IVPN

IVPN is a straightforward yet effective VPN that prioritizes transparency, privacy, and accessibility. With billing cycles ranging from one week to three years, IVPN offers one of the most flexible subscription models we have seen. The app is simple yet packs a versatile multi-hop connection feature, allowing both servers to be manually configured. Most impressive is IVPN's commitment to transparency and privacy, which more than outweighs the drawback of its small server network and below-average speeds. These features, along with its affordable and flexible pricing, make IVPN a clear Editors' Choice winner.

How Much Does IVPN Cost?

IVPN has one of the most flexible subscription systems we’ve seen: You can pay for a week, a month, two years, or three years. We always recommend starting with the shortest subscription period, as annual plans can lock you into a service that may no longer work for your particular use case. It's nice to see that IVPN gives users so much flexibility.

There are two premium tiers: standard and pro. A standard plan is IVPN’s budget tier and only supports two simultaneous device connections. It also lacks multi-hop server access. Both plans provide users with access to the complete protocol list, as well as IVPN’s AntiTracker. The price breakdown for the standard plan is:

• 1 Week: $2

• 1 Month: $6

• 1 Year: $60

• 2 Years: $100

• 3 Years: $140

The Pro version increases the simultaneous device limit to seven and enables the use of multi-hop connections. The cost of a pro plan is:

• 1 Week: $4

• 1 Month: $10

• 1 Year: $100

• 2 Years: $160

• 3 Years: $220

While IVPN doesn’t offer a free trial, the one-week plan is an affordable way to try the service without committing to a lengthy plan. If you don’t need to secure multiple devices, then the standard plan is one of the most affordable options on the market from a trusted, privacy-focused VPN. IVPN doesn’t tend to do deep discounts beyond its already affordable prices, so you don’t need to worry about waiting for a special holiday flash sale.

IVPN offers a separate, instant-access service called IVPN Light. You can pay for three hours, a day, a week, or a month of access to as many as five single-hop servers or a single multi-hop server. IVPN accepts payments for Light using Lightning, which is a bitcoin transaction network.

We assessed the pro version of IVPN in our testing. While it's the company's priciest tier, it still compares favorably with the competition. The average monthly price of a VPN we've reviewed is $10.30, and the average annual cost is $58.30. IVPN is just under average for monthly costs, but it comes in slightly higher on the annual side, as it doesn’t offer a significant discount on its standard rate. You can see how it stacks up to the competition in the chart below:

If you’re looking for an even more affordable option, we recommend Mullvad . Its monthly plan is just €5 per month ($5.79 at the time of writing) with no annual discount.

Some free VPNs are also worth your consideration. TunnelBear limits the bandwidth of its free subscriptions to 2GB per month. Proton is the only VPN we've reviewed that places no restrictions on data at the free level.

You can purchase an IVPN subscription with most major credit cards, PayPal, bitcoin, Monero, and cash. You don’t even need an email to sign up for IVPN. Each account is linked to a long identifier that you save when you pay for your subscription.

Simply use that identifier to access your account without needing to enter your name, password, or email. You can request a refund within 30 days of any purchase. Just note that you can only get one refund per customer.

What Do You Get for Your Money With IVPN?

IVPN covers the basics with seven simultaneous device connections on its Pro plan and two on its Standard plan. It’s not the most impressive number we’ve seen from a VPN, but it does beat the industry average of five. However, that trend has been increasing lately, with competitors like TunnelBear eliminating connection limits.

You also get access to the service’s ad and tracker blocker called AntiTracker. It has preset options, or you can customize it to your exact preferences if you only want to block specific types of sites, ads, or trackers. We found that it worked pretty well at blocking ads on text-based sites, and we were impressed with the level of customization that it offered.

IVPN offers split tunneling and inverse split tunneling (currently in beta), which enable you to exclude specific apps from your VPN connection. A Wi-Fi control section allows you to decide how IVPN behaves when connecting to unknown networks. There is also a configurable firewall that behaves similarly to a kill switch, which will prevent data from going in or out if you lose connection to the VPN.

IVPN includes a multi-hop connection feature. This routes your web traffic through two VPN servers instead of just one. That way, your traffic remains secure even if one of the VPN servers has been compromised. This is a rare feature, and IVPN's implementation is unique among VPN services. With IVPN, you can select any two servers for your multi-hop path. Most other services we've tested require you to follow the company's pre-made paths.

As the VPN space has become increasingly crowded, some VPNs have opted to diversify with other privacy and security apps. NordVPN, for example, offers a password manager and secure online storage for additional fees. Proton VPN is bundled with the privacy-focused email service ProtonMail , as well as secure online file storage. IVPN does not offer any other services beyond VPN protection.

Keep in mind that VPNs cannot protect against every threat. We recommend installing antivirus software , using a password manager, and enabling two-factor authentication wherever it's supported. VPNs cannot stop every method of tracking you online, so we recommend installing a tracker blocker and enabling browser features that protect your privacy.

VPN Protocols

All of IVPN’s apps support WireGuard and OpenVPN protocols. IVPN offers a helpful guide that covers protocols, encryption, and more, providing insight into how each connection option works.

iOS alone supports IPSec as an additional protocol. You can also configure IKEv2, but you’ll have to do so manually by following one of IVPN’s guides for your platform. Each protocol offers advanced options for fine-tuning your connection. You can change your preferred port, key rotation frequency, and level of obfuscation.

IVPN explains what the different obfuscation levels are when you click the question mark icon next to the selection box. We appreciate the level of care IVPN takes in ensuring new users are informed while providing experienced users with a high level of control. However, we’d like to see similar help icons added to the other selectors for key rotation and port preference.

In short, rotating your key helps prevent unauthorized access, as a compromised key can only be used until it is rotated to a new one. As for your preferred port, you can usually leave this alone unless you’re trying to bypass a specific firewall. Some countries employ detection algorithms that block the standard entry point used by protocols like WireGuard. IVPN lets you change that port to bypass such firewalls and algorithms.

Servers and Server Locations

IVPN has a modest network with 77 total servers in 44 countries and 31 countries. There’s no getting around the fact that it's a small network compared with big-name VPNs like Surfshark or ExpressVPN . However, IVPN operates on a much smaller scale. It’s more in line with the likes of Windscribe and Mullvad in terms of scope and privacy standards (more on that in the next section).

You can check IVPN’s server status page to get a complete list of locations, server load, available protocols, and see who the data provider is for each city-level location. Each server can be expanded to display more technical details, such as the single- or multi-hop port numbers and the public WireGuard key. While IVPN has coverage in many countries, we recommend checking to ensure the network supports your required regions before purchasing a subscription.

This smaller operation gives IVPN more direct control over the servers it uses. According to IVPN, it self-hosts and manages all of its servers. No middlemen or cloud storage companies are working as intermediaries, which lessens the risk of your data being mishandled . Despite there being no third-party manager, the servers are leased from various data centers. This is standard practice, especially for a VPN of this scale. IVPN assured us that all servers are rebuilt from scratch on installation, and access requires hardware token authentication.

IVPN does not use virtual servers. Virtual servers are software-defined servers hosted on a physical server that can be configured to appear as if they are located in another country. For instance, many of HMA's servers are physically located in a different location than where they're labeled. Neither virtual servers nor locations are inherently problematic, but we prefer VPNs that clearly indicate where your information is being directed. This is not an issue with IVPN. A company representative tells us that IVPN only uses "bare metal" servers, and all of them are located where they claim to be.

All servers use standard hard disc drives (HDDs), unlike random access memory (RAM) servers that other companies, such as NordVPN and ExpressVPN, have employed. While RAM servers do offer some slight privacy benefits due to their lack of long-term data storage, HDD servers are adequate as long as the service is backed by robust privacy standards and maintains safe data handling practices.

Your Privacy With IVPN

Because it carries all your web traffic, a VPN could spy on your connection . That's why it's essential to understand the measures the company takes to secure your information. To its credit, IVPN's privacy policy is carefully written and readable. Beyond a standard privacy policy, IVPN has a trust section that goes over what the company does to ensure a transparent and trustworthy service. Additionally, you can review the company’s code of ethics to understand what drives its decision-making process.

The privacy policy is comprehensive. It defines every technical term used and covers every instance of how the company handles data. Despite its length, the privacy policy is easy to read and approachable even if you don’t know much about VPNs.

The company says it does not log the content of your traffic, connection timestamps, DNS requests, user bandwidth, or IP addresses. Thanks to its unique account ID system, IVPN does not even need contact information—though providing it allows you to receive customer support. Anonymized crash logs are sent with user approval on both desktop and mobile devices. In addition to confirming all this information, an IVPN representative stated further that the company does not sell any customer data.

As outlined in the ethics and trust pages, IVPN strives for a zero-knowledge environment. It doesn’t use third-party analytics. It doesn’t trackers to glean user information. IVPN also values transparency. Its entire team structure is public . The VPN is open source . The company is currently undergoing its seventh audit by Cure53 to independently verify its claims.

IVPN is owned by Privatus Ltd and operates under the legal jurisdiction of Gibraltar. The company makes clear it only responds to legal requests for information from Gibraltar authorities. The company notes it has little information to share, even for valid requests. IVPN reports its interactions with law enforcement in its transparency report . Over the 10 years covered in the report, IVPN has not provided user information to law enforcement. IVPN also publishes a cryptographically signed warrant canary every month stating if a valid warrant has been issued by law enforcement.

IVPN’s documentation is in-depth and covers details that many other privacy policies overlook, such as browser interactions between the IVPN site while a user is connected. The level of transparency is commendable, and we appreciate the steadfast stance that IVPN takes regarding ethics, privacy, and security.

Does IVPN Work with Netflix?

We test every VPN we review to see if it can access five regional Netflix catalogs: the US, UK, Australia, Japan, and Canada. A VPN that gives unrestricted access is considered Open. If we can only access Netflix originals, then we qualify that as Limited. Lastly, a Blocked service can’t access Netflix at all. You can see our full results in the chart below:

IVPN successfully accessed every catalog that we tested. While we didn’t experience any blocks, streaming was slow with shows taking a few minutes to load before they would play without buffering. This may be due to the speed degradation we faced (more on that in the following section), so your experience may vary.

Speed and Performance

Using a VPN typically means that your upload and download speeds will decrease, and your latency will increase. To gauge the impact, we conduct a series of Ookla speed tests with the VPN both on and off. We then find the percent change between those two sets. Every speed test is conducted from our testing location in Portland, Oregon. (Note: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag.com's parent company. For more, see the ethics policy in our Editorial Mission Statement .)

IVPN performed poorly in our latest round of speed tests. We found that IVPN slowed our download and upload speeds by 80.24% and 85.01%, respectively. Latency saw a significant increase of 155.81%. These scores are among the most impressive we’ve seen from a VPN, particularly in terms of upload and download speeds. You can see how it stacks up against the competition in the chart below:

Remember that these numbers are just a snapshot for comparison and not a total evaluation of any VPN's performance. In other words, your results will likely differ from ours and vary depending on your base connection speeds, as well as your proximity to the nearest VPN server. We also don't believe speed should be your primary concern when purchasing a VPN. You can read further about how we qualify results in our rundown of the fastest VPNs .

Hands On With IVPN for Windows

I tested the Windows client on an Intel NUC 12 "Serpent Canyon" desktop running the latest version of Windows 11. IVPN does not ask users to create a username or password. Instead, it issues you an account ID number, which activates your apps and replaces traditional login credentials. This is beneficial for privacy and makes logging in a breeze, but be sure to keep your access key safe, as it's your only means of accessing your account.

The new interface has a simple gray theme with a map as the dashboard. The map shows a blue dot when you’re connected and a red one when you’re not.

Simple toggles control the main dashboard. These are red when toggled off and blue when toggled on. Connecting is simple: just toggle the topmost switch. You can disconnect from the VPN completely with the same toggle or press the pause button to disconnect and automatically reconnect after a set time.

The IVPN Windows app puts toggles for key features within easy reach. The firewall and AntiTracker buttons are on the left-hand side. You also have quick access to the whole server list below those options. At the bottom, you can select the desired port and protocol.

Three buttons—to summon the VPN controls, account page, and settings—are placed at the top of the map. We do like that the app includes a map. From the settings, you can control the split-tunneling feature and access deep WireGuard configuration controls.

By default, the app connects to the server it believes is the fastest. Alternatively, you can click on the listed server to get a complete list of available options. We like that IVPN uses color-coded dots to show the load on a particular server and the estimated latency. The app defaults to single-hop connections, but clicking the Multi-hop tab reveals a world of new options. From here, you can select any two VPN servers through which your web traffic will travel.

A VPN should not leak your IP address or DNS information, which is why we test each service using the DNS Leak Test tool . This confirmed that our IP address was hidden and that our DNS information was secure. We tested only one server—other servers may not be configured correctly. Note that IVPN sponsors the DNS Leak Test tool we use for testing all VPNs.

Hands On With IVPN for macOS

We tested Proton VPN using a 2024 M4 Mac Mini running Sequoia 15.7.2. The application isn’t available on the App Store, so you’ll need to grab it directly from IVPN’s site . The application’s interface is largely the same as on Windows.

Settings, servers, and toggles are all in familiar locations. The primary difference lies in the absence of split tunneling on macOS. All other significant features are available, including the firewall. All protocols are also available on macOS, with the additional option to manually configure IKEv2.

Hands On With IVPN for iOS and Android

We tested IVPN on an iPhone 14 running iOS 16.3. It’s available directly from the App Store on iOS. The visual style is the same as on other platforms.

Toggles have been moved to the bottom of the screen for easy scrolling. The map is front and center so that you always know when you’re connected. Feature-wise, iOS lacks split tunneling. IVPN recently removed the firewall option from iOS due to an IP leak issue on Apple’s end, which you can read more about in its blog post . Similar to macOS, you can manually configure IKEv2 in addition to WireGuard and OpenVPN.

We tested IVPN’s Android app using a Google Pixel 9 Pro running Android 16. It is visually identical to the iOS app, featuring a large map and toggles at the bottom of the home screen. Split tunneling and the firewall make a return on Android. Otherwise, the feature set is the same as on the Windows version of the app.

Customer Support Options

IVPN’s help center is neatly organized by broad topics and has answers to hundreds of frequently asked questions. Each topic section (such as General) has lists of common queries that you can click on for a detailed explanation. Helpful explainers cover how key features such as split tunneling and multi-hop work, or you can get more general descriptions on topics like how IVPN handles port forwarding and why certain servers are best suited for P2P traffic.

More complex topics are accompanied by images, links, and console commands where applicable. We found IPVN’s help center to be one of the most useful among the VPNs we reviewed. It has a similar structure to most of its competitors, but what sets IVPN apart is its attention to detail. The guides are both informative and approachable. Rarely have we seen a help center with this level of care taken for platform-specific and niche issues. Rather than immediately funneling users to a customer support agent, IVPN provides users with an excellent toolset to troubleshoot first, which isn’t frustrating to use.

However, support is there if you do need it. Simply scroll to the bottom of any help center page to find the contact button. All support tickets go to support@ivpn.net . We experienced an issue with paying for our subscription and reached out to IVPN support for clarification. A response came through in just under 24 hours with a resolution. Notably, that answer was that IVPN does not accept American Express cards. That detail is present in this help center article , but we’d appreciate that information on the payment portal page as well.