PureVPN vs IPVanish comparison in 2024

If you’re looking for a decent yet affordable VPN provider, then you should definitely consider PureVPN and IPVanish. Both VPNs come with an amazing number of servers and advanced security features. They also allow streaming and torrenting.

However, only one of them is the winner of this PureVPN vs. IPVanish comparison. So, let’s find out which one is that. We’ll be looking at price, speed, device compatibility, the level of security, and many more aspects.

PureVPN vs IPVanish: specifications

In order to discover the winner of this comparison, we’ve tested and reviewed a few essential aspects. And we found that PureVPN is more secure, offers a broader server network, is better for unblocking streaming platforms, and is far cheaper in general. Therefore, PureVPN is our winner!

PureVPN vs IPVanish: pricing

When it comes to pricing, both VPNs offer basic plans and additional features for extra costs. However, PureVPN is the more affordable option. Plus, it comes with a slightly longer money-back guarantee and a great payment option selection.

PureVPN pricing

Before you purchase PureVPN, you can try its 7-day free trial. However, the free trial is not entirely free; you still need to pay $0.99. Luckily, you will have a risk-free experience as PureVPN also offers a 31-day money-back guarantee. Now, let’s have a look at its plans:

• $12.95/month for one month
• $3.70/month for one year
• $1.99/month for two years and three months

More so, PureVPN comes with various methods, enabling purchases with a credit card, PayPal, CoinGate, PaymentWall, and Bitcoin. What’s more, cryptocurrency purchases result in anonymous payments.

Furthermore, PureVPN offers security bundles too. These are bought separately and include:

• PureKeep. A password manager for $0.99/month.
• PurePrivacy. A tracker blocker and data breach scanner for $2.49/month.
• PureEncrypt. An encrypted file vault and cloud storage for $1.29/month.
• DDoS protection. An extra layer of security against distributed denial-of-service attacks for $3.99/month.

IPVanish pricing

Like PureVPN, IPVanish provides a 7-day free trial for iOS and Android users. However, this free trial is really free. The service also insures subscriptions with the 30-day money-back guarantee. The plans are a bit pricier, though:

• $12.99/month for one month
• $3.33/month for one year
• $2.19/month for 2 years

For payments, you can use your credit card, PayPal, Google Pay, and Amazon Pay. The fact you can’t pay with cryptocurrencies is disappointing since IPVanish is a security and privacy-oriented VPN.

Speed comparison

In our speed comparison part, IPVanish is the winner. Over the years, PureVPN expanded its server fleet and now has 6500+ servers in 71+ countries. However, during our tests, it showcased slower speeds than IPVanish.

IPVanish, on the other hand, has a smaller server fleet – 2200+ servers in 51+ countries but provides some impressive speeds. This is mainly due to its amazing WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, L2TP/IPSec, and SSTP protocols.

Keep in mind that PureVPN also comes with WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, L2TP/IPSec, PPTP, and SSTP protocols, but many of its servers offer only virtual connections, which overwhelm its servers.

PureVPN vs IPVanish: which is more secure?

Security is an essential aspect of each VPN, and luckily, both VPNs provide robust features. However, PureVPN has a slight advantage over IPVanish. But let’s have a look at what they have in common first:

• AES-256 encryption
• Kill switch
• IP and DNS leak protection
• Audited no-logs policies

What pushes PureVPN as the more secure option is its jurisdiction – The British Virgin Islands. Furthermore, it employs a stronger hash key.

Privacy

Having a VPN located in a security-friendly country is a must so your personal data remains safe. Therefore, PureVPN is the better option. Its headquarters is in the British Virgin Islands, which are out of the Five-Eyes Alliance.

On the other hand, IPVanish is located in the US and is part of the Five-Eyes Alliance. In other words, your activities will be under government surveillance, meaning your traffic is not entirely encrypted.

Logging

IPVanish has an independently-audited no-logs policy, which is great. However, this VPN provider collaborated with the FBI and disclosed personal user data in the past, making it not so trustworthy. And the US jurisdiction and lack of RAM-only servers certainly doesn’t help.

PureVPN also has an independently-audited no-logs policy, which proves its validity. Being based in a privacy-friendly location also gives it brownie points, but what we’d really like to see is a switch to RAM-only hardware sometime in the future.

Servers location

If we consider their server networks, PureVPN certainly offers more. It comes with 6500+ servers in 71+ countries but doesn’t own all of them. But with such an abundance of connection points, you’re not gonna run into network congestion problems on the VPN side.

On the other hand, IPVanish has fewer servers, 2200+ in 51+ countries, but owns and runs all of them. And there are no virtual servers, which does boost speeds somewhat.

Therefore, in this round of our IPVanish vs. PureVPN comparison, IPVanish is slightly better.

Features comparison

Regarding features, both VPN providers offer a wide range of them, so it’s a close fight. However, PureVPN is a bit better as it offers some necessary features that IPVanish lacks.

Split tunneling

Split tunneling allows you to control which apps use the VPN and which don’t. Luckily, if you go for PureVPN, you will enjoy this feature on all of your leading OS, such as Windows, Linux, and macOS.

On the other hand, IPVanish also comes with split tunneling, but it’s a bit more limited. You will only get this feature on Android and Fire OS devices.

Obfuscated servers

Obfuscated servers are a must if you want to hide that you’re using a VPN and bypass all online censorships. Especially in countries that restrict or outright ban such technology.

Fortunately, both PureVPN and IPVanish offer this feature. As a result, you can use both VPNs and unblock any kind of online activity globally. For PureVPN, they have Obfuscated servers, and for IPVanish, you have to enable the Scramble OpenVPN traffic option.

Kill switch

The kill switch is one of the most crucial features, as it jumps in when your VPN connection fails.

During our tests, both PureVPN and IPVanish performed pretty well regarding this feature. They both offer the kill switch, and it turns on automatically.

However, IPVanish is a bit better as it provides customization options, such as blocking LAN traffic, which is essential for safe browsing on public Wi-Fi networks.

Specialty servers

In this case, only PureVPN offers a plethora of specialized servers for specific needs:

• Quantum-resistant. Incorporates quantum-resistant encryption keys so they are technically much more secure.
• Dedicated IP. Costs $0.99/month, these are meant for clients who bought a dedicated IP, a VPN address only a single user can utilize.
• Streaming-optimized. The bypass geo-blocks more efficiently and facilitate seamless video streaming.
• Obfuscated. Removes all of the VPN information from your data packets, letting you bypass Deep Packet Inspection (DPI).
• P2P. Boosts P2P file-sharing speeds.

Other features

PureVPN also offers port forwarding and Wi-Fi security while IPVanish throws in a SOCKS5 proxy and the VIPRE antivirus for free. As such, the former is more oriented towards versatility while the latter prioritizes security-focused features.

Netflix and streaming comparison

Most people use VPN providers so they can freely bypass geo-restrictions and stream their favorite platform. If this is your main reason, then PureVPN is a much better option!

PureVPN effortlessly unblocks Netflix US and other popular streaming platforms, such as YouTube TV, HBO Max, Disney +, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, and Amazon Prime Video.

On the contrary, IPVanish allows you to stream Netflix US only on three servers (Chicago, Las Vegas, and Dallas) and isn’t effective in unblocking other streaming platforms. We’ve managed to access Disney+ and BBC iPlayer, but after much effort and repeated tries.

Device compatibility

In the battle for better device compatibility, the win goes to PureVPN. This service supports many more platforms, comes with browser extensions, and you can manually configure it on many systems. Let’s dig deeper!

Desktop applications

PureVPN and IPVanish offer dedicated clients for Windows and macOS. The biggest difference between the providers is that the latter comes with a server map, which makes picking connection points easier.

PureVPN’s applications are sleek and very similar design-wise to, surprisingly, NordVPN’s desktop apps. Thus, they are sleek and easy to use, which is beneficial for first-time users. What we’ve noticed, though, is that only the Windows app comes with split tunneling. Other than that, both OS versions are equally secure.

IPVanish’s clients are pretty straightforward, too. And yet again, the macOS version lacks certain features available on Windows. Namely, split tunneling. We’re starting to see a trend here.

Of course, the services also include an app for Linux. But only PureVPN comes with either a CLI or a GUI.

Mobile applications

If you want to use a VPN on your mobile device, you can do that with both VPNs. Yet again, IPVanish’s clients come with a server map, while PureVPN mostly stays the same. And, of course, the Android apps are equipped with more functionality than the iOS ones.

PureVPN’s Android application includes different server modes and a bigger tunneling protocol selection. In the meanwhile, iOS lacks split tunneling and the internet kill switch is missing, too.

IPVanish’s iOS application also lacks split tunneling. What’s more, it also doesn’t have the Scramble OpenVPN traffic option, making it less ideal for those that want to bypass restrictive firewalls.

Torrenting

Torrenting is another essential use of any VPN since many ISPs tend to block torrenting traffic. VPNs, naturally, help prevent this by masking all traces of it. And it’s even better when services include features meant to boost P2P. Therefore, the winner in this round is IPVanish.

IPVanish is the better option as it enables torrenting everywhere, while PureVPN allows it only in countries where it’s legal. In addition, IPVanish also offers a SOCKS5 proxy, while PureVPN doesn’t. Unfortunately, this is quite a drawback, as the proxy adds an extra security layer to your P2P files. And don’t forget IPVanish’s superb speeds, which are better fitted for seamless torrenting.

China

Surpassing the Great Firewall of China is an amazing ability since it’s one of the toughest firewalls out there. And with the Chinese government constantly upping the restrictions, not any run-of-the-mill VPN is capable of bypassing the strict Deep Packet Inspection (DPI).

While both VPNs have obfuscation methods that mask your VPN usage, only PureVPN is effective in bypassing this extreme level of online censorship. Yes, the Scramble option might be useful against smaller firewalls, but it’s not powerful enough in this case. As such, PureVPN is the obvious choice.

Customer support

In the last round of our IPVanish vs. PureVPN comparison, the clear winner is IPVanish.

Both VPN providers offer 24/7 live chat, email support, ticketing, knowledgebase, FAQs, and other guides that are helpful. But IPVanish has one significant feature that other VPNs lack – a phone line. Just keep in mind that it’s only available in the United States of America, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Spain, Australia, Brazil, and Germany.

PureVPN vs IPVanish – which is better?

We must confess this comparison has the closest outcome we’ve ever encountered. Although both VPNs seem pretty great, they both have some advantages and drawbacks. However, the overall winner is PureVPN!

This VPN offers more affordable VPN plans, better security features, a more extensive feature range, and superb streaming and device compatibility. These are the most crucial aspects of every VPN. And yet, if torrenting and speeds are more of your thing, then give IPVanish a try.

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You may also like to read:
PureVPN Review
IPVanish Review
PureVPN vs NordVPN
PureVPN vs VyprVPN
IPvanish vs CyberGhost

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FAQ

Is PureVPN better than IPVanish?

Yes, PureVPN is better than IPVanish. It has a slight advantage over IPVanish as it comes with better security and overall features, unblocks more streaming platforms, is more budget-friendly, and is compatible with more devices.

Which is faster – PureVPN or IPVanish?

Surprisingly, IPVanish is faster. Although it has fewer servers, the fact that all of its server locations are physical delivers faster and more consistent, stable connections.

Can a VPN be traced?

A well-secured and reliable VPN cannot be traced. However, a free VPN or one that's prone to IP and DNS leaks could be traced back to you. Additionally, some VPNs even collect an excessive amount of personal data.