Surfshark and IPVanish are two popular VPN services available commercially. Surfshark was officially launched in 2018, but it has covered a long gap by transforming into a recognized service in the market. Whereas IPVanish is an old service that has become a well-established and known VPN.
Both Surfshark and IPVanish provide remarkable speeds and feature-rich applications to ensure a great user experience. Moreover, the two service providers offer market-competitive prices and budget-friendly deals.
With world-class services and seamless delivery, comparing the two VPNs based on speed, security, privacy, and other features becomes essential. Therefore, we have compiled Surfshark vs. IPVanish review to evaluate the performance of both VPNs.
Quick Comparison of Surfshark vs. IPVanish In USA
Let us present a quick summary table to cover Surfshark VPN vs. IPVanish services In USA:
| Characteristics |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Security | AES 256 bit | AES 256 bit |
| Servers | 6000+ | 2200+ |
| Countries | 61 | 75+ |
| Torrenting | ✔ | ✔ |
| Logging Policy | Keeps no logs | Keeps no logs |
| Jurisdiction | The Netherlands | The U.S. |
| Pricing | $2.49/mo - Save up to 77% with exclusive 2-year plan + 30-day money-back guarantee | $2.99/mo - Get 3 Months Extra + Save 77% on 2-year plan |
| Compatibility | Android, Windows, Mac, iOS | Android, Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, Google Chrome, Amazon Fire TV, and routers |
| Streaming | Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, and more channels | Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, and more channels |
| Leaks | No IP, DNS, and WebRTC | No IP, DNS, and WebRTC |
| Website | https://surfshark.com/fr/ | https://www.ipvanish.com/ |
Surfshark vs. IPVanish In USA – Detailed Comparison
Here’s a detailed comparison of Surfshark vs. IPVanish In USA:
1- Pricing Plans
Nearly all premium plan VPNs charge more on short-term subscription plans but drop the costs on longer subscription deals. Surfshark and IPVanish follow the same pricing strategy.
| Pricing Plan | Surfshark | IPVanish |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $12.95 | $11.99 |
| Quarterly | NA | $10.00 |
| Yearly | $3.99 | $3.99 |
| 2-year | $2.05 | NA |
From the results, it’s clear that the monthly subscription deals are costlier than yearly plans. Surfshark offers a monthly service for $12.95, whereas IPVanish charges $11.99 every month. Considering the price difference, we don’t suggest you subscribe to monthly deals for either VPN.
With longer-term subscriptions, you can save huge amounts of money. Both Surfshark and IPVanish offer budget-friendly annual subscriptions. You can subscribe to the annual plan of IPVanish and Surfshark at $3.99.
IPVanish even offers a quarterly deal for $10, which is again not cost-effective. On the other hand, Surfshark beats IPVanish with its 2-year plan, which is not offered by the latter. You can avail of this light pocket 2-year plan for $2.49/mo - Save up to 77% with exclusive 2-year plan + 30-day money-back guarantee.
Surfshark is one of the most affordable VPNs In USA that guarantees the best value for money with top-class features and security options.
Free Trial and Money-Back Guarantee In USA
Free trials and refund policies effectively attract customers toward the service plan. Both IPVanish and Surfshark offer a 30-day money-back guarantee where you can easily claim a complete refund if you are not satisfied with the services.
On top of this, Surfshark has the edge over IPVanish as it brings a 7-day free trial In USA for Android, Mac, and iOS users, which is missing in IPVanish. However, there’s no trial for Windows devices.
Payment Methods In USA
Surfshark has a couple of payment methods, such as PayPal, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, credit cards, and cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple). On the other hand, IPVanish allows payment only through credit cards, PayPal, and Google Pay.
After evaluating the pricing plans, free trial options, and payment methods, we have found Surfshark to be the clear winner in the pricing test. It offers affordable VPN deals In USA with free trials for many popular operating systems and supports various payment methods. For better analysis, you can check our detailed Surfshark review In USA.
2- Surfshark vs. IPVanish: Speed Test Results In USA
The speed of VPNs is one important characteristic for shortlisting the best and fastest VPN service In USA. Generally, the speed of VPNs varies among the different providers.
We know ExpressVPN uses the Lightway protocol for blazing-fast speeds. Moreover, NordVPN is powered by NordLynx to deliver super-fast connections. While some VPNs crawl rather than provide fast networks.
Let us unveil how Surfshark vs. IPVanish competition works in terms of speed.
Speed Tests
After upgrading to the WireGuard In USA protocol, Surfshark has become one of the fastest VPNs in the industry. Whereas IPVanish is trying to upgrade to the WireGuard while currently running on OpenVPN, which is slower than the WireGuard.
To test the speeds of the two VPNs, we used a 100 Mbps internet connection in the United States.
- Los Angeles Speed Test: The two VPNs were tested on the Los Angeles server, where Surfshark produced 83.81.
We faced a speed drop of only 17% on our actual speeds.
While IPVanish had 68.72 Mbps speed on this server, which is extremely lower than Surfshark.
IPVannish’s speeds significantly differed from Surfshark’s.
- Seattle Speed Test: On testing Surfshark for the Seattle server, 79.82 Mbps speed was recorded.
We got a speed drop of 21% on Surfshark’s Seattle server.
On the other hand, IPVanish performed with 70.12 Mbps. We noticed that Surfshark was faster than IPVanish by 229 Mbps.
IPVanish dropped our speeds by only 12.15% from Surfshark’s speeds.
- New York Speed Test: Surfshark speed test In USA produced 81.73 Mbps download speed on the New York server, becoming one of the best results obtained for this region.
Surfshark was fast on the NY server.
Whereas IPVanish provided 63.19 Mbps, which is the worst speed result obtained in the New York testing.
The speeds didn’t seem too bad on IPVanish’s NY server.
- United Kingdom Speed Test: In the Manchester U.K. test, Surfshark had 80.12 Mbps, which was pretty impressive.
Even on a faraway server, our speeds dropped by only 20%
IPVanish had a 59.27 Mbps download speed in UK testing, defining the weak domain of the VPN.
We got a significant drop in speeds using the IPVanish UK server.
The speed results clearly show Surfshark’s excellent performance with super-fast speeds in all four locations. However, the IPVanish speed test In USA couldn’t even manage to cross 100 Mbps in any of the locations tested.
Therefore, we have an analysis of Surfshark’s proven winning records.
3. Security and Encryption In USA
A VPN requires flawless security features to shield your privacy. Encryption protocols are also significant in maintaining flawless security.
Let us explore the security and encryption standards to clarify IPVanish VPN vs. Surfshark In USA levels:
IPVanish encryption and security
IPVanish supports a list of protocols, such as IKEv2, OpenVPN, and PTP for the majority of apps. No leaks, bugs, or security loopholes were detected while testing IPVanish apps. However, the PPTP protocol is known for security vulnerabilities, and hence, as a precautionary measure, it must not be offered.
IPVanish passed our tests while connected to its Canada server.
The latest reports state transition to the WireGuard protocol for the Windows app. You can check our IPVanish review In USA for an in-depth analysis on its security features.
Surfshark security and encryption
Surfshark implements WireGuard, which protects your online traffic with ChaCha20 cipher and other top encryption policies. While you choose OpenVPN or IKEv2 VPN protocol, Surfshark implements AES-256 encryption to guarantee protection.
Additionally, on running leak tests with the Surfshark apps, no bugs, leaks, or security issues were identified or reported.
Surfshark servers are trustworthy as all your data is temporarily stored in RAM-only storage, which gets deleted after every reboot. In this case, if the Surfshark servers get attacked by cybercriminals or attackers, they will not find any hard drive record.
This means that Surfshark is safe to use.
Finally, Surfshark has signed up for independent security audits of its browser extensions by a German company, Cure53. This pact raises its standing as a secure VPN, making it an excellent VPN for Chrome In USA.
4. Privacy and Logs In USA
The user’s privacy on the VPN connection is just as important as security. To assess the privacy aspect of both VPNs, we will look into the logging policy and privacy protection practices.
Let us go through the privacy and logs review for our Surfshark vs. IPvanish guide In USA.
IPVanish privacy and logs
Although IPVanish openly claims to be a follower of a no-logs policy, it can’t be trusted for the following reasons:
- IPVanish has headquarters in the U.S., which compels services to collect user information.
- IPVanish has past records of no-logs policy violations, such as the logging scandal in 2018, where it compiled with FBI requests to log data.
However, according to recent reports, IPVanish had a no-logs audit done by Levithian Security Group in April 2022. Due to the audits, IPVanish has tried to attain a reliable and reputable position in the industry, and it has raised its name a bit too.
Surfshark privacy and logs
Surfshark is comparatively stronger in terms of privacy preservation with strict no-logs policy implementation. Surfshark has a clearly stated no-logs policy on its official website.
On top of this, Surfshark brings an interesting warrant canary to alarm the individuals involved in privacy invasion and data breaches.
Surfshark’s efforts towards a privacy-friendly environment rank it in the customer choice VPNs. With crystal clear procedures, users can go for a privacy-safe platform.
5. Surfshark vs. IPVanish: Streaming In USA
If you are looking for the best VPN for streaming your favorite Netflix international library, luckily, both Surfshark and IPVanish can do the job excellently. However, if you would like to access some other channels, that’s the point where Surfshark has the edge over IPVanish.
To test the unblocking powers, streaming tests were run on both VPNs. The results of these trials have been listed ahead.
| Streaming Platform | Surfshark | IPVanish |
|---|---|---|
| Netflix | ✔ | ✔ |
| Hulu | ✔ | X |
| Disney+ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Amazon Prime Video | ✔ | X |
| YouTube | ✔ | ✔ |
| HBO Max | ✔ | ✔ |
| BBC iPlayer | ✔ | ✔ |
From the results, we can see how Surfshark can do it better by unlocking a wide range of streaming platforms than IPVanish. It could unblock nearly all popular streaming sites, such as Hulu, YouTube, HBO Max, etc., without any buffering.
Furthermore, Surfshark comes with a SmartDNS option, which enables unblocking the streaming platforms on devices that normally can’t function with a VPN app. You can easily activate it from the central account and watch it generate DNS addresses to configure devices.
In contrast, IPVanish could unblock many streaming channels except for a few, such as Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu. However, if these three platforms are not required by you, then even IPVanish can be a good option for streaming.
Finally, you must have a fast, stable, and reliable internet connection to experience high-quality streams from anywhere in the world. Overall, both VPNs provided good streaming results. However, Surfshark defeats IPVanish with its better and more unblocking powers.
6. Surfshark vs. IPVanish: Torrenting In USA
One of the popular uses of VPNs includes downloading geo-restricted files and media. To test file transfers and torrenting capabilities, VPN speed and IP address protection are necessary factors.
Both Surfshark and IPVanish were tested for torrenting In USA, as the two VPN providers offer dedicated and P2P-optimized servers. Moreover, all of their servers permit torrenting.
The speeds were fast, and we could download a 1GB file in 5 minutes.
The download speeds and server performance were assessed from the tests.
Surfshark is one of the best VPNs for torrenting that comes with a built-in kill switch and leak protection in the apps. Above all, the WireGuard protocol enables lightning-fast speeds for torrenting.
On the other hand, IPVanish prevents leakage of your IP addresses. However, the speeds noticed were not good at all. Furthermore, the VPN service raises privacy concerns as it is headquartered in the US, which is the hub of privacy violations. Therefore, it can not be completely trusted.
7. Surfshark vs. IPVanish: Jurisdiction
VPNs are primarily used to secure online activities and protect privacy on the network. Any reliable and safe VPN service provider can protect your data by encrypting it to make it unreadable to others on the network.
Before choosing the VPN service, you should have a level of trust, assuming it will not track you or perform an illegal act behind the scene. For this assurance, you need to have knowledge of the VPN company and the region it is based in.
Surfshark jurisdiction
The well-known Surfshark has headquarters in the Netherlands, which means outside the 5-Eyes Alliance In USA or simply countries that forcefully capture user information. Surfshark follows a no-logs policy strictly and even maintains a warrant canary for users by updating it frequently.
The warrant canary refers to the transparent report, which notifies individuals in case a government requests personal data logs. According to the research compilation, Surfshark has no privacy or security issues on record.
On top of this, Surfshark cleared independent audits. Therefore, working with a clean record and belonging to a safe jurisdiction, Surfshark passes the test.
IPVanish jurisdiction
IPVanish has been transferred between various owners in the past. Currently, it is owned by J2 Global and based in the US, which is a part of the 5-Eyes Alliance. The US-based security VPN services or private companies can be pressurized to collect user logs data for third parties or government agencies.
IPVanish was reported capturing logs data back in 2018 to comply with the FBI’s requests to capture data and submit it to the FBI. The most alarming factor was IPVanish’s no-logs policy which was claimed to stand tall during this activity.
Therefore, IPVanish can’t be entirely trusted, as another such incident may occur anytime.
8. IPVanish vs. Surfshark: Extra features In USA
The majority of VPN users prefer feature-rich apps that include everything from the basic essentials to the advanced options. However, each VPN comes with a variety of different features for serving a group of clients.
Let us explore the feature set offered by Surfshark and IPVanish.
Surfshark features
Although Surfshark is equipped with several useful features, its fast speed comes at top of the list. The WireGuard VPN protocol ensures blazing-fast speeds required to maintain stable connections. You can simply enable WireGuard from the VPN app Settings.
Surfshark offers beginner-friendly apps for Android, Windows, Mac, and other devices, including gaming consoles and Smart TVs.
Surfshark hosts a network with more than 3200 servers, working in 100 countries. All its servers are optimized and capable of unblocking restricted content from anywhere.
Surfshark’s Double VPN protection encrypts the traffic twice for added privacy, whereas the Camouflage Mode lets users access content by defeating all internet censors and barriers.
Additionally, all its apps have a kill switch to prevent personal information leakage in case of VPN connection termination. Furthermore, its obfuscated servers and bypasser are some other important features.
Surfshark’s CleanWeb was launched recently with the capabilities of an ad-blocker and malware scanner. It sends alerts to notify the user about any unusual activity.
On top of this, Surfshark comes with one of the most useful tools for digital security, Surfshark One, comprising three add-on features:
- Surfshark Alert: notifies you if your sensitive or personal data is captured or published online
- Surfshark Search: a private and secure search engine to let you browse securely
- Surfshark One: a combined tool, including Alert and Search options together
Routers – Surfshark supports many types of routers In USA despite having a dedicated app for routers.
Connections– Surfshark allows unlimited device connections at once.
IPVanish features
IPVanish is not as rich in features as Surfshark. It provides basic leak protection and a kill switch with apps. While testing, the kill switch worked fine, except for the fact that it doesn’t notify you after kill switch activation.
IPVanish offers Scramble, a feature to defeat internet censorship. However, it doesn’t work in China. Moreover, IPVanish comes with a reasonable amount of apps for main device types.
Compared to the Surfshark app, the interface of IPVanish’s app looks outdated and boring.
Click on the Red button to disconnect from the server.
Furthermore, IPVanish has announced WireGuard protocol support to appear in the latest versions.
IPVanish has around 2000 servers in 75 regions to cover the VPN needs of users.
Connections – IPVanish allows connecting unlimited devices like Surfshark.
By comparing the features of the two service providers for IPVanish vs. Surfshark report, we found Surfshark to be more feature-rich than IPVanish. Although IPVanish doesn’t have a bad feature set, Surfshark just holds more different options for users.
FAQs – Surfshark vs. IPVanish In USA
Is IPVanish or Surfshark better in USA?
Yes, Surfshark is better than IPVanish in USA. It provides more feature sets, faster speed connections, a better app interface, cheaper subscription plans, enhanced privacy protection, and much more. We highly recommend using Surfshark to experience a safer and private network with world-class features and services.
What VPN is better than IPVanish in USA?
Surfshark is better than IPVanish in USA. Although both VPNs have a slight difference in pricing and offer unlimited device connections, Surfshark tops the list with a bundle of useful features that are not to be missed. Moreover, Surfshark offers a reliable and secure online connection with advanced protection features. Additionally, it has a larger server network, ensuring greater unblocking capability and fast connections.
What’s better than Surfshark in USA?
Surfshark offers fast-speed connections and essential privacy protection in USA. However, ExpressVPN beat it with more efficient service, better server coverage, and improved security features. Therefore, we recommend ExpressVPN in place of Surfshark.
Is Surfshark better than IPVanish VPN in USA?
Yes, Surfshark is much better than IPVanish VPN in USA. Surfshark comprises 3200+ servers in 100 countries, whereas IPVanish has around 2000+ servers in 75 locations. Moreover, Surfshark follows a proper no-logs policy, while IPVanish has a history of logging data despite claiming privacy protection. Surfshark brings unique features like double VPN, NoBorders, Camouflage mode, antivirus, and CleanWeb that are not available in IPVanish.
Is Surfshark faster than IPVanish VPN in USA?
Yes, Surfshark is much faster than IPVanish VPN in USA. From the test results discussed in our review, the difference in speeds is crystal clear. In all four tests, Surfshark outperformed IPVanish with excellent speeds.
However, if you are in search of an extra-fast VPN connection, we suggest ExpressVPN, which offers lightning-fast speeds with reliable and secure connections around the world.
Conclusion
In our Surfshark vs. IPVanish review In USA, we covered several tests to evaluate the performance of both VPNs. The categories for comparison included speed, pricing, security, privacy, torrenting, and streaming.
Surfshark defeated IPVanish in most of the test cases with its exceptional performance. Surfshark offers faster connections, a better interface, additional features, a larger server network, and strict privacy protection than IPVanish.
However, IPVanish may compromise your security and privacy to comply with its logging practices. IPVanish is not completely useless, it’s just that it lacks essential features. Therefore, we suggest subscribing to trustworthy and reliable services like Surfshark that can safeguard your online network.
