Are you looking for a side by side comparison of PrivateVPN and PIA?
While PrivateVPN is located in Sweden, PIA is located in the United States which both for part of the 14 eyes surveillance alliance countries.
So is it any safe to use these vpn services?
In this PrivateVPN vs Private Internet Access comparison, we are going to compare these two vpns along the lines of the speeds, streaming capabilities and torrenting support in order to establish the better vpn overall.
I hope that by the end of this PIA vs PrivateVPN comparison you’ll be able choose between either PrivateVPN and PIA.
Let’s get started.
Here is a quick summary.
| PrivateVPN | Private Internet Access | |
| Website | privatevpn.com | privateinternetaccess.com |
| Servers | 150 | 3,340 |
| Jurisdiction | Sweden | United States |
| Streaming | Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, iPlayer | Netflix |
| Speed | 4.3/5 | 4.7/5 |
| Torrenting | P2P servers | All servers |
| Kill Switch | YES | YES |
| Works in China? | YES | NO |
| Devices | 6 | 10 |
| Pricing | $ 2.55/month | $ 3.33/month |
About
PrivateVPN is a VPN service provider that enables you to access the internet anonymously and unblock geo-restricted content on various streaming platforms including Netflix.
Click here for a detailed PrivateVPN review.
Private Internet Access is also able to provide you with secure internet access using military-grade encryption technologies and connection protocols.
Find a detailed Private Internet Access review here.
Server Collection
Let’s start comparing PIA with PrivateVPN by looking at their total server arsenal.
If a vpn has a large pool of servers you’ll get more options to choose from when selecting the server to connect to in their apps.
It also increases then chances that if you are not impressed by the speeds on one server, you can easily find a nearby server and reconnect to it.
PrivateVPN has very few servers that only amount to 150 servers in general that are spread over 60 different countries… mostly in Europe.
Private Internet Access, on the other hand, has a lot more servers that total to more than 3,340 servers located in 32 different countries.
While PIA has a larger server collection in general, PrivateVPN does a better of spreading their few servers to cover a larger geographical region than PIA.
If you are looking for a vpn that has a larger server collection then I recommend PIA over PrivateVPN.
Streaming
Let’s now compare Private Internet Access and PrivateVPN in terms of their streaming capabilities…
Which one is able to unblock more streaming platforms?
PrivateVPN does an amazing job when it comes to unblock geo restricted content on some of the most popular streaming platforms.
Currently, PrivateVPN is able to unblock Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu and Amazon Prime using their servers.
Since all their servers are labelled, accessing the server that will unblock your favorite streaming platform in a particular country is very easy as you’ll easily see it in the server list.
PIA, on the other hand, is not able to unblock as many platforms as PrivateVPN.
It is only able to unblock Netflix libraries using their vpn servers based in the United States.
Their IPs are completely blocked in other streaming platforms like Hulu, Amazon Prime and iPlayer.
If you are looking for a vpn with great streaming support then I recommend PrivateVPN over PIA.
Speeds
How does PrivateVPN vs PIA speeds compare?
Since most vpns would lie about their speeds, you need to perform your own tests in order to establish the faster vpn.
Great speeds are especially great if your want to enjoy great streaming experience or fast torrent downloads.
I tested the speeds of both PrivateVPN and PIA by connecting to three different servers based in Hong Kong, the UK and US.
I then used speedtest.net to test for the download and upload speeds before and after connecting to their servers to establish the speed differences.
PrivateVPN performed great with average download speeds of 86% of my initial speeds.
PIA didi even better as I had download speeds that were 94% on average of my initial download speeds before connecting to their servers.
It is therefore clear that PIA offers faster speeds than PrivateVPN.
If you are looking for a vpn with faster connection speeds then I recommend PIA over PrivateVPN.
Torrenting
If you download torrent files without first hiding your IP address, it makes it easy to track back certain torrenting activities to you.
So it can be very easy for government to sue you for torrenting if you are based in a country that frowns upon torrenting activities like Australia.
Always use an anonymous vpn that will protect you whenever downloading any torrent files.
How does PrivateVPN compare with PIA in terms of their support for torrenting?
PrivateVPN allows you to download torrent files on their P2P optimized servers.
In order to located these dedicated torrenting servers, click on the torrenting option in the server list in your application.
Private Internet Access, on the flip side, will let you download torrent files on any of their servers because all their servers are P2P optimized.
So you won’t need to first connect to any special PIA servers in order to torrent.
If you are looking for a vpn that is better suited for torrenting then I recommend PIA because they allow torrenting on all their servers and you also get faster download speeds.
Privacy Policy
Let’s now compare PrivateVPN vs PIA in terms of their privacy policies.
Which one between PIA and PrivateVPN will offer you true privacy online… now that it’s becoming a very rare commodity by the day?
PrivateVPN is located in Sweden while PIA is located in the United States.
While both countries are founding members of the 14 eyes countries, they don’t have mandatory data retention policies that obligate vpn companies to keep logs of their users.
In addition to that, both PrivateVPN and Private Internet Access are interested in providing your private internet access.
Both state in their privacy policies that they do not keep logs of your internet traffic.
While this might sound good, I think both vpn companies would make life easier for everyone by stating clearly what logs they don’t keep so that we are not left guessing.
Thisis because all vpns do need logs of some kind to functions properly… like enforcing the maximum allowed connected devices.
If you are looking for a vpn that has a no traffic logs policy, then either PIA or PrivateVPN is an option.
Encryption and Data Protection
How does PrivateVPN and PIA encrypt and protect your personal information?
In order for these vpns to guarantee these security of your information on the internet, the encrypt it in a format that is impossible to decipher the actual information.
Only the destination machines for which these packets were intended are able to decrypt this data.
PrivateVPN supports both 128-bit and 256-bit encryption technologies to encrypt your information.
PIA, on the other hand, only supports the 128-bit encryption technology to encrypt your information before it is transmitted over the network.
While both technologies are secure and tamper proof, 256-bit offers more security while 128-bit encryption provides faster connection speeds between the communicating devices.
In addition to that, these vpns also support various connection protocols.
PrivateVPN and Private Internet Access, both enable you to access the internet using OpenVPN, L2TP, PPTP and IPSec protocols.
While the PPTP protocol is an insecure protocol, sometimes you need ti to access internet in restricted countries like China, Qatar, Iran and Russia.
Overall, both vpns provide you secure internet access.
If you are looking for a vpn that will guarantee the security of your internet access then either PrivateVPN or PIA is a great option.
Ad Blockers
Do you want the ability to block ads on the websites that you visit?
If you are able to block ads on websites, you’ll not only get to enjoy an ad free browsing experience but you’ll also get to prevent these websites from tracking you and following you around the web.
While PrivateVPN does not have an ad blocker, PIA has an ad blocker in their desktop and mobile apps.
By turning on the PIA MACE security feature, you’ll be able to browse most websites ad free and block their tracking scripts as well.
It also has a malware blocker with a database of known malware infected websites and will block these sites whenever you visit them before they can harm your device.
If you are looking for the best vpns for ad blockers then I recommend PIA instead of PrivateVPN.
Dedicated IPs
Do you want to be able to access the internet at all times using the same IP address?
Then a dedicated IP address is what you might be looking for.
Since most vpns will assign you a shared IP address that also changes frequently, there are chances that this IP has been abused by others before you.
So you might have trouble logging into certain sensitive sites or applications where this IP has been blacklisted.
In order to resolve that, you need a dedicated IP that is unique to you and has not been used or abused by anyone else.
While PIA does not support dedicated IPs of any kind, PrivateVPN has a dedicated IP feature in their apps that function more of like a static IP.
These dedicated IP servers enable you to always connect to the internet using the same IP address as long as you choose to connect using these very servers.
However, since these dedicated IPs are available to everyone, they could also be shared by others.
So while they might be great for whitelisting on certain sites, they are not great for sensitive applications like accessing your home security camera feed remotely.
For that case you’ll need a dedicated IP that is unique to you like that provided by NordVPN.
Kill Switch
How do you ensure that your real IP is never exposed?
By ensuring that you always only connect to the internet using a kill switch.
With a kill switch on, your internet access will be blocked anytime your vpn disconnects from the server.
This is done to ensure that any applications that could continue to access the internet, like your torrent client, and compromise your identity has to pause until your vpn app reconnects.
PrivateVPN and Private Internet Access both have vpn kill switches that will ensure that you only access the internet when you are connected to your vpn.
So your real IP never gets exposed even when your are switching servers or when your internet connection drops and your vpn app disconnects from the vpn servers.
If you are looking for a vpn with a great kill switch then either PrivateVPN or PIA will do.
Split Tunnelling
A split tunnel enables you to split your traffic so that while other apps have their traffic routed through your vpn tunnel, others are channelled as usual through your ISP.
So if you have certain problem applications that will not let you access them using the shared IP that your vpn server provides you then this can be your way out.
Since you whitelist them, you’ll be able to access them using your normal IP that is issued by your ISP.
It could also be great to whitelist your applications that runs backups if you don’t want it slowed down by the speed drops caused by your vpn connection.
Unfortunately, neither PrivateVPN or PIA has a split tunnel at the time of writing this PrivateVPN vs PIA comparison.
So you won’t get to specify certain applications and exempt them from having their traffic encrypted and channelled through your vpn tunnel.
Remember though that applications in your split tunnel are not protected by your vpn encryption anymore.
They also become transparent to your ISP and they will be able to see the sites that you access with these apps.
Works in China?
The ability of a vpn to work in China is another way to gauge to capabilities of a vpn service.
This is because it takes some great effort to make a vpn has its traffic bypass the great firewall of China and access censored content undetected.
So how does PIA and PrivateVPN compare in terms of their abilities to function properly in China?
PrivateVPN has a stealth vpnmode that will make your vpn traffic undetectable by China’s firewall.
As a result of this, you’ll be able to use PrivateVPN to access restricted content in China without being detected and blocked by the deep packet inspection technology of the great firewall of China.
Private Internet Access, unfortunately, does not work in China at the time I was writing this PIA vs PrivateVPN comparison.
If you are looking for a vpn that works in China then I recommend PrivateVPN.
Pricing
As we near the end of this PrivateVPN vs PIA comparison in 2021, let’s now establish the cheaper vpn overall.
What does it cost to use either PrivateVPN or Private Internet Access?
Both PIA and PrivateVPN will offer the best discounts if you choose their longest subscription plans.
As you can see, PrivateVPN is a cheaper vpn overall compared to PIA and it also offers you longer subscription plans that save you the hassle of having to create new vpn accounts every year that comes.
PrivateVPN has a 2 year plan that costs $ 2.55/month while PIA has a 1 year plan that goes for $ 3.33/month.
If you are looking for a cheap vpn that will save you some bucks in the long term then I recommend PrivateVPN.
Payment Options
What options do you have when making payments for your PIA or PrivateVPN subscriptions?
In my opinion, if a vpn really cares about your privacy online, then it needs to make available anonymous payment methods like gift cards or cryptocurrencies.
Since these payments do not require you to give out your billing address, they are great if you want to give out as little identifying information about you as possible.
Let’s finish this PIA vs PrivateVPN comparison by looking at their payment options.
PrivateVPN and Private Internet Access accept payments through all the major credit cards, payment platforms like PayPal and cryptocurrency payments.
Since either of them supports crypto payments, you can sign up with a disposable email address and then pay with some Bitcoins and nobody will ever get to know who you are.
If you are looking for a vpn that supports cryptocurrency payments like Bitcoins then I recommend either PrivateVPN or PIA.
In Conclusion
I hope this PIA vs PrivateVPN comparison in 2021 has helped you learn about the strong points and weak points of these two vpn services.
Are you now ready to make your choice between either PrivateVPN or Private Internet Access?
If you are looking for a with excellent speeds, unblocks Netflix US and supports torrenting on all their servers then I recommend PIA.
However, if you are looking for a vpn that unblocks all the major streaming platforms, works in China and provides you dedicated IPs then I recommend PrivateVPN.
Have you used either PrivateVPN or Private Internet Access before?
Please share your experience in the comments below.
privatevpn…great support network and options