Private Internet Access VPN Review: A low-cost, high-value VPN for everyone

At first sight

Expert assessment

Professionals

• Independently verified no-logs policy
• Unlimited simultaneous device connections
• Incredible number of servers
• Great extra features like multi-hop and split tunneling

Against

• App panel inconveniently located in the lower right corner of the screen by default
• Speeds are ok

Our verdict

Private Internet Access is one of the best VPN services out there. It’s affordable and comes with one of the best feature sets on the market. It has a large global spread of servers, offers a lot of servers and has been updated to allow unlimited simultaneous connections to devices. Speeds aren’t great, but they’ll be fine in most situations.

Price at time of review

$11.95 a month

Today’s best prices: Private Internet Access

VPN for private internet access at a glance:

• P2P allowed: Yes
• Simultaneous device connections: unlimited
• Location of business: United States
• Number of servers: over 10,000
• Number of national offices: 84
• Cost: $11.95 per month or $79 + 3 months free for a 3-year subscription

Private Internet Access (PIA) seems to have been around since the advent of third-party VPNs. Since then, it has been the VPN service of choice for many users thanks to its excellent prices and good privacy guarantees. The service recently made some really promising improvements by raising the device connection limit and submitting to a third-party audit. So with these new updates, how does it compare to the other titans of the VPN market? Let’s dive in and take a look.

Further reading: Check out our roundup of the best VPNs to learn about competing products.

VPN features and services for private Internet access

Sam Singleton

When you first open PIA you’ll notice that it has kept the same UI design since the company overhauled its Windows app in 2019. You’re presented with a simple panel in the bottom right corner of your screen. By default, this panel is locked in that position and you cannot move it. This design decision honestly felt a bit limited and awkward. Thankfully, you can change that in the settings menu, but it’s not obvious at first glance.

Otherwise the Windows app is pretty straightforward. There’s a big on/off button at the top, and below that is the location of the VPN server – clicking that takes you to a different screen where you can view and choose a different country or server location. For countries with multiple location options, you can click a dropdown menu to view all available server locations within that country. And boy is there a lot to choose from. PIA offers server deployment in 84 countries and, while not officially confirmed, is believed to have more than 10,000 servers.

Sam Singleton

Next to each location in the country is its latency in milliseconds, and there’s a heart icon that lets you designate a server as one of your favorites. It also indicates which servers are virtual servers with an icon stating “This is a geolocated region” next to the name. A virtual server is not located within the country itself, but instead assigns an IP address of the country’s location. The transparency here should be commended as not many other VPN providers label which of their servers are virtual or physical.

Overall the server list layout is nice and simple to follow. PIA lets you sort its server list by latency or location name as well. This makes it much easier for people interested only in speed to find the optimal connection, or similarly by name to find the desired location.

Once connected, the app shows your current IP address and the VPN address you are using. This basic information is all you can see in the compact view, but if you click the down arrow at the bottom you can see a lot of extra detail as well. This includes quick connect options with locations such as France, Germany, the US and the UK. There are also tiles for bandwidth usage, a performance graph, data encryption and handshake settings used, and basic settings control. If you prefer to see any of this information in compact view, you can click the bookmark icon on any tile to view it. You can add or remove any of these options as you see fit.

Sam Singleton

Private Internet Access also comes with a plethora of great features like split tunneling, multi-hop, and a kill switch. Split tunneling lets you choose which apps you want to run through a VPN, allowing you to optimize bandwidth for lower-risk activities like streaming or gaming. In fact, PIA has one of the most dynamic split tunneling features we’ve ever seen. Power users can go to town tweaking things like which apps, IP addresses, and DNS requests are allowed to bypass the VPN. It even lets you designate an app-based kill switch, which will only block traffic on specific apps if your VPN connection drops.

Also, following other VPN providers like NordVPN and Surfshark, PIA has added a handy security extra in the form of an ad and tracker blocker it calls MACE. This is something we are seeing more regularly as a means of enticing users with a comprehensive online security suite rather than just a VPN service. You can also opt for an antivirus tool from PIA for an additional fee when you sign up if you like. The convenience of this all-in-one approach is appealing, but in general, standalone antivirus software, like our favorite antivirus suites, will give you more comprehensive coverage and overall security.

It seems that every time we do an updated review of Private Internet Access it has introduced new updates and features and this time is no exception. As of early 2023, PIA now allows for unlimited simultaneous connections of devices, which is increasingly becoming an industry standard. Additionally, PIA is upgrading its servers to NextGen 10 Gbps instead of the 1 Gbps it had in the past. This should significantly increase the connection speed for users in the future.

How is the performance of Private Internet Access VPN?

In our tests, we measured connection speeds to PIA’s servers in five different countries around the world and then compared them to our baseline Internet speed. PIA’s speeds were fine, but they weren’t enough to make it into our top five fastest VPNs. Across all locations tested, speeds averaged 52% of base download speed and a respectable 80% of base upload speed.

Of course, as you’d expect, we noticed that locations closest to our physical location had better average speeds, while server locations farther away were slower. For a top VPN, these averages are a bit slow. NordVPN, one of PIA’s main competitors, has average speeds of over 70% of the base download speed. That said, they’re not terrible, and they should be fast enough for you to stream, game or browse to your heart’s content without noticeable lag – depending on your home internet connection, of course.

As for streaming, Private Internet Access worked flawlessly with all major streaming services like Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. We haven’t experienced any blocked servers, and geo-restricted access has never been a problem.

VPN security and privacy for private internet access

[PIA website services screenshot]

Private Internet access

When you sign up for PIA, it just asks you for your email address. It accepts a good range of payment options including credit card, PayPal, Amazon Pay and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin – there’s even an option to use Bitpay instead of direct wallet transfers.

PIA has been owned and operated by Kape Technologies, a UK-based company formerly known as Crossrider, since 2019. There have been some questions in the past about the somewhat dubious practices surrounding Crossrider. Its browser extension development platform has been used by independent developers to deliver malicious adware and malware to users. Realizing this and facing the backlash, Crossrider shut down the platform in 2016 and renamed it Kape Technologies.

Since this reset and subsequent leadership reorganization, Kape Technologies has grown into a leading provider of digital security software. It has gone on to buy ownership of some of the biggest VPNs on the market today in recent years, including PIA, ExpressVPN, ZenMate VPN, and CyberGhost VPN, as well as Mac antivirus company Intego.

To its credit, PIA has made an effort to ease the minds of privacy-focused users with regular transparency reports. Additionally, it underwent an independent audit by Deloitte in 2022 to review its no-logs policy. Deloitte has confirmed that PIA does not store logs and details that could be used to identify users or their activities. Privacy is one of the pillars of a good VPN service, and this independent audit and PIA’s continued willingness to fight for transparency has gone a long way in rectifying concerns about its parent company’s past.

PIA uses industry-standard AES-256 encryption and supports WireGuard and OpenVPN protocols in the Windows app. There is also built-in DNS leak protection. We confirmed this using a DNS leak test tool and found that our real location information was never leaked when connecting to PIA’s servers.

PIA also uses RAM-only diskless servers, which boot to a read-only image and use RAM modules instead of hard drives. By not storing data on hard drives, RAM-only servers are more resistant to both tampering by hackers and physical breaches. This is also becoming increasingly popular with VPN providers, but it means PIA remains at the forefront of security.

Is it worth it?

Private Internet Access has been in this game for a long time and it shows. Its VPN is well finished with a nice interface, many servers to choose from, and tons of tweakable features. Its continued publication of reports on transparency and straightforward nature regarding user privacy and security is also commendable.

It’s true that speeds may not be the fastest, and its parent company has had its fair share of dubious issues. But that is all seemingly in the past and PIA did her best to show that she is removed from it all anyway. While there may be other services that do just one thing better, PIA stands out as an all-rounder that does everything right. It continues to be a top tier VPN that is only getting better with age.

Editor’s note: Because online services are often iterative and gain new features and performance improvements over time, this review is subject to change to accurately reflect the current state of the service. Any changes to the text or our final review verdict will be noted at the top of this article.