If you don’t care whether your government or internet service provider (ISP) can see which websites you visit or what servers you connect to, and you’re using the internet without any restrictions, then you probably don’t need a VPN.
If you live in a country where certain sites and services on the internet are restricted or blocked to you, or where you could be legally threatened, fined, or even arrested, or if you pirate copyrighted material or visit certain websites, you need a VPN.
Also understand that if you’re very concerned about online privacy and anonymity, a VPN is not gonna be enough. You can still be tracked if someone really wants to track you, and achieving total anonymity is nearly impossible.
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a tool that routes your internet traffic through a remote server, creating an encrypted tunnel between your device and the destination website or service. While most of today’s web traffic is encrypted via HTTPS, a VPN adds an extra layer by encrypting all your internet activity, not just browser-based traffic. The key advantage here is the relaying aspect: your requests appear to originate from the VPN server’s IP address and location, effectively masking your real IP and physical location.
This setup means your Internet Service Provider (ISP) can detect that you’re connected to a VPN server and may observe metadata such as connection times and the amount of data transmitted. However, they cannot see the specific websites you visit, the content you access, or any data you send or receive through the VPN tunnel.
By routing your traffic through servers in different regions or countries, VPNs allow you to bypass geo-restrictions and access content as if you were in the VPN server’s location. This geolocation masking is particularly useful for accessing region-locked services or maintaining privacy while browsing.
If you feel like you need one, look into the #vpn and #vpn-tools sections in FMHY.
While your requests are hidden from your ISP and they can’t log your activity, your VPN provider can, and they do because it’s data that they can sell to data brokers. It’s also data that they can use to snitch, by choice or by being forced to by authorities. While most VPN providers declare that they have a “No Logs” policy, you are only taking their word for it. Also understand that you can’t be untraceable on the internet unless you stop using it altogether.
For better guaranteed privacy, host your own VPN server or look into using Tor.
VPN providers will try to promise or sell you extra features such as a password manager or even remote storage. They will also claim things that are totally false, such as the VPN protecting you from malware or having some cool technology that makes it more private than other VPNs.
It’s all BS. A VPN should do one thing and do it right. The only features you might find useful are a static IP address and the ability to forward ports.
Free VPNs are not recommended for torrenting, because as discussed above, they probably aren’t as private as you think they are. They are completely okay if you want to access blocked sites or bypass rate limits.
The ones I would recommend are:
Cloudflare WARP
It’s technically a VPN because it changes your IP address, but it
doesn’t change your location because it routes your traffic through a
Cloudflare server in your country. Can be set up to run with WireGuard
because the default client is bloated.
ProtonVPN
Unlimited free plan, fast enough, and their ethics are pretty good—even
though their marketing can be garbage. They won’t let you torrent on the
free plan though.
The problem with VPN companies is the amount of BS they try to sell you. Their plans are always “on sale,” they try to sell you expensive plans with useless features, and they force you into multi-year contracts. Sometimes, they are outright just too expensive.
For a paid VPN, I would recommend Mullvad: cheap, one price, and they aren’t trying to sell you anything other than a VPN. Their claims of having a no-logs policy have sorta been proven—in April 2023, Swedish authorities conducted a search of Mullvad’s offices and found no logs.
Self-hosting a VPN can be cheaper and more private than a paid VPN. It will cost you the VPS hosting and a little bit of time for setup.
I would recommend WireGuard. It’s modern, minimal, and probably has the best performance.
You can also set up a free self-hosted VPN using Google Cloud or Oracle Cloud, but free services aren’t guaranteed to last forever. So, don’t use them if it’s mission critical and you can’t afford to lose it.