The VPN market is becoming increasingly saturated with providers vying for your business. So it’s not surprising that the best VPN providers are adding extra cybersecurity tools to their services to help them stand out from the competition. Standing against this trend is Private Internet Access (PIA).
But does this really matter? Rather than piling on extra functions, PIA is sticking with offering a solid VPN service that encrypts your data, has in-depth VPN features that many omit, and gives you the ability to unblock region-restricted content on a huge number of streaming services.
So, is this sufficient in this day and age? Or do you really need the extras you can get if you sign up for a subscription with one of its competitors? Let’s find out.
What features does PIA offer?
PIA is a strong VPN that offers everything you’d expect from a quality provider. This means it will encrypt your traffic to keep it safe from prying eyes, mask your IP address, and give you the ability to spoof your location, enabling you to unblock geo-restricted content.
Although it doesn’t offer all the added bells and whistles you might get from many of its competitors, PIA does come with plenty of genuinely useful features that will enhance your user experience. For one thing, it comes with port forwarding, which means that you can use it to enable external devices to access services on a private network.
There's also the "piactl" tools, that runs in command line. Essentially, you can use this to automate the application to, for example, connect when a certain application is launched. This is very useful, and will definitely appeal to techies.
On top of this, all of PIA’s servers can be used for torrenting, making PIA one of the best torrenting VPNs. So, you can use any server to download and share files using a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, as compared to many other VPNs who only have a select number of specialized servers for torrenting.
PIA also offers split tunneling on Windows, Linux, Android, and MacOS. This means that you can route some of your traffic through the VPN, while directly accessing the internet on other apps. So you can use it to unblock region-restricted content on a streaming platform, while still being able to access local sites and services.
PIA even supports Siri shortcuts on its iPhone app, which is a really useful extra for those looking for one of the best VPNs for iPhone.
Best of all, it comes with unlimited simultaneous connections, so you can use it on all your devices at once. This makes it fantastic value for money, as you can use one subscription for your entire household. The subscription itself is also very competitively priced, with plans starting from $2.03 per month for a three-year contract.
Although PIA does come with plenty of features at an extremely affordable price, its offering is far more modest than a lot of its competitors. Having said that, if you just want a reliable VPN for a fraction of the cost without investing in a full-on cybersecurity solution, you can’t go far wrong with PIA.
What does PIA not offer?
While there are many things that Private Internet Access does offer, there are a few things that it doesn't.
So, let's take a look at what PIA doesn't offer, and some providers that do offer these features.
1. Cybersecurity features
PIA is a great VPN, but as previously mentioned, it doesn't offer much more than this. If you're looking for more of a cybersecurity suite alongside a VPN, there are other VPN providers that will offer this.
For example, for NordVPN offers malware and phishing blocking with its mobile VPN apps, and higher-tier subscribers get access to Threat Protection Pro, which is a more advanced version of this software.
If online privacy is more what you're looking for from a VPN, Surfshark has you covered thanks to its Alternative ID and Alternative Number features. This gives you a new, fake identity to use online, keeping your real sensitive information safe. This means that should any of the sites you use have a data breach or leak, your real information will be safe.
2. Super-fast speeds
If you're a speed demon, PIA probably shouldn't be your first choice. In our testing, its peak speeds were 436 Mbps. While this is more than enough to stream 4k video, these speeds are not the fastest when compared to other VPN providers.
If super-fast speeds are what you're after, we recommend using our fastest VPN, Surfshark, which maxed out our speed test at over 950 Mbps. If you're looking for other VPN providers who have also reached these speeds, check out NordVPN and Proton VPN.
This means that your VPN will be able to handle resource-intensive activities (think streaming, gaming and/or torrenting) without slowing down your internet.
Should I use Private Internet Access?
Although PIA doesn’t have the most extensive list of features compared to a lot of other premium providers, it’s one of the cheapest reputable solutions on the market. If you just want a top-quality VPN without paying for features you don’t need, PIA will serve you well.
After all, PIA is proven to be one of the safest solutions around, making into our top three recommendations for the most secure VPN. For one thing, it has a fully audited no-logs policy, so you can have complete peace of mind that your provider isn’t storing or sharing any information about you. Better yet, it publishes transparency reports every three months, so you can rest assured that PIA is an extremely safe option.
Besides the security, PIA is also a great choice if you want to use a VPN to unblock region-restricted content because it has a hugely impressive fleet of servers, coming in at around 20,000 strong. This includes servers in every US state, so it’s ideal if you want a VPN to unblock US sports or other geo-blocked events. It’ll also bypass region restrictions on US Netflix, as well as BBC iPlayer, and different versions of Disney Plus and Amazon Prime Video.
On top of this, PIA also offers split tunneling, port forwarding, and torrenting, as well as a kill switch for added security. It provides fantastic value for money, giving you unlimited simultaneous connections, so you can use it on every device in your household at once without having to pay any extra.
PIA is currently ranking in fifth place in our ranking of the best VPN providers. So there are better options out there, particularly if you want an all-round cybersecurity solution that comes with all the extras. It also may not be the best choice if you want a lightning-quick VPN for activities like online gaming.
Although its speeds aren’t bad, our testing puts it at around 430 Mbps, meaning. So it definitely falls short of the 950+ Mbps we’ve got from NordVPN, Surfshark, Proton VPN, and Mullvad. It is important to note, however, that its speeds are more than fast enough to cope with most online activities and are even quick enough to stream 4k videos.
It’s also quite a complicated VPN to use, with plenty of customization options that can be confusing for a beginner. But, if you’re used to VPNs and want to set it up in a way that works best for you, it provides you with plenty of options to do this.
If you’re after a strong and reliable VPN that will keep your data secure and allow you to access region-restricted content from other parts of the world at a bargain price, PIA is definitely worth considering.
If you want to find out more details, take a look at our in-depth Private Internet Access review.
