Hotspot Shield vs Private Internet Access At a Glance
Hotspot Shield
Hotspot Shield provides fast, well-protected connections from an impressive global server network. This VPN provides reliable access to geo-controlled content from popular streaming services.
The provider also offers top-notch privacy and security protection, keeping your online travels undercover.
Private Internet Access
Private Internet Access (PIA) has been in the industry for quite a while and provides excellent VPN protection for most popular connected devices. The provider’s large server network provides reliable access to content around the globe.
The provider also offers excellent online security and privacy, ensuring that outsiders have no idea what you’re up to online.
How to Choose a VPN
Before deciding which VPN is right for your needs, you’ll want to carefully consider how well a VPN provider performs in each service category.
I’ll be rating two VPN providers, Hotspot Shield and Private Internet Access. I’ll take a look at how well both VPNs perform in each VPN category, before declaring a winner for that category. Once I’ve taken a look at each VPN’s performance, I’ll add up the individual scores and declare an overall winner.
By the time we reach the end of this article, you’ll have plenty of information, allowing you to make a knowledgeable VPN buying decision.
Hotspot Shield vs Private Internet Access Features
Here is where I take a look at all of the VPN features you should consider before investing in a VPN subscription.
Connection Speeds
No matter what you enjoy doing online, a fast connection is your ally. This is especially true if you stream content, game online, or share files.
I periodically perform VPN connection speed tests. Here’s how I do it:
- I perform all speed tests on a North American Windows server with a gigabit Ethernet connection.
- I connect to VPN servers located in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Hong Kong, at three different times of the day.
- I use the Windows version of the VPN providers’ apps for testing, configured to connect using the Wireguard protocol when available.
- I run the Speedtest app after connecting to each VPN server location, exiting the Speedtest app following each speed test.
Both providers delivered quite usable speeds. However, one provider delivered much faster connections.
Private Internet Access delivers an average download speed of 73.3 Mbps.
Hotspot Shield’s download speeds measured in at 127 Mbps.
Both providers provide more than enough bandwidth for streaming, online gaming, and file sharing.
You’ll find that your speeds will differ from what I saw, depending on the speed of your usual ISP-provided connection, your geographic location, and the location of the VPN server you’ve connected to.
Average Connection Speed Winner: Hotspot Shield
| Provider | Avg. Connection Speed | Link |
| Hotspot Shield | 128.1 Mbps | Visit Site |
| Private Internet Access | 73.3 Mbps | Visit Site |
Pricing
Everything is more expensive these days, meaning we’re all looking for ways to save a few bucks here and there. Unfortunately, many folks will concentrate on a VPN’s low price, not thinking about what features the VPN’s dropped to keep things cheap.
Bargain-priced VPNs may be lacking when it comes to certain features, such as throttling your connection speeds or limiting your usage via data caps, or not offering native support for popular devices. This makes it important to consider a provider’s true value.
First of all, while Hotspot Shield offers a free level of VPN service, the free tier brings with it some severe limitations, including data caps, bandwidth throttling, and more.
Hotspot Shield’s monthly fee comes in at around the price of a medium burger combo at a fast food joint when you opt for an annual subscription. The provider offers a 45-day money-back guarantee.
Meanwhile, a month of Private Internet Access will cost about the price of a small or medium coffee when you opt for the provider’s annual plan. PIA offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
You may have noticed that I never post exact VPN prices in my articles. This is because most VPNs change their pricing on what seems like a daily basis, so any pricing info can quickly become outdated. Visit the VPN providers’ websites for their most current pricing.
Pricing Winner: Private Internet Access
| Provider | Money-Back Guarantee Period | Link |
| Private Internet Access | 30 Days | Visit Site |
| Hotspot Shield | 45 Days | Visit Site |
Privacy
If you’re online without a VPN, you’re leaving behind evidence of your activities. Without a VPN your ISP, hackers, and any other nosy type with a bit of skill can take a look at where you’ve been online and will know what you did there. This makes a VPN’s privacy features an important consideration.
Always consider the following when researching a VPN’s privacy protections:
- Is the provider located in a privacy-friendly country?
- Does the provider save user logs on its servers?
- Does the provider accept Bitcoin or other types of cryptocurrency?
Hotspot Shield is owned by U.S.-based Pango, and while not collecting or logging traffic data or browsing activity connected to its users, a cryptocurrency payment option is not available.
Private Internet Access is also based in the United States. PIA does not save user logs. The provider accepts cryptocurrency, to protect your payment privacy.
Privacy Winner: Private Internet Access
| Provider | Privacy Ranking | Site |
| Hotspot Shield | 4.5 | Visit Site |
| Private Internet Access | 5.0 | Visit Site |
Security
There are plenty of folks that would like to track your online activity while you’re online. They’re looking to steal your information or somehow influence your online travels. This makes a VPN provider’s connection protection an important consideration.
Private Internet Access keeps your online antics undercover with banking-grade encryption, a kill switch, and DNS/IP leak prevention. Connection protocols used by the provider include Wireguard, PPTP, OpenVPN, and L2TP/IPSec.
Hotspot Shield protects its users’ connections with military-grade encryption. The provider’s connection protocols include OpenVPN, Wireguard, and IKEv2 (IPSec). Available protocols can vary, depending on which version of the provider’s app you’re using. Kill switch protection is available on the provider’s Windows app.
Security Winner: It’s a tie
| Provider | Overall Security Score | Link |
| Hotspot Shield | 5.0 | Visit Site |
| Private Internet Access | 5.0 | Visit Site |
Simultaneous Connections
You likely own and use multiple devices at once. This makes it important for a VPN provider to have a large simultaneous connections allowance.
Hotspot Shield allows its users to connect up to five devices at once to its servers. (25 devices, five for each family member account if you subscribe to its Premium Family tier.)
PIA allows a user to concurrently connect up to 10 devices to its servers.
Simultaneous Connections Winner: Private Internet Access
| Provider | Simultaneous Connections Allowed | Link |
| Private Internet Access | 10 | Visit Site |
| Hotspot Shield | 5 | Visit Site |
Streaming Support
You probably subscribe to multiple streaming services. While this provides a wide variety of content, you’re not getting everything you could be out of your subscriptions. This is because streaming services restrict their content to certain countries. This is where a VPN proves useful.
A VPN can temporarily assign a fresh IP address to your connected device. This makes it appear to the rest of the internet that you and your device are connecting to the internet from another region of the world, providing access to content that might normally be limited to viewing in that region.
Private Internet Access provides reliable access to the US, UK, Japanese, Denmark, Germany, and Swedish flavors of Netflix, while also providing access to BBC iPlayer in the UK. Other streamers PIA can access include CBC, Hotstar, 9Now, 10play, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Disney+, and many others.
Hotspot Shield also provides access to a large number of streaming services, including Netflix US, Netflix UK, YouTube, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Twitch, Disney+, and others.
Streaming Support Winner: Private Internet Access
| Provider | # of U.S. Streaming Services VPN Unblocks | # of International Services VPN Unblocks | Link |
| Hotspot Shield | 6+ | 5+ | Visit Site |
| Private Internet Access | 8+ | 25+ | Visit Site |
BitTorrent Support
BitTorrent is an efficient way to share files with other internet users. While file sharing is legal in most countries (many reputable organizations use P2P to share files among employees), it’s illegal to share copyrighted materials, including movies, music, and games.
This means the entertainment industry puts pressure on ISPs to prevent sharing of copyrighted files. This has led ISPs to throttle or block your internet connection if they detect file sharing, whether the files are copyrighted or not.
A VPN encrypts your internet connection and temporarily assigns a fresh IP address to your connected device. This means your ISP (or anyone else) can’t see what you’re doing online or trace it back to you.
Hotspot Shield allows BitTorrenting activity on its server network.
Private Internet Access also allows file sharing on its server network.
BitTorrenting Winner: Tied
| Provider | # of Countries Where VPN Allows BitTorrents | Link |
| Hotspot Shield | All of them | Visit Site |
| Private Internet Access | All of them | Visit Site |
Global Server Coverage
Many types of online content are only accessible from specific countries. This means you should look for a VPN with a large global server network. The larger the network, the better access you’ll have to geo-fenced content in other countries.
Also, make sure the VPN provider has multiple servers located in each country, as that helps ensure that a single server won’t be overloaded by users
Hotspot Shield has a large global server network, with 1,800+ servers located in more than 80 countries around the world.
Private Internet Access has 3,300+ servers, located in 80+ countries around the globe.
Global Server Coverage Winner: Private Internet Access
| Provider | Server Count | Countries | Link |
| Hotspot Shield | 1,800+ | 80+ | Visit Site |
| Private Internet Access | 3,300+ | 80+ | Visit Site |
Multi-Platform Support
It seems as if every electronic device is connected to the internet. That makes a VPN provider’s native app support an important consideration.
Hotspot Shield offers native app support for iOS, macOS, Android, Android TV, Amazon Fire, Linux, and Windows device platforms. The provider also offers compatibility with select routers, but only if you pay extra for Hotspot Premium. (Pre-configured routers are available through Flashrouters.com.) Support is also available for the Chrome browser platform.
PIA’s native app support includes options for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Android TV, Linux, and Amazon Fire TV devices. Chrome, Firefox, and Opera browser extensions are also available. Support is available for select routers and pre-configured routers are also available from Flashrouters.com.
Multi-Platform Support Winner: Private Internet Access (more browser extensions)
| Provider | Platforms Supported | Browser Extensions? | Router Support? |
Link |
| Hotspot Shield | 7 | Yes (Chrome) | Yes – Manual setup, only on Hotspot Premium. | Visit Site |
| Private Internet Access | 7 | Yes (Chrome, Opera, Firefox) | Yes – Manual setup. Also includes Flashrouter options. | Visit Site |
Customer Support
Both of these VPNs are easy to use and provide reliable protection. However, you may still have an occasional question.
Hotspot Shield’s customer service options include round-the-clock support, with 24/7 live chat, email support, a “contact us” form, searchable tutorials, an FAQs section, and a searchable support library.
PIA’s 24/7 customer support includes daytime live chat, email support, and a searchable support library.
Customer Support Winner: Hotspot Shield
| Provider | Customer Support Rating | Link |
| Hotspot Shield | 5.0 | Visit Site |
| Private Internet Access | 4.5 | Visit Site |
And The Winner Is…
Both Hotspot Shield and Private Internet Access provide excellent VPN services, and you really can’t go wrong with either provider. However, we need to name an overall winner.
Private Internet Access takes the crown this time around, thanks to the provider’s performance in the Pricing, Privacy, Simultaneous Connections, Streaming Support, Global Server Coverage, and Multi-Platform Support departments.
Meanwhile, Hotspot Shield scored wins in the Connection Speeds and Customer Support columns.
It was a tie when it came to Security and BitTorrent.
For more information or to purchase a subscription, visit Private Internet Access.
