Private Internet Access Review 2024 — Expert Tested

Video Review

Want to see Private Internet Access in action? In this video review, our Chief Editor, Gabe Turner, gets hands-on with the product to see how it performs.

How We Tested Private Internet Access

We started by researching Private Internet Access. It’s not that we’re not familiar with this VPN, but it has made several upgrades since the last time we tested it. For example, it expanded its subscriptions so that you only need one for all your devices. There was a 10-device limit previously, but with that change, we were able to install and use Private Internet Access on 14 office computers and several more mobile devices.

The main devices we used for the tests though were the following:

• Acer laptop running Windows 11
• MacBook Air running macOS 14
• Android 14 smartphone
• iPhone 14 Pro Max running iOS 17

Next, we used and lived with Private Internet Access for the following two months. We did have a list of things to test, but we also wanted to find out how PIA VPN fits into our lives. So we went about our normal everyday lives browsing, using social media, downloading stuff, and working on our computers and other devices. When we felt that we had a good handle at how PIA VPN works, we started writing this review.

Let’s start our assessment with its features.

Does Private Internet Access Have the Necessary Features?

The first thing we checked was whether Private Internet Access has the necessary features of a VPN. In our expert opinion and based on countless VPN tests we’ve performed, those necessary features are:

• A “no-logs” policy
• A kill switch
• Split tunneling
• Reliable protocols and strong encryption
• VPN servers spanning the globe

Let’s dig deeper into each of them and discuss our firsthand testing experience.

Private Internet Access Logging Policy

We’ve seen a lot of VPNs promote no-log policies. But once we start diving into the details of the privacy policy, we uncover references to the capture of specific types of data. It could be websites you visit and your originating IP addresses. When we tested Surfshark, we learned that it records IP addresses. However, it deletes that information 15 minutes after you disconnect.

The good news is we didn’t find anything shady with Private Internet Access. The only identifying data it records is your email address, payment information (for auto-renewal), and your country of origin so they can charge you the correct tax amount. PIA VPN does capture some anonymous statistic metrics, but this is no different from other VPNs we’ve tested, like NordVPN. This data is often used to improve VPN performance,

>> Check Out: Best No Log VPN Services of 2024

We also liked that Private Internet Access has an opt-in/opt-out option for the collection of connection statistics like device IDs, connection source, and protocols used. In contrast, most other VPNs don’t give users a choice and log those anyway — for example, as mentioned above, Surfshark logs device IDs and even IP addresses from all users.

You don’t have to do anything though. We checked the Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS apps, and all of them are opted out by default.

>> Compare: Private Internet Access vs. Surfshark VPN

Kill Switch

After making sure that Private Internet Access passed our privacy standards, we tested the app next, going straight to the kill switch.

A VPN kill switch is a privacy contingency built into some VPNs that allows them to lock a device’s network in the case of a lost VPN connection. This prevents data leaks. Rather than letting the device switch to an unencrypted connection, compromising its privacy, the kill switch simply locks the device out of the internet.

We got a pleasant surprise when we checked out PIA’s kill switch. We learned that it now has two variations of the feature — regular and advanced.

• Kill switch: This activates when the VPN loses connection unexpectedly, but not when you turn off the VPN manually. We recommend using it if you’re a casual user to prevent traffic from leaking when the VPN suddenly disconnects.
• Advanced kill switch: This activates whenever the VPN is not connected, including when you turn it off manually. We recommend it for those who want an always-on VPN.

We use both types of kill switches depending on the situation. For example, on our personal laptops, we have the regular kill switch. But for our work computers, we prefer the advanced kill switch. We’ve made it a practice to always connect to a VPN for security. We recommend businesses to do the same; in fact, we recommend PIA because it’s one of the top VPNs for businesses.

Split Tunneling

Split tunneling is a must-have for a personalized VPN experience. Essentially, it creates a second tunnel beside the encrypted VPN. The second tunnel is unencrypted, so it will let you use some apps or visit some websites as if you’re not connected to a VPN, while keeping all your other activities private.

We loved Private Internet Access’ split tunneling because it offered more customizations than other VPNs. To give you some context, when we tested ExpressVPN, it only let us use split tunneling on a per-app basis. That meant we chose apps that would use the unencrypted tunnel, so if we chose Chrome, all our Chrome traffic would be unencrypted. With PIA, we had the option to exclude IP addresses as well, even IP addresses of websites, servers, and other network-attached devices.

One example? Our office Wi-Fi printer. We keep all our computers connected to the VPN, but unfortunately, our Wi-Fi printer doesn’t work well with VPN-connected computers. Instead of turning off the VPN every time we print our reports, we looked up our printer’s IP address and excluded it from PIA. That way, our computers would know to communicate with the printer outside the VPN tunnel, and it worked like a charm.

We also want to highlight that PIA is the first VPN to reintroduce split tunneling to macOS (11 and up). No other VPN we tested has offered split tunneling on macOS since it became erratic due to a networking update from Apple. Make sure to download the macOS app version 3.5.5 or later to enjoy the feature.

>> Related: The Best VPNs for macOS

Protocols and Encryption

Now we’re entering the more technical aspects of Private Internet Access — protocols and encryption. You’re about to read some tech jargon related to encryption, so please bear with us. We’ll try to explain everything in terms everyone can easily understand.

Think of the VPN protocol as the engine that makes the VPN run. It’s a series of rules and processes that enable the VPN to route traffic privately from your device, via the VPN server, and to the internet. Your protocol of choice dictates how fast and secure your connections will be.

Here, PIA offers two options: OpenVPN and WireGuard. These are widely used protocols that offer top-notch privacy and impressive speed.

We recommend using PIA’s OpenVPN protocol on computers because it’s more robust than WireGuard. It was with OpenVPN that we were able to adjust the encryption level between 128-bit and 256-bit AES — the former is weaker but faster, perfect for gaming and streaming, while the latter is stronger for tasks that require absolute privacy.

On the other hand, we recommend WireGuard for mobile devices. PIA implemented WireGuard flawlessly, taking advantage of its speed and agility to enable quick connections. On both Android and iOS, we were able to establish WireGuard connections in under a second after pressing the “connect” button, making it ideal for on-the-go privacy. We don’t know how PIA did it, but most VPNs we tested needed three to five seconds to connect.

>> Also See: The Best VPNs Apps for iPhones

Private Internet Access Servers

Lastly, let’s talk about PIA’s servers. The company doesn’t disclose how many servers it has exactly, but after checking its server menu, we confirmed that it has servers in at least 91 countries.

For context, here’s how servers from other VPNs span the globe, with PIA sitting somewhere in the middle:

• NordVPN: 111 countries
• ExpressVPN: 105 countries
• Surfshark: 100 countries
• Hotspot Shield: 80 countries
• PureVPN: 65 countries
• UltraVPN: 60 countries

It wasn’t just about quantity though; PIA also invested in quality.

• 10 Gbps ports: Each server has at least one 10 Gbps port optimized to handle large amounts of traffic without sacrificing speed. The industry standard is 1 Gbps.
• RAM-based servers: All PIA servers run on RAM only. It’s the new gold standard among the top VPNs, offered by the likes of NordVPN and ExpressVPN. RAM-based servers offer better privacy because data is wiped after every reboot.
• Co-located servers: Some of PIA’s servers, while located in server farms, are owned by PIA itself. That gives the company better control over their privacy and performance.
• Streaming-optimized servers: PIA also has servers in different countries like Japan, Italy, the U.S., Canada, and Australia, which are optimized for unblocking streaming content. That said, these servers didn’t always work during testing. The Japan streaming-optimized server, for instance, was detected by Disney+ and Prime Video.

>> Other Options: The Best Netflix VPNs

Private Internet Access Performance

Private Internet Access had a near-perfect run in the features department, but we saw some holes in its performance, especially when it came to speed. Let’s get right to it.

Speed on Different Platforms

Let’s start with the positives. No matter which device we used, we observed really good download speeds from Private Internet Access. We tested it on a Windows 11 laptop, a MacBook Air running macOS 14, an Android 14 smartphone, and an iPhone 14 Pro Max with iOS 17. Our connection was a 300 Mbps fiber optic line capable of symmetrical speeds, which means we get roughly the same download and upload speed. That’s important; you’ll see why later on.

For the download speed, we first did a test with the VPN off to establish a baseline, and then took another speed test with the VPN connected. We did this for every device, connecting to a server in Australia every time.

Because of the different baseline speeds, we measure a VPN’s performance by looking at how much speed we lose after connecting to it. And as you can see, Private Internet Access kept the loss to below 10 percent, which is much lower than other VPNs. For example, when we reviewed UltraVPN, it averaged a download speed loss of a whopping 67 percent. PIA’s low download speed loss puts it in an elite class alongside some of the fastest VPNs.

>> Compare: Private Internet Access vs. NordVPN

Now onto the bad news: While PIA did a wonderful job keeping our download speed high, we can’t say the same about upload speeds. Here’s how it fared in those same tests:

Were those upload speeds terrible? Not in the least. It still let us play online games on our mobile phones lag-free and upload to our YouTube channel on our laptop, but the upload speed loss was considerably higher than that of the download speed — and we have a symmetrical connection. If you’re using cable or satellite internet, which often have lower upload speeds, Private Internet Access might not be the best choice as it will only further amplify the difference in your upload and download speeds.

The only exception, we’d say, is if you’re mostly using a Windows device. It was the only platform where the upload speed loss remained below 20 percent. We listed PIA as the best Windows VPN in our 2024 VPN ranking.

>> More Information: The Best Windows VPNs of 2024

IP Leak Tests

Our next set of tests focused on security, specifically preventing IP address leakage. Hiding your IP address is one of the main jobs of a VPN. That’s why every VPN we vet has to pass DNS and WebRTC leak tests.

• DNS leak test: This tests if DNS requests made from a VPN-connected device go through a private DNS server. Otherwise, if the requests are going to a public server, it’s possible for your internet provider to see your browsing activity and real IP address.
• WebRTC leak test: This tests how well a VPN prevents your browser’s WebRTC feature from leaking your IP address. All major browsers use WebRTC to streamline features like video chatting and livestreaming, but hackers can also exploit the feature to access your IP address.

We didn’t find any leaks. For the DNS leak test, the tool we used only detected the public DNS server in Australia, which is where our VPN server was. It didn’t detect our internet provider’s public DNS server. For the WebRTC leak test, no IP addresses were detected at all. Private Internet Access passed both, although again, we expect nothing less from any of the top VPNs.

Streaming

In our annual VPN consumer study, we learned that 28 percent of VPN users have a VPN in order to access nonlocal streaming libraries. In short, they use VPNs to access Netflix libraries of other regions and other streaming services. We tested Private Internet Access’ capability to do that, too. Unfortunately, it wasn’t 100 percent reliable.

As we mentioned earlier, the Japanese streaming-optimized server failed to unlock Disney+ and Prime Video, but it did work on Netflix and Crunchyroll. However, on the Australian server, Netflix only showed us internationally-available shows, which means it detected that we were using a VPN.

We want to point out that Private Internet Access made our roundup of the top VPNs for streaming because of its U.S. servers. It has more servers in the U.S. than any other VPN. It has servers in every state! Our top-pick streaming VPN, NordVPN, only has servers in eight states. On top of that, PIA has optimized servers for the West Coast and the East Coast. So for streaming U.S. content from the likes of Hulu, YouTube TV, and Peacock, PIA VPN is the best option.

>> Learn More: The Top VPNs for Hulu Streaming

How Was the User Experience?

Despite the minor performance hiccups, we loved the overall Private Internet Access experience. You can tell it was created with the user in mind. It had a simple design, uncluttered interface, and very good responsiveness. We do like flashy VPN apps sometimes, but not so much when they go overboard, like TunnelBear did with its over-animated app. (See our TunnelBear review for reference.) Thankfully, PIA VPN kept it simple.

That said, simplicity sometimes takes away functionality, which we saw from UltraVPN. But that’s what makes PIA VPN particularly special. It’s designed to be simple, but once you go through the settings, you’ll find tons of customizations. For example:

• You can adjust the encryption standard for OpenVPN.
• You can create automations for specific networks, like making the app connect to the VPN automatically when on mobile data, your office network, or a new Wi-Fi network.
• You can adjust how you want to use split tunneling.
• You can switch between different protocols, with sub-menus and options for each.
• You can select how your network processes DNS requests and which DNS servers to use.

These customizations make PIA VPN more versatile than the majority of other VPNs. They allow you to optimize Private Internet Access for different use cases, like gaming or torrenting.

>> Also See: The Best VPNs for Torrenting

Private Internet Access Pricing

The average VPN pricing with a monthly plan sits between $10 and $15, excluding some outliers like AstrillVPN, which can cost up to $30 per month. PIA is well within that average. It costs $11.99 per month.

That said, a longer subscription will give you better rates, which is the norm in the industry. Here’s PIA’s price points for each subscription term.

With a best offer of about $2.37 per month, Private Internet Access is one of the most affordable VPNs. But note that that’s with a two-year subscription, which is the longest subscription period for most VPNs. See NordVPN’s pricing and Surfshark’s pricing, for example. They also have a two-year option, but for $3.99 and $2.46 per month, respectively. Compared to them, Private Internet Access is slightly cheaper.

Still, are you willing to commit to PIA for two years? If you are, then it’s a great budget option.

Our Final Verdict on PIA VPN

Private Internet Access is an all around great VPN. It improved upon the aspects we loved when we first tested it — customizability and usability — while improving a host of its other features as well. The advanced kill switch and inverse split tunneling are particularly rare in the industry.

While we made a few not-so-good observations, like the lower upload speed and inconsistent streaming, we found no fault in the VPN’s security and privacy. It has a better privacy policy than most other VPNs, allowing users to opt in and out of some data collection practices.

Overall, we’d recommend Private Internet Access if you are:

• Looking for an affordable VPN: Prices start at $2.37 per month.
• A frequent traveler or American living abroad: It has servers in 91 countries, including one in each U.S. state.
• A heavy mobile user: Its implementation of WireGuard makes it one of the fastest and most versatile smartphone VPN.

If you’re not satisfied with PIA, though, you can always use our VPN buying guide to help in your search. There, we highlight the most important aspects you should consider when buying a VPN.