Your IP Address: Your ISP: Location: Your country: United States
9.5
Free trial: 30-day money back
Max. devices supported by one account: 10
Server Network: 84 Countries
Supported devices: personal computers, iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Mobile, Router, Chromebook
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS, iOS, Linux, Android
Customer support: 24/7 live chat, ticket system, Facebook, Twitter, or email.
Virtual Private Networks (VPN) are online encryption tools that provide numerous benefits to the customers’ online experience. Among them are enhanced privacy and security, as well as the ability to unblock international websites and streaming services that would be blocked under normal circumstances.
The market is full of quality options when it comes to VPN service providers. We are talking about hundreds of different alternatives with varying price ranges and features. However, only a few make it to the list of the Best VPN Service Providers. Private Internet Access is one of them.
Shortened to PIA, Private Internet Access has a relatively large VPN server network when it comes to countries available for connection. It offers users excellent security features, reliable speed and performance, lots of customization, and a fantastic price.
While most of the best VPNs often exceed the $10 per month threshold, Private Internet Access VPN offers affordable prices in exchange for excellent service. The baseline monthly subscription is $11.95. However, the company offers great discounts on long-term plans. If you purchase a 2-year plan, the price drops to $2.19/month. In 2020 PIA offered a branded Private Internet Access lifetime account, however, as of February 2023 the lifetime account is no longer available.
Yes, while the PIA lifetime subscription is no longer available, you can now op for a 2-year plan, it will cost you $2.19 per month ($56.24 billed every two years), or a 3-year plan +3 months free at $79. So you’ll get 39 months of VPN at $79 billed once for 3 years, that’s 2.03 per month! Your privacy protection was never that affordable.
Customers have numerous payment methods available, starting with all the major credit cards (Visa, American Express, and Master Card), Bitcoin, Zcash, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, Cashu, PayPal, OKPay, PaymentWall, Mint, AmazonPay, and more.
Private Internet Access, as you can see, is one of the few VPN service providers that have fostered an excellent atmosphere for cryptocurrency payments, keeping up with changing times and financial trends.
Private Internet Access’ privacy policy is not very long but has everything that customers need to know regarding activity logs. After all, we live in a world in which data privacy has acquired a newfound relevance, and everybody needs to stay protected from the Internet’s most dangerous threats.
Regarding logging gathering, the company states: “PrivateInternetAccess.com does not collect or log any traffic or use of its Virtual Private Network (‘VPN’) or Proxy.” For more details, go to their Support section.
The company says that it “does not keep any logs, of any kind, period.” It continues: “We can unequivocally state that our company has not and still does not maintain metadata logs regarding when a subscriber accesses the VPN service, how long a subscriber’s use was, and what IP address a subscriber originated from. Moreover, the encryption system does not allow us to view and thus log what IP addresses a subscriber is visiting or has visited.”
However, for a variety of reasons that don’t at all compromise the users’ data security, Private Internet Access keeps some small bits of data. “We record basic personal details (email, payment info) but don’t share them.” “Please don’t use our service to do illegal stuff.”
The company operates under American jurisdiction in Denver, Colorado. That may mean that Private Internet Access VPN is subject to warrants and letters issued by the government, but the company’s track record suggests that there is nothing to worry about when it comes to compliance with data retention laws of any kind.
Recently, an independent audit was conducted to confirm the company’s no-log policy.
One of the features that people look at the most when searching for the best VPN service is the server network. The phrase refers to the number of servers available for connection, as well as the number of countries that have servers.
When it comes to the number of servers, Private Internet Access excels with more than 3,300+ a comfortably above-average figure.
84 countries are available for connection, which is in line with other top VPN providers (for example, ExpressVPN 90+).
The company is, however, continually working to broaden its server network. New servers and countries were added as recently as December 2022. Slowly but surely, Private Internet Access is looking to add new locations. In addition, Private Internet Access also offers IP addresses across all 50 US states to provide users with increased convenience, content access, and digital privacy. Besides that, PIA has streaming optimization servers in chosen countries.
You would be surprised how good Private Internet Access VPN’s speed is for a $2.03 service. In fact, it can compete with the best, mainly because it is among the elite. The speed tests conducted in 2020 show very favorable results.
The speed was retested in 2023 and showed that PIA’s servers remained fast and reliable. The speed rates were among the best in several locations, especially in the Americas and Europe. Private Internet Access VPN performed superbly in connection time, upload, and download time. Streaming is a piece of cake thanks to the comfortably above-average rates. To provide better speeds to the users, Private Internet Access has been upgrading servers to NextGen servers with 10Gbps network cards instead of the previous 1Gbps network cards.
It takes about 3.5 seconds to establish a secure link, which is among the best times in the industry. That can be attributed to the huge amount of servers (more than 3,300) that it has available.
Private Internet Access’ latency is more average-ish, but also not bad at all. Its bandwidth, on the other hand, helped deliver a nearly 50 Mbps download speed, and 15 Mbps upload speed.
A definite strength is Private Internet Access’s ability to stream the BBC iPlayer, which affects its performance ratings. The users should also find comfort in knowing that Private Internet Access VPN doesn’t have notorious problems with IP or DNS leaks.
Multi-protocol availability is a must in the VPN industry these days. The once reliable Peer-to-Peer Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) is now being left behind and replaced with newer, faster, safer, and more efficient technologies.
Private Internet Access understands the importance of having a complete set of encryption protocols available for its customers. It has, in addition to PPTP (which is still recommended for many tasks and activities), the best standard in the market, which is OpenVPN.
On top of that, Private Internet Access VPN can offer Layer to Tunneling Protocol with Internet Protocol Security (L2TP/IPSec). Each of them can be used without (or with, for that matter) PIA’s client software.
The L2TP/IPSec protocol is supported by Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android, and Chrome OS devices in a “native” configuration. Windows also has native PPTP, while Chrome OS’s native protocol is OpenVPN.
Service encryption, by default, is set with AES 128-bit, but it can be boosted to 256-bit with ease. Data authentication is SHA-1 or SHA-256, while handshakes are set up with RSA-2048 public-key encryption, with the ability to increase it to RSA-4096.
Despite its low prices, Private Internet Access VPN has numerous great features to offer its customers. When it comes to security traits, the company provides built-in DNS leak protection to prevent your identity from being spotted online when you browse the web. On top of that, a kill switch can effectively disable your Internet connection in the event of any problems with your Internet connectivity. That way, Private Internet Access VPN will prevent your computer from sharing unencrypted traffic.
Additionally, Private Internet Access has a built-in Socket Secure (SOCKS5) proxy, various encryption protocols, an auto-connect feature, port forwarding, a selection of the best servers available, and compatibility with platforms such as iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, and Chrome.
Private Internet Access VPN allows 10 simultaneous connections as well as P2P torrenting. There is also a built-in ad blocker, as well as trackers and checks for malicious sites.
With a PIA’s secure VPN account, users will also have encrypted Wi-Fi, multiple VPN gateways, unlimited bandwidth, instant setup, and one of the most secure VPNs in the industry.
Private Internet Access VPN service is very easy to install and use. It all starts with the website, which includes pricing plans, features, privacy policy, etc. It’s all organized in a clear, simple way.
The website has been lauded within the industry for its ease of navigation and attractive design. You can change the language in which you want to see the presentation, and it doesn’t hide potentially dangerous details.
Private Internet Access VPN has numerous links and information available on the front page. You can learn more about the latest developments in data security on their blog. It publishes news about online privacy and the VPN industry. It is a useful resource that both subscribers and non-members can enjoy. The FAQ section, which includes video tutorials, is also extraordinarily complete and contributes to PIA’s ease of use.
The proof that the service is very user-friendly is that it often takes no more than three minutes to successfully download the client or app (available for both iOS and Android) and establish a connection to one of the VPN servers.
Private Internet Access, like most of the best VPN service providers, has client software for the most widely spread platforms and operating systems around, such as Windows PCs (Version 7 or newer), Macs (OS X 10.8 or newer) and some Linux distributions (Ubuntu, Mint, Arch and Debian, for instance). Private Internet Access VPN apps cover iPhones and iPads (iOS 8.0 or newer) and Android devices (Android 4.0.4 or newer).
There are extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera web browsers, showing that the company works to enhance its multi-platform encryption and protection.
PIA also provides clear and concise instructions for installing and running the VPN service on routers with pfSense open-source software, DD-WRT, or Tomato.
The website itself is a fantastic customer support tool, as it has all the necessary guides, manuals, and video tutorials about the Private Internet Access VPN setup and its features. If you have any issues that the aforementioned material doesn’t cover, there is a 24/7 helpdesk.
One of the aspects that Private Internet Access is now advancing is live chat customer support, which is a must these days, as users may have urgent issues that need immediate attention.
The FAQ blog also helps with some general questions. Customers can also submit an inquiry via a ticket system.
Unfortunately, Private Internet Access VPN does not offer a free trial in any of its packages.
However, PIA does offer users the possibility of a refund if they are not satisfied with the service. After a week of use, unsatisfied customers can use the 30-day money-back guarantee policy.
Once one of the most notable shortcomings of the service offered by PIA (lack of a live chat feature), there are barely any negative aspects. The company does a great job managing an efficient ticket system and a myriad of guides, manuals, and video tutorials on the website. The absence of a completely free trial can be named as one of the drawbacks.
Another con that users may point at is that Netflix is currently blocking some of the PIA’s IP addresses, making it a struggle for users to watch it. However, it is equal for all VPN providers given Netflix doesn’t like its users to stream when they travel.
Additionally, Private Internet Access is based in the United States. This is a little bit tricky since it doesn’t automatically represent a negative aspect.
In conclusion, Private Internet Access VPN is worth trying.
It has an extensive server network with more than 3,300 servers in 84 countries. It fosters P2P activity and keeps absolutely no logs of users’ activity.
The speed rates and performance are dynamic, too. Prices start from $2.03 for a 3-year account and $2.19 for a 2-year plan, which makes it one of the best VPN services on the market.
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By Paulina Lifanava, Data Privacy Researcher – Last Update October 26, 2023