What is the Difference Between A VPN and a Proxy? Recently, Online Privacy has been gathering a lot of attention more than before, with users turning to a lot of tools and services to keep themselves safe online.
Difference Between A VPN and a Proxy
In 2013, Edward Snowden shocked the world, The Guardian notes that when he disclosed the extent of governments’ mass surveillance programs, a lot of which were used on their very own citizens. Consumers now have become warier of big tech than they have ever been, in particular how big tech profits off its users’ data.
Since a Proxy and a VPN does similar things, you might be wondering what is the difference between the two of them.
VPNs and Proxies
Both the VPNs and Proxies work via routing your internet traffic via a third-party service server and network, cyber news states. Routing traffic through a third party limits the amount of information that a website can collect from you. Let us say you visit a website that is making use of one of these tools, the website does not see your IP address. Instead, it only has access to your IP address of the Proxy or VPN that you are making use of.
As Stated by NordVPN, one of the most respected VPN makers, that’s largely where the similarity ends. A proxy works mainly on the level of application, meaning that an application, such as a web browser or email client, can be configured to access the internet through a proxy. In contrast, a VPN works well at the system level, meaning that all traffic is routed through the VPN.
Another major difference is found in encryption. Unlike a Proxy, a VPN encrypts all traffic. Due to that, it is virtually impossible for anyone to see the activity happening in your website. Not even your ISP gets to see what you would be doing. Instead, your ISP would only have access to seeing that you are connected to a VPN. As a result, a VPN can be a very useful tool when it comes to circumventing censorship, bypassing regional restrictions, and avoiding ISP throttling.
Verdict
While Proxy and VPNs have some things in common, VPNs are a clear choice if you are looking to protect your privacy and your security online.
