Private Internet Access Review 2024 – Is it still a top VPN? (December 2024)

Private Internet Access Review — Quick Summary Quick Summary

Private Internet Access (PIA) is one of the fastest and most secure VPN services on the market. Over the past years, I’ve been using it regularly during my travels, and have always had a great experience with it. I also ran additional tests for this review to check its streaming, torrenting, and gaming support, how user-friendly it is, and if it has good additional features that also work well. 

I can safely say that PIA is excellent for torrenting, large families, security and privacy, and fast speeds. It allows P2P traffic on all servers (located in 90+ countries), supports unlimited simultaneous connections, comes with essential and advanced security features, and provides blazing-fast streaming, torrenting, gaming, and browsing speeds on nearby and distant servers. 

What’s more, it also provides other cool perks — it works with 20+ streaming sites (including top ones like Netflix and Disney+), it has one of the best ad blockers on the market, and its desktop and mobile apps are really simple to install and use. 

Only a few minor areas need improvement — PIA doesn’t consistently work in restrictive countries like China, and its live chat could be a bit better. 

But, overall, PIA is a great choice for securing your online activities. Plus, it’s also very affordable and backs all purchases with a risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee. I've consistently ranked it in the top 3 of my best VPNs list for years.

Quick Private Internet Access Review
Rating	4.8
Overall rank	2 out of #19
Works with Netflix
Server Network	Unknown number of servers in 90+ countries
Number of Devices	Unlimited
Starting Price	$2.19/month
Money-Back Guarantee	30 days
Coupons	Private Internet Access Coupon 83% OFF

Private Internet Access Security Features Security Features

PIA has all industry-standard security features, including:

• 256-bit AES encryption — This is the same level of encryption the military uses. Makes all of your web traffic completely unreadable.
• Kill switch — Cuts off internet access if the VPN disconnects, protecting you from data leaks. PIA has a kill switch on its Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS apps. There’s also an advanced kill switch option, which disables web access if the VPN is turned off (this is helpful if you want to be 100% sure you don’t go online without first securing your data with the VPN).
• No-logs policy — PIA doesn’t collect users’ IP addresses or web traffic. What’s more, its no-logs policy has been confirmed in an audit and court documents.
• DNS leak protection — Runs its own DNS servers to make sure your DNS requests don’t leak outside the VPN tunnel, so that your ISP and other third parties can’t spy on them. 

The VPN also comes with the WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2/IPSec protocols. I like Wireguard the most because it’s super fast and also very secure. But OpenVPN and IKEv2/IPSec also provide strong security and good speeds as well. Here’s the list of protocol availability on PIA’s desktop and mobile apps:

In addition to DNS leak protection, PIA also has IPv6 and WebRTC leak protection. It’s great to see this, as not all top VPNs provide full leak protection. To make sure PIA is 100% safe to use, I performed 10+ leak tests while connected to different servers — I’m happy to say that the VPN never leaked my IP address or DNS requests in my results.

I also like how PIA has other advanced security features, including RAM-only servers and perfect forward secrecy (PFS). RAM-only servers ensure that data is only written to the RAM and not the hard drive — so every server reboot wipes all data. And PFS changes the encryption key for each VPN session, making it impossible for hackers to try and compromise past or future session keys to spy on your traffic. 

Finally, the VPN lets you secure your account with two-factor authentication (2FA). This forces you to verify each login attempt with a time-sensitive code that’s generated by an authenticator app on your device. This way, even if a malicious actor somehow manages to steal your VPN account credentials, they still won’t be able to log into your account.

Private Internet Access Privacy Features Privacy Features

PIA provides excellent privacy since it has a strict no-log policy. According to its privacy policy, it doesn’t collect your IP address and web traffic, and it also doesn’t log connection timestamps and bandwidth usage. It only logs your email address, which it needs to manage your account and communicate with you. It also collects your state and zip code (for tax analysis purposes) and payment data, which it needs to process payments. 

On top of that, the provider’s no-logs policy has also passed an independent security audit. What’s more, its no-logs policy has also been proven in several court documents. And it also provides a semi-annual transparency report that details types of data requests (warrant canaries or court orders, for example) made to the provider’s legal department. The transparency report also shows how PIA doesn’t comply with any user data requests.

I also like how the provider open-sourced all of its apps, as this provides great transparency. Basically, this means anyone can inspect the VPN’s code to check if there are any security concerns. 

PIA is headquartered in the US, which isn’t exactly the most privacy-friendly location. That said, I don’t think there’s any risk of US authorities getting their hands on user data since the no-logs audit and court documents already proved the provider doesn’t store any.

Private Internet Access Additional Features Additional Features

PIA comes with the following extra features:

• Split-tunneling. 
• MACE. 
• Obfuscation. 
• Identity Guard. 
• Tor Support. 
• Dedicated IPs. 
• Smart DNS. 
• Automation.

Split-Tunneling

The VPN’s split-tunneling feature lets you pick which sites and apps use the VPN, and which don’t — for example, you can use it to only send traffic from your P2P app through the VPN server. PIA provides access to split-tunneling on its Windows, macOS, and Android apps. 

I always use this feature whenever I need to boost my VPN speeds. For this review, I tested it by only sending Netflix traffic through the VPN connection, while all the other apps used my ISP’s network — which helped me increase my Netflix streaming speeds by about 20%.

What I really like about PIA’s split-tunneling is that it lets you split-tunnel IPs in addition to apps — most VPNs (like ExpressVPN and NordVPN) only let you split-tunnel apps. Being able to split-tunnel IP addresses is sometimes more convenient. For example, if you only want to split-tunnel a website, you can split-tunnel its IP address instead of the whole browser.

MACE

MACE is PIA’s ad blocker, which gets rid of ads, blocks ad trackers, and stops you from accidentally connecting to shady sites that host malware and phishing scams. 

MACE is built into the provider’s Windows, macOS, and Linux apps. You can also get it on the Android app, but only if you manually download the .apk app from PIA’s site — if you download it from the Play Store, you won’t be able to use the ad blocker. And while there’s no built-in option for MACE on the iOS app, you can still use it by setting a custom DNS using PIA’s MACE DNS address (available in the provider’s support articles) in the iOS app’s network settings.

I think PIA’s MACE feature is very good — I tested it by visiting 10+ ad-heavy websites, and it always got rid of all ads, which made the sites load faster. I especially like that it can even block YouTube ads (not a lot of VPN ad blockers can do that). I also tested MACE using multiple third-party ad blocker testing tools, and it always scored high on all of them.

Obfuscation

The VPN’s obfuscation essentially hides your VPN traffic. PIA provides obfuscation via Shadowsocks, which is an open-source encrypted proxy — basically, the provider sends your VPN traffic through the Shadowsocks proxy, which adds an additional layer of encryption to your VPN connection. That extra layer of encryption makes your VPN traffic look like regular internet traffic. PIA’s obfuscation is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android via the OpenVPN protocol.

Obfuscation is a good way to get extra privacy or bypass censorship in restrictive countries, like China for example. Unfortunately, PIA doesn’t consistently work in restrictive regions, so I’d only recommend using its obfuscation if you just want to prevent your ISP from seeing that you’re using a VPN. If you’d like to use obfuscation in restrictive countries, I recommend getting ExpressVPN instead.

PIA’s obfuscation is simple to enable and use. Just turn it on in the VPN app, then choose your desired exit server (you can choose from 5+ countries). 

If you do plan on using obfuscation, keep in mind it might cause noticeable slowdowns. This is due to the extra layer of encryption (the obfuscation layer) that’s added to your connection. In my tests, I experienced a 25% slowdown when I enabled the obfuscation feature.

Identity Guard

Identity Guard is an email breach monitoring tool that you can access inside your PIA VPN account dashboard. This tool lets you monitor emails, and it sends you alerts if it detects that one of the monitored email addresses is involved in a data breach. I really like that Identity Guard is included free of charge with each PIA VPN subscription. The only downside is that it can only monitor 2 email addresses.

I tested Identity Guard with a brand-new email address, and its results were accurate — it correctly told me that it wasn’t involved in any data breaches. 

Also, using this tool is really straightforward — just access it in the account dashboard on PIA’s site, add the email address you want to monitor, and then confirm that address to start keeping tabs on it.

Tor Support

The VPN supports Tor traffic on all of its servers. This means you can first connect to the VPN before connecting to the Tor network to surf the dark web. I recommend doing that because you get better security and privacy — if the Tor network suffers a leak or routes your internet connection through a malicious node, only PIA’s IP address will be compromised. Your real IP address will remain hidden.

Just keep in mind that using Tor over VPN connections will cause noticeable slowdowns. That’s because the Tor network is already pretty slow, as it sends your traffic through 3 encrypted servers. When I used PIA with Tor, it usually took around 10 seconds for .onion links to load. 

Also, if you plan on using the VPN with Tor very often, I recommend getting NordVPN instead. In addition to Tor support on all servers, it also has Onion Over VPN servers that let you access dark web sites in normal browsers (like Chrome and Firefox) — that’s much more convenient than having to download and use the Tor browser.

Dedicated IP Addresses

PIA lets you buy dedicated IPs, which are IPs only you use — by default, the VPN provides you with a shared IP, which you share with tons of other PIA users. 

Dedicated IPs are useful for bypassing reCAPTCHAs and accessing sites that block shared VPN IPs. For example, I always use a dedicated IP address when traveling to securely access my bank’s website (if I use a normal shared IP, the bank’s site always blocks my connection).

I also like that PIA designed its dedicated IP system to provide enhanced privacy. Basically, it uses a token-based system to authenticate the ownership of a dedicated IP address — that prevents the provider from knowing which dedicated IP is assigned to you.

The VPN provides dedicated IPs in 5+ countries, including the US, Singapore, Canada, and Japan. If that’s not enough for you, check out NordVPN instead since it provides dedicated IPs in 15+ countries.

Smart DNS

You get free access to a smart DNS with each PIA subscription. A smart DNS is a streaming tool that allows you to enjoy streaming content on platforms that are not compatible with VPN apps — like gaming consoles, Roku TV, Chromecast, and more. PIA’s smart DNS can access streaming sites from up to 5 countries: the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Japan, and Germany.

To use the smart DNS feature, you need to perform a manual setup — but it’s pretty straightforward. From the account dashboard on the VPN’s site, just pick the Smart DNS tab, add a new device and select a virtual location, and then follow the provider’s setup instructions to configure the smart DNS on the device. The tutorials are pretty easy to follow. It only took me about 8 minutes to set up the smart DNS on my Xbox console. 

Just remember the smart DNS is only intended for streaming, and not for privacy or security. It doesn’t encrypt your traffic, and it also doesn’t hide your IP address. The lack of encryption does mean you’ll get much faster streaming speeds, though. 

Automation

The provider allows you to automate VPN connections, which is really convenient. This feature is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android. 

This tool lets you choose how the VPN behaves on different types of networks: secured WiFi networks, public WiFi networks, and wired connections. For example, I set PIA up so that it automatically connects to a VPN server when I connect to a public network, like a coffee shop or an airport’s WiFi.

PIA’s Automation feature is also very easy to use — it only takes a few clicks/taps to set up an automation rule in just 5 seconds. 

Private Internet Access Streaming Support Streaming Support 

PIA provides very good streaming support, as it works with 20+ top streaming services. This includes popular platforms like Netflix, Max, BBC iPlayer, and Disney+. I can also confirm it works with HBO Max, but I can’t promise consistent access to the platform since the provider’s reps told me they don’t guarantee that the VPN works with that platform. Other than those platforms, PIA also works with Crunchyroll, CBC, Canal+, and 10Play.

In addition to regular servers, the provider also has dedicated streaming servers in 5+ countries. Each server refreshes its VPN IP address more frequently than normal servers, so it’s much harder for streaming platforms to detect and block them.

Plus, I’m really happy that PIA comes with a smart DNS feature. You can use this tool to access your favorite streaming services on devices you can’t install VPN apps on, like certain smart TVs or gaming consoles. 

I also think PIA is a great Netflix VPN, as it guarantees access to 5+ Netflix libraries. This includes top libraries like Netflix US, Netflix UK, Netflix Germany, and Netflix Japan. Unfortunately, the provider doesn’t guarantee access to Netflix Canada (and it also didn’t work with that library in my tests).

Private Internet Access Torrenting Support Torrenting Support

PIA is the best torrenting VPN on the market in my opinion. It has really good P2P support since it allows torrent downloads on all of its servers, which are located in 90+ countries.

Plus, PIA also comes with other useful P2P-related feature:

• Port forwarding — This feature lets you connect to more peers to get faster download speeds. Port forwarding is easily enabled inside the VPN app, and it’s available on all PIA servers except the US ones. When I used this feature while torrenting, it increased my P2P speeds by about 10%.
• SOCKS5 proxy support — A SOCKS5 proxy hides users’ IP addresses while torrenting, but doesn’t encrypt web traffic. If you’re not concerned about security that much, you can use a SOCKS5 proxy to get much faster download speeds. In my tests, my SOCKS5 speeds were 30% faster than my VPN speeds.

Speaking of speeds, I enjoyed very fast downloads with PIA. On average, it only took me around 35 minutes to torrent a 13 GB file on a distant server, which is really good. Plus, the VPN has split-tunneling, so you can route just P2P app traffic through the VPN to further increase your speeds.

What’s more, the VPN also provides excellent security for torrenting. It protects you from accidental leaks via a kill switch, it has an audited no-logs policy to protect your privacy, and it also comes with full leak protection. Plus, its MACE feature gets rid of annoying ads on torrent trackers and also stops you from accidentally connecting to malicious P2P sites that host malware.

Private Internet Access Gaming Support Gaming Support

I had an enjoyable experience whenever I used PIA for gaming. I used a distant server to play a few rounds of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and I generally had average, stable ping (120-135 ms). I also never experience any lag — all of my matches went very smoothly to the point where I even forgot I had the VPN running in the background.

I also like how the provider has router support. This way, you can manually configure it on your router and use it to game on devices that don’t support VPN apps, like Xbox and PlayStation consoles.

Also, by hiding your real IP address, PIA protects you from DDoS attacks — sore losers can use them to try and force you offline while gaming. Another cool thing is that PIA has anti-DDoS protection on all of its servers. That means nobody can try to DDoS your connection to PIA to disconnect you from it.

The only thing that’s missing is cloud gaming support (like ExpressVPN has). PIA’s reps confirmed that they can’t guarantee the VPN will work with cloud gaming services that stream video games to portable devices, like smartphones. I tried out the VPN with GeForce Now, and it worked well, but I can’t guarantee you’ll have the same experience as me.

Private Internet Access Server Network Server Network

PIA doesn’t disclose its total number of VPN servers — when I asked its support reps about this, they told me they don’t make the number of servers public for security reasons, which is understandable. 

It has servers in 90+ countries, which is really good. Its servers are spread across the globe, covering North and South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia. That makes it really simple to find and connect to a nearby server to get the best speeds.

The VPN also allows torrenting across all of its servers, which is very convenient. In addition, it also has streaming servers in 5+ countries — if you can’t access a streaming site using a regular server, the provider recommends trying the streaming servers instead. 

PIA also uses virtual locations. These are servers that provide you with an IP address from the country you connect to — but the actual, physical server is located in a different country. The provider’s virtual locations work well, as they always provided me with the right IP address in my leak tests. Plus, I like how PIA is transparent about its use of virtual locations since it clearly marks them in its apps.

Finally, you can also get a dedicated IP address for a small additional cost. PIA lets you purchase a dedicated IP from 5+ countries, so you get a decent variety.

Private Internet Access Speed Tests Speed Tests

I travel a lot, so my baseline speeds are rarely the same. That influences my VPN speeds, so it’s hard for me to provide you with consistent speed test results for all the VPNs I review. 

That’s why I decided to ask my friend from Romania to handle this part of the review. He doesn’t travel 24/7 like me, so his speed test results will be more consistent across all reviews. Also, for his speed tests, he always uses the provider’s fastest protocol, WireGuard in this case.

First, he ran a test without being connected to PIA’s servers. That way, he’d have a baseline to compare the VPN speeds to. 

Then, he connected to a nearby server in Hungary. He said he barely experienced any slowdowns — websites loaded instantly, and so did HD and 4K videos. It was almost as if he wasn’t using a VPN at all!

After that, he tested a distant server in the US. He experienced some slowdowns, but they were pretty minor. When he accessed websites, they still loaded instantly. What’s more, HD videos loaded instantly too, while 4K videos took around 2 seconds to load (but there was no buffering when skipping through them).

Finally, he connected to a Japanese server. He reported some slowdowns, but they were only a little more noticeable than on the US server — sites took 2 seconds to load, HD videos loaded in 3 seconds, and 4K videos took around 3–4 seconds to fully load. Also, he played a few online games and reported stable ping, and also torrented an 8 GB file in around 15 minutes, which is pretty good.

I can also confirm that I always had similar results whenever I used PIA while traveling. Whether it was a nearby or a distant server, I generally never experienced long load times for websites and videos, nor did I have to deal with noticeable slowdowns while playing online games, having Zoom calls, or downloading large torrents.

Private Internet Access Censorship Bypassing Censorship Bypassing

Despite having obfuscation, PIA doesn’t consistently work in restrictive countries. Its support reps told me that they can’t guarantee that the VPN service will always work in places that restrict VPN usage like China, Egypt, Russia, Turkey, and the UAE. I personally didn’t have any issues using PIA in China, but I can’t guarantee everyone else will have the same experience.

If this is a deal-breaker for you, consider getting ExpressVPN instead. It works 24/7 in restrictive regions without any problems, and it’s actually the best VPN for China on the market at the moment.

Private Internet Access Apps and Ease of Use Apps and Ease of Use

PIA has apps for all popular platforms — Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Android TV, Fire TV, and Apple TV. It also has browser extensions for Chrome, Opera, and Firefox, and supports manual router setups. 

Installing PIA’s desktop and mobile apps is really simple — on average, it only took me up to 3 minutes to install its Android and Windows apps on my devices.

I also like that PIA allows unlimited simultaneous connections. This means you can set up the VPN on as many devices as you want, so it’s a good pick for large families. Most top VPNs only let you connect 5–10 devices.

Android & iOS 

PIA’s Android app and iOS app are very similar in design — the layout and interface are similar, so it’s very simple to switch between the 2 apps. Plus, I like that both of PIA’s mobile apps have a quick-connect feature that automatically connects you to the fastest server with just 1 tap. I actually think PIA is among the best VPNs for iOS and Android.

That said, I like the Android app better since it’s more feature-rich than the provider’s iOS app. While both apps have the Automation feature, the Android VPN app also comes with split-tunneling, obfuscation, and MACE (but only if you install the .apk app from the provider’s site).

Windows & macOS

I really like PIA’s Windows and macOS apps as they both have the same features, including split-tunneling (many VPNs actually don’t have this tool on macOS), MACE, obfuscation, and Automation. You can also pick between the OpenVPN and WireGuard VPN protocol.

What’s more, both the macOS and Windows apps are really intuitive. It’s simple to find and connect to a server, and I like how there are helpful, easy-to-understand explanations for all settings and features. To be honest, PIA has some of the best VPN apps for Windows and macOS.

And I also like how the main connection window is full of useful info and customization options. For example, you can choose up to 6 servers to quick-connect to. And you can also see quick information about your VPN connection, including the encryption type and the amount of data you downloaded and uploaded.

Linux

I think PIA has one of the best Linux apps out there, as it comes with a GUI. That means you don’t have to use command lines to connect to servers and change settings, which is really convenient. The GUI app is available on distros like Mint, Ubuntu, Arch, and Debian. For other distros, you’ll need to use the CLI app.

The Linux app is also pretty feature-rich, as it comes with MACE, obfuscation, and Automation. What’s more, you can either use the OpenVPN or WireGuard VPN protocol.

Browser Extensions

PIA’s browser extensions are very easy to use — you get access to a quick-connect feature, it doesn’t take more than 4 seconds to connect to a server, and the interface displays the server ping next to each VPN server location (the ping help you find the fastest servers for your location).

The extensions also come with tons of security features. For example, you can configure them to block WebRTC to prevent leaks, block camera and microphone access, and disable credit card autofill. 

My only complaint is that the number of server locations is limited compared to the other apps. With the browser extensions, you only get access to servers in 20+ countries, whereas the mobile and desktop apps have servers in 90+ countries.

Router Support

PIA supports manual router setups on multiple router models and firmwares, including DD-WRT, Tomato, Asuswrt-Merlin, pfSense, and LEDE. 

I like how the VPN provides access to helpful tutorials for all router setups. Some of the guides even include screenshots, which is really helpful. On average, it shouldn’t take you more than 15 minutes to manually configure PIA on your router. 

But if you’re mainly interested in using a router VPN, I recommend getting ExpressVPN instead. It’s one of the only VPN providers with a dedicated router app, which is much easier to install and use than performing a manual router setup.

Private Internet Access Pricing and Refund Policy Pricing and Refund Policy

PIA is a very affordable VPN service, with prices starting as low as $2.19/month. It comes with a 1-month, a 6-month, and a 2-year plan — the longest plan provides the best value, and even includes a few extra months for free.

The provider also accepts multiple payment methods, including PayPal, credit/debit cards, and even cryptocurrencies. 

Also, PIA comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans. I especially like that you don’t need to meet any requirements (like not using a set amount of data) to be eligible for the refund.

Private Internet Access Customer Support Customer Support

PIA provides access to multiple customer support channels — it has 24/7 live chat support, email support, and a really helpful support library that comes with FAQs and setup and troubleshooting guides. 

I often use the provider’s live chat support, and it’s pretty decent. I usually am connected to a live chat rep in less than 10 seconds, but there are sometimes occasions when it takes up to 30 seconds. Most live chat reps are helpful, but I have sometimes come across some reps that are not knowledgeable at all, so I’d like to see PIA improve this in the future.

I don’t usually use the VPN’s email support, but I tested it for this review, and it was really good. I sent PIA several emails over the course of a week, and I generally got a reply in less than 3 hours, which is very fast. And the replies were friendly and informative.

The provider’s support articles are pretty helpful — the FAQs provide clear, helpful answers, and the installation tutorials are simple to follow. That said, I’d like to see PIA add more visual elements to its support articles (screenshots or videos), like ExpressVPN and NordVPN have.

Private Internet Access Review 2024— Final Words Final Words

Private Internet Access is one of the best VPN services on the market — it has excellent torrenting support, allows unlimited simultaneous connections, comes with very good security and privacy features, and has really fast speeds on all servers. It also comes with really good extras (including split-tunneling and an excellent ad blocker) and provides access to very intuitive desktop and mobile apps. Plus, it has great streaming support since it works with 20+ streaming platforms, including Netflix.

I really only have a few minor complaints about the VPN — it doesn’t consistently work in restrictive countries like China, and its live chat support could use some improvement. But other than that, PIA is a solid VPN service that provides great value.

Private Internet Access Frequently Asked Questions Frequently Asked Questions