Speed
SUMMARY:
NordVPN and IPVanish are both fast VPNs, with an identical average download speed of 95Mbps on local connections. However, IPVanish is marginally faster across all locations we test. Its average international download speed is 2Mbps faster than NordVPN’s.
Winner: IPVanish
We regularly test the speeds of both NordVPN and IPVanish on local and international connections.
We use each VPN’s default tunneling protocol and measure how they affect our internet speeds when connected to multiple different server locations.
We measure:
- Local upload & download speeds
- International upload & download speeds
- Ping (Latency)
- Time to connect
Here’s a quick summary of how NordVPN and IPVanish compare when it comes to speed and reliability:
NordVPN | IPVanish | |
---|---|---|
Speed & Reliability Rating | 9.7 | 9.8 |
Local Download Speed | 95Mbps | 95Mbps |
US-UK Download Speed | 90Mbps | 91Mbps |
Local Upload Speed | 94Mbps | 94Mbps |
Ping | 8ms | 7ms |
Time to Connect | 8.4 seconds | 5.5 seconds |
Fastest VPN Protocol | WireGuard (NordLynx) | WireGuard |
NordVPN and IPVanish Are Fast on Local Connections
NordVPN and IPVanish are consistently fast when connecting to nearby servers, with both VPNs suffering a speed loss of just 5%.
Both VPNs also recorded an average upload speed of 94Mbps when connecting to the same nearby server.
The only difference on local connections is IPVanish’s slightly better ping time of 7ms.
If you’re connecting to a server nearby, you won’t notice any impact on your internet speed from either VPN.
IPVanish Is Faster on Long-Distance Connections
Long distance connections are where IPVanish starts to pull ahead of NordVPN.
When connecting from New York to South Africa, NordVPN reduced our download speed by 34%. In comparison, IPVanish is impressively fast, slowing our connection by just 17%.
You can compare our full long distance download speed test results below:
Server Location | NordVPN | IPVanish |
---|---|---|
UK | 90Mbps | 91Mbps |
Germany | 92Mbps | 82Mbps |
Brazil | 83Mbps | 94Mbps |
Australia | 84Mbps | 86Mbps |
IPVanish has lower ping for smoother gaming
In our latency tests, we found NordVPN added 8ms of ping, whereas IPVanish added 7ms. Although the difference is minimal, this means IPVanish will give you a slightly smoother connection for online gaming.
We tested NordVPN and IPVanish from our 100Mbps test connection while playing popular online games including CS:GO, Fortnite and Minecraft. Neither VPN was blocked and in both cases we didn’t notice any additional lag while playing.
There’s not much between them: we find both NordVPN and IPVanish work well for gaming, but these results suggest you may get a slightly smoother connection from IPVanish.