IVPN

Best for: people who want to independently verify the audit history behind a no-logs claim before they trust it, and who only need core VPN features — not for anyone chasing the biggest server network or built-in streaming reliability.

Pros

• Eight consecutive annual Cure53 audits since 2019, with full reports published (only sensitive details redacted) — one of the most consistent independent-audit cadences we’ve verified
• Multi-hop routing included from the entry-level Standard tier, not gated behind a premium add-on
• Fully independently owned by its founder, with no outside investors
• Account signup needs no email address at all — IVPN generates a random account code, and cash or Monero payment can keep the whole subscription anonymous end-to-end
• Flat, transparent pricing — the Standard tier renews at the same $60/year every year, no bait-and-switch jump
• No affiliate program since 2016, closed on principle after IVPN’s own audit found most affiliates weren’t disclosing paid rankings — this review carries no tracked referral link
• P2P/torrenting allowed on the large majority of the server fleet

Cons

• Small server network relative to mainstream competitors — roughly 77 servers in 40-41 countries per third-party trackers, concentrated in Europe and the UK
• Independent speed tests show real slowdown and added latency on long-distance server routes, not just a modest dip
• Split tunneling is missing on macOS — only Windows, Linux, and Android are supported
• No free tier and no free trial
• Port forwarding was phased out entirely by September 2023, following the same industry trend as some other privacy-focused providers
• Gibraltar’s status relative to Five Eyes-style intelligence sharing is genuinely disputed — IVPN argues UK surveillance law doesn’t extend there, but independent analysts are split given the UK’s control over Gibraltar’s defense and foreign policy
• Streaming unblocking is inconsistent across independent testers and isn’t a stated focus of the service

No-Logs Audit & Real-World Test

IVPN has commissioned an annual Cure53 audit every year since 2019 without a gap — eight in total by mid-2026. The very first, in March 2019, was scoped specifically to verify the no-logs claim itself: Cure53 examined the VPN gateway and authentication servers and confirmed IVPN’s privacy statements as truthful, flagging only a low-impact DNS-caching issue that was subsequently fixed. Later audits rotated scope across different parts of the service — a 2023 audit covered the VPN gateway server directly, a 2024 audit covered the customer website and backend infrastructure — rather than re-running the identical test every year. Full reports are published publicly with only sensitive technical details (like internal hostnames) redacted. An eighth audit, focused on the cryptography and privacy model of the core authentication system, was in progress as of July 2026, with results not yet available.

Pricing

The Standard plan is $6/month billed monthly, or $60/year (a flat $5/month) billed annually — the same rate applies to every renewal, with no introductory-price bait-and-switch. Two higher tiers exist mainly for people who want IVPN’s non-VPN privacy tools bundled in: Plus ($80/year) adds Mailx (email aliasing) and modDNS, while Pro Suite ($100/year) adds the Portmaster Pro desktop firewall app (from IVPN’s 2024 acquisition of Safing) and raises the device limit from 5 to 10. There’s no free tier and no free trial.

Security & Protocols

IVPN supports WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2, with a kill switch (branded “Firewall”) that offers both an on-demand mode and a boot-persistent always-on mode. Multi-hop — routing traffic through two VPN servers instead of one — is included starting on the Standard tier, rather than reserved for a premium plan. AntiTracker blocks ad and tracking domains at the network level. Split tunneling is available, but only on Windows, Linux, and Android — macOS users don’t have the option to exclude specific apps from the tunnel. There’s no dedicated obfuscation protocol built for heavily-censored networks.

Servers & Torrenting

Third-party server trackers put IVPN’s network at roughly 77 servers across 40-41 countries, concentrated in Europe and the UK — a noticeably smaller footprint than larger commercial providers. IVPN doesn’t publish one definitive number on its own site, pointing instead to a live status page. P2P and BitTorrent traffic is allowed on the large majority of the fleet; the one exception is US-based servers (including US exit nodes on Multi-hop connections), which IVPN asks customers to avoid because its American upstream providers have threatened to disconnect servers over the volume of DMCA notices generated by torrenting there. Port forwarding, previously available, was phased out completely by September 30, 2023.

Jurisdiction

IVPN is operated by IVPN Limited (formerly Privatus Limited), incorporated in Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory with its own parliament, legislation, and Data Protection Act. IVPN argues in its own published legal analysis that the UK’s Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act doesn’t extend to Gibraltar, and that the territory therefore sits outside Five Eyes-style intelligence-sharing obligations. That argument isn’t unanimous, however — independent commentary is genuinely split, since the UK retains constitutional control over Gibraltar’s defense and foreign policy, which some analysts read as keeping it within reach of UK signals intelligence in practice. Unlike Sweden’s Fourteen Eyes membership or the Netherlands’ Nine Eyes membership, Gibraltar’s status isn’t a settled classification either way.

Our Rating

Affiliate Disclosure

IVPN closed its affiliate program in September 2016 after its own review found that most affiliates weren’t complying with disclosure requirements, and some were running fraudulent voucher schemes. That means this review carries no tracked referral link and earns PrivacyPick.com nothing if you sign up — it’s here because of a genuinely strong audit history, not because of a commission.

Rating: 8.1/10