Private Internet Access VPN Review

When you switch it on, a VPN encrypts all your internet traffic and pipes it off to a server controlled by the VPN company. This ensures no one, not even your ISP, can spy on your traffic and makes it harder for snoops and advertisers to track you across the web. While it's one of the oldest surviving contenders in the field, Private Internet Access is still a contender for the title of best VPN. Its numerous simultaneous connections provide a great value, it boasts strong speed test scores, it sports an excellent interface, and its advanced network settings let tinkerers tinker. However, it still lacks a third-party audit to validate its privacy protections. 

How Much Does Private Internet Access VPN Cost?

Private Internet Access has three billing options, starting at $9.95 per month. That's below the $10.11 per month average we've seen across the VPNs we review. While affordable, it's a little too rich for our list of the best cheap VPNs—its previous price of $6.95 would have easily made the cut. Comparable top VPNs do more for less. Editors' Choice-winner Mullvad VPN costs a mere $5.46 (converted from €5).

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Like most VPNs, Private Internet Access incentivizes longer subscriptions with steep discounts. A one-year plan costs $39.95, which is significantly less than the $70.06 average we've seen across the VPNs we've reviewed. Private Internet Access also has a three-year plan for $79. The company changes up its discounted subscriptions frequently, but you should expect most of the deals to hover around those price points. Still, we caution against starting out with a long-term subscription. Instead, start with a short-term plan so you can test the service in your home and see if the VPN meets your needs.

Private Internet Access is affordable, but it's worth noting that there are also some worthy free VPN services to choose from. Hotspot Shield and Editors' Choice winner TunnelBear offer free subscriptions with data limitations—500MB per month and per day, respectively. ProtonVPN, however, is the best free VPN we've yet tested, in large part because it places no data restrictions on free users.

For purchasing a subscription, Private Internet Access accepts Amazon payments, credit cards, cryptocurrencies, and PayPal. Private Internet Access also accepts gift cards from various retailers. Buy one of these cards with cash, and your payment becomes reasonably anonymous. Editors' Choice winners IVPN and Mullvad VPN offer more choices for anonymous payments, accepting cash paid directly to their HQ.

What Do You Get for Your Money?

You can connect up to 10 devices simultaneously with a single Private Internet Access subscription, which is double the average we've seen across the market. The industry, however, might be moving away from this model entirely. Avira Phantom VPN, Ghostery Midnight, IPVanish VPN, Surfshark VPN, and Windscribe VPN all place no limit on the number of simultaneous connections.

(Editors’ Note: IPVanish VPN is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag's publisher.)

In addition to ample simultaneous connections, Private Internet Access has client apps for Android, iPhone, Linux, macOS, and Windows. The company also offers routers preconfigured to work with Private Internet Access, extending VPN coverage to every device on your network.

Private Internet Access also provides split-tunneling, letting you designate which apps send data through the VPN and which send data in the clear. This can be handy for high-bandwidth, low-risk activities, like streaming video. Private Internet Access also includes a multi-hop feature which routes your traffic through two VPN servers instead of just one. Interestingly, Private Internet Access VPN includes an option it calls multi-hop that routes your VPN traffic through an additional proxy.

The company does not provide access to the Tor anonymization network via VPN, although we should note that a VPN is not required to access the free Tor network. Editors' Choice winners ProtonVPN and NordVPN both offer access to Tor, multi-hop connections, and split-tunneling. 

Many VPN companies layer on additional privacy and security features in order to entice consumers. To that end, Private Internet Access includes its own ad- and tracker-blocking tool called MACE. The company informs us that Google's rules mean this feature had to be removed from Private Internet Access Android VPN Android app. Private Internet Access VPN recommends customers who want to use MACE on Android sideload an APK from its site, although we must note that sideloading always entails some risk. Private Internet Access also offers a free email breach monitoring service similar to HaveIBeenPwned.

Private Internet Access also supports port forwarding on some servers. This is an advanced setting, and while not necessary for a VPN it's surely going to be appreciated by network tinkerers.

Since our last review, Private Internet Access has started offering dedicated IP addresses to customers. This means that you have the same public IP address every time you connect to the VPN. This should, in theory, be less suspicious looking than a constantly shifting or known VPN IP address and may therefore not be blocked by sites that limit VPN access—such as banks and streaming services. An IP address in Australia, Canada, Germany, the UK, and the US. You pay $5 per month for each address, or the equivalent amount up-front for longer subscriptions (so, $60 for one year). That's in addition to the base Private Internet Access subscription. Existing customers can select a duration for dedicated IP address billing.

While VPNs are useful tools for improving your privacy online, they cannot protect against every threat. We highly recommend using standalone antivirus to protect your computer, engaging a password manager to create unique and complex passwords for each site and service, and enabling multi-factor authentication, wherever it's available.

What VPN Protocols Does Private Internet Access Support?

VPN technology comes in a handful of flavors, with different protocols used to create the encrypted connection. We prefer OpenVPN, which is open-source and therefore examined by volunteers for potential vulnerabilities. The open-source VPN heir apparent is WireGuard, which has newer technology and the potential for even better performance. WireGuard is still new, and it hasn't been as widely embraced as OpenVPN.

Private Internet Access supports OpenVPN and WireGuard on all platforms. Additionally, the iOS app supports the IKEv2 protocol, which is also excellent.

Servers and Server Locations

The availability of numerous server locations gives you more choices for spoofing your location and increases the chances of finding a server near wherever you are. Private Internet Access has a good mix of locations, with servers in 78 countries. That's well above average, coming close to rivaling ExpressVPN's stellar collection of 94 countries. Especially notable is that Private Internet Access boasts multiple servers in Africa and South America, two regions frequently ignored by other VPN services.

Until recently, Private Internet Access had a server fleet of some 3,000 servers. When we spoke with Private Internet Access representatives about the current size of the company's network, we were told that the company currently has around 10,000 servers but is shrinking its redundant systems. We expect it will continue to change in the near term. Keep in mind that the total number of servers is not an indicator of performance, since a VPN will probably spin servers up and down as needed.

Some VPN services make use of virtual locations, which may appear to be servers in a specified country but may actually be located somewhere else. To its credit, Private Internet Access has clearly marked which locations are virtual and revealed the servers' actual location in a blog post. This shows that nearly half of the company's locations are virtual. While virtual locations are not inherently problematic, we generally like to see VPN services be less reliant on them. ExpressVPN's server fleet, for example, is less than 3% virtual.

After the passage of a new national security law affecting Hong Kong, Private Internet Access announced that it was removing its server presence from the city. Instead, Private Internet Access is arranging for virtual servers physically located outside of China to provide VPN service to Hong Kong. This is a good use of virtual locations since it covers a potentially dangerous region while keeping the server in a secure place. Private Internet Access has virtual locations for other countries with repressive internet policies, such as Turkey and Vietnam. The company does not have any servers, virtual or otherwise, in Russia.

VPN providers may also use virtual servers, which is where a single hardware machine plays host to several software-defined servers. A company representative tells me that Private Internet Access does not own its server infrastructure, which is not unusual but only uses dedicated hardware servers. Several VPN companies, including Private Internet Access, have moved to diskless or RAM-only servers that do not store any data to hard disk, making them resistant to tampering.

Your Privacy With Private Internet Access VPN

It's important to understand the efforts a VPN company undertakes to protect your information. The privacy policy from Private Internet Access is extremely long and, at times, quite difficult to parse. Fortunately, the company has updated its policy to include plain-language summations which go a long way toward clarifying the entire document. Mullvad VPN is radically transparent about its service and operation, going into such depth that it becomes educational, while TunnelBear VPN focuses on its policies as being easy to read and understand. Private Internet Access doesn't quite match those services here, but it's an improvement.

A company representative explained that Private Internet Access does not keep logs of user activity and does not profit from user data. Its privacy policy also says that personal data will not be sold or rented. A new section to the policy assures readers that the company does not collect or store, “browsing history, connected content, user IPs, connection time stamps, bandwidth logs, DNS queries, or anything like that.” That's what we want to see.

Like most VPN companies, Private Internet Access VPN says that it does collect contact information that customers provide at account creation. The company also gathers anonymized aggregate analytics information. This isn't unusual, although we believe that VPN companies should strive to gather and retain as little information as possible. The updated version of the policy does a much better job explaining what gathered information is used for.

Private Internet Access told us that while users are connected, its servers do see originating IP addresses—which is necessary to deliver your data back to you. This information is not stored and lost as soon as you disconnect. The company also says that your username isn't associated with the originating IP in this process. This is the case for other VPN companies as well, but it's useful to have it spelled out by the company.

Private Internet Access is based in Colorado and operates under US legal jurisdiction. Like all companies, it says it will respond to legal subpoenas but assures customers that it will push back when possible. The company's twice-yearly transparency report confirms that the company has provided no data in response to warrants, subpoenas, and court orders.

Private Internet Access VPN is owned by Private Internet Access, Inc, which is in turn owned by KAPE Technologies, which also owns CyberGhost VPN and, most recently, ExpressVPN, among other privacy and security companies. In a previous incarnation, Kape was called Crossrider and accused of being a platform for adware. A Private Internet Access representative confirmed that Private Internet Access infrastructure remains separate from other Kape properties.

Private Internet Access has not released the results of any independent audits. While audits are far from a guarantee of security excellence, they can help shed light on VPN's behind-the-scenes operations. TunnelBear, for example, has issued annual audits for the last three years. A representative for Private Internet Access told us an audit is planned for 2022.

We encourage everyone to read a VPN company's privacy policy for themselves. If you feel uncomfortable, look elsewhere. Trust, after all, is paramount when it comes to security companies.

Hands On With Private Internet Access VPN for Windows

We had no trouble installing Private Internet Access on an Intel NUC Kit NUC8i7BEH (Bean Canyon) desktop running the latest version of Windows 10. 

Private Internet Access issues you login credentials in the purchase confirmation email. We're never thrilled about passwords being sent in plaintext through emails since this could be intercepted. While you can change your password (which we suggest you do immediately) your company-issued username cannot be changed, a practice intended to provide extra anonymity but one that may be confusing for novices. IVPN and Mullvad VPN have a better, if stranger, system that requires no personal information from customers. These companies assign random account numbers to customers that serve as their sole login credential—no passwords, no usernames.

The app received a badly needed facelift a few years ago, and it's still looking and feeling great after additional tweaks. If you miss the bad old days, you can still control the entire app from within the system tray. Annoyingly, the app cannot be moved from its spot above the system tray and fades away whenever you click outside the app. This, thankfully, can be changed in the Settings menu before you even log in.

The app is built around a single window colored in a warm grey tone and centered around a large, yellow Connect button. Click it, and the app immediately connects to the best server available. This is exactly what the average user needs: a straightforward path to getting secure immediately. The button also switches to green on connection, making it easy to tell the VPN is active, and your public and actual IP address are displayed close to the bottom of the window.

Clicking the location box below the connect button lets you jump to a different VPN server with ease. You can choose either a country or a city within that country, but not a specific server. If there's a particular region you need to use, you can add it to a Favorites list.

Clicking the caret at the bottom of the app expands the window, revealing seven other tiles that control different features. Click the bookmark icon to add a tile to your default view and grab the three-line icon to move tiles around. This level of customization is unheard of among VPNs and lets the app be extremely complicated, or nothing more than an on/off button. But while it's easy to grasp, it lacks the friendliness and off-beat warmth of TunnelBear VPN.

While impressive, the tiles are of mixed utility. Some offer quick access to deep settings, and others display graphs and stats. The least useful tile shows your current subscription duration.

One handy little tool is the VPN Snooze tile. This disconnects you from the VPN and then reconnects you after the preset amount of time. It's useful for when you might find yourself blocked by a website and need to disconnect from the VPN. The Snooze feature ensures that you'll be automatically reconnected and won't unknowingly continue browsing the web unprotected.

The main Settings window goes into greater detail. Some particularly useful features are the option to allow LAN traffic—which lets you communicate with other devices on your network, a kill switch that breaks your connection if the VPN disconnects, and the aforementioned MACE. The Split Tunnel panel lets you route apps and IP addresses in or out of the VPN, which worked perfectly in our testing.

There's real depth here, letting you change DNS servers, fine-tune the VPN protocol configuration, and enable multi-hop connections. The Automation tab can configure the app to connect or disconnect the VPN for specific networks or broader categories, like wired or unprotected Wi-Fi networks. Only TorGuard has a similar degree of control, but most users will (and should) leave these settings alone.

We recently found that the split-tunneling feature caused the app to crash in our testing, but Private Internet Access quickly patched the problem. That's great, because this app has one of the best split-tunneling features that we've seen. It's smartly designed, letting you decide individually whether apps use or ignore the VPN and set a global preference for using or ignoring the VPN. It also makes finding apps to add to your split-tunneling list much easier than competitors. In addition to routing app traffic, you can also add IP addresses to the split-tunneling controls.

One general concern with VPNs is that they might leak identifiable information, either in the form of DNS requests or your real IP address. We used the DNS Leak Test Tool in our testing and found that the server we used did not leak our information.

Many streaming video services block VPNs, because they have geographically limited licenses for streaming content. We had no trouble streaming Netflix over a US-based Private Internet Access server. Keep in mind that this could change at any time.

Hands On With Private Internet Access VPN for Android

To test the Private Internet Access Android VPN client, we used our Samsung A71 running Android 11. The Private Internet Access VPN app’s default interface has a linen white background with bright green accents. There is a large connection button in the top center of the screen and below that, you can choose the server’s country and in some cases city of origin or choose a streaming optimized server. The dashboard features are like those found in the iOS version, but the Android app includes a VPN snooze feature, which disconnects the VPN and reconnects after a specified amount of time.

The Android app also includes a Kill Switch, but you have to go to the Settings menu, scroll down to Privacy, and then toggle on the Always On VPN setting for your device. Other features include setting up a connection via a proxy, using a dedicated IP, and switching to a Dark theme (the background changes from linen to black). You can enable split-tunneling “Per App Settings.”

Whenever you use a new VPN, it’s a good idea to make sure it’s working. We navigated to DNSLeakTest.com and ran an extended test while connected to a server based in Argentina. In testing, the VPN hid our real IP address and did not leak DNS information.

While still connected to the server in Argentina, we tested the server’s speed and reliability by going to twitch.tv and watching a few streams. Each stream loaded quickly and played with the highest video quality.

Hands On With Private Internet Access VPN for macOS

We downloaded Private Internet Access VPN for MacOS from the vendor’s website and installed it on a MacBook Pro running Big Sur 11.6.1. The app’s default theme is dark, with a grey background and green highlights. By navigating to settings, you can switch to a light theme, which features an off-white background with bright green accents.

Connecting to the VPN requires hitting the large green button in the center of the app window. Below that button there is a server switcher. You can choose from servers located in cities around the world. The server’s arrangement order is by connection speed.

Features include a VPN Kill Switch; an advanced Kill Switch, which blocks any traffic from going outside of the VPN, even when the VPN is turned off; and PIA MACE, which blocks domains known to serve ads, malware, and trackers. Split tunneling is also available for MacOS, and multi-hop works too, but only with an OpenVPN protocol.

To test a Luxembourg-based Private Internet Access VPN server’s privacy, we went to DNSLeakTest.com and ran an extended test. The real IP address remained hidden during testing.

To test the streaming capabilities of the VPN server in Luxembourg, we navigated to Twitch.tv and watched the FIDE World Chess Championship. The stream loaded instantly with high quality video, and we did not experience any stuttering or buffering while viewing.

We then went to YouTube.com to watch a few videos while still connected to the server in Luxembourg. Each video loaded instantly, though the video quality took a few seconds of loading to become clear and easy to watch. None of the videos we watched stopped or stuttered while we watched.

Hands On With Private Internet Access VPN for the iPhone

We installed the iOS VPN app for Private Internet Access on an iPhone XS running iOS 14.8. The app is light grey with bright green accents. A large connection button takes up most of the app’s screen, and just below the button is a server switcher, which allows you to choose the country and city for your VPN server connection.

Tapping the hamburger menu in the top left corner takes you to your account settings. Tap Settings, then Privacy Features to view all the features associated with Private Internet Access VPN for iOS. The app has a VPN Kill Switch and a content blocker for Safari. The app does not feature split tunneling or multi-hop connections—split tunneling is not allowed on iOS.

We tested Private Internet Access VPN's ability to hide IP addresses and secure DNS requests by visiting DNSLeakTest.com and performing an extended DNS leak test while connected to a VPN server in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In testing, that server did not leak our IP address and our DNS requests were secure.

While still connected to the server in Argentina, we opened the YouTube app and watched a few videos. Each one loaded instantly and played out without any buffering We then watched a live broadcast on Twitch. The stream initially took about six seconds to load, but once loaded, the video was crisp and of high quality. The video also did not stutter or buffer during testing.

Speed and Performance

Regardless of the VPN you use, it will affect your web browsing speeds. To gauge the level of that impact, we measure latency, download speeds, and upload speeds using the Ookla speed test app with and without a VPN and then find a percent change between the two. For more on our testing and its limitations, do read the aptly titled article How We Test VPNs. 

(Editors’ Note: Ookla is owned by PCMag's publisher, Ziff Davis.)

Private Internet Access performed remarkably well in our testing, reducing download and upload speeds by just 10.9% and 19.4%, respectively. As of writing, those are the best scores for those two categories. Its latency results were less impressive but still better than average: we found the VPN increased latency by 30%.

Because the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has limited our access to the PCMag Labs, we've moved to a rolling testing model and now report speed test results as we get them. The table below has all the latest information.

Keep in mind that your results will assuredly differ from ours, and speed is too finicky to put too much emphasis on. Overall value, privacy features, and ease of use are far more important.

Simple Security

With its refined interface and powerful network settings, Private Internet Access VPN is a formidable product. It can be a simple set-and-forget app, or you can dive into its myriad settings and configure the VPN to suit your needs exactly. Its large collection of server locations and excellent speed test scores make it a strong competitor, and 10 simultaneous connections mean your entire household is easily covered. Private Internet Access offers features beyond basic VPN protection and has improved how it communicates its privacy policy to customers.

There's still room for improvement, however. Private Internet Access VPN should complete and publish the results of a third-party audit to demonstrate to customers that it takes their privacy seriously.

For all it offers, Private Internet Access VPN remains a highly rated VPN. It comes up just short of an Editors' Choice award but still stands as a serious contender.