We review vendors based on rigorous testing and research but also take into account your feedback and our affiliate commission with providers. Some providers are owned by our parent company.
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vpnMentor was established in 2014 to review VPN services and cover privacy-related stories. Today, our team of hundreds of cybersecurity researchers, writers, and editors continues to help readers fight for their online freedom in partnership with Kape Technologies PLC, which also owns the following products: ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and Private Internet Access which may be ranked and reviewed on this website. The reviews published on vpnMentor are believed to be accurate as of the date of each article, and written according to our strict reviewing standards that prioritize professional and honest examination of the reviewer, taking into account the technical capabilities and qualities of the product together with its commercial value for users. The rankings and reviews we publish may also take into consideration the common ownership mentioned above, and affiliate commissions we earn for purchases through links on our website. We do not review all VPN providers and information is believed to be accurate as of the date of each article.
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vpnMentor was established in 2014 to review VPN services and cover privacy-related stories. Today, our team of hundreds of cybersecurity researchers, writers, and editors continues to help readers fight for their online freedom in partnership with Kape Technologies PLC, which also owns the following products: ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and Private Internet Access which may be ranked and reviewed on this website. The reviews published on vpnMentor are believed to be accurate as of the date of each article, and written according to our strict reviewing standards that prioritize professional and honest examination of the reviewer, taking into account the technical capabilities and qualities of the product together with its commercial value for users. The rankings and reviews we publish may also take into consideration the common ownership mentioned above, and affiliate commissions we earn for purchases through links on our website. We do not review all VPN providers and information is believed to be accurate as of the date of each article.

NordVPN vs Ivacy VPN vs AirVPN 2024

Table of Contents
    Our Score: 9.6/10
    %s User Reviews
    More Info
    Our Score: 7.3/10
    %s User Reviews
    More Info
    Our Score: 7.0/10
    %s User Reviews
    More Info

    Which VPN is better?

    Author Image Catherine Ablett
    Catherine Ablett

    Cybersecurity Researcher

    At first glance you would be forgiven for believing that there was little to choose between these three VPN providers. After all, they all provide excellent security features and work across multiple operating systems, including mobile and public hotspots among them. However it doesn't take much of a deeper look to realize that while there is a clear winner, there is an even clearer loser. While NordVPN offers the highest possible levels of security and they all offer access to geographically blocked content, AirVPN provides a perfectly good service, and what it lacks in bells and whistles it makes up for in transparency and reliability. Our third provider however falls down on service, transparency and reliability. A once respected provider, Ivacy, is now not considered worth the cost of its fairly priced package. Its lack of transparency when it comes to customer services and privacy, and concerns over it being situated in Hong Kong put it way behind both AirVPN, which is based in Italy, and NordVPN that has encryption that the NSA would have trouble breaking. While all three offer a service that supports Netflix, P2P and Torrents, users need to be aware again of the China connection with Ivacy, and what this might mean for their privacy.

    Our Score

    Features 9.6/10
    Pricing 9.1/10
    Ease of Use 10.0/10
    Reliability & Support 9.5/10
    Features 7.3/10
    Pricing 7.6/10
    Ease of Use 6.8/10
    Reliability & Support 9.4/10
    Features 7.0/10
    Pricing 7.4/10
    Ease of Use 6.8/10
    Reliability & Support 8.2/10

    Reviews

    Review by our expert
    Author Image Keira Waddell
    Keira Waddell

    Former Senior Writer

    Our Score: 9.6/10

    On the surface, NordVPN looks like a really impressive service. It claims to have a huge global server network, a speedy and reliable connection, and iron-clad security and privacy features. Plus, you can get it all for just $2.99/month. That all sounds great, but is there a catch? To find out, we did an in-depth analysis of NordVPN. The team and I tested its speeds and how well it performs whe...

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    Latest positive user review
    2
    210493Lu
    10.0/10
    The Best of The Best

    I simply tested all VPNs looking for cutting-edge online security, I tested the most expensive and the...  most talked about virtual anonymity, none made me as happy as NordVPN, it stands out for several reasons that the much more expensive ones it doesn't have, its double encryption, dedicated IPs, onion VPN, makes NordVPN unique, with almost 6,000 servers around the world and 12 million customers like me, you can see that NordVPN is not playing games with its customers and their online security , it always innovates to keep you more secure day after day, for a fair price in the long term and without sacrificing the speed of your connection, recently Nord is developing a new VPN protocol, Nordlynx a version still under construction derived from the Wireguard protocol, if you want to have a VPN of last security that think how it will make you more secure in the next month NordVPN is the right choice, I am completely thankful for being a customer and for finding what to me is the perfect VPN.More

    Latest negative user review
    S
    SAM
    2.0/10
    BUYER BEWARE!

    BUYER BEWARE! If you purchase NordVPN, it will throttle your interned speed/connectivity by 50%, like ... it did to mine. I pay $100/month to get speeds of nearly 600mbs. With NordVPN turned on, my speeds decrease to 250mbs. Nord’s “customer support” is useless and unprofessional, and, after nearly 3 weeks of endless “try this, try that”, they were unable to resolve the issue and blamed it on everything under the sun except their product, when it is OBVIOUS that, since I have zero speed issues with Nord turned off, and ONLY experience the issues with Nord turned on, it is NordVPN that is causing the issue. When I asked them for a refund of my one year subscription paid in advance and in good faith, they refused, and have now decided to ignore me. So, YOU’VE BEEN WARNED. Their VPN will devastate your internet speeds, their “support” is ridiculous, they are in denial, and they will not refund your money, even if their product is a failure…More

    Read the full review
    Review by our expert
    Author Image Matthew Amos
    Matthew Amos

    Senior Editor

    Our Score: 7.3/10

    Important. Ivacy VPN has merged with PureVPN, creating the new 'Ivacy Powered by PureVPN.' Existing Ivacy users won't lose any features as all clients have been automatically migrated to PureVPN. Ivacy is a long-running VPN with some of the cheapest subscriptions around. It also offers a popular free version and an extensive server network with many rare locations. But is it actually safe or trustw...

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    Latest positive user review
    P
    Pa Asten
    8.0/10
    Not sure where all these negative thoughts come from.

    Never had a problem connecting my desktop pooters with Ivacy. Had minor problem connecting my IOS devi... ce to my dedicated European IP but that was soon sorted. I daresay most of the negativity comes from the younger generation who have no patience. Staff at Ivacy who helped this 75yr old were awesome and ever helpful. Keep at it guys! I'd give them 9.5.More

    Latest negative user review
    J
    JB
    2.0/10
    Terrible support

    I was a customer 6 years ago. They still email me frequently, despite me unsubscribing many times and ... reaching out to their customer support 8+ times. If Ivacy can't get this right then I wouldn't trust any other promise that they make.More

    Read the full review
    Review by our expert
    Author Image Lawrence Wachira
    Lawrence Wachira

    Editor

    Our Score: 7.0/10

    AirVPN is a budget-friendly option that claims to provide robust protection against online threats. Plus, it says it offers high-performance servers. But can it really rival the top VPNs, or is the price so low because it’s not that good? After testing all its features, I found that AirVPN is secure, but it can't match the best VPNs. It has many great security features, solid speeds, and work...

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    Latest positive user review
    M
    Marco
    8.0/10
    I am AirVpn cusomers since 2015, and on my gear works remarkably well

    I am working in the biggest country in Asia since 2006. I constantly use AirVpn on my MacBook Pro sinc... e 2015, and on my iPhone - iPad. I never had an issue, of any kind, with it, and I was quite amazed to read the article above. Lately, it is very difficult to get it properly run on iPhone and iPad, but this is more the result of this country where I live in restrictions than the vpn in itself. While in Hong Kong was still working fine, but as soon as I crossed the border troubles started. I will tweak that as soon as I will be out again. In the rest of the world, I never had issues. So I do not give the 5th star just because of my at present troubles using it on my iPhone and iPad. For the rest, I will stick with it.More

    Latest negative user review
    A
    Ari
    2.0/10
    14 Eyes country

    Italy is a 14 Eyes country and that is enough reason to not buy AirVPN. No servers in Russia, so you c... ant bypass the Western censorship of Russian media. VPN should be about bypassing censorship, but this is not the case with AirVPN.More

    Read the full review

    Pricing

    Starting price $2.99/month
    Money Back Guarantee (Days) 30 Days
    Number of devices per license 10 devices
    Starting price $1.17/month
    Money Back Guarantee (Days) 30 Days
    Number of devices per license 10 devices
    Starting price $2.91/month
    Money Back Guarantee (Days) 30 Days
    Number of devices per license 5 devices

    Best VPN by Category

    Best VPN Overall

    AirVPN is an overall solid provider, with superb encryption and a selection of impressive features. However, the VPN's high prices, lack of support for protocols other than OpenVPN, and relatively small server network make it less popular than the other two competitors. Ivacy VPN is an excellent service that can access popular geoblocked content. However, NordVPN impressively surpasses both VPNs by offering topnotch encryption, solid privacy, simplified access to restricted sites, a wide range of features, and attractive apps for all major platforms, all at a low cost.

    Best VPN for Torrents

    All three providers allow torrenting. However, NordVPN has dedicated servers for torrenting at higher speeds and offers cheap subscription plans.

    Best VPN for Windows

    NordVPN has a very slick and intuitive dedicated client for Windows. It’s equipped with a number of security features, including a kill switch and Double VPN encryption. NordVPN for Windows also has preset modes for various online activities. It is therefore much easier to use than AirVPN, which is more aimed at tech-savvy users. Ivacy also provides a good Windows app, but the money-back guarantee has significant restrictions, and the provider's location in Singapore raises privacy concerns.

    Best VPN for Android

    NordVPN has a more user-friendly app for Android than Ivacy and AirVPN. With a kill switch, obfuscated servers, Double VPN and access to the Tor network, NordVPN offers a complete VPN service for Android. AirVPN focuses primarily on technical matters that aren't that important to most VPN users.

    Best VPN for Mac

    Mac users will appreciate the simplicity of NordVPN’s client. AirVPN for Mac requires a technical background to navigate through the app, while Ivacy doesn’t give you much room for customization. NordVPN makes it much easier, faster, and cheaper to secure your Mac internet connection.

    Best VPN for iOS

    NordVPN offers a dedicated app that can be used on 6 different iOS devices at the same time. The app gives you stable connections for streaming geoblocked content around the world. Ivacy provides a decent app for iOS devices as well. AirVPN doesn't have a native iOS app and so must be manually configured, which could be difficult for VPN beginners.

    Best VPN for USA

    NordVPN boasts a far larger network of US servers (almost 2,000 as of writing) than Ivacy and AirVPN. Both NordVPN and Ivacy can overcome geo-restrictions on US streaming services. However, NordVPN offers better connection speeds, a stronger privacy policy, and 6 connections per account, one more than you get with Ivacy and AirVPN.

    The Bottom Line

    See Plans & Pricing

    NordVPN is a clear winner in terms of number of servers, server locations and IP addresses it has for users to avail themselves of, not to mention its 30-day money back guarantee. This is much longer than the 3 days offered by AirVPN, and actually pays out unlike that of the 7-day guarantee of Ivacy, which prefers to tie its users up in red tape. It is Ivacy's customer service approach that really brings it down and takes away from its feature list, which actually rivals that of NordVPN. All three providers offer various payment options, but in terms of value for money, top rate security and round the clock support, you just cannot beat NordVPN.

    Time to decide which one is best for you

    Go with NordVPN
    Go with Ivacy VPN
    Go with AirVPN
    Or click here to check best VPNs, rated by {{review_count}} users

    FAQ

    Is NordVPN better than Ivacy VPN and AirVPN?

    Yes, NordVPN is better overall than Ivacy VPN and AirVPN. It has 6700 servers in 111 countries, fast speeds, and impressive security features.

    Best of all, you can take advantage of its latest discount and get it for only $2.99 a month.

    What should I keep in mind when choosing between NordVPN, Ivacy VPN and AirVPN?

    When choosing a VPN, you want to pay close attention to its number of servers, overall speed score, pricing, and the number of simultaneous device connections it offers. While some VPNs provide a flawless online experience, others will really slow you down.

    If you’re ready to commit, then NordVPN may be perfect for you due to its performance during the tests.

    Is NordVPN faster than Ivacy VPN and AirVPN?

    Yes, NordVPN is faster than Ivacy VPN and AirVPN. Since your VPN is your computer’s main connection to the internet, you need to use a service that won’t slow you down by more than 20%.

    If speeds are important to you, then I recommend you take a look at ExpressVPN. It’s the fastest service out there, provides unlimited bandwidth, and you won’t experience any slowdowns even when you connect to the other side of the planet. You can try it out risk-free.. It’s backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can get a full refund if you don’t like it.

    Do NordVPN, Ivacy VPN or AirVPN offer any deals?

    NordVPN, Ivacy VPN, and AirVPN offer deals on occasion. You can check out the current coupons and discounts here. However, ExpressVPN has the best deals. Right now, you can get a 82% discount and up to 3 months for free with a new subscription.

    We review vendors based on rigorous testing and research but also take into account your feedback and our affiliate commission with providers. Some providers are owned by our parent company.
    Learn more
    vpnMentor was established in 2014 to review VPN services and cover privacy-related stories. Today, our team of hundreds of cybersecurity researchers, writers, and editors continues to help readers fight for their online freedom in partnership with Kape Technologies PLC, which also owns the following products: ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and Private Internet Access which may be ranked and reviewed on this website. The reviews published on vpnMentor are believed to be accurate as of the date of each article, and written according to our strict reviewing standards that prioritize professional and honest examination of the reviewer, taking into account the technical capabilities and qualities of the product together with its commercial value for users. The rankings and reviews we publish may also take into consideration the common ownership mentioned above, and affiliate commissions we earn for purchases through links on our website. We do not review all VPN providers and information is believed to be accurate as of the date of each article.

    About the Author

    Catherine is an advocate of net neutrality.