IP Vanish has a decent
amount of servers and features, first-rate security, a strict no-logs policy,
and a repo for speed. But its price is a bit high than most of the popular
VPNs, so, let’s see where it lies on the term of features:
PROS
Waste
spread of servers
Connects
6 devices at once
2
kill switches
Specialist
servers
Moderately
affordable
CONS
Moderately
faster speeds
94
countries
Record
Netflix access
Strongly
supports torrenting
User
friendly app
Speed & Expectations
Today
everyone wants a lightning fast internet, that’s why VPN developers pay high
emphasis on developing really efficient software, especially for internet
speed.
But while
using a VPN, your connection might get slow reason being all the extra efforts and
encryption it has to put into the process, so a decrease in speed is a common
phenomenon with VPNs.
And, of course, you have to know how much
this is going to affect you before purchasing it.
Speed is a tough standard, so let’s see
whether it stands on these three metrics or not:
Download speed: This is evaluated in
megabytes per second (mbps) and a higher number is better.
Note: Download
speed is the ratio at which data is passed from the server to your device.
Upload speed: The ratio by which data is passed
to the server from your device. This is evaluated in megabytes per second
(mbps) and a large number is considered better.
Ping (or latency): Examined by “pinging” the
server, it’s the time duration it consumes to collect and process your request.
This is evaluated in milliseconds (ms) and the least number is better.
We
ran speed tests evaluating each of these metrics at different server locations
around the world. We conducted test without using the VPN to have a clear
baseline to compare the VPN speeds. The baseline examination was achieved using
a 100mbps internet connection in San Francisco.
Speed results
These were the result of our baseline test:
So the average baseline score was:
Download speed: 81.4mbps
Upload speed: 12.1mbps
Ping: 10ms
Next, we connected to an IP Vanish United States server
Download speed: 52.5mbps (35.5% slower)
Upload speed: 11.5mbps (4.7% slower)
Ping: 34ms (240% longer)
Next we tested Europe:
Europe’s averages were:
Download
speed: 37.7mbps (53.6% slower)
Upload
speed: 9.8mbps (19% slower)
Ping: 113.8ms (1038%
longer)
Here’s Asia:
Asia’s averages were:
Download
speed: 22.6mbps (72.2% slower)
Upload
speed: 1.9mbps (84% slower)
Ping:
424.4ms (4144% longer)
South America:
South America’s average was:
Download
speed: 19.9mbps (75.6% slower)
Upload
speed: 9.4mbps (22% slower)
Ping:
152.4ms (1424% longer)
As for Africa, the servers weren’t working at the time of the test.
These numbers won’t bother you if you’re a pro in speed. So,
let’s compare them against some other VPNs to have an idea of how IP Vanish
works against the competition.
First up,
how did download speeds compare?
VPN
US
Europe
Asia
S.America
Africa
IPVanish
-36%
-54%
-72%
-76%
n/a
NordVPN
-40%
-99%
-69%
-58%
-75%
ExpressVPN
-71%
-58%
-64%
-95%
-67%
Avast
-45%
-63%
-72%
-66%
-77%
Windscribe
-44%
-57%
-80%
-98%
-73%
Average
-47.2%
-66.2%
-71.4%
-78.6%
-73%
Download
speeds were more than average for the US and Europe, just a little above
average in the case of South America and just below average for Asia. A.
Actually, IP Vanish had the best scores
for the US and Europe.
Now let’s
take a look at upload speeds:
US
Europe
Asia
S.America
Africa
IPVanish
-5%
-19%
-84%
-22%
n/a
NordVPN
-13%
-46%
-26%
-16%
-70%
ExpressVPN
-9%
-24%
-34%
-72%
-42%
Avast
-13%
-42%
-78%
-70%
-77%
Windscribe
-6%
-17%
-52%
-97%
-53%
Average
-9.2%
-29.5%
-32.4%
-55.4%
-60.5%
Upload speeds are well above average for the US, Europe and
South America, but well below average for Asia, with an 84% reduction in speed.
And
finally latency:
VPN
US
Europe
Asia
S.America
Africa
IPVanish
240%
1038%
4144%
1424%
n/a
NordVPN
34%
1278%
2328%
1560%
2696%
ExpressVPN
98%
965%
2122%
1545%
2461%
Avast
33%
1133%
2465%
1556%
2815%
Windscribe
310%
1018%
1904%
2042%
2782%
Average
143%
1086.4%
2624.5%
1625.4%
2688.5%
IP Vanish
doesn’t perform great with latency. An above average speed for South America,
just a bit high for Europe, below average for the US and extremely slow in
Asia.
Speed (Summary)
IP Vanish
proves its forte in high speeds,
especially for download and upload, However, Africa servers were down in our
testing.
Performance & Features
Till now, we got to
know about the speed of this software, let’s now focus on the main features
that IP Vanish offers to its users.
Number of Servers
It has 1,100 active servers in various locations around the
globe.
However, 1,100 is reason enough for most
average users.
Number of Countries
The servers cover more than 60 countries, regardless of how many
are located in a single country.
Though
some other VPNs provide more, like Pure VPN’s140 if you need some particular
countries.
Number of Connections Allowed
You can connect 10 concurrent devices to a server with the help
of this VPN. Isn’t that awesome?
IP Vanish is quite impressive in this case; most VPNs only
provide 5 connections. This is one of the great distinguishing features that it
offers to its users.
Torrenting Allowed
Yes, it is allowed for all servers. With IP Vanish, unlike a
single server, you can download and share files on a peer-to-peer or P2P
network.
It enables torrenting to every server. There are many VPNs who
have some limitations on torrenting which is another plus point for IP Vanish.
IP Vanish openly supports torrenting which is visible on its website.
Not only this, but IP Vanish also provides different
protocols for torrenting: SOCKS5 proxy which results in incredibly faster speeds (however, it’s less
secure, but still conceals your IP address).
This is the reason behind IP Vanish’s claim – ‘the fastest VPN for torrenting.’
Kill Switch Available
Yes on both – Windows and Mac! IP Vanish gives you the liberty to disable your connection to the network the moment you disconnect from the VPN server. This protects your IP address from being exposed.
However, as with good comes something bad as well – It enables kill switch only with Windows and Mac, very news of disappointment for mobile users.
Though most VPNs don’t even provide any kill switch feature.
Performance and Features (Summary)
IP Vanish beats most of
its competitors in this section and rocking with a whopping 10 connections, and
provides enormous torrenting access with its SOCKS5 proxy. The only downside is
– IP Vanish misses the kill switch feature for mobile.
Privacy & Security
There’s an entire host of vulnerabilities VPNs are conditioned
to, also you’ve to keep an eye on their policies which are in most cases seems
ambiguous. So, this makes us ask the usual question – How secure is your VPN?
First up, we analyzed the following possible vulnerabilities:
Usually, a VPN conceals
your information with applying various encryption processes and protocols;
let’s not indulge in it as this is quite a technical stuff!
IP Vanish provides a plethora of protocols, with having Open VPN and IKEv2/IP Sec, which are regular and extremely secure. They also provide PP2P and LT2P. Not many VPNs give this leverage. Also, the encryption is AES-256, which is also first-rate and used by the US government.