NordVPN vs PIA Comparison – gHacks Tech News | Free Download

NordVPN and Private Internet Access (PIA) are two popular VPN services. If you’re looking for a new VPN provider to subscribe to, you may wonder which of the two comes out on top.

We compare the two VPN services in detail to provide you with the information you need to choose the right provider.

The analysis covers key areas including price, application support and performance, but also privacy-specific areas such as server infrastructure, supported protocols, features, country of jurisdiction and no-logging claims.

NordVPN and PIA comparison table

NordVPN and Private Internet Access are both highly rated and popular services, and although they have some similarities, as many VPN services do, there are also big differences upon closer inspection.

NordVPN and Private Internet Access Jurisdiction

NordVPN is headquartered in Panama, which is not a member of the 14-Eyes countries.
Private Internet Access is headquartered in the United States, which is bad news if privacy is a concern. Many laws in the United States may enforce cooperation with the government without even informing customers about it.

PIA was acquired in 2019 by KAPE, a company with a history of generating revenue from adware bundling.

Result: nordvpn wins

Server Infrastructure Comparison between NordVPN and Private Internet Access

NordVPN operates over 5300 servers in 59 countries. Private Internet Access does not disclose the number of servers, only stating that it operates them in 78 different countries.

NordVPN announced plans in 2020 to upgrade all of its server infrastructure to a private server network entirely owned, controlled, and operated by the company. The company has not published any updates on the progress of the upgrade of its fleet of servers.

nordvpn started To deploy Diskless servers in 2019, which run entirely in RAM.

We are planning to upgrade our entire infrastructure (currently over 5200 servers) to RAM servers. These will allow us to create a centrally controlled network where nothing is stored locally. In fact, they won’t even have any operating system stored locally. Everything they need to run will be provided by NordVPN’s secure central infrastructure. If you seize one of these servers, you are seizing an empty piece of hardware with no data or configuration files on it.

Private Internet Access announced in 2019 that it planned to create a “transparent and verifiable infrastructure”. The company didn’t publish any updates on the plan on the company blog, and we couldn’t find any information on third-party audits of its no-logging claim.

There have been at least two court cases in which PIA could not provide logs of user activities.

Result:NordVPN wins

vpn apps support

The VPN has clients for the three major operating systems Windows, Linux, and Mac OS, as well as the mobile operating systems Android and iOS. Both can also be set up on devices that support VPNs but do not allow the installation of software programs, such as routers.

The clients offer different features but the VPN applications from both providers have good functionality.

Result: tie

protocol support

NordVPN and Private Internet Access support the new WireGuard protocol as well as OpenVPN and other protocols.

Private Internet Access uses OpenVPN as the default protocol, but users can switch to WireGuard in the service’s applications settings. WireGuard offers many benefits, including faster connection speeds, and should be preferred.

NordVPN uses its own adaptation of the WireGuard protocol, called NordLynx. Some of the company’s specialized servers require the use of the OpenVPN protocol at the time of writing.

Both providers use state-of-the-art encryption algorithms to protect the connection and thus user data.

Result: tie

NordVPN vs Private Internet Access Logging

nordvpn states usa Does not log this user activity on your site:

We provide zero-log VPN service. This means that NordVPN does not store connection timestamps, session information, bandwidth usage, traffic data, IP addresses, or other data. Nothing to store – nothing to share with anyone.

The claim has been verified twice through independent audits, the last time in 2020.

private internet access states usa It does not log user activity on its website.

Your IP address and online activity remain private and we never log or store any of your information.

The company began open source for its customers in 2019, but its services have not been audited by third parties; This is still planned. Private Internet Access could not provide user records in at least two court cases in which the company was involved.

Result:NordVPN wins.

Streaming and P2P: Private Internet Access vs. NordVPN

Both VPNs support unblocking P2P traffic and regionally restricted content. There are differences between the two offerings, however.

NordVPN supports P2P servers that are optimized for traffic and provided better upload and download speeds during tests.

During our tests, NordVPN could be used to watch Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Disney+ using a VPN.

Despite the lack of P2P optimized servers, Private Internet Access’s P2P performance was just as good in our tests.

However streaming services were not unblocked equally well. Results vary, possibly depending on the server IP address and whether they were blocked by streaming providers. Ultimately, this failed with PIA and some services would not work at all when using the provider.

Result:NordVPN wins.

NordVPN vs Private Internet Access Features

NordVPN has the following features:

• CyberSec – Protects against known malicious sites and ads by blocking them completely when enabled.
• Killswitch – Blocks Internet traffic when the VPN connection is closed.
• Split Tunneling – Use some apps with a VPN connection and others without a VPN connection.
• P2P servers – specialized servers optimized for torrent traffic.
• Obfuscated Servers – Designed to access VPN service in countries that make VPN use difficult, for example China.
• Double-VPN Servers – Option to chain the connection so that it is routed through two VPN servers instead of just one.
• Tor-over-VPN – Option to access Tor.onion sites using a VPN.

Private Internet Access also offers a number of features that users of the service can use.

• PIA Mess – a blocking component designed to block ads, malicious domains, and trackers at the DNS-level.
• VPN Killswitch – Turns off access to the Internet outside the VPN.
  Split Tunneling – Allow some apps and programs to bypass the VPN connection to connect directly to the Internet, or allow some apps to connect to the Internet only through the VPN.
• Automation – Configure automatic connection and disconnection rules based on the network, for example to always connect to the VPN while at work or traveling, and to always disconnect at home.
• OpenVPN configuration – Customize OpenVPN connection parameters, for example by making the connection more secure.

Result: tie. Both providers offer many useful features. While NordVPN wins when it comes to servers, because it is offering exclusive servers, PIA has some good options as well.

NordVPN vs Private Internet Access performance

Both VPN providers performed well during the tests. Granted, our 100/40 test Internet connection isn’t particularly fast, but both services managed to max it out almost perfectly.

NordVPN connections to the VPN were fast, due to its default use of the NordLink protocol, which WireGuard is based on.

Private Internet Access uses OpenVPN by default, but users can also switch to WireGuard to improve connection speeds.

Result: tie.

NordVPN vs Private Internet Access Price Comparison

Both VPN providers list three plans on their sites.

NordVPN customers can subscribe for 1 month, 12 months or 24 months and pay $11.95, $4.92 or $3.30 for the subscription. Three additional months are added for free to the 2-year plan.

Private Internet Access customers can subscribe for 1 month, 1 year or 3 years. The 1-month plan is available for $9.95 per month, the 1-year plan for $3.33 per month or $39.95 per year, and the 3-year plan for $2.19 per month or $79 for the entire term.

NordVPN customers can connect up to six devices simultaneously, Private Internet Access customers can connect up to 10 devices simultaneously.

NordVPN customers can pay using credit cards, Amazon Pay, Google Pay, ACH transfers, and cryptocurrencies.

Private Internet Access customers can pay with credit card, PayPal, Amazon Pay, cryptocurrency, or gift cards.

Both companies have a 30 day refund policy.

Result: Private Internet Access is a winner.

NordVPN vs Private Internet Access Conclusion

Private Internet Access accounts are slightly cheaper than NordVPN accounts. The company offers good speeds, apps for all major operating systems, and a good level of features. Additionally, it allows customers to connect up to 10 devices to the service simultaneously, whereas NordVPN limits connections to 6.

NordVPN is the better choice when it comes to streaming support and server infrastructure. Both companies have not been able to provide precise information when it comes to their server infrastructure, but from what little information is available, it appears that it is NordVPN that is in control of its server network.

NordVPN has passed two third-party audits, and it is based in Panama. PIA announced that it would get its services audited by a third party, but the audit has not been done to date.

The biggest drawback of Private Internet Access is that it is part of KAPE, formerly known as CrossReed, now a company with a checkered past.

Overall, if privacy is important to you, you may want to try NordVPN as it is clearly better in that department.
Both companies need to improve and be more transparent regarding their server infrastructure. Additionally, Private Internet Access is required to get its service and no-logging feature audited by a third party to give customers peace of mind.

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