Private Internet Access Review 2023: Fast, Secure & Cheap VPN

Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN maintains its long-term role as a leader

Private Internet Access (alternatively known as PIA) is a well-known and trustworthy VPN service provider which offers a wide-range of functionalities, excellent security and performance, not to mention its user-friendly interface. It is a long-time user favourite, thanks to its reliability and affordable pricing. With over 10 years of expertise in VPN industry, it has over 15 million users around the world.

Switching a VPN on enables protection of your real identity online by encrypting all of your Internet traffic and routing it via secure VPN’s server. This way, no one, not even your Internet Service Provider (ISP) can see your activities online. 

Private Internet Access is considered a veteran VPN provider. The company was founded in 2009 and in 2019 was acquired by Kape Technologies, a company that focuses on cybersecurity products.

Unlike its main competitors, PIA offers 100% open-source VPN apps, which enables anyone check the source code and inspect it. Open-source projects are known to fix vulnerabilities much quicker, and on top of that, the company states that it is their way to say they have nothing to hide.

In this review, we will look at the technical aspects of the this VPN, overview its desktop and mobile applications, and then test it to see if it delivers what’s promised.

Private Internet Access Details

Private Internet Access Pricing Plans

Private Internet Access VPN offers three pricing plans for interested customers – monthly, yearly and three-year plan. Of course, those who wish to try the VPN without signing up for a longer period of time will have to pay $11.95 per month, which is still a fair price compared to its competitors’ monthly pricing plans.

When it comes to long-term subscriptions, PIA offers massive discounts and makes it one of the leaders when it comes to functionality and affordability. The 1-Year plan costs $39.95 instead of $143.40 that you would pay if you signed up for monthly subscription. With that in mind, you can see that 1-Year plan’s monthly rate is $3.33.

However, the absolute best deal that this VPN offers is the 3-Year plan, which costs $79, or only $2.03 per month. What’s best is that the 3 Year plan also comes with a bonus of 3 free months and Boxcryptor’s license key for 1 year. Boxcryptor provides additional layer of security by encrypting your files before you upload them to various cloud services – such as Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive, or Microsoft Teams.

PIA doesn’t offer free trials or free versions. All of its plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. The company accepts a wide range of payment methods, starting with regular credit cards like Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express, also PayPal. Moreover, if you want to stay completely anonymous when purchasing VPN, it also accepts cryptocurrencies (BitPay, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin) and gift cards from Starbucks, Walmart, Best Buy and 71 more brands.

Overall, it is considerably cheaper than NordVPN, IPVanish, ExpressVPN and many other service providers.

Over 30,000 Geographically-Diverse Servers

When it comes to a VPN, the more servers in more countries, the better. PIA reportedly has over 30,000 servers in 84 and that is not the end. It is definitely one of the leaders when it comes to the variety of servers and gives you opportunity to choose between many servers near your current location. In comparison, its main competitors offer much more modest selection – NordVPN has approximately 5400 servers in 60 countries, IPVanish has above 2000 servers in 75+ countries, ProtonVPN offers around 1700 servers in 63 countries and ExpressVPN comes with 160 server locations in 94 countries. None of these are even close to the number of servers offered by PIA.

Just like other virtual private network providers, PIA has a variety of physical servers and virtual locations, also known as geo-located servers. Geo-located servers may seem to be servers in a specific country, but in reality, their physical location is located in a different country. These servers are marked with a globe icon in PIA’s server list and are never selected when using Auto-connect function. You can also choose to show or hide geo-located server’s via settings.

We will explain why geo-located servers matter to you as a user; not all countries and their governmental approach to user’s privacy are identical, therefore the VPN service provider is expected to take actions in response to law changes, aggressive law enforcement actions regarding company’s servers, etc. Private Internet Access does not operate servers in locations that can possibly endanger user’s privacy and security.

For example, in 2020, China has passed the new Chinese national security law affecting PIA’s servers in Hong Kong. What this law allows the law enforcement agencies do is to seize servers located in HK or intercept communications without a warrant. As a result, the company removed its physical servers from this location.

Private Internet Access also has no physical nor virtual servers in Russia. The country is known to be troublesome when it comes to user privacy, and on top of that, Russian authorities seized PIA’s servers in 2016 in attempt to gain information on VPN’s users. However, this incident was a failure, since PIA does not keep logs on its users. A similar incident happened in South Korea in 2018 and as a result South Korean VPN exit gateway was removed. In 2019, PIA removed its Brazilian exit gateway since a new Brazilian law affecting user’s privacy was passed by government. The law would require companies responsible for the Internet Protocol Number to log user’s information and store it for at least one year, which is against PIA’s policy when it comes to its users’ privacy.

For those wondering what is the fastest PIA server, the answer is usually the one closest to your location. Another factor related to VPN’s speed is how busy the server is, in other words, how many users are using it at the same time. For even faster speeds, you may want to consider Dedicated IP address option.

Is Private Internet Access Secure?

When choosing a VPN, the most important factor is your privacy. VPNs are supposed to secure your data and route it through encrypted virtual tunnel, which helps to mask your real identity online from Internet Service Providers, Network Administrators and Government Censors.

Protocols

Private Internet Access is one of the most trustworthy VPN service providers. It uses open-source WireGuard and OpenVPN protocols and IPsec on iOS devices. Not many VPN providers support WireGuard, which is known to be modern, extremely fast and secure.

PIA Encryption Settings

PIA allows choosing between default recommended protection and maximum protection models. You can see specifications of each mode below.

Default Recommended Protection

• Data encryption: AES-128-GCM
• Data authentication: GCM
• Handshake: RSA-4096

Maximum Protection

• Data encryption: AES-256-GCM
• Data authentication: GCM
• Handshake: RSA-4096

PIA also provides usage of proxy servers (Shadowsocks and SOCKS5) which helps to obfuscate your connections even more by routing them through an additional server location. This feature is called Multi-Hop in PIA and you can enable and customize it via VPNs settings.

VPN Kill Switch

Private Internet Access offers a VPN kill switch, which automatically disconnects your Internet connection in case VPN connection drops. VPN connections can go down in several cases, such as overloaded servers, unstable Internet connection or faulty hardware. The kill switch feature helps to secure your identity and prevent your real IP address from being revealed online. PIA stands out from its competitors because it includes the kill switch option on mobile apps as well.

There is also Advanced VPN Kill Switch feature you can use. It ensures your privacy by blocking your Internet connection before you launch and enable the VPN. This is useful if you have startup programs used for data sharing (such as torrent clients). This feature prevents any connections before your VPN is on.

No-logs policy

PIA has no-logs policy 100% of the time. In its transparency report, which is provided semi-annually, the company announces a number of government requests for user data (court orders, subpoenas, warrants) and the company’s response, which is zero in each case. The company had nothing to share as it doesn’t log anything. According to the VPN service provider, privacy is the core of their business and they do not collect information such as your real IP address, browsing history, bandwidth consumption or connection times and duration.

Compared to other VPN service providers, some of them keep specific details, such as dates/timestamps, bandwidth logs or even IP address logs. This isn’t the case with PIA VPN.

Open-source apps

Another praiseworthy thing about Private Internet Access VPN is that its apps are 100% open-source as well as open-source VPN protocols it uses. Why this should matter to you as a user can be explained in simple terms. Open-source software means its code is made public, hence, available to every person, IT security specialist or developer to see and nitpick through it. This allows independent inspection of the code, enables faster vulnerability or bug reporting and as a consequence, results in quicker fixes and security patches being released.

In the meantime, VPNs that fall into closed-source software category are subject to inspection of a much smaller group of people (company’s developers, IT specialists, independently hired IT security firms, etc.).

Overall, Private Internet Access is one of the best VPNs that really cares about your privacy. It doesn’t log any information, its apps are 100% open-source, it relies on state-of-art VPN protocols and its kill switch feature works perfectly.

Private Internet Access Speed Test: How Fast is PIA?

If you’re looking for a VPN, most likely you want a speedy one. However, let us reassure you that speed isn’t the main factor when choosing a VPN – instead, you should focus on the privacy, security and ease of use. In fact, when using such tool, it is expected that the scores of download, upload and latency drop.

We have tested PIA’s speed using WireGuard and maximum protection mode for OpenVPN with AES-256-GCM. We have connected to our local, then US and UK servers with and without VPN.

Local Server speed test results:

Long-distance server test result: US New York

Without VPN: Download 167.52, Upload 410.01

Long-distance server speed test result: UK (London)

Without VPN: Download 296.43, Upload (525.02)

As expected, local speed test results were higher, and speeds using WireGuard protocol were significantly better.

How good is PIA for Streaming?

One of the main uses of a VPN is unblocking geolocation-restricted content. We have tested PIA to see it’s performance and our verdict is that Private Internet Access VPN is excellent for streaming. In fact, PIA offers streaming-optimized servers to provide the best possibility of successfully unblocking geolocation-restricted streaming services.

As you can see from this table, PIA successfully unblocks Netflix content restricted to US, Japan, UK, and other geolocations. It also unlocks Amazon Prime for different geolocations and BBC iPlayer. During our tests, we didn’t have any serious issues when trying to unblock streaming services listed. If an issue arises, we only had to switch the server or use a different browser for streaming.

We have connected to US East Streaming server and streamed a couple of Netflix movies in Ultra HD. The movies played smoothly, with no buffering or other loading issues. We have also played a little bit by switched to random movie timestamp to see if there are any loading issues, but there were none.

In the screenshot below, you can see that Private Internet Access successfully unblocked BBC iPlayer and we had no issues streaming Peaky Blinders series.

How good is PIA for torrenting?

Private Internet Access is a torrent-friendly VPN. There are several reasons why it is trustworthy in regards of such file sharing. First of all, the company has no-logs policy, moreover, it has the kill switch feature, which helps securing your IP address in case of connection timeout when downloading. The Kill Switch option is enabled by default, and you can choose Advanced Kill Switch option to prevent connecting to the Internet before launching the PIA app and enabling VPN protection. This helps to protect your identity in case you have torrent clients that are set to launch on computer startup.

PIA also offers port forwarding function, which can significantly boost your download speeds as it allows reaching more seeders. During our tests, the download speed almost doubled when using port forwarding. However, we advise that you only use this feature if you know what security risks arise with port forwarding and how to protect yourself against them.

More importantly, this VPN allows P2P sharing on all of its servers, whereas its competitors normally regulate on which locations you can torrent. Moreover, PIA allows you to use unlimited bandwidth, so you do not have to worry how much of data you download or upload.

Finally, PIA provides SOCKS5 Proxy feature, which can be used with the majority of torrent clients nowadays (including uTorrent, QBitTorrent, Vuze and others). In PIA, this feature can be enabled via Multi-Hop settings. Enabling the feature routes your VPN traffic through SOCKS5 proxy and your connection will be further obfuscated, hiding the fact that you’re using a VPN.

All of those features considered, we believe that PIA is definitely the best VPN for torrenting out there.

System Requirements

Private Internet Access VPN works on a wide range of operating systems and devices. The list of supported OS and devices are provided below.

Desktop:

• Windows 11, 10, 8.1 (32 or 64 bit)
• macOS (64-bit) 10.13 or later
• Linux (64-bit and desktop versions only): Ubuntu (LTS only) 18.04 or later, Mint 19 or later, Arch, Fedora, and Debian.

Mobile:

• Android 5.1 or later;
• iOS 12.1 or later (64-bit devices).

Browser Extensions:

• Chrome v48 or later;
• Firefox v57 or later;
• Opera v52 or later;

Smart DNS supported devices:

• Gaming consoles (Xbox One, Series S/X, Playstation 4 and 5);
• Smart TVs (Samsung Smart TVs and other TV manifacturers);
• Chromebook;
• Roku;
• Chromecast;
• Firestick.

Private Internet Access VPN desktop apps

Private Internet Access works on Windows, MacOS and Linux. We have tested the VPN on both Mac and Windows and the interface was nearly identical on both operating systems. Installation of PIA is very easy. After purchasing the chosen plan, you will receive an email with login information which will also include a link to the VPN’s download page. After downloading it, you simply log into your account using provided credentials and you’re ready to start using it.

Speaking of PIA’s user interface, it is very user-friendly. To connect, all you need to do is to press the big power button in the VPN’s app window, and it changes to green (which means you’re connected). Below, you can see the selected server. Clicking on it takes you to a server list, arranged by servers closest to you. Some list items are expandable, allowing you to see servers in different country cities as well as streaming-optimized servers. Geo-located servers are distinguishable as they have globe icon next to them. You can also click on heart icon next to your favorite servers to add them to your Favorites list.

After connecting to virtual private network, you will see your real IP address and the VPN IP address assigned to you. You can also expand the window by clicking the arrow on the bottom of app’s screen, which will show you Performance, Usage, Quick Settings, VPN Snooze, Subscription and Connection type panels. You can rearrange these panels as you like by clicking on three tiles and dragging them up or down, or pin them so that they would appear in the main app’s window.

By clicking on three dots in the upper right corner, you can go to VPN’s Settings. The settings are divided into sections so that you could find and change a specific option in no time. What we also like is that the options that require more technical knowledge have information icon next to them and hovering over it will provide an easy explanation of what the specific setting is for. In general, we find the entire presentation of settings very understandable even for a newbie VPN user.

In General settings tab, you can choose whether to launch PIA on system startup, connect on launch, show or hide geo-located regions, show desktop notifications and service communication messages. You can also select language from 18 options, choose tray icon style and dashboard appearance. The latter option might come in handy if you do not like the non-movable default “Attached to Tray” option. In such case, switch the selection to Window.

By default, the VPN’s interface comes in dark grey and green colours, but if you like a lighter appearance, you can switch to Light theme. This one comes in light grey and green colour.

Going deeper into the settings, you can discover how highly configurable PIA is, yet in understandable way. In Protocols tab, you can switch between OpenVPN and WireGuard. For OpenVPN protocol, you can switch between UDP or TCP for transport, default AES-128 or more secure AES-256 for data encryption, choose remote port and local port. You can also change maximum transmission unit (MTU) settings. The Auto option detects MTU automatically, or you can switch to Large Packets option if the connection is reliable. The Small Packets option may be less efficient, but works well on unreliable connections. For Configuration method, you can choose between Static and DHCP. There is also an option to Try Alternate Settings allows VPN to try other settings automatically.

In Network tab, you can tweak DNS settings and request Port Forwarding function. A nice bonus is the option to allow LAN Traffic which permits traffic between your local network devices even if you have the VPN kill switch turned on.

In Privacy tab, you can find options we described earlier – VPN Kill Switch, Advanced Kill Switch. Here, you can also enable PIA MACE, which blocks domains known to be used for intrusive ads, trackers and malware.

Users who need a dedicated IP also have an option to get it for extra price. The Automation tab allows users to create rules to automatically connect or disconnect the VPN when joining particular networks. For example, you can create a rule to automatically turn the VPN protection on or off when joining protected or open Wi-Fi networks or wired connections.

Then there’s Split Tunneling tab, where you can enable this feature and add rules for applications or name servers. This feature is practical for apps that may block VPNs and are known to be secure (to illustrate, banking websites or remote work connections). In other words, split tunneling allows you to exclude apps and IPs from your VPN connection while keeping your identity protection on for the rest of traffic. Compared to other VPNs we tested, we found PIA’s split-tunneling interface the easiest to use.

Finally, there’s Multi-Hop feature tab, which allows you to reroute your VPN traffic through proxy and conceal the fact that you’re using a VPN. You can choose between Shadowsocks and SOCKS5 proxies.

During our streaming tests with Private Internet Access, we found no issues trying to connect to Netflix US, UK’s BBC iPlayer and other popular streaming services. We found out that regular servers sometimes can fail to work on these services and it is always better to opt for streaming-optimized ones as they proved to work 100% of test cases. On top of that, we test-downloaded some torrent files to check PIA’s torrenting compatibility. All the files downloaded extremely fast with no issues on servers we used.

The final tests we ran were to ensure PIA doesn’t leak our IP address. We have used several tools, including IPleak.net and DNSleaktest.com. None of them revealed our real identity online.

Private Internet Access mobile apps

Private Internet Access offers VPN apps for Android and iPhone. Differently than for desktop, mobile apps offer a 7-day free trial. We have tested the apps on both operating systems.

PIA VPN for iOS

We installed PIA on iPhone 13 Pro Max running iOS 15.1.1. After logging in, you need to allow the app access to your VPN profiles on iPhone. After granting the access, you will be taken to VPN’s main window which looks similar to the desktop version. The app’s user interface comes in either light or dark theme (the app adapts to the theme selected on iOS device appearance settings). There is a large connection button to turn the connection on or off, with panel allowing you to choose VPN’s server below. The Quick Connect option allows you to select recently used servers. Quick Settings, your original IP and VPN’s IP will be provided on the app’s home screen as well.

Tapping on the hamburger icon expands a menu. From there, you can also access Region selection, Account information, Dedicated IP and Settings. In Settings, you can set up Siri shortcuts for connecting or disconnecting VPN connection and decide whether to show service communication messages and geo-located regions in the servers list.

In Protocols section, iOS users can switch between WireGuard or OpenVPN with the same encryption and handshake options like in desktop version. Then there’s additional IPSec (IKEv2) protocol with options to set data encryption to 4 types: AES-128-CBC, AES-256-CBC, AES-128-GCM or AES-256-GCM, while handshake can be chosen from SHA96, SHA160 or SHA256. In addition, you can also select the option to use small IP packets to improve compatibility with certain routers and mobile networks.

Private Internet Access VPN for iOS includes Kill Switch feature, which is a nice bonus, since this feature is rarely seen in other VPNs’ mobile apps. Moreover, there’s Safari Content Blocker feature. Unlike in desktop apps, there’s no Multi-Hop feature or Split Tunneling (iOS doesn’t support split tunneling whatsoever). Finally, you can add VPN connection rules to automatically connect or disconnect when joining secure, open Wi-Fi or cellular data networks. This is easily customizable just like on desktop app.

We have successfully connected to US East Streaming-optimized server and opened Netflix app to test how it works. We had no issues streaming US-only content. DNS leak tests we performed via several different tools also showed the VPN is completely trustworthy.

PIA VPN for Android

We installed PIA on Huawei P40 Pro running Android 10 + Emui 11.0.0 operating system. After logging in and allowing the app to access phone’s VPN configurations, you will be taken to the main app window which provides slightly more information and options than the iOS version of it. The connection can be turned on or off via the large power button that takes up the most space in app’s window, and you can see current selected region right below it. Clicking on this panel will take you to all server’s list.

On the main window, you can also find your current IP address and the VPN IP as well as quick settings such as Kill Switch, Automation or Private browser options. Quick Connect Panel shows you the most recent servers you used and you can also see your Favorite servers below them. Android version has the VPN Snooze feature and also shows additional details such as usage statistics and connection type.

Clicking on the hamburger icon takes you to app’s menu. In addition to features covered by iOS version, Private Internet Access for Android has Per App Settings which allow you to configure which apps should be covered by VPN’s protection and which ones should not (such as banking applications and other trusted apps). All you need to do is click the lock icon which switches the lock icon either to green (protected) or red (unprotected).

Overall, Android’s PIA version offers more features and configuration options than the iOS version. In General settings, you can make the app launch on phone startup, choose to connect immediately when the app is launched, and connect after the app update. You can also switch app’s theme from light to dark and make the app vibrate once the VPN connection is initiated. Besides some widget settings, you can also choose whether to show service communication messages and whether to include geo-located PIA regions in the server’s list.

Protocols settings allows you to choose between OpenVPN and WireGuard, UDP or TCP transport, data encryption (AES-128-GCM or AES-256-GCM) also select a remote port (auto, 8080, 853, 123 or 53) local port. You can also choose to use small packets to improve performance on specific routers and mobile networks. The Handshake is done using RSA-4096.

In Network settings, you can select PIA DNS, also request port forwarding, block aggressive IPv6 and allow LAN traffic to ensure traffic between devices on your local network. In Privacy settings, you can enable VPN Kill Switch. The Kill Switch feature requires you to turn your VPN connection to Always-ON in Android settings.

Finally, you can set up automation rules for handling connection to trusted and untrusted networks, although this feature is marked as experimental. To illustrate, it allows you to configure your connection settings so that VPN protection turns on when you’re using public unsecured Wi-Fi (such as cafes, libraries, etc.) and turn it off when you’re using a trusted Internet network, for instance, your home Wi-Fi. In Obfuscation settings, you can enable Connect via proxy feature.

There were no issues performing DNS leak tests and we managed to stream Netflix US via mobile successfully.

Customer support overview

In case a question regarding Private Internet Support arises, you can find relevant information via their Help Center which has nicely arranged set of articles and guides. There is also a Community section that accepts suggestions and requests. If you still cannot find an answer to your question, you can contact PIA support via their Contact US page or via live chat that is available 24/7.

We have contacted PIA support several times and sometimes responses were very quick while in other timings we had to wait several hours for a reply. In addition, you can read about service outages in their news center.

The Bottom Line

✅ We strongly recommend PIA for its robust protection, pack of features, great value and speed.

Private Internet Access is one of the best VPNs if you’re looking for stable security, no DNS leaks, no-hassle usage, flexible configuration options and high speed performance. We really enjoyed using it and didn’t run into any issues when unblocking largest streaming platforms. If you’re into torrenting, it is also an excellent choice since it supports P2P on all servers and offers you unlimited bandwidth at all times.

Moreover, VPN covers unlimited simultaneous connections, which is a huge bonus compared to what other VPN service providers offer. The 3-year subscription plan is extremely affordable, and if you’re unsatisfied with your purchase, you can always use the 30-day money-back guarantee from PIA.

Norbert Webb

Norbert Webb is the head of Geek’s Advice team. He is the chief editor of the website who controls the quality of content published. The man also loves reading cybersecurity news, testing new software and sharing his insights on them. Norbert says that following his passion for information technology was one of the best decisions he has ever made. “I don’t feel like working while I’m doing something I love.” However, the geek has other interests, such as snowboarding and traveling.