IVPN review

The short answer

IVPN is a privacy-focused VPN registered in Gibraltar and run since 2009. It names its owner, publishes a transparency report and warrant canary, and hires the security firm Cure53 for an audit every year. It says plainly what it doesn't do: no port forwarding, no streaming guarantees and a smaller server network. For people who care most about trust, its record is among the cleanest we've read.

Nobody at Tunnelcheck has tested IVPN. This review uses IVPN's own pages, its blog posts about audits and incidents, and the Cure53 report it links, all under Sources. Our methodology page explains our approach.

Who owns IVPN and where is it based?

IVPN is run by IVPN Limited, registered in Gibraltar, a British overseas territory with its own laws. IVPN's team page says founder and CEO Nicholas Pestell owns 100% of the company. It describes the founding team as security professionals who studied information security at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Naming the owner is less common than it should be. Many VPN brands sit inside larger groups that don't advertise the link, which our VPN ownership page tracks.

In May 2026 IVPN added other privacy services to its higher plans: Mailx (email aliases), modDNS (DNS filtering) and Portmaster Pro, a firewall app from the company Safing. IVPN's plan announcement links Portmaster to Safing and doesn't say IVPN owns it.

Does IVPN keep logs? What the audits say

IVPN's pricing page says it keeps no connection logs or session data and stores no customer information after purchase. You can sign up without an email address and pay with cash, Bitcoin, Monero, card or PayPal.

IVPN says it has had an independent security audit every year since 2019. Its blog confirms Cure53 as the auditor in recent years. These are security audits, where testers look for weaknesses in apps, servers or web systems. They differ from a no-logs assurance report, which checks logging specifically. Our audit tracker explains the difference.

IVPN's transparency report lists 39 legal requests from 2016 to 2026, three of them valid, and zero cases where data was provided. A warrant canary is a statement a company stops updating if it receives a secret order it can't disclose. IVPN publishes one.

Security features and protocols

IVPN supports WireGuard, OpenVPN and IKEv2, with IKEv2 only in the iOS app. It says its WireGuard connections can be quantum-resistant, meaning they add protection against future computers that could break today's key exchange. It also offers V2Ray and obfsproxy obfuscation to disguise VPN traffic. See VPN protocols for the basics.

• Kill switch built on a network firewall. See our kill switch guide.
• Multi-hop, which routes traffic through two servers.
• AntiTracker, a DNS blocklist for ads and trackers.
• A SOCKS5 proxy, private DNS servers, and support for routers and NAS devices.

IVPN's track record

We found no report of IVPN handing over user data. The one incident on record involves IVPN's own money. On August 7, 2026, an attacker exploited a newly disclosed flaw in BTCPay Server, the open-source software IVPN uses for Bitcoin payments. The attacker took IVPN's Lightning node credentials and moved 0.6168 BTC of IVPN's operating funds. IVPN says the attack looked like indiscriminate scanning and that its customer database sits on separate systems the payment app can't reach. It says no customer data was exposed and no customer lost money. Lightning payments were offline from August 7 to 10.

IVPN disclosed the theft within days and explained what it changed. That openness counts in its favor.

Streaming and torrenting with IVPN

IVPN's help page says it makes no guarantee that streaming services will work, because most are actively blocking VPNs. It suggests split tunneling instead: leave the streaming app outside the VPN while everything else stays protected. Watching another country's catalog usually breaks a streaming service's terms anyway. See why streaming services block VPNs and our split tunneling guide.

On P2P, IVPN says it doesn't restrict any protocols. It asks customers to avoid US servers for P2P, including US exit servers on multi-hop, because its US hosts have threatened to disconnect servers over the volume of DMCA copyright notices. IVPN doesn't offer port forwarding.

A VPN hides torrent traffic from your internet provider. It does not make copyright infringement legal. Read is torrenting illegal? and legal torrent sources.

Apps and devices

IVPN has open-source apps for Android, iOS, macOS, Windows and Linux, plus a command-line client. The Standard and Plus plans cover 5 devices. Pro Suite covers 10. In May 2026 IVPN raised the limits from 2 and 7, and existing accounts got the increase too.

Price and refund

On 2026-11-13, IVPN's pricing page listed three plans in US dollars:

The yearly Standard plan works out to $5 a month. IVPN's refund policy allows a full refund within 30 days, once per customer. Partial refunds aren't offered. Cash, vouchers and IVPN Light purchases can't be refunded. Check the official pricing page before you buy, and see our VPN prices page for other providers.

What we couldn't verify about IVPN

IVPN publishes more than most providers, but a few gaps remain in what we could check:

• The early audits. IVPN says its annual audits began in 2019. The blog posts we read confirm Cure53 for 2024 and 2026 and a scheduled Cure53 audit for 2025. We didn't confirm the auditors, scope or results for 2019 to 2023, or the published results of the 2025 audit.
• A dedicated no-logs audit. The audits we confirmed tested security. We didn't find a separate no-logs assurance report, so IVPN's logging claim rests on its policy, its transparency report and the absence of any data handover on record.
• Portmaster's ownership. IVPN describes its extra services as built and operated by its team, but links Portmaster to the company Safing. We couldn't confirm the business relationship.
• Server hosting. IVPN lists 58 locations in 41 countries but, on the pages we read, doesn't say which servers it owns and which it rents.

None of these is a red flag on its own. They are the questions to ask if you want the full picture. Our VPN audits page shows how other providers compare.

Who IVPN suits, and who should look elsewhere

• Suits: people who rank ownership transparency and audits above server count.
• Suits: anyone who wants short plans: a one-week plan lets you try it without a long commitment.
• Look elsewhere: if you torrent heavily and need port forwarding, or want wide streaming support.
• Look elsewhere: if you want the cheapest long-term price. Mullvad and Proton VPN are the closest privacy-focused alternatives.