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Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan Comparison | Get the Best One in 2023

Last updated: July 25, 2023

William Sams

William Sams is an online privacy/security advocate at BestVPN.co, who loves sharing his expert knowledge regarding the latest trends in user privacy, cyber laws, and digital affairs.

Surfshark and Ivacy in Japan are both prominent names in the marketplace of VPNs. Where the former represents a new breed of VPNs, the latter has been in the industry for some time. Read on to put the Surfshark vs Ivacy debate to rest!

To find the right VPN for you, We tested Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan on their streaming, torrenting, and other features. If you’re split between the two services, simply check out our quick VPN comparison tool in Japan.

I’ve made it easier for you to land on a suitable VPN by creating side-by-side comparison tables covering the strengths and weaknesses of Ivacy and Surfshark in Japan.

Surfshark and Ivacy have equally matched opponents. Determining a winner is a difficult caveat, but since Surfshark offers more advanced features, unavailable with Ivacy, it emerges as the winner for this unbiased comparison. The secure selection at just: JPY 371.72 /mo (US$ 2.49 /mo ) (Get 84% + 2 Months FREE on 2-Year Plan) for 2-Years (81% OFF).

Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan: Quick Overview 2023

Here’s a quick rundown on the most prominent features of Ivacy VPN and Surfshark in Japan:

Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Which is the Best One in 2023? 14 Factors!

While testing, I judged Surfshark and Ivacy VPN in Japan on the following factors:

1. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Prices and Discounts
2. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Speed Comparison
3. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Important Features Comparison
4. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Netflix & Unblocking Other Streaming Capabilities
5. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – China & Internet Restricted Countries
6. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Torrenting
7. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Gaming
8. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Device Compatibility
9. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Setup and User Interface
10. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Servers and Performance
11. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Security and Encryption
12. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Logging and Privacy
13. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Configuration
14. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Customer Service

1. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Prices and Discounts

In terms of pricing, both Surfshark and Ivacy in Japan tend to be incredibly budget-friendly providers. The latter offers more in the way of discounts to lower their long-duration costs.

If you go for the yearly plan, both Surfshark and Ivacy in Japan will set you back by $3.99/mo. Ivacy is currently offering a 5-year special to users. It gives you a massive 78% off, reducing the monthly costs to $1.19 only!

You get unlimited simultaneous connections with a Surfshark subscription, whereas Ivacy lets you protect 10 devices at the same time in Japan.

Additionally, Surfshark and Ivacy in Japan accept common modes of payment. Surfshark accepts payments made via Credit Card, PayPal, Google Pay, Sofort, Amazon Pay, and cryptocurrency. In comparison, Ivacy VPN’s price can be paid through PayPal, Visa, BitPay, MasterCard, American Express, Coingate, PerfectMoney, and multiple other payment methods.

Get This Best Deal for Surfshark: Save 81% on their 2-Year Special

Get This Best Deal for Ivacy: 78% Discount on the 5-Year Plan

Winner in Prices and Discounts in Japan

Ivacy VPN offers various payment methods as compared to Surfshark in Japan. Although both VPN services have affordable subscription packages in Japan, Ivacy VPN has cheaper plans with an additional 5-year plan for its subscribers.

However, you get unlimited simultaneous device connections with Surfshark which is not the case with Ivacy VPN.

2. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Speed Comparison

For this Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan speed comparison, I ran multiple speed tests on my 100 Mbps internet connection using Ookla. I measured the speeds of the supported protocols across 3 different server locations (Canada, the US, and the UK) to record the average connection speed.

Surfshark and Ivacy VPN in Japan use the WireGuard protocol to ensure excellent connection speeds. Here are the average speed test scores for Surfshark and Ivacy VPN on their different protocols:

IKEv2

OpenVPN UDP

OpenVPN TCP

Winner in Speed Comparison

Overall, Surfshark is a faster VPN than Ivacy VPN in Japan as its protocols showed higher download and upload speeds. However, Ivacy VPN does not fall way behind Surfshark in terms of speed on its OpenVPN (UDP/TCP) protocols.

3. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Important Features Comparison

In terms of features, Surfshark and Ivacy both do exceptionally well. With each provider, you have access to dedicated apps for all popular platforms and devices in the world.

These best VPNs do have dedicated apps for Windows, macOS, Linux in Japan, Android, iOS, Amazon Fire TV in Japan, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and even routers. If you go for Ivacy, you can even get a dedicated add-on for Kodi.

In addition to this, Surfshark and Ivacy both offer Split Tunneling across all their apps in Japan. Other features available with Surfshark include NoBorders mode (obfuscated servers) which are great for carrying out torrenting activities.

With Ivacy, you gain access to different Ivacy modes: Smart Connect for fast server connectivity, Secure Download to download without fearing malicious content, and Streaming to unblock geo-restricted platforms in Japan, and Unblocking to access restricted content from a particular region.

On the other hand, Surfshark has an add-on named Surfshark One with access to many advanced features. With Surfshark One, you get access to VPN, Antivirus, Search, and Alert.

Winner in Features Comparison

Surfshark clearly wins this round in the Ivacy VPN vs Surfshark comparison in Japan. Although both VPNs have sufficient additional subscription features, Surfshark has more to offer its subscribers with Smart DNS and unlimited device connections.

4. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Netflix & Unblocking Other Streaming Capabilities

Despite being incredibly budget-friendly, both Surfshark and Ivacy in Japan do surprisingly well at unblocking a myriad of streaming platforms, where even the most expensive providers fail.

Where Surfshark offers numerous obfuscated servers for the task, Ivacy goes the extra mile in offering a dedicated “popular websites” tab in all of their applications.

Simply click on the tap and select any VoD from the list. The app will instantly redirect you to the unblocked version. You can expect to get decent connection speeds for streaming on different platforms. Similarly, Surfshark’s connection speeds make it Best VPN for streaming Netflix in Japan, BBC iPlayer in Japan, Amazon Prime in Japan, Hulu in Japan, MLB TV in Japan, Popcorn Time in Japan and even Disney Plu in Japans.

The best part of all: I faced no downtime issues with either provider, streaming was smooth even on Ultra HD quality, and I did not get the “proxy/VPN detected error” on all the above websites. Also, you can watch local content airing on BBC iPlayer using Surfshark in Japan without any location constraint. Using Surfshark, I was able to access more regional Netflix libraries than Ivacy VPN in Japan.

Winner in Netflix & Unblocking Other Streaming Capabilities in Japan

Surfshark is the undisputed winner for unblocking Netflix libraries in Japan and other streaming services because it unblocks more services consistently than Ivacy.

Surfshark unblocks Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Netflix, Telequebec, ICI, Hayu, Noovo, RD, JOYN, ZDF, TVNow, ITV, Sky Go, BTTV, NowTV, Britbox, ESPN, Peacock, SpectrumTV, MTV, Discovery+. Whereas, Ivacy VPN unblocks a few streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video, BBC News, Hulu, ABC, HBO Go, ITV, BT Sports, and BeinSports.

5. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – China & Internet Restricted Countries

Unfortunately, Surfshark does not offer servers in China as confirmed by its support agent.

Live chat agent confirmed that Surfshark does not work for unblocking Chinese content in Japan.

In China, you’ll have to configure the Ivacy VPN manually in Japan. For which, you can contact the customer support team and get the steps of configurations and the optimized server. The live chat team confirmed that Ivacy can be manually configured on devices to use in China.

You’ll have to manually configure the Ivacy VPN on your device to use in China.

You can try using the NoBorders feature of Surfshark to access geo-restricted content in countries like China and Russia. Where most VPNs fail, some of the best VPNs for China still work to fulfill the demands of Chinese ex-pats and residents.

Surfshark and Ivacy in Japan both offer a Chinese mirror website so that users have no trouble downloading native apps on their devices. This is something that most providers fail at offering.

Users in China can download Surfshark from their dedicated Chinese page here: shark-china.com

Winner in Working for China & Internet Restricted Countries

If we compare the two, Ivacy definitely wins the category. It is the only provider in the marketplace that offers a dedicated app for Chinese residents called “Ivacy Prime”.

6. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Torrenting

In terms of torrenting, Surfshark offers more reliability as compared to Ivacy. Although you do receive fast speeds with Ivacy, sometimes you may receive some downtimes on different servers.

On the other hand, Surfshark allows P2P activities on all its servers and it does not suffer from leaks. It even offers the ability to add a SOCKS5 proxy for maximum speeds. For both services, you get access to the Split Tunneling feature. This helps in redirecting VPN traffic to those sources that need it and exempting those that do not.

Winner in Torrenting

In this Ivacy vs Surfshark comparison in Japan, it’s evident that Surfshark is the winner. It’s because Surfshark offers P2P-optimized servers in more locations than Ivacy VPN.

7. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Gaming

For gaming, you need to choose a VPN with a lower ping in Japan. Users do not prefer using a VPN for gaming in Japan because it drastically impacts your gaming speeds with high ping. However, I was actually surprised to see Surfshark’s results. I recorded these results while testing Ivacy and Surfshark for gaming:

Winner in Gaming

It’s clear that Surfshark had a lower ping than Ivacy while playing all three games. At such ping rate, it’s safe to call Surfshark one of the best gaming VPNs in Japan.

8. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Device Compatibility

Surfshark and Ivacy are compatible with common devices and operating platforms in Japan, however you cannot directly set them up by installing their app on some of the following.

The table below shows which devices and operating platforms are supported by Ivacy VPN and Surfshark in Japan:

Winner in Device Compatibility

Although both Surfshark and Ivacy VPN in Japan are compatible with most operating systems and platforms, Surfshark lets you use VPN on all these devices at the same time. This is why Surfshark is the winner for device compatibility.

9. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Setup and User Interface

Surfshark’s apps are built in a minimalist manner which makes them extremely user-friendly. The app’s GUI is especially great and so is the architecture, so you won’t have major problems navigating.

Connection times are also incredibly quick; averaging at a minimal 5 seconds. However, locations that are far away from where you reside may take a little longer in connecting.

As far as features are concerned, you have plenty of configuration options in the “settings” menu. Ivacy has a broader interface overall on its desktop versions, but one that is quite user-friendly and intuitive. In comparison to other apps, it actually lists websites and streaming sites you may want to unblock.

This does give it an edge over other providers, as they do not have to test multiple servers, before unblocking a particular website. Simply click on the site you want to unblock and enjoy using it seamlessly.

The usability does not get compromised on smaller screens and you still have most of the same features as available on desktop counterparts. All in all, both Surfshark and Ivacy are quite remarkable in Japan.

Winner in Setup and User Interface

In this Ivacy VPN vs Surfshark competition, Surfshark wins. Although Ivacy does not lag way behind in its setup procedures and app user interface, it’s still not better than Surfshark in Japan.

Besides being minimal, Surfshark establishes connections much faster than Ivacy.

10. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Servers and Performance

There is not much difference in the “server availability” offered by both Surfshark and Ivacy. The latter though tends to offer a more expansive listing by a small margin.

Where Surfshark has a network infrastructure of 3200 servers in 65 countries worldwide, Ivacy offers 3500+ servers in 100+ countries and 180 locations worldwide.

A high number of servers means less crowding, as the user load is distributed evenly. Since servers are available in 100+ countries, most can also find one near their location, thereby reducing the chances of experiencing lag considerably.

Winner in Servers and Performance in Japan

Ivacy has a larger server network as compared to Surfshark, so it wins this round in the Ivacy VPN vs Surfshark competition in Japan.

11. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Security and Encryption

Surfshark, on the other hand, is a big fan of the OpenVPN protocol and uses it as “default” across all of its devices with the exception of iOS. Users, nevertheless, do have the option of configuring UDP and TCP on all platforms.

It utilizes AES-256-GCM ciphers so no additional authentication is provided on the data channel. For the control channel, Surfshark uses an AES-256-GCM cipher with the TLS key exchange secured using RSA-2048.

Perfect forward secrecy is provided by an ECDH-(384?) key exchange. If we talk about security overall though, Surfshark definitely tends to be stronger.

Ivacy, on the other hand, supports the same number of protocols. As a default, it also uses OpenVPN across all devices with the exception of iOS and MacOS which uses the IKEv2 protocol.

For the data channel, Ivacy uses an AES-256-CBC cipher with HMAC SHA256 hash authentication. And for the control channel, it uses AES-256-GCM cipher with DH-4096 handshake encryption.

Perfect forward secrecy is provided by the Diffie-Hellman handshake encryption. Also, the DH-4096 is way stronger than Surfshark’s RSA-2048 control channel encryption.

Winner in Security and Encryption in Japan

Surfshark offers better security and encryption standards to protect users’ online anonymity in Japan, so it is the winner.

12. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Logging and Privacy

Surfshark is located in the British Virgin Islands, a country that has no data retention laws. BVI is not even a part of any data-sharing alliance as well. So Surfshark’s headquarters is located in a secure region.

There is no major issue in Surfshark’s logging policy either. The provider has managed to keep its privacy policy clean and by that, it has ensured that users can trust it blindly as a zero-logs service in Japan.

Ivacy, on the other hand, has its headquarters in Singapore. As such, you can feel assured that the VPN is secure, as the Singaporean Government does not mandate data retention and mass surveillance.

Winner in Logging and Privacy in Japan

Both VPN services do not log user data in Japan, however, Surfshark has an edge over Ivacy due to its more anonymous payment method options.

13. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN in Japan – Configuration

For configurations, Surfshark and Ivacy both support dynamic and static IP addresses. Where Ivacy offers more in the way of locations, Surfshark adds extra security features.

For instance, Ivacy supports dedicated IPs in more than 7+ countries around the world. Surfshark is currently only offering static IPs in 6+ locations in varied cities.

Dedicated IPs in Japan are available as an add-on, meaning you will have to pay extra for them. However, they are incredibly handy tools, especially for travelers, streamers, torrents, etc.

Winner in Configuration

Since Surfshark does not offer dedicated IPs, Ivacy takes the trophy home for this comparison.

14. Surfshark vs Ivacy VPN – Customer Service

Both Surfshark and Ivacy offer a number of options to receive technical support. You have live chat, email, FAQs, a searchable knowledge base, and even ticket support available. In case you want to cancel the Surfshark subscription in Japan you can always ask the support team to guide you.

All options work quite well and the response times on either VPN live chat is quite impressive. It took only a few seconds to get answers to technical queries.

I even conducted a test on the response times from each provider on email support. The process included sending both providers four questions via email. See the statics for each VPN below:

Surfshark Customer Service in Japan