibVPN’s Smart DNS feature, you can stream Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, among others.

Unfortunately, this is where ibVPN’s confusing pricing plans strike again because the Smart DNS service only comes with the Ultimate VPN and IBDNS pricing plans.

Can you use ibVPN in China?

You should be able to use ibVPN in China and other restrictive countries.

ibVPN offers a comprehensive arsenal for bypassing most online censorship techniques. This includes the Double VPN, TOR over VPN, Stealth VPN, and Shadowsocks features that can easily demolish VPN blocks and give users access to the unadulterated version of the world wide web.

Additionally, ibVPN’s server locations are conveniently dispersed across Asia and the Middle East, ensuring adequate performance in most censored countries.

How good is ibVPN’s customer support?

ibVPN offers the following support options:

• 24/7 live chat
• Help center
• FAQ
• Knowledge base
• Email and ticket support
• Remote assistance

We found that ibVPN has very responsive customer service. We posed several questions to the service representative, and all of those were responded to promptly.

For DIY troubleshooters, the ibVPN website features an informative FAQ section, guides on how to set up a connection, and a plethora of helpful articles about most VPN features. Also, you can interact with this provider on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.

How much does ibVPN cost?

ibVPN has four pricing plans that are paid annually:

• Standard VPN plan for $4.95/month
• Torrent VPN plan (incl. access to P2P servers) for $4.95/month
• IBDNS Smart DNS plan for $4.95/month
• Ultimate VPN plan (incl. Smart DNS, P2P servers, and anti-censorship features) for $10.95/month

If you want to try before you buy, you can use ibVPN’s unlimited 24-hour free trial version or take advantage of the 15-day money-back guarantee.

While these subscription plans are relatively affordable, this is one of the most confusing pricing structures we’ve ever seen. Clearly, picking anything other than the Ultimate VPN plan (5 devices allowed) is tantamount to figuratively shooting yourself in the foot, since every other option limits your connections to 1 device.

Bottom line

ibVPN has a lot going for it: its robust security features, extensive cross-platform compatibility, transparent privacy policy, helpful customer support, and reliable geo-unblocking capabilities left us with a truly positive impression, not to mention the excellent anti-censorship measures.

On the other hand, ibVPN’s mediocre speeds are a disappointment, while its labyrinthine pricing structure is a real headscratcher.

Given more time, ibVPN certainly has the potential to be one of the best VPNs on the market. At the moment, however, the competition at the top is just too strong.