CyberGhost vs Private Internet Access

As with ExpressVPN against CyberGhost, the first thing to establish here is not a feature. Kape Technologies owns both of these products. Private Internet Access states it. CyberGhost's site does not mention it anywhere.

The same owner, and only one disclosure

If you shortlisted several VPNs and these two came up, you have one company's opinion twice. That is not a security problem and neither product is worse for it, but it changes what the shortlist was for, and it is better known now than after you have paid.

The disclosure gap matters on its own terms. A company that does not tell you who owns it has made a decision about what you are entitled to know, and you can reasonably extend that judgement to things you cannot check as easily.

What one publishes and the other sells

Every Private Internet Access app is open source on every platform, so the software's behaviour can be verified outside the company. CyberGhost's are closed. Private Internet Access also has port forwarding, multi-hop, a SOCKS5 proxy and obfuscation; CyberGhost has none of those four, and the missing obfuscation means any network filtering VPN traffic stops CyberGhost outright.

Private Internet Access renews its three-year plan at the rate it charged. CyberGhost bills twenty-six months and then twelve, which is a different shape of surprise and the same one.

CyberGhost's genuine advantage is streaming: servers picked for particular services and a Smart DNS for televisions that cannot run an app. Private Internet Access does not sell that, and its kill switch allowed traffic through after a restart under testing where CyberGhost's held.

Which should you choose?

Choose Private Internet Access if you want readable source, obfuscation, port forwarding or a price that does not jump — which is most reasons somebody compares these two at all. Choose CyberGhost if a television is the device that matters and your network does not filter anything.

If what you wanted from this comparison was two independent options, the useful next step is to compare either one against a company Kape does not own. Proton VPN and Windscribe are both owned by the companies whose names are on them.