PIA

Private Internet Access (PIA) stands out as a well-established and reputable VPN service recognized by both experts and users. It is owned by Kape Technologies, which also owns other notable VPNs like ExpressVPN and CyberGhost.

PIA is dedicated to ensuring user privacy, notably through its rare offer of anonymous payment options. It’s also appreciated for its affordability and extensive server network. Additionally, PIA has recently upgraded to allow unlimited simultaneous connections. However, compared to leading VPN services, PIA lags in maintaining high original internet speeds.

In this review, we thoroughly tested PIA VPN on various fronts, including its torrenting capabilities, effectiveness in unblocking streaming services, speed retention, and more.

Our preliminary assessment indicates that while PIA VPN is an economical choice providing fundamental security, it may not be the best fit for users seeking high-speed browsing or streaming. But it can be a good alternative for NordVPN and Surfshark, which offer the same features at a higher price.

Since we are a streaming-focused website, we will be assessing the VPN with access to popular streaming channels and platforms. But first, let’s discuss the features, servers, and price of PIA.

So here is our PIA VPN review for 2024.

What is the price of PIA in 2024?

PIA is considered the most affordable VPN of 2024. You can get the monthly deal for $11.95/m and the yearly deal at $3.33/m ($39.95/year).

However, the best deal PIA has to offer is the 3-year deal, which is available at $2.03/m ($79/y), and you will get 3 months free with it. That means you can enjoy using PIA for 39 months at the price of 36.

Additionally, you will get the free email breach monitor tool, which helps identify if your email is found in a data breach. Plus, a special discount on add-ons like Dedicated IP.

Every subscription is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee and 24/7 customer support.

PIA VPN features 2024

Private Internet Access is the name that comes to mind when we are talking about hundreds of VPN features available at an affordable price.

The best part of getting a PIA subscription is it can be used on unlimited devices. We tested it to access Thai Netflix from the USA on 15 devices simultaneously, and all of them worked perfectly. Honestly, it surprised us!

The VPN offers end-to-end encryption with the split tunneling feature. A split tunneling feature is required when you are using apps that don’t like VPN or you don’t want to use PIA on them. PIA’s No Logs policy is the cherry on top and adds an additional layer of security and anonymity.

How secure is PIA?

PIA is considered one of the safest VPNs of 2024 and has never been found in a data leak nor provided data to Government agencies. It is based in the United States, which is a privacy-unfriendly state, but PIA has customizable encryption levels and works on RAM-only servers.

We have listed the best security features PIA has to offer in 2024.

Encryption

When you configure Private Internet Access using the OpenVPN protocol, you have the flexibility to choose your encryption level; otherwise, it defaults to AES-128 (CBC). Within the Connections tab, you’ll find the following encryption options:

1. AES-128 (CBC)
2. AES-128 (GCM)
3. AES-256 (CBC)
4. AES-256 (GCM)

All these encryption standards are highly secure, but they do have some differences. While both AES-128 and AES-256 are secure against brute force attacks, AES-256 offers enhanced security, making it a preferred choice in many scenarios.

The key distinction between the CBC and GCM modes lies in their speed and security: GCM is a more recent development, offering both faster performance and stronger security compared to CBC. In terms of authentication, Private Internet Access employs the SHA2 hashing algorithm and uses the RSA-4096 handshake to establish secure connections.

Protocols

Following are the protocols offered by PIA

• WireGuard
• OpenVPN (UDP/TCP)
• IKEv2/IPSec

Data security and Logging

Private Internet Access VPN operates out of Colorado in the United States, a country not typically associated with robust privacy protections, particularly given its membership in the 5 Eyes Alliance. Therefore, understanding PIA’s privacy policy is crucial.

According to their privacy policy, PIA asserts that it does not keep any logs of user activities. The only personal information they gather is your email address and payment details, which are necessary for account creation. PIA VPN also records cookie identifiers, your location, and ZIP code. Furthermore, PIA’s privacy approach includes:

“We collect as little personal information as possible – only what’s needed to activate your account and allow you to experience our world-class service. We need two things to sign you up for a subscription: 1) an email address and 2) payment. That’s it. Once we get that, your account will be active and ready to use. We also collect as little anonymized data as possible – only what’s needed to gather overall usage metrics (not user metrics) so we can continue providing and improving our service. We DO NOT collect or store browsing history, connected content, user IPs, connection time stamps, bandwidth logs, DNS queries, or anything like that. We collect and retain zero user logs.”

A key aspect of their logging policy is the implementation of the Private Internet Access’s NextGen network. This network features servers that operate solely on RAM, meaning all data is erased with each server restart. This design minimizes the likelihood of third-party intrusions and ensures that information like your browsing history cannot be stored.

The Kill Switch

A dependable kill switch is a must-have feature for any VPN, and fortunately, PIA VPN is equipped with an effective one. The functionality is straightforward: should your VPN connection be disrupted, leaving your real IP address exposed, PIA immediately cuts off your internet connection. This acts as a robust safeguard against IP and DNS leaks.

To re-establish your internet connection, you’ll need to either reconnect to the VPN or manually switch on your Wi-Fi. This mechanism ensures that your real IP address remains protected and doesn’t inadvertently become exposed.

How fast is PIA?

We tested multiple PIA servers for speed on a 100Mbps baseline connection. Here are the results.

The USA – Dallas servers gave us a download speed of 88Mpbs, which is perfect for streaming and unblocking geo-restricted websites and streaming services. We watched Hulu from Thailand with the Dallas server, and it worked perfectly.

The Canadian server in Toronto gave us 77Mpbs download speed, which is not what we got from the American server but still enough to watch movies and TV shows in HD quality.

We also tested it to access BBC from abroad and got a download speed of 90Mpbs on a 100Mpbs connection. We selected the GB Manchester server. Additionally, we selected the Australian server in Melbourne to access SBS online for free, and it gave us a download speed of 69Mpbs, which was the lowest among all.

All of these tests were done with the WireGuard protocol which ensures smooth streaming and provides the fastest download speed. The average drop in download speed was 32% in the above four locations with Australia being the lowest.

Other Protocols

Here is how PIA performed with other protocols.

• WireGuard: 88Mbps/75Mbps
• OpenVPN (default settings) TCP: 40Mbps/38Mbps
• OpenVPN (default settings) UDP: 75Mbps/65Mbps
• OpenVPN (secure settings) TCP: 54Mbps/45Mbps
• OpenVPN (secure settings) UDP: 70Mbps/66Mbps