IPVanish

IPVanish takes a unique approach in the VPN industry by owning and operating every single server in its network. While most VPN providers rent servers from third-party data centres, IPVanish maintains full physical control over its hardware. This eliminates the risk of data centre staff or third parties accessing user traffic.

The service operates over 2,400 servers across 90 countries, all owned by its parent company Ziff Davis (formerly J2 Global). While the network is smaller than some competitors, the full ownership model provides a meaningful security advantage that privacy-conscious users appreciate.

IPVanish supports unlimited simultaneous connections, making it excellent value for families. The service is particularly popular among Kodi users and Fire TV Stick owners, as its Android TV app is one of the best-designed in the industry. The app provides a full-featured VPN experience on streaming devices, with easy server switching and split tunnelling.

The apps are highly configurable, offering granular control over protocols, encryption settings, and connection behaviour. IPVanish supports WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2 protocols. The Scramble feature obfuscates VPN traffic, helping to bypass VPN detection on restricted networks.

IPVanish has a complicated history with logging. Under previous ownership by StackPath, the company provided user data to the FBI in 2016 despite claiming a no-log policy. Since being acquired by Ziff Davis, IPVanish has undergone a complete overhaul of its privacy practices and has been independently audited to verify its new no-log policy.

For UK users, IPVanish provides servers in London and Manchester with decent speeds for streaming and general browsing. The service can unblock most UK streaming platforms, though it is not as consistent as NordVPN or ExpressVPN for this purpose. Where IPVanish truly shines is its Fire TV integration and Kodi compatibility, making it the top choice for UK cord-cutters.