PureVPN vs PIA: Which VPN Is Better in 2026?

PIA, by six rounds to one. It is faster in our tests, runs about five times as many servers across more countries, ships apps whose source code anyone can read, publishes three Deloitte no-logs audits in full, includes port forwarding, and places no limit at all on simultaneous devices. PureVPN wins the money round: it renews at roughly $48 a year against PIA’s $57, its one-year rate is cheaper, and its refund window is a day longer. Pick PureVPN if the smallest recurring bill is the priority or you want non-US Netflix catalogues. Pick PIA for almost anything else.

It depends on when you ask. PIA is cheaper to start: $2.03 a month on its two-year plan, $56.94 covering 28 months, against PureVPN’s $2.15 and $58.20 for 27 months, and $11.95 month to month against $12.95. PureVPN is cheaper to keep. It renews at $47.95 a year, about $4.00 a month, while PIA renews at roughly $57, about $4.75. Over a first term plus one renewal that is about $106 for PureVPN against $114 for PIA. PureVPN’s one-year plan is also the cheaper of the two, $2.55 a month against $3.33.

Yes. In our testing PIA gives up about 15% of an unprotected connection and PureVPN about 25%, and every independent source we checked orders them the same way. Some put the gap wider: 2026 WireGuard testing had PureVPN retaining roughly 65% of a 945 Mbps line, a loss closer to 35%, while PIA has been measured holding 85% to 92% of baseline on nearby servers. Both default to WireGuard, so the difference is capacity and routing rather than protocol. Neither is a top-tier performer, and both lose a lot of throughput on genuinely distant servers.

PIA, despite having the worse address. PureVPN is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, which has no data-retention law, while PIA is a United States company inside the Five Eyes alliance. But PIA has been asked for user records by US courts twice, in 2016 and 2018, and produced nothing usable either time; its three Deloitte no-logs audits are published in full; and every client is open source. PureVPN handed connection logs to the FBI in 2017 while advertising a no-logs policy. It has since been audited four times by KPMG, but none of those reports is published, its transparency report page now returns a 404, and it will not name the firm running its always-on audit.

PIA places no limit at all. It removed its ten-connection cap in 2023, and its support documentation, updated in April 2026, confirms unlimited simultaneous connections on every plan with no features held back. PureVPN allows ten, which is above the industry average and is enough for most households, but a router install consumes one of those ten while on PIA it consumes nothing. Both count simultaneous connections rather than installations, so you can put the app on as many machines as you like on either service. PIA also covers all three console families and adds Chromecast to the television apps both providers ship.

PureVPN, and it is the one row on the page where it clearly beats PIA. Both unblock Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, BBC iPlayer and Hulu, so this is about reach rather than access. In 2026 testing PureVPN worked on the US, UK, Japanese, Canadian and German Netflix catalogues, while PIA is dependable on the US library and often needs a few server changes to land elsewhere. PIA answers with a dedicated set of streaming locations, HBO Max in our data where PureVPN’s record has none, and a Chromecast app. If a specific non-US catalogue is the reason you want a VPN, PureVPN is the better bet.

Largely, yes. Both offer a money-back guarantee on new subscriptions, 31 days on PureVPN and 30 on PIA, so you can buy the other one, run it for a few weeks and refund whichever you like less. Check the terms before you rely on it: PureVPN says it will try to resolve the problem before processing a refund, and purchases made through app stores or third-party deal sites are handled by the payment processor rather than the provider on both services. The trap on either side is auto-renewal, because the advertised rate covers the first term only. PureVPN renews at about $48 a year and PIA at about $57.