How to hide your IP with a VPN or proxy — and when it actually helps

Hiding your IP is one of the most over-promised topics in online privacy. This guide explains what VPNs and proxies really change, when they protect you, when they don't, and how to verify your setup using our free IP and leak test.

Why would you want to hide your IP?

Your IP address by itself is not a personal identifier, but combined with your ISP, ASN, geolocation and a server-side log it can:

reveal your approximate city and your internet provider;
tie multiple sessions on different sites back to one person;
be used by sites to apply price discrimination, geo-blocking or rate-limits;
show up in leaked databases years later.

Hiding it is therefore a reasonable goal — for journalists, security researchers, people on hostile networks, and anyone who just doesn't want a third party logging their browsing.

VPN vs proxy — what's the difference?

Both route your traffic through someone else's server so the destination sees that server's IP instead of yours. The difference is what they cover and how strong the encryption is.

Proxy

Works at the application level — usually only your browser, or one app at a time.
HTTP proxies handle web traffic only; SOCKS5 proxies handle any TCP/UDP traffic.
Most proxies do not encrypt your traffic. Your ISP still sees what you do.
Cheap, fast, easy to rotate. Popular for scraping and casual geo-unblocking.

VPN

Works at the network level — every app on your device is tunnelled.
Traffic is encrypted between your device and the VPN server.
Your ISP sees only "encrypted traffic to a VPN endpoint", not the sites you visit.
Modern protocols like WireGuard and OpenVPN are the standard.

Padlock on a circuit board representing encrypted connections — A VPN encrypts the path between you and the exit server — but only that path.

When hiding your IP actually helps

On untrusted networks — public Wi-Fi, hotels, conferences. A VPN stops the local network from inspecting or modifying your traffic.
Geo-restricted content — choosing an exit country lets you reach services that block your real location.
Avoiding ISP-level logging or throttling — your ISP can't see individual sites you visit.
Hiding your IP from a specific website — the site sees the VPN exit's IP, ASN and geolocation, not yours.

When it does not help

You are logged in. If you log in to Google, Facebook or your bank through a VPN, they still know it's you.
Browser fingerprinting. Fonts, timezone, screen size, WebGL and installed extensions can re-identify you across IPs.
Cookies and local storage. Old cookies survive an IP change.
WebRTC leaks. Your browser can hand over your real IP via STUN even when a VPN is up — see below.
DNS leaks. If your DNS still goes to your ISP, the ISP knows which sites you are resolving.

The leaks that ruin a VPN

WebRTC leaks

WebRTC, the browser API behind video calls, can expose your real public IP to any page that asks — bypassing the VPN. This is the single most common cause of "I'm on a VPN but the site still knows where I am".

DNS leaks

If your device keeps using your ISP's DNS resolver after you connect to a VPN, the ISP still sees every hostname you visit. A properly configured VPN forces DNS through its own resolvers.

IPv6 leaks

Many VPNs only tunnel IPv4. If your network also has IPv6, traffic can escape the tunnel and reveal a different public address.

Timezone & locale mismatches

A VPN exit in Germany combined with a browser reporting America/New_York is a strong signal that you are using a VPN, even if the IP itself looks clean.

How to test your setup with ip.scanforsecurity.com

Disconnect your VPN. Open ip.scanforsecurity.com and note your real IP, ASN and country.
Connect your VPN or proxy.
Reload the page. The IP, ASN and city should all change to the exit server's.
Click Run leak test. It checks:
- WebRTC public IPs (must match the VPN, not your real IP);
- Browser vs IP timezone consistency;
- Whether DNS-over-HTTPS resolvers are reachable;
- Whether local IPs are being exposed.
If the verdict shows leaks, fix them in the VPN client (enable "block non-VPN traffic" / kill switch, disable WebRTC in the browser, force IPv6 off if unsupported).

Choosing a VPN or proxy that doesn't undo the point

Prefer providers with an audited no-logs policy.
Avoid free VPNs — many monetise by selling your traffic.
Look for a built-in kill switch and DNS leak protection.
For scraping or automation, residential or mobile proxies look more like real users than datacenter ASNs.
For privacy, treat the VPN as one layer — combine with a privacy-respecting browser and avoid logging in to identifying accounts.

Bottom line

A VPN or proxy is a useful tool, not a magic cloak. Hiding your IP only works if nothing else is leaking — and the only way to know is to test, ideally from the same browser and device you actually use. Our free IP and leak test takes about five seconds and is designed for exactly that.