IPVanish is a U.S.

-based VPN provider offering over 40,000 IPs on 1,300 servers

across more than 75 locations. What sets IPVanish apart is its fast speeds and
performance throughout its in-house global server network. We evaluated IPVanish to
determine how easy it was to set up, the usability of the interface, performance,
cost, and how well it stacks up to the competition.

Design: On the Busy Side

IPVanish's interface is busy. For starters, you have the Quick Connect and Server
List options on the left. Quick Connect allows you to choose a country, while
IPVanish selects the best city and server for you. Alternatively, the Server List
displays a list of servers from which you choose manually. The top of the screen
provides your outward facing VPN IP address (Visible Location) and the IP address
of your VPN server. Meanwhile, the bottom right shows your connection information
in a different format.

Overall, the interface feels cluttered, with too many different ways to connect
(i.e. server connection lists, connection buttons, drop downs, etc). Meanwhile, to
change the IPVanish preferences, you need to do it from the application icon � you
can't do it from the main interface. And, while the graph looks pretty, it doesn't
add any value to the browsing experience. On the plus side, the icon features a
timer.

Setup Process: Generally Simple

The setup process IPVanish was generally straightforward and simple. Simply go to
the IPVanish website and select the appropriate application to begin the
installation. Once launched, the installation screens follow in order and are self-
explanatory. Unlike other VPNs however, we had to grant IPVanish permission to
install something called the IPVanish Helper Tool, which involved providing the
administrator password. The installer also came with a simple tutorial to help you
get started, but it was basic and didn't cover any advanced settings.

IPVanish
IPVanish
Performance: Excellent
IPVanish manages its entire network infrastructure in-house, offering unlimited
bandwidth and excellent surfing speeds throughout its global network. To get the
best speed and performance, use the Quick Connect feature with Best Server
Available selected. When this is selected, Quick Connect will choose the best
server for your location. With IPVanish, we found that webpages loaded quickly and
we could watch movies on Netflix with zero latency and buffering. The VPN
connection and disconnection times can be a bit sluggish, but it's not that big of
a deal.

Privacy Policy: Strict, With a Drawback

The IPVanish service is based in the United States. This means it falls under the
jurisdiction of the United States and the Five Eyes Alliance. The Five Eyes
Alliance is an international surveillance group (composed of Australia, Canada, New
Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S.) providing for the collection and sharing of
surveillance data. However, IPVanish states they are a no-logs provider.
Theoretically, that means if a government were to request logs from IPVanish, there
would be no data to provide. However, that claim has fallen under dispute in the
past.

From the IPVanish website: We care deeply about your privacy rights, and we will
never log any traffic or usage of our VPN. IPVanish does not collect, monitor, or
log any traffic or use of its Virtual Private Network service, under any
circumstances, on any platform.
IPVanish
IPVanish
Security Features: Standard
When it comes to security, IPVanish offers the highly secure OpenVPN protocol,
Domain Name System (DNS) leak protection, and a kill switch to keep your
connections private. However, the service is a little lacking in extra value-added
security features. For instance, you won't find things like NordVPN's Double VPN,
or ExpressVPN's TrustedServer technology.

IPVanish�s list of security features include:

OpenVPN protocol with 256-bit AES encryption: This is a military-grade encryption

used to protect highly sensitive data. It's virtually impossible to crack.
Scramble: This feature helps disguise connections in countries that employ deep
packet inspection to identify OpenVPN connections. It's helpful in bypassing
firewalls, and it's offered on Windows, Mac OS, Android, and Fire Stick/TV.
DNS leak protection: This prevents requests to convert a URL to an IP address from
going through the wrong domain name server (DNS), which could compromise privacy.
Kill switch: This feature automatically shuts down all internet traffic if IPVanish
stops working for any reason. This keeps your internet traffic safe from prying
eyes.
TOR compatibility: IPVanish will work with TOR (The Onion Router), but due to
performance issues, it's best for web browsing only.
IPVanish
IPVanish
Protocols: On Par With the Top VPNs
IPVanish offers a variety of VPN security protocols to choose from, including
OpenVPN over UDP/TCP or L2TP/IPSec, and IKEv2. OpenVPN is considered to be the gold
standard in VPN security protocols today. It relies on SSL/TLS for key exchange,
features up to 256-bit encryption via OpenSSL, and can run over both TCP and UDP.
In other words, it's highly secure.

Connections: Up to 10 at a Time
This is an area where IPVanish shines. Unlike many providers (which may provide
five or six simultaneous connections at best), IPVanish allows up to 10
simultaneous connections across multiple devices under one service plan. By
contrast, if you wanted 10 connections with ExpressVPN, you'd need to buy two
service plans. This can make IPVanish a good value if you have a lot of users
and/or devices to protect.

Split-Tunneling: On Android Only

IPVanish offers a split-tunneling feature for Android users. The feature allows you
to select which apps use the VPN and stay encrypted, and which apps are routed
through your local ISP (no encryption). This feature can be handy when you want to
protect some connections with the VPN, but leave other connections local, such as
for food delivery services.

IPVanish manages its entire network infrastructure in-house, offering unlimited

bandwidth and excellent surfing speeds throughout its global network.

Works with Kodi: Yes

IPVanish offers support for Kodi (previously known as the Xbox Media Player). Due
to geographical restrictions, Kodi users may not have access to certain add-ons. To
get around this, you can run the IPVanish app with your Kodi service. Doing so
provides unrestricted access to any Kodi add-ons that you wish to install. You can
also use Kodi with IPVanish for Fire Stick or Fire TV.

Torrenting: Yes, But With a Drawback

While IPVanish suggests their service is great for torrenting, remember that
IPVanish is based in the U.S. This means it's subject to Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA) copyright violation laws, which are designed to protect music,
movies, games, and more. Even with their no-logs policy, you might have greater
peace of mind torrenting with a VPN service that doesn't operate on American soil.
However, if you don't torrent, you don't need to worry about this.

While IPVanish has a no-logs policy, the service's U.S. jurisdiction comes with
some drawbacks.

Price: Affordable, But Not Cheap

In terms of pricing, IPVanish is on par with other VPN providers, but it's
definitely not the cheapest option out there. Currently, IPVanish offers three
payment plans: $10/month for one month, $8.99/month for three months, and
$5.19/month for 15 months. The 15-month plan works out to 17 cents per day, but you
must pay for it upfront.

Competition: IPVanish vs ExpressVPN

How does IPVanish compare to the popular ExpressVPN service? In terms of speed and
performance, the two services are very similar � that is, fast. IPVanish is the
slightly cheaper option, at $5.19/month versus ExpressVPN at $6.67/month. They both
offer OpenVPN, the best security protocol available today. But if you're after
proven privacy, the BVI-based ExpressVPN is the superior choice. Case in point:
when the Turkish government demanded data from ExpressVPN in 2017, they simply had
no logs to give them. On the other hand, there is evidence that "no-logs" IPVanish
handed over customer logging data to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for a
criminal case in 2016. While IPVanish is now under new management with StackPath,
the incident, if true, contradicts their stated no-logs policy.

Final Verdict
Our final verdict is that IPVanish may work fine for you if you're after fast
speeds, unlimited bandwidth, and multiple device connections. But given IPVanish�s
standard feature list, U.S.-based jurisdiction, history of logging (although
IPVanish states they don't currently log), it may be worthwhile to check out other
services first.