Private Internet Access

Top-notch VPN, excellent performance, lots of servers to choose from, and competitive affordable pricing. Been a user for three years, no complaints so far.

Top-notch VPN, excellent performance, lots of servers to choose from, and competitive affordable pricing. Been a user for three years, no complaints so far.

Been using this service and the app for 7 years. I've tried others (Nordvpn, IPVanish, most of the ones that are frequently in a Top Five list by reviewers). I come back to PIA because: 1) Apps for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS and Linux, along with browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Opera. Cross platform is important to me. 2) Variety, number and locations of servers, virtually all parts of the globe covered. 3) I get full bandwidth that my ISP offers even when connected. 4) No logging (of course this is matter of belief with any VPN). 5) RARELY any connection drops, and I'm on all the time. All my personal machines are on VPN from the time they boot up, 24/7. 6) ten connections per account, up from 5 last year. NordVPN only up to six. Many of the other 'top ten' are still only five devices. If you have a lot of devices, something to consider. 7) truly anonymous purchasing, you can use V/MC gift cards (bought with cash), and no billing address required (use a bogus address, tech support confirmed to me doesn't matter), can also accept store gift cards for Payment (Walmart, Amazon, Target, STarbucks, and so on) There was a significant price hike this year, after being in the $35/year range for the longest. Now it is $70/year, but if you purchase two years in advance it is only $84 total for the 2 years, or $42/year, plus you get 3 months free, so it's 2yr and 3 months.

Works reliably and very fast.

I've been signed up with Private Internet Access for about 5 years. Just installed their Version 1.0 app which is a big update from the previous versions and works fine on Mojave 10.14.2. No issues. Good speeds - I checked today and was getting 150 Mb/sec downloads. I don't worry about using the VPN kill switch which looks like it has caused issues for some. For an average user I'd definitely recommend it. I've never needed to try to contact their support so can't speak for that (other than that implies their VPN service / software is pretty solid)

It was OK to try

Unlike some other reviews here this review is for the PIA app (isn't MacUpdate for reviewing Mac apps?) not the PIA vpn service. The PIA app is utter crap and daily causes innumerable problems for many PIA customers, and that's across all platforms -- OSX, Windows and Linux. Any cursory review of PIA's forums will provide an overwhelming amount of evidence to prove that point. The same can be said of PIA's so-called "customer support." Absolutely pathetic and some of the worst I've ever encountered. If you need anything that goes beyond what they can read you off a script you're screwed. The PIA app since at least ver. 54 (currently at ver. 72) has been riddled with bugs and utterly insane "features" such as disabling the OSX firewall and disabling your LAN connectivity entirely. Can anyone name even one other app in the world that deliberately takes down the OSX firewall? Only PIA is crazy/arrogant/stupid enough to do that. PIA has been called to task on that and numerous other issues for many months but has no plausible explanation for why they disable the OSX firewall. Their coders are networking ignoramuses and incapable of following Apple best practices. Plainly put the PIA app cannot be trusted. If they take down the firewall who knows what other hazardous things they do without our even knowing it? The kill switch feature is horribly implemented. If it gets triggered you're forced to reboot your Mac before you can access the internet, or even your own LAN, at all. Over the span of multiple versions if you connected using the PIA app it killed your LAN connections. This is "networking"? PIA claimed that was another one of their ingenious "security features." PIA is a marketing company, and they do very well at marketing. Their entire focus is on signing up new customers. They have zero interest in putting forth any effort in retaining those customers. They are not a tech company, and they are definitely not a competent software developer. They write some of the most idiotic code I've ever seen, cobbling together "fixes" to potential network exploits that other vpn services know can only be properly fixed on their vpn servers. Rather than fixing their server vulnerabilities PIA patches vulnerabilities in a bassackwards fashion by foisting "upgrades" on the customer. But their upgrades inevitably result in actual downgrading of the user experience, often with no actual security improvements at all. If you run into problems don't expect to get any support from PIA tech supt. However, we PIA customers do a pretty decent job of helping one another out on the PIA forums, which PIA tech support pretty much just ignores (unless it's someone demanding a refund on the forum after they've already submitted a ticket demanding a refund which PIA often ignores -- which happens daily). PIA's vpn service itself is average -- better than some in terms of connect times and speed. But they're awful when compared to several others that have excellent service, customer supt, and even offer good apps. PIA is at least reasonably priced for those who can support themselves when they run into issues. I would strongly advise against using their app at all though, or if you do use it then do so with the utmost of caution and have only the lowest of expectations. For my part I use Viscosity instead which mates well with PIA. Note however that Viscosity, Tunnelblick, etc. do not have kill switches. If you're concerned about your vpn dropping and being exposed (a reasonable concern when torrenting) config your BT app to also use the PIA proxy server (easy to set up with qBittorrent). I configure my bittorrent app "Network Interface" to connect only through the vpn (in my case "utun1"). Should the vpn go down all bittorrent traffic dies immediately. Not all bittorrent apps allow for this, so select one that does (e.g. qBittorrent). This configuration is far more dependable and certain than any so-called kill switch.

Works for me every time without a hitch and for a low yearly subscription. No complaints – at all.

I have been using this service, PIA for short, for nearly 5 years. Excellent customer service; they have helped me diagnose several DNS and ISP issues that weren't even their fault. 5 simultaneous connections allowed, software clients supported on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS. Servers all over the world; absolutely no logging of activity, so truly anonymous. You can even pay using VISA gift cards and popular store gift cards for complete anonymous purchase. I have paid using a Starbucks and Target gift cards, as well as pre-paid Visa gift cards purchased at the drugstore (Vanilla brand at Walgreens works fine).

Unlike Viscosity, which isn't even a service, only the VPN software, kill switch function and DNS leak protection built right in. Viscosity requires you to type in your own scripting commands for these functions. Viscosity also requires separate license purchase for Windows and Mac, and you have to manually create a separate connection definition for EVERY different server; plus you still have to find a service.

For a few extra dollars PIA gives you the service AND the software client. @Psychiatry mentioned below that he thought not being able to select a specific city was a weakness. and he is entitled to his opinion. IMO, I don't see that as a weakness. It is logical to assume the servers within a region utilize load balancing to ensure optimal bandwidth; that sometimes has to spread out over a region, not confined to one city, especially if users were specifically selecting a certain city at peak times. Also, the algorithms PIA uses attempt to find the best balance between available bandwidth on their end, and closest geographically from the PIA server to your ISP server, which isn't always near where you live, in fact, if you don't live in a major metro areas, probably is not where you live.

For example, people living in Los Angeles might assume their best connection will always be with a Los Angeles based PIA server, if they were allowed to select the city. Based on population alone, the Los Angeles PIA servers would quickly be saturated, and then customers would complain they wouldn't be getting the full speed they expect.. Then if PIA tried to move you off to a different city, like say San Francisco, it gets messy because you don't know if the customer will still complain about be switched over, so it's potentially a lose/lose scenario. They get either get complaints because customer was moved off of a city specified, or if they don't, customer complains they aren't getting full speed, (because the city is overloaded).

Consider, even though you may LIVE in LA for example, if you use a nationwide ISP like a Suddenlink or AT&T, the actual physical location of the ISP server that ultimately your connection goes out to the world from may be in a NOC (Network Operating Center) that is quite far from your physical location. So you might LIVE in Los Angeles for example, but your Time Warner ISP connection to the INternet may be out of a NOC in Silicon Valley, a major hub. After that, it's the routing time from your ISP's NOC in the Bay Area to the PIA server region you've selected that determines the shortest Internet route, not necessarily as the crow flies, in which case connecting to a PIA server in the Bay Area would be the most optimal, not Los Angeles. On the other hand if you connect at peak time and the Bay Area is saturated, PIA may route you in fact to Los Angeles, or Phoenix, etc.

You can't always trust what the IP GeoLocation says about your IP address either. Geo location may say your ISP IP is in Los Angeles, but your ISP is free to re-distribute IPs they are allocated throughout their service area. ISPs don't always update the GEo database. If the ISP gets a new customer in Seattle, that customer might get assigned an IP address that previously was geo listed in the Bay area. Same goes for PIA IP Addresses, PIA has contracts in all the regions with local service providers to carry the connection. PIA, i doubt actually physically owns the server they use, they outsource from farms, possibly even the same ISP you the customer might be using. So you can't always go by the geo info you get if you search on the IP address you get from PIA, again, other than by being assured it falls within a 'region'.

Anyway, that's hypothetical scenario, there are many variables used by PIA to determine connections, just my opinion. Lastly, I have a 50 mbit connection with my ISP. Almost always i get the full 50mbit logging into any PIA server, even overseas. If I don't get it, it usually means that region is peaking near bandwidth, and switching to another location will get me full speed. From my experience, PIA does not exercise ANY throttling at all.

Do your research, PIA is always at the top of reviews of VPN services.