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Intego Privacy Protection VPN Review (2025) The best choice?
By Tibor Moes / Updated: January 2025
Intego Privacy Protection VPN Review Summary
Intego is part of Kape Technologies, a digital security company from Israel that owns a large chunk of the privacy industry.
Over the years, it has expanded its market share by buying some of the top VPN and antivirus brands, including ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, ZenMate, and Intego.
Important to know is that Intego’s VPN isn’t meant to be another standalone VPN in Kape’s portfolio. Instead, Intego’s VPN is a copy of Private Internet Access (PIA), meant to be sold as an addition to Intego’s antivirus products.
As Intego’s VPN is based on PIA, it is an incredibly sleek, advanced, fast, and customizable VPN. Even to security experts, the feature list will be impressive.
Sadly, Intego’s VPN only works on macOS and Windows, as there are no apps for Android, iOS, or Linux (which PIA does have). This is likely because Intego’s VPN is meant to be an extension of Intego’s antivirus products on Windows and Mac, not as a standalone product.
So why not just buy Private Internet Access? The answer is simple: Price. Intego costs $ 19,99 per year. PIA costs twice as much.
Pros:
- Ultra-fast:Â We experienced a tiny 3% slowdown while connected to Intego’s VPN servers. Both locally and across the ocean. That’s ultra-fast.
- Incredible value for money: At $ 19.99 for a one-year contract, it’s dirt cheap. Prices vary by country, so click the link below to see it in yours.
- Customizability heaven: You can alter the VPN protocol, connection type, encryption standard, remote port, handshake, package size, and more.
- Security features:Â Intego includes a kill switch, web protection, DNS server options, split tunnel, extra proxy, auto-launch, auto-connect, and more.
- Server list:Â With more than 25.000 servers in 77 countries, you can be sure to find one close to you.
- Netflix streaming: Intego’s dedicated streaming servers unlock Netflix and most other streaming services.
- Torrenting (p2p) allowed: Download your torrents privately and at ultra-high speeds.
Cons:
- Mac and Windows only: The VPN doesn’t have Android, iOS, and Linux apps. It seems to be primarily a support product for Intego’s antivirus.
- No privacy policy: We couldn’t find a dedicated privacy policy for the VPN, and Intego’s general privacy policy didn’t mention it. That’s not great.
Intego’s price varies by region. Click the link below to see it in yours.
Intego Privacy Protection VPN Review
Below we’ll review Intego’s VPN, called Privacy Protection, in a bit more detail. We’ll touch on the following points:
- Speed Test
- Streaming and Torrenting
- Server Locations
- Logging Policy
- Platforms and Devices
- Security Features
- Price and Conclusion
Alternatively, you can have a look at our comparisons of the best antivirus for Mac, Windows, Android, or iOS to find out whether Intego’s antivirus made it to the top 3 in those categories.
Speed Test
Most VPNs that we test slow our download speed by 5% – 15%. This is due to the data encryption and the routing of our internet traffic through a VPN server.
To determine how significant the impact of Intego’s VPN is, we tested it on a 100 Mbps connection in Europe. We ran our tests both while connected to a local server and while connected to a US-based server.
Below are the results compared to those of CyberGhost, which is one of the best VPN in the industry:
Speed (Mbps) | Impact | |
No VPN | 110.0 | |
Intego Local | 106.75 | -3.0% |
CyberGhost Local | 107.10 | -2.6% |
Intego USA | 106.14 | -3.5% |
CyberGhost USA | 102.50 | -6.5% |
As you can see, Intego’s VPN is very fast, causing only a 3% slowdown.Â
Note: The results above were achieved while using the OpenVPN protocol. The results were nearly identical when we repeated the test using the WireGuard protocol.
Streaming and Torrenting
Intego has dedicated streaming servers in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the USA. So it’s no surprise that we could access Netflix in various countries without any problems.
Intego allows torrenting (P2P) on all of its servers and works with all popular torrent clients like uTorrent, BitTorrent, Transmission, and Deluge.
Intego’s port forwarding (to ports 443, 80, 110, 53, 8080, and 9201) lets you communicate with more torrenting peers, increasing upload speeds.
And its excellent kill switch will ensure no traffic is leaked, and your real IP is unveiled, in case the VPN connection fails.
Server Locations
Intego has over 25.000 servers in 77 countries. That huge number of servers minimizes the load per server and is why Intego can reach a speed loss of only 3%.
Logging Policy
At the time of writing, Intego’s VPN doesn’t have a privacy policy. And Intego’s overall privacy policy doesn’t mention the VPN. That is not good enough for a privacy product.
However, as Intego’s VPN is based on Private Internet Access, we wouldn’t worry too much about it. Because Private Internet Access’ privacy policy states that all user activity is “not recorded, logged or stored.”
Still, it would be great if Intego mentioned this in their privacy policy.
Platforms & Devices
You can install Intego’s VPN on ten devices, but only on macOS or Windows. Private Internet Access’ apps for Android, iOS and Linux haven’t made their way to Intego yet. Neither have the Fire Stick TV app and browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera.
This is one of the main downsides to Intego’s VPN, and leads us to believe that it’s primarily meant as an extension product for Intego’s antivirus customers on Windows and Mac. Still, we would like to see the Android and iOS apps appear soon.
Security Features
Intego’s VPN is one of the most secure and customizable VPN out there. It offers a choice between AES-128 and AES-256 encryption and both the OpenVPN and WireGuard VPN protocols. On top of that, it comes with a wide range of security features:
- Auto-Start:Â Start the VPN when you launch your Mac.
- Auto-Connect:Â Connect the VPN when you launch your Mac.
- Kill Switch:Â Block your internet connection if the VPN fails.
- Web Protection (called MACE):Â Block malicious websites.
- Split Tunnel:Â Let specific apps bypass the VPN tunnel.
- Private DNS Servers:Â Use Intego’s own DNS servers or custom ones.
- Allow LAN Traffic:Â Permit data between devices on your local network, such as your Mac and your printer.
- Open-source encrypted proxy:Â Redirect your traffic via Shadowsocks or a custom SOCKS5 proxy. There are often used to bypass internet censorship.
- VPN Snooze:Â De-activate the VPN for a set amount of time (e.g., 5 minutes), after which it will automatically re-activate.
- Customizable Encryption: When using the OpenVPN protocol, you can customize the connection type (UDP or TCP), encryption standard (AES-128 or 256), remote port, local port, data authentification, and handshake.
As you would imagine, during our data leaks tests with browserleaks we didn’t detect any IP, DNS, or WebRTC leaks.
We are deeply impressed by the security features of Intego’s VPN. No other VPN, sold by an antivirus brand, comes even close.
Price and Conclusion
Intego’s VPN is actually PIA VPN’s sold under Intego’s name. Re-selling someone else’s VPN is pretty standard practice in the antivirus industry.
- BullGuard sells a version of NordVPN.
- Bitdefender, Panda, and Kasperksy sell a version of Hotspot Shield.
- Only Norton built its VPN.
Usually, though, the VPN sold by antivirus companies are limited versions of the ones sold by the VPN company itself. With Intego, that’s not the case. The VPN sold on Mac and Windows is the real deal and comes with all features present in the excellent VPN of Private Internet Access.
The only downside is that Intego’s VPN is purely for Mac and Windows. There are no apps for Android and iOS. But, on the upside, it only costs $ 19,99 per year, where Private Internet Access costs $ 39,99.
Only you can decide whether this is a good deal for your lifestyle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are the most frequently asked questions about Intego.
What is Intego Privacy Protection VPN?
Intego Privacy Protection is a VPN based on Private Internet Access (PIA). It has the same design, servers, privacy, and security features, but is only available on Mac and Windows, whereas PIA is also available on Android, iOS, and Linux. On the plus side, Intego is sold for half the price of Private Internet Access.
Is Intego Privacy Protection VPN fast?
As Intego’s VPN shares its servers with Private Internet Access, it is a lightning-fast VPN. In our tests, it slowed our download speed by only 3% (the average VPN does so by 5% to 15%). So yes, Intego’s VPN is very fast.