Tech giants like Google, Facebook, etc. legally collect users data, whereas other companies do it illegally. So, in all these scenarios, the use of advanced security tools has become a mandatory thing. When it comes to hide your online identity and stop online companies from collecting your data, VPN or Proxies seems to be the best option. Without any doubt, you might be well aware of ‘VPNs’ and ‘Proxies’. Most of the times, these two things are considered the same. However, its a myth, and both of them share lots of differences in between. In fact, some users also search for VPN vs Proxy on the internet. So, in this article, we are going to outline the significant difference between VPN and Proxies.
VPN vs Proxy Server
VPN and proxies both help to keep users anonymous. Both of them helps users to enhance the level of privacy in their internet life. So, both VPN and Proxies allows users to connect to a remote computer. However, both of them shares quite a few differences in between. So, let’s know both about VPN and Proxy Server.
What is Proxy?
A proxy which is also known as Proxy services is a special server that acts as a broker between your PC/Smartphone and a website or service. Proxies are much easy to use, but it’s less versatile than a VPN. With Proxies, users can set their internet traffic to go to an independent server (Proxy), which will then make all further data requests on the user’s behalf. By this way, proxies make you fully anonymous on the internet, since the destination server will only see the location and IP address of the proxy server. However, Proxies doesn’t encrypt your internet traffic. So, all your data exchanges are open and unencrypted and hackers can still trace you by using some advanced tool. That’s the most probable reason why Proxies are never recommended for tasks that seek high levels of privacy. Another thing is, you can’t configure the entire PC to connect to the proxy server as it works on a program-to-program basis. So, proxies are mostly used to access region-restricted websites and services. It was also used to unblock IP-based restrictions. There are lots of free proxy services available on the web, and one of the popular ones is HideMyAss!
What Is VPN?
VPN is almost similar to the Proxies, but its lot more versatile. Just like Proxy servers, VPNs also hides your online identity and makes your internet traffic look like its originating from a remote location. VPN also helps users to mask their IP Address region and IP restricted websites and services. However, the great thing is VPN passes 100% of your internet traffic via the VPN Servers. Users don’t need to configure individual programs to connect to the proxy server, and they can cloak their email client, torrent downloading, browsing, etc. at the same time. Another best thing about VPN is that it encrypts 100% of your internet traffic and routes it through VPN servers making you entirely anonymous. Because of these reasons, VPN services costs more compared to proxy servers. There are also lots of free VPN apps available on the internet, but they are not as safe as they look. So, what do you think about VPN vs Proxy Server? Share your views in the comments.
