There are legitimate reasons to mask your IP: working from a restrictive network, researching competitors, or simply preferring that every site you visit does not log your approximate location. Here are the real options, with honest tradeoffs.
VPN: the mainstream choice
A VPN routes all your traffic through the provider’s server. Websites see the VPN’s IP, not yours, and your internet provider sees only encrypted traffic to the VPN.
Good for: everyday privacy, public Wi-Fi safety, accessing region-locked content. Watch out for: you are shifting trust from your ISP to the VPN company. A VPN that logs can be worse than no VPN. Pick providers with independent no-logs audits, and be skeptical of “free” VPNs — running servers costs money, so free ones monetize you somehow.
Proxy: the narrow tool
A proxy masks your IP for one application (usually the browser) rather than the whole device, and often without encryption.
Good for: quick, single-purpose tasks like checking how a site looks from another country. Watch out for: no encryption means your provider still sees everything, and free proxies are notoriously shady.
Tor: maximum anonymity, minimum speed
Tor bounces your traffic through three volunteer relays, each peeling one layer of encryption. No single relay knows both who you are and where you are going.
Good for: journalists, activists, anyone facing a serious adversary. Watch out for: it is slow, many sites block Tor exits, and it is overkill for streaming or casual browsing.
What does not hide your IP
- Incognito/private mode: only stops your browser saving history locally. Your IP is fully visible.
- Changing DNS: helps with some blocking, hides nothing about your address.
- Restarting your router: gets you a different IP from the same provider, in the same city. Not hiding, just reshuffling.
After masking: check for leaks
A VPN with a DNS leak still exposes which sites you visit to your provider’s resolvers, and a WebRTC leak can expose your real IP straight through the tunnel. After setting anything up, verify it: our leak tests (coming soon) will check both in one click.
The honest summary
For most people, a reputable paid VPN is the right balance. Tor is for threat models most of us do not have. And whatever you choose, verify it works — a privacy tool you never test is just a feeling.