PIA vs Mullvad in 2026: Cheap and Configurable or Radically Private?

Private Internet Access and Mullvad both attract privacy-conscious buyers, but they get there from opposite directions. In our comparison table, Mullvad scores 4.04/5 against PIA’s 3.64/5. PIA leans on price and configurability; Mullvad leans on radical minimalism and a reputation few VPNs can match. Here’s where each one actually wins.

The quick verdict

Mullvad wins on encryption, ownership transparency, ethics and jurisdiction. PIA wins on long-term pricing, protocol flexibility and streaming. Both score identically on speed testing and bypass capability, so the deciding factor usually comes down to what you value: Mullvad’s anonymity-first design or PIA’s lower long-term price and Netflix-friendly extras.

Head-to-head comparison

Encryption and jurisdiction: Mullvad’s biggest edge

The starkest gap on this table is encryption: Mullvad scores a full 5/5, PIA just 2/5. Both support modern protocols, but Mullvad’s implementation and default settings are tuned harder toward maximum security rather than convenience. If encryption strength alone decided the comparison, Mullvad would win outright.

Jurisdiction tells a similar story. PIA is based in the United States, a Five Eyes country, scoring 3/5. Mullvad is based in Sweden, technically a Fourteen Eyes member, but scores 4/5 anyway because its practices offset the jurisdiction on paper. Sweden doesn’t have the same track record of aggressive data requests aimed at VPN providers that the US does, and Mullvad’s account model gives authorities almost nothing to request in the first place.

Ownership and ethics: not close

This is where the two providers really diverge. PIA is owned by Kape Technologies, the same holding company behind ExpressVPN and CyberGhost, and scores just 1/5 on ownership transparency in our data. Mullvad is independently owned and operated out of Sweden, disclosed without digging, and scores 5/5.

Ethics follows the same pattern: PIA scores 2/5, Mullvad 5/5. Mullvad built its reputation on genuine privacy activism long before “no-logs” became a marketing line every provider slaps on a homepage. That said, Mullvad’s ethics halo took a real hit in 2026 over a donation controversy that split its userbase; we cover what happened and whether it should change your decision in a separate piece if you want the full story before committing.

Want to compare all VPNs side by side? Check our full VPN comparison table with scores across 18 criteria.

No-logs policy: audit versus court test

Mullvad has a formal audit from Cure53, a respected security firm, and needs no email or personal information to open an account, so there is barely any data tied to you to begin with. That combination is close to the strongest no-logs setup in this market.

PIA has never commissioned that kind of audit, but its no-logs claim has been tested a different way: in actual US court proceedings, where PIA was compelled to produce logs and had none to hand over. An audit checks the system on paper; a subpoena that comes back empty checks it under real legal pressure. We go deeper on what PIA’s no-logs claim actually holds up to if you want the full history.

Protocols and speed: PIA holds its own

PIA scores 5/5 on protocol support, matching Mullvad, and remains the more configurable option for people who like adjusting encryption levels and ports manually rather than trusting a single automatic mode. Speed is the one place PIA trails: 4/5 against Mullvad’s 5/5, though PIA is still fast enough for everyday streaming and large downloads.

Streaming: PIA is the only real option here

If unblocking Netflix or other catalogs matters at all, this section settles the comparison quickly. PIA scores 3.5/5 on streaming, rated “Good” across most major platforms. Mullvad scores 2/5 and doesn’t meaningfully unblock anything, by design; the company has never prioritized streaming and doesn’t market itself for it. Anyone picking a VPN mainly to watch foreign Netflix libraries should stop reading here and pick PIA, or look higher up our rankings entirely.

Pricing: PIA wins if you commit

PIA’s sticker price is higher at $11.95/month, but drops to roughly $3.33/month on the 1-year plan and $79.00 total over two years, the cheapest multi-year option between the two. Mullvad charges a flat $5.50/month regardless of commitment length; there is no 1-year or 2-year discount to chase; the price you see is the price you pay. That flat pricing is itself a philosophy: Mullvad has said discounts and long lock-ins push people toward decisions they wouldn’t otherwise make, so it simply doesn’t offer them.

Both carry a standard 30-day money-back guarantee, and neither runs a meaningful free trial.

Bug bounty and support

PIA scores 3/5 on bug bounty, running a program with less public disclosure than the strongest performers in our table. Mullvad scores 0/5, having no formal bug bounty program at all, an odd gap for a company otherwise built around security-first engineering. Customer support favors PIA slightly (4/5 versus 3/5), reflecting more consistently positive reviews of live chat response times.

Apps and day-to-day experience

The two apps feel like they were designed by companies with opposite philosophies, because they were. PIA’s interface leans into options: a map view, a long settings menu, adjustable encryption ciphers, and toggles for nearly every feature it offers. That’s a selling point if you like to tune things and a mild source of decision fatigue if you don’t.

Mullvad’s app is famously sparse. There’s a connect button, a server list, and a handful of settings, most of them related to obfuscation or the kill switch. The account system reinforces this: instead of an email and password, Mullvad assigns you a numbered account, and you top it up like a prepaid card. No name, no email, no password reset flow to worry about. It’s a deliberate design choice that trades convenience for leaving as little behind as possible.

Who each VPN is actually built for

PIA fits people who want a capable, inexpensive VPN they can tune to their liking and still use for everyday streaming, torrenting or general browsing. Its Kape ownership and US jurisdiction aren’t disqualifying for most casual users, and the price at scale (particularly the 2-year plan) is hard to beat among providers with a full feature set.

Mullvad fits people for whom jurisdiction, ownership and account anonymity are the whole point, not a nice-to-have. Journalists, researchers and anyone specifically trying to minimize what a VPN provider could ever be compelled to hand over will find Mullvad’s model reassuring in a way audits alone can’t fully replicate. The tradeoff is a product that doesn’t try to be anything more than a secure tunnel: no streaming optimization, no bundled extras, no attempt to compete on convenience.

How to choose

Pick Mullvad if ownership transparency, encryption strength and a genuinely minimal account model matter more to you than price or streaming. Pick PIA if you want the lowest realistic long-term price, configurable protocols, and streaming that actually works.

Neither sits at the top of our full rankings. NordVPN leads at 4.63/5, and Proton VPN follows at 4.24/5, both worth a look if audited no-logs and top-tier streaming both matter to you.

Keep reading: our full Mullvad review and PIA vs Surfshark if you want another data point before deciding.