IVPN is one of many VPN service providers competing for a share of the saturated global market. If you use VPNs regularly, you probably know by now that several phony providers often promise what they can't deliver.
So, is IVPN good enough to ensure a secure and private internet connection? Let's answer this question and more in this comprehensive IVPN review of its main features. Whether you want a VPN service for personal browsing, torrenting, or playing online casino games, IVPN could be your ideal pick. Keep reading to learn more about this VPN service provider.
(Spoiler alert: IVPN doesn't have a browser extension. Instead, you'll need to download apps for Windows, iOS, macOS, Android, or Linux.)
If you are squeezed on time and want a quick summary of this provider, this section of our IVPN review has you covered. It comprises all the critical information gleaned from conducting reality tests and scrutinizing hundreds of other trustworthy IVPN reviews. Here's what you should know about IVPN:
The following table outlines the general specs that users often look for when choosing a VPN.
| Jurisdiction/Licensing | Gibraltar |
| Download speed | Reliable (an average speed drop of 18%) |
| Logging Policy | Zero logs |
| Data Leaks | No Leaks |
| IP Addresses | 200+ |
| Server locations | 75+ |
| Countries | 30+ |
| Torrenting | Partial support |
| Devices Per License | 7 |
| Cheapest Price | $8.33/month with annual subscription |
| Customer support | Live chat |
Now that you have a general idea of what IVPN entails, by continuing to read our in-depth review, you will be able to identify its key strengths and weaknesses and distinguish between its various features. In general, it is apparent that this service provider has a lot to offer in terms of security and privacy, but there’s more to IVPN than that, which we will detail in the sections that follow.
IVPN stands out among other VPNs for its robust encryption algorithms; despite introducing additional processing overhead, it does not result in a significant drop in performance. Our IVPN test found that the speed performance was quite impressive: on local servers, the average speed loss was approximately 10%, while on international servers, it was around 25%.
On a Los Angeles server, for instance, the speed drop was about 12%, while the ping time was three milliseconds, which is ideal for online activities that require large bandwidth, such as VOIP communication, online gaming and video conferencing.
Due to its less than 50+ country support, the connection speeds in certain regions can be slower. But if you are connecting to the VPN from a supported country and you’ve chosen a server location not far from your physical location, you’ll enjoy pretty fast speeds.
There are several benefits of using a VPN service to play online games. Besides offering the convenience of accessing geo-blocked content, VPN services allow players to safely explore their favorite games on public WIFI, plus they can avoid bandwidth throttling or the risk of DDoS attacks.
Some factors to look out for when choosing a VPN service for gaming include the server speed and performance, server location, and encryption protocols. Low latency and ping times are also critical as they ensure quick response times during gameplay.
But how good is IVPN when playing high-graphics video games? Overall, it’s a good pick since it meets all the critical requirements; plus, it offers unlimited bandwidth and doesn't impose data caps. If you want to use IVPN to play online games, ensure your internet service provider guarantees a speed range of 100 Mbps to 200 Mbps. You should also always connect to local or short-distance servers.
When using IVPN on gaming consoles, you'll need to purchase a router that comes pre-configured with the IVPN app since there's no IVPN app for consoles. Alternatively, you can configure an authorized router using the OpenVPN configuration files, which means using third-party software that supports OpenVPN.
As part of the company's focus on privacy and security, all the IVPN servers are physical and self-hosted. IVPN ensures higher control and trustworthiness by eliminating reliance on virtual servers, thereby reducing third-party involvement and potential vulnerabilities. Additionally, bare metal servers offer enhanced stability and performance since they are fully dedicated to the VPN's operations.
On the downside, IVPN servers are relatively few compared to the other top VPN providers. Due to the small number of server locations, those using IVPN outside North America, Eastern, and Western Europe may have to deal with slightly slower speeds. However, the company has invested in several other features to compensate for having fewer servers and help boost performance, privacy, speed, and reliability. These features include:
Routes connection through multiple servers, making it hard for anyone to track or spy on your online activities.
Automatically connects you to a server with the best speed.
A personal DNS server instead of the IVPN DNS server offers you extra privacy.
If there's one feature that IVPN excels at, then it has got to be security. The company has implemented various advanced security features to protect your sensitive data from potential cyber criminals. IVPN uses the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-256), which is considered one of the most secure encryption algorithms in the market. Here are the other security features that support the fact that IVPN is safe and reliable:
WireGuard is the default protocol for Windows devices and macOS. You can also choose OpenVPN if you wish. Both these protocols provide robust security measures to ensure the confidentiality of your data. 1
If the VPN fails, your internet connection is immediately cut off to prevent data leakage. The kill switch feature is handy when sharing P2P files or dealing with sensitive data or private information.
If your browsing activity requires open inbound traffic, this feature will forward specific ports from the VPN server to your local device while maintaining proper encryption and routing it via the VPN.
this advanced security feature makes your VPN traffic resemble regular internet browsing, which is beneficial in countries with stringent VPN rules and limitations.
This routes some of your internet traffic via VPN, leaving the rest to use a standard internet connection. Doing this helps reduce the load on the server and is crucial for accessing local network resources.
This stops ads, malware, and online cookies and trackers.
On top of all of these security features, to ensure the credibility of its safety claims, IVPN undergoes an annual third-party security audit conducted by Cure53. This scheduled audit verifies the company's security credentials and provides concrete evidence of its implementation of the AES-256 cipher technology and other security measures. The full report of the audit is made accessible to the public, demonstrating IVPN's commitment to transparency and accountability.
Everybody values privacy when browsing online, and IVPN has some impressive features that will put your mind at ease. This VPN service provider is fully committed to user and data privacy and aims to store zero user information.
When starting a subscription, you'll need to record your username and payment information, but they won't log any of it online. So, even if the authorities or hackers were to seize IVPN's servers, there would be no information to retrieve.
As far as transparency is concerned, IVPN has published its source code on GitHub. By making their software open-source, they encourage other developers to contribute to developing and improving their software and apps.
During the many IVPN tests for P2P data transfer, there were minimal drops in speed while downloading files using the BitTorrent protocol. In comparison to downloading a test file without a VPN, connecting to a nearby IVPN server resulted in a drop of less than 10%. This indicates that IVPN performs well for torrenting and maintaining decent speeds while protecting your privacy.
However, you should note that IVPN, like most VPN software providers, blocks P2P file transfers on its US servers. US servers are sensitive to DMCA requests, and IVPN has received several DMCA notices. The provider recommends using a non-US server if you're looking to share or download P2P files. US. residents can connect to a nearby Canadian server, and IVPN would work just fine, except for the likely drop in download speeds. It's worth noting that IVPN doesn't endorse or condone illegal torrenting.
For regular VPN users, setting up IVPN is like second nature. However, new users may need help to set up or configure the software. This makes it necessary to have a highly responsive customer support team. That said, IVPN's official website features a live chat feature (not 24/7) and a range of helpful guides and installation tutorials. These resources are crucial as they make it easier to set up IVPN on your device.
And while IVPN's customer support is satisfactory, it is still lacking compared to some of the best VPN software providers. One key letdown, especially for the pro subscribers, is the lack of a 24/7 live-chat feature.
With all the highlighted features discussed in the IVPN review, it's evident that IVPN is a safe VPN solution that prioritizes user privacy, transparency, and security. Still, there's room for improvement in areas such as online streaming and P2P file transfer. Additionally, the company needs to expand its server locations to provide better coverage in different regions if it wants to broaden its global customer base.
IVPN is a legit VPN service provider offering 75+ server locations in over 30 supported countries. Refer to this IVPN review to explore the VPN's key competitive advantages.
When choosing the best VPN service, always consider your browsing needs and critical VPN features such as privacy, security, server network, and customer support. Check out this IVPN review to see if it works for you.
While IVPN has some of the best security and privacy features you would expect from a VPN service provider, there's room for improvement. Read this IVPN review to explore the areas this company can focus on to enhance its service delivery.
Most VPN service providers have browser extensions that allow users to easily install and customize the VPN on their devices. Refer to this guide to check if IVPN offers a browser extension.
