We put these VPNs to the test to find out which is the best!
My analysis of PureVPN’s servers showed they’re consistently faster than Ivacy VPN, especially on distant server locations where your data has to travel farther in order to be encrypted. I connected to a PureVPN server in Australia over 10,000 miles away and had a lag-free 1-hour WhatsApp video call with a friend. There were a couple moments of choppy audio, but it was otherwise smooth.
Doing the same test with Ivacy VPN, my screen froze twice for several seconds during the call. I tried again using both VPNs’ auto-connect to let them find the fastest nearby server for me, and both delivered glitch-free video.
For bandwidth-intensive uses, I recommend PureVPN since it has faster and more consistent speeds for streaming, gaming, video chat, and other activities that use lots of data.
| VPN vendor |
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Download speed reduction | 65% (UK) | 40% (UK) |
| Upload speed reduction | 65% (FRA) | 37% (FRA) |
| Ping time to google.com | 391ms | 41ms |
| Average time to connect (sec.) | 18ms | 11ms |
| Unblock successful for |
|
|
| Visit Site | Visit Site |
Speed determines how fast content uploads, so if you're torrenting or streaming, you want the speed to be somewhat identical to your regular internet speed. Since a VPN encrypts your data, it usually takes a bit longer to send your data back and forth, which can slow down your connection. However, if your ISP deliberately slows down your connection (also known as throttling) a VPN might increase your internet speed. Testing a VPN is somewhat pointless because new servers pop up and affect speed. Your speed can also differ according to your location, so your speed test might not match ours. Having said that, we tested the speed in numerous locations to provide you with the average.
With a larger network, PureVPN has more alternative IP addresses to try if certain servers are blocked by apps or streaming services. Having more server choices also makes PureVPN less likely to slow down your connection due to too many users connecting at once. This can cause buffering during videos and lag during games like Call of Duty that will completely ruin your winning streak.
As far as the variety of server locations, I liked that both PureVPN and Ivacy VPN offer a lot of IP addresses in the US, UK, Australia, Germany, Canada, Japan, and India. However, less popular countries are harder to find on Ivacy VPN’s network. During my tests, servers in small countries like Angola and Bangladesh were only available with PureVPN, giving it a much broader global reach.
| VPN vendor |
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Server Locations | 100 | 180 |
| Server Countries | 57 | 141 |
| IP Addresses | 24,000+ | 750 |
| Dynamic Server Switching | ||
| Visit Site | Visit Site |
The ratio of servers to countries is an important factor to look at when choosing a VPN. Only paying attention to location or number of servers can get you in trouble. More servers generally means faster speeds, but if VPN X has a few more servers than VPN Y but twice as many users, VPN X will typically have slower speeds. Ideally, you want a VPN that has a lot of servers in every location. This way you won’t have to worry that server/country that you want will be overburdened and running slow.
I reached out to the 24/7 live chat and email support teams of both VPNs, and I got fast and helpful answers to my questions. I usually got same-day replies to my emails and received live chat answers within minutes.
However, I prefer PureVPN’s customer support because it has forums on Reddit and Slack. While these aren’t meant for typical support inquiries, they let you get insider information about PureVPN and test new features before they’re officially released.
| VPN vendor |
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Email Response Time | 1 | 7 |
| 24/7 Support | ||
| Live Chat | ||
| Knowledge Base | ||
| Video Tutorials | ||
| Visit Site | Visit Site |
We personally test the customer support team of every VPN we review. This means asking technical question through the live chat feature (where applicable) and measuring the response time for email questions. Whether you need to connect to a specific server, change your security protocol, or configure a VPN on your router, finding a VPN with quality customer support should be important to you.
Ivacy VPN has native apps for the most common platforms, and I found all of them easy to use. Setup only took a few minutes. While Ivacy’s installation is more technical on Linux and routers, this is typical of all VPNs.
A pretty significant problem I found with Ivacy VPN’s Mac and iOS versions is that they lack a kill switch and split tunneling. They’re only available on Windows and Android, and I was disappointed not to see them on all of Ivacy’s apps. Without a kill switch, just one connection issue could expose your real location and other private data.
Setting up PureVPN took me less than 5 minutes on Windows and Mac, and 3 minutes on my Android and iOS phones. Connecting to the fastest server is as simple as clicking or tapping the large main button. A simple layout with clear buttons makes it easy to find the menus for additional servers, connection settings, and other options from the main screen..
The big advantage I found is that you get a more consistent feature set with Pure VPN across platforms, with kill switches on all apps including for Mac and iOS. This makes it better than Ivacy VPN if you use these operating systems, since a kill switch is such an essential privacy feature.
