IPVanish Review: Is it a Go-To VPN Provider for 2023?

Did you suddenly realize you need a quality VPN provider, and IPVanish popped up in your search? There’s a good reason for that – it’s among the top choices for hiding your IP with a VPN. If you’re new to this, here’s an in-depth explanation about what is a VPN and how a VPN works. The key thing about using a VPN is that your real location and browsing activity is hidden from your Internet Service Provider (ISP), the websites you visit, and the services you use. Reading our IPVanish review will make it crystal clear how it can benefit you. You can then compare it with other VPN services we reviewed.

IPVanish Features

Here’s a list of key features of IPVanish:

Headquarters

IPVanish is based in the United States, a country is known for spying on its citizens. Remember Edward Snowden? If you read our NordVPN review, you would’ve seen that they’re based in Panama, a country known for upholding privacy and not keeping tabs on residents. But, there’s a big difference – read below.

Number of Servers and No-Log Policy

IPVanish has more than 1,600 servers across 75 locations worldwide. That’s more than 40,000 IP addresses you can use. But unlike other VPN providers that rent their servers, IPVanish owns every piece in their VPN infrastructure, including each of the servers. This ensures complete control and keeps the third-parties from interfering and/or spying. Plus, IPVanish promises to store no connection or activity logs while connected to one of their servers.

Speed

The provider offers unthrottled speed while connected to one of their servers, as well as helping you get rid of ISP throttling. Let’s test the speed firsthand. A random server in our country (in Europe) showed almost identical speed and latency as my native Internet connection speed. Connecting to a random server in Germany, speed was unchanged, but latency increased by 20%.

We had the same result by connecting to a London (United Kingdom) server. Connection to a Phoenix, Arizona (United States) showed a download speed reduction of about 10%, but ping increased by about 165%. Conducting a test in Australia showed a speed reduction of around 45% and a ping increase of about 340%, so the experience wasn’t as great.

Encryption

They use AES encryption with a 256-bit key, which is pretty much an industry standard among VPN providers.

Bandwidth and P2P Support

IPVanish offers unlimited bandwidth, which is not the case with free VPN services. Speaking about P2P transfer, best known for torrenting, even their servers in the United States supported it. Feel free to download content without fear of being sent a hefty bill or a DMCA request.

Website and Streaming Services Unblocking

Bypassing a VPN block is tough because websites and services are obligated to continually block IP addresses. At the time of testing, we managed to unblock Netflix by connecting to Las Vegas, Dallas, and Chicago servers. We also unblocked the following streaming services:

• HBO Max
• SlingTV
• 10Play
• Hotstar India
• Disney Plus

We couldn’t unblock DAZN or BBC iPlayer. This can change when you try IPVanish with your favorite website or service.

Security Protocols

This provider supports all popular VPN protocols – OpenVPN, IKEv2, L2TP, SSTP, and PPTP.

24/7 Customer Support

Their team of customer support representatives is available at any point of the day for questions or requests such as a money-back guarantee.

Bonus Features of IPVanish

Here’s a rundown of bonus features that you might not use every day:

SOCKS5 Proxy Servers

These are specially configured servers that maximize your VPN speed while still hiding your identity. Here’s an official IPVanish guide to connecting to one.

Split Tunneling

This is a great feature if you want to make IPVanish always ON. You can route some apps through the VPN tunnel while letting others use your real IP address. Useful if you need to access a local online bank.

Kill Switch

A security measure that will automatically kill your Internet traffic when your VPN connection drops, and enable it when it’s established again. This prevents your IP/DNS from leaking.

Shared IP Addresses

IPVanish offers shared IP addresses. Despite having a limited number of VPN servers, the provider allows users to share amongst themselves almost 40000 IP addresses. Furthermore, these addresses are shared by all the users, making it harder for anyone to keep track.

Alway-On VPN

The VPN also supports an Automatic Startup feature that will allow your VPN to be always on, ensuring maximum security. As soon as it detects an internet connection, it will start working.

DNS Leak Protection

The service provider also offers built-in DNS leak protection for security. VPNs often leak DNS information, rendering IP spoofing useless. But with IPVanish, you do not have to worry.

Simultaneous Connections

IPVanish is among the best providers for connecting multiple devices at the same time – up to 10! In fact, the only provider that can top that is Surfshark, as they offer an unlimited number. Other providers are typically in the 5 to 7 devices range.

Onion Over VPN

Before VPN became popular, TOR (The Onion Router) was used to bounce your data through a series of nodes and hide your identity. IPVanish combines the functionalities of these two, providing top-notch security and anonymity.

IPVanish Installation and User Interface

The provider has dedicated VPN apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Fire Stick TV, and Kodi. You can also install IPVanish on your router. Both desktop and smartphone apps are intuitive, simple, sleek, and come in Dark Mode by default. They can also detect your location and IP in the upper left corner, which is useful for checking a VPN.

IPVanish Pricing

IPVanish has three price tiers:

• 1-month plan – $4.49/month with a 63% discount ($11.99 regularly)
• 3-month plan – $4.04/month with a 67% discount ($35.97 regularly)
• 1-year plan – $2.92/month with a 76% discount ($143.88 regularly)

As you can see, IPVanish always has a discount that ranges between 60% and 80%. Each plan comes equipped with a free SugarSync Cloud Storage space of 250 GB. IPVanish also offers a 30-day money refund. The only flaw is that they don’t allow you to pay with a cryptocurrency, while other premium VPN services support this option.

Who should get IPVanish VPN?

• If you love streaming – IPVanish favors streaming and offers SmartDNS for devices that do not offer VPN apps. Hence, the service is suitable for those who love streaming online content.
• If you want to use it on any number of devices – IPVanish doesn’t limit itself to the number of devices it can run on simultaneously. The provider offers unlimited device connections on the same subscription.
• If you want a budget-friendly VPN – IPVanish, despite being a top VPN contender, is fairly priced and affordable. Hence, even if it doesn’t have a free plan, it is pretty much affordable.

Who should avoid IPVanish VPN?

• If you want a browser extension – IPVanish doesn’t have browser extensions. If you are looking for one, then obviously, IPVanish won’t be your best pick.
• If you don’t want a VPN based in the US – It is true that IPVanish is located in the US. And the US, being a contributing member of the Five Eyes Alliance, is not so good with privacy laws. Thus, those who might feel uncomfortable with the fact should opt for a different service.
• If you want maximum security features – While IPVanish is a fairly good VPN and offers a lot of security features, they are mostly basic. You won’t find top-tier protection, such as multihop, port forwarding, etc., on IPVanish.
• If you want a VPN that works in China – Lastly, if you are looking for a VPN to work in China, then stay away from IPVanish.

Conclusion

IPVanish manages to come out as one of the best premium VPN providers you can trust. They work hard to prove their reputation, offer military-grade encryption, own all of their VPN servers, and constantly improve their VPN speeds. Their apps are easy to use, which makes them beginner-friendly. Perhaps most importantly, IPVanish has large price reduction offers at all times. That, coupled with a 30-day money-back guarantee, makes it a risk-free purchase.