Private Internet Access is the VPN that rewards commitment: sign up for three years and three months and it costs about the same as a single takeaway coffee per month. The apps are fiddly in places and the company is based in the US, but the price, the unlimited devices and a run of independent audits make it hard to ignore.
Promo Code box
Offer: 83% off the 3 Years + 3 Months plan: US$2.03 a month (£1.52 / €1.81), billed US$79 (£59.28 / €70.36) for the first 39 months
Promo Code: No Promo Code needed
Who qualifies: new subscribers buying on PIA’s own website
Key terms: PIA’s plan page states the 3-year plan renews at US$79 every three years; the 1-year plan renews at US$47.88 a year. The 30-day money-back guarantee does not cover App Store, Google Play, gift card or deal-site purchases.
| Offer detail | What you get |
|---|---|
| Promo Code | No Promo Code needed |
| Welcome offer | 83% off the 3 Years + 3 Months plan, US$2.03 a month (£1.52 / €1.81) |
| Who qualifies | New subscribers buying on PIA’s own website |
| Key terms | US$79 (£59.28 / €70.36) for the first 39 months, renewing at US$79 every three years; 30-day money-back excludes App Store, Google Play, gift card and deal-site purchases |
| How to claim | Pick the 3 Years + 3 Months plan on PIA’s website, create your account and pay |
Private Internet Access (PIA): key facts
- Official website: privateinternetaccess.com
- Owner: PIA Private Internet Access, Inc. (Kape Technologies)
- Headquarters: Denver, Colorado, USA
- Founded: 2010
- Regulation: No licence applicable; jurisdiction United States (PIA Private Internet Access, Inc.)
- Support: Live chat: yes, 24/7; Email: support@privateinternetaccess.com
- Ratings: App Store 4.7 (150K ratings, US App Store); Trustpilot 4.2 (11,020 reviews)
- Headline offer: 83% off the 3 Years + 3 Months plan
- Promo Code: No Promo Code needed
- Price from: US$2.03 a month (£1.52 / €1.81) on the 3 Years + 3 Months plan
- Free plan or trial: No free plan; 7-day free trial in the iOS app; 3-day free trial through Google Play
- Payment methods: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Amazon Pay (some countries), iDEAL, Gift cards, Prepaid cards
- Best features: Unlimited devices on one subscription; Three Deloitte reviews of its no-logs setup; Servers in every US state, plus port forwarding on selected servers
Get the Private Internet Access (PIA) offer
Key facts
- Price from: US$2.03 a month (£1.52 / €1.81) on the 3 Years + 3 Months plan
- Renewal price: US$79 (£59.28 / €70.36) every three years, as stated on the plan page; 1-year plan renews at US$47.88 (£35.93 / €42.64)
- Money-back guarantee: 30 days, new subscribers, website purchases only
- Free plan or trial: no free plan; 7-day free trial in the iOS app; 3-day free trial through Google Play
- Devices: unlimited simultaneous connections
- Servers and countries: servers in 112 countries, including all 50 US states
- Streaming: Netflix (UK, US, Canada, Japan, Australia) and BBC iPlayer worked in Tom’s Guide’s August 2026 tests
- Audited no-logs: yes, three Deloitte reviews (2022, 2024, 2025)
- Jurisdiction: United States (Denver, Colorado); owned by Kape Technologies since 2019
- Trustpilot: 4.2/5 from 11,020 reviews
Verdict
PIA is the budget pick that doesn’t feel like one. The long plan is among the cheapest serious VPN deals around, and the renewal terms on the plan page are unusually kind. You give up some speed, polish and streaming consistency compared with the pricier names, and anyone who would rather avoid a US-based provider should look elsewhere.
Pros
- US$79 covers 39 months, and the plan page says it renews at the same price
- Unlimited devices on one subscription
- Three independent Deloitte reviews of its no-logs setup
- Servers in every US state, plus port forwarding on selected servers
- WireGuard and OpenVPN, kill switch, split tunnelling and the MACE ad blocker
Cons
- Based in the US, a Five Eyes country
- Apps can feel cluttered for beginners
- Streaming results vary by service (Disney+ failed in Canada in independent testing)
- No refund on App Store, Google Play or gift card purchases
- Trustpilot reviewers report billing and renewal disputes
PIA promo codes, coupons and discounts: what actually works
PIA’s discount is applied on its own pricing page: pick the 3 Years + 3 Months plan and the 83% figure appears automatically. That percentage is measured against the US$11.95 monthly price. Coupon sites list codes for Private Internet Access, but none we could confirm on PIA’s site, and we found no evidence that a typed code beats the listed price.
A worked example shows what the deal is worth. Paying monthly for 39 months would cost US$466.05 (£349.72 / €415.06). The long plan costs US$79 (£59.28 / €70.36) up front, a saving of US$387.05 (£290.44 / €344.71). At renewal, the plan page says you pay US$79 again for the next three years, which works out at roughly US$26.33 a year (£19.76 / €23.45).
To apply it, open the pricing page, choose the three-year plan, enter your email address and pay. Prices are set in US dollars and converted to your local currency at checkout, so a UK or eurozone card may show a slightly different figure.
Free trial, free plan and the 30-day refund
There is no free plan. The nearest thing is a 7-day free trial in the iOS app, which is tied to an annual subscription bought through Apple. If you do not cancel in the App Store before the week is up, you are billed for the year, and any refund is then Apple’s call, not PIA’s.
The 30-day money-back guarantee is the more useful safety net, provided you buy direct. PIA excludes in-app purchases, gift cards and third-party deal sites. It also refuses a second refund if you sign up again within three months of the first.
How to claim, according to PIA’s help centre:
- Check you are within 30 days and bought on PIA’s website.
- Open a support ticket through the customer support form, or email support@privateinternetaccess.com.
- Give the email address on your account.
- Add your order number from the payment confirmation email (or your PayPal or Amazon transaction ID).
- Reply within 30 days if PIA asks you to verify the account, or you lose eligibility.
- Allow five to ten business days for the money to arrive, longer with some payment providers.
Private Internet Access prices and plans in 2026
| Plan | Per month | Billed first term | Renews at |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Month | US$11.95 (£8.97 / €10.64) | US$11.95 (£8.97 / €10.64) | US$11.95 a month |
| 1 Year | US$3.99 (£2.99 / €3.55) | US$47.88 (£35.93 / €42.64) | US$47.88 (£35.93 / €42.64) a year |
| 3 Years + 3 Months | US$2.03 (£1.52 / €1.81) | US$79 (£59.28 / €70.36) for 39 months | US$79 (£59.28 / €70.36) every three years |
Two add-ons cost extra: a dedicated IP address and an antivirus for Windows, both priced at checkout. PIA accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and, in some countries, Amazon Pay. One-off payments can be made with iDEAL, gift cards or prepaid cards. Cryptocurrency does not appear on the help centre’s list of payment methods.
Servers, countries and streaming with PIA
PIA’s pricing page claims servers in 112 countries and every US state; it no longer publishes a total server count. Key locations confirmed in independent testing include the UK, US, Canada, Japan and Australia. PIA pulled its servers out of Russia in 2016 and removed hardware from Hong Kong in 2020.
Streaming is the awkward part. PIA’s own help centre says using the VPN to get around content providers’ geographic restrictions breaks its terms, and advises connecting to a server in the country you are actually in. Tom’s Guide, testing in August 2026, found Netflix worked in all five regions it tried, and BBC iPlayer, ITVX and 10Play were all accessible; Disney+ failed in Canada and US YouTube was blocked.
On speed, the same tests recorded 419 Mbps on a local WireGuard connection and 256 Mbps from the UK to the US. That is perfectly adequate for 4K streaming, though behind the fastest rivals.
Is PIA safe? Privacy, audits and its history
PIA runs WireGuard and OpenVPN, both open source, with a kill switch, multi-hop and obfuscation on offer. Its MACE feature blocks ads, trackers and malware domains at DNS level.
The no-logs claim has been checked three times by Deloitte Audit Romania. The 2022 review found server configurations “are not designed to identify users or pinpoint their activities”; follow-up reviews were published in 2024 and December 2025, the latest covering its dedicated IP system. PIA also publishes transparency reports and says it has been subpoenaed in the past with no user data to hand over.
Two points to weigh. The company is based in Denver, and the US belongs to the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. And since 2019 PIA has been owned by Kape Technologies, which also owns CyberGhost and ExpressVPN; the takeover drew criticism at the time because of Kape’s earlier history in adware.
What PIA users say
On Trustpilot, Private Internet Access scores 4.2 out of 5 from 11,020 reviews, with 71% five-star and 10% one-star. The iPhone app holds 4.7 out of 5 from about 150,000 ratings on the US App Store.
The praise is consistent: easy to use, good value, years of loyalty. Paul M, from the UK, wrote: “Easy to use platform. I would recommend this VPN to any of my friends, great value for a decent price.”
The complaints cluster around unstable connections, renewal charges that differ from what customers expected, slow refunds and unhelpful support. Hambone W, from Australia, put it bluntly: “Its great, until it randomly logs you out and you spend forever trying to reset your account and password.”
How to sign up for PIA and use it day to day
- Go to PIA’s pricing page and pick a plan (the three-year option is the cheapest per month).
- Enter your email address and choose a payment method.
- Check your inbox for your login details.
- Download the app for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android or your browser, and sign in.
- Pick WireGuard in settings for speed and switch on the kill switch.
- Connect to the nearest server, or choose a location from the list.
Because there is no device limit, one account can cover a laptop, two phones, a tablet and the living-room TV without anyone being logged out.
Two everyday cases. You are in a Lisbon hotel on a Champions League night and the Wi-Fi has no password: connect to a Portugal server, as PIA’s own guidance suggests, and stream the match through the broadcaster you subscribe to locally, with the traffic encrypted between you and the server. At the airport on the way home you need to pay a bill: connect before opening the banking app, and the kill switch stops anything leaking if the Wi-Fi drops mid-transfer.
PIA vs CyberGhost vs Surfshark
| PIA | CyberGhost | Surfshark | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comparable plan | 3 Years + 3 Months | 2 Years + 2 Months | Starter, 2 years + 3 months |
| Price a month | US$2.03 (£1.52 / €1.81) | US$2.19 (£1.64 / €1.95) | US$2.49 (£1.87 / €2.22) |
| Billed first term | US$79 (£59.28 / €70.36) for 39 months | US$56.94 (£42.73 / €50.71) for 26 months | US$67.23 (£50.45 / €59.88) for 27 months |
| Renewal | US$79 (£59.28 / €70.36) every three years | US$56.94 (£42.73 / €50.71) a year | US$79 a year (£59.28 / €70.36) |
| Devices | unlimited | 7 | unlimited |
| Countries | 112 (PIA’s claim) | 100+ | 100 |
| Free option | 7-day iOS trial | 24 hours on Windows and macOS; 3 days on Android, 7 on iOS | 7-day trial on iOS and Android |
| Money-back | 30 days | 45 days (14 on monthly) | 30 days |
PIA and CyberGhost share an owner, yet they suit different people. CyberGhost’s 45-day guarantee is the longest of the three, but it caps you at seven devices and renews at US$56.94 a year, more than double PIA’s yearly equivalent after the first term. PIA is the better deal over five years for a busy household.
Surfshark costs a little more on its official 24-month price, listed from US$2.49 a month (£1.87 / €2.22), and the Promo Code SHARKGIFT applies to that 2-year plan. It also has unlimited devices and slicker apps, which may matter more to beginners than PIA’s knobs and dials. Pick PIA if you want the lowest long-term cost and US state-level servers; pick Surfshark for ease of use.
PIA FAQs
Is there a PIA promo code that actually works?
The reliable discount is the one on PIA’s own pricing page: 83% off the 3 Years + 3 Months plan, at US$2.03 a month (£1.52 / €1.81). Codes circulate on coupon sites, but we could not confirm any on PIA’s site.
Does Private Internet Access have a free trial?
There is no free plan. The iOS app offers a 7-day free trial linked to an annual subscription, and buying direct gives you a 30-day money-back guarantee instead.
Is PIA VPN safe to use?
It uses WireGuard and OpenVPN, and Deloitte has reviewed its no-logs setup three times since 2022. The main caveats are its US base and its ownership by Kape Technologies, which some privacy advocates dislike.
How do I get a refund from PIA?
Email support@privateinternetaccess.com or use the support form within 30 days, giving your account email and order number. Refunds take five to ten business days. App Store and Google Play purchases must be refunded through Apple or Google.
Does PIA work with BBC iPlayer and Netflix?
In Tom’s Guide’s August 2026 tests, BBC iPlayer and Netflix in five regions were accessible. PIA’s own terms, however, prohibit using it to get around geographic restrictions, and results can change at any time.
How many devices can I use with PIA?
PIA states unlimited simultaneous connections on every plan, so one subscription can cover a whole household.
Who owns Private Internet Access?
Kape Technologies bought PIA in 2019. The same group owns CyberGhost and ExpressVPN. PIA itself is registered in Denver, Colorado.
Is PIA better than Surfshark?
PIA is cheaper over the long run on its official prices and offers servers in every US state. Surfshark has more polished apps and an iOS and Android trial, so it may suit newcomers better.
A legal note: using a VPN is legal in the UK. Using one to break a streaming service’s terms can get your account restricted.
Visit Private Internet Access (PIA)
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