In 2009, Private Internet Access was founded. Private Internet Access is a reliable and well-established VPN company that is well-known for its extensive applications and additional features. In 2019, it was purchased by Kape (also owner of its competitors CyberGhost along with ZenMate), PIA is well-known for its massive network of services. While it’s not disclosed the exact amount however, it’s likely to be at least 10,000, or perhaps even over 35,000 – which is more than the other VPN we’ve tried.
The numbers on paper aren’t worth anything when the service isn’t working in real-life, however. We’ll go over every vital element of our thorough Private Internet Access review – from privacy of the user to streaming – to be sure it’s the perfect VPN for you. All you have to do is continue reading.
Overall
If you just sign for a month, Private Internet Access isn’t hugely inexpensive at $11.95 however it’s lower than a lot of other month-long plans that roll on. If you sign up for a full year, and the price drops to $3.33 per month. If you’re willing to be committed for the long term and want to make a change, the new 3-year plan replaces the previous 24-month plan, making it more affordable with a price of just $2.19 monthly.
PIA is also a great security and privacy credential. It gives you the ability to use OpenVPN and WireGuard in addition to being able to select the level of encryption you want along with handshake and data authentication. These apps are open-source and the kill switch proved completely effective in our testing and the no-logs policy is a good idea, but an independent audit might confirm that.
Speeds varied in our tests. When connecting to OpenVPN from the US We saw an average speed between 190 and 300Mbps. On WireGuard we experienced speeds that topped up to 430Mbps. Although speeds were not great, PIA was neither the most efficient nor the worst, and for a lot of users, the speeds are just enough for the job.
PIA can unblock US Netflix, but several other libraries, including Canada or Japan were not available. In a further improvement from our previous round of tests, PIA adds BBC iPlayer to the list, along with Disney and Amazon Prime Video which were unblockable in a reliable manner. A great thing for those who love streaming. Torrenting is permissible on all servers while the port forwarding feature is specifically designed for P2P sharers.
Desktop applications are simple and efficient, offering easy access to a myriad of other options. One of the most interesting features is the command line utility, which allows you to write scripts that the application follows – a feature that is unusual in the consumer VPN market – as in other features that are useful, such as port forwarding. Mobile apps are also extremely robust, making an excellent change from minimal offerings of a lot of other service providers.
We’re now at one of the weakest points of PIA that is support. The written content is somewhat sparse, however one positive aspect is that although we’ve not had the chance to test the feature yet, live chat support was introduced recently, and it should reduce the time to query significantly.
If you’re looking for a reliable, secure VPN, and don’t really care regarding streaming content, Private Internet Access is an excellent choice which is also affordable when you sign up over three years.
Private Internet Access Pricing
How secure is the private PIA?
PIA is a top privacy app. The applications it offers make use of OpenVPN and WireGuard two of the most modern, secure protocols. OpenVPN utilizes AES-128 encryption as default, however you can increase that to AES-256 through the settings. You can change the handshake and data authentication methods, which include RSA-2048 as well as the RSA-4096. To limit the possibility of DNS leaks, PIA uses its own DNS server, however, it is possible to switch the DNS server for your personal.
If the VPN connection is lost at any point it is possible that your actual location has been leaking. This is why PIA comes with a kill switch that stops your internet connection instantly up to the point that VPN is restored. This feature is available on mobile applications, not only the desktop version and, in our tests, it was working 100% of the time.
All PIA’s applications are open source, which means that developers can look through the source code to look for leaks or bugs. This will give you greater assurance about the safety and security of the software unlike proprietary software that may not have the same level of strict surveillance.
You can install this Chrome extension and you’ll gain additional privacy features, including the removal of ads tracking tools, trackers, and cookies from third-party companies. The extension allows you to join the VPN through the browser’s interface, however this will only secure the traffic you use to your browser. The most appealing feature of this Chrome extension is the bypass listing that allows you to select which websites will not use this VPN and which ones go through it. In addition, the PIA Chrome extension offers a wide range of options for configuration, making it the perfect option for VPN advanced users.
The website of PIA states that it does not keep any records of any kind. It claims that it’s verified as a zero-logging provider. Instead of referring to an independent audit by a third party However, PIA makes these claims on the basis of their Transparency Report – you can find it here.
In essence, PIA is regularly sent court orders, warrants and subpoenas to collect information about its users. The fact that PIA hasn’t given anything away from any request (because there’s nothing in the database to give away in the first in the first place) effectively shows that it doesn’t track its users. This is great news.
However, we need to put this information on faith and we’d like to see PIA take the time and energy to carry out an independent audit to validate the claims one for the record.
How quick is PIA?
Our extensive testing revealed that PIA averaged a connection speed of 2 seconds employing WireGuard in addition to 2.5 seconds using OpenVPN no matter if we connected to remote locations, which is extremely impressive.
United Arab Emirates
- Download Speed: 78.42 Mbps
- Upload speed: 93.17 242 ms Mbps
How effective is PIA to stream?
The most well-known VPN is to switch the location of your computer to allow access to content that is geo-blocked on websites like Netflix and iPlayer. We put PIA through its paces to test what it could do.
First , we tried US Netflix, and PIA definitely impressed us. Each server we tried we were able to block only US-based content. However, unlike the other providers which are specialized in this area, PIA could not unblock specific content only from Canada or Australia, Japan UK, Japan or Australia. For people who aren’t Netflix users, this shouldn’t be too problematic.
BBC iPlayer has often proved to be PIA’s Achilles’ heel. But, it seems to have broken the code, by allowing us to break through BBC’s security and stream content using PIA. A great thing for anyone who finds themselves outside the UK and looking for an Doctor Who binge.
This is another thing added to the list. PIA also achieved success in blocking Disney+ and Amazon Prime during our testing.
In the big picture, PIA is quite an efficient streaming VPN. However, only a few VPN providers like ExpressVPN and ProtonVPN can unlock the whole range of Netflix services, and additional regional Netflix libraries.
What Do Other People Say About It?
Maksym Kurganskyy:
Does everything it’s supposed / advertised to do. As far as I can tell, it directs internet traffic where I’m asking it. Has, as far as I can tell, most if not all of the features of the desktop app. It’s definitely a worthwhile investment for all of my devices. It’s not without minor hitches here and there, but no software is absolutely perfect. (Review for Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra).
Billy Boyle: It’s just a great VPN, really affordable. Zero records, they have been to court a few times and just flat said, we don’t like to keep records. Works perfectly. I found a sale for 3 years for 80 bucks and you can use it on phone, laptop and PC. They are constantly updating them all to stop sites like YouTube that collect data from banning their ip’s.
ParadymShift:
I’ve always been impressed by PIA. It’s truly a fantastic service which I would recommend to anyone that values digital privacy. With no logs and lots of sever locations worldwide to choose from, it’s hard to find a better service for such a reasonable price. If you’re still on the fence, I say GO for fit! Ive had nothing but great experiences and never even needed any customer service. Once, I had trouble with a new feature, but I just turned it off and all was well. Keep up the great work PIA!
What kind of customer service do PIA provide?
If you’d like to make contact with them , you can directly contact them via the chat feature or email support
Final decision
Private Internet Access excels due to its simplicity of use as well as its wide variety of clients and support for torrenting as well as advanced features. It’s also an excellent value when you choose to sign up for the three-year subscription.
It is able to strike the right balance of features and usability with plug-and-play apps that work on every device, with advanced functions like the command-line VPN control as well as multihop servers. And that’s not even including the staggering quantity of available servers.
But, it’s not quite as fast as world-class players such as ExpressVPN and ProtonVPN that are ascending the ranks with regards to sheer ability to perform and the ability to unblock. Although PIA can unlock most geo-blocked content and its speeds are usually good, other providers offer better content unblocking services that are always quick and reliable. In the end, however, it’s a great value and is an option to think about for those who are constantly connected to their tablet or smartphone all day long.
Private Internet Access FAQ:
Is Private Internet Access a good VPN?
Yes, It is a good vpn because it has thousands of servers across almost 80 server locations. Moreover, VPN doesn’t log web activity or IP addresses
What type of VPN is Private Internet Access?
It is for personal use and you can have 10 family members in your membership account.
Does the Private Internet Access VPN keep logs?
No, It does not keep the log.