IPVanish Review 2024: Fast and great for beginners

IPVanish is a US-based provider launched in 2012. It is known for its reliable apps, expansive server network, and ability to connect an unlimited number of devices simultaneously.

---

Bleeping Computer Rating: 8.7

---

What impressed us:

• Apps for all platforms. IPVanish has reliable apps that are easy to use
• Strong security features. It can protect your privacy and data security anywhere thanks to its reliable VPN protocols, strong encryption, kill switch, and obfuscation
• Lightning-fast server network. IPVanish packs a punch when it comes to speeds, making it great for gaming, torrenting, and streaming
• No logging policy. This VPN does not track what you do while connected to the VPN and keeps no record of your source IP
• Works with Netflix US and other US streaming platforms such as Hulu and HBO Max
• Unlimited connections. You can share your IPVanish account with your entire household, friends, and family because it lets you connect an unlimited number of devices

What it could improve:

• It is based in the USA. This is a FIVE EYES country that lacks Federal privacy protections and implements warrants and gag orders
• Not great for accessing international streaming services. Although it works to access plenty of US services, including Netflix USA, it may struggle with international options
• Lacks advanced features. You do not get ad blocking, tracker blocking, malware blocking, Smart DNS, Tor over VPN, or MultiHop
• Split tunneling is available on Android and FireOS only
• No port forwarding. IPVanish has a NAT firewall that does not permit port forwarding. This may rule out IPVanish for seeding torrents with your client
• Does not accept cryptocurrency payments such as Bitcoin or Ethereum

---

Editor’s opinion

IPVanish is a VPN that has been around for over a decade. Unfortunately, during that time, it has fallen behind many of its competitors and is now struggling to stay relevant in the face of growing competition. 

Being based in the US is problematic due to the presence of the NSA, warrants, gag orders, and the FIVE EYES surveillance agreement. This makes it hard to recommend for users with an elevated threat model.

Although it is fast, I found it unable to access some international and domestic US streaming services. So, unless you want to watch US Netflix specifically, it is worth testing it yourself to be sure. We also found IPVanish to be slightly overpriced, considering its lack of features.

---

IPVanish overview

Highwinds Network Group initially launched IPVanish in 2012 as a VPN for Windows. In 2017, the VPN was purchased by the networking company StackPath, and the service was made available on all platforms. In 2019, the VPN was acquired again, this time by the Digital Media company J2 Global.

The VPN runs on a proprietary network of servers owned by its parent company, J2 Global. This allows it to provide fast speeds for torrenting, gaming, streaming, and video conferencing. However, it cannot unblock international streaming services, making it a better VPN for the US.

In keeping with its US-centric streaming capabilities, the VPN has servers in 17+ US cities. This makes it one of the most comprehensive US-based VPNs available. Apps are available for all popular platforms, which makes it suitable for most households. However, those apps lack features compared to many of its competitors. 

Being based in the US raises concerns because of the potential for warrants and gag orders. Privacy advocates often cite this as a reason to avoid IPVanish. In 2018, evidence emerged that IPVanish helped US authorities with a child abuse investigation. This called into question its strict no-logging policy. Since then, a third-party audit has verified its no-logging claims.

---

IPVanish – Highlights

• Apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and FireTV
• Works with Netflix US and HBO Max 
• OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols provide lightning-fast speeds
• Split tunneling available on Android and FireOS
• 30-day money-back guarantee

---

IPVanish Review

During our time reviewing IPVanish, we rigorously tested its apps and server network to evaluate whether it competes with other popular services. We tested the VPN across seven important categories: Features, Subscriptions & Pricing, Speeds, Streaming, Privacy, Security, and Customer Support. 

We conducted our tests for two weeks using a variety of devices and operating systems. Below, you can see how IPVanish performed in each category.

Features

The single most disappointing aspect of IPVanish is its lack of features. This questions the cost of the VPN and makes it hard to recommend the provider over competing services that provide additional features at a lower price point.

That said, IPVanish has everything the average VPN user needs to gain online privacy. So, unless you need a specific feature or want to access particular services, IPVanish may be suitable for your personal needs. 

To help you decide, we have listed all of its features below.

Apps 

No matter which devices you own, IPVanish has you covered. It has custom apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Amazon Firestick/FireTV, and Chrome OS. Bear in mind that the Chrome OS app is for Chromebooks and is not a browser extension. 

IPVanish does not have any browser extensions, so if you specifically need a Chrome, Firefox, or Edge extension (to bypass restrictions on a work computer that won’t let you install standalone applications), you will need to look elsewhere.

No custom GUI IPVanish app is available for Linux. However, it has guides for setting it up manually on various distros via the command-line interface.

The VPN is also compatible with various VPN-compatible routers. For example, it has guides to install the VPN on DD-WRT, ASUS-WRT, ASUSWRT-Merlin, and Tomato routers. 

You can also share an IPVanish connection from a Windows or Mac computer to any device in your home by setting up a VPN-protected WiFi hotspot. That means that you can use the VPN with consoles, VR headsets, smart TVs, set-top boxes, and any other device that won't let you install the VPN directly.

Kill switch

A kill switch is a vital feature for any reliable VPN. It prevents you from leaking data outside of the VPN tunnel if the connection drops out. This ensures that you never leak your browsing habits to local networks, ISPs, eavesdroppers, and government snoops.

The good news is that IPVanish has a kill switch on Windows, macOS, and Android. This means that it will safely cut off your internet if the VPN connection drops out.

Unfortunately, no kill switch is available on IPVanish for iOS. If you're an iPad or iPhone user who wants watertight privacy, you may want to shop elsewhere. Surfshark and NordVPN, for example, both have a kill switch on iOS.

To help you regain a protected internet connection, the Windows app has an auto-connect feature that works in combination with the kill switch. It attempts to re-establish your connection to the last VPN server used and then disables the kill switch. 

This is perfect if you leave your PC torrenting, for example, and want your downloads to continue even if the kill switch becomes engaged. Note that this auto-connect feature is not available on macOS, Android, or iOS. 

On Windows, Android, and macOS, you can also set up the VPN to auto-connect on launch. This ensures that the VPN will connect when you start your device, which is helpful if you want watertight privacy at all times – but often forget to connect manually.

Split tunneling

A split tunneling feature allows you to route some traffic through the VPN while allowing other apps or websites to connect using your regular home internet. This is useful if you are multitasking or if you don’t want a VPN connection to slow down specific apps unnecessarily.

Unfortunately, the IPVanish split tunneling feature is available exclusively in its Android and FireOS apps. This means that you will not be able to use split tunneling while torrenting on a Windows or Mac desktop (which is a common use case for many people).

The advantage of having split tunneling on Android or Firestick is that you can route some of your apps through the VPN (via the private network) to access region-locked streams and services while other apps use your home internet. 

This lets you get the best possible speeds for apps that don’t require privacy or region spoofing while simultaneously making use of the VPN for regional accessibility or bypassing blocks.

SOCKS5 proxy

IPVanish provides a SOCKS5 proxy for all subscribers at no extra cost. People who use BitTorrent often use this type of proxy to conceal their IP address from the swarm, while still getting the best speeds for downloading.

The benefit of using a SOCKS5 proxy is that it will stop you from exposing your home IP address to other peers. This prevents hackers from being able to scan your network for open ports and other vulnerabilities.

One important thing to remember, however, is that a SOCKS5 proxy will not provide any additional encryption. This means it is not as secure as using the full VPN tunnel, which will prevent your ISP from monitoring what you do online.

IPVanish provides guides for setting up popular torrent clients such as uTorrent, Vuze, and Deluge with its SOCKS5 proxy. 

To do this, you must first generate your IPVanish proxy server credentials in the members’ area of the website. Overall, we found this extra to be useful and easy to use.

Obfuscation

IPVanish offers an obfuscation setting for OpenVPN, known as Scramble. It is available in the IPVanish apps for Windows, macOS, Android, and FireTV devices. 

IPVanish scramble uses the XOR patch over port 443. It works by rearranging OpenVPN packets to bypass VPN blocks in countries that enforce them. This stops firewalls from blocking the VPN by making your OpenVPN traffic seem like regular HTTPS traffic.

When you use a VPN, it is impossible for local network administrators or ISPs to monitor your browsing habits. However, they may still detect that a VPN is being used to gain online privacy. The benefit of using obfuscation is that it prevents ISPs (and, therefore, government agencies) from being able to detect VPN use. 

In some countries, VPN use alone may be enough to raise suspicion of wrongdoing. This is why people prefer to protect themselves using obfuscation (no matter whether they are watching Netflix – or bypassing strict censorship rules).

Note that the following countries have blocked IPVanish’s domain:

• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• UAE
• Egypt
• China
• Kazakhstan
• Burma/Myanmar
• Cameroon

This makes it hard for users in those countries to take out a subscription. One option is to use a free VPN such as Hotspot Shield or ProtonVPN to access the IPVanish website and take out a subscription. Alternatively, if you are traveling to one of those countries, we recommend subscribing before you arrive. 

If you are visiting any of the locations listed above, you may prefer an alternative VPN to avoid complications should IPVanish’s VPN servers also be blocked (which is possible).

Automatic WiFi protection

IPVanish can be set up to connect automatically on any untrusted network. To use this feature, you must decide which WiFi networks are trusted within the app. Following that, the VPN will connect automatically any time you connect to an unknown network. 

This is perfect if you often connect to public WiFi hotspots and want to ensure that you never expose your data or browsing habits to WiFi providers. It also protects you against the danger of evil twins, which are fake WiFi hotspots set up by hackers. 

This is an excellent security feature that worked perfectly to connect us to the VPN anytime we joined an unknown network.

Other features

IPVanish does not have any other features to mention. Below, we have included a list of common extras you get with many of its competitors. If you want any of these features, you will need to shop elsewhere.

• Port forwarding
• Smart DNS
• MultiHop
• Ad and tracker blocking
• Malware filtering
• Tor over VPN

Subscriptions & Pricing 

IPVanish offers three different subscription tiers. Those plans do not differ other than to provide a larger discount to customers willing to commit for a longer period of time. 

A single-month subscription is available for $11.99. This is about average for one month when compared to most of its competitors. In fact, it is a touch cheaper than NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark, which all come in just shy of $13. This makes IPVanish a reasonable option if you only need a VPN for a short period – to go on vacation, for example.

A yearly subscription costs $47.89, which reduces the single-month subscription. This also compares favorably against services like NordVPN (which costs $4.99 per month for a year), and ExpressVPN (which costs a whopping $8.32 per month for a year). 

Finally, IPVanish has a two-year subscription plan. This plan reduces the cost to $79.99, which is the equivalent of $3.33 per month. This is a pretty large discount. However, it is still a touch too expensive when compared to competitors like Surfshark and CyberGhost. Especially when you consider that both those services have more features for around a dollar less.

It is also important to remember that each subscription period will self-renew. This means that you must cancel your account when the subscription period ends. Otherwise, you will end up paying the undiscounted price of $179.99 for two years and $89.99 for a year. 

This is too much to pay for IPVanish. So it is better to cancel your account and shop around for another discount.

Payment options

You can pay for an IPVanish account using credit cards or debit cards (Mastercard, VISA, AMEX, Discovery, and Union Pay), PayPal, Google Pay, or Amazon Pay.

The VPN does not accept cash through the post or bank transfers. It also does not accept cryptocurrency payments. So, unfortunately, you won't be able to set up an IPVanish account anonymously using a burner email. 

Money-back guarantee

A few years ago IPVanish had a seven-day money-back guarantee. It has now matched its competitors by increasing the length of its refund guarantee to 30 days. That means you can try IPVanish to see how it performs when accessing the websites and streaming platforms you are interested in. 

Just remember the refund guarantee does not apply to the monthly plan. So, if you pay for a single month, you cannot ask for your money back. This is stingy when compared to most of its competitors, which usually offer a no-quibbles guarantee with every plan.

Free trial

Besides its money-back guarantee, IPVanish has a seven-day free trial. If you want to avail of this trial period, you must sign up via either the iOS App store or Google Play. Following that, you can log in and use your free trial on any device. 

Note that you have to provide a valid payment method to get the seven-day trial. This means that it will automatically bill you for the agreed subscription period if you don’t remember to cancel. 

The good news is that if you forget to cancel during the trial, you are still protected by the 30-day money-back guarantee. Thus, as long as you ask for your refund within the first 30 days, you should be able to get your money back. 

Just remember that the money-back guarantee is only available with the yearly and two-year plans. If you opt for a one-month subscription, you must cancel the free trial within a week to avoid being charged.

---

Speeds

To evaluate IPVanish's performance compared to its competitors, we carried out rigorous speed tests using a dedicated 5 Gigabit test server based in Ohio. 

We conducted tests using the WireGuard protocol and the desktop version of Ookla Speed Test. From our experience, this gives more accurate results than browser-based speed test applications.

We examined servers in London, New York, and Hong Kong at three-hour intervals. Our results are listed below and have been used to generate averages for each location, as well as a global average. 

The advantage of testing with a dedicated speed test server is that it allows us to detect the VPN's top speeds. However, we recognize that our test server is faster than the typical home broadband connection. 

For this reason, we also tested using a standard Virgin Media broadband connection in the UK. This gives you a more accurate understanding of how the VPN will perform under regular home conditions. 

As you can see in the table above, IPVanish has extremely impressive top speeds. The VPN’s servers in Hong Kong, which were approximately 8,000 miles away from our test server, resulted in the biggest drop in speed. However, they were still impressively fast. 

Home broadband tests

Next, we tested the VPN again using an Asus Zenbook 14 laptop connected to Virgin Media home broadband in the UK. Again, we used the desktop version of Ookla Speedtest. On the day of testing, our base internet speeds (without the VPN) were 27 Mbps. We list the results of our tests below:

• UK London server. Download speed of 25.42 Mbps. This is a 6% drop.
• US New York server. Download speed of 22.24 Mbps. This is an 18% drop.
• Hong Kong server. Download speed of 23.8 Mbps. This is a 12% drop.

As you can see, the real-world results were excellent. The VPN only caused a 6% drop in speeds when connected to a server in the same country, and only reduced our internet by around 15% when connected to servers further afield.

This means that most people will find IPVanish suitable for streaming, playing games, torrenting, and video conferencing. We tried streaming Netflix, YouTube, and ITV X while connected to the VPN and found that we could continue streaming with no buffering issues. Thumbs up.

Streaming

Nowadays, most internet users have heard of the benefits of using a VPN for streaming. A VPN provides the easiest way to get a valid IP address abroad if you would like to access streaming services not available in your country or if you want to watch TV platforms from back home while on vacation. 

A VPN is also beneficial for people connected to restrictive WiFi networks, such as at work, in school, or on public WiFi. It allows you to regain access to services like YouTube and Netflix privately, even if they are restricted.

Unfortunately, leading streaming platforms have blocked the vast majority of VPNs. This means that you must pick a provider carefully. To help you out, we tested IPVanish with an assortment of the world’s most popular streaming services.

First, we tested it with Netflix USA. It worked without problems while connected to the Dallas and Chicago server. 

We also tested it to access Netflix UK, but the VPN didn't work. We checked with the VPN’s live chat support, and they confirmed that IPVanish only works to access Netflix USA. This is quite restrictive because competing services like NordVPN and Surfshark work with around a dozen Netflix regions each.

Finally, we connected to UK servers to test the VPN with British TV platforms. We were able to watch BBC iPlayer while connected to the London and Manchester servers. We also had no problems watching ITV X or Channel 4. However, it does not work with Sky Go at the time of writing. 

Its ability to access British TV platforms came as a surprise because IPVanish told us it does not work with any UK streaming services. 

We checked back in with live chat support to understand why. The VPN told us it tells customers it doesn't work with any specific streaming services as a standard response. This leaves it blame-free should it lose access to any platform in the future. In our experience, however, the VPN worked fine with UK TV platforms.

IPVanish told us it is constantly striving to maintain access to US streaming services and is always adding new IPs to avoid VPN blocks. This means that the VPN should be dependable for accessing US streams.

Ultimately, IPVanish’s ability to access streaming platforms impressed us. However, you will need to either test it yourself or go with an alternative VPN, if international streaming services are a must.

Security

IPVanish provides various security features to protect your data inside its VPN tunnel. These features are the most important because they affect how safe the VPN is to use for online privacy and to protect your personal information against hackers or other eavesdroppers.

First, IPVanish gives you the option to connect using the OpenVPN protocol (UDP or TCP). You can choose to connect with OpenVPN using ports 443, 8443, or 1194. The OpenVPN protocol also gives the option to obfuscate (Stealth VPN) for added privacy.

Below, we have included the encryption details for IPVanish’s implementation of the OpenVPN protocol:

• AES-256-CBC cipher
• SHA-256 for authentication
• RSA 2048 for handshake
• Perfect Forward Secrecy is implemented using a DHE key exchange

These are secure encryption standards that mean your data is always safe against hackers, eavesdroppers, and government snoops when you connect using the well-known OpenVPN protocol.

IPVanish now also provides the option to connect using the WireGuard protocol. This is a stealthy protocol that uses modern cryptographic primitives to provide fast speeds and high levels of online privacy. 

It implements WireGuard using ChaCha20 encryption, which is secure and futureproof. The benefit of the WireGuard protocol is that it is super fast and secure. This makes it a fantastic option any time you are playing games, streaming, or torrenting.

Finally, IPVanish also gives you the option to connect using IKEv2. This protocol implements robust AES-256 encryption, which makes it a reliable choice for online security and privacy purposes. 

Leak tests

Next, we tested the VPN connection for leaks to figure out whether the tunnel provided to IPVanish’s servers was working as advertised.

We did this by testing for IP, DNS, and WebRTC leaks using the website browserleaks.com. These kinds of leaks are dangerous because they allow your ISPs to track the websites you are requesting to visit. 

These leaks can also allow websites (and the peers you connect to while torrenting) to detect your actual IP address. This creates enormous risks because it means the VPN is giving you a false sense of security each time you connect.

We conducted our tests using an incognito window to ensure that cookies or cache previously left in our browser couldn’t compromise the test results. Below are the results from these tests:

As you can see in the results above, our source IP address did not show up in any of the tests. We were also happy to see that IPVanish proxies DNS requests to its own servers. This is the most secure way for the VPN to handle your DNS requests.

The lack of any IP, DNS, or WebRTC leaks means that IPVanish is providing a completely watertight tunnel to its servers that successfully protects your data against hackers, eavesdroppers, and government snoops.

Privacy

Jurisdiction

IPVanish is owned by J2 Global, a US-incorporated company. Unfortunately, this is not a great place for a VPN to be based, due to the presence of the NSA, warrants, and gag orders. 

The US legal system allows the government to demand any company to hand over information about their customers. It is also possible for a VPN to be compelled to log data without informing its users.

IPVanish should only ever be asked to log a single user’s data as part of an ongoing investigation. This would be a highly targeted attack leveled at the suspect in a serious criminal case and not regular VPN users.

The important thing to remember is that gag orders are legally binding. For this reason, users would not know whether IPVanish has been forced to log data until the gag order is lifted. 

So is there any evidence that this has happened in the past? In 2018, evidence emerged that the FBI asked IPVanish to provide data about one of its customers as part of a child abuse case investigation. As far as we know, this is the only time that IPVanish received a warrant that caused it to start providing logs about a user to the police.

Privacy policy

The Cloud Services and Digital Media company, J2 Global, acquired IPVanish in 2018. Since then, the US company has evolved into ZiffDavis Inc. It remains in control of IPVanish, which is independently run in Los Angeles.

Following the acquisition, J2 Global commissioned Leviathan Security Group to conduct a full third-party audit of the VPN’s infrastructure, apps, and policies. The audit examined IPVanish's system configuration, technical documentation, and server deployment procedures. It confirmed that IPVanish adheres to its no-logging policy.

We examined the privacy policy and found it to be a strong no-logs policy. The policy clearly states that the VPN never tracks your source IP address or the IP address of the servers you connect to. Moreover, the VPN does not monitor or store any records of your browsing activities.

From the policy:

The last bullet point reveals that the policy is also GDPR compliant. Overall, we found the policy to be well-written and privacy-friendly. This means that the VPN has no long-term records of your VPN use. 

However, the VPN admits to using aggregated connection statistics to keep its service running smoothly. This aggregated data includes the “user’s language preference, device brand, device model, OS version, country, crash reports, session lengths, server usage, protocol, build version, UI interactions, API requests and response codes, and app build version.”

Mention of the VPN collecting ‘server usage’ statistics may be enough to put some people off. However, in reality, aggregated data sets do not directly affect your privacy, and there should be no risk of a targeted correlation attack because it cannot link VPN use back to individual account holders.

Despite having a no-logging policy, the VPN’s base in the US may still rule it out for users with an elevated threat model. So, if you are a journalist, politician, lawyer, human rights activist, or somebody who has a strong desire for watertight online privacy, you may decide to opt for a VPN based elsewhere.

Customer support

During our time testing the service, we found the IPVanish live chat agents to be a bit lacking. They often couldn’t provide all the information we needed, answered questions briefly, and even provided incorrect information at times.

This makes the live chat support somewhat disappointing. On the whole, it feels like agents are there to promote sales rather than to help with providing information. This makes its customer service a little lackluster when compared to many of its competitors.

To make things even worse, the live chat agents end the chat as soon as possible. When they do, you must click reconnect, causing the previous conversation to disappear. This means that if you step away from the computer for a minute, the conversation (along with any useful information provided by the live chat agent) is gone.

Complaints aside, it is worth mentioning that some agents are better than others. Also, agents can pass questions higher up the chain (if you ask them to), which can sometimes help to get the information you need (following a brief wait).

On a brighter note, the website and its resources are excellent. The VPN has detailed explainers for each of its features, and setup guides for using the VPN on many platforms, and with different applications, such as Kodi, routers, torrent clients, smart TVs, and more. 

It also has a blog that is separated into various sections. This includes How to guides, News articles, and In-depth articles that cover cybersecurity information. We found these resources to be excellent, though, admittedly; it does not update its news that regularly. 

Is IPVanish easy to use?

One benefit of IPVanish having fewer advanced features is that it is easy to use. We also found the apps to look and behave the same across all platforms. As a result, users shouldn’t experience much of a learning curve when moving from one device to another. 

We found it easy to navigate through the IPVanish settings menu, and could always understand and identify each of the features quickly. This makes the VPN suitable for beginners, in our opinion.

The fastest server button makes it easy to connect to the VPN while getting the best speeds available, which is great for those times when you need privacy but don’t specifically care about where your data is routed.

One slight drawback is that you won’t find any streaming servers in the app, so if you would like to be able to identify servers that work with specific streaming services, we would recommend opting for a competitor like CyberGhost.

Our verdict

IPVanish is a reliable VPN that is easy for beginners to use. The apps look great, are well-designed, and have more than enough features for the average user. This makes IPVanish a service that we can recommend to most people, albeit with a few caveats.

The VPN’s ability to access popular streaming services was good when we tested it. However, people often complain of an inability to access British TV platforms, so it is important to test it yourself.

We found the VPN to be extremely fast, which makes it suitable for streaming, gaming, torrenting, and making private VoIP calls. Just remember, while it allows torrenting throughout its network, it does not have port forwarding to allow for seeding.

Perhaps the biggest drawback is the cost of the VPN, which is a touch more expensive when compared to its competitors. Services like Surfshark, CyberGhost, and PrivateVPN offer a better service at a lower price point. Ultimately, that makes those alternatives preferable.

Finally, it is important to remember that this VPN is based in the US, which is not the best place for a privacy service to be located.