Head to head
The gap
The security score is not a total of good things. It starts at 100 and eight channels each take a share of what is left, so one channel can settle a record on its own. Both records are drawn here on the same scale — the model’s own cap of 0.9 — rather than on a scale fitted to this pair, which would make every comparison look equally dramatic.
Line by line
Every field the contract publishes about a provider, in the contract’s own groups, including the rows where the two agree — a table that printed only differences would invent a disagreement, and one that printed only the interesting rows would be us choosing what is interesting. Open a group to read its rows; each one says how many it holds and how many of them the two records answer differently.
A green cell means the methodology itself prices that value below the other one, not that we prefer it. Rows the model does not price carry no mark at all: price is never marked, because nothing in the model says cheaper is safer, and neither is coverage, platform count or devices. Where a value was never established the cell says so instead of showing a zero.
What actually happened
Other pairs
Pairs within the top ten get a page — 80 comparisons in all. Records below that are not paired here: a comparison earns a page where the choice between the two is a real one, and that choice is made near the top of the register.
Security
Usability
Rank 3 of 68 in the register
Gibraltar · Commercial VPN
Exits in 41 countries
No demand on the public record
No demand on the public record
Recent changes
No change logged on this record
Open questions
Still open on this record.
Owner-group history. Kape Technologies, CyberGhost's parent since March 2017, traces back to Crossrider, an ad-injection SDK platform whose services were widely abused by adware and malware distributors before the 2016 pivot to VPNs. No documented lie or claim gap ties this history to CyberGhost's own conduct, but the adverse record is why this provider is catalogued at all rather than by a neutral selection rule.
Scale and reach are undocumented. No CyberGhost-specific user count could be sourced from the provider's own pages beyond "millions of customers," so M08_user_scale stands unknown, and no clean 12-month plan exists to price against U04b_price_yearly — CyberGhost sells only 1-month, 6-month and 26-month terms.
Client and build transparency are unexamined. No official CyberGhost source-code repository, reproducible-build attestation or standalone application pentest (Cure53's public index has no entry for CyberGhost or Kape) could be found, leaving V12, V13 and V14 unknown rather than a finding either way.
A disputed breach claim was not independently resolvable. A September 2024 third-party report alleged leaked CyberGhost account credentials; CyberGhost's own response denies a service-side compromise and attributes the credentials to user-side malware, but the underlying report could not be read in this session, so X09_incident_handling stays unknown rather than taking either side's account.
Two of CyberGhost's own pages disagree on its street address: the imprint names 70-72 Dionisie Lupu street, the privacy policy names 68 Polonă street, both in the same Bucharest district and both current pages rather than one being an archived leftover. Neither was treated as authoritative over the other, and the discrepancy is left for a future refresh to resolve rather than guessed at here.
Still open on this record.
One no-logs audit, in 2019. IVPN is unusually explicit about what it does not do: its own post states that its last and only no-logs audit was Cure53 in March 2019, and that it has deliberately not repeated the format because such a stamp describes one day and not the days after it.
What the claim rests on now. Every audit since targets apps and services, so the no-logs claim on the infrastructure rests on the March 2019 engagement and on the February 2023 gateway review, not on anything recent.
The audit not yet published. The eighth annual Cure53 audit was scheduled for July 2026 and no report for 2025 or 2026 is published yet, which is why the latest report date is the April 2024 one.
The August 2026 incident. In August 2026 an attacker exploited a vulnerability in the self-hosted BTCPay Server, before it was public, and took IVPN's own Lightning operating funds. IVPN published the account four days later, unprompted, and scoped it to that machine: the VPN gateways were not involved, no customer records were reached, no customer money was lost.
Why it costs nothing. The model charges nothing for this, which is the point — an operator that says so promptly is behaving the way the field is meant to reward, and the entry is here so a reader knows it happened rather than to move a number.
What the engagements covered. The app pentest (iOS, Android, Electron, the daemon) is from March 2022 and the gateway/server-OS review from February 2023; neither tested the no-logs claim itself, the 2023 report says so explicitly, so retention rests on the privacy policy declaration alone.
The latest report is not the relevant one. April 2024's engagement, Cure53's sixth with IVPN, tested the customer account website, API and hosting; its own scope page names client apps and VPN servers out of scope, so it extends neither the app nor the gateway evidence, and V03_audit_subject reads unknown for it rather than carrying that credit forward. The seventh engagement, on the new email and DNS services, was only announced for May 2025; no report for it is published.
What the primary site never establishes. RAM-only is recorded as partial because IVPN describes it as a transition with test deployments under way, and has not announced its completion. Server hardware ownership (leased vs owned), traffic modification at the exit, and the beneficial owner's personal jurisdiction are unestablished: no primary IVPN page states any of the three, nor does user-base scale.
Three fields the knowledgebase answers, not the pages read at first fill. IP allocation is shared by design — "crowding" pools users on one address to blunt attribution. P2P is allowed everywhere, but IVPN asks customers to avoid US exits, citing upstream DMCA pressure. Streaming carries no guarantee, though the company says many customers do reach it.
Notes
On the record as a whole.
Deloitte's third no-logs assurance report (the only one of three published as a full downloadable PDF rather than gated behind login or an email request to Deloitte) is a limited assurance, ISAE 3000 (Revised) engagement dated as of 31 October 2025 and signed 19 December 2025; it examines CyberGhost's description of its own no-logging controls on a sample basis, not the full fleet, and its conclusion is negative assurance ("nothing has come to our attention"), not a positive finding of no logs.
The privacy policy's non-personal-data list names the Google Advertising ID and gyro-sensor data under website-style language that only a mobile app can actually read.
On the record as a whole.
First fill 2026-08-26. Sourced entirely from ivpn.net's own pages, the Cure53 audit PDFs and IVPN's blog — no affiliate or review-aggregator site cited.
12 Sep 20265 changes
Security scoresecurity.score
42 changed to 40
IP allocation modelC03_ip_sharing
not on the record changed to shared
P2P allowedU12a_p2p_allowed
not on the record changed to partial
Major streaming services reachableU12b_streaming_works
not on the record changed to partial
Subject of the latest auditV03_audit_subject
app_security, infrastructure changed to not on the record
CyberGhost VPN and IVPN were assessed by the HushFleet team: CyberGhost VPN scores 21/100 for security, in the Insufficient band, and IVPN 38/100, in the Weak band. They share an independent audit. The 17-point gap opens widest on Integrity — “Has it been caught saying one thing and doing another?” — taking 33% from CyberGhost VPN and 0% from IVPN.
By circumstance
| CyberGhost VPN | IVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Torrenting | Allowed yes | Allowed on some servers partial |
| Streaming | Reachable yes | Some services reachable partial |
| Devices at once | 7 | 5 |
| Under censorship | — not established | Claimed to work claimed |
| Exits in mandate countries | 7 United Arab Emirates, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Vietnam | None |
| Hosting in those countries | Physical and virtual both mixed | — the question does not arise |
| Company under a mandate | No such mandate no | No such mandate no |
| Secret orders | — not established | No secret-order regime on record none_known |
| ChannelPressure taken from what was left | CyberGhost VPNDominant channel: Retention0 to 0.9, longer is worse | IVPNDominant channel: Retention0 to 0.9, longer is worse |
|---|---|---|
| RetentionDoes a record exist that links traffic to a person, and who checked? | 0.450 | 0.526 |
| IntegrityHas it been caught saying one thing and doing another? | 0.325 | 0.000 |
| IgnoranceHow much of this did nobody establish? | 0.181 | 0.061 |
| HygieneWhat identifying material is collected in passing, and can the client be checked at all? | 0.150 | 0.063 |
| JurisdictionCan someone compel what exists, without the provider getting a say? | 0.136 | 0.030 |
| ArchitectureWho operates the exit, and what does it do to the traffic? | 0.050 | 0.050 |
| DisclosureHas it already handed something over? | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| SilenceTen years, millions of users and nothing on record? | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| What is left of 100The channels multiply: each one takes a share of what the one before it left standing | 21 | 38 |
Security
Usability
Rank 9 of 68 in the register
Romania · Commercial VPN
Exits in 91 countries
| CyberGhost VPN | IVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Security | 21 insufficient · rank 9 of 68 | 38 weak · rank 3 of 68 |
| Usability | 69 out of 100 | 66 out of 100 |
| Record completeness | 76% usability 92% | 89% usability 100% |
| CyberGhost VPN | IVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Who operates the exit | Run by the provider itself provider_operated | Run by the provider itself provider_operated |
| Retention as declared | Aggregate counts only aggregates_onlyBcyberghostvpn.com · | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkableBivpn.net · |
| RAM-only diskless servers | Yes, checked by someone independent yes_verifiedAdownload.cyberghostvpn.com · | Part of the fleet partialBivpn.net · |
| IP allocation model | Dedicated address offered as an option dedicated_optionAdownload.cyberghostvpn.com · | Exit address shared between users sharedBivpn.net · |
| Signup without email | No, an email address is required noBcyberghostvpn.com · | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredBivpn.net · 2 sources · |
| Anonymous payment options | Cryptocurrency through a processorBcyberghostvpn.com · | Cash · Cryptocurrency paid directlyBivpn.net · 2 sources · |
| Own DNS inside the tunnel | — not establishedno source published | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredBivpn.net · |
| Worst third-party SDK category in the app | Install attribution attributionBcyberghostvpn.com · | No third-party SDK noneBivpn.net · |
| Worst third-party tracker category on the site | Analytics analytics | Analytics analytics |
| Who owns the hardware | — not established | — not established |
| Offered countries that sit under a logging mandate | 7 United Arab Emirates, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkey, VietnamBcyberghostvpn.com · | NoneBivpn.net · |
| Hosting in the mandate countries it offers | Physical and virtual both mixedBcyberghostvpn.com · | — the question does not ariseno source published |
| Incorporation country mandates retention | No such mandate no | No such mandate no |
| Beneficial owner sits under a retention regime | No such regime noBunikmind-holdings.com · | — not establishedno source published |
| Persistent device identifier | A resettable advertising identifier resettable_ad_idBcyberghostvpn.com · | An identifier scoped to the app app_scoped_idBivpn.net · |
| Weakest protocol still offered | — the question does not arise | — the question does not arise |
| What the exit does to passing traffic | — not established | — not established |
| CyberGhost VPN | IVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| At least one independent audit | Yes, and the report was read yes_verified | Yes, and the report was read yes_verified |
| How the report is published | The full report is published full_pdf | The full report is published full_pdf |
| Subject of the audit | The no-logs claim itselfAdownload.cyberghostvpn.com · | — not establishedAcure53.de · |
| Server fleet coverage | A sample of servers sampleAdownload.cyberghostvpn.com · | — the question does not ariseno source published |
| Auditor name | Deloitte Audit S.R.L. (Deloitte Audit Romania) |
| CyberGhost VPN | IVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Server seizure by law enforcement | No seizure on record none_known | No seizure on record none_known |
| Actual disclosure history | No disclosure on record none_known | No disclosure on record none_known |
| Court record of compelled production | No court record none_knownno source published · | Told a court it had nothing to produce unable_to_produceBivpn.net · 2 sources · |
| Response to a national logging mandate | — not establishedno source published | Was never present in that country no_presenceBivpn.net · |
| Transparency report | Current, with request numbers fresh_with_numbers | Current, with request numbers fresh_with_numbers |
| CyberGhost VPN | IVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Documented gap between claim and behaviour | No documented lie none | No documented lie none |
| Marketing against audit findings | No gap on record none | No gap on record none |
| Ownership structure transparency | Ownership is stated and checkable clear | Ownership is stated and checkable clear |
| Adverse events on the owner group record | A history of adware or malware adware_malware_historyCen.wikipedia.org · | Nothing adverse on record cleanCivpn.net · |
| How the service is paid for | Paid subscriptions only paid_only | Paid subscriptions only paid_only |
| Claims of 100% anonymity or military-grade crypto | Makes no such claim no |
| CyberGhost VPN | IVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | CyberGhost S.R.L.Bcyberghostvpn.com · | IVPN Limited, 5 Secretary's lane, GX11 1AA, GibraltarBivpn.net · |
| Where the company sits | Romania ROBcyberghostvpn.com · | Gibraltar GIBivpn.net · 2 sources · |
| Year the service launched | 2011Bcyberghostvpn.com · | 2009Bivpn.net |
| CyberGhost VPN | IVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms with a client | 9 Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Android TV, Fire TV, Routers, Browser extensionBsupport.cyberghostvpn.com · 2 sources · | 6 Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, RoutersBivpn.net · |
| Countries with an exit | 91 countriesBcyberghostvpn.com · | 41 countriesBivpn.net · |
| Paying monthly | $12.99 per monthBcyberghostvpn.com · | $6.00 per month |
| Cure53Acure53.de · 3 sources · |
| Auditor category | One of the Big Four big4Adownload.cyberghostvpn.com · | A security specialist security_specialistno source published · |
|---|
| Assurance standard | ISAE 3000 isae3000Adownload.cyberghostvpn.com · | Another standard otherno source published · |
|---|
| Date of latest report | 2025-12-19Adownload.cyberghostvpn.com · | 2024-04-08Acure53.de · |
|---|
| Audit cadence | Repeated, at no fixed interval repeated_irregularBcyberghostvpn.com · | An annual series annual_seriesBivpn.net · 4 sources · |
|---|
| Total published audits | 3Bcyberghostvpn.com · | 7Bivpn.net · |
|---|
| Retention as the report states it | Aggregate counts only aggregates_onlyAdownload.cyberghostvpn.com · | The report does not address retention not_statedBivpn.net · |
|---|
| Client source code published | — not establishedno source published | Every client allBivpn.net · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Reproducible builds | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Separate pentest | — not establishedno source published | Yes, and the report was read yes_verifiedAcure53.de · 3 sources · |
|---|
| Strength of the assurance opinion | A limited-assurance conclusion limitedAdownload.cyberghostvpn.com · | — the question does not ariseno source published |
|---|
| Reported numbers plausible for this scale | The numbers are plausible at this scale plausible | The numbers are plausible at this scale plausible |
|---|
| Warrant canary discipline | — not establishedno source published | Kept current maintainedBivpn.net · |
|---|
| Requests received | 11Bcyberghostvpn.com · | 34Bivpn.net · |
|---|
| Requests that produced data | 0 | 0 |
|---|
| Secret-order regime | — not establishedno source published | No secret-order regime on record none_knownBivpn.net · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Chronology of documented enforcement events | 0 No demand on the public record | 0 No demand on the public record |
|---|
no| Aggressive lifetime subscriptions | Does not no | Does not no |
|---|
| Coverage exists only on affiliate sites | — not establishedno source published | Covered outside affiliate sites too noCivpn.net · |
|---|
| Security incident and how it was disclosed | — not establishedno source published | Disclosed by the provider, promptly self_disclosed_promptBivpn.net · |
|---|
| Affiliate programme and payout tier | A standard payout standardBcyberghostvpn.com · | No affiliate programme noneBivpn.net · |
|---|
| Owner-run review media discloses the tie | — not establishedno source published | — the question does not ariseno source published |
|---|
| App store declaration | — not establishedno source published | The store form matches the published policy matches_policyBapps.apple.com · 3 sources · |
|---|
| User base scale (mass >=10M, mid >=1M, niche <1M) | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Ultimate beneficial owner as written | Teddy Sagi, sole owner of Unikmind Holdings Limited (Isle of Man), which holds Kape Technologies plc — CyberGhost's parentBunikmind-holdings.com · 2 sources · | Nicholas Pestell, founder and CEO, 100% owner of IVPN LimitedBivpn.net · |
|---|
| Other businesses of the owner group | Antivirus · A portfolio of other apps · A review directoryBkape.com · | None disclosedCivpn.net · |
|---|
| Country of the ultimate beneficial owner | IMBunikmind-holdings.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Owner group | kapeBkape.com · 2 sources · | independentBivpn.net · |
|---|
| Date the current owner took control | 2017-03Bkape.com · | — the question does not ariseno source published |
|---|
| Role of this brand inside the group | A brand the group acquired acquired_brandBkape.com · | The group's principal brand principalBivpn.net · |
|---|
| Infrastructure shared with cluster siblings | — not establishedno source published | Separate infrastructure separateBivpn.net · |
|---|
| Paying yearly | — not establishedno source published | $60.00 a year at renewal, billed onceBivpn.net · |
|---|
| Usable free tier | No free tier none | No free tier none |
|---|
| Works under active censorship | — not establishedno source published | Claimed to work claimedBivpn.net · |
|---|
| Protocols offered | 3 WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2Bsupport.cyberghostvpn.com · | 4 WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, An obfuscated protocolBivpn.net · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Kill switch coverage | On some platforms partialBcyberghostvpn.com · 2 sources · | On every platform all_platformsBivpn.net · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Split tunneling available | Available yes | Available yes |
|---|
| Simultaneous connections | 7Bcyberghostvpn.com · | 5Bivpn.net · |
|---|
| Friction to start using it | An email address only email_onlyBcyberghostvpn.com · | No account needed no_accountBivpn.net · 2 sources · |
|---|
| P2P allowed | Allowed yesBcyberghostvpn.com · 2 sources · | Allowed on some servers partialBivpn.net · |
|---|
| Major streaming services reachable | Reachable yesBcyberghostvpn.com · | Some services reachable partialBivpn.net · |
|---|
