IPVanish review

IPVanish is a US-based VPN company headquartered in New York. It was founded in 2012 by Mudhook Media and was most recently acquired by Ziff Davis (2019). Since changing hands, the company has undergone two independent no-logging audits (2022 and 2025), and the results have been positive.

The VPN has a broad network of over 3,200 virtual and physical servers in 150 locations across 122 countries. IPVanish unblocks a fair share of streaming sites, server speeds are decent, and all servers are P2P-friendly. Its base price of $2.99 per month for a 2-year plan is very affordable and covers an unlimited number of devices. That includes iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows, a GUI for Linux, and compatibility with most smart TVs.

Unfortunately, there are a few issues with its iOS app – the app doesn’t run some of IPVanish’s features simultaneously. Plus, the kill switch for all devices is extreme – if it's enabled, it won’t let you access the internet at all unless the VPN is connected. This is super secure, but inconvenient for most people.

However, if you're looking for an advanced VPN that offers plenty of customizable functionality, IPVanish could be a great choice.

IPVanish on paper

For a quick explanation of any VPN-related terminology, check out our VPN glossary.

IPVanish price

IPVanish offers two tiers of protection: Essential and Advanced. Both tiers include the core VPN, but Essential comes with a 3GB eSIM in the country of your choice, while Advanced gives you a 5GB eSIM and 1TB of cloud storage.

With prices starting at $2.99 per month, it's not the absolute cheapest VPN on the market, costing around the same as NordVPN. There are some VPNs, like Surfshark or Private Internet Access, that are about $1 per month cheaper which may be relevant if you're on a very strict budget.

Monthly, yearly, and bi-yearly plans are available, and IPVanish accepts payment via PayPal, Google Pay, and credit card. Honestly, it would be cool to see Apple Pay and cryptocurrency added to that list, just to add forms of semi-anonymous payment.

Note that Tom's Guide readers can claim a discount and drop the price of the two-year plan to $2.19 per month.

Rating: 8/10

Does IPVanish have a free trial?

IPVanish provides a 7-day free trial for Android and iOS when purchased through your device's app store. There’s no free trial available for any other operating system the VPN supports. You won’t be charged as long as you cancel the subscription in your app store settings before the 7-days have expired.

However, it does provide a 30-day money-back guarantee for all new users with a one or two-year plan, so you have a bit of time to decide if the VPN is a good fit before making a hard commitment to the service.

IPVanish features

IPVanish offers several protocols for each platform. The Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android apps support WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2. MacOS and iOS also support IPSec, but the apps may not offer certain features depending on the protocol you choose. For example, Threat Protection for macOS and iOS won’t work when using IKEv2 or IPSec; only WireGuard and OpenVPN.

Speaking of the Threat Protection feature, it's an optional ad, malware website, and tracker blocker you can enable when the VPN is connected. The feature is available on all available platforms, which is nice because these types of features often get left off of iOS. I thoroughly tested the feature by accessing 50 of the latest phishing sites, 50 brand new malware hosting links, and logging the results.

IPVanish blocked 64% of phishing sites. That doesn’t make it good enough to be your sole line of defense, but it makes a decent second layer of phishing protection. Its ad blocking ability was even better at 86%, placing it up there with the top VPN ad blockers.

Unfortunately, IPVanish didn’t do as well with the malware hosting sites, only managing to block a little over 25%. Indeed, these forms of protection aren’t intended to replace antivirus, but if a tool says it blocks malicious sites, it should do better than providing protection a quarter of the time.

IPVanish offers two types of split-tunneling, but whether you can use both depends on the operating system you run. The Windows and Android apps provide split-tunneling for apps and domains. That means you can add apps that may not be compatible with a VPN (e.g., banking) to the list, and those apps can run outside the VPN on your regular connection. Domain split-tunneling works the same way, only you would add a URL to the list (e.g., mybanking.com).

On the downside, the split-tunneling feature only supports excluding app or domain addresses from running through the VPN. You can’t create a list of apps that will only work when the VPN is on. Although if you turn on the kill switch, you’ve essentially done that anyway – which I'll talk about in a moment. Additionally, macOS and iOS apps only allow split-tunneling via domain, not by app. Between that and the fact that the iOS version has a few glitches, IPVanish’s split-tunneling is frustratingly basic.

Some nice additional features include OpenVPN Scramble and AutoConnect. OpenVPN Scramble is a well-known way to help bypass network restrictions that block VPN traffic. The feature is better than nothing at all, but it doesn’t generally hold up well against the Great Firewall and other tough anti-VPN technologies anymore. Many VPNs have evolved to use a form of Stealth protocol, including ProtonVPN and Windscribe. Others have created custom protocols, like NordVPN (NordWhisper) and VyprVPN (Chameleon).

The Windows, macOS, and iOS apps include an autoconnect feature that can connect on app launch or anytime you attempt to access an untrusted wireless network. Android is a bit more basic; you just toggle a switch in the app settings next to Connect on Android Startup.

Autoconnect defaults to trust Ethernet and cellular networks, but you can choose to turn either of these settings off to customize your protection. This feature is easy to use, too, just a couple of clicks and it’s set up, no complicated configurations.

There are a couple of exceptions depending on your operating system. macOS has no option to trust cellular networks, and iOS doesn’t support autoconnect on launch. You won’t be able to use split-tunneling and autoconnect at the same time for iOS, either, as it disables autoconnect.

Secure Browser is a feature that lets you access the web via a remote browser located on an IPVanish server. Simply install the specific extension for your browser (e.g., Chrome or Firefox) and enter the URL you’d like to visit. It feels like surfing on your normal browser, but there’s an extra layer of tracking, malicious software, and data protection. It does have a couple of hiccups.

Google frequently spotted me using a VPN and gave the old "we’ve detected unusual traffic from your device," which caused me to run into a lot of Captchas. The browser also froze a couple of times, forcing me to restart the session. Overall, though, it's a nice extra feature that works a majority of the time and is an uncommon feature among VPNs.

One cool addition is its Link Checker, which is available on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. I tested it using Android with a few different sites. Just click on the Security shield icon, and it gives you an option to use Link Checker by entering a URL into the search field. Mobile users can also scan QR codes. Since QR codes are everywhere now, it’s nice that a VPN put this type of safeguarding out there.

The Link Checker actually scans the website, provides you with helpful information about the link, and lets you know if there’s an immediate threat or any kind of inconsistency that could indicate malicious activity.

Rating: 8/10

IPVanish server network

IPVanish’s server page lists the number of servers at over 3,200 across 150 locations. Its global coverage spans 112 countries, and only NordVPN (129) and Proton VPN (127) offer servers in more countries. This great if you live in a more rarely supported country, or simply want a wide range of locations to pick from.

There’s no limit on the number of devices you can install IPVanish on, or the number of simultaneous connections you can have active with your subscription. This is up there with Private Internet Access and Surfshark, and means that you can install IPVanish on all of your devices and even share your subscription with trusted friends and family.

The small print states that it reserves the right to reduce or limit connections if needed to keep the VPN system functioning properly. While that seems like a case of "takesies backsies," it’s not uncommon among VPNs – Surfshark has a similar policy and wording in its Terms and Conditions.

On the upside, IPVanish takes a refreshingly transparent stance on its use of virtual locations. Virtual server locations give you an IP address for the location you choose, but are hosted somewhere else (e.g., if you choose Puerto Rico, the server is physically hosted in Miami). It even displays "Virtual" after the city if the server is hosted elsewhere.

Some VPNs hide the fact that they’re using virtual locations. Due to this, we tested a sample of 20 locations to find out, and the overall results were good.

As you can see, most of the servers not marked virtual are in the actual location stated, except Vancouver, Nigeria, Moldova, and Glasgow. Additionally, most of the virtual locations are hosted fairly close to the countries named, which helps minimize performance issues. We did notice the Saudi Arabia server is hosted in France, quite a ways from the location stated, which could create latency issues.

Overall coverage doesn’t show any blackout spots. It has a strong showing in South America (10 locations), the same as Surfshark. The bulk of the servers are in North America (41) and Asia (33), which isn’t uncommon.

IPVanish also uses double-hop, which routes your traffic through two VPN servers instead of one, making your activity harder to track. You can find it on the Location list page. Just choose your entry and exit locations and click Connect. You can use any two locations it offers.

Rating: 9/10

Is IPVanish good for streaming and unblocking?

IPVanish does a fair job of unblocking most streaming services, although its performance falls slightly behind that of the best streaming VPNs. It easily accesses global majors like Netflix US, UK, AU, CA, and JP, Amazon UK, and Disney+ US, UK, JP, and AU. The VPN also unblocks free regional services like BBC iPlayer, ITV, Channel 4, 7Plus, 9Now, and TVNZ+. That said, we had to switch servers a few times to unblock certain services, including Disney+.

The VPN doesn’t have specialized streaming servers or servers marked as recommended for specific platforms (e.g., US-Netflix). You have to choose a server and hope it works – but on the most part, all the servers we tested were effective.

We used the following locations to test IPVanish’s ability to unblock services: UK (London), US (New York, Chicago, Miami), AU (Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne), and JP (Osaka, Tokyo).

IPVanish supports P2P on all of its servers, but you won’t have access to a port forwarding feature. You have to select your P2P server manually as there isn’t any icon indicating which works best for P2P in the server list. We downloaded test torrents while connected to servers in Albania, Indonesia, and South Africa without any issues, putting IPVanish's performance on par with the best torrenting VPNs.

Though the VPN is P2P-friendly and set up to do the job, like most VPNs, IPVanish is a little hesitant to extol its prowess. It’s not openly advertised as a feature on IPVanish’s website. Fortunately, if you go to the VPN website’s Support Center, you can find 5 articles on P2P – most of which include information on how to access specific torrent clients (e.g. qBittorrent) using a SOCKS5 proxy.

SOCKS5 proxy lets you conceal your IP address by connecting to an IPVanish server, but bypasses the extra layer of encryption to boost speeds. Basically, your IP address is hidden, but you miss out on the added security encryption provides. Which is actually fine, because most torrenters only need the hidden IP anyway.

Rating: 8.5/10

How fast is IPVanish?

To gauge IPVanish’s speeds, we test sessions on both the nearest and farthest server from our testers' location. The test sessions were performed in the morning and evening, from a desktop device with a 10 Gbps network connection. This provides a good indicator of overall speeds and allows our team to come up with a median speed based on our findings.

First, we tested server speeds while connected to WireGuard. After our team performed four tests on both the nearest (Dublin) and farthest (US) servers, we were able to determine a median speed. The nearest server had a median speed of 738 Mbps, while the farthest tested was slower at 449 Mbps.

This result puts IPVanish pretty firmly behind the fastest VPNs like Surfshark or Proton VPN, both of which achieved speeds of over 1,500 Mbps.

While the nearest server was significantly slower than other VPNs when tested in the same region, speeds are more than fast enough to stream smoothly and avoid hefty wait times when downloading or uploading content. What's more, if you internet connection isn't this fast, IPVanish will likely keep up with your peak speeds perfectly well.

IPVanish's speeds are nothing next-level, but good enough for performing most online activities stress-free.

IPVanish tested below average for OpenVPN speeds, but results were pretty consistent regardless of distance. The nearest server (Dublin) reached a median of 209 Mbps, while the farthest (New York) saw only a small dip to 196 Mbps.

To sum up, the results of both the WireGuard and OpenVPN connections were mid-range. Nothing next-level, but good enough for performing most online activities stress-free.

Rating: 7/10

IPVanish privacy and security

Like many of the most secure VPNs, IPVanish is switching to RAM-only servers. The process is estimated to be complete by the end of 2027, but the infrastructure change goes a long way toward building trust. RAM-only servers wipe all session data when they reboot. Currently, the technology has been implemented in 20 locations across Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, and the US.

Don’t worry, the older hard disk drive (HDD) servers are still secure. The HDD servers use full disk encryption, so the contents are safe and will remain that way even when the changeover is complete. RAM-only servers just add an extra layer of security. Still, if you’d rather use those servers now, IPVanish has an in-app filter called RAM-Only Server Deployment Tracker that can show you where the RAM servers are located. The feature is available for Android, iOS, and macOS – Windows is coming soon.

IPVanish uses ChaCha20 symmetric encryption with Poly1305 authentication, which is a fancy way of saying it uses standard WireGuard VPN encryption algorithms. OpenVPN uses AES-256-CBC, a bit outdated as most VPNs use AES-256-GCM as the standard. CBC is still fairly secure, but it does leave you open to certain forms of malicious attacks that GCM can help prevent.

The VPN has a standard no-logs policy. As mentioned, the company has performed two independent no-logging audits, and neither auditing firm found leaks or activity that proves contrary to the logging policy.

IPVanish offers a kill switch for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. The macOS kill switch doesn’t work with split-tunneling enabled, but Windows does. Android’s kill switch is essentially an "always-on" VPN, preventing all internet connections unless the VPN is on. As with many VPN kill switches for mobile, it needs to be configured in your device settings.

Some argue that it isn’t really a kill switch, but since the IPVanish kill switch is extremely strict for all devices and only allows an internet connection when the VPN is on, the only difference is in toggling an off switch for always-on in your mobile device settings or via the app.

IPVanish holds up its end of the bargain. It doesn’t provide advanced encryption or give you a lenient kill switch, but it’s strong enough to protect your data.

When the kill switch is on, you’re always protected, whether you want to be or not. If the VPN drops, you’re disconnected from the internet. If you manually disconnect from the VPN, you’re disconnected from the internet. You can only access the internet on your device if the VPN is running.

This may prove be a bit too strict of a kill switch for most, especially on iOS, where you can’t use split-tunneling in tandem or when autoconnect is enabled (if you try, it disables split-tunneling). It’s worth noting that the kill switch works the way it’s supposed to. We tested the kill switch via WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2 protocols, forcibly disconnecting from the VPN multiple ways. No matter how we did it, the kill switch immediately blocked our internet connection and tried to reconnect to the VPN. Very efficient.

Basically, IPVanish holds up its end of the bargain. It doesn’t provide advanced encryption or give you a lenient kill switch, but it’s strong enough to protect your data. The kill switch works, encryption is strong enough, and the VPN’s no-logs policy holds up.

However, my biggest issue is with the kill switch – if a feature is annoying to use, or not user-friendly, people are likely to disable it. I expect most people using IPVanish don't have the kill switch active, even though they really should for safety.

Rating: 7.5/10

IPVanish apps and compatibility

IPVanish supports an impressive array of devices and operating systems. It has apps for Windows, macOS, Linux (GUI), Android, iOS, and FireTV. The Linux app isn’t as powerful as the others and requires a fair amount of manual configuration, but it works well. Plus, many VPNs only provide a GUI for Linux, so it’s not a surprise or any reason to dock points.

It's worth noting that, along with NordVPN, IPVanish is the only VPN to have launched a VPN app for VegaOS, the latest Amazon Fire Stick operating system. The company worked with Amazon to have an app ready at launch, which shows great dedication to the users of these devices.

The iOS and Android apps cover far more than tablets and phones, too, which is a huge bonus. Here’s the basic rundown of additional devices you can cover using IPVanish’s mobile apps:

• iOS app: Apple TV and Apple Vision Pro
• Android app: NVIDIA Shield, ONN 4K, Chromecast, Chrome OS, Google TV, and Nokia Streaming Box

IPVanish provides support on a few different routers, but not as many as our top VPNs. Most support is provided for RT series Asus routers using ASUS-WRT or ASUS-Merlin firmware, and DD-WRT flashed routers. It does advertise an option to buy routers pre-configured for IPVanish through Flashrouters, for anyone who doesn’t want to go the configuration route alone.

Rating: 9/10

Is IPVanish easy to use?

We tested IPVanish on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, and each time installation and setup were a breeze. The desktop apps are a bit more complex than the mobile versions, but still easy enough to navigate that you don’t have to be a tech wizard to make it through.

On the desktop app, there’s a map display with IPVanish’s server locations. Once you connect to a server, your location is highlighted on the map. What’s unique is that the map is active. You can zoom in and out, click on a location to connect to it, and just explore it if you want.

On the left-hand panel of the desktop app, IPVanish provides a lot of useful information. You can see the data uploaded/downloaded, VPN IP address, length of time connected, server name, and protocol you’re using. You can also minimize to see more of the charts and status bar, or expand the map if you want to see more of that.

The menu icon is located directly above the menu icon sidebar, which is nice because the app doesn’t make it obvious what the icons on that menu mean. When you click the menu icon, you will find the location list, settings panel, help options, account information, and more.

IPVanish doesn’t limit the size of its desktop app interface; you can expand it full screen if you want. This is a nice feature when combined with the map, because it allows you to see more locations. The location list for the desktop app is unique as well. It displays a list of cities by default, instead of countries. While that means you may have to scroll more, connecting takes one less click.

The fact that both country and city lists are alphabetized may help make scrolling go quicker, too. Another quick way to find the location you want is type in the country or city of the server you want into the search box. Once you find a server that works well for your purposes, you can add it to your favorites list.

IPVanish’s macOS app is much the same as the Windows app, which isn’t always the case.

You can also see how many servers are available in a location and the server's current load. IPVanish even includes a refresh button you can use every 5 minutes to update load information.

While I didn’t have any issues with the Windows app freezing during connection, one of the other individuals we had test the app noticed the interface frequently froze when they hit connect. Buttons wouldn’t work, menus didn’t open, and the tester wasn’t even able to move the VPN window around their screen. It may have been a glitch or compatibility issue, but it’s definitely worth mentioning that it can happen.

IPVanish’s macOS app is much the same as the Windows app, which isn’t always the case. It was nice to see an overall cohesive design in the Windows and macOS apps; not many VPNs do that. A few minor visual differences exist; for example, Windows uses toggle buttons to activate most features in settings, while macOS may require you to fill a circle. Nothing crazy that would make it more difficult to operate, primarily just aesthetic differences.

The iOS and Android apps are more simplistic, making them more intuitive to navigate.

The iOS and Android apps are more simplistic, making them more intuitive to navigate. You just get a small map, with a connect button dead center, your current VPN IP address and session length below that, and at the very bottom of the window is a labeled menu with home, locations, security, settings, and help icons.

Mobile app location lists are also organized alphabetically, and you can choose a location via the countries or cities lists. It has a search bar at the top, a big green connect button that connects you to the nearest server when you click on it, direct access to double-hop, and a place to save favorite servers – all right there under the Location tab.

Rating: 7.5/10

Why is IPVanish based in the USA?

IPVanish was founded by Mudhook Media (2012), acquired by StackPath (2017), and then changed hands again to Ziff Davis (2019). Its main headquarters is in New York. While that isn’t great news, it doesn’t automatically lend to the VPN being untrustworthy. The US is part of the Five Eyes Alliance, countries that share intelligence (collected in various ways) with each other.

The VPN has undergone two independent no-logs audits, however, and each time it came out clean. No user data is stored, logged, or shared with anyone. That means even if the government or anyone else asks, there’s no real information to share.

IPVanish customer support

You can contact customer support via 24/7 live chat, email, or its official subreddit, and by phone Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm CST. Contact options are clearly listed on IPVanish’s website and in its apps, and the mobile apps even tell you if you click on Phone Support outside of office hours.

Phone support is an increasingly rare offering from VPN companies. As far as I'm aware, Norton VPN is the only other big-name company to do this.

The official subreddit is small, having around 60 contributions weekly. A meager amount next to Mullvad’s 540+, but just enough to provide users with the help they need. Overall, IPVanish makes it easy to get the live support you need.

IPVanish’s website Support Center appears to have a sufficient amount of content, and features an FAQ section, knowledge base, setup guides, and troubleshooting tutorials. It even includes a System Status page, a handy helper that tells you exactly when IPVanish is experiencing outages or running maintenance on specific servers.

Now for the not so great. Although there are 29 articles in the FAQ and Troubleshooting sections, they aren’t very well organized. For example, instead of featuring a commonly asked question about combating slow speeds (not anywhere on the list of questions, by the way) or configuring the VPN on your router (also missing from the list), it leads with ‘System extension blocked in macOS Ventura’. I have a hard time believing the most common question is about an operating system that’s 3-years old and on its way out.

The Troubleshooting section is much the same. Don’t get me wrong, the articles are useful. The same goes for the FAQ section. You can use the Support Center search bar to parse the knowledge base for specific help, but even that can take some detective work.

For example, if you search "slow" in the knowledge base, the top three articles are "How to solve slow speeds," "Slow speeds and what to do about them," and "How to get the best speed with IPVanish for Windows." Which is best? You may have to read through all of them to find the one with the information you need. In this case, it’s the first one, so if that’s your issue, we took the guesswork out of it for you.

Rating: 7.5/10

Can you trust IPVanish?

IPVanish is headquartered in the US and owned by Ziff Davis. While the US is part of the Five Eyes Alliance, that doesn’t automatically make the VPN untrustworthy. There haven’t been any security incidents since Ziff Davis took over ownership in 2019. To bolster trust, the VPN even began performing independent third-party no-logs audits.

Leviathan Security performed an independent audit on IPVanish’s no-logs policy in 2022, finding no evidence of logging that would constitute a violation of its policy. Another audit was performed by Schellman Compliance in 2025, again confirming it was still in compliance with its no-logs policy.

I wasn’t able to see the full results of the audits until I subscribed, though, which is a bit of a disappointment. It seems like that would be something people would want to check out before purchasing a subscription. We’d also like to see audits cover more than the no-logs policy. Top providers, including Surfshark, NordVPN, and ExpressVPN, do regular audits of the entire VPN infrastructure.

I wasn’t able to see the full results of IPVanish's audits until I subscribed, which is a bit of a disappointment

Still, passing no-logs audits is nothing to sneer at. Trustpilot ratings are right up there with PIA, too, with a score of 4.3, which has around the same number of reviews as IPVanish.

Ultimately, ratings are what we’d expect of a decent VPN, mostly positive with a few spatterings of standard billing and technical complaints all VPNs get.

Rating: 9/10

IPVanish review: final verdict

Subscribe if:

✅ You value transparency regarding the use of virtual servers
✅ You require a militant kill switch
✅ You have a ton of devices with varying platforms

Don't subscribe if:

❌ You want a flexible kill switch
❌ You need to use more than one VPN feature at a time on iOS

Alternatives to IPVanish

IPVanish FAQ

How to cancel IPVanish

Canceling your IPVanish subscription is simple if you purchased via your mobile device's app store. Just open your Play Store or App Store account, find your subscription to IPVanish, and cancel.

If you need information on how to cancel on desktop or specific instructions for mobile, check out this helpful link.

Does IPVanish work in China?

The verdict is mixed, however, IPVanish itself says that while it is allowed to do business in China, it can’t guarantee the product will work in all areas.

If you are looking for a VPN for China, I'd recommend checking out our guide to the best China VPNs.

The VPN recommends taking advantage of the 30-day money-back guarantee to ensure the VPN will work in your region by testing it for yourself.

Who owns IPVanish?

Ziff Davis owns IPVanish as of 2019, and the VPN has its headquarters in New York.

How we test VPNs

We have a full explainer on how we test VPNs, but, in short, it goes something like this.

Firstly, we test the sign-up process. How easy is it to pay, and what options are there? From there, we install the VPN on a number of devices, make notes on the simplicity of the process, and whether there are any extra steps that introduce complexity.

Then comes the fun part. We use all the features, running tests to detect any problems like DNS leaks or faulty kill switches. We'll dive into the code if it's available, and see if there are any anomalies we think you might be interested in reading about.

We test the speed – 120 individual tests, daytime and evening – and connect to various servers to get a good idea of how robust the server network is, and what speeds you can expect to get in normal usage.

Streaming comes next. We test a wide range of global and regional streaming services to see how well each VPN can unblock content.

Customer support is also very important. So, if we have any queries along the way, we'll follow the avenues provided to see how well-prepared the support team is. This includes live chat, email, and ticketed systems.

Once we've done all of this, we'll have a good feel for the apps and will have found out if there are any usability quirks, or unique features that we really like.