ProtonVPN is independently owned by Proton AG in Switzerland; IPVanish is owned by Ziff Davis and operates from the United States. The jurisdictional and ownership gap is the widest of any pair in this category. Everything downstream reflects different product assumptions.

What you get that IPVanish doesn't offer

Swiss jurisdiction — constitutional privacy protections outside all Eyes alliances. Proton AG independent ownership with no parent company. Open-source clients on all platforms. Secure Core double-hop architecture through hardened Swiss or Icelandic infrastructure. Published independent audit with a clean track record; IPVanish has no published third-party audit. Free tier with unlimited bandwidth. Streaming access is a maintained commitment.

What you give up

IPVanish allows unlimited simultaneous connections — ProtonVPN caps at ten on paid plans. SOCKS5 proxy built in at IPVanish. IPVanish's long-term value position is more accommodating. Fire TV and Firestick interface is more refined at IPVanish.

What you get that ProtonVPN doesn't offer

Unlimited simultaneous connections. SOCKS5 proxy built in. More accommodating long-term value position. Refined Fire TV and Firestick interface.

What you give up

United States is a 5-eyes member. No published independent audit. IPVanish's clients are closed-source. Ziff Davis is a digital media company — privacy infrastructure is not the core business. ProtonVPN's Swiss jurisdiction, Proton AG independence, Secure Core architecture, and open-source client stack are not available. Ten simultaneous connections is the ProtonVPN cap — limited relative to IPVanish's unlimited model, but covers most household use cases.