IPVanish Review – How Good is this VPN?

IPVanish is one of the most familiar VPN names on the market today. But just how good is it?

In this IPVanish review, I’ll look at the most pressing questions related to this provider. Is IPVanish safe to use? Does it have a no-logs policy? How fast is it? Is IPVanish good for torrenting? And, most importantly, is IPVanish worth your money?

I’ll try to answer these questions to help you decide if IPVanish is the right choice for your VPN needs.

IPVanish overview

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Is IPVanish safe?

IPVanish offers high online security and privacy. Its features can provide you with a safe online experience for your general VPN needs (streaming videos, torrenting, gaming, file sharing, unblocking geo-blocked content, and so on). Let’s see how IPVanish does in different categories related to security and privacy.

Encryption and tunneling protocols of IPVanish

IPVanish features military-grade encryption, which is one of the safest encryption types used by both financial and military institutions worldwide.

IPVanish offers the following VPN protocols at the moment:

• WireGuard
• OpenVPN TCP
• OpenVPN UDP
• IKEv2/IPSec
• L2TP/IPSec

IPVanish has recently updated its repertoire of supported VPN tunneling protocols with WireGuard. This marks a significant milestone for the VPN provider and tremendous performance improvement for users.

Other protocol options are solid as well. Just make sure to avoid L2TP/IPSec unless you know what you’re doing. This is an outdated protocol with security vulnerabilities and should only be used as a last resort option.

IPVanish Kill switch

IPVanish has a kill switch that will shut down your entire internet traffic in case of any unexpected VPN connection drop. This is an essential feature for every VPN. With a kill switch enabled, your connection will remain encrypted and your identity secret at all times.

The IPVanish kill switch is a mix of both system-level kill switch (which takes over the admin rights to your internet connection and disconnects as soon as there’s a problem to prevent your personal data from leaking) and an application-level kill switch (which gives the user more control – he can choose which programs will shut down and which ones will continue working in case of a VPN failure).

Currently, IPVanish only offers the kill switch feature on its Windows, macOS, and Android apps, which can leave your connection insufficiently protected on Linux and iOS devices. This means that you should take additional precautions with IPVanish on Linux or iPhone.

I’ve tested the IPVanish kill switch on my Windows desktop and found it to work consistently whenever I got disconnected from the VPN.

To see if your IPVanish kill switch is on, just follow these simple steps. The instructions are for Windows and Mac OS X versions that currently support this feature.

Turning on IPVanish kill switch on Windows

1. Launch the program and enter your account credentials
2. Click the Settings option on the left side
3. Select the Connection tab
4. Click the Kill Switch checkbox
5. Choose whether you want to block LAN traffic in case of VPN failure

Turning on the IPVanish kill switch on macOS

1. Click IPVanish at the top of the menu bar
2. Choose Preferences
3. Select the Connection tab
4. Click the Kill switch checkbox

Split Tunneling for Android

IPVanish provides its Android users with a handy split tunneling feature.

By using it, you can select which apps and websites to protect with your virtual private network, and which ones you’re OK with being routed through your ISP. This way you get more control in terms of your online activities management.

You can enable Split Tunneling on your Android by simply going to the Settings on your mobile app. There you’ll be able to compile a list of the apps you want to be protected with a VPN.

As this feature is extremely useful, I hope that IPVanish would introduce it to its other apps shortly.

Free SOCKS5 Proxy service

IPVanish also offers its users a free SOCKS5 proxy feature – something that only advanced virtual private network services (like NordVPN or Private Internet Access (PIA)) typically have.

With this feature, you can change your location and hide your IP without downloading additional software. You can set the SOCKS5 proxy up directly on the app you want to protect, such as your browser or torrent client.

What’s great is that the SOCKS5 Proxy is included in all three pricing plans that IPVanish has, and it works with nearly any program you configure it with. Use it to access censored websites and services, with less of an impact on speed than when using the VPN.

The best part of it all is that this additional protection doesn’t mean sacrificing your speeds.

Antivirus

If you choose the cheapest yearly plan of IPVanish, you will also get the award-winning VIPRE Antivirus. This tool has active protection that detects latest threats and neutralizes them with ease. At the same time, VIPRE Antivirus is easy to use, with clean interface that lets you quickly schedule scans and customize settings.

All best antiviruses are constantly rated by independent authorities, and VIPRE is among those that get the highest scores. However, the customer support is based in the US, so trying to reach them from a different timezone might be an issue.

IP and DNS leak protection

A VPN might have the best features, but if it leaks your IP address, then it’s no good. To see how IPVanish does in IP and DNS leaks protection, I ran a test and found no DNS, WebRTC, or IPv6 leak issues.

Above you can see the IP address that I was assigned by IPVanish, and not my true IP address – in other words, no leaks.

As this provider has reliable DNS, WebRTC, and IPv6 leak protection, you can be sure that IPVanish is safe to use for masking your IP address.

IPVanish location – USA

Owned by the US-based VPN company Stackpath, IPVanish is not operating in a privacy-friendly climate. The United States is one of the founders of the Five Eyes alliance and has a data-hungry network of intelligence agencies, corporate surveillance, and other concerns. This is especially the case after the Patriot Act was rebooted in May 2020.

Therefore, I’m always skeptical of “maximum security” VPN providers that are based in surveillance-friendly countries like the US. With that said, if you’re not a political activist, journalist, or anyone else of interest to the government, IPVanish should suit you just fine.

IPVanish logging policy: no-logs

While being based in the US is not the best-case scenario when it comes to keeping user data private, a transparent logging policy can improve the provider’s reputation.

Although IPVanish was embroiled in a privacy scandal a long time ago, the VPN is under different ownership now.

The company that currently owns IPVanish is StackPath (part of J2 Global), and they seem to be interested in improving their product’s reputation, starting with an independent third-party audit.

In any case, unless you plan on doing something particularly sensitive, you shouldn’t be worried.

IPVanish servers

When it comes to the server count, more usually means better. At the moment, IPVanish has 2000+ servers in 50+ countries. While the numbers may not look as impressive as those of some competitors, the overall performance is great.

What is more, IPVanish owns and manages all of its servers, instead of renting them as most providers do. Doing so ensures that IPVanish has more control over quality and security, which many users would consider an advantage.

I’ll discuss torrenting with IPVanish separately, but just so you know – all IPVanish servers support P2P. Hence, if you connect to a server that is close to your physical location, you’re also likely to experience the best speeds possible.

Given all of that, I don’t mind that IPVanish has fewer servers compared to other providers – even with a smaller count, the product delivers what I expect from an excellent virtual private network.

Speed: is IPVanish fast?

IPVanish claims to offer some of the best speeds on the market today. To see if these claims match with reality, we started regular test drives using our proprietary speed test tool. It measures the speeds in Germany, the UK, and the US while connected to the VPN servers in the same country. For now, the tests are conducted with the OpenVPN tunneling protocol.

Turns out, you can expect IPVanish to offer darn good performance, especially in nearby locations. The most significant download speed dropoff is in the US, but IPVanish still manages to stay among the top. When it comes to the upload, this provider is not among the fastest ones but should be sufficient to win your local Seeder of the Year trophy.

The situation with ping is as expected – good nearby, and worsening with distance. As a result, while the change is noticeable in Europe or the US, it is particularly striking in Australia. This is something you will notice with any VPN service.

Does IPVanish support my device?

Yes, it most likely does. As far as its multiplatform support goes, IPVanish is available on all of the most popular desktop and mobile platforms (including, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux) as well as Chromebook OS, Amazon Fire TV & Fire Stick, Windows Phone, and routers.

You can use as many devices as you want with one subscription – probably more than enough for the whole family. The best part is that the installation is a piece of cake for any app you’d choose.

To download and install the IPVanish client, visit the ipvanish.com website, go to the Apps tab, and click the Download Now button.

IPVanish desktop apps: Windows, macOS

Once you download your IPVanish app and log in to it, you’ll land on the QuickConnect screen with drop-down server options and a Connect button.

Press the Connect button to automatically connect to the nearest server or select a server manually from the three lists of available locations and IP addresses. You can cancel your connection to the server by clicking the Disconnect button.

The current IPVanish interface on both Windows and macOS looks quite clear and informative and has a simple but nice design.

IPVanish also comes with a handy Settings menu. Here you can tweak your startup and connection preferences, ranging from simple startup behavior options to toggling the kill switch and leak protection features or enabling server obfuscation. This is especially important to those living in countries that restrict internet usage.

Strangely enough, the option to contact the IPVanish support team is now hidden away at the bottom of the Settings menu:

All in all, I’ve found the IPVanish to have a clear-cut, informative, and easy-to-use interface even for less tech-savvy users. Barring the weird relocation of the support menu, the IPVanish application is undoubtedly a strong point of this VPN service provider.

Another positive is that although most providers tend to produce Mac apps that are almost unrecognizably different compared to their Windows versions, IPVanish offers Mac owners a very similar user experience to their Windows app.

The IPVanish Mac app is just as secure as their Windows client, which is not that common in the VPN industry. Many VPN providers offer macOS apps that have fewer security features and tunneling protocol options. Thankfully, that’s not the case with IPVanish.

Linux

If I can compare Windows and Mac apps quite easily, the situation is quite different with the Linux app. The Linux version has no graphical user interface to speak of.

That’s not surprising, considering that the vast majority of VPNs release their Linux versions as configuration instructions for the OpenVPN app. Other than the lack of a user-friendly interface, the IPVanish Linux app doesn’t support static IP, which might be somewhat of a disappointment.

IPVanish mobile apps: Windows Phone, Android, and iOS (iPhone/iPad)

IPVanish Android and iOS apps are just streamlined versions of their desktop counterparts, adapted for mobile use. Well-designed and user-friendly, both of these apps will have your back whenever you need online protection for your mobile device.

The Android version of IPVanish doesn’t have a native kill switch. This means you’ll have to use a third-party kill switch app or the default Android OS one, which is perfectly fine.

You can get the IPVanish Android app on Google Play or just download it directly as an APK package file from the official website. The former method is what we prefer because it’s more anonymous. The IPVanish iOS app is available from the App Store.

Account creation requires an email address only, but if you choose a credit card over PayPal, you will naturally need to provide more personal information.

IPVanish apps for streaming devices

IPVanish offers apps for  Amazon Fire TV & Fire Stick. This means you can also set them up on these other devices to access content that’s been geo-blocked in your region.

This provider will also work with Kodi. If you want to access unofficial Kodi add-ons while staying private and not sacrificing speeds, IPVanish is good.

As for Apple TV – yes, you can use it with IPVanish, although you’ll need a DD-WRT or Tomato router to make it work.

Streaming with IPVanish

Bypassing geo-blocking is a popular reason for users to choose a particular VPN. While IPVanish is a decent option when it comes to streaming, there’re a couple of things you should consider before committing to this service.

Does IPVanish work with Netflix?

IPVanish unblocks Netflix US, but not other libraries. What is more, it does so only when you switch from IKEv2 to OpenVPN with traffic scrambling turned on.

It’s also hard to say anything about the speeds (other than the quality seemed completely fine) because I couldn’t access Netflix’s Fast.com test, and sometimes I couldn’t even load Netflix’s website.

It’s clear from these test results that IPVanish may have trouble unblocking Netflix. However, I can’t say that you won’t be able to use it for streaming.

Does IPVanish work with Hulu?

Sadly, IPVanish won’t be able to bypass the geo-blocking of Hulu. Check our article for the best VPNs that unblock Hulu.

When it comes to other streaming platforms, the situation is quite similar. IPVanish won’t be able to unblock Amazon Prime Video or BBC iPlayer.

All in all, IPVanish is simply not that good for streaming. There are plenty of premium VPNs you’ll have more luck with if accessing geo-restricted content is what you’re after.

Does IPVanish support torrenting?

Yes, IPVanish supports torrenting on all servers. As a matter of fact, the service is great for torrenters and gamers.

My tests have shown IPVanish as one of the better VPN services for torrenting.

IPVanish has servers in lots of strategic locations, resulting in good speeds. It supports WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2 tunneling protocols with AES-256 encryption, and it has a kill switch, DNS leak protection, and IP leak protection as well. This means that no one can decode your traffic.

Furthermore, the free SOCKS5 proxy is great for torrenters who want to limit their VPN use to their torrent client.

IPVanish live chat, email support, and knowledge base

There are more than a few ways to get help from the IPVanish support team:

• 24/7 live chat support
• FAQ
• Knowledgebase
• Email support

My experiences with their live chat were only positive. Customer support agents were well-spoken and helpful. It’s nice to see that IPVanish stepped up their game when it comes to troubleshooting.

How much does IPVanish cost?

For many, pricing is the most crucial factor, while others may prioritize security or speed as their determining criteria when choosing a VPN.

IPVanish offers three pricing plans. The yearly option also adds VIPRE Antivirus for extra protection against malware.

• 1-month plan: $10.99
• 3-months plan: $14.99 or $5.32/month for the first three months, then $29.99 or $9.99/month.
• 1-year plan: $44.99 or $3.99/month for the first year, then $89.99 or $7.49/month.

VPN providers like to change their prices often. Secure the best IPVanish deal in 2023.

There’s also the option to utilize the IPVanish coupon codes which bestow discounts up to 66%.

All annual plans have a 30-day money-back guarantee, which can be considered the industry’s standard. These prices are quite fair compared to what pricier VPN providers have to offer.

Since you can have unlimited connections with a single license, IPVanish is an excellent choice for users with multiple devices. It’s a great choice for torrenting, online gaming, and can even be used for streaming on select platforms (particularly Netflix US).

If you are an iOS user, you can go for the free trial option before investing your money.

As I’ve already mentioned, IPVanish has stopped supporting anonymous payment methods like cryptocurrencies. Now you can pay with either a credit card or PayPal.

This could put off the types of customers (investigative journalists, hackers, activists, and, let’s face it, various criminals) who need the highest possible level of online privacy. On the other hand, IPVanish was never targeting this particular segment, to begin with.

Should you get IPVanish?

As you can see from my review, IPVanish has plenty of pros. As a matter of fact, I can say that it’s among the best ones I’ve seen, tested, and reviewed.

Overall, there are a few superior VPNs out there. Depending on your needs, however, you may still find IPVanish to be your favorite.

If you’re still in search of the best VPN service, be sure to check out our other reviews and comparisons.

IPVanish FAQ

Does IPVanish have Chrome browser extension?

Unfortunately, as of now, IPVanish still doesn’t have any browser extensions. Hopefully, introducing Chrome or Firefox add-ons is an update IPVanish is working on.

Is IPVanish VPN free?

No, IPVanish only offers paid plans. You can subscribe to this virtual private network for a month, three months, or one year.

Not being free makes IPVanish a more reliable provider. The vast majority of free services not only fail to meet their users’ expectations but also violate their privacy.

What are the best IPVanish alternatives?

IPVanish is an excellent provider for many. However, if you’re eager to explore alternatives, the best way to do that is to see how other providers do when we put them side by side with IPVanish.

To see how other virtual private networks do, check the IPVanish comparisons with NordVPN or PureVPN.