Private Internet Access Review 2023

Video Review

More of a visual learner? Check out this video review that our Chief Editor, Gabe Turner, made about Private Internet Access.

About Private Internet Access

Let’s kick off this review with a little background information about Private Internet Access. The first thing you should know: Private Internet Access is a homegrown company based out of Denver. That seems trivial, but a VPN company’s location actually plays a big part in how it protects its users’ privacy. Specifically, a VPN based in the United States needs its privacy policy checked more thoroughly.

That’s because of an international surveillance alliance called the Five Eyes, which is also a part of the larger Nine Eyes and 14 Eyes. This international alliance made a pact that, in matters of national concerns or major criminal investigations, a law should require companies in their jurisdictions to present customer data when mandated by courts. Member countries can also share information with each other. 

The United States is a founding member of the alliance, which means PIA, headquartered in the U.S., is subject to its data collection laws. That’s why other VPNs choose to establish their bases in more privacy-friendly countries like Panama.

That being said, simply being located in the U.S. doesn’t automatically make Private Internet Access a VPN to avoid, especially with its “no-logs” clause in its privacy policy. Essentially, PIA promises not to record any of its users’ activities while connected to the network, including IP addresses and URLs visited. It won’t even measure your data usage.

The “no-logs” policy is critical. Even though Private Internet Access may be compelled by the government to share a user’s browsing data, it has no data to share in the first place.

Here’s what else you should know about Private Internet Access — it has thousands of servers in 84 countries. Although PIA stopped providing the total number of servers it runs, last time it did, it had about 12,000, and that was still in mid-2020. They have also been adding NextGen servers to their fleet. NextGen servers are physical servers fully owned by PIA, which means they have full control over the security of those servers and thus offer more privacy. That’s just perfect if you’re traveling to a country that bans the use of VPNs.

The amount of servers, as well as their locations, matters a ton. You want to be as close to a server as possible for a fast internet connection. If you live in the U.S., you’ll be glad to know that PIA focuses on its U.S. servers specifically, which the company optimized for faster browsing and streaming. At the same time, you want servers in many different countries to access geo-restricted content or to change your Netflix region.

Features of Private Internet Access

There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and the same can be said for VPNs. Sure, all VPNs create a private network that encrypts data and IP addresses, but not all VPNs are equal. Let’s find out if Private Internet Access is up to snuff.

Will Private Internet Access Log My Data?

Private Internet Access emphasizes the fact that it does not log browsing data of any kind. That means whatever you do while connected to the service will not be stored in the VPN server. As we explained above, that is incredibly important especially because Private Internet Access falls under the United States jurisdiction.

That being said, Private Internet Access does collect information when you sign up. According to its privacy policy1, it logs personal information that it needs to maintain user accounts, including:

• Email addresses
• Payment information, but not your full credit card details
• Cookie identifiers
• State or territory of origin and zip codes of users

Of course, data breaches do happen. So even if your browsing data is private, your personal information could still be compromised, which can lead to identity theft. To prevent that from happening, Private Internet Access has put strict protocols in place to make sure only select employees could access stored personal data. Additionally, all the personal information is stored in the United States and is always maintained in encrypted form.

If you wish to learn more about PIA’s privacy policy and practices, check out our Private Internet Access privacy report.

Does Private Internet Access Have A Kill Switch?

A kill switch, otherwise known as a “network lock feature” or “disconnect protection” means that any software or website will shut down automatically if you lose your connection to the VPN. Thus, it stops your internet access from switching to public networks, which would result in your internet service provider (ISP) seeing your entire browsing history.

For example, if you’re torrenting using a VPN and then your VPN suddenly disconnects mid-download, your ISP will see what you’re doing. That could get you in trouble. With a kill switch, your torrent session will stop as soon as your VPN disconnects. We’re pleased to say that Private Internet Access does provide a kill switch with its software.

Does PIA Offer Split Tunneling?

Private Internet Access offers split tunneling on its Windows, Mac, and Linux apps. It’s also available on Android under the guise Per-App Settings. But what exactly does split tunneling do?

Split tunneling creates two separate “tunnels” where your online traffic can pass through. One is the secure VPN tunnel, while the other is a public, unencrypted network. With split tunneling, you can route some traffic through the secure tunnel and the others through the unencrypted network.

Split tunneling can also be useful for:

• Apps, such as some online games that block VPN IP addresses
• Online banking websites that block certain IP address regions
• Streaming services that don’t allow VPNs

What stands out about Private Internet Access’ split tunneling is how much customizing you’re able to do. It offers standard split tunneling, wherein you choose which apps and sites use the public tunnel, as well as inverse split tunneling, wherein you choose only which apps should go through the VPN tunnel.

You can also use split tunneling to make exceptions for specific apps, website IP addresses, docker or virtual machines for Linux, and DNS requests. In our years of testing VPNs, we’ve never seen a split tunneling feature as customizable as what Private Internet Access offers.

Can I Use Netflix with Private Internet Access?

This isn’t actually privacy-related, but it’s no secret that a lot of folks use VPNs to unlock Netflix libraries outside their region of origin. That means if you’re in the U.S., you could possibly access Netflix U.K. Of course, Netflix doesn’t want that, and that’s why it has been working to block IP addresses from VPNs since 2017. Its blocking algorithm is becoming smarter too, making it progressively harder to find a VPN that works with Netflix (and other streaming platforms). 

We tested PIA with Netflix, and fortunately, we were able to access Netflix. That doesn’t mean it will work every time, but for a VPN that doesn’t openly advertise Netflix unblocking capabilities, Private Internet Access works quite well.

Private Internet Access Encryption

To put it simply, encryption changes your text into inscrutable code. It’s what prevents people from accessing your data, the entire point of VPNs. Private Internet Access lets you choose your encryption methods.

Private Internet Access Suggested Encryption

Now let’s talk about what each of these terms mean.

Data Encryption

For the encryption itself, you’ll choose between the Advanced Encryption Standard of 128 or 256 bits. 256-bit is the current standard of the National Institute of Standards and Technology2, while 128-bit is a bit outdated. However, if you want to prioritize speed, which we don’t recommend doing often because of security risks, 128-bit still provides better protection than having no encryption at all.

Data Authentication

Authentication means making sure that the right person is accessing the network.

SHA stands for a Secure Hash Algorithm. What’s a hash exactly? It’s basically a key that VPN servers use to encrypt and decrypt data. SHA uses algorithms that the sender, which is your computer, and the receiver, which is the VPN server, share, so both could decrypt encrypted data.

Hashes are irreversible, meaning you can’t work backward to figure out the algorithm, and each and every hash is unique. SHA-1 was the first version of the algorithm, and as the first pancake in the batch, it’s inferior to later versions. In fact, in 2016, Google found that some hashes from SHA-1 aren’t unique, a huge security issue.3

SHA-256, on the other hand, means that it has two to the two hundred and fifty sixth-power possible hashes. That’s more than a trillion and even more than a septillion.

The more possible number of hashes there are, the smaller chance the hacker has at creating the same hash. So yea, SHA-256 is going to be way more secure than SHA-1.

Handshake

RSA SecurID, named after its founders, is responsible for making sure you are who you say you are and controlling who has access to your data. RSA can use different types of multi-factor authentication, from a push notification to biometrics, to make sure the right person is accessing the software.

There is some debate about the key length among software engineers. In a nutshell, the higher the key, the better the security is. RSA-2048 has 16 percent fewer bits of security than RSA-4096, but 4096 will use more power, particularly on the central processing unit (the brain of the computer). Therefore, the higher the key, the more computing power your VPN will take up.

The question now is, is RSA-2048 still a reliable encryption method? According to latest research, the worst-case scenario is that a 20 million-qubit supercomputer could decrypt RSA-2048 in eight hours.4 However, the fastest supercomputers today have only around 70 qubits, such as Google’s supercomputer built around its Sycamore processor. A 20 million-qubit supercomputer is still a distant dream, so RSA-2048 is far from obsolete.

Aside from the RSAs, you can also choose ECC-256k1, which stands for Elliptic Curve Cryptography. In short, it’s a newer method of encrypting data that performs better than both RSA-2048 and RSA-4096. ECC also uses an asymmetric encryption algorithm and usually outperforms RSAs in terms of speed and memory. Remember, 256-bit is our industry standard for encryption, so if you’re looking for the best, ECC-256k1 is where it’s at.

Private Internet Access Protocols

Protocols determine how VPNs transmit data across networks. Think of them as different routes that you can take to get to a destination. Some routes will be faster than others and some will be safer than others, so Private Internet Access uses a combination of different protocols to achieve both speed and security.

PPTP

Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol, or PPTP, has been in use since the 1990s. Rather than doing the encryption itself, the PPTP creates tunnels that will encapsulate the data packets. It works with a second protocol that will perform the actual encryption. On its own, PPTP is not super secure.

IPSec/L2TP

Think of IPSec and L2TP as Batman and Robin. While L2TP, otherwise known as Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol, generates the tunnel, IPSec handles encryption, makes sure the tunnel is secure, and checks that the data has arrived intact. IPSec, short for IP security, either encrypts only the data packet message or the entire data packet. Together, they create a VPN client that’s highly secure.

SOCKS5 (Proxy)

SOCKS5 is a proxy that will assign you a new IP address before it takes you to your location. While SOCKS requires less bandwidth than a typical VPN, it doesn’t encrypt data and is thus less secure. That’s why Private Internet Access uses SOCKS in conjunction with encryption methods, detailed above.

OpenVPN

OpenVPN is an extremely common VPN protocol. It’s great at bypassing firewalls, an essential quality of a VPN, but it won’t slow down your internet too much.

The reason we love OpenVPN so much is that it’s open-source, not made by a company. The VPN community is constantly tinkering with OpenVPN to make sure that surveillance agencies aren’t tampering with it. Sounds ideal to us.

WireGuard

WireGuard is relatively new, but it quickly rose to popularity because of its speed. Although it’s not as battle-hardened as OpenVPN, many experts believe that it’s a secure VPN protocol with lots of potential.

Currently, PIA is using WireGuard in its base form, but other than PIA, other top brands like NordVPN and Surfshark offer the use of WireGuard. In fact, NordVPN came up with a way to build its own proprietary protocol around WireGuard, called NordLynx, which it touts as being faster than OpenVPN and just as secure.

What Kind of Servers Does Private Internet Access Use?

VPN servers run 24/7 to give users private access to the internet, but lately, there has been a new trend in our favorite VPNs: RAM-only servers.

Traditional servers run on hard drives, and because of how they are set up, they might retain crumbs of data even after your VPN session ends. In contrast, RAM-only servers run on random access memory (RAM) alone. The advantage of this setup is that everytime a server reboots, all the pieces of information it holds will disappear.

Private Internet Access is one of the VPNs that use RAM-only servers, making its server network safer against breaches. It also supports PIA’s commitment to keep its networks log-free.

On top of that, the servers of Private Internet Access are co-located. While they are in server facilities owned by third parties, the servers themselves are owned and managed by Private Internet Access; not just rented like most VPN servers.

Testing Private Internet Access

Now that we’ve given you a pretty detailed overview of Private Internet Access’ technical specifications, we’ll detail how we put this VPN through tests.

Speed Test

The first thing we tested was the speed. All VPNs will slow down your internet a little, but some VPNs offer better speeds than others.

Like all the VPNs, we tested PIA from our Brooklyn office. We tested it both on our Macbook Air and Vivobook running Windows 10, which we both connected to our Optimum network. Here are the results.

Download Speed Tests

Clearly, Private Internet Access had a much larger effect on the Mac’s download speed, slowing it down by a pretty dismal 65 percent. On Windows, however, PIA only slowed down the download speed by 15 percent. Note that there are a lot of different factors that affect download speeds and internet speeds in general, so take these test results with a grain of salt.

Upload Speed Tests

Now let’s talk about upload speed. Again, the Windows performed better than the Mac, with only about a five percent decrease compared to the Mac’s 30 percent. Clearly, Private Internet Access is a better VPN for Windows users over Mac users— but let’s confirm that with latency.

Ping Speed Tests

Ping, another word for latency, is measured in milliseconds, so we’re getting into extreme detail here. Amazingly, Private Internet Access did not create any latency on the Macbook Air, and it only increased latency by about a third on the Windows computer. From these tests, we can conclude that Private Internet Access is a decent VPN for Mac but great for Windows in terms of internet speeds.

DNS Leak Test

A domain name server is basically the URL that you type in when you want to go to a website. Each domain name server, or DNS, stands for an IP address. Think of DNS as a description, like “the big yellow house on the corner,” as opposed to “123 Main Street,” which equates to the IP address.

We want to make sure that Private Internet Access isn’t leaking our DNS outside of the encrypted tunnel. Fortunately, when we tested it, we didn’t detect any leaks. So far, so good!

WebRTC Leak Test

WebRTC allows two web browsers to communicate with each other directly rather than going through a server. It creates faster speeds, particularly when you’re live streaming video, sharing files, or video chatting. However, it does require knowing each other’s private IP addresses, so it’s something to look out for, especially if you use Chrome, Firefox, Opera, or Microsoft Edge.

Just like the DNS leak test, we want to make sure that PIA protects our browsing data, including our IP addresses, from WebRTC leaks. The verdict? No leaks! All in all, Private Internet Access passed our tests with flying colors, save for the Mac download speed.

Private Internet Access Subscriptions

Finally, we’re getting to what many want to hear about all along: Private Internet Access subscriptions and pricing.

Options

With any of Private Internet Access subscription plans, you’ll be able to switch in between an unlimited amount of servers on an unlimited amount of devices. On top of that, you can use it on an unlimited number of your devices. Previously, Private Internet Access had a 10-device limit, but they’ve since removed that restriction.

As you can see, the plans range from a little more than two dollars a month to about 12 dollars a month, extremely affordable. The longer the term length, the lower your monthly cost will be.

Keep in mind that Private Internet Access does offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if you absolutely hate the VPN but you signed up for a two-year plan you can get out of it. This money-back guarantee is similar to the 30-day trial period that comes with every subscription from ExpressVPN, our current top pick.

Private Internet Access Customer Support

There are few things more frustrating than having to call customer support for a technical issue. It could take all the calming yogic breaths not to have a full-on temper tantrum. So when looking at VPNs, we want to make sure the customer support is there before we download anything on our computers.

Features

You can get support from PIA through its online knowledge base, or to get in contact with someone, you can fill out a form or live chat with an agent. The live chat feature was useful, in particular.

There were wait times of a few minutes, particularly on weekdays, but that’s better than waiting for days for email support to respond. More importantly, we got accurate and clear answers to the questions we asked. Unfortunately, there’s no phone support, but we’re more than happy with the support options PIA provides.

The Private Internet Access App

The Private Internet Access app is available on an iOS app and an Android app. The app has great ratings, a solid 4.7 rating from iPhone users and 4.4 stars from Android users. It also appears that PIA does a good job at keeping its mobile apps up-to-date. As one long-time PIA user wrote in his App Store review:

“I am impressed. Everything about the app has been improved, and it works extremely well… This app works in the background very effectively and at a low cost in terms of battery. I can now definitely recommend this service and this app as being top-notch.”

Recap of Private Internet Access

Overall, Private Internet Access is a really solid choice of a VPN with great security features.