When it comes to protecting your identity online, there are many different options. Whether you are a business or an individual, the choice of protection tools can differ. Primarily, most privacy tools use mechanisms that hide a user’s identity while they surf the internet.
Proxy servers and VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are the most used among many such tools. However, since these tools are so standard, people often mistake a VPN for a proxy server and vice versa. However, it’s critical to understand the differences between the two to make a better choice for your online privacy.
What is a VPN Server?
Virtual Private Networks provide a secure network to the devices that want to connect over the internet. When a user connects their device via a VPN, the traffic diverts and reaches the device through a secure tunnel, ensuring that there are no hacker attacks and other cybercrime activities.
Thanks to a VPN, you can safely hide your browsing activities from other devices on the internet. Hence, it’s a great tool to ensure safety when users exchange sensitive information over the internet, such as:
- Credit Card numbers
- Messages
- Downloaded and uploaded files
A VPN uses an encrypted server that encrypts all the information that passes through it. Therefore, it is impossible to retrieve any data, even if a hacker can get hold of it. Moreover, VPNs are great at bypassing region-based website restrictions as they provide a different IP address for servers.
What is a Proxy Server?
Proxy servers work like intermediaries between the user device and the web server. When users opt for a proxy server, they connect to this server instead of directly connecting to the website’s server. Hence, the additional server filters the web traffic that can reach your device over the network.
During this operation, the proxy server masks the original IP address and uses a dummy address. Hence, it tricks the network into assuming that the traffic source is other than the original.
The network IP address is reserved for end users, and the websites see the proxy server address instead. As a result, it can prevent hacker attacks and other cybersecurity threats to your device or network, ensuring complete privacy and information safety over the internet.
With a proxy server, a user can:
- Browse the internet anonymously.
- Bypass any network or content restrictions and monitoring.
Differences Between VPN and Proxy
While the primary purpose of VPNs and proxy servers is quite similar, here are some technical differences that you should consider.
Working Mechanism
With a proxy server, you can hide your original IP address, but it only works at the application level. It means that proxy servers can only reroute traffic from a specific application. Hence, it’s generally dedicated to websites, and applications users want to access over the internet.
VPN servers also use rerouting to hide the original IP address. However, the difference lies in the network layer. Most VPNs work on the operating system level, which means they are not specific to websites or applications. So, any traffic that reaches your system will be redirected from the VPN server regardless of what application or website might be sending it.
Protection
Since proxy servers are application-specific, they only protect your identity from specific apps and websites.
VPNs, on the other hand, protect your identity from all the traffic that reaches your device. Therefore, they have a holistic approach to securing your device.
VPNs are more secure in terms of protection because they can protect your device from any website or application running in the background.
Cost
Generally, VPNs are paid services and often come with a free monthly trial. But proxy services are usually available for free. However, there is a higher security risk, making VPNs a better option than proxy servers.
Encryption
VPNs are ideal for businesses that share critical information like bank account numbers, credit card details, client information, and much more over the internet. VPN servers encrypt your data. So, even if a user or hacker gets access to your data, they can never decrypt the real information from it.
Since proxy servers provide limited protection without encryption, it’s not wise to use them to exchange critical information over the internet.
Rerouting
Since VPNs work at the operating system level, they can reroute all the traffic that reaches the server.
On the other hand, proxies can only reroute specific applications and websites because they run at the application level.
Speed
Since proxy servers don’t use encryption, it saves time, so proxy servers are much faster than VPNs. However, VPNs still work at a considerable speed to provide optimal connections to users. Unless you’re ready to compromise security over speed, it’s better to use a VPN service.
Conclusion
VPNs provide a higher level of security and network privacy. It’s primarily due to their ability to encrypt incoming web traffic. So, you should never opt for a proxy server unless it’s just about private web browsing and using a different IP address.
