Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux)

Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux) begins at $6.95 per month and provides a bundle of goodness for those interested in adding a Linux VPN. That package includes not only the virtual private network (VPN) client, but also a Penguin-friendly setup and configuration utility as well as excellent speed and attention to detail when it comes to security. That last part takes the form of a good privacy policy, solid protocol support, and some advanced features such as its Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) leak protection. Overall, it's a great VPN choice for Linux users and well deserving of its Editors' Choice award in our VPN Apps (for Linux) review roundup, along with fellow Editors' Choice winners NordVPN (for Linux) and TorGuard VPN (for Linux).

Pricing and Features

Unlike some of its Linux VPN competition, Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux) offers some flexibility when it comes to pricing. If you're seeking a deeper pricing discount, then you can pay a year in advance, which drops the price down to $3.33 per month. Or you could even pay every two years, which can get the price down to $2.91 per month. All plans include five simultaneous device connections, unlimited bandwidth, and over 3,079 servers in 28 countries, which is good among our Editors' Choice contenders but well beyond what most of the competition offers, especially low-server operations such as Golden Frog VyprVPN (for Linux).

Most impressive, however, are its Gigabit VPN port speeds and unmetered VPN transfer. That means you'll get throughput as good as the server to which you're connected as opposed to many other competitors where you need to be careful to choose low-usage servers in areas that are geographically close. In addition, they support the most popular protocols, including OpenVPN, the primary choice for Linux users, as well as IPSC/Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) and Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP).

Setup and Configuration

Again, Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux) is a rare bird among VPN services in that it provides an extremely easy to use Linux GUI application—only one other service in the roundup delivers on that, namely co-Editors' Choice winner, TorGuard VPN (for Linux). The website has a single page of Linux installation instructions, in which it's very similar to the rest of the competition. But, unlike all of the rest, under Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux), one page really is all you'll need. There's no additional settings you'll need to enter, either at the Linux command line or the Private Internet Access website. Just run the app, choose a server, enter in your credentials, and you're online. By far, I found this to be the single best Linux VPN experience of our entire VPN Apps (for Linux) roundup.

You'll find this ease of use extends to other parts of the system, too. For example, it's easy to select a specific country for your access server or set the system to simply default to the fastest server available. Because Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux) has paid careful attention to how these features are arranged in the GUI app, it's not likely that most users will manage to misconfigure anything. Issues like DNS leaks, invalid certificates, or a botched advanced configuration in your Linux distro's Network Manager simply aren't there to screw up. The one thing you will need to pay attention to in most cases is ensuring that your DNS servers point to servers you trust and that IPv6 is turned off. That's because there's still the possibility that your system may try to send traffic via those channels without using the VPN. Fortunately, Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux) has IPv6 leak protection on Linux, and turns off that version of the protocol when connected to the VPN.

Netflix is where the bad news starts, because it actively blocks Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux) users. This is unfortunate given the excellent performance and availability of server locations. Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux) doesn't seem to have an answer to this problem at the time of this review, so those needing Netflix access over VPN are better off considering one of our other Editors' Choice winners or even Netflix-friendly services a little further down the food chain, like Hide My Ass VPN (for Linux), which don't suffer from this issue. Fortunately, Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux) users employing BitTorrent won't have a similar problem, so you should be able to torrent away without issue.

Speed and Performance

The host platform for my VPN testing was a hardware system carrying a 3.2GHz Intel Core i5 processor and 32 gigabytes (GB) of total RAM. From this, I built a virtual machine (VM) based on the VMWare ESXi 6.0 hypervisor configured with 8 GB of RAM, 10 GB of alloted disk space, and two virtual processor cores all running the Ubuntu 17 Linux distro. To eliminate other factors that could affect network performance, I assigned a dedicated 1GB wired network connection to my cable modem. No other virtual machines were active at the time of testing.

For your own testing, remember that speed is going to be determined largely by the server to which you connect. That means it's important to be familiar with your VPN providers recommendations, which you'll usually find posted on their website.

I tested three metrics that typically define a user's experience over a network connection. First, I measured latency, which is the time it takes for packets of data to travel to a remote server and back to your computer in milliseconds. In this category, lower is always better. The other two metrics are upload and download speed. For those two, higher is always better. However, since everyone's internet connection is different, and these values tend to fluctuate over time, I represent these as a percentage changed against a baseline measurement of my connection without the VPN. Each data point is tested domestically with a VPN server in the United States, and internationally with a VPN server in Australia. In addition, I cite the highest speed recorded. All metrics are gathered by using Ookla Speedtest, which is owned by PCMag's parent company, j2 Global.

The domestic latency of Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux) suffered only a 50.72 percent increase in latency from my baseline measurement. International latency tested at a 213 percet increase in latency. The lowest ping time recorded domestically was 30 milliseconds (ms), while the highest was 38 ms. For comparison the lowest international ping time was 210 ms, while the highest was 220 ms.

For download speed, there was a 87.99 percent decrease in speed domestically, and a 89.21 percent decrease in speed internationally. The domestic upload speed decreased on average by 94.92 percent. International upload speed had a significant, but expected, decrease in speed of 94.12 percent on average. The fastest recorded download speed for Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux) was 48.15 Megabits per second (Mbps) and the fastest upload speed was 1.76 Mbps.

Privacy and Security

Like TorGuard VPN (for Linux), Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux) operates inside United States legal jurisdiction. Unlike TorGuard VPN (for Linux), however, Private Internet Access states that, while it will "scrutinize and question" legal requests to protect the privacy of its clients, a close look at its policies does seem to indicate that some user data gets collected. However, that data seems limited to an email address, payment data, and a temporary cookie for those that use the optional control panel. While that sounds like a long list, in actuality it represents very little information if Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux) ever had to comply with any subpoena.

For those traveling to China, Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux) does provide some instructions on connecting via L2TP connections, but considering that this is a much weaker from a cryptographic standpoint, it's not particularly comforting. If you need to spend time in China, you'd be far better off considering a VPN that supports the OpenVPN protocol.

Overall, Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux) is fast, easy to use, relatively inexpensive, and has phenomenal support. Never once do you feel like a third-class citizen when trying to use the service under Linux. While it logs a minimal amount of information, it doesn't include connection details or anything that could personally identify you. For those wishing to eliminate any risk at all, you can always pay with Bitcoin. While it's not perfect if you're connecting from China, for domestic users, at least, Private Internet Access VPN (for Linux) is a great choice for Linux users who love security, privacy, and don't want to fool with the Penguin's guts; all of which puts it well into the Editors' Choice category.

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Further Reading

• NordVPN: You're Getting a Speed Boost, Thanks to WireGuard Implementation
• What Is a VPN, and Why You Need One
• Do I Need a VPN at Home?
• Ookla Adds a VPN to Its Speedtest App
• Working From Home? Don't View Porn on Your Corporate VPN