IPVanish Essential
MSRP $89.99
“IPVanish Essential is a low-cost VPN, but it requires tinkering to get the best speed.”
Pros
- Good performance on IKEv2
- Low prices
- Supports unlimited device connections
- Server lists show loads and pings
Cons
- Best speeds require tinkering
- Live chat was hard to access and was slow
- No free version
IPVanish is a low-cost VPN that supports every platform, including Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, iOS, and Android. It recently joined a growing list of leading VPN services that even work with Windows on Arm, so you can protect your privacy on the latest Snapdragon Elite X laptops.
Broad support is great since you need cybersecurity on every device you use to browse the web. Equally important, you want a VPN that won’t impact internet speeds.
I checked IPVanish’s pricing, tested its download speeds at servers around the world, explored its features, and tested customer service responsiveness to find out if it’s a good solution for your needs.
Specs
| IPVanish | |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, iOS, Android |
| Devices | Unlimited |
| Support | 24/7 live chat |
| Free version? | No |
Tiers and pricing
IPVanish has simple pricing with only two tiers: Essential and Advanced. You can choose a monthly, annual, or two-year subscription period and longer terms offer more savings.
IPVanish Essential is $13 per month, $40 per year, or $53 if you pay for two years of service. Advanced costs about $1 more for each month, adding a secure browser extension, 1TB of cloud backup storage with sync, and phone support.
If you pick the longest subscription term, the average monthly cost is a little over $2 for Essential and $3 for Advanced. That makes it one of the best VPN deals you can find.
Design
IPVanish has a nice, modern design. It opens with a map, showing worldwide server locations as pins. I can zoom and drag the map to find a location or select the location button in the left sidebar to browse and search the entire list.
The list shows server loads so I can find one that has enough capacity available to offer good speeds. I was pleased to see most servers has less than a 20% load.
The settings tab let me set up split-tunneling so some apps and domains run at full speed, while others use the VPN for maximum privacy protection. I can also switch VPN protocols to WireGuard, IKEv2, OpenVPN, or let IPVanish automatically choose the best option.
Features
The most basic function of a VPN is protecting your privacy, and IPVanish Essential did a good job of hiding my IP address and location without any detectable leaks. However, the best free VPNs safeguard your identity just as well.
To stand out, a VPN should offer enough worldwide servers to handle its customer base without any significant slowdowns. In my initial tests of IPVanish Essential, I was disappointed with sluggish performance when connecting to nearby U.S. and Canadian servers, even when I chose a low-load server.
For example, I got a 73Mbps download rate, which is just 8% of my usual 900Mbps pace without a VPN. I noticed the app chose WireGuard, which is often the fastest VPN protocol.
I switched to IKEv2, and that made a huge difference, reaching 514Mbps downloads and 65Mbps uploads at a close U.S. server with an average latency of 37ms. The server in Canada leapt from a miserable 5Mbps to acceptable 224Mbps downloads and 41Mbps uploads.
I found IPVanish’s IKEv2 connections were faster for most overseas servers as well, reaching over 400Mbps download speed for France and Germany, while the best U.K. rate was a decent 92Mbps. Pings were around 115ms and uploads were about 4Mbps, which is normal for distant servers.
Unlike my earlier SpeedTest results, Australian servers offered the best performance when I chose the WireGuard protocol, scoring an impressive 178Mbps download speed for a location so far away.
Support
IPVanish claims 24/7 support, so I tested that by opening a chat. It was in the afternoon on a weekday. A chatbot replied quickly to my question about whether ping or load was a more important metric. The AI noted both affect performance in different ways and gave me a link to learn more.
When I asked for a live agent, the AI told me to select the “Live Chat” button on the support page. I left the chat and looked around in case I missed something.
I opened the chat with the button at the bottom right and asked again for human assistance. This time the chatbot asked for my email address, then gave me a link to an IPVanish support article that contained the missing button for live chat.
After finding the live chat option, it was disappointingly slow. I was supposedly in “Queue position: 1″ but it took over 30 minutes get a response.
IPVanish has a helpful AI, but live chat was much too slow. If you anticipate needing personal assistance, CyberGhost was among the best for fast, friendly support.
Privacy and security
IPVanish’s privacy policy states clearly that it doesn’t sell or rent your personal information to third parties. However, it allows sharing “where our services use third party advertising.”
I didn’t see any ads in the app and haven’t noticed a rise in spam. Still, the privacy policy isn’t clear about third-party sharing.
Like other leading VPNs, IPVanish honors legal requests for data. It’s based in the U.S. which is part of three major intelligence alliances that share information with other countries. That said, if user activity isn’t logged, that data can’t be shared.
There’s no record of security breaches, and IPVanish has independent audits to verify its security protocols and no-log policy.
Is IPVanish right for you?
Overall, IPVanish’s speeds were good, particularly for European servers. However, I had to tinker with my connection protocol to get the best results. The app’s automatic protocol always chose WireGuard, even when IKEv2 was significantly faster.
If you don’t mind fussing with settings a bit, the price is right and the cost doesn’t skyrocket when it’s time to renew. There’s no limit on simultaneous connections so it’s a good choice if you need a VPN on several devices.
That said, there are faster streaming VPNs that offer great speed with no hassle. Premium VPNs like NordVPN offer more features, while Surfshark beats IPVanish’s performance while matching its prices.
While it has malware and ad blocking that work well, neither IPVanish plan matches the robust malware protection of high-quality antivirus software. The 24/7 live chat proved to be hard to access and slow.
IPVanish Essential offers great value for the price, but there are some issues that make it hard to recommend. It’s a good idea to research the best VPNs before selecting a long-term subscription.
