Private Internet Access is an American-based company that has thousands of servers worldwide and is one of the most trusted names in the VPN space.
Why Choose Private Internet Access?
Private Internet Access has secured its spot as one of the most widespread and well-known Virtual Private Networks on the market. Now in its 7th year, this American-based company has thousands of servers worldwide and continues to be one of the most trusted names in the VPN space.
Benefits:
- Very affordable plans (as low as $3.33 per month)
- A plethora of security options, and features including Kill Switch and leak protection
- The privacy policy is great - keeps no logs
- A huge number of servers means a very consistent and reliable connection
- Variety of Hassle-Free Payment Methods to choose from.
(Credit / Debit Card, Paypal, Amazon Pay, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Zcash, Ethereum, Litecoin, Beam. Bitpay, Mint and many more)
Features and Highlights
- Secure VPN Account
- Encrypted WiFi
- P2P Support
- PPTP, OpenVPN and L2TP/IPSec
- 5 devices simultaneously
- Block ads, trackers, and malware
- Multiple VPN Gateways
- Unlimited BandwidthSOCKS5 Proxy Included
- No traffic logs
- Instant Setup
- Easy to use
Pricing and Plans
I had heard through the grapevine that Private Internet Access was one of the most affordable VPNs, and one look at their subscription options confirmed it. Their one-year plan comes out to just $3.33/month, which is half the cost of many VPN competitors. Even their one-month and six-month options are wallet-friendly - $6.95 for a one-month subscription and $5.99/month for 6 months.
Private Internet Access’s pricing is as simple as you can get. Each plan comes with unlimited bandwidth, and access to every PIA feature, such as 5 simultaneous connections and a built-in firewall.
Also, PIA has some unique payment options. In addition to the usual suspects like credit cards and PayPal, they also accept payments using a variety of retail gift cards, from Nordstrom to Starbuck’s.
Tests
Since latency and download speed can – and often do – vary widely from one VPN to the next, one of the first things I do when trying a new VPN is going over to www.speedtest.net. These were my results before and after turning on Private Internet Access.
As far as security goes, our testing revealed no issues. A test on www.dnsleaktest.com showed our IP was masked correctly. And on www.ipv6leak.com, everything worked as intended.
Privacy
And as far as privacy goes, PIA doesn’t keep any logs. So, traffic logs, data transfer amounts, and session times aren’t recorded. This is a big plus since many other VPNs do keep a limited amount of logs.
Final Thoughts
Private Internet Access is one of the most well-known and trusted names in the VPN industry for a reason. The company has one of the best privacy policies, great security features, and a high degree of customization - and it’s all offered at a price that few can compete with. That being said, PIA is probably not the best option if you have high-performance needs, like a large amount of torrenting or streaming. The UI isn’t all that user-friendly either. If you don’t plan on using all of the features, and just want something simple, you may want to try it out before buying. Despite some of these shortcomings, I still highly recommend PIA as a complete and reliable VPN
