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IPVanish-vs-PIA-in-Spain

Winner: IPVanish

IPVanish and PIA are two of the most widely recognized VPN services in the VPN industry. But which one of them is better in Spain?

IPVanish vs Private Internet Access in Spain: Head to Head Comparison

In order to find which VPN takes the lead, we have compared both PIA and IPVanish in Spain on a few performance factors. Here is a brief overview of the criteria on which both PIA and IPVanish had to fight on:

  • Jurisdiction: Are PIA and IPVanish headquartered in a safe jurisdiction or not?
  • Pricing Plans: Which VPN is more affordable in terms of pricing plans in Spain?
  • Logging Policy: Reviewing the logging policy of both the VPNs to see which one is secure and keeps no logs.
  • Servers: Which VPN offers more servers and server locations in Spain?
  • Speed: Speed test to see which VPN is faster in terms of connection speeds in Spain.
  • Security Features: Which VPN offers more security features and protocols in Spain?
  • App Usability and Interface: Which VPN offers a better app interface and is easy to use?
  • Device Compatibility: To see which VPN is compatible with more devices and operating systems in Spain.
  • Unblocking Strength: To see which of the VPNs can bypass firewalls and unblock restricted sites like Netflix, Hulu, etc.
  • Torrenting: Which VPN is secure for P2P file-sharing in Spain?
  • Customer Support: To test which VPN offers better customer support in Spain.

Here’s a summary of the key capabilities of IPVanish vs PIA in Spain:

Factors IPVanish PIA
Jurisdiction USA USA
Logging Policy No traffic logs No traffic logs
Pricing $3.74/mo $2.69/mo
Speed 24.86 Mbps 21.4 Mbps
Server Network 1,600+ servers
75+ locations
35,912+ servers
77 countries
Customer Support Live chat Email/form based
query submissions
Torrenting Supported Supported
Netflix Unblocking Inconsistent Inconsistent
Security Strong Strong
Website IPVanish PIA VPN

You can find more detailed comparisons for 60+ providers in this VPN Comparison spreadsheet in Spain.

IPVanish vs Private Internet Access in Spain: Detailed Comparison

Here is the detailed comparison between IPVanish and Private Internet Access in Spain:

1. Jurisdiction: IPVanish vs PIA in Spain

Result: Both PIA and IPVanish are located in the USA that is a member of the Five Eyes Alliance.

When selecting a VPN, Jurisdiction is an important factor to consider, because it highly impacts a VPNs logging policy and security. Unfortunately, both PIA and IPVanish are headquartered in an unsafe jurisdiction of the USA.

IPVanish PIA
USA
(Five Eyes – Unsafe)
USA
(Five Eyes – Unsafe)
The United States is a part of the Five Eyes Alliance that has a history of mass surveillance and spying on its citizens to get information. Therefore, both providers cannot guarantee true privacy because by law they have to hand over data to government agencies when required.

Winner: Its a Tie

Both PIA and IPVanish are headquartered in the unsafe jurisdiction of the United States.

2. Pricing Plans

Result: IPVanish is slightly cheaper than PIA in Spain, but PIA offers a better refund policy and payment options in Spain. Also, both providers offer the same length of the refund period.

IPVanish PIA
Monthly Plan

$10.99/mo

$11.95/mo

1-Year Plan $3.75/mo $3.33/mo
2-Year Plan None None
Money-back Guarantee 30 days 30 days
Get IPVanish Get PIA

PIA Price – The 1-year subscription is the best PIA deal as it costs $3.33/mo. However, its cheapest plan is of two years costing around $2.03/ mo.

pia-price-plans-in-Spain

IPVanish Price – On the other hand, the cheapest plan offered by IPVanish is the 1-year deal that costs $44.99/year.

ipvanish-price-plans-in-Spain

Payment Method and Refund Policy

IPVanish PIA VPN
PayPal PayPal
Credit Cards Credit Cards
No Cryptocurrency Bitcoin
Does not accept Mint Mint

IPVanish Payment Options & Refund in Spain – IPVanish only accepts PayPal and Credit Cards. You cannot buy IPVanish with cryptocurrency in Spain.

IPVanish-payment-methods

It does offer a 30-day money-back guarantee but it comes with an exception. The exception is “monthly customers do not qualify” for the refund. PIA on the other hand has no exceptions in Spain.

IPVanish-refund-policy

PIA Payment Options & Refund in Spain – In comparison to IPVanish, PIA accepts multiple payment methods both anonymous and non-anonymous. You can also get PIA with bitcoin, mint, and other cryptocurrencies. Just like IPVanish, PIA also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can cancel PIA in Spain anytime.

pia-vpn-payment-methods

Winner: Private Internet Access

PIA is cheaper than IPVanish in Spain. It is also the winner in this round because it offers a better refund policy and accepts more payment options. IPVanish on the other hand accepts only 2 payment options and has conditions attached to its refund policy.

3. Logging Policy: IPVanish vs PIA in Spain

Result: Both providers are based in the US and have similar logging policies. Neither IPVanish nor PIA keeps traffic or activity logs of users, but their privacy policy doesn’t specifically declare which user-related details they’re keeping logs of.

IPVanish PIA
Headquarter USA (unsafe) USA (unsafe)
Activity Logs No No
Connection Logs No Unspecified
Anonymous Payment Yes Yes

The United States of America is part of the Five Eyes alliance and domestic surveillance conducted covertly by agencies is pretty much routine in the country, it’s hard to trust VPNs based in US jurisdiction.

Jurisdiction is very important when you are deciding on a VPN for yourself in Spain. For example, you wouldn’t want to purchase any of them, because they both are operating from the US and your online privacy and data will always remain at risk.

Does IPVanish keep logs? – IPVanish’s logging policy is unclear, it does not keep usage logs, but it does keep connection logs and other information. IPVanish also uses cookies on their website to collect data like payment methods, how users are subscribing to IPVanish, and more. Therefore, despite being a log-less VPN, it is still storing so much user data.

IPVanish-Cookies-Policy

Does PIA keep logs?- PIA also has a vague privacy policy as it doesn’t say much about the kind of information they log. In their logging policy, they claim to be only collecting minimal user data. However, if you look closer, you will see the heading “Disclosure and use of personal information.” According to this, PIA has to comply with all subpoena requests. Therefore, PIA’s logging policy is quite confusing.

No-Logging-Policy-PIA-VPN-in-Spain

Even though PIA is a more competitive VPN provider than IPvanish on so many levels with a top-tier VPN provider like ExpressVPN, due to its jurisdiction, it is still not a favorite. Check out how it performs against top-tier VPN in ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access comparison in Spain.

However, as long as the providers aren’t storing any logs for extended periods of time, you’ll be safe from government surveillance and unauthorized monitoring. To know more about VPN services’ logging policies in Spain, read this dedicated guide.

Winner: Its a Tie

There are clearly no winners here. Both IPVanish and PIA store connection logs and other information that shows that both VPNs don’t have a true zero logs policy in Spain.

4. Servers in Countries

Result: PIA has 35,912+ servers in 77 countries as compared to IPVanish which has a much smaller server count of 1,600+ but covers 75+ locations.

IPVanish PIA
Countries 75+ 77
Servers 1,600+ 35,912+

IPVanish Server Network – IPVanish offers around 1600+ servers in 75+ locations. It has a small server network when compared to PIA but it has servers in all major locations.

IPVanish-servers

PIA Server Network – PIA offers around 35,912+ servers in 77 countries. It has one of the largest server networks in the entire VPN industry. It has servers in almost all countries.

PIA-servers-in-the-world

Winner: PIA

PIA continues its lead against IPVanish in Spain with a larger server infrastructure.

5. Speed Test: IPVanish vs Private Internet Access in Spain

Result: IPVanish is faster than PIA on average. The speed of both providers was measured with Ookla’s speed test tool using four different server locations on a base internet connection of 30 Mbps. In this test, IPVanish’s average speed test was 24.86 Mbps whereas as that of PIA was 21.39 Mbps.

IPVanish PIA VPN
US: 24.91 Mbps US: 19.23 Mbps
UK: 24.46 Mbps UK: 25.4 Mbps
GER: 25.16 Mbps Germany: 22.25 Mbps
AUS: 24.96 Mbps Australia: 18.4 Mbps
Avg. Download: 24.86 Mbps Avg. Download: 21.39 Mbps

IPVanish delivers a faster average download speed as compared to PIA, but the difference is not that significant. However, the variance in download speed across different PIA servers is higher than that measured for IPVanish.

Speed Test #1: IPVanish vs PIA US server

On its US server, IPVanish delivered a download speed of 24.91 Mbps with very low pings of about 12 ms.

ipvanish-speed-comparison

Similarly, PIA offered a speed of 19.23 Mbps on its US server, which was a lot slower than IPVanish.

PIA-VPN-Speed-Test-Result-on-US-Server

Speed Test #2: IPVanish vs PIA UK server

IPVanish delivered a speed of 24.62 Mbps on its UK server with pings coming in at about 115 ms.

speed-test-result-on-ipvanish-uk-server

PIA on the other hand managed a download speed of 25.4 Mbps and a very high upload speed of 29.7 Mbps. Similarly, pings were a lot high at 226 ms.

PIA-speed-test-result-with-UK-server

This shows that IPVanish is not only slightly faster on average but offers better consistency across different server locations owing to its WireGuard protocol. Other VPNs like NordVPN and TorGuard in Spain also support this VPN protocol as it offers high-speed connections and low latency. This was also the case in NordVPN and PureVPN in Spain, with NordVPN offering faster connection speeds on WireGuard protocol.

Winner: IPVanish

IPVanish offered faster connection speeds on all its server locations as compared to Private Internet Access.

6. Security Features: IPVanish vs PIA VPN in Spain

Result: Private Internet Access and IPvanish use similar security features to protect users from online threats.

IPVanish PIA
Encryption AES-256 AES-256
Protocols Supported OpenVPN, L2TP, PPTP, IKEv2 OpenVPN, L2TP, PPTP
RSA Keys RSA-2048 RSA-2048
App Security Kill switch Kill switch

The encryption offered by both is AES-256 while they both support OpenVPN, L2TP, and PPTP. IPVanish goes a step further than PIA and also offers IKEv2 protocol in addition to the aforementioned.

IPVanish-settings-in-Spain

Both providers offer kill switch in their apps which ensures that your online activities remain hidden from the view of third parties even when a disconnection occurs. The kill switch steps in and cuts off your connection entirely until the VPN is back, thus keeping you safe from online hazards in Spain.

PIA-settings-menu-in-Spain

Winner: Its a Tie

Both Private Internet Access and IPVanish offer amazing security and privacy features in Spain.

7. App Usability and Interface: IPVanish vs PIA in Spain

Result: Both VPNs have appealing and highly usable apps.

IPVanish PIA
One click installation setup Android, iOS, Windows, MacOS Android, iOS, Windows, MacOS
Configurable settings Yes Yes
Overall usability Easy Easy
Browser Extensions No Yes

PIA’s desktop apps have a basic and unrefined look and feel, but it works well for the most part. The PIA VPN client resides in a corner on the taskbar and by right-clicking it you can connect or disconnect the VPN to servers.

However, the PIA Windows app usually takes a while to successfully connect to a VPN, but this is not that big of a problem.

pia-vpn-linux-app

IPVanish has a very appealing app that is easy to use, despite the fairly high configurability of its apps. You can connect to servers directly from the main menu screen and choose servers by country and cities. The protocols can also be changed from Settings, much like PIA.

IPVanish has a built-in kill switch and also uses obfuscation to allow functionality in countries with strict restrictions on VPN usages. This is particularly useful for users in regions like Russia, Saudi Arabia etc.

IPVanish-Android-iOS-app

Both providers have great mobile apps, especially PIA which features a much more refined and streamlined mobile as compared to its desktop apps. However, some of the advanced features and settings are missing in the mobile version of these VPNs. For instance, IPVanish only supports OpenVPN on its Android app.

Winner: It’s a Tie!

Overall, both providers have remarkably good app usability and interfaces.

8. Device Compatibility – IPVanish vs PIA in Spain

Result: Both VPN services offer excellent extra features for enhanced privacy and are compatible with most platforms in Spain.

IPVanish PIA
Killswitch Yes Yes
Split Tunneling Android only No
Simultaneous Connections unlimited connections 10
Extra Features None Ad and malware blocker
Browser Extensions None Chrome, Firefox, Opera
OS Support Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Fire TV Windows, Mac, Android, iOS

Private Internet Access: PIA also offers valuable extra features such as MACE, which is an ad/malware blocker. In addition, both VPNs are compatible with popular operating systems and devices in Spain. PIA also has browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. PIA also has 10 multi-logins, which is quite impressive.

pia-vpn-for-windows

IPVanish: IPVanish also offers apps for various devices including Linux, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Fire TV, etc. However, it doesn’t offer browser extensions or addons. But you can easily download IPVanish on various devices including Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and more. Similarly, you can also use IPVanish on Kodi in Spain which not most VPNs offer. The biggest advantage of IPVanish is that you can connect unlimited devices simultaneously.

IPVanish-Compatible-devices-list

As such, PIA and IPVanish are both quite capable from the security standpoint and offer several interesting extra features. As proof of IPVanish’s capabilities, you can also check out our PureVPN vs. IPVanish performance in Spain comparison for more details.

Winner: IPVanish

IPVanish supports more platforms as compared to PIA and it also allows unlimited simultaneous connections in Spain. With PIA you can only connect to 10 devices at the same time.

9. Unblocking Strength

Result: PIA and IPVanish are not streaming-optimized VPNs and are unable to unblock most streaming services. But if we compare both services, IPVanish is a little better at unblocking than PIA.

IPVanish PIA
Netflix Yes Yes (sometimes)
Hulu No No
BBC iPlayer No No
Amazon Prime Video No No
Sky Go Yes Yes
CBS Yes Yes

PIA Streaming Test:

During our testing, we managed to stream Netflix US with PIA but it was a hit and miss scenario because we had to test multiple servers before it worked. On most PIA – US servers we got the Netflix proxy error. Therefore, if you want to use PIA for Netflix you will have to try multiple servers to find the ones that work.

pia-unblocks-us-netflix

Similarly, PIA does not work with other restricted streaming platforms like Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and BBC iPlayer. This was similar to what we got in our PureVPN and PIA in Spain comparison where PIA could not unblock geo-restricted streaming platforms.

IPVanish Streaming Test:

Just like PIA, IPVanish also does not work with Netflix US. However, during testing, it did unblock Netflix US on its American server but we had to try multiple servers.

ipvanish-unbloking-netflix

Similarly, IPVanish does not work with other popular streaming platforms like BBC iPlayer and Amazon Prime Video. We tried it with BBC iPlayer and it wasn’t able to bypass geo-restrictions. However, it did manage to unblock HBO on its US server.

IPVanish-BBC-iplayer-restriction-error

As such, both VPNs are not very suitable for unblocking SVoD services. This was also seen in TunnelBear vs Private Internet Access in Spain where PIA only managed to unblock Netflix US after numerous tries.

Chinese Restrictions: IPVanish vs PIA in Spain

China is one of the countries that have imposed strong censorship and internet restrictions on its citizens. Owing to these restrictions, not many premium VPNs can bypass the Great Firewall of China For Spain Users . Let’s test if PIA and IPVanish are a good options for Chinese users:

Does IPVanish work in China?

IPVanish does not work in China anymore even with its obfuscation technology. Users on Reddit are complaining that IPVanish does not work in China as it cannot help bypass internet restrictions and censorship. However, it does offer multiple Chinese servers so you can use it to access Chinese websites and content from Spain

Does PIA work in China?

PIA does work in China, but you will need to manually configure it on your devices. Even then, it is not a reliable option for Chinese users because it is headquartered in the US. Similarly, when you try to connect PIA in China, it tells you to switch from OpenVPN protocol to L2TP/IPSec which is not a secure option.

Similarly, it doesn’t work with most streaming services so that makes it not a good choice for Chinese users because you won’t be able to bypass restrictions.

Winner: IPVanish

Both PIA and IPVanish don’t work with a lot of streaming services as we could only manage to get Netflix US with both VPNs. However, with IPVanish we could stream Netflix US and HBO on many of its US servers.

10. Torrenting: IPVanish vs Private Internet Access in Spain

Result: PIA and IPVanish both can unblock torrenting websites and are secure enough to allow safe downloading of p2p files in Spain.

P2P file-sharing has become quite popular because of its convenience. However, its legality varies from region to region. Most countries don’t allow torrenting as it is considered illegal due to copyright infringement. Therefore, for P2P file-sharing, it is recommended to use a VPN in Spain.

Both PIA and IPVanish allow torrenting and P2P on most of their servers. Both VPNs offer a SOCKS5 proxy that supports P2P torrent clients and HHTP traffic to keep you safe while torrenting in Spain.

However, both of these services are located in the USA, which is a country with the toughest anti-piracy laws. This can be an unnerving fact. So, to be completely safe, you might want to err on the side of caution and go for the best torrenting VPNs in Spain.

Disclaimer: We do not encourage nor condone the use of VPNs to engage in illegal activities including copyright infringement.

Winner: It’s a Tie!

Both PIA and IPVanish allow P2P file sharing on all of its servers. However, we don’t recommend users to use these VPNs because both are headquartered in the unsafe jurisdiction of the US.

11. Customer Support: IPVanish vs PIA in Spain

Result: IPVanish offers live chat support in Spain, whereas PIA only uses the email ticketing system for resolving complaints. This is disappointing on the part of PIA since it is probably the only popular VPN brand that doesn’t have live chat support.

IPVanish PIA
Live Chat Yes No
Email Support Yes Yes
Tutorials/Setup Guides Yes Yes

IPVanish offers live chat support in Spain that is very efficient. It also has a customer support library that has a lot of information, but you can also use the live chat feature to get instant help from the customer support team. We tried its live chat feature and got an instant response from their team and it was not automated.

IPVanish-customer-support

PIA does not offer live chat support but has a ticketing system where users can create a ticket if they don’t find help on their support library.

PIA-customer-support-in-Spain

Winner: IPVanish

IPVanish has a competent support staff that is easily reachable through live chat in Spain. Therefore, IPVanish wins this round in Spain.

FAQs – IPVanish vs Private Internet Access in Spain

Yes, you can use PIA for Netflix in Spain, but it only works with Netflix US and you will have to test a few servers before finding the one that actually works with Netflix.

When you are using a VPN in Spain, it encrypts your traffic and reroutes it from a VPN server of your choice. Therefore, you might experience a slight decrease in speed. During our testing, we found out that IPVanish was faster than PIA in Spain.

The main difference between free and paid VPNs is that free VPNs offer limited servers and have more traffic leading to extremely slow speeds. It also leads to constant connection drops and poor connection. Whereas, paid VPNs on the other hand offer thousands of servers thus leading to better connections and faster speeds in Spain.

Another difference between paid and free VPNs is that free VPNs don’t protect your privacy and sell your user data to third-party advertisers. Paid VPNs on the other hand follow a no-log policy and don’t log any kind of user information in Spain.

Final Verdict: IPVanish is the Winner in Spain

IPVanish is the winner in the IPVanish vs Private Internet Access in Spain comparision!

IPVanish is better than PIA in terms of performance, and customer support. Moreover, it has better speed on average and that is 24.86 Mbps. Also, the provider has a 1,600+ server spread in 75+ locations. If you’re looking for a comprehensive installation guide for the IPVanish Android App in Spain , we’ve got you covered.

  • Logging Policy: It maintains a zero logs policy
  • Encryption: Military-grade encryption
  • Price: $3.75/ month

However, both PIA and IPVanish are almost equally good, and deciding a winner is a matter of personal preference rather than objective fact. In fact, PIA is almost half the price of IPVanish, which it might be a better option if you’re on a budget. All in all, both of these VPNs are reasonably good, but neither are the very best that the industry has to offer.

To find out more about each of these VPNs, you can see IPVanish review Spain along with PIA review Spain.

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