This Ivacy review highlights the VPN provider claiming to be the mastermind behind split tunneling, a feature now adopted by some of the best VPNs today. As winner of the 2019 Fastest VPN Award, Ivacy is surely a household name.
On paper, Ivacy is certainly a powerhouse, but how good is Ivacy really? Find out here if this ambitious VPN deserves more recognition than it’s getting. We’ll unearth everything from its speeds and pricing to safety features. While it may not be the crème de la crème of all VPNs, we can agree that it has interesting things to offer.
Here is a quick rundown of Ivacy’s profile and its most notable features.
The question is not whether Ivacy is good, but rather if it is good enough for your personal user needs. This section covers all you need to know about Ivacy so you can better decide whether or not to sign up.
You simply can’t place Ivacy and mediocrity in the same sentence if its 5,700 servers distributed in over 100 locations are any indication. However, when you count the number of countries on the page, you get 68. Skeptics will probably blacklist Ivacy for this mismatch, but we hope this means certain countries have numerous server locations.
Either way, there's no denying you have more than enough servers to go around, so you should be able to find one nearby quickly. Also, Ivacy owns most of its servers which adds to its security, unlike some VPNs that rent them. Lastly, you can’t fault its strategic server distribution; over 300 servers are in Europe, followed by the Americas, Asia, Oceania, and Africa—in that order. It even covers countries that other VPNs don't bother with, like Kenya.
Ivacy is good at speed, or so they say. As a holder of the Fastest VPN award, we must say Ivacy fell a little short of what we expected. The results from our speed tests were mixed. For example, speeds barely dropped after testing the Netherlands server close to our location. After running an Ivacy test on the UK servers, we had inconsistent results. At the first attempt, speeds barely dipped to 150Mbs but plunged to 20Mbs the second time around.
Besides the inconsistencies, we noticed an average 30% dip in download speeds in general. This shows that it's not the fastest VPN in town, but it's certainly not the slowest we've seen either.
As for pricing, few VPNs can match Ivacy’s unbelievable $1 monthly subscription under the 5-year plan. To sweeten the deal, Ivacy throws in a Premium Password Manager for free to help you manage your credentials effectively.
If you have a long-term commitment phobia, then the one-year plan costing $3.99 per month might be a better fit. Or you could just take it one monthly payment at a time and pay $9.95. Even though Ivacy doesn’t make it easy to retrieve this information, our Ivacy review discovered that you can also register for a 24-hour free trial with unlimited data to test out the VPN. Note that there’s also a 30-day money guarantee, but only if you choose the 5-year plan. The table below summarizes Ivacy VPN’s pricing structure.
| 1 Month Plan | 1 Year Plan | 5 Years Plan |
|---|---|---|
| $9.95/Month | $3.99/Month | $1/Month |
| Billed as $9.95 | Billed as $47.76 | Billed as $60 |
| Save 0% | Save $71.40 | Save $537 |
Investigating the software used by Ivacy proved mostly unfruitful. After hours of research, our Ivacy review discovered that the VPN mostly uses proprietary technology. To stand out from the crowd, Ivacy adds a couple of features, although you need to pay a little more to enjoy them.
Ever get tired of being asked to verify if you’re not a robot by certain websites? An IP address takes care of that. If you're willing to part with an extra $1.99 monthly, you can get a Dedicated IP that conceals your IP address in 7 countries, including the UK and the US. For an additional $1, you can activate the port forwarding feature, which allows you to boost speeds when torrenting and seeding.
Our Ivacy review also found that the VPN comes through with a Secure DNS feature that blocks hackers from replacing legitimate DNS records with false ones.
You may be wondering if Ivacy is safe. It’s not the most feature-dense VPN around, but you can believe that the few options it has do a great job of keeping your identity and activities concealed. Below are a few critical security features picked up by our Ivacy reviews.
For a VPN that spear-headed the whole split tunneling functionality largely embraced by top brands, it’s a pity Ivacy’s version isn't the best. Split tunneling aims to allow you to select which traffic passes through the VPN and which ones shouldn't. Take, for instance, if you want to download torrents while watching the local news. While Ivacy’s Split Tunnelling ensures you can do just that, other VPNs took it a step further to allow you to blacklist certain sites for added convenience.
According to our Ivacy review, you shouldn’t face problems using its kill switch feature. It's a handy tool that kicks in whenever your connection is accidentally lost so that you remain invisible. The catch is that you have to remember to activate it. That's where VPNs like Express outshine Ivacy because the kill switch is enabled automatically, streamlining the entire process.
We were pleased to find that Ivacy offers a wide range of protocols depending on your device. Wireguard is the fastest of the bunch, which makes it the perfect choice for streaming activities. However, you can only enjoy this protocol on Windows, Android, and iOS platforms. OpenVPN is also a good option because it’s highly secure. The rest, namely IKEv2, IPsec, PPTP, and L2TP, are a bit old and are not highly recommended.
To deter security threats and keep your data safe, Ivacy went with the industry standard AES 256-bit encryption technology, which happens to be the highest level possible. It would probably take even the most skilled hacker a lifetime to crack that encryption key, so you're in the clear.
Is Ivacy a legit VPN? Well, you can take Ivacy for a spin with unlimited data and find out, courtesy of the 1-day free trial mentioned before. Unfortunately, the free trial doesn’t have features like split tunneling and the kill switch found on the paid plan. Also, you can only connect to a nearby server which is quite restrictive.
Admittedly, a one day free trial is not a lot to work with, so if you want to experiment a little longer and with fuller functions, we suggest doing the 7-day trial for just $0.99. You may not end up staying, but it's still a great way to test out the VPN’s performance and overall browsing speeds.
The fact that you can use Ivacy on a wide range of devices is one of its major selling points. Our Ivacy reviews found that you can run the VPN on major operating platforms like Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. Additionally, Ivacy is compatible with routers and browser extensions. We will unpack all of this below:
Just like most VPNs, Ivacy’s Windows version is clearly the winner and has the most features. You’ll find Wireguard, a kill switch, and split tunneling. Mac clients have the shorter end of the stick because it has none of these security features. Regarding protocols, you can only pick between IKEv2 and IPsec with Mac, so it really needs to catch up.
As for mobile compatibility, the Ivacy Android app is more feature-rich, while its iOS counterpart is more lacklustre. The Android app comes with split tunneling and more protocols, including Wireguard. You can also pick a server depending on whether you want to stream, browse, or download. Like Mac, the iOS app lacks most of these crucial features, but design-wise, they look similar and are both easy to use.
Our Ivacy review can confirm that Ivacy offers users lightweight options to conduct a quick change in IP address while browsing if need be. There's an Ivacy browser extension for Firefox, Edge, and Chrome, with the latter being the most popular. To date, the Chrome extension has been downloaded over 30,000 times. Remember that browser extensions are merely proxies, making them less secure than the actual VPN.
If you’re looking to add more devices, it’s possible to connect Ivacy to a router, and the setup is pretty simple. The VPN is compatible with several stand-alone router brands like Huawei, ASUS, Linksys, and Belkin.
Gamers aren't left behind and can run the VPN on gaming consoles, such as Xbox and PlayStation. The installation process is a lot more taxing, though, but Ivacy walks you through the steps with detailed instructions.
Downloading Ivacy VPN is quick and stress-free. You simply head over to the official website, which is clearly labeled and marked so you know where to go. Next, you select the operating system you want to use and download it. Ivacy provides clear instructions to complete the installation process.
But to be fair, mobile apps are much easier to use than desktops. With desktops, you always have to disconnect from the server whenever you want to change location or tweak your settings, which can be frustrating. Also, the servers could be better organised because you may fail to make head and tail of what each server category does. However, you can still view the countries and cities, making things a little easier.
Subscribing is easy, but you may be given the run around by the support personnel if you’re seeking your money-back guarantee. You'll eventually get your refund, but it may take a few days.
All Ivacy servers are streaming and torrenting-friendly, which is great. Using the VPN, you can unblock 12 Netflix US regions and libraries from China, Japan, the UK, and Canada. Outside of Netflix, you’ll find it easy to unblock BBC iPlayer and enjoy fast connections while you’re at it. It may not offer the best streaming quality if you’re particular about HD viewing, but it does the job.
As for torrenting, it runs on optimised P2P servers, but speeds may be questionable, especially if you have a poor internet connection. On the bright side, torrenting with Ivacy is extremely safe thanks to the AES encryption and Secure Download feature that reinforces protection and eliminates malware.
There's a lot to like about Ivacy if we consider the industry-standard encryption, extensive server coverage, and additional security features it uses, like Secure DNS. You can even use Ivacy with a number of devices and for gaming. But can we consider it the best VPN?
Not at the moment, no, because it still has a few design flaws to address, like upgrading its split tunneling feature (ironically it pioneered the technology) and providing consistent speeds. We'd advise you to try the free version before you decide to hop on a paid plan. Overall, Ivacy is certainly worth trying if you're on a budget but require a basic VPN to hold the fort.
A VPNs performance will largely depend on how fast its speeds are when connected to local or distant servers. If you’d like to find out more about how Ivacy performs in this regard, have a look at our reviews.
Some VPNs offer a free version, whereas you need to pay to enjoy the services of other brands. You'll also find VPNs that offer the best of both worlds, and our guides reveal which category Ivacy falls under.
Before you choose a VPN for torrenting, you want to know if it has optimum speeds and the necessary security features to keep your activities quick and private. Have a look at our Ivacy reviews to find out if this provider is good for torrenting.
