IPVanish and Windscribe At a Glance
IPVanish
IPVanish provides fast, well-protected connections from a large global server network for most popular devices. While the service allows P2P file sharing on its server network, its streaming support could be better.
Windscribe
Windscribe’s comprehensive online security and privacy protections are available for many popular devices. The provider delivers fast, reliable, and well-protected connections from an above-average-sized server network.
Choosing a VPN
Before making a VPN buying decision, always consider the VPN provider’s performance in important VPN service categories.
When you reach the end of this article, you’ll have all of the information you need to make a well-informed VPN buying decision.
Features of IPVanish and Windscribe
In this section, I’ll compare two well-known VPN providers, IPVanish and Windscribe, in each important VPN service category. I will compare the providers’ performance in each arena, tally the final scores, and then name an overall winner.
Connection Speeds
A fast internet connection makes almost any online activity more enjoyable (except for paying bills or taxes).
I regularly perform VPN connection speed tests as follows:
- I performed all connection speed tests on a North America-based Windows server with a fast gigabit Ethernet connection.
- I connect to three VPN server locations – London, New York City, and Hong Kong – at three different times of the day.
- I use the Windows version of the VPN apps and they are configured to connect using the Wireguard protocol when available.
- I run the Speedtest app after connecting to each VPN server location. I restart the app between each test.
Both providers delivered fast connections. However, one provider outperformed its competitor by more than 4x the speed.
IPVanish’s average download speeds came in at a quite impressive 251.6 Mbps.
Windscribe’s average connection speeds were 55 Mbps.
The connection speeds you’ll see will differ from what I experienced, as download speeds depend on your ISP-provided connection speeds, your geographical location, and the location of the VPN server you connect to.
Average Connection Speed Winner: IPVanish
| Provider | Avg. Connection Speed | Link |
| Windscribe | 55 Mbps | Visit Site
Read Review |
| IPVanish | 251.6 Mbps | Visit Site |
Pricing
The price of everything we buy is spiraling. This means we’re all looking to save a few bucks whenever we can. However, you should be wary of super cheap and free VPNs, as they often lack the protection and features you require.
IPVanish is an attractively priced VPN. A monthly subscription (with a one-year commitment) runs customers a bit less than the average price of a gallon of gas in California. IPVanish offers a 30-day money-back guarantee and you get a free seven-day trial when you sign up in the iOS and Android apps.
Windscribe’s monthly subscription cost is a bit over one dollar more than Hotspot Shield when you sign up for the annual deal. Windscribe offers a super-short three-day money-back guarantee.
You won’t see exact VPN pricing in my articles. That’s because VPNs change their pricing and also run special deals quite often. This means that VPN prices can quickly become outdated. Visit any VPN provider’s website for its current pricing.
Pricing Winner: IPVanish
| Provider | Money-Back Guarantee Period | Link |
| IPVanish | 30 Days, 7 Days free trial on iOS and Android Signups | Visit Site |
| Windscribe | 3 Days | Visit Site
Read Review |
Privacy
When you go online without a VPN protecting you, you leave behind evidence tied to where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing. A VPN’s privacy features keep your online antics incognito.
Consider the following when weighing a VPN’s privacy protections:
- Is the provider in a privacy-friendly country?
- Does the provider save user activity logs on its servers?
- Does the provider accept cryptocurrency as payment?
IPVanish is based in the United States. While the U.S. isn’t exactly a privacy-respecting country, the provider follows a self-imposed “no logs” policy. Unfortunately, the provider does not accept any form of cryptocurrency as payment for its services.
Windscribe also does not log information about its users’ online travels, their real IP address, or their browsing history. However, it does log their username, the time they connected, and the amount of data used while they were connected to Windscribe’s servers.
Privacy Winner: It’s a tie
| Provider | Privacy Ranking | Site |
| Windscribe | 4.5 | Visit Site
Read Review |
| IPVanish | 4.5 | Visit Site |
Security
A VPN works to keep your travels undercover while you’re online, preventing you from being tracked by outsiders in real-time. A VPN not only encrypts your internet connection, but it also temporarily assigns a new IP address to your connected device. This keeps your online travels undercover.
IPVanish protects its users’ connections, encrypting their connections with banking-grade encryption. The provider uses the WireGuard, OpenVPN, PPTP, and L2TP/IPSec protocols to protect your internet connection. Kill switch protection is also available, as is IPv6 leak and DNS leak prevention. The provider’s “scramble” option disguises VPN traffic as normal internet traffic.
Windscribe also uses banking-grade encryption, IP/DNS leak prevention, and ad blocking to keep your online travels incognito and secure. Connection protocols include OpenVPN, WireGuard, and IKEv2.
Security Winner: It’s a tie
| Provider | Overall Security Score | Link |
| Windscribe | 5.0 | Visit Site
Read Review |
| IPVanish | 5.0 | Visit Site |
Simultaneous Connections
If you’re like me, you own multiple connected devices and you use more than one device at once. This makes a VPN provider with a large simultaneous connections allowance a definite asset.
Windscribe places no limits on the number of concurrent connections to the provider’s servers.
IPVanish also places no limits on simultaneous connections.
Simultaneous Connections Winner: It’s a tie
| Provider | Simultaneous Connections Allowed | Link |
| Windscribe | Unlimited | Visit Site
Read Review |
| IPVanish | Unlimited | Visit Site |
Streaming Support
There are hundreds of streaming services these days appealing to a wide variety of tastes. However, even if you were to subscribe to all of these streaming services, you would still be getting all that you could be from your subscriptions. This is due to the geographic restrictions streaming services put on the streaming content.
A VPN opens up access to streamers around the globe, allowing you to enjoy all of the content you’re paying for, even when you’re vacationing or working abroad. It accomplishes this by temporarily assigning a new IP address to your connected device. This makes it appear to everyone else on the internet that you and your device are located inside another country.
IPVanish’s ability to unblock streaming providers is a bit limited. I was able to reliably access Netflix and HBO Max content while connected to U.S.-based IPVanish servers. However, the provider failed when I attempted to connect to a UK server and view BBC iPlayer or Netflix UK content.
Windscribe’s website doesn’t promote access to geo-fenced content. Instead, it prefers to focus on privacy and security features. However, I did test Windscribe with several streaming services located around the globe and the provider was hit-and-miss when attempting to access streaming content.
Streaming Support Winner: IPVanish
| Provider | # of U.S. Streaming Services VPN Unblocks | # of International Services VPN Unblocks | Link |
| Windscribe | 0 | 0 | Visit Site
Read Review |
| IPVanish | 2 | 0 | Visit Site |
BitTorrent Support
BitTorrent is an excellent method of sharing files with other online users. While file sharing is legal in most countries – legitimate companies and groups use P2P to share files – it is illegal to share copyrighted files, such as movies, TV shows, music, and e-books.
This means the movie and music industries put pressure on ISPs to block file sharing, meaning ISPs will immediately throttle or block their users’ internet connections if they detect any kind of P2P activity.
A VPN helps you break through your ISP’s virtual roadblocks. It does so by encrypting your internet connection, which keeps your online activities hidden. It also temporarily assigns a new IP address to your connected device, which prevents anyone from tracking your online activities back to your real IP address.
Windscribe and IPVanish both allow P2P activity on their global server networks.
BitTorrenting Winner: It’s a tie
| Provider | # of Countries Where VPN Allows BitTorrents | Link |
| Windscribe | All of them | Visit Site
Read Review |
| IPVanish | All of them | Visit Site |
Global Server Coverage
If you’re looking to access geo-fenced content around the globe, you’ll want to find a provider boasting a large global server network. In addition to the size of a provider’s network, also look at how many servers the provider has stationed in each country. Multiple servers in a country help prevent a single server from being overwhelmed by too many connections at once.
Windscribe’s network includes over 480 server locations in 69+ countries.
IPVanish has over 2,000 servers located in 75+ countries around the globe.
Global Server Coverage Winner: IPVanish
| Provider | Server Count | Countries | Link |
| Windscribe | 480 locations | 63 | Visit Site
Read Review |
| IPVanish | 2,000+ | 75+ | Visit Site |
Multi-Platform Support
It’s likely that you own multiple connected devices and it’s also likely that those devices all run varying operating systems. This makes it important to consider a VPN provider’s native app support.
IPVanish’s native app support includes options for the Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire TV platforms. Users can also manually set up the VPN on Linux, Chrome OS machines, and select routers.
Windscribe app support includes app offerings for macOS, iOS, Windows, Android, Android TV, Huawei, and Amazon Fire TV devices. Linux devices can be manually set up to access the VPN. Chrome, Edge, and Firefox extensions protect your browsing. The provider is compatible with DD-WRT and Tomato routers, as well as its proprietary “Invizbox” VPN router.
Multi-Platform Support Winner: It’s a tie
| Provider | Platforms Supported | Browser Extensions? | Router Support? |
Link |
| Windscribe | 7 | Yes (Chrome, Edge, and Firefox) | Yes – On DD-WRT and Tomato routers, as well as its proprietary VPN router. | Visit Site
Read Review |
| IPVanish | 7 | No | Nope | Visit Site |
Customer Support
Both IPVanish and Windscribe offer easy-to-use and reliable protection. However, you may still have a question from time to time.
Windscribe offers live chat, a trouble ticket tracking system, a searchable support section, and “Garry” the support bot.
IPVanish offers support via an online trouble ticket submission form and an easy-to-search support library. In addition, the IPVanish website includes a system status page, as well as its own support “bot” feature.
Customer Support Winner: It’s a tie
| Provider | Customer Support Rating | Link |
| Windscribe | 5.0 | Visit Site
Read Review |
| IPVanish | 5.0 | Visit Site |
And The Winner Is…
Both Windscribe and IPVanish deliver excellent VPN services. However, one of the VPNs did outperform the other.
IPVanish is the overall victor in this tight race, thanks to being tops in the Connection Speeds, Pricing, Streaming Support, and Global Server Coverage arenas.
Windscribe did not score a victory in any service category. However, it did score a tie in the Privacy, Online Security, Simultaneous Connections, BitTorrent, Multi-Platform Support, and Global Server Coverage categories.
For more information or to purchase a subscription, visit IPVanish.
