Proxy vs VPN: Which one is better?

Two privacy tools with big differences in protection

2 mins Read
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Many users are turning to privacy-focused technologies to protect their data and privacy online. At the forefront are Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and proxy servers, both of which mask our Internet Protocol (IP) address for anonymity. It’s even estimated that one third of people in the world are now using a VPN.

A proxy server, however, is a much more limited privacy and security tool than a good VPN can be. Proxies function through specific applications, while VPNs mask your IP and provide encryption for all of your data in transit. This isn’t the end of the story, however. Certain VPN providers with centralized server databases themselves pose privacy risks for users. Given the scope of data tracking, metadata harvesting, and surveillance which continue to affect everyone globally, privacy technology like VPNs must evolve to keep up with these threats.

Thankfully, new decentralized VPNs (dVPNs) have been developed to safeguard user privacy better than either proxy servers or traditional VPNs can. By routing user traffic through multiple independent servers, dVPNs inhibit attempts at user tracking and structurally avoid the vulnerability of centralized client data.

This article will walk you through how proxy servers and VPNs each work, what makes them different, and why VPNs (particularly decentralized ones) are better and more extensive privacy tools.

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