IPVanish Review

IPVanish does not log any connection or usage data. It does collect your email address and payment method, but this is standard practice for most VPN services.

Its privacy policy states that the VPN also collects “aggregated and anonymous performance data” to improve its overall functionality. This data is completely anonymous and not linked to individual users.

Unlike many VPNs, IPVanish doesn’t enforce any simultaneous connections limit. Therefore, it doesn’t need to log device connections to its network.

IPVanish’s no-logs policy has been verified by an independent audit carried out by Leviathan Security Group in April 2022. The audit confirmed that IPVanish does not log your IP address, browsing activity, or downloads.

For greater transparency, we’d like to see IPVanish include a warrant canary on its website to highlight any DMCA requests it receives.

Similarly, we’d encourage IPVanish to follow Windscribe’s approach of publishing regular transparency reports of its law enforcement requests. This would serve as real life proof that IPVanish does not log any user data.

You can see how IPVanish’s logging policy compares to other top-shelf VPNs in the table below:

IPVanish Is Owned by Ziff Davis

IPVanish is currently owned by New York-based company Ziff Davis. It’s part of a family of VPN products including StrongVPN and Encrypt.me.

Normally a US jurisdiction isn’t great for privacy due to the country’s intrusive data laws and its membership of the Five Eyes alliance.

However, this isn’t relevant to IPVanish, as its no-logs policy means that it wouldn’t have anything to hand over to US authorities.

Therefore, as long as it continues to operate the same logging policy, we’re not overly concerned by the company’s US jurisdiction.

Previous Data-Sharing Incident

In 2016, IPVanish handed user logs to the FBI to aid in a criminal investigation. This was only possible as IPVanish was actively logging this data.

In the seven years since this incident, IPVanish has changed ownership multiple times, improved its logging policy, and verified its practices with an independent audit.

We now consider IPVanish to be a reputable and trustworthy service with a verified no-logs policy.

IPVanish Works with US Netflix & Three Other Regions

IPVanish unblocks American Netflix on all of its US servers. It also worked with the India, Canada, and Turkey libraries in our tests.

We were able to unblock US Netflix with IPVanish.

While it’s impressive IPVanish can access US Netflix, it’s poor compared to the highest-performing Netflix VPNs. For example, Windscribe can access 10 times as many Netflix regions than IPVanish.

Additionally, IPVanish can be slow to load the Netflix website and mobile app. We were able to mitigate this by switching to the WireGuard protocol.

Works with All UK Streaming Platforms Except Netflix

Using IPVanish’s UK servers, we were able to access every major British streaming service. We recorded a 100% success rate unblocking geo-restricted content on BBC iPlayer, ITVX, and All 4.

All of IPVanish’s UK servers can access BBC iPlayer.

In each instance, the stream loaded quickly in our browser and we were able to watch without any buffering. This was the case for both on-demand and live content.

IPVanish Consistently Unblocks Hulu

Our recent tests confirm that IPVanish is a great choice for Hulu. Using IPVanish, we were able to stream Hulu from outside the US on all of our devices.

IPVanish lets you watch Hulu exclusives from outside the US.

Out of the 10 US servers we tested, only one IP address was blocked. This is an excellent result and indicates that IPVanish is a reliable choice for unblocking Hulu.

IPVanish Doesn’t Unblock All Streaming Platforms

We also tested IPVanish with Amazon Prime Video and didn’t have any success. The same was true of DAZN, Peacock, and Hotstar India.

Overall, there are far better VPNs available for streaming. Compared to these, IPVanish works less often, streams in lower quality, and is compatible with fewer streaming devices.

To calculate IPVanish’s speed performance, we recorded the speed of the connection between our location and IPVanish VPN servers around the globe.

Below is a table showing IPVanish’s speed test results, in full:

Previously, we recorded average speeds using IPVanish due to its reliance on the slower and older OpenVPN protocol. With the introduction of WireGuard, IPVanish now ranks among the fastest VPNs on the market.

As shown in the table above, IPVanish is consistently fast across all locations with an average international download speed of 88Mbps.

In fact, IPVanish is the only VPN service, other than Hotspot Shield, to record download speeds faster than 80Mbps in every location we test.

You can use the chart below to see how IPVanish’s international speeds compare to other top VPNs:

These results indicate that IPVanish is one of the fastest VPNs available. It’s more than fast enough for HD streaming, web browsing, and torrenting large files.

Low Ping for Online Gaming

While connected to a local IPVanish server, we consistently recorded a ping time of 7ms. This is an excellent result that allows you to play fast-paced online games without any lag.

We didn’t experience any lag while connecting to a nearby US server.

On longer-distance connections, we experienced increased ping times and very occasional periods of lag. However, we were still able to play online with minimal disruption and avoid any sudden disconnections.

IPVanish Is Safe to Use on All Platforms

IPVanish encrypts your traffic using industry-standard encryption methods. You can choose between AES-256 and ChaCha20 encryption ciphers, which are both considered virtually unbreakable.

All of IPVanish’s applications use the WireGuard VPN protocol by default. This is an open-sourced VPN protocol which you can trust to keep your data secure.

To verify this, we inspected our web traffic while connected to an IPVanish VPN server. We carried out this test using Wireshark, a free and open-source packet inspection tool.

IPVanish encrypted the data packets leaving our device.

We found no unencrypted TCP or UDP traffic, and no HTTP or DNS traffic traveling in plain text. Every data packet we inspected displayed an incoherent series of symbols.

In other words, IPVanish works exactly as intended. When it runs, it fully encrypts the traffic leaving the device. We trust the VPN to hide web activity from ISPs or protect data transfers on public WiFi networks.

Minor Kill Switch Fault on macOS

IPVanish’s kill switch prevents any internet traffic from leaving your device when the VPN is not connected.

To verify this, we used our kill switch testing tool. This tool detects any IP address leaks following a drop in internet connection and a change in VPN server location.

We were only able to conduct this test on macOS by switching to the OpenVPN protocol. IPVanish’s kill switch isn’t available on macOS if you connect using the default WireGuard protocol.

We can confirm that IPVanish’s kill switch successfully blocked our network traffic on its Windows app. However, its macOS kill switch failed to prevent our IP address from leaking during a VPN server change.

We only detected a minor issue with IPVanish’s macOS kill switch.

Thankfully, its macOS kill switch did hide our IP address following a sudden VPN disconnection, which is the more important test.

It’s still safe to use IPVanish on macOS, but we recommend you completely shut down your online activity before switching VPN servers as your internet traffic will not be encrypted in the intermediary period.

Sadly, this fault is not unique to IPVanish — ExpressVPN and PrivateVPN experience similar issues with their macOS kill switches.

We hope to see IPVanish address this in a future update.

IPVanish Owns Its Entire Server Network

IPVanish owns and manages its entire server network, including its DNS servers.

Owning your entire server network reduces the risk of server security issues. IPVanish does not lease any of their servers from third-parties, which means it has full control over how your data is handled.

However, unlike ExpressVPN’s servers, IPVanish’s are not diskless, meaning they do store information on physical hard drives.

While RAM-based servers are safer for anonymity, very few VPN services currently offer this solution — take a look at ExpressVPN if it’s a feature you really want.

IPVanish Doesn’t Leak IP or DNS Data

We tested IPVanish’s apps for leaks and can confirm that it does not leak IP or DNS data.

We tested IPVanish with our leak detection tool.

This is due to its in-built DNS and IPv6 leak protection, as well as its first-party ownership of its server network.

IPVanish’s network consists of 2,200 servers in total. This puts it amongst the top half of VPN services we’ve tested, but is eclipsed by PIA’s 18,651 servers and CyberGhost’s 12,000.

Though smaller than some competitors, IPVanish’s server count is more than adequate and we found that server congestion is rare even during peak times.

IPVanish has servers in most European countries and over 1400 servers in North America. The choice is more limited outside these regions, with only one server location in Africa.

In fact, 58% of IPVanish’s server network coverage is concentrated in Europe. We’d like to see IPVanish rectify this by introducing new servers in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa.

The VPN service offers city-level server choice in six countries including the US and the UK. This is useful for accessing geographically restricted content like NBA blackouts, or for connecting to servers close to you for fast speeds.

IPVanish has servers in 14 US states. This is more than Windscribe’s 7 states and ExpressVPN’s 12, but is far behind PIA’s complete coverage of all 50 US states.

IPVanish Doesn’t Use Virtual Servers

All of IPVanish’s servers are physical. Its bare metal servers are physically located in their advertised online location.

This avoids the drawbacks of virtually located servers, which can sometimes assign you the wrong IP address or hinder your internet speeds.

The only exception to IPVanish’s physical server network is its virtual server location in India. This is due to the introduction of intrusive data laws in India in late 2022. As a result, IPVanish removed its servers from within the country, but still offers access to Indian IP addresses via virtual servers that are not subject to those data laws.

To install and start using IPVanish, go to its website and click Get Started. Choose your pricing plan, create your account, and download the app. We found this entire process to be quick and straightforward — it only took around five minutes.

IPVanish has recently redesigned all of its apps for the most popular platforms. The latest being its macOS app, which launched with its new design in June 2023.

This redesign is a massive improvement. Previously, IPVanish’s app design was outdated and overly-technical, resembling a router app interface. We’re pleased to see IPVanish has adopted a more modern user interface for its new VPN apps.

We explain our experience using IPVanish on every operating system in the section below:

Desktop & Laptop (Windows & Mac)

IPVanish’s desktop apps are almost identical in their design and features, but there are some inconsistencies.

You can pick a country, city, or server to connect to from the locations list. Or, just press “connect” to use the best server available.

In the side-menu, you can sort the server list by country, server load, or response time. We found this particularly useful for avoiding server congestion during peak times.

There’s also a helpful search function where you can filter servers by keyword. One click adds a server location to your ‘favorites list,’ for quicker future access.

You also have the option to pick a location from a map. Zooming in will display the full server network for a particular region. Following its recent app redesign, this feature is no longer restricted to just Windows and has been added to the macOS app.

Moreover, the macOS redesign has integrated its VPN settings into the IPVanish app itself. Previously, its settings and customization options were hidden in the Mac’s native menu bar, leading to a frustrating user experience.

Once you’ve connected to a server, a status panel will display the protocol you’re using, time connected, server name, and bandwidth used. This is far more compact and less intrusive than IPVanish’s previous user interface.

Both desktop apps come with a kill switch, IPv6 leak protection, port selection, and the Scramble feature for censorship. On macOS, you’ll need to switch to OpenVPN to access these features, though. On Windows, only port selection and the Scramble feature are limited to OpenVPN.

Mobile (iPhone & Android)

Unlike its desktop counterparts, IPVanish’s mobile apps use a similar interface. Both feature a map on the top half of their homescreens, with the connection status and server location below.

You can access advanced settings, customer support, and the full server list from the tabs at the bottom of both apps.

Live chat is integrated within IPVanish’s mobile apps for quick and accessible customer support.

Similar to the desktop apps, you can select servers by country or city in the locations menu. Filtering by cities allows you to view the ping and server load data of each location.

There’s also the same built-in search function and option to ‘favorite’ locations for quick server access.

We also appreciate how well-integrated IPVanish’s mobile apps are within their respective operating systems.

The Android app has a toggle for connecting on startup, and its kill switch is integrated within the system settings on the mobile. There’s also an option to switch to ‘dark mode’ to improve accessibility.

On the iOS app, IPVanish has implemented several optional Siri shortcuts to simplify the user experience. For example, saying, “secure connection” will connect you to the last server used. There’s also the same option to switch to a darker background on iOS, too.

Unfortunately, the iOS app does lack some features, such as IPv6 leak protection and the Scramble protocol.

Amazon Fire TV

The IPVanish Firestick VPN app is the best we’ve tested. It isn’t quite the best-designed one, but it’s highly secure and easy to use.

The app has many customizable settings, including auto-startup, auto-reconnect, LAN exemption, and even split tunneling.

The real-time upload/download speed graph is prominent, like IPVanish’s other apps, but it doesn’t affect functionality. If anything, it looks better on a TV than on a phone or computer screen.

You can use either OpenVPN (UDP or TCP) or WireGuard connection protocols. You can also use the Scramble feature, which worked to unblock certain apps that were blocking standard VPN traffic.

IPVanish has recently added a kill switch to its Fire TV Stick app, addressing our previous concerns. Although this is an improvement, IPVanish forces you to install a separate Fire TV app to set up its kill switch. This is an unnecessary step which isn’t the case for other VPN services.

Apple TV

Since the launch of tvOS 17, IPVanish is the highest-rated VPN to release an app for Apple TV. Coupled with its excellent streaming performance and download speeds, IPVanish has displaced ExpressVPN as the best VPN for Apple TV.

Although it only took us five minutes to set up IPVanish on our Apple TV, we would’ve appreciated the option to sign-in via web browser. We found using the Apple TV remote to manually enter our login details frustrating and time-consuming.

The app itself is easy to navigate due to its streamlined user interface. You can use its search bar to save scrolling through the server list or, more simply, ask Siri to locate the server for you.

You can also favorite servers for more convenient access in the future.

Despite its user-friendly design, we were disappointed by the lack of features on IPVanish’s Apple TV app. It only supports the outdated IKEv2 protocol, not OpenVPN or WireGuard, and we couldn’t find a kill switch in its settings.

Moving forward, we’d like to see IPVanish address this by adding some of the features from its desktop and mobile apps.

Linux Client

Like many other VPN services, IPVanish hasn’t built a native Linux VPN application.

To use IPVanish on Linux, you’ll have to therefore use standard command lines, in the absence of a graphical user interface.

IPVanish is compatible with Ubuntu, Fedora, Kali, Mint, Lubuntu, and Pop! OS. The CLI (Command Line Interface) supports OpenVPN, L2TP, and IKEv2 connections.

We tested IPVanish by connecting to one of its nearby servers and downloading a torrent test file. In each instance, we were able to open the file in the qBittorent client and complete the download without interruption.

IPVanish kept our real IP address hidden while torrenting.

IPvanish recorded an average bitrate of 9.9MiB/s — an excellent result. In fact, IPVanish is the joint third fastest VPN for torrenting that we’ve tested.

P2P traffic is permitted on all of its servers which is ideal for minimizing congestion and maintaining fast speeds.

Plus, IPVanish owns and manages its entire server network. First-party server ownership is great for user anonymity as it prevents any third-parties from accessing your torrenting activity. Importantly, the VPN doesn’t log usage data, either.

It also has a reliable VPN kill switch to prevent IP leaks following an unexpected VPN disconnection. It’s not enabled by default, though.

We’d like to see IPVanish introduce port forwarding support to further optimize its P2P speeds and close the gap on the top torrenting VPNs.

IPVanish Has a SOCKS5 Proxy

The VPN also offers its own SOCKS5 proxy. This masks your IP address while torrenting by routing your P2P traffic through a remote proxy service.

Although this is generally faster than using a VPN, it won’t encrypt your internet traffic.

You can configure the SOCKS5 proxy directly in your torrent client, without the need of additional software. This process can be overly technical, though.

IPVanish mostly feels the same to use across its various platforms, but not every feature is available on each app. Below is an overview of the key differences between IPVanish applications:

Router installation can be carried out manually or by purchasing a pre-flashed router. Frustratingly, this is the only way to use IPVanish on Smart TV and games consoles as the VPN doesn’t have a Smart DNS tool.

IPVanish is one of the few VPNs to offer a native app for Amazon Fire TV. Its Fire TV app is easy to use, and it’s currently our top-rated VPN for Fire TV Stick.

The IPVanish homescreen on Amazon Fire TV Stick.

The app doesn’t store any internet logs, which is ideal for watching Kodi and IPTV content anonymously with a VPN.

IPVanish can also stream geo-restricted content on official Kodi add-ons like IceFilms and NBC sport.

Unlimited Simultaneous Connections

You can use IPVanish on unlimited devices simultaneously. It’s rare to see a top-shelf VPN offer this. Most services limit concurrent connections to five devices per account.

Browser Extensions

IPVanish doesn’t offer any VPN browser extensions. VPN browser add-ons are increasingly popular, and we expect all major VPN services to have them.

Threat Protection Requires Improvement

Threat Protection is a security feature that blocks ads, trackers, and malicious websites as long as you’re connected to IPVanish. We tested its effectiveness using an objective ad blocker checker:

IPVanish only blocks 35% of ads and trackers compared to PIA MACE’s 95%.

As shown above, Threat Protection only blocks 35% of ads and trackers. This is a poor result especially as IPVanish failed to block the vast majority of social trackers, such as those from TikTok and Facebook.

If you want a VPN that blocks ads, then we recommend PIA or CyberGhost. Both VPNs were able to block over 90% of ads and trackers.

While we were disappointed by Threat Protection’s performance, we appreciate that IPVanish has made the feature available on all of its VPN apps. This is rare from a VPN service and is something we’d like to see adopted across the industry.

Extra Technical Features We’d Like to See

IPVanish includes all the standard features you’d expect from a reputable VPN service, but lacks the additional technical features of the very best VPNs. We’ve listed the most important ones we’d like to see IPVanish implement moving forward:

Most of these features are advanced and not essential for a VPN service to have, however as one of the best VPNs we’ve reviewed, we expect IPVanish to include them.