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Cybersecurity · head to head

Private Internet Access vs Restate

P

Private Internet Access

Cybersecurity

Long-standing VPN service with a large server network and flexible multi-year plans

From
$11.99/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Restate logo

Restate

Developer Tools

Durable execution engine in Rust with a free tier and low-latency workflows

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Restate has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Private Internet Access monthly plan is priced noticeably higher than the discounted multi-year commitments, penalizing short-term users.; Restate the runtime is under a Business Source Licence rather than an open source licence, so building a competing managed offering on it is prohibited and some procurement functions will reject it on licence grounds alone.
  • They diverge on capability: Private Internet Access covers Split tunneling, Restate covers Durable execution.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Private Internet Access and Restate actually diverge.

Attributes where Private Internet Access and Restate differ
AttributePrivate Internet AccessRestate
Starting price$11.99/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer month by durable action count
Free tierNoYes
Platformswindows, mac, linux, ios, androidLinux, macOS, Web
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 Private Internet Access

  • Split tunneling
  • Kill switch
  • Ad and tracker blocking
  • Dedicated IP add-on
  • Bundled antivirus add-on

Only in Restate

  • Durable execution
  • Virtual objects
  • Single binary runtime
  • Multi-language SDKs
  • Workflows and sagas
  • Restate Cloud

What people use each for

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

Private Internet Access

  • Encrypting traffic on public Wi-Fi with a kill switchnot Restate
  • Blocking ads and trackers network-wide via MACEnot Restate
  • Maintaining a consistent connection identity with a dedicated IP add-onnot Restate
  • Committing to a long-term plan for a lower effective monthly ratenot Restate

Restate

  • Payment or order flows where a crash between two external API calls must not double-charge or lose the ordernot Private Internet Access
  • AI agent loops that call tools over minutes or hours and must survive a deployment mid-runnot Private Internet Access
  • Replacing hand-rolled retry, idempotency key and outbox code across a set of microservicesnot Private Internet Access
  • A small team that wants durable workflows without operating a Temporal cluster and its databasenot Private Internet Access

Where each one falls short

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

Private Internet Access

  • Monthly plan is priced noticeably higher than the discounted multi-year commitments, penalizing short-term users.
  • Dedicated IP and antivirus are paid add-ons rather than included features.
  • Headquartered in a jurisdiction whose privacy reputation some competitors market against, despite audited no-logs claims.
  • App interface is less streamlined than some higher-priced premium VPN competitors.

Restate

  • The runtime is under a Business Source Licence rather than an open source licence, so building a competing managed offering on it is prohibited and some procurement functions will reject it on licence grounds alone.
  • Restate Cloud jumps from a free fifty thousand actions straight to 300 US dollars a month for twenty million, so a workload sitting at a few hundred thousand actions pays enterprise-shaped money for hobby-shaped volume.
  • It is a young project against Temporal’s established base, so hiring engineers who already know it is unrealistic and the answer to most questions is in the docs rather than on Stack Overflow.
  • The programming model requires structuring code around durable handlers and virtual objects, which is a genuine rewrite for existing services rather than a library you add.
  • The single-binary simplicity that makes small deployments cheap also means fewer operational knobs at very large scale than a system designed as separable components.

Pricing, plan by plan

Private Internet Access

$11.99/month
  • Monthly$11.99/month
    • Billed month to month
    • Full server network access
    • 30-day money-back guarantee
  • 1-Year$3.1/month
    • Billed annually at $37.19
    • Full server network access
  • 2-Year$2.19/month
    • Lowest advertised rate, billed every 2 years
    • Full server network access

Restate

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Fifty thousand durable actions per month
    • No credit card required
    • Community support
  • Starter$300/month
    • Twenty million actions per month
    • Two hundred actions per second, bursting to one thousand
    • Twenty GB storage
  • Pro$1000/month
    • Fifty million actions per month
    • Five hundred actions per second, bursting to two thousand
    • Fifty GB storage
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Negotiated volume
    • Twenty-four seven P0 support
    • 99.99 per cent SLA

Which should you pick?

Choose Private Internet Access if

  • You need split tunneling.
  • You work on windows, mac, linux, ios, android.
  • You also want kill switch.
Private Internet Access review

Choose Restate if

  • You need durable execution.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Web.
  • You also want virtual objects.
Restate review

Questions people ask

Is Private Internet Access or Restate better?
Neither clearly leads. Private Internet Access starts at $11.99/month and Restate at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Private Internet Access or Restate?
Restate has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $11.99/month for Private Internet Access and Free for Restate.
Does Private Internet Access or Restate run on more platforms?
Private Internet Access runs on windows, mac, linux, ios, android. Restate runs on Linux, macOS, Web.
Can I use Restate for free?
Yes. Restate has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Private Internet Access starts at $11.99/month.
What is Private Internet Access best used for?
Private Internet Access is most often used for encrypting traffic on public wi-fi with a kill switch, blocking ads and trackers network-wide via mace, maintaining a consistent connection identity with a dedicated ip add-on, committing to a long-term plan for a lower effective monthly rate. Of those, encrypting traffic on public wi-fi with a kill switch and blocking ads and trackers network-wide via mace are not what Restate is typically brought in for.
What can Private Internet Access do that Restate cannot?
Private Internet Access covers Split tunneling, Kill switch, Ad and tracker blocking, Dedicated IP add-on. Restate covers Durable execution, Virtual objects, Single binary runtime, Multi-language SDKs.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Restate: Is Restate open source?

The SDKs are MIT. The runtime is under a Business Source Licence, which permits self-hosting but not offering it as a competing service.

Restate: How does it compare with Temporal?

Same problem, different shape: one Rust binary with embedded storage instead of a server plus database plus workers, and lower per-step latency.

Restate: Is there a free tier?

Yes, fifty thousand durable actions a month on Restate Cloud with no card required.

Restate: Which languages are supported?

TypeScript, Java, Kotlin, Go, Python and Rust.

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