Private Internet Access is a VPN provider established in 2010 and headquartered in the United States. It's owned by Kape Technologies, the parent company of ExpressVPN and CyberGhost, two other large VPN providers. Private Internet Access offers open-source applications on various platforms, servers in over 90 countries, obfuscation, multi-hop, and unlimited simultaneous connections.
Our Verdict
Private Internet Access is good for torrenting. It offers acceptable security, keeping your IP address and DNS queries within its tunnel while you use it, and allows you to download torrents without a data limit. That said, its kill switch doesn't work properly upon rebooting your system, as some unencrypted traffic leaks past the VPN. While you can pay with cryptocurrencies for better anonymity, you need to register with an email address and password that can be linked to your identity in the event of a data breach.
Accepts cryptocurrency.
Proper TLS implementation doesn't leave you vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.
Doesn't leak your IP address or DNS queries.
Kill switch leaks unencrypted traffic after system reboot.
No anonymous registration options.
Private Internet Access is inadequate for private browsing. While it provides acceptable security that keeps your IP address and DNS queries hidden, its kill switch doesn't work properly, leaking some unencrypted traffic after rebooting your system. It also has poor business practices and policies. It's owned by Kape Technologies, a company with a controversial past and problematic leadership figures. Also, their independent audits have a limited scope and don't assess their security infrastructure, only the privacy policy.
Accepts cryptocurrency.
Proper TLS implementation doesn't leave you vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.
Doesn't leak your IP address or DNS queries.
Kill switch leaks unencrypted traffic after system reboot.
No anonymous registration options.
Problematic corporate ownership.
Scope of third-party audits is limited.
Private Internet Access has bad business practices and policies. Kape Technologies, the parent company, has a problematic past, known for distributing malware, and is led by individuals with a history of unethical and criminal behavior. While PIA has a no-logging policy, it still collects some of your personal information for analytics and can share it within its organization. Lastly, while the company shares independent privacy policy audits, their scope is limited and doesn't cover security infrastructure.
Problematic corporate ownership.
Scope of third-party audits is limited.
Private Internet Access has acceptable security. It doesn't leak your IP address or DNS queries while you're connected, and it has proper TLS implementation, protecting you from man-in-the-middle attacks. Unfortunately, its kill switch doesn't work as intended, as it leaks some unencrypted traffic upon restarting your system. This is a concern if you need all your traffic to be encrypted after a reboot.
Proper TLS implementation doesn't leave you vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.
Doesn't leak your IP address or DNS queries.
Kill switch leaks unencrypted traffic after system reboot.
We're testing this VPN's speed on an ongoing basis and will update this verdict when we have more data. See the Performance section of the review to look at the data we've collected so far.
Performance Usages
Changelog
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Updated Jan 23, 2026:
We've updated the text throughout the review to reflect the changes from test bench 0.10.1.
- Updated Jan 23, 2026: We've updated this review to Test Bench 0.10.1! This is a minor update to how we conduct our speed tests. Read the changelog for more info.
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Updated Dec 16, 2025:
We've added text throughout the review to correspond with the new privacy tests in Test Bench 0.10.
- Updated Dec 16, 2025: We've updated our review to Test Bench 0.10! This update focuses on privacy and evaluates the trustworthiness of a VPN in keeping your personal information private. Read the changelog for more details.
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
While PIA doesn't have different tiers, it offers Antivirus and dedicated IP add-ons.
Popular VPN Comparisons
Private Internet Access has acceptable performance that's on par with most VPN services, but like most, it fails the kill switch test. It's good enough if you're just downloading torrents and browsing the web while protected, but its speeds are mediocre, so don't expect blazing-fast downloads.
It's also owned by Kape Technologies, which privacy-minded users should be wary of due to controversies about ad injection and unethical behavior by its leadership in the past. If that's a concern for you, consider other VPNs we've tested, like Mullvad or IVPN.
To learn about the services we recommend, read our article on the best VPNs.
Test Results
The kill switch doesn't work properly, as network traffic leaks outside the VPN tunnel after a reboot. This is problematic if you're concerned with keeping your traffic encrypted when reconnecting to the internet after restarting your system.
Like most VPN providers, Private Internet Access doesn't secure its internet routing (BGP) properly. This means that even if your ISP protects against attacks like route hijacking, your traffic could still be misdirected once it enters the VPN's network. This is only a concern for highly targeted and resource-intensive attacks that are feasible only for governments or large corporations to orchestrate.
Private Internet Access' (PIA) privacy policy states that the company collects your email address, payment information, and location information for tax purposes. The company has a no-logging policy that claims it doesn't collect traffic information or usage logs. That said, the information they do collect can be shared within the wider organization and with select third parties for customer service and payment purposes.
PIA commissions third-party audits of its privacy policy. Unfortunately, you need to be logged in to access the full audits, and their quality and scope leave something to be desired. The audits only address specific statements within the policy, and it's not clear how much of PIA's infrastructure was made available to auditors.
Private Internet Access has poor business practices. It's owned by Kape Technologies, a company with a history of controversy. It was previously called Crossrider when it was found to be distributing ad-injection malware. Kape now has leadership with problematic ethics, from cyber-espionage to fraud and bribery. Kape also owns competing VPNs CyberGhost and ExpressVPN, as well as several VPN review websites that recommend their services.
PIA also engages in dubious marketing and communication practices. They falsely claim that the independent privacy policy audits they commission are security audits, even though they don't actually audit the VPN's security infrastructure. The company fails to address community concerns about its parent company and engages in pushy marketing designed to keep you subscribed for as long as possible.
You can pay for this VPN using a credit or debit card, PayPal, Amazon Pay, or Bitpay for Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Litecoin.
We're testing this VPN's performance on an ongoing basis and will update the text for the download speed, upload speed, and latency tests when we have more data.
This VPN's native Linux app supports Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, Fedora, and Arch. You can also configure it manually using the command line.
It's also available on various platforms, including iOS, Android, smart TVs, and as extensions for Chrome and Firefox.
The IPSec with IKEv2 protocol is only supported on iOS devices.
