Ivacy is one of the cheapest VPNs in 2021.
More often than not, VPN companies that offer their services for dirty cheap skimp of other areas of their services in order to stay in business.
It could be in terms of slow speeds, lack of customer support or even your privacy.
I set out to test Ivacy VPN for myself to find out what this VPN service really has to offer in terms of unblocking geo-restricted content, torrenting support and online privacy.
So in this Ivacy review in 2021, I am going to share with you what I found about Ivacy.
In summary here is what I discovered about Ivacy.
Ivacy is a VPN service provider that is rather old, yet not that well known in the VPN industry.
In fact, Ivacy was founded in 2007 and is currently owned by a company named PMG Private Limited, that is based in Singapore.
Ivacy is a great VPN for complete anonymity online, enables access to Netflix, Hulu and BBC iPlayer and unlimited, anonymous P2P file sharing…
Here is a more detailed review of Ivacy VPN.
How many servers does Ivacy have?
Let’s start this Ivacy review in 2021 by looking at the total number of servers and locations Ivacy currently have.
Usually the more servers a VPN has, the better its services should be because there will be less load or congestion on their servers at any one time… or so I think 🙂
While writing this Ivacy review, I found that Ivacy currently has more than 1,000 servers in 100 locations.
That’s quite a good number… it means there’s always a good number of servers to circle through in case you experience slow speeds.
Even though it’s a very old VPN service, this server count still puts it in the category of a VPN small company. Surprisingly, Ivacy even has VPN servers in China… based in Shanghai and Beijing.
Ivacy VPN is definitely out of the league of big boys like NordVPN and HMA.
How do these Ivacy servers actually perform?
Can Ivacy unblock Netflix?
I started testing the Ivacy servers by checking if they can unblock Netflix and other streaming services.
Even though it used to be pretty easy to access content from these streaming platforms, popular platforms like Netflix have gone hard on VPNs that are trying to bypass the geo-restriction of its content.
This means every time Netflix detects a proxy or VPN IP it blocks and blacklists it.
It’s for this reason that most VPNs struggle to successfully unblock Netflix and other streaming platforms with easy.
So, can Ivacy unblock Netflix?
To my surprise, I was able to watch my favorite TV shows while connected to Ivacy. I connected to Ivacy in the US, UK, France and Canada and was able to access Netflix.
So if Ivacy can bypass Netflix VPN block, shouldn’t it be able to unblock other sites?
Well, I was able to unblock Hulu and BBC iPlayer in the UK.
From what I found out, Ivacy is a great VPN for streaming because it can unblock most of the online streaming platforms. If you are looking for a VPN particularly for streaming, then I recommend Ivacy VPN.
How fast is Ivacy?
For most VPNs, connecting to the internet via a VPN connection results in huge speed loses.
Your ability to browse the internet might even suffer if you connect to VPN servers that are located very far away from you.
In order for me to consider a VPN speed ok, I need to be able to stream YouTube in at least HD quality.
So how did Ivacy VPN fare in my speed test.
While writing this Ivacy review in 2021, I decided to watch YouTube videos in both HD and 4K quality.
First I used the smart connect feature to let Ivacy choose the best server for me based on my location. I was able to watch YouTube in both HD and 4K qualities without buffering. It’s important to note that my speeds were 4K capable even without a VPN.
Then I choose to manually connect to a server in Hong Kong.
With the Hong Kong based server, I was able to stream YouTube in HD but not 4K. This means that there were significant speed drops when I connected to a server that was very far away.
However, the resultant speeds were still great in my opinion.
So if you are looking for a VPN that delivers relatively good connections speeds, then I recommend Ivacy.
I say relatively because there are some VPNs like ExpressVPN that I tested and were able to deliver 4K for any servers I choose. Ivacy VPN speeds are generally okay compared to other VPNs.
Does Ivacy allow Torrenting?
Even though anti-piracy laws are getting tougher by the day, P2P file sharing and torrenting is something that is here to stay. The key is to ensure you torrent anonymously so that you are not caught.
It is for this reason that most people seek out the use of VPNs, just in case they can come to the rescue.
Never download torrents without a VPN regardless of which country you are in. Don’t let you favorite torrenting client start before hiding your IP address.
Some VPNs are crafty though…
While they will hide your IP address and prevent your ISP from seeing your torrenting activities, they themselves log your IP address… this beats the whole point of using the VPN because who’ll now protect you from the VPN itself?
This is why I only recommend you torrent with a VPN that keeps no logs.
First of all, Ivacy VPN supports torrenting. After you install Ivacy in your desktop, open the app and you’ll find a lost of P2P optimized servers.
These are the servers that you should connect to when torrenting.
Even though it doesn’t support torrenting on all its servers, Ivacy has dedicated servers for torrenting that work great. And because they don’t log your IP address, just like we’ll see below, you can sit back and relax as you torrent.
Your torrenting is completely anonymous and no information that can lead back to you is kept.
Also while torrenting, I experienced rather bumpy speeds… at times they go up and then down… I think this depends on the varying servers loads. But it could also be caused by your own shaky internet connection.
Overall, if you are looking for a VPN company that supports anonymous torrents then I recommend Ivacy VPN.
Does Ivacy keep user logs?
Does Ivacy keep any logs of your IP address, connection timestamps or bandwidth usage?
What about their location and jurisdiction?
Is Ivacy based in a country that has data retention laws?
Let’s find out.
First of all, at the time of writing this Ivacy review, Ivacy does not keep any users logs as clearly spelt out in Ivacy privacy policy. The only information that Ivacy keeps when you sign up is your email address.
However, because Ivacy’s refund policy is conditional i.e. subject to a fair usage policy, Ivacy will track you bandwidth usage and connection timestamps for the first month.
This is because, as we’ll discover later, you only get a refund if you use less than 7GB and connected less than 30 times to the VPN server within 30 days.
After this duration, Ivacy does not keep any usage logs that could link to you.
Secondly, Ivacy is based in Singapore. Even though Singapore doesn’t officially form part of the 5/9/14 eyes countries, I wouldn’t call it a privacy friendly country.
Apart from the fact that they have censorship issues of their own, this country has a soft spot for the USA.
There is even some speculation that they have cooperated with the USA sometime back in intelligence sharing. So, while the location of Ivacy is not something I’d celebrate about, currently there is nothing to worry about.
Ivacy does not keep your usage logs, so there would be no data to hand over in case they were required to.
Looking for a VPN that guarantees privacy and anonymity online? Ivacy delivers.
What encryption does Ivacy use?
Your safety and security online is not just about no logs policies.
Logs only happen on the server… but what happens once your information leaves the server to be transported over the network to the destination?
Can a hacker hijack that traffic and decrypt the actual information?
It all boils down to the encryption and connection protocols that Ivacy VPN uses. When it comes to encryption algorithms, there’s already an industry standard that guarantees security.
In this Ivacy review, I found that Ivacy implements 256-bit encryption to protect your data. This is a tamper proof, NSA recommended encryption algorithm that is also used by governments to encrypt sensitive or classified information.
It has never been cracked so even if a hacker sniffed some of your packets while in transit, they’ll never be able to decrypt them and decipher the actual information.
Apart from this tough encryption, Ivacy VPN also supports and array of VPN connection protocols.
As of the time of writing this Ivacy review in 2021, Ivacy supports OpenVPN, PPTP, SSTP, L2TP and IKEv2 protocols. Even though OpenVPN is the default protocol for most of its apps, you can always change to a different connection protocol in the app’s settings.
Connection protocols like PPTP are unsafe and you should only connect with them if you know what you doing.
From what I saw, sometimes you need to change protocols if your VPN app fails to connect using the default. As we’ll also discover later, changing the VPN protocol might also be needful for bypassing China’s firewall.
Overall, Ivacy VPN offers you some of the best encryption and connection protocols.
If you are want a VPN that guarantees your security online, Ivacy delivers.
Does Ivacy have an ad blocker?
An ad blocker is a feature that should be expected from any VPN service that’s serious about staying in business. Even though some very popular VPNs like ExpressVPN lack an ad blocker, I find this feature very important.
Remember those video ads that autoplay in the background?
Sometimes they start with no audio and suddenly turn on the audio without your permission.
While it might be embarrassing to rush and mute your notebook when you are in a shared workspace, I also find them very intrusive.
What if you could disable these ads by just toggling ON a feature in your vpn app? Well, luckily Ivacy VPN has a great ad blocker that, when turned ON will block all these ads from playing.
Even though it didn’t block all the ads, especially those on YouTube, it functioned quite ok.
If you are looking for a VPN that will enable you to turn off ads when you want, I recommend Ivacy…
That being said, the ad blocker in NordVPN worked better for me.
Does Ivacy have dedicated IPs?
What about dedicated IPs?
At times you need to connect to the internet using the same IP address.
This is especially true if you need to access banking services in order not to be locked out of your account, as these services are sensitive to changes in IPs.
Will Ivacy let you select a dedicated or static IP to use?
When writing this Ivacy review I couldn’t find any setting that let me choose a dedicated IP address. Neither could I find any information leading to a dedicated IP address from their site.
So, no, Ivacy does not support dedicated IP address.
If you are looking for a VPN that will let you have an unshared dedicated IP address for connecting to the internet, I don’t recommend Ivacy.
Check out NordVPN instead.
UPDATES:
Ivacy updated their services to include a dedicated IP address that you can whitelist in your apps.
It’s not free though. You’ll have to purchase a separate subscription to get a dedicated IP address.
I haven’t tested this new service yet, but they claim that this dedicated IP will also unblock BBC iPlayer, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Hulu & 7 major Netflix Regions including US, FR, JP, UK, Aus, De & Ca.
So, yes, Ivacy currently offers dedicated IPs.
Does Ivacy work in China?
Most people are always curious to know… will Ivacy work in China?
Some people ask because they really want to access Chinese tv channels among other things, while others just want to know how a powerful a VPN’s stealth technology is.
Because of the smart manner in which China’s great firewall is built, it’s proved a headache for most VPNs to bypass. It is also a common scenario with other countries like Russia and UAE that really censor internet usage.
So the question is, will Ivacy be able to bypass China’s firewall?
First of all, it’s important to note that Ivacy actually has servers based in China. Most VPNs don’t have servers in China… they instead set base in nearby Hong Kong.
Secondly, YES.
Ivacy can and will bypass China’s firewall so that you can access censored websites in China as well as access Chinese tv channels.
There are even alternative download links on Amazon AWS for the Ivacy apps if you want to download them while in China. China blocks access to most VPN websites.
If you want to access content in China, connect to the servers based in China, India or Hong Kong.
The reason most VPNs cannot bypass the Chinese firewall is because most of them use the OpenVPN protocol. While some VPNs can still bypass the firewall using OpenVPN, the great firewall of China is particularly able to detect OpenVPN traffic and block your VPN IP.
If for some reason you can’t connect to China, simply change your connection protocol in the settings.
Using something like IKEv2, SSTP, PPTP or L2TP might give you access.
Overall, if you are looking for a VPN that works in China, Ivacy VPN works in China.
Does Ivacy have a kill switch?
Another very important feature when reviewing a VPN is the internet kill switch.
What is a kill switch?
A kill switch is a VPN feature that blocks your internet access anytime your VPN app disconnects from the server. This ensures that your device only accesses the internet when connected to a VPN tunnel.
Usually, your internet connection drops a number of times and reconnects, often without you even realizing it. When your connection drops and the VPN disconnects, your IP is revealed and your ISP sees your traffic.
This is especially a terrible idea if you were downloading torrent files.
In order to ensure you stay safe, Ivacy offers a kill switch that enables you to stay completely safe.
With the Ivacy kill switch turned on, every time your connection drops your internet access is cut off until the VPN reconnects. Besides the kill switch, I also found another interesting feature while writing this Ivacy VPN review.
Ivacy also has a split tunnelling feature that enables you to specify which particular apps must pass through a VPN and which ones are exempted.
Sometimes, you want certain apps to run through your real IP address.
For example, when running backups you may not want to connect with a VPN because you don’t want to slow down backups because of the VPN speed drops.
The split tunnelling feature enables you to specify which apps can actually run outside the VPN.
I find the kill switch and split tunnelling major Ivacy pros.
Does Ivacy support Tor over VPN?
If you are a privacy freak, then you must know about the Tor browser.
Apart from VPNs, Tor “the onion router”, is the closest thing to complete anonymity online.
Tor disguises your traffic by bouncing it through multiple proxy servers hence making you untraceable.
Usually, the entry node to the Tor network can see your real IP address. In order to guarantee 100% anonymity, you need to use a VPN with a no logs policy to disguise your actual IP address.
Most vpns work with Tor and even offer guidelines for configuration.
Unfortunately, Ivacy does not support the Tor browser. So you won’t be able to use Ivacy together with Tor at the same time… too bad if Tor is your favorite browser.
Not a problem if you’ve never even heard of Tor.
What does Ivacy cost?
Ivacy seems to be offering very great services, so what’s the catch?
Is it in the pricing?
Well, surprisingly, no. Ivacy is a very budget friendly VPN service provider for most budget buyers.
In fact, just a few months ago I would say they would be the cheapest VPN I ever reviewed… but they revamped their pricing recently.
That crazy $.99/month 2 year plan doesn’t exist anymore, but you can still get a 2 year plan for $2.25… billable as $54.
Overall, Ivacy is still the cheapest VPN I have used so far.
Currently Ivacy has 4 pricing plans:
1-month plan costs $9.95/month. 6-month plan costs $5.00/month, billed as $30. 12-month plan costs $3.50/month, billed as $42. 24-month plan costs $2.25/month, billed as $54.
Those are really huge discounts there… the best plan is the 2 year plan where you get to walk away with 24 months worth of service for just… what? $54?
That’s a steal compared to other VPN services.
Also remember that all Ivacy plans come with all the premium features as advertised, only your subscription length is different.
Click here to choose your Ivacy plan today.
I recommend Ivacy to you if you want a cheap VPN that delivers great services.
What payments options does Ivacy have?
So once you decide you wanna buy a plan, how do you pay?
Here are the payment options that Ivacy has.
When reviewing Ivacy, I found that they support all the major credit cards and payment platforms including PayPal, Perfect Money, PaymentWall and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
It is great that Ivacy offers payments options like crypto for more anonymity.
Since Ivacy only keeps your email address, if you want complete anonymity, you can sign up with a disposable email address and pay with bitcoins.
What is Ivacy’s refund policy?
In case you don’t like Ivacy after buying, can you get your money back?
YES, but there is catch in the fine print.
Let me explain the details…
Ivacy advertises on their website that they offer a 30 day money back guarantee. ok.
But is that all? NO.
Ivacy’s money-back guarantee is subject to a fair usage policy… remember that 1-month user logs I mentioned earlier? First, for a one-month subscription, you only get 7 days money-back guarantee.
So you have to test Ivacy within 7 days and decide if you want to keep it, if you purchase a 1-month plan. If you purchase a longer subscription, you’ll get 30 days to try their platform and see if it works for you.
When it comes to asking for a refund, you must not have used more than 7GB of bandwidth or logged more than 30 times to their VPN servers.
It depends on which one comes first.
This means that Ivacy keeps logs on your connection timestamps for the first 30 days and bandwidth usage. They, however, claim to delete these logs once the 30 days are over.
So as you can see, their money-back guarantee is not a no-questions-asked money-back… no. You’ve got to answer a few questions. Even so, I still think 7 or 30 days is ample time to test Ivacy… just don’t over download content if you plan on cancelling.
Once you decide you want to cancel, just email support and they should process your refund.
I didn’t test the refund myself but found reviews in some forum where a customer got a refund within 48 hours. Before I forget… you won’t get a refund if you pay with PaymentWall or Bitcoin.
I thought you should know.
Does Ivacy have a free trial?
Can you try Ivacy VPN for free without risking any money upfront?
I couldn’t find any information regarding a free trial on the Ivacy website at the time I was writing this review of Ivacy in 2021.
But I found that you can try Ivacy for 3 days by paying $2.50.
Not a free trial persee but… yeah, that’s what they got.
How many devices does Ivacy support?
While other VPNs limit their devices support, this is one of the major Ivacy pros.
Currently Ivacy supports all of the major devices and platforms out there… and then some more. Ivacy comes with dedicated apps for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS.
You’ll also get apps and configuration guides for Linux, Blackberry, Smart TVs, OpenElec, Kodi, Roku, consoles like PS4 and Xbox and routers.
Ivacy also has extensions for Chrome and Mozilla Firefox to up security within your browsers. Remember the browsers extensions only protect you within the browser and not while using other applications.
How about the total number of simultaneous connections?
Currently, you can connect upto 10 devices using the same Ivacy plan.
That’s rather satisfactory for most of your needs… in fact, this number is on the higher side as most VPNs limit you to around 6 devices at a time.
If you have a huge collection of devices to connect and are looking for a VPN that lets you share your plan widely, I completely recommend Ivacy VPN.
Does Ivacy offer live chat support?
Will you be able to access support in case you have trouble with your Ivacy apps?
How would I rate Ivacy support?
Currently, Ivacy offers support through 3 channels: email, live chat and ticketing. There are also very detailed guides and tutorials on the Ivacy support website for anything including how to configure your Ivacy VPN for gaming.
These support articles are also orderly arranged by topic so it is quite easy to find what you’re looking for.
Besides these guides, Ivacy also has live chat support that is available 24/7.
So if you need to talk to a human and clarify a few things, you’ll get an agent chatting with you in under 2 minutes after launching the chat. The chat launch link is conspicuously available on the Ivacy website.
For more detailed technical queries, you can also open a ticket and upload screenshots and get responses from the technical team.
Overall, I’d give Ivacy a 5/5 in customer support.
If you are looking for a VPN that gives you a lot of options for accessing customer support then I strongly recommend Ivacy.
In Conclusion
This review of Ivacy in 2021 might have surprised you.
I also didn’t expect that Ivacy could deliver this much in terms of speed and especially unblocking streaming websites. From what I realized, most people who negatively reviewed Ivacy did it a few years back.
Ivacy has clearly improved a lot over the years… most reviews still say Ivacy has 200 servers in 50 countries while this number increased to 1000+ servers based in 100 different locations.
Interestingly, most reviews still claim that Ivacy only supports 5 simultaneous devices while currently it’s 10 devices. Most importantly, though, I was very impressed by the sheer number of devices and platforms that Ivacy supports.
This is where Ivacy beats many other popular VPN services.
While writing this Ivacy review in 2021, I discovered that Ivacy supports all the devices and platforms that you can imagine. Including Kodi, Roku, Blackberry, PS4, Xbox, OPenElec among others.
Do I recommend Ivacy.
Absolutely.
While there are other vpns that offer similar services to Ivacy, as it stands I don’t see any reason at all not to recommend Ivacy to anyone who wants their services.
Speeds are great, it unblocks Netflix, allows torrenting and a no logs policy.
Ivacy is a great VPN for you if you want to want great services but would rather work with a smaller company… for dirty cheap.
Have you used Ivacy before?
Please share your experience in the comments below.
