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If you’ve landed on this page, you’re probably looking for a VPN or virtual private network. Maybe someone recommended a particular product or service, or maybe an ad piqued your curiosity? You may be concerned about privacy, or simply want to maintain your privacy online in an ever-changing world.
Before you dive into unfamiliar waters, we’re here to tell you that you just might no You actually need a VPN after all.
Today’s VPNs make a lot of promises, from defending your privacy from surveillance to improving your internet speeds and protecting against malicious online threats. In simple terms, VPN providers route all of your device’s internet traffic through their own systems, with the understanding that the provider protects your information from outside prying eyes, such as governments, online advertisers, and even your home internet provider.
The problem is, how can you trust that a VPN provider will protect all your internet browsing information? The simple answer is that you cannot and should not trust free or paid VPN providers. As TechCrunch’s Romain Dillet says in our explanation of what VPNs are and what they do, VPNs are only useful in a handful of situations. For some, using a VPN may be just as dangerous as not using it.
There is good news! The simple flowchart below can help you decide if you need a VPN for your situation, or if there are better options for what you’re looking for.
In cases where you may need a VPN, the best VPN provider is one you created yourself. We’ve got a simple guide on how to set up your own encrypted VPN server, including open source software that’s been reviewed and audited by security professionals.
And if you don’t think you need a VPN, we take a look at privacy tools and other actions you can take to improve your online privacy.
Let’s go!
Are you trying to circumvent government censorship?
If you live in a part of the world where a government or authority restricts access to the Internet or blocks certain websites, you are likely subject to censorship. This means that the government may also have the ability to monitor regional Internet traffic and determine which websites and services you can access and which you cannot.
In cases where certain websites are blocked, a VPN can allow you to access a website as if you were coming from a completely different part of the world, wherever that VPN server is located. But governments have been known to block IP address ranges used by VPN providers, rendering the VPN ineffective or unusable.
To bypass censorship, It is best to use Tora network service that encrypts, scrambles, and anonymizes your Internet traffic through several different proxy servers while you browse the web. Because your encrypted Internet traffic constantly travels through different servers to ensure your anonymity, the Tor network is typically slower to browse than the regular Internet, but is able to evade regional Internet censorship.
Want to browse the web anonymously?
Regardless of whether you are censored or not, you may simply want to browse the web anonymously without anyone knowing who you are.
Browsing the web leaves a lot of digital steps behind. Websites know you’ve visited them thanks to an army of ad trackers planted on every web page (and they tell other sites what to search for, too). Your Internet service provider, which routes your browsing data across the Internet, may collect information about your browsing habits, store it for an indefinite period of time, and monetize it.
And your government can look for reasons to demand access to your browsing data anytime it wants – including retroactively – which can also include data access requests from VPN providers, defeating the point of privacy you sought.
You can avoid online surveillance by leaving no trace of personal information to begin with. We recommend Browse the web using Tor for anonymityTor routes your internet traffic through multiple servers around the world to ensure that no server can see your browsing data. As such, Tor can be slower to load than the regular Internet, while still providing top-notch privacy benefits.
When should you use Tor?
Security experts consider the Tor network the gold standard for private browsing because it allows you to access the Internet without censorship or monitoring.
Instead of relying on a single tunnel to hide Internet traffic, Tor works by encrypting and routing users’ Internet traffic through thousands of servers around the world, protecting their activity from other servers and the outside world. Because of Tor, no Tor server can see your browsing data. This means that even if a Tor server is compromised, the attacker still cannot access the browsing data of the users inside it.
Since Tor is open source, anyone can inspect its source code to ensure it is safe to run. Tor is also free, so anyone can use it across a variety of platforms and devices.
In practice, accessing Tor can be that simple Download and run Tor Browsera customized version of Firefox, where anything that happens in the browser window is routed privately through the Tor network. Some advanced users may choose to route more Internet traffic or data from certain applications over the Tor network.
the Tor Browserwhich you keep The non-profit Tor ProjectIt also blocks and isolates ad trackers and prevents websites from “fingerprinting” your device, which can be used to uniquely identify and track the websites your specific device visits as you navigate the web.
With Tor, know its limitations. Because it’s designed with privacy and anti-surveillance in mind, it generally runs slower than the regular Internet and isn’t designed for streaming content. Some governments and authorities are trying to block Tor traffic. Tor includes several built-in “bridges” that can mask Tor traffic to make it blend in with regular Internet traffic, making it more difficult for governments and authorities to block.
Do you want to bypass geo-blocking of content?
Geo-blocking (or “geo-blocking”) can prevent you from accessing geo-restricted websites, video games, or online streaming services, such as watching a TV show while abroad.
This may be due to licensing restrictions imposed on content providers, or because some websites are unable to meet legal obligations required by some regional authorities, such as in the European Union.
A VPN can Help in bypassing geo-blocking restrictionsBut know the limitations.
Do you need remote access to something located elsewhere?
VPNs were originally designed to allow users to “virtually” access their office network from anywhere else in the world. To this day, using a VPN to remotely access a computer or other network remains a fairly common and typical use of a VPN.
If you work from home, you can use a VPN provided by your workplace to access your email or other web-based work applications when you’re not in the office. It’s this secure, private tunnel that lets you use your computer as if you were actually in the office. If you use a VPN for work, it will be provided to you, and you don’t need to set up one.
One potential use case for a VPN is that You can access your home network from anywhere In the world. For most people, this isn’t necessary and may increase the risk of strangers accessing your home network if your VPN is hacked.
Developers may want to use a VPN to access another system hosted in a data center, or… Use a VPN to connect systems together Even if they are located in completely different regions.
A VPN can help avoid geo-blocking of content
A VPN can be useful in bypassing restrictions on accessing content hosted in another region, known as geo-blocking. Geo-blocking can restrict access to certain videos, games, or entire websites online.
Using a VPN server hosted in a region where the content is located can sometimes allow access to the content as if you were physically there. VPNs that are set up using modern infrastructure, such as a data center or cloud host, can usually handle a significant amount of bandwidth and are unlikely to slow down your internet speeds or reduce the quality of your browsing, gaming, or streaming content.
It’s worth noting that some content providers are increasingly blocking access to devices they can’t confirm are in the region they claim to be, such as users they suspect are using a VPN. Some providers block the IP address ranges of some VPN providers completely, making the VPN ineffective.
There is no guarantee that a VPN will work in every case. But the best VPN is the one you set up. You can often set it up in the area of your choice and under your control.
A VPN can be useful for remote access
If you have one or more systems that you want to be able to access remotely at any time, a VPN may be just what you need. A VPN allows you to access this system from virtually anywhere in the world. This could be a system in a data center or cloud host to store your files, a home computer at another property, or an office location you own.
It is worth noting that even with the most secure technology, no product, service or software is free of security flaws. As such, setting up a VPN at home increases the likelihood of it being maliciously exploited by someone on the Internet.
The best VPN is a VPN server that you set up that you can configure, secure, and control yourself.
Updated November 15, 2024.
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