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Cybersecurity · head to head

IVPN vs Spacelift

I

IVPN

Cybersecurity

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

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

Spacelift

Developer Tools

Infrastructure-as-code orchestration for Terraform, OpenTofu, Pulumi and Kubernetes

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Spacelift has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: IVPN has no free tier, unlike several consumer VPN competitors with limited free plans.; Spacelift users are unlimited and private workers are metered, so deployment concurrency rather than headcount drives the bill, which inverts how most engineering budgets are built and is easy to under-forecast.
  • They diverge on capability: IVPN covers Anonymous account numbers, Spacelift covers Multi-tool orchestration.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which IVPN and Spacelift actually diverge.

Attributes where IVPN and Spacelift differ
AttributeIVPNSpacelift
Starting price$6/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionBy private worker and tier, not by user
Free tierNoYes
Platformswindows, mac, linux, ios, androidWeb, Self-hosted, Cloud
CategoryCybersecurityDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: 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 Spacelift

  • Multi-tool orchestration
  • Policy as code
  • Private workers
  • Spaces
  • Blueprints
  • Drift detection

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 Spacelift
  • Verifying a VPN's no-logs claims via independent auditsnot Spacelift
  • Layering multi-hop routing for higher-anonymity browsingnot Spacelift
  • Blocking trackers and ads via built-in AntiTrackernot Spacelift

Spacelift

  • Platform teams running infrastructure changes through approval gates rather than through application CInot IVPN
  • Organisations standardising Terraform and OpenTofu across many teams with policy enforcementnot IVPN
  • Estates needing private runners so cloud credentials never leave the networknot IVPN
  • Teams wanting drift detection and reconciliation rather than plan-time checks alonenot 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.

Spacelift

  • Users are unlimited and private workers are metered, so deployment concurrency rather than headcount drives the bill, which inverts how most engineering budgets are built and is easy to under-forecast.
  • There is no affordable paid entry point. The free tier stops at two users and the next tier is a five-figure commitment with nothing in between.
  • Three of the five tiers are quote-only, so a shortlist cannot be costed without entering a sales process with each vendor on it.
  • The self-hosted build lags the hosted one, has no public worker pool and lacks the Azure and Google Cloud integrations available in the SaaS product, with OIDC federation offered as the workaround.
  • Stacks, Rego policies, Blueprints, Spaces and Spacelift-managed state are proprietary constructs, so leaving means rebuilding the orchestration layer rather than pointing it at a different runner.

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

Spacelift

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Two users
    • Public workers only
    • No private workers
  • Starter Plus$undefined/year
    • Unlimited users
    • Two public workers
    • One to two private workers
  • Business$undefined/year
    • Unlimited users
    • Three private workers
    • Quoted
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Unlimited users
    • Five to thirty private workers
    • Self-hosted option

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 Spacelift if

  • You need multi-tool orchestration.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Self-hosted, Cloud.
  • You also want policy as code.
Spacelift review

Questions people ask

Is IVPN or Spacelift better?
Neither clearly leads. IVPN starts at $6/month and Spacelift at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, IVPN or Spacelift?
Spacelift has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $6/month for IVPN and Free for Spacelift.
Does IVPN or Spacelift run on more platforms?
IVPN runs on windows, mac, linux, ios, android. Spacelift runs on Web, Self-hosted, Cloud.
Can I use Spacelift for free?
Yes. Spacelift has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. IVPN starts at $6/month.
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 Spacelift is typically brought in for.
What can IVPN do that Spacelift cannot?
IVPN covers Anonymous account numbers, Multi-hop connections, Independent audits, WireGuard and OpenVPN support. Spacelift covers Multi-tool orchestration, Policy as code, Private workers, Spaces.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Spacelift: How is Spacelift priced?

By tier and by private worker count rather than per user. Users are unlimited on every paid plan. The published figure on the pricing page carries no period label, and the FAQ describes the tier as an annual subscription, so confirm the period in writing.

Spacelift: Does it support OpenTofu?

Yes, and Spacelift sponsors the OpenTofu project, which is a substantive hedge for anyone avoiding Terraform under the Business Source Licence.

Spacelift: Is there a self-hosted version?

Yes, described as carrying Enterprise functionality, but it is priced on request and lags the hosted product on cloud integrations.

Spacelift: Why not just use the CI system we already have?

That is the real comparison. General purpose CI handles state, drift, approval gates and concurrency control for infrastructure poorly, and whether that is worth a five-figure floor depends on how much infrastructure change your organisation actually ships.

Spacelift: What happens to our pipelines if we leave?

They do not port. Rego policies, Blueprints, Spaces and managed state are Spacelift constructs and the orchestration has to be rebuilt elsewhere.

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