As well their unique features, they also offer other incentives to use their service. For example, they allow for 5 simultaneous connections, they offer encryptions up to 256-bit, including Softether, and they have both DNS and IPv6 leak prevention. They are a popular platform and all their features will be disclosed throughout the review.
**Official website: https://www.ivacy.com
Ivacy is an excellent service and has to be one of the best VPNs I have used. It is very underrated and not well-known among the community. They offer a tough encryption, 100+ locations and had fast speeds. They also have a 14-day money back guarantee!
Pricing and Packages
Ivacy price plans are fairly average when you consider the industry averages. Their lowest price is $2.25 per month, which is pretty standard and nothing to jump up and down over. They offer all the same features no matter which plans you decide to go with, which is a nice addition and something that some other VPNs need to start incorporating. As with all VPN plans (aside from a select few), Ivacy’s prices decrease with the more commitment you place on their software. So if you want the cheapest plan, you will have to commit to at least a year of Ivacy. As with the majority of VPNs, Ivacy offers three different plans for users to select. They offer a monthly, annual and 2-year plan, with the 2-year plan being the cheapest. Their monthly plan costs $9.95, with their annual plan costing $3.33/month. For the 2-year plan, you’ll be paying $2.25/month. When I was reviewing Ivacy, they had a special deal going which actually looked very appealing. They were stating that when you bought a year’s worth of their VPN, you got another year completely free. By the looks of it, Ivacy is a bit of a NordVPN when it comes to their deals, so if you buy around the right time, you may get the VPN a little cheaper. They also offer discounts if it looks like you’re about to exit the browser – that’s just a little tip for you.
Payment Options
Any good VPN will offer a range of payment options to its users in order to help them stay private. It is a VPNs job to ensure that their users feel safe online, so their payment gateways should reflect this. In regards to Ivacy, their payment options were extensive and I was impressed with what I saw.
They allow users to purchase the VPN using the standard methods (Visa, MasterCard, and American Express) as well as PayPal. Which is pretty average amongst all online providers. As well as the basics, they also allow for a bunch of alternative methods, including various payment walls and Bitcoin. Seeing Bitcoin as an option is always a good sign and it indicates that the company cares about your privacy. Bitcoin allows for an almost anonymous payment, which some paranoid users might need.
Setup and User-Friendliness
When setting up and downloading the client for Ivacy, it took around 5 minutes and was very easy. They have a “downloads” page on one of the tabs on the site that you can easily find and if you’re in the client dashboard, the “downloads” section will be in a drop-down menu from one of the main tabs. Once you have navigated your way through the installation wizard and all that jazz, you will be greeted with a login screen. Input your details and you’re good to go.
On first impressions, the client was very slick and simple. It actually reminded me of a blue version of ExpressVPNs client, which I very much enjoy. They keep the connection screen very simple, only showing your location with the option to connect or disconnect. At the bottom of the client, you can also see your own IP address.
As for the options and fiddly bit, you will need to click either the three horizontal lines in the top right of the client. This will give you all your settings and configurations. The settings page is very simple also, letting you change your protocols manually. You can select the automatic protocol if you want to have the best speeds and encryption for your ISP. You can also check the IPv6 leak to prevent software and secure your connection with a secure DNS. The kill switch can also be found in this section. You can also find the split funnel feature and your account details in the settings. The split funnel features allow you to select specific apps which you want to be channeled through the VPN. Any apps you don’t choose will go through your ISP as usual.
I loved this client because when you go to choose your location (by clicking your location on the initial screen) you will be given the option to select a location, a city or a purpose. Depending on what you want to use the VPN for, the client will give you a list of optimized servers that will work great with the service you need. This is perfect for torrenters and streamers who need fast servers. No DNS or IPv6 leaks were found on the client and overall, I was incredibly impressed. This client is perfect for all levels.
Locations and Speeds
Although Ivacy is not a well-known VPN, they have an impressive number of servers. They have over 1000 different servers in over 100 locations. As I said, this is very impressive. They even have some servers in very remote places, which some users will enjoy hearing. With all these servers, users truly have a global reach in terms of content, streaming and torrenting. On a quick note about torrenting, Ivacy allows it and has optimized servers for P2P activity, so you won’t get slowed down anytime soon.
Speeds
Unfortunately, Ivacy happens to be one of those companies that claim to be the fastest in the world. I always find this a little cringe, but I suppose if you’re a newbie you wouldn’t have much to compare it to. I decided to put this claim to the test with some basic speed tests. I tested the VPN on a rather slow connection speed of 8mbps/5mbps, but just remember to compare the speeds to the baseline connection. Locations that were tested include the US, UK and EU and the results were very impressive.
When testing the VPN connection on a UK server, the results were very impressive, with the VPN hitting a 7.4mbps on the download with 3.25mbps on the upload. In comparison to the baseline connection, this was very speedy.
When I connected to a US server, similar results were found with good download speeds of 7.55mbps and upload speeds hitting 3.79mbps. Overall, this was very impressive and quite interesting considering I’m based in the UK.
The final test was performed in the EU mainland (Netherlands). Once again, Ivacy performed very well, reaching 7.28mbps for download speeds and 3.75mbps for the upload speeds. In comparison to my poor UK connection, these results were fantastic to see.
Compatibility
Ivacy can be connected to multiple devices in one instance, which is handy if you have multiple devices you need to protect or if you have some friends who you want to share it with. Ivacy allows for 5 simultaneous connections and is compatible with a range of software.
You can connect Ivacy to Windows, Mac, Android, IOS, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, which is all pretty standard. What you can also use is Linux, a router, gaming consoles, blackberry, and even Kodi. If you connect Ivacy to your router, you technically still have 4 connections left, which is a useful tip to know.
Customer Support
The customer support that Ivacy offers is actually very good, and they answered my questions very quickly. They are one of the few providers that offer live chat, which is excellent if you have a few basic questions that need answering. In addition, they also allow you to ask questions via email or to open a ticket. It is rare to find a service that offers three lines of direct communication.
Security and Privacy
Ivacy is a fantastic VPN when it comes to keeping you private online. They run a tight ship and openly state they only use Military-grade 256-bit encryptions with their protocols, which is a nice reassurance. This is currently the toughest encryption on the market and will keep you safe when you’re on public Wi-Fi. They also use RSA-2048 for their authentication, which is slightly behind the RSA-4096 that many other VPNs are a beginner to adopt.
As for their protocols, Ivacy allows for the use of OpenVPN (UDP and TCP), IPSEC, PPTP, SSTP, L2TP, IKEv2 and Softether. They are one of the few service providers whose servers work on Softether, which is excellent for speed and security. They also have both DNS and IPv6 leak prevention, which is a nice addition to stop your IP address from being leaked. As for logs, Ivacy has a strict policy and doesn’t keep any usage logs. It does, however, keep connection logs for 48 hours. Since the service resides in Singapore, keeping logs won’t be an issue because of the slack privacy laws.
Free Trial and Refund Policy
Unfortunately, Ivacy doesn’t have a free trial but they do have a 30-day money-back guarantee, which allows you to try out the VPN for committed fully to their service. However, there are some issues with the service and one of them is that you have to spend less than 1GB of data. This might be an issue for some users.
Conclusion
Although Ivacy is a very big service provider, it isn’t very well-known. They have an impressive network of 1000+ servers in over 100 locations and allow you to connect up to 5 devices. They run a tight ship when it comes to security and even offer users the opportunity to use Softether. However, they don’t openly state this on their websites, probably because it is new and many people won’t know about it. Their customer service is on point and their refund policy allows you to try their service risk-free. Overall, I am impressed with what Ivacy is offering and would happily recommend it.
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