PrivateVPN vs Atlas VPN

If it feels like VPNs are everywhere these days, that’s because they are. There is little chance of you or any normal consumer having the time or ability to test every VPN to determine which one will best fit your needs. Testing VPNs for things like strength of security and performance speeds is a challenge.

That’s where we at Comparitech enter the picture. Through our extensive experience writing about, testing, and using VPNs on a daily basis, we can provide the advice you need to choose the best possible VPN for your needs.

Here, we will compare two of our highest-rated VPNs side by side in PrivateVPN and Atlas VPN. We will break down our findings in a series of comparison tables and lists that allows you to find the information you need quickly. (We’ll pick an overall winner, too, just in case you want to skip ahead to the answer.)

Highlights

PrivateVPN

• Can access most streaming services
• Does not keep logs, which protects your privacy
• Works in China
• Security features are above average

Atlas VPN

• Fast speeds
• Good price on its annual plan
• Can access popular streaming services
• Unlimited simultaneous connections

PrivateVPN vs Atlas VPN pricing

Pricing and subscription options are fairly similar for PrivateVPN and Atlas VPN. Both of them offer a 30-day money-back guarantee as well.

You can select a month-by-month plan with either VPN. Paying by the month costs more over the long haul than an annual subscription plan, but it’s best for those who are unsure whether they want to go all-in initially. In the month-by-month subscription model, PrivateVPN’s price of $9.90 per month is a little better than Atlas VPN’s $10.99 per month.

However, Atlas VPN wins the comparison for those who are ready to go to an annual or three-year subscription model. Atlas VPN’s annual price of $49.01 (about $4.08 per month) easily beats the best annual plan from PrivateVPN of $71.96 (about $6 per month).

To be fair in the comparison, PrivateVPN doesn’t really offer an annual plan like Atlas VPN does. Instead, PrivateVPN offers a three-month plan. To subscribe for a year, you would have to pay for four $17.99 three-month plans, resulting in the $71.96 cost. (This really isn’t a good deal for most people, as we’ll discuss next.)

Should you be willing to commit to a three-year subscription plan (where you pay the full amount up front), the two services are nearly identical. Atlas VPN charges $71.49 for the three-year plan, while PrivateVPN costs $72.

Because PrivateVPN’s three-year deal costs about the same as four three-month plans (just one year), we would recommend skipping the three-month plan and jumping straight to the three-year plan if you plan to use it for at least a year.

BEST DEAL FOR PRIVATEVPN:Save 85 percent over the regular price with the three-year plan, which costs $2 per month.

BEST DEAL FOR ATLAS VPN:Save 82 percent over the regular price with the three-year plan, which costs $1.99 per month.

Features

With both PrivateVPN and Atlas VPN, you can make use of Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS apps for your desktop computer or mobile devices. Atlas VPN adds support for Linux. (You can use Linux with PrivateVPN if you manually configure it.)

Both VPNs support Amazon Fire TV, but only Atlas VPN supports Android TV. PrivateVPN supports manual setup with a router, while Atlas VPN doesn’t.

Atlas VPN has an advantage in allowing an unlimited number of simultaneous connections, while PrivateVPN limits you to 10 connections.

PrivateVPN does not support split tunneling. Atlas VPN has limited support for the feature, offering it for Android apps. Split tunneling allows you to select which apps make use of the VPN connection and which apps can skip it.

Streaming and unblocking

Using the right VPN can help when you travel to other countries. Certain websites and streaming services might be blocked when you try to access them from a foreign country. A VPN can allow normal browsing. Called unblocking, this is a key feature that makes VPNs desirable for streaming service users.

Both PrivateVPN and Atlas VPN have strong unblocking capabilities, which is not always the case with VPNs. The only difference in unblocking between these two services occurs with DAZN, which PrivateVPN can access on a limited basis (with Canadian subscribers). Atlas VPN does not unblock DAZN.

Both services unblock the most popular services, like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and HBO Max.

Which of these VPNs work in China?

The Chinese government notoriously blocks access to many parts of the internet. These censorship techniques are extremely difficult for VPNs to work around.

The websites of both PrivateVPN and Atlas VPN do not work in China, so you cannot download and subscribe to these VPNs after you enter China.

However, if you download and subscribe to PrivateVPN while you are in your home country before you travel to China, you can use it to work around China’s Great Firewall censorship system. The Stealth VPN mode from PrivateVPN gives you the ability to use the internet normally from inside China.

Even if you download it before traveling, Atlas VPN does not work in China at all.

Setup and interface

If you have concerns over installing and using either Atlas VPN or PrivateVPN, you can relax. Both of these VPN services are extremely easy to set up and use, even for novices. After starting either service’s software, just click a button to connect to the best server.

Regardless of whether you are using a desktop computer or a mobile device, both PrivateVPN and Atlas VPN will support your operating system. The mobile apps for both services display minimal information in an uncluttered interface, making them extremely easy to navigate. You can open additional menus to find other settings and features whenever you need them.

Both PrivateVPN and Atlas VPN make it easy to activate a kill switch or to change your VPN protocol.

Servers and performance

The comparison of servers between PrivateVPN and Atlas VPN is an interesting one. PrivateVPN has servers in almost double the number of countries versus Atlas VPN.

You’ll find that Atlas VPN focuses on larger countries where it is likely to have more subscribers, while PrivateVPN can give you some less populous country options. PrivateVPN has a significant advantage over Atlas VPN in South America and Asia. However, the two services are in a similar number of countries in Europe and North America.

Atlas VPN flips the script in terms of the total number of servers it operates, though, offering nearly four times as many total servers. Still, the total number of servers a service offers shouldn’t affect your individual performance too much. As long as the VPN has enough servers to maintain its speed and reliability in your location, the performance should be fine.

Speed of the servers is an area where Atlas VPN wins the comparison. It offers average speeds of 247 Mbps, which makes it one of the fastest VPNs around. Within North America, we measured Atlas VPN’s speed at a very impressive 349 Mbps.

PrivateVPN, meanwhile, offers an average server speed of 71 Mbps. We measured its average speed in North America at 94 Mbps.

Both services should have more than enough speed for 4K streaming, online gaming, and torrenting. If you want a little extra cushion, though, Atlas VPN’s speed advantage over PrivateVPN is impressive.

PrivateVPN vs Atlas VPN security

These two VPN services differ a bit when it comes to security options. For starters, Atlas VPN makes use of WireGuard as its primary VPN protocol for securing your connection. WireGuard is a relatively new option for VPN providers. Its lightweight security measures allow for fast and efficient operation.

Additionally, Atlas VPN supports IKEv2, which is a popular selection for mobile users. It speeds up the process of reconnecting after a dropped connection.

PrivateVPN goes a different route with its security protocols. It provides OpenVPN, L2TP, and PPTP, none of which are as fast as WireGuard. However, OpenVPN remains a highly popular selection, delivering the performance and security that users need.

Both services route your internet traffic through a 256-bit AES encrypted tunnel, shielding your usage data from your ISP and from hackers. Although Atlas VPN uses a longer encryption key of 4096 bits versus the 2048 bits in use with PrivateVPN, both technologies are more than adequate encryption measures at this time.

You can access a kill switch with both PrivateVPN and Atlas VPN, but PrivateVPN’s kill switch is only available on desktop computers. Atlas VPN offers the kill switch on either desktop computers or mobile devices.

Atlas VPN offers an ad blocker for all devices, while PrivateVPN does not.

Privacy

Because PrivateVPN and Atlas VPN have headquarters in different countries, the way they could potentially handle sharing your identifying logs differs.

PrivateVPN has its headquarters in Sweden, which is a member of the 14 Eyes intelligence alliance. Atlas VPN, meanwhile, has its headquarters in the United States, which is a member of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. If the government of either country were to gain access to logs from either PrivateVPN or Atlas VPN, that government could share these logs with other members of its alliance.

However, this would be an extremely rare occurrence. Neither PrivateVPN or Atlas VPN maintains activity logs of its users.

PrivateVPN does not maintain connection logs, either, while Atlas VPN tracks your device’s operating system in its connection log. Atlas VPN collecting this minimal bit of information probably isn’t a big deal to most people, but it could be for you.

Both services ask you to provide an email address at signup, which makes it easier for you to access account details if you lose a password.

To pay for either of these VPN services anonymously, both of them accept Bitcoin. Atlas VPN offers a few other cryptocurrency options, too.

Configuration

PrivateVPN and Atlas VPN both offer shared address allocation, which means all users on the same server share the same IP address. This mixes all online activity from all people on the server, making it extremely difficult for someone to track any individual user.

PrivateVPN does give you the option of making use of a dedicated IP address, if desired. You would be the only person using the VPN server, which would have a unique IP address. Having a dedicated IP address may help you access services that filter by IP addresses (e.g. banks) or host a server behind the VPN.

PrivateVPN does make its dedicated IP addresses dynamic, rather than static, meaning the actual IP address might change the next time you connect. You would still be the only person using it.

Customer service

Customer support performance is above average with both PrivateVPN and Atlas VPN. You can make use of live chat, phone, ticket, and email support. However, neither service offers telephone support. (Very few VPN services do.)

In terms of live chat support, Atlas VPN offers true 24/7 access for those with a paid subscription. PrivateVPN advertises live chat, but the service does have brief periods each day where chat is unavailable.

Email support is good with both services, but PrivateVPN responded quite a bit faster to our test inquiries. Both services accurately answered our questions in nearly every instance.

Should you want to try to solve any problems on your own, both PrivateVPN and Atlas VPN offer a searchable knowledge base and video guides. Although the video guides are helpful with each service, neither service is particularly active on YouTube. Neither one has uploaded a new video for at least two years. Other VPNs are much more active on YouTube.

The winner: PrivateVPN

In our PrivateVPN vs Atlas VPN comparison, it was an extremely tight decision, but we went with PrivateVPN. These two VPN services have quite a few similarities, but PrivateVPN is just a little better.

PrivateVPN has plenty of server speed and encryption performance for the majority of users. It allows you to make use of the service in China, which is not common for VPNs. It also has servers in quite a few more countries than Atlas VPN. PrivateVPN unlocks the majority of streaming services, both highly popular services and services that have more of a niche user base.

Atlas VPN is a strong contender, too, especially if you want to subscribe to an annual plan. It does not limit the number of simultaneous connections you can make, and it offers excellent speeds.

Each service has a 30-day money-back guarantee, which protects you if you discover soon after subscribing that the service just isn’t delivering what you need. This is also a good way to try Atlas VPN and PrivateVPN without risking any money.

PrivateVPN vs Atlas VPN FAQs