CyberGhost and IPVanish chase the same buyer: someone who wants a capable VPN without paying premium rates. Both are priced at the budget end of the market, both have audited no-logs policies, and both allow torrenting on every server. The separation happens in the details. CyberGhost takes 5 of the 8 rounds, IPVanish takes 2, and censorship ends in a draw.
After a full evaluation, we chose CyberGhost VPN over IPVanish. CyberGhost’s case rests on a much larger network, 3 Deloitte audits, platform-labeled streaming servers, and a $1-a-month antivirus add-on. IPVanish answers with unlimited connections, faster downloads, and Double Hop. Here’s how each round went.
CyberGhost vs IPVanish: A Quick Comparison
| CyberGhost🏆 | IPVanish | |
| 📋 Our Current Ranking | #6 | #8 |
| 🔖 Prices | Starts at $2.19 monthly | Starts at $2.49 monthly |
| 💸 Money-Back Guarantee | 45 days on long plans, 14 days on monthly plans | 30 days on 1-year and 2-year plans, none on monthly |
| 🆓 Free Version/Free Trial | No/24 hours on macOS and Windows, 7 days on iOS, 3 days on Android | No |
| 📓 Logging/Jurisdiction | No logging/Romania | No logging/USA |
| 🔍 Independent Audits | Deloitte Audit Romania 3 times (2022, May 2024, February 2026) | Leviathan Security 2022, Schellman Compliance February 2025 |
| 🔐 Protocols | OpenVPN, IKEv2, WireGuard | OpenVPN, IKEv2, WireGuard |
| 🧬 Post-Quantum Encryption | No | No |
| 🌐 Servers | 12,000+ in 100 countries | 3,400+ across 150+ locations |
| 🔝 Specialty Servers | Dedicated IP, Streaming, Torrenting, and NoSpy | No |
| ⛔ Ad Blocking | Yes | Advanced plan only |
| 💾 RAM-Only Servers | Yes | Partial, mixed HDD and RAM-only |
| 📺 Working With Netflix | Yes (10 catalogs) | Yes (5-6 catalogs) |
| 🔽 P2P Allowance | Yes | Yes |
| 📱 Concurrent Connections | 7 | Unlimited |
Compatibility, Apps, and Ease of Use
Compatibility is a draw. Both providers cover Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Android TV, and Fire TV, so either works as a daily driver on macOS or on a streaming stick. Router support is strong on both sides, with setup guides for supported models and DD-WRT instructions for the rest.
Device allowance is the first split. CyberGhost permits 7 connections; IPVanish permits unlimited. For a household with phones, laptops, tablets, and a TV, that difference decides which subscription actually covers everyone, and it makes IPVanish the stronger option for protecting many devices at once.
Are They Easy to Use?
IPVanish connects in one click. The world map is decorative and looks dated next to NordVPN’s, but the desktop and mobile apps put settings, servers, and protocols within easy reach. Its mobile apps are better optimized, which helps when you’re connecting on the move to protect banking or trading sessions on public Wi-Fi.
CyberGhost’s design is flatter but equally functional. The server list occupies the home screen with a connect button on the right, server categories run down the left, and Settings hides in the app window corner. Feature placement isn’t intuitive, though 5 minutes of poking around sorts it out.
Its mobile apps are cleaner than the desktop client, which keeps CyberGhost competitive among Android picks and iPhone picks.
Winner: IPVanish ✅
The first round goes to IPVanish for tidier applications and unlimited simultaneous connections. Compatibility is identical, so the connection cap is what keeps CyberGhost behind.
CyberGhost is Cheaper Than IPVanish: Cost Compared
Pricing structures differ. IPVanish splits its service into 2 tiers, while CyberGhost keeps identical features across every plan length and varies only the commitment. Starting with IPVanish:
- 2-year Essential: $2.49/mo, or $59.76 up front for the first 2 years, renewing yearly at $99.99
- 2-year Advanced: $3.59/mo, $86.16 for the term, renewing at $129.99 a year
- 1-year Essential: $3.89/mo, $46.68 for the first year, same $99.99 renewal
- 1-year Advanced: $5.39/mo, $64.68 for the first year, same $129.99 renewal
- Monthly: $14.99 Essential, $17.99 Advanced
The renewal is the number to watch. An Essential subscription jumps from $59.76 for 2 years to $99.99 every year afterward. Monthly plans also come with no money-back guarantee, and IPVanish offers no trial period to test the service first, so short-term buyers commit with no way out. CyberGhost costs this much:
- 2-year plan: $2.19/mo or $56.94 for the first 26 months (2 free months), renewing yearly at $56.94
- 6-month plan: $6.99/mo or $41.94 every 6 months
- Monthly: $12.99, with a 14-day guarantee
The biennial plan with 2 free months works out to $2.19 monthly, undercutting IPVanish’s entry tier. It also comes with a 45-day money-back guarantee, 14 days on the monthly option, and a 24-hour trial on macOS and Windows with no credit card. Mobile users get 7 days on iOS and 3 on Android.
Winner: CyberGhost ✅
CyberGhost wins on price. It costs less per month, and it pairs that with free trials on 4 platforms, a 45-day refund window, and lower renewal costs.
Security Features Tested: CyberGhost vs IPVanish
Similar prices don’t guarantee similar feature sets. We’ll cover the overlap first, then the parts where each provider goes its own way.
Similarities I Observed in Testing
Both include:
- 256-bit encryption
- IP and DNS leak protection
- A kill switch
- Split tunneling
- The WireGuard protocol
- Perfect Forward Secrecy
Neither leaked our IP or DNS details in testing. Both also skip post-quantum encryption, which puts them behind NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, and PureVPN on that particular protection.
Unique Features I Discovered
The differences are quite a few.
NoSpy and Double Hop Servers
CyberGhost’s fleet is rented, with one exception: over a dozen proprietary servers in Romania, its own jurisdiction. CyberGhost calls these NoSpy servers, and the company operates every part of them, so no third-party data center staff has physical access.
IPVanish counters with Double Hop, which passes traffic through 2 servers and applies 2 encryption layers. You pick both the entry and exit points, which is more control than most multi-hop implementations allow. Double Hop is the more flexible feature. Owned servers are the stronger privacy argument, so we give this one to CyberGhost by a small margin.
Threat Protection and Antivirus
IPVanish’s Advanced plan adds Threat Protection Pro, which blocks ads, trackers, and malicious sites. The Essential plan gets none of it, so the cheapest IPVanish subscription has no ad blocking. CyberGhost’s blocker is included on every plan, though it stops at ads and trackers. Neither impressed us, and both let some ads through. CyberGhost’s stronger card is a full desktop antivirus.
The add-on costs $1 monthly on top of the subscription. It scans Windows and macOS machines on a schedule, removes what it finds, and ships with a system updater that patches outdated applications.
Other Features
IPVanish includes a Secure Browser extension that works as a separate browsing environment, filtering unverified downloads and blocking malware and spyware before they reach the device. CyberGhost’s extension is a simple proxy (here’s how proxies differ from VPNs), but its desktop app includes automatic Wi-Fi protection, which connects on its own when you join an unknown network.
CyberGhost also sells dedicated IP addresses in over 20 locations. For $2.50 per address per month, you get an IP nobody else uses, which helps with banking logins and CAPTCHA-heavy sites.
Winner: CyberGhost ✅
Both providers held up in security testing with no credential leaks. CyberGhost edges ahead on proprietary NoSpy servers, dedicated IP addresses, ad blocking on every plan, and a $1-a-month antivirus for Windows and macOS.
Privacy Policy and No Logs: CyberGhost Wins
Neither provider logs what you do. Both refrain from recording:
- IP address
- DNS requests
- Visited websites
- Traffic destination
- Location
Each keeps the minimum needed to operate, such as CyberGhost’s count of active simultaneous connections for enforcing its 7-device limit. Deloitte Audit Romania has examined CyberGhost 3 times: the no-logs policy in 2022, system management and server infrastructure in May 2024, and VPN configuration plus dedicated IP token management in February 2026.
IPVanish has 2 on record: Leviathan Security in 2022 and Schellman Compliance concluding in February 2025. Both publish quarterly transparency reports. CyberGhost’s network is RAM-only, so a reboot wipes each server. IPVanish still mixes hard drives with RAM-only hardware, describing its own network as a combination, with a full switch targeted for 2027.
An in-app filter lets you connect to the diskless servers. IPVanish also handed over logs to authorities in 2016 despite advertising a no-logs policy, an incident that predates the 2019 Ziff Davis acquisition and both of its audits.
Winner: CyberGhost ✅
CyberGhost takes the privacy round on 3 audits against 2, a more recent one, a fully RAM-only network, and a jurisdiction outside the 14 Eyes. IPVanish is trustworthy today, and it remains a reasonable choice for everyday privacy.
IPVanish is Faster Than CyberGhost: Speed Testing
We tested both for 3 days in a row, 3 times a day, across 3 server locations: the UK, the USA, and Japan. Our testing location was Serbia.
- DL Speed Without VPN: 52.56 Mbps
- UL Speed Without VPN: 10.04 Mbps
- Ping: 10 ms
- Testing Location: Serbia
After a non-VPN baseline run, we tested both providers on WireGuard and kept the best results. Retention rates came out close:
| CyberGhost | IPVanish | |
| Download Speed Retention | 58% | 67% |
| Upload Speed Retention | 92% | 80% |
Here are the location-by-location figures:
| DL/UL Speed UK | DL/UL Speed USA | DL/UL Speed Japan | |
| CyberGhost | 37.31/9.43 Mbps | 29.43/9.23 Mbps | 25.23/9.12 Mbps |
| IPVanish | 39.42/9.83 Mbps | 38.69/8.24 Mbps | 27.85/6.02 Mbps |
IPVanish won all 3 download tests. CyberGhost won 2 of the 3 upload tests, taking the US and Japan while losing the UK.
Winner: IPVanish ✅
Neither provider is quick by premium standards, but IPVanish delivered higher downloads at every location we tested. Downloads matter more for streaming and browsing than uploads do. If speed is the deciding factor, look at the providers that topped our speed testing instead.
Streaming and Torrenting Comparison
IPVanish has no specialty servers. CyberGhost offers streaming and P2P servers in over 70 countries, and that convenience shows.
Streaming Test Results
CyberGhost labels servers by platform. Some are named Netflix US, ESPN+, or Sky Sports, so to reach Sky Sports from the States, you pick the matching entry and connect. CyberGhost assigns a UK address, and the platform opens. The labels aren’t decoration. In our testing, CyberGhost opened the major Netflix libraries, including Japan, the UK, and Canada.
Smart DNS also covers devices that can’t take a VPN app, which helps on older TVs and consoles. IPVanish trails but works. It opened several Netflix catalogs and BBC iPlayer 10 times out of 10, which makes it dependable if not the top choice for that platform. Max, Prime Video, and ESPN+ gave it trouble, with ESPN+ requiring protocol and setting changes.
Torrenting Experience
Torrenting works well on both.
CyberGhost’s P2P servers span more than 70 countries, so a nearby option is available. On European servers, we saw almost no speed reduction.
IPVanish allows P2P everywhere instead of designating servers for it. We tested locations across Europe, Asia, and North America, including its New York servers, and hit no restrictions. Its higher download speeds mean large files finish sooner, though not by much on mid-sized files.
Winner: CyberGhost ✅
CyberGhost takes this round on streaming reliability. Platform-labeled servers and Smart DNS remove the guesswork that IPVanish leaves you to solve yourself. Torrenting is close to even.
Server Locations
A large fleet reduces congestion and gives you more places to appear from. Distribution matters as much as the raw total. The current counts:
- CyberGhost operates 12,000+ servers in 100 countries
- IPVanish operates 3,400+ servers across 150+ locations
IPVanish covers more individual locations. CyberGhost puts roughly 4 times as many servers behind them, most on 10 Gbps hardware, and every one is RAM-only. IPVanish is partway through the same upgrade. CyberGhost also adds dedicated IP addresses, plus platform-specific servers, and Smart DNS addresses, none of which IPVanish offers in 2026.
Winner: CyberGhost ✅
CyberGhost takes the round. More servers, fully RAM-only hardware, dedicated IPs, specialty servers, and Smart DNS add up to a more versatile network, even though IPVanish reaches more locations.
IPVanish and CyberGhost Don’t Work in China
Heavy censorship is CyberGhost’s weakest area, and nothing has improved in 2026. IPVanish can’t claim to be much better. It offers traffic scrambling, but that scrambling doesn’t get past the Great Firewall. CyberGhost has no obfuscation mode at all, which rules it out in China. Milder restrictions are a different story.
We tested both in Dubai, Turkey, Russia, and Qatar, and both connected without much trouble, apart from some instability in Russia during periods of unrest. Workplace and school filtering poses no problem for either. Both open social media, streaming, and blocked games on those networks.
Winner: Tie 🤝
The round ends even. Neither provider handles serious state censorship, so frequent travelers to restricted countries should look at NordVPN or ExpressVPN instead.
The Final Verdict
CyberGhost wins 5 rounds to 2, with censorship ending in a draw. Its advantages are the bigger and fully RAM-only network, 3 Deloitte audits, platform-labeled streaming servers, ad blocking, a longer refund window, free trials on 4 platforms, and a lower entry price at $2.19 monthly. Adding the $1 antivirus still leaves it cheaper than most VPNs. IPVanish answers with unlimited connections, faster downloads, Double Hop, and more individual server locations.
Against that, it costs more up front, renews at $99.99 a year on Essential, holds back ad blocking for the Advanced tier, and gives monthly subscribers no refund window. Neither will replace a premium provider. At this price, CyberGhost simply delivers more. If you want to see how IPVanish measures up against a stronger rival, read our IPVanish and ExpressVPN head-to-head.