Ivacy VPN Review | Secure browsing just a click away

Ivacy VPN review for 2023, Are you worried that someone may monitor your online activity without your knowledge? Are you frustrated at being unable to access some online services because users in your locale are locked out by the provider?

There is a solution to your frustrations and it comprises three words: virtual private network, or VPN if you prefer an acronym.

A VPN will route your connection to a different server or series of servers. Giving the service provider the impression that you’re logging in from one of the approved locations. Channeling your Internet connection through a VPN will also throw any snoops off your trail.

It does not limit VPNs to individual use. Some best VPN Companies also use them to allow their employees to connect to the firm’s LAN remotely over the Internet. This application of VPNs has increased exponentially of late. Thanks to the increased reliance on telecommuting forced on organizations by the coronavirus.

After establishing your need for a VPN, it will face you with another question; Which is the right VPN for you? There are many VPN merchants, including popular names such as NordVPN, TunnelBear, and ExpressVPN. You may not have heard of Ivacy. But they have been in the VPN space for more years than we can keep track of.

This Singapore-based outfit is known as a pioneer. They introduced split tunneling technology to the world in the early 2010s. And they’re reputed to be among the most pocket-friendly. Though it may not group among the heavy-hitters in the VPN world. There are plenty of reasons Ivacy deserves a fair shake.

Let’s have a look at how Ivacy fares in the features that matter to VPN seekers.

Value For Money

You can enjoy the features Ivacy offers for as little as $1 per month. It’s hard to find a provider that can offer such competitive pricing. But there’s a catch; you need to make a long-term commitment. To enjoy the $1 pricing, commit to a five-year contract.

This essentially means forking out $60 upfront, believing that you will need Ivacy’s services for that long. If you don’t have that kind of faith and would rather live from month to month. Ivacy will charge you $9.95.

Whichever mode of pricing you prefer, Ivacy will still work out to be cheaper than most of its competitors. TunnelBear’s most cost-effective offering is its three-year plan, which goes for $3.33 monthly. If you opt for SurfShark’s month-by-month package, they will bill you $12.95. Go through the offerings of all the bigger players in the VPN field and you find that none of them will give you the deal Ivacy offers.

And the refund only applies if you paid using a credit card or PayPal. If you sign up for the monthly plan. You will only have seven days to claim a refund if you’re not satisfied with the service.

Server Locations

Ivacy claims to have over 3,000 servers spread out across over 100 locations in over 60 countries around the globe.

With the Ivacy VPN, you will access major Netflix regions including the US, the UK, Canada, France, and Japan. While most VPNs promise this, Netflix US has proven a tough nut to crack. That Ivacy VPN delivers on this promise should put it on your VPN shortlist. If you’re looking for a VPN to stream content.

You will access content on Hulu, KODI, FireStick, BBC iPlayer, and Disney+ in regions where they have restrictions. The cherry on top is that Ivacy allows you to easily select which servers to use. For different video-on-demand services use a drop-down list.

Speed and performance

Whenever your traffic is routed through a VPN, you can expect a drop in your download and upload speeds. This is natural, as your requests are being channeled through additional servers in different locations. Instead of being sent through the shortest route to the destination server.

You will want to have the comfort of knowing that your chosen VPN adds the least amount of latency to your connection speeds as compared to other providers.

Ivacy claims to have been crowned the fastest VPN in the past year. But we should take all such claims with a pinch of salt. They conducted independent tests to establish the percentage by which Ivacy reduced upload and download speeds and produced mixed results.

It measured speed reduction when connecting to local servers for downloads at close to 20 percent.

Compared to TorGuard VPN, which reduced download speeds for local connections by a mere four percent, Ivacy fares badly. Their stats are not much better with uploading speeds, which Ivacy VPN reduced by over 30 percent.

This borders on atrocious in light of competitors such as IPVanish. which lowered upload connection speeds by just three percent.

The Singaporean service provider performs much better on the international front. This performance is not much higher than the average. Then again, for the pricing, they offer you can have little to complain about.

Another point to ponder with speed is that Ivacy promises to help you circumvent the bandwidth throttling ISPs usually employ to deal with congestion in masking your IP address.

While Ivacy is effective in protecting your data and your online activity, it has been found to subject users to frequent interruptions to VPN connectivity.

Sometimes the VPN seems to hang when it shows that the VPN is not active, but prevents you from relaunching it with the message ‘Disconnect VPN first’.

Though it will cost you an extra two bucks a month, you can consider taking up a dedicated IP from Ivacy. With a dedicated whitelisted IP in your country of choice, you will benefit from more bandwidth. This is handy if you’re an avid online gamer.

Usability

You won’t find much of a problem installing the Ivacy app in a Windows environment, and the sign-up process is straightforward. Mac users will not find Ivacy in their app store but will have to download it from the Ivacy website.

This minor inconvenience won’t be a deal-breaker for most folks, especially considering the diversity of devices you can install and use this VPN on.

It will delight Linux users to learn that there is now an Ivacy VPN client for their preferred platform. You can have Ivacy as an extension on the popular Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browsers.

Besides your PC, you can download and use Ivacy on your smartphone, be it Android or iOS-based. Yes, there is an app for Blackberry devices as well. You can even install it on your smart TV or Android TV to catch all those geo-restricted Netflix series.

Ivacy goes one-up on its rivals by offering customers a dedicated KODI app. But on the flip side, users connecting through Windows devices have complained of lapses in connectivity. Some Android users have also complained that the app does not work on this platform.

For corporate VPNs, Ivacy makes it easy to administer user licenses by providing a one-stop-shop dashboard. However, some users are not in love with the Ivacy interface, which they feel is a bit too busy for their liking.

Support

You can get help whenever you need it from a live chat on the Ivacy website. And you won’t have to wait long to raise a support agent there. Not only are Ivacy’s agents quick to respond, but they will also respond with relevant, helpful answers.

This applies not just to the agents manning the live chats; those managing their social media handles are just as efficient. Considering how reasonable their pricing is, Ivacy’s support is an actual value for money.

If you are more of the DIY type, you will find a good amount of information in the Ivacy Support Center. Here you will find detailed guides to help you download, install, and configure the VPN on any platform, be it a router, an Android phone, a web browser, or a Windows PC.

You can also check for solutions to your queries in the FAQ area or get more technical help in the VPN use cases area.

There are video tutorials on how to make the most of Ivacy for your streaming experience. If you still need more information, you can refer to the huge knowledge base of articles in the Support Center. You can easily get the info you need using a readily accessible search feature.

Ivacy offers support in over one language- you can get help in German, French, and Dutch among other common languages.

Privacy

They have found more popular VPN providers wanting in this area, but we’re happy to note that Ivacy sticks to its no-logging policy religiously. In their policy, Ivacy pledges not to keep any logs of your browsing activity (including traffic, duration, and bandwidth logs) or browsing history.

They also guarantee you they will keep no record of original IP addresses or the data you have access to.

The policy also assures you that Ivacy only keeps your name and email address for billing and that they don’t share this information with any other parties. And the beauty is that, though wordy.

This policy is fairly easy to read and understand. More reassuringly, unlike several other VPNs, they live by their policy to the letter.

That they keep very little information about you and your activities means that even if they were legally bound to share that information with authorities, Ivacy wouldn’t be able to as they wouldn’t have it.

If you’re obsessive about your privacy, you will be happy to note that this VPN provider offers the option to pay in cryptocurrency. This means that you will pay for your VPN largely anonymously.

Those zealous about their privacy will be concerned to learn that their data and actual location may still be available to the authorities if they need it. How, now? Singapore, where we previously mentioned Ivacy is headquartered, is part of the infamous ‘Five Eyes’ agreement.

This is an information-sharing partnership between the USA, the UK, Australia, and other countries. But don’t assume that your private data is being shared with your local security agencies. Remember, even if they required Ivacy to divulge logs, there wouldn’t be any available.

Simultaneous Connections

The number of devices your preferred VPN will allow you to connect simultaneously can be a crucial deciding factor. This will be true if you run a company and are hoping to get as many of your staff safely working remotely as possible.

With the number of simultaneous connections allowed, Ivacy offers you a maximum of five. This is more or less what any other provider will give you. But in a competitive field with providers like Surfshark who offer unlimited device connections, Ivacy may be at a disadvantage.

Security

Ivacy can promise customers secure connectivity as they use ‘military-grade’ 256-bit encryption. This form of encryption is one of the most robust currently available. You can therefore be sure your activities are just as safe from prying eyes as your data will be against potential hackers. However, this encryption probably won’t be a deal-breaker for most VPN seekers, as it comes as standard for most providers.

What will get the attention of potential customers is the fact that Ivacy offers multiple protocols besides OpenVPN to secure your tunnel. You can choose from UDP, L2TP, and IKEV2 among other protocols to guarantee the safety and privacy of your browsing. The Ivacy dashboard makes it easy for you to select your preferred protocol.

Tests by diverse independent reviewers have found Ivacy to excel in sealing potential data leaks. During these tests, they consistently observed it as they transferred no data outside the VPN.

It has proven privacy to offer reliable protection against DNS leakage as well. DNS leakage happens when your Internet Service Provider’s DNS servers store data about the same browsing activity you signed up with a VPN to keep hidden.

This means that while you presume your VPN is effectively concealing your traffic, it could store this information at the ISP level without your knowledge. Traffic routed through an Ivacy tunnel is not susceptible to this form of privacy breach.

Besides this, Ivacy further assures customers of security with malware protection. Their threat detection systems scan traffic to avert the effects of viruses and other forms of malware.

VPN comes with DDoS protection to keep your connections safe from malicious traffic. There are more security options- a dedicated IP and port forwarding- but these will cost you an extra $1.99 each per month.

Added Extras

What does Ivacy offer customers over and above basic online privacy protection? One of Ivacy’s key selling points is the split tunneling it has pioneered since 2010. With this feature, you can have specific apps sending traffic through the VPN instead of your device being forced to channel all traffic through the VPN.

This can help you achieve privacy while still keeping decent connection speeds. It can also help you access foreign and local content at the same time.

Ivacy also furnishes you with an Internet kill switch. Its function is to sever your Internet connection immediately after it detects that you’re no longer connected to the VPN. In this way, your browsing is secure and private at all times.

While almost every other provider advertises a kill switch with their product, Ivacy users will find that the kill switch works as intended.

To further shore up your online privacy, Ivacy includes IPv6 leak protection in all its plans. This feature ensures that your online activity is not divulged through the IPv6 protocol, which many VPNs do not account for when providing online privacy.

Even if you log into a website that supports IPv6, it will keep your connection private as it will direct this traffic through the VPN tunnel.

Another feature that Ivacy touts is something they refer to as ‘Smart Purpose Selection’. Essentially, it is a system that connects you to the fastest available server on the VPN whenever you make a request.

It uses criteria such as the location of the destination server and the purpose you have selected to make this decision.

This VPN may not come with a plethora of bells and whistles, but it does what they created it to do very well and at a friendly price.

Conclusion

If you’re in the market for a fairly priced VPN provider that does what it’s supposed to do well, Ivacy is well worth your consideration. Their VPN offering effectively keeps your data, online activity, and IP address away from prying eyes.

If you’re looking for a service that can reliably help you stream content from geo-restricted locations, Ivacy is pretty good at that.

They’re one of the few service providers that have proven effective in enabling on-demand video users to access Netflix USA. Yet few VPN providers can match Ivacy’s pricing.

If you’re willing to commit to them for a year or two, or five, the deal gets even sweeter. And with payment, you can do so without having to reveal much of your info.

Besides being good at what they promise to do, this Singapore-based provider has built a reputation for solid support. Whenever you need help, you will get a response to their live chat. And there are many resources available for you if all you need is a bit of information.

The major complaint that has been raised against Ivacy is of speed or lack thereof. Though their upload and download speeds are not the worst in the market, they are noticeably slower than what industry leaders like ExpressVPN and NordVPN offer.

Some reviewers have noted that though well secured, Ivacy VPN connections can be iffy. It has been observed that their service is not functional on some platforms.

Overall, however, the pros far outweigh the cons. Opting for Ivacy is a wise investment whether you’re looking to stream content from restricted locales, keep your online activity away from prying eyes, or offer your staff remote access to your company network.

FAQs

Is Ivacy VPN free?

Ivacy's free VPN plan can protect your online activity and personal data from potential hackers and cybercriminals by encrypting your internet traffic. With Ivacy's free VPN plan, you can enjoy fast and reliable browsing speeds, unlimited bandwidth, and various servers to choose from without paying a dime.

Is Ivacy a good VPN?

Is Ivacy VPN a Good VPN in 2023? Ivacy VPN is secure and fast, with easy-to-use apps. It also has 5,700+ servers in 50+ countries and a pretty extensive server network. Ivacy VPN offers industry-standard security features like a kill switch, 256-bit AES encryption, and a no-logs policy.

Why do I Need Ivacy VPN?

Ivacy VPN will be your daily driver seeing how it is a necessity rather than a luxury these days. With access to 1000+ servers across 100+ locations, connect to as many VPN servers as you like to access content from other regions, which would have otherwise been unavailable to you due to geo-restrictions. Enjoy true internet freedom without having to worry about being compromised again via security features like Internet Kill Switch, Military Encryption, Public Wi-Fi Security, and more. Torrenters will be pleased to know they can connect to P2P-optimized servers, giving them all the bandwidth they need to download or upload content. Additionally, they will not have to worry about being monitored, since torrenting is widely frowned upon, even though it has several use cases apart from piracy. With Ivacy VPN, you can browse the internet fearlessly. Whether you need to bolster your security or connect to a VPN server back at home while traveling, Ivacy VPN is all you will ever need to explore the internet in its entirety.

Ivacy VPN Modes – Each Suited for a Specific Purpose?

Ivacy VPN has 1000+ servers in 100+ locations around the globe. To give users greater control, the Smart Purpose Selection feature was introduced. Choose from different modes to get the type of experience you need, they are as follows: Smart Connect – Connect to the fastest available server immediately. Secure Download – Download content without having to fear about malicious content. Streaming – Choose the streaming platform you wish to unblock and also solve buffering issues. Unblocking – Unblocking content from a particular region.