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 6 of 68 in the register
United States · Commercial VPN
Exits in 91 countries
1 documented demand, none of which produced data
Security
Usability
Rank 21 of 68 in the register
Canada · Commercial VPN
Country list not published
3 documented demands, none of which produced data
Recent changes
Open questions
Still open on this record.
What the report is. The security score rests on a Deloitte Audit SRL limited assurance report under ISAE 3000 (Revised), signed 19 December 2025 for the configuration as of 31 October 2025. Read what that is: the conclusion is negative assurance — "nothing has come to our attention" — against a description PIA's own management wrote, and the report states it provides no assurance for any other period.
Who the report is for. The auditor also restricts the report to PIA management and disclaims responsibility to any other reader, so the strongest document in this record is one whose author declines a duty of care toward the person reading it here. Procedures were performed on a sample basis, which is why fleet coverage is recorded as a sample.
What it did not examine. The report covers infrastructure only. C07a_app_sdk and C12_device_identifier are app-side facts it never examined; they now cite the privacy policy instead, which describes analytics for website visitors and opt-in diagnostic reports carrying platform and app version. Reading either as a statement about SDKs compiled into the app is the weakest link in this record, and the open-source clients are where it would actually be settled.
The 2016 subpoena rests on PIA's own word, not the court file. The only detailed account of the McWaters case (S.D. Fla., 9:16-cr-80043) sits on an affiliate site this record cannot cite; CourtListener's docket for that case names no subpoena, no provider and no outcome. P03_court_record and P12_case_history now stand on PIA's own transparency-report statement that it was subpoenaed in 2016-2017 and produced nothing — a B-level self-declaration, not a verified court record.
Still open on this record.
What the pentest found. The security score rests on the June 2024 Packetlabs report and reads it in the negative direction. The penetration test found the IKEv2 service storing the origin IP of connecting users along with session start and stop times, in volatile memory and also on disk, and microservice logs carrying OpenVPN credentials, WireGuard pre-shared keys and IKEv2 usernames.
The retest, and its own caveat. The retest three weeks later verified all of it remediated — but the report's own conclusion states that this "does not cover every discovery noted within the finding", and attributes part of the finding to configuration improperly deployed on the test node.
Why retention is priced on the finding. Retention is therefore priced on what an auditor demonstrated was reachable rather than on what the policy declares, and the integrity channel carries the distance between the two. Read that as a two-year-old finding on one node, not as a current measurement: the scope was ca-023.windscribe.com alone, and a newer engagement covering more of the fleet is what would settle it.
The list that was never read. The offered country list was never read, so neither the usability country score nor the mandate intersection can be computed — Windscribe publishes a physical/virtual distinction, which makes C09b answerable here as soon as the list is. User scale is also unestablished, which leaves the exposure band resting on less than it should.
Where the three events now cite from. AIN.UA still carries the Ukrainian servers taken on 24 June 2021, and Windscribe's own blog the Greek case dismissed on 11 April 2025. The Dutch seizure and the seizure field itself now cite Windscribe's own no-logs page rather than the affiliate-paid press that first reported it: a company account of its own seizure is primary, not somebody else's account of one. The Ukrainian event is dated to the seizure itself, not the write-up.
Notes
On the record as a whole.
First fill 2026-08-26, refreshed 2026-09-12 on P03_court_record, P12_case_history and V12_client_open_source, refreshed again 2026-09-13 on M08_user_scale, P02_disclosure_history, P03_court_record, P05_transparency_report, P06_report_plausibility, P08_requests_received, P09_data_provided and P12_case_history, and refreshed again 2026-09-13 on U04_price_monthly and U04b_price_yearly.
The 2026-09-13 pass found PIA had published its Q1 2026 and Q2 2026 transparency reports since the record's last look at Q4 2025; the record now cites the Q2 2026 post (19 requests received, 0 resulting in data provided, covering April-June 2026, published 2026-08-06) as the freshest, with the same subpoenas/warrants/other/foreign breakdown structure as before.
M08_user_scale, P02_disclosure_history, P03_court_record and P12_case_history were re-read against the same sources and stand unchanged; the main transparency-report page still names no case beyond the 2016-2017 subpoenas already on file. The pricing re-read against the same buy-vpn-online page found both figures unchanged: month-to-month $11.95, one-year plan $47.88 billed for the first year and autorenewing at the same $47.88 with no intro/renewal gap, consistent with PIA's flat-rate pricing noted elsewhere in the catalogue.
Sourced from privateinternetaccess.com's own pages and blog, the two Deloitte ISAE 3000 (Revised) 'Independent Limited Assurance Report' PDFs (April 2024 and December 2025, both opened and read directly), Kape Technologies' own site, the Isle of Man/Companies House-sourced reporting on Kape's 2023 take-private by Unikmind Holdings (Teddy Sagi), and the official pia-foss GitHub organisation for the open-source clients.
The public CourtListener docket for United States v. McWaters (9:16-cr-80043, S.D. Fla.) was opened but names no subpoena, VPN provider or outcome; the affiliate writeup (vpncompare.co.uk) that describes that subpoena in detail was dropped as a forbidden source, and TorrentFreak's own coverage returned HTTP 403 to every fetch attempt this run, curl included. P03/P12 now rest on PIA's own transparency-report self-declaration instead.
Wikipedia was dropped from V12 in favour of the GitHub organisation itself. No affiliate or 'best VPN' aggregator site was used as a factual source anywhere in this record, even though several turned up repeatedly in search results with plausible-looking numbers (server counts, user counts, audit dates) that could not be cross-checked against a primary page and were discarded rather than used.
On the record as a whole.
Three separate demands in three jurisdictions, none of which produced data, and all three dated. This is the record the practice route was built to price: it outweighs the audit, which is a pentest rather than a no-logs engagement.
U08 is desktop_only on Windscribe's own feature page: the Firewall ships in the Windows, Mac and Linux apps, and on Android and iOS the page directs the user to the operating system's own Always-On VPN instead. That is a platform feature rather than the provider's, which is the distinction the field is counting.
U12b is partial on the same basis — the marketing page promises unblocking, while the support article states the company cannot guarantee that all streaming services will work and a second article attributes Netflix showing only Originals to Netflix's own VPN detection.
13 Sep 20261 changes
Why this provider is in the catalogueM14_inclusion_basis
hand_picked, adverse_record changed to adverse_record
12 Sep 20263 changes
Chronology of documented enforcement eventsP12_case_history
{"date":"2016-03","kind":"subpoena","outcome":"nothing_produced","source_url":"https://www.vpncompare.co.uk/private-internet-access-no-log-claim-put-to-the-test/"} changed to {"date":"2016-03","kind":"subpoena","outcome":"nothing_produced","source_url":"https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/transparency-report"}
Security scoresecurity.score
27 changed to 25
Requests received in periodP08_requests_received
30 changed to 19
30 Aug 20261 changes
Weakest protocol still offeredC13_weakest_protocol
wireguard changed to not on the record
13 Sep 20261 changes
Why this provider is in the catalogueM14_inclusion_basis
hand_picked changed to adverse_record
12 Sep 20264 changes
Platforms with a clientU01_platforms
android, browser-extension, ios, linux, macos, windows changed to android, apple-tv, browser-extension, fire-tv, ios, linux, macos, routers, windows
Usability scoreusability.score
65 changed to 68
Chronology of documented enforcement eventsP12_case_history
{"date":"2021-06","kind":"seizure","outcome":"nothing_produced","source_url":"https://en.ain.ua/2021/07/28/ukrainian-authorities-seize-windscribe-vpn-servers/"}, {"date":"2025-04","kind":"court_order","outcome":"nothing_produced","source_url":"https://windscribe.com/blog/windscribe-greek-court-case/"}, {"date":"2026-02","kind":"seizure","outcome":"nothing_produced","source_url":"https://www.tomshardware.com/software/vpn/dutch-authorities-allegedly-seize-vpn-server-without-a-warrant-company-claims-that-law-enforcement-will-return-it-after-analyzing-the-device-fully"} changed to {"date":"2021-06","kind":"seizure","outcome":"nothing_produced","source_url":"https://en.ain.ua/2021/07/28/ukrainian-authorities-seize-windscribe-vpn-servers/"}, {"date":"2025-04","kind":"court_order","outcome":"nothing_produced","source_url":"https://windscribe.com/blog/windscribe-greek-court-case/"}, {"date":"2026-02","kind":"seizure","outcome":"nothing_produced","source_url":"https://windscribe.com/features/no-identifying-logs"}
Security scoresecurity.score
12 changed to 11
By circumstance
| Private Internet Access | Windscribe | |
|---|---|---|
| Torrenting | Allowed yes | Allowed on some servers partial |
| Streaming | Reachable yes | Some services reachable partial |
| Devices at once | unlimited | — not established |
| Under censorship | Claimed to work claimed | Claimed to work claimed |
| Exits in mandate countries | 6 United Arab Emirates, China, India, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Vietnam | — not established |
| Hosting in those countries | Physical and virtual both mixed | — not established |
| Company under a mandate | No such mandate no | No such mandate no |
| Secret orders | National security letters or their equivalent nsl_equivalent | Secret orders are possible secret_order_possible |
Private Internet Access and Windscribe were assessed by the HushFleet team: Private Internet Access scores 25/100 for security, in the Insufficient band, and Windscribe 11/100, in the Not recommended band. They share an independent audit. The 14-point gap opens widest on Retention — “Does a record exist that links traffic to a person, and who checked?” — taking 19% from Private Internet Access and 75% from Windscribe.
| ChannelPressure taken from what was left | Private Internet AccessDominant channel: Integrity0 to 0.9, longer is worse | WindscribeDominant channel: Retention0 to 0.9, longer is worse |
|---|---|---|
| RetentionDoes a record exist that links traffic to a person, and who checked? | 0.188 | 0.750 |
| IntegrityHas it been caught saying one thing and doing another? | 0.459 | 0.320 |
| JurisdictionCan someone compel what exists, without the provider getting a say? | 0.272 | 0.145 |
| IgnoranceHow much of this did nobody establish? | 0.071 | 0.104 |
| HygieneWhat identifying material is collected in passing, and can the client be checked at all? | 0.101 | 0.083 |
| 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 | 25 | 11 |
| Private Internet Access | Windscribe | |
|---|---|---|
| Security | 25 insufficient · rank 6 of 68 | 11 not recommended · rank 21 of 68 |
| Usability | 73 out of 100 | 68 out of 100 |
| Record completeness | 89% usability 100% | 84% usability 83% |
| Private Internet Access | Windscribe | |
|---|---|---|
| Who operates the exit | Run by the provider itself provider_operated | Run by the provider itself provider_operated |
| Retention as declared | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkableBprivateinternetaccess.com · | Connection timestamps connection_timestampsBwindscribe.com · |
| RAM-only diskless servers | Yes, checked by someone independent yes_verifiedAassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · | Part of the fleet partialAdrive.google.com · |
| IP allocation model | Dedicated address offered as an option dedicated_option | Dedicated address offered as an option dedicated_option |
| Signup without email | No, an email address is required noBprivateinternetaccess.com · | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredBwindscribe.com · |
| Anonymous payment options | Cryptocurrency through a processor | Cryptocurrency through a processor |
| Own DNS inside the tunnel | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declared | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declared |
| Worst third-party SDK category in the app | Analytics analyticsBprivateinternetaccess.com · | No third-party SDK noneBwindscribe.com · |
| Worst third-party tracker category on the site | Analytics analyticsBprivateinternetaccess.com · | — not establishedno source published |
| Who owns the hardware | Owned by the provider ownedBprivateinternetaccess.com · | Owned and rented both mixedBwindscribe.com · |
| Offered countries that sit under a logging mandate | 6 United Arab Emirates, China, India, Kazakhstan, Turkey, VietnamBserverlist.piaservers.net · 2 sources · | — not establishedno source published |
| Hosting in the mandate countries it offers | Physical and virtual both mixedBserverlist.piaservers.net · 2 sources · | — not establishedno source published |
| Incorporation country mandates retention | No such mandate no | No such mandate no |
| Beneficial owner sits under a retention regime | No such regime no | No such regime no |
| Persistent device identifier | An identifier scoped to the app app_scoped_id | An identifier scoped to the app app_scoped_id |
| 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 |
| Private Internet Access | Windscribe | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 itself · The infrastructureAassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · | The infrastructure · The app's securityAdrive.google.com · 2 sources · |
| Server fleet coverage | A sample of servers sample | A sample of servers sample |
| Auditor name | Deloitte Audit SRL (Romania)Aassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · |
| Private Internet Access | Windscribe | |
|---|---|---|
| Server seizure by law enforcement | No seizure on record none_knownCprivateinternetaccess.com · | Seized, and nothing usable was on it seizure_no_dataBwindscribe.com · |
| Actual disclosure history | No disclosure on record none_known | No disclosure on record none_known |
| Court record of compelled production | Told a court it had nothing to produce unable_to_produce | Told a court it had nothing to produce unable_to_produce |
| Response to a national logging mandate | Pulled its servers out rather than comply withdrew_physicalBprivateinternetaccess.com · | — not established |
| Private Internet Access | Windscribe | |
|---|---|---|
| Documented gap between claim and behaviour | — not establishedno source published | No documented lie noneBwindscribe.com · |
| Marketing against audit findings | — not establishedno source published | The policy contradicts the audit policy_contradicts_auditBdrive.google.com · 2 sources · |
| Ownership structure transparency | Ownership is partly stated partialBprivateinternetaccess.com · 2 sources · | Ownership is stated and checkable clearBwindscribe.com · |
| Private Internet Access | Windscribe | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | PIA Private Internet Access, Inc., 5555 DTC Parkway, Suite 360, Greenwood Village, CO 80111, USAAassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · | Windscribe Limited, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaBwindscribe.com · |
| Where the company sits | United States USAassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · 2 sources · | Canada CABwindscribe.com · |
| Year the service launched | 2010Cen.wikipedia.org · |
| Private Internet Access | Windscribe | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms with a client | 9 Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Routers, Android TV, Apple TV, Browser extensionBprivateinternetaccess.com · 2 sources · | 9 Android, Apple TV, Browser extension, Fire TV, iOS, Linux, macOS, Routers, WindowsBwindscribe.com · |
| Countries with an exit | 91 countriesBserverlist.piaservers.net · 2 sources · | — not establishedno source published |
| Paying monthly | $11.95 per monthBprivateinternetaccess.com · | $9.00 per monthBwindscribe.com · |
| Packetlabs (June 2024 retest, one production node); Leviathan Security Group (desktop 2021, mobile 2022)Adrive.google.com · 2 sources · |
| Auditor category | One of the Big Four big4Aassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · | A security specialist security_specialistAdrive.google.com · |
|---|
| Assurance standard | ISAE 3000 isae3000Aassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · | No standard stated noneAdrive.google.com · |
|---|
| Date of latest report | 2025-12-19Aassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · | 2024-06-26Adrive.google.com · |
|---|
| Audit cadence | Repeated, at no fixed interval repeated_irregular | Repeated, at no fixed interval repeated_irregular |
|---|
| Total published audits | 3 | 3 |
|---|
| Retention as the report states it | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkableAassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · | Source IP address source_ipAdrive.google.com · |
|---|
| Client source code published | Every client all | Every client all |
|---|
| Reproducible builds | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Separate pentest | — not establishedno source published | Yes, and the report was read yes_verifiedAdrive.google.com · |
|---|
| Strength of the assurance opinion | A limited-assurance conclusion limitedAassets-cms.privateinternetaccess.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Transparency report | Current, with request numbers fresh_with_numbers | Current, with request numbers fresh_with_numbers |
|---|
| 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 | Never had one none | Never had one none |
|---|
| Requests received | 19Bprivateinternetaccess.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Requests that produced data | 0 | 0 |
|---|
| Secret-order regime | National security letters or their equivalent nsl_equivalentCeff.org · | Secret orders are possible secret_order_possibleBwindscribe.com · |
|---|
| Chronology of documented enforcement events | 1 documented demandBprivateinternetaccess.com · | 3 documented demandsCwindscribe.com · 3 sources · |
|---|
| Adverse events on the owner group record | A history of adware or malware adware_malware_historyCen.wikipedia.org · 3 sources · | Nothing adverse on record cleanCwindscribe.com · |
|---|
| How the service is paid for | Paid subscriptions only paid_onlyBprivateinternetaccess.com · | A free tier funded by the paid one freemium_fundedBwindscribe.com · |
|---|
| Claims of 100% anonymity or military-grade crypto | Claims total anonymity or military-grade encryption yesBprivateinternetaccess.com · 2 sources · | Makes no such claim noBwindscribe.com · |
|---|
| Aggressive lifetime subscriptions | Does not no | Does not no |
|---|
| Coverage exists only on affiliate sites | Covered outside affiliate sites too no | Covered outside affiliate sites too no |
|---|
| Security incident and how it was disclosed | No incident on record none_knownCprivateinternetaccess.com · | Disclosed by the provider, promptly self_disclosed_promptCen.ain.ua · |
|---|
| Affiliate programme and payout tier | A standard payout standardBprivateinternetaccess.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Owner-run review media discloses the tie | — the question does not arise | — the question does not arise |
|---|
| App store declaration | The store form matches the published policy matches_policyBapps.apple.com · 3 sources · | An identifier is declared to the store, not in the policy undisclosed_identifierBplay.google.com · 2 sources · |
|---|
| User base scale (mass >=10M, mid >=1M, niche <1M) | Mid: a million users or more midBinvestegate.co.uk · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Ultimate beneficial owner as written | Teddy Sagi, via Unikmind Holdings Limited (Isle of Man), sole shareholder of Kape Technologies plc since the May 2023 delisting; Kape owns PIA Private Internet Access, Inc.Cen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · | Founder-owned: Yegor Sak (CEO), Alex Paguis (CTO), Mark Ulicki (CIO); self-funded, no outside investorsBwindscribe.com · |
|---|
| Other businesses of the owner group | Antivirus · A review directory · Adtech or adwareCen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · | Something elseBwindscribe.com · |
|---|
| Country of the ultimate beneficial owner | IMBcains.com · 2 sources · | CACwindscribe.com · |
|---|
| Owner group | kapeBkape.com · 2 sources · | independentBwindscribe.com · |
|---|
| Date the current owner took control | 2019-12Bkape.com · | — the question does not ariseno source published |
|---|
| Role of this brand inside the group | A secondary brand secondary_brandCkape.com · | The group's principal brand principalBwindscribe.com · |
|---|
| Infrastructure shared with cluster siblings | — not establishedno source published | Separate infrastructure separateBwindscribe.com · |
|---|
| Paying yearly | $47.88 a year at renewal, billed onceBprivateinternetaccess.com · | $69.00 a year at renewal, billed onceBwindscribe.com · |
|---|
| Usable free tier | No free tier noneBprivateinternetaccess.com · | A free tier with limits limited_freeBwindscribe.com · |
|---|
| Works under active censorship | Claimed to work claimed | Claimed to work claimed |
|---|
| Protocols offered | 3 WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2Bhelpdesk.privateinternetaccess.com · | 4 WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, An obfuscated protocolBwindscribe.com · |
|---|
| Kill switch coverage | On every platform all_platformsBprivateinternetaccess.com · | On desktop only desktop_onlyBwindscribe.com · |
|---|
| Split tunneling available | Available yes | Available yes |
|---|
| Simultaneous connections | unlimitedBprivateinternetaccess.com · 2 sources · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Friction to start using it | An email address only email_onlyBprivateinternetaccess.com · | No account needed no_accountBwindscribe.com · |
|---|
| P2P allowed | Allowed yesBprivateinternetaccess.com · | Allowed on some servers partialBwindscribe.com · |
|---|
| Major streaming services reachable | Reachable yesBprivateinternetaccess.com · | Some services reachable partialBwindscribe.com · 2 sources · |
|---|
