A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is an essential tool for safely browsing the internet. But with all the options available on the market, it’s too easy to fall into decision fatigue and end up unprotected with no VPN at all.

That’s especially true when it comes to choosing between two popular and trustworthy VPN providers. So, between NordVPN and IPVanish, which one is right for you?

IPVanish vs. NordVPN: What's the Difference?

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NordVPN and IPVanish were both first launched in the early 2010s with the rise of streaming services and people's increasing awareness of safety and security online.

While they're similar VPN services, the execution is slightly different. NordVPN is a VPN in the traditional sense of the word. On the other hand, IPVanish is an IP VPN service.

They provide the VPN part and reroute and encrypt your internet traffic. But IP VPNs use Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology to prioritize and optimize network traffic by avoiding public gateways, which results in increased speeds and tighter security.

Prices

IPVanish and NordVPN fall in more or less the same price range. NordVPN, however, offers a wider variety of packages that range in price and subscription duration.

The cheapest you could get NordVPN for is $3.30 a month on a 2-year plan with three months for free. The first two years are billed at $89 then $322.65 for future renewals. NordVPN’s plan comes with a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee 30 days after purchasing.

IPVanish offers a single subscription plan starting at $3.75 a month billed annually at $44.99 but renews at 89.99. Both yearly and two-year plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee.

But you should note that single-month subscriptions are significantly more costly with both VPNs. A single month with NordVPN costs $11.99 and with IPVanish costs $10.99.

MUO EXCLUSIVE: You can get NordVPN and save 69 percent off a 2-year plan.

IPVanish vs. NordVPN Servers and Headquarters

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IPVanish offers just under 2,000 servers in 55 countries and 75 different locations spread out all over the globe. Alternatively, NordVPN’s 5,000 servers are located in 60 countries globally.

IPVanish, as a corporation is based in Florida, America, making it bound to state and federal data retention and user information and privacy laws.

NordVPN’s headquarter is based in Panama, a country with no mandatory data retention laws.

Access to Geo-Restricted Content

Content can be restricted for a variety of reasons, including copy and distribution rights, censorship, and price discrimination. VPNs change your location to enable you to access restricted content, but they aren’t all equally good at it. Some bypass YouTube’s geo-restriction but can’t get past Netflix’s.

Both NordVPN and IPVanish promise access to a variety of websites and streaming services like Netflix, SoundCloud, YouTube, TikTok, and Spotify. Their location-changing services also allow you to access and purchase online games that aren’t available in your region.

Related: NordVPN and NordPass Is the Perfect Security Combo

User Experience

While functionality, features, and price are important, they don’t matter as much if you can’t comfortably use the VPN on a daily basis. Before purchasing an annual plan from a VPN provider, you first need to make sure they’re compatible with the types and number of devices you regularly use.

NordVPN offers applications for Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Linux, and Android TV devices. They also provide browser extensions for Firefox and Google Chrome. But that’s not all. NordVPN protects all devices connected to your network like your Xbox, PlayStation, Chromebook, Kindle Fire, Nintendo Switch, and Chromecast.

The apps and browser extensions by NordVPN are all user-friendly and easy to use with their simplistic and flat-colors user interface. They’re intuitive and you don’t need to be tech-savvy to switch your location or use any of NordVPN’s added features.

IPVanish has official applications on Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, and Linux devices, as well as Amazon Fire TV. Additionally, IPVanish supports router protection that secures and encrypts the internet traffic of all connected devices.

IPVanish’s apps are also easy to use, but they require a bit of practice. The user interface is clean and minimalist with a dark theme. While you can immediately connect to your desired server location, IPVanish’s apps include a lot of settings that allow you to customize and optimize your experience—with some more complex than others.

Privacy and Security

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Changing your location and hiding your browsing from your ISP is what most people use VPNs for. But the main purpose behind VPNs is maintaining your privacy and security by encrypting network traffic and spoofing your location by hiding your IP address.

NordVPN and IPVanish are very trustworthy. They use end-to-end encryption and AES 256-bit encryption when transferring your data and connection from server to server. Also, they both claim a strict no-log policy, where they don’t record or keep any user activity for any period of time.

Still, it’s understandable if you’re concerned for your privacy and don’t feel that you can trust how companies market themselves.

The Fourteen-, Nine-, and Five-Eyes are surveillance alliances where countries share user internet activity to promote national security. It's best to avoid countries in one of three alliances for maximum data privacy.

If the VPN service provider is based in one of the 14 countries in the alliances they’d be forced by law to hand over any user and internet activity information they keep in their logs.

Panama, where NordVPN is based, is one of the most privacy-friendly countries thanks to a lack of surveillance-sharing agreements with other countries and local data collection laws. IPVanish is based in the US—a Five-, Nine-, and Fourteen-Eyes member—but since they have a strict no-logs policy, there should be no information for them to share even when asked.

Take Advantage of Free Trials

Whether it’s a free trial like with NordVPN or a 30-day money-back guarantee with IPVanish, you should take full advantage of the free services to make the right decision. Some pros and cons of each VPN are objective and can be measured; others aren’t.

You can at least take advantage of our exclusive NordVPN offer, saving on a 2-year plan too.

Perhaps you don’t like the layout of one of the VPN applications. They both offer high connection speeds, but maybe the locations you connect to the most are below standard with VPN and not the other. You won’t know which VPN suits you best unless you try it yourself.