PIA offers three plans whose only difference is the subscription length. And as you would expect, the longer the plan, the more the value.

There’s a monthly plan that costs $9.95 a month. There’s also a yearly plan that costs $3.33 a month, billed $39.95 every 12 months. The VPN’s longest plan is a 2-year plan that costs $2.69 a month, billed $69.95 every 36 months. As a bonus, you get a Boxcryptor personal plan license if you go for the 3-year plan.

All PIA subscription comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can connect up to 10 devices simultaneously.

Private Internet Access (PIA) is a US-based VPN service that has been around since 2009. The VPN is owned by Kape Technologies (formerly Crossrider), a company that was known for aggressive advertising but has since turned its focus to privacy and security.

Despite its location and the owner’s murky past, PIA is a VPN that provides superb privacy and security. The VPN has also recently unveiled its ‘NextGen VPN Network,’ which now gives it a network of 34535+ Servers in 77 Countries.

In this PIA review, we’ll look at the VPN in more detail to assess its overall performance and help you determine if it’s the best VPN for you.

Private Internet Access offers several features and functionalities that make it a standout VPN.

Ad, tracking, malware blocker

The VPN has an ad, tracker, and malware blocker known as MACE. The feature enhances a user’s browsing experience by redirecting ad and tracking requests to their device. It also increases security by blacklisting malware-hosting domains.

Kill Switch

PIA has a kill switch that prevents exposure by discontinuing all internet connections whenever the VPN connection drops.

Split Tunneling

The VPN has a split tunneling feature that allows users to determine the traffic that flows through or outside the VPN. You can select apps that bypass the VPN and apps that can only connect when the VPN is active.

Proxy

PIA has proxy capabilities that allow you to send your VPN traffic through an extra location. This is a nice addition as it helps increase privacy, and it’s available for Windows and macOS apps.

Streaming

One of PIA’s best functionalities is it comfortably bypasses Netflix VPN blocks. The VPN supports Netflix US, UK, Canada, and Japan.

PIA also lets users access other streaming services such as Disney+, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and more.

Private Internet Access is based in the US, a region considered to be the worst jurisdiction for a VPN. This is because the country is part of the 5/9/14 eye surveillance multilateral. Further, the law allows state agencies to coerce businesses into submitting (or even logging) user data.

However, PIA counters the country’s strict policies by not having any collectible information in the first place. The VPN states that “PIA absolutely does not keep any logs, of any kind, period.”

The VPN enforces this no-log policy by ensuring that logs are “specifically written to the null device, which simply acts if the data never existed.” PIA also runs a transparency page that gives regular reports on all subpoenas received. In 2016, the FBI ordered the VPN to submit data twice, but the court documents stated that the VPN couldn’t provide any personal information. This verified PIA’s no logging claims.

In terms of security, Private Internet Access also takes things seriously and offers the industry-standard AES 256-bit encryption. This is coupled with HMAC SHA 2 for authentication and RSA 4096-bit for handshake.

However, the thing about PIA is that it lets you choose your security standards. You can choose between AES 128 or AES 256, and these are available in both GCM and CBC versions. You can also decide to use the new and increasingly popular WireGuard. The protocol is highly regarded as its simpler and faster than OpenVPN.

Overall, PIA offers superb privacy and security.

PIA has improved its customer support, and the VPN now provides 24/7 live chat support. This means that you can easily get in touch with the support team for assistance. In our case, the system connected us to an agent within just 10 seconds. You can also reach out to them via email or a ticketing system in the support section.

However, you don’t have to rely on agent support as there’s a comprehensive help center on their website. It consists of a knowledge base, guides, community forum, news, files, and tickets.