Mullvad vs IVPN: the two providers nobody is paid to recommend

What they have in common

Founder ownership with no outside investors. Account numbers instead of email addresses. Cash and Monero accepted. Open-source apps audited by Cure53. Transparency reports. Flat pricing with no intro-and-renewal games. No streaming unblocking, and no pretence of it. And no affiliate programme, which is why neither appears at the top of the affiliate-funded rankings that dominate search results — there is nothing to earn by putting them there.

These two providers are, in short, the control group for the rest of the VPN market. Comparing them is comparing two answers to the same question.

Mullvad

Swedish, owned by its founders through Amagicom AB, with around 690 servers in 49 countries. Its account is a 16-digit number generated at signup; the price is €5 a month, always. In April 2023 Swedish police searched its Gothenburg office with a warrant for customer data and left with nothing — the strongest real-world test of a no-logs policy any provider has undergone. Mullvad removed port forwarding in 2023 after abuse and has added DAITA, a defence against traffic-analysis attacks on the tunnel, which no other provider offers. The apps are plain and change slowly.

IVPN

Gibraltar-based, founder-owned, with a team published by name and photograph on its website, around 100 servers in 37 countries. Same account model: a number, no email, cash or Monero accepted. Standard plan $60 a year includes multi-hop and the AntiTracker DNS blocker; Pro adds devices. IVPN is unusual in publishing a guide to when you do not need a VPN, and in never having advertised through affiliate channels at all. Cure53 audits are regular and published.

The differences that decide it

Network size favours Mullvad, by roughly seven to one, which shows up as more exit countries and less load. The police-search record favours Mullvad on the evidence, though IVPN has never had an incident to test. Jurisdiction is a genuine toss-up: Sweden is in the Fourteen Eyes but its retention law exempts VPNs and Mullvad has proven its resistance; Gibraltar has its own legal system under British sovereignty and no incidents. Feature sets are close: IVPN’s multi-hop on the base plan against Mullvad’s DAITA. Price: €5 flat against $5 a month yearly — the same.

Who should pick which

Mullvad if you want the larger network, the proven record, or the simplest possible pricing. IVPN if you want a named team, multi-hop on the base plan, or a second provider with the same philosophy for redundancy. Neither if you want streaming, port forwarding or a dedicated IP — Proton is the privacy-conscious provider that offers those.

What we have not tested

Speed and leaks on either. Both run WireGuard by default and published tests put them close; our own tests are pending and the speed dimension is excluded from both scores until they land.