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Cybersecurity · head to head

IVPN vs mySidewalk

I

IVPN

Cybersecurity

Privacy-focused VPN with anonymous account numbers instead of email signup

From
$6/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
mySidewalk logo

mySidewalk

Government

Community data dashboards for local government and public health, prewired to federal datasets

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: IVPN has no free tier, unlike several consumer VPN competitors with limited free plans.; mySidewalk it produces analysis and presentation rather than operational change, so the value has to be re argued at every renewal against services with more visible outputs.
  • They diverge on capability: IVPN covers Anonymous account numbers, mySidewalk covers Prewired federal datasets.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which IVPN and mySidewalk actually diverge.

Attributes where IVPN and mySidewalk differ
AttributeIVPNmySidewalk
Starting price$6/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
Platformswindows, mac, linux, ios, androidWeb
CategoryCybersecurityGovernment

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in IVPN

  • Anonymous account numbers
  • Multi-hop connections
  • Independent audits
  • WireGuard and OpenVPN support
  • AntiTracker

Only in mySidewalk

  • Prewired federal datasets
  • Margin of error handling
  • Custom geographies
  • Published dashboards
  • Local data integration
  • Report generation

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

IVPN

  • Signing up for a VPN without providing an email addressnot mySidewalk
  • Verifying a VPN's no-logs claims via independent auditsnot mySidewalk
  • Layering multi-hop routing for higher-anonymity browsingnot mySidewalk
  • Blocking trackers and ads via built-in AntiTrackernot mySidewalk

mySidewalk

  • A public health department producing a community health needs assessment on deadlinenot IVPN
  • A city applying for federal funding that requires demographic and disparity evidence for a service areanot IVPN
  • An agency that lost its only analyst who understood American Community Survey margins of errornot IVPN
  • A council wanting published neighbourhood indicator dashboards residents can browsenot IVPN

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

IVPN

  • Has no free tier, unlike several consumer VPN competitors with limited free plans.
  • Standard plan's two-connection limit is lower than many rivals offering five or more devices.
  • Smaller server network than large mainstream VPN providers, which can limit streaming unblocking.
  • Pricing is higher than budget VPN competitors for comparable simultaneous-connection counts.

mySidewalk

  • It produces analysis and presentation rather than operational change, so the value has to be re argued at every renewal against services with more visible outputs.
  • Budget frequently comes from a grant, which means the subscription is exposed when the grant cycle ends rather than being protected as core infrastructure.
  • The prewired datasets are American, so the platform has effectively no value outside United States federal statistical sources.
  • Analytical depth is bounded by what the platform exposes, so an agency with a genuine analyst will hit the ceiling and move to a statistical environment.
  • Small area estimates remain small area estimates, and presenting them as polished dashboards can lend unwarranted confidence to figures whose error bars overlap.

Pricing, plan by plan

IVPN

$6/month
  • Standard$6/month
    • 2 simultaneous connections
    • $60/year billed annually
    • WireGuard and OpenVPN support
  • Pro$10/month
    • 7 simultaneous connections
    • Multi-hop connections
    • $100/year billed annually

mySidewalk

On request
  • mySidewalk$undefined/year
    • Quoted annually by agency scope and dataset needs
    • Custom geography and local data integration work priced separately
    • No public price list, though agency contracts are public records

Which should you pick?

Choose IVPN if

  • You need anonymous account numbers.
  • You work on windows, mac, linux, ios, android.
  • You also want multi-hop connections.
IVPN review

Choose mySidewalk if

  • You need prewired federal datasets.
  • You also want margin of error handling.
mySidewalk review

Questions people ask

Is IVPN or mySidewalk better?
Neither clearly leads. IVPN starts at $6/month and mySidewalk at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, IVPN or mySidewalk?
IVPN starts at $6/month and mySidewalk at On request.
Does IVPN or mySidewalk run on more platforms?
IVPN runs on windows, mac, linux, ios, android. mySidewalk runs on Web.
What is IVPN best used for?
IVPN is most often used for signing up for a vpn without providing an email address, verifying a vpn's no-logs claims via independent audits, layering multi-hop routing for higher-anonymity browsing, blocking trackers and ads via built-in antitracker. Of those, signing up for a vpn without providing an email address and verifying a vpn's no-logs claims via independent audits are not what mySidewalk is typically brought in for.
What can IVPN do that mySidewalk cannot?
IVPN covers Anonymous account numbers, Multi-hop connections, Independent audits, WireGuard and OpenVPN support. mySidewalk covers Prewired federal datasets, Margin of error handling, Custom geographies, Published dashboards.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

mySidewalk: What problem does it actually solve?

Correct use of American Community Survey and federal health data for small geographies, which is difficult and is usually held by one person in an agency.

mySidewalk: Is it useful outside the United States?

No. Its value is the maintained pipeline into US federal statistical datasets.

mySidewalk: Who buys it?

Mostly public health departments and city planning or performance teams, often funded from a grant that requires the evidence it produces.

mySidewalk: Can we see comparable contract values?

Yes. Agency contracts are public records and appear in council and health board agenda materials.

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