IVPN review 2024: Cost, features and more (2024)

IVPN review 2024

IVPN is a VPN company with an extreme focus on privacy. You’re able to create an account without even supplying an email address. It doesn’t log its users’ personal information or their VPN activity and its apps are generally easy to install and use.

However, IVPN ranks as the slowest VPN on our best business VPNslist. It also offers a more limited set of apps with no browser extensions or smart TV apps. Based on pricing, performance, and features, IVPN is best for those extremely focused on privacy or looking for a short-term VPN plan for email and web browsing.

IVPN overview & facts

IVPN is a product of Privatus Limited, an internet security company legally based in Gibraltar. While Gibraltar is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, its location puts it outside the jurisdiction of the five eyes, a data-sharing sharing agreement between five major countries.

IVPN is a smaller VPN provider with a small server network (just 77 servers). However, the extreme focus on privacy goes so far that you don’t need to provide an email or create a password when generating an account. You can pay with crypto or cash for a truly anonymous sign up.

Features are somewhat basic, but all necessary tools for most VPN users are present, including support for multiple connection protocols and an option to upgrade to a tier with multi-hop and port forwarding tools.

IVPN pricing

IVPN pricing is competitive and it’s unique in offering one-week subscriptions starting at $2. The VPN provider offers two plans: standard and pro. Both subscription tiers include access to all supported protocols and their antitracking feature and come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Upgrading unlocks more devices and additional security features.

Standard

The Standard plan comes with five pricing options. The one-week option is unique, as most VPN providers offer a monthly subscription as the shortest period. Starting at $2, IVPN is perhaps the cheapest method to get unlimited VPN access for a limited time. The longest plan offered is three years for $140, an average of $3.89 per month.

While longer plans are competitive with the industry for cost, slower connection speeds make them hard to justify unless you’re into their extreme privacy measures.

Pro

The Pro plan includes everything you get with standard, with a few additions. Pro users can connect seven devices at once and get added VPN features for a slight price increase. One-week plans start at $4, making them quite cheap for short-term use. For the longest term, three years, you would pay an average of $6.11 monthly.

However, the more complex use cases that may lead you to choose a Pro plan may be hampered by the slower connection speeds IVPN supports. With an average upload speed of just 5 megabytes (Mbps), you could be waiting a long time when sending large files.

IVPN for teams and nonprofits

Business users may be interested in the Teams plan, a version of IVPN Pro packaged for multiple users. When paying monthly, you’ll pay anywhere from $5 to $9 per month, depending on the size of your team. Annual plans cost from $50 to $90 per user, with lower costs offered to larger organizations.

Nonprofits can get an even bigger discount. If you’re willing to verify your nonprofit status, which is less private than the regular IVPN signup process, you can get a rate of $3 per user per month or $30 per user per year.

IVPN plans

IVPN offers two plan tiers. The Standard plan is suitable for average internet use, such as web browsing and email. The Pro plan is better for power users looking to connect more devices at once or use the two additional features it offers, port forwarding and multi-hop.

Port forwarding allows you to control your VPN connection and only use it with specific applications and devices. The multi-hop feature is designed to promote greater privacy by routing your traffic through multiple servers to further obfuscate your information.

Standard

The standard plan allows users to connect two devices simultaneously with no traffic or speed limits. If you use a laptop and a smartphone, for example, you’re covered by this plan. You can also install IVPN on compatible routers, offering VPN coverage to more devices with one subscription.

When using the IVPN app, a killswitch is available for Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, and some iOS devices. IVPN’s AntiTracker blocks ads, adware, malicious websites, and data harvesting trackers from your connection when activated.

All plans support WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IPSec through the IVPN app or any compatible client. Apps are open source, so anyone can see the source code on GitHub and look for security flaws. With zero logging and some of the strongest privacy features we’ve seen, IVPN Standard is good for anyone who wants the utmost privacy at a competitive price. But don’t expect the blazing fast speeds you get with some larger competitors.

Pro

This plan is best for individuals and small business owners looking for maximum security for their regular internet use with multiple devices or needing more advanced VPN features. For example, if you operate a business server or network-attached storage (NAS), upgrading to the Pro plan could support all of your devices at once, including your phone and computer.

Multi-hop sends your traffic through more servers, which improves privacy but can further slow your connection. Port forwarding gives you fine-tuned control over which connections go through the VPN and how they’re handled. If you don’t know what port forwarding means, you probably don’t need it.

IVPN add-ons & optional features

IVPN isn’t big on upsells and optional features. In fact, the VPN provider has a specific section of its website that explains how it rejects the modern marketing tactics used by its competitors.

Aside from the two VPN plan tiers, there’s nothing else to buy.

IVPN customer support & experience

For the most part, technical support is handled through a series of guides and an extensive help section on IVPN’s website. If you need additional help, customer support is available via email, and according to IVPN, most submissions see a response within a few hours, though it occasionally can take up to a day. No phone support is offered by IVPN, and when we tested its chat support, it was offline with no posted active hours, and pointed us towards its email address.

The lack of customer support may be a turn-off to non-tech-savvy business owners. When you’re experiencing issues with a VPN, it can be a headache, and without technical support, the time it takes to fix the problem is solely on you.

IVPN vs. Mullvad VPN

Mullvad VPN comes with notably faster connection speeds, with an average download speed over three times faster than IVPN. Depending on the IVPN plan, Mullvad VPN is also cheaper.

Unlike most competitors, Mullvad charges a flat monthly rate no matter how long you use the service. It’s always five euros (about $5.30) per month. That’s the same if you pay for a month, a year or a decade, and the price has remained the same since it launched in 2009.

Mullvad has a much larger list of servers and supported countries, with about 10x the number of servers and 10 more countries served. Mullvad uses industry-standard privacy standards but falls short of the measures IVPN takes to keep user information private, like not requiring an email address for sign up.

Mullvad is a better choice for most users thanks to faster speeds and better pricing, but some privacy-centric users may prefer IVPN.

IVPN vs. ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN is one of the biggest and best-known names in the VPN industry. It’s generally more expensive than IVPN but offers a wider range of support for different devices and much faster connection speeds. The average download speed is nearly three times faster with ExpressVPN.

ExpressVPN requires more personal information at sign-up and the cheapest monthly cost is $8.32 with a one-year subscription. However, ExpressVPN offers browser plugins and works in about twice as many countries, making it easier to use and more reliable.

ExpressVPN is more expensive, but you get what you pay for with better speeds, flexibility, and support. But for the highest levels of privacy and modest cost savings, IVPN may still be worth consideration.

Is IVPN right for your business?

IVPN is a strong choice for those who care about privacy more than anything else. If you’re looking for the most private internet experience around, it’s tough to beat IVPN. You can sign up without an email address and even pay in cash to avoid linking your user information back to you.

However, with slower speeds and fewer supported devices, namely a lack of support for browser plugins, IVPN won’t be most people’s top choice. If you care most about speed, cost, or certain security features, you can likely find them with another option, such as Surfshark VPN.

Nonprofits looking for rock-bottom pricing may enjoy IVPN. The basics of what a VPN should do are well covered, and while it’s not blazing fast, it should come with plenty of speed for most business use, such as email, chat and web browsing. It’s also great for ultra-short-term plans starting at just two dollars per week.

But for data-intensive businesses, highly technical users, or anyone who wants the most VPN speed for their money, you’re probably better off with a different VPN subscription.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)