Mullvad VPN vs IVPN — Australia 2026

Evidenced differences

• Billed currency on the public grid. Mullvad’s public grid on 12 Sep 2026 printed a euro rate “Including VAT”; A$8.09 is labelled as an equivalent of €5, not a billed AUD SKU. IVPN’s public grid printed “Pricing in USD” with no AUD SKU. Checkout was not started, so whether an Australian card is charged in EUR or USD remains unknown. Do not treat either billed total as an Australian-dollar amount. The two 6000-cent intros are not comparable without a dated HTTPS FX quote, and that quote would still not be checkout.
• Introductory billed total and covered months. Mullvad 1-year prepaid billed €60.00 for 12 months at the same €5/month as the 1-month and 1-decade cards — there is no cheaper long-term teaser. IVPN Standard 1-year billed USD$60.00 for 12 months; the $5/month equivalent is not the cancellable monthly price (Standard monthly is $6). Covered months are 12 versus 12. 12-month cash equals those intros. 500×12=6000 on both sides because covered months are 12. Columns stay in native currency. Mullvad subscriptions were removed in 2022; time is a prepaid time-bank. IVPN auto-renew is optional (uncheck Recurring payments). After the year, another listed-rate purchase is the stored renewal, not a higher “then” price.
• Account identifier and payment identity. Both websites generate an account identifier without an email. Mullvad uses a numbered account; cash in AUD and other listed currencies can be mailed to Gothenburg; cash is not refundable and the account number must not be written on the envelope. IVPN signup stores an account ID; an optional email can be added later; cash, Monero and Bitcoin are accepted, with cash excluded from the 30-day refund. Generating either account does not add time. Apps were not run and no account was created for this pair.
• Advertised Australian city exits. Mullvad’s 12 Sep 2026 servers page and relays API advertised Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney (22 AU WireGuard plus one Sydney bridge; all rented; all stboot/RAM). IVPN advertised Sydney only (au-nsw1 and au-nsw2, ISP M247). IVPN status heading copy said 41 countries / 58 locations; the same page’s filter and api.ivpn.net/v5/servers/stats listed 42 countries / 59 cities / 89 servers — dual public counts, left unresolved. Vendor copy on both says physical cities / no virtual locations; that is not a site visit. An Australian exit IP is not data residency.
• Kill switch on current iOS. Mullvad documents on-demand VPN as the iOS kill switch while connected (iOS 17+; version 2026.2 added Force all apps). The same iOS help lists Apple-service bypass, pre-connect sockets and server-switch leaks — documented caveats, not a leak test by this site. IVPN removed the iOS kill switch for iOS 16+ (blog 1 Aug 2023) because includeAllNetworks still leaked Apple-service traffic. IVPN still documents a kill switch on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android. This is vendor documentation, not an app test.
• Split tunnel on Apple platforms. Mullvad documents split tunneling on macOS 13+ (Safari/WebKit cannot be excluded) and not on iOS. IVPN documents split tunnel on Windows, Linux and Android only — not macOS, not iOS. Both document split tunnel on Windows, Linux and Android. Apps were not run.
• In-app OpenVPN. IVPN documents WireGuard and OpenVPN on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and Linux (IKEv2 in the iOS app; V2Ray stored as other). Mullvad removed OpenVPN from the desktop app in 2025.14; OpenVPN servers were due down 15 Jan 2026. Mullvad defaults to WireGuard on the listed apps. This is vendor documentation, not an app test and not a speed result.
• Simultaneous connections on the compared SKUs. Mullvad pricing FAQ and terms document 5 devices / 5 simultaneous connections; a router consumes one of those five. IVPN Standard and Plus are also 5; Pro Suite is 10. The cash table uses 1-year prepaid versus Standard 1-year, so the documented cap is 5 versus 5 at those plans. We did not measure how many tunnels actually stay up. Pro Suite extras (Mailx, modDNS, Portmaster Pro) are not mixed into the Standard cash column.
• Inspectable report scope. IVPN’s Cure53 no-logs PDF dated 20 Mar 2019 (8 pages; entity Privatus Limited) was downloaded over HTTPS and read. One Low finding (Unbound DNS cache). IVPN’s 19 Jun 2026 blog: this is the last and only no-logs audit; they will not commission another. Later opened IVPN Cure53 PDFs cover 2021 apps, 2023 gateway, 2024 website, 2025 Mailx and 2025 modDNS — not a new no-logs ISAE. A July 2026 Unlinked Access audit was announced; no results PDF on 12 Sep 2026. Mullvad’s public X41 app PDF (10 Dec 2024), Cure53 relay-infrastructure PDF (27 Jun 2024), X41 API/payments PDF (20 Jan 2026) and Assured GotaTun code review (17 Feb 2026) were downloaded and read. Those are app, staging-infra, API and protocol reviews — not a no-logs ISAE on production VPN servers. A public PDF is not a numeric security score and not proof of zero retained account data.
• Legal entities and Five Eyes. Mullvad’s contract is with Mullvad VPN AB in Gothenburg, Sweden (parent Amagicom AB, also Swedish). Five Eyes is no on that stored legal-entity field. IVPN’s contract is with IVPN Limited in Gibraltar (formerly Privatus Limited). Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory. Five Eyes is unknown on that stored field; a 21 Jan 2016 vendor blog is not a determination by this site. Neither jurisdiction is Australian data residency.
• Money-back window on website payments. Mullvad documents 14-day money-back on some website payments; excluded: cash, cryptocurrency, vouchers, Apple App Store. Bank-wire refunds are SEPA/Europe only. IVPN documents 30-day money-back once per account and per customer; excluded: cash, vouchers, IVPN Light; refunds are not prorated; App Store refunds go through Apple. Neither window is a free plan.
• Consumer versus business products. This pair is personal VPN only. IVPN for Teams is a separate offering and is not scored here. Mullvad is not a ZTNA or SASE overlay. Do not infer SSO or private-resource access from a consumer tier.

Buyer scenarios

Reproducible prepaid cash example

Horizons are cash charged, not prorated service. A 24-month prepaid is billed in full inside 12 months. Australian checkout totals stay unknown. Open the same plans in the cost tool

Native currencies differ (EUR vs USD). Columns are not converted. Which billed total is cheaper in Australian dollars is unknown.

Hand checks: 6000/12=500; 500*12=6000.

• Cash outlay counts billed charges when they are taken. A 24-month prepaid is billed in full inside a 12-month horizon.
• The effective monthly figure is an average of the introductory billed total over covered months. It is not the cash charged each month.
• Australian checkout totals are unknown. Checkout was not started. Card FX fees are omitted.
• GST treatment is unknown on at least one listed total. Those figures are not GST-inclusive Australian checkout prices.
• Native currencies differ. Cash columns stay in the billed currency. Do not treat the smaller number as cheaper. An Australian-dollar ranking of these billed totals is unknown without a dated HTTPS FX quote, and that quote would still not be an Australian checkout total.

Unknown on this pair

• Australian checkout totals (checkout was not started; GST unknown on both listed amounts; Mullvad “Including VAT” is on the euro rate, not a printed AU GST line)
• AUD equivalent of Mullvad EUR and IVPN USD billed totals (no dated HTTPS FX quote is attached; card FX fees omitted; A$8.09 is a vendor FX equivalent of €5, not checkout)
• Whether an Australian card is charged in EUR, USD or another currency at checkout
• Physical versus virtual Australian exits (both vendors say physical cities; that is not a site visit)
• Account and control-plane data residency (data_hosting remains unknown on both)
• Gibraltar Five Eyes status (British Overseas Territory; 2016 vendor blog is not a determination)
• IVPN 2026 Unlinked Access audit results (announcement only on 12 Sep 2026)
• Which IVPN country/location count is current (heading 41/58 versus filter/API 42/59)
• Independent speed, leak-test or streaming-unblocking results — not tested

Original conclusions from the record

• On the stored 12 Sep 2026 cards, Mullvad 1-year prepaid 12-month cash is 6000 EUR cents and IVPN Standard 1-year 12-month cash is 6000 USD cents. Covered months are 12 versus 12. 12-month cash equals those intros. 6000/12=500 and 500×12=6000 on both sides because covered months are 12. 36-month cash is 6000+6000+6000=18000 EUR cents for three yearly Mullvad top-ups at the same rate, and 6000+6000+6000=18000 USD cents if the documented yearly IVPN Standard rate is taken again. Native currencies differ, so the matching cent totals are not cheaper in Australian dollars. GST is unknown on both; charged Australian totals stay unknown.
• IVPN Standard monthly is 600 USD cents. 600×12=7200 is not the 6000 yearly intro. Mullvad’s monthly option is the same €5 as the yearly rate, so 12 monthly top-ups equal the 1-year prepaid. That is listed-price arithmetic, not checkout.
• Advertised Australian city coverage is the clearest network difference on the public lists: five Mullvad cities versus IVPN Sydney only. That is vendor server-list copy, not a site visit and not data residency.
• Documented iOS kill-switch presence favours Mullvad (on-demand while connected, with printed Apple caveats). IVPN removed it for iOS 16+. Documented macOS split tunnel also favours Mullvad. Documented in-app OpenVPN favours IVPN. Apps were not run.
• Inspectable report scope differs: IVPN’s 2019 Cure53 no-logs PDF was read; IVPN will not repeat that format. Mullvad’s opened PDFs are app, staging-infra, API and protocol reviews with printed findings, not a no-logs ISAE. That is a report-scope difference, not a claim that one product is more secure.
• The documented simultaneous-connection cap on the compared SKUs is 5 versus 5. IVPN Pro Suite raises the cap to 10; that SKU is not in the cash table.
• Both generate an account identifier without an email. Mullvad uniquely documents mailed AUD cash to Gothenburg on the stored record. Neither product has a free plan.
• Both advertise Australian exits. Neither record establishes Australian data residency. Both retain account and payment identifiers despite no-logs claims. Gibraltar Five Eyes status stays unknown.
• This is not a ranked winner, not a numeric security score, and not a speed or streaming result. Business private-resource access is out of scope for both consumer listings.

Sources

• Mullvad pricing (12 Sep 2026)
• Mullvad terms of service
• Mullvad no-logging policy
• Mullvad advertised Australian exits
• Mullvad split tunneling
• Mullvad iOS app help
• Mullvad OpenVPN removal blog
• X41 Mullvad app PDF (10 Dec 2024)
• Cure53 Mullvad infrastructure PDF (27 Jun 2024)
• X41 Mullvad API PDF (20 Jan 2026)
• Assured GotaTun PDF (17 Feb 2026)
• IVPN pricing (12 Sep 2026)
• IVPN terms of service
• IVPN privacy policy
• IVPN status / advertised Sydney exits
• IVPN kill switch FAQ
• IVPN split tunnel FAQ
• IVPN protocols
• IVPN iOS kill-switch removal (1 Aug 2023)
• Cure53 IVPN no-logs PDF (20 Mar 2019)
• IVPN 2026 Unlinked Access announcement
• IVPN Gibraltar Five Eyes blog (2016)

Calculation clock 2026-09-12. Product research dates stay 2026-09-12. Changing the evaluation time does not rewrite those checked dates.