How to hide your IP address

Verify the result on /vpn-check, which reads your address, resolver, and WebRTC candidates together.

How we test whether a method actually hides your address

A method works only if all four of these are true at the same time. We test each one separately rather than trusting a single “your IP is hidden” banner.

Check	What it proves	Where to run it
Public IPv4 differs from your ISP address	HTTP traffic leaves through the tunnel	/ and /report
No IPv6 address, or an IPv6 address from the same provider	The tunnel is not carrying IPv4 while IPv6 goes direct	/ipv6-test
DNS queries resolve from the provider’s resolver	Your ISP is not seeing every hostname you visit	/dns-leak-test
WebRTC exposes no host or server-reflexive address of your own	A browser API is not bypassing the tunnel	/webrtc-leak-test

The IPv6 check catches the most common failure. Many VPN clients tunnel IPv4 only. On a dual-stack connection your browser then prefers IPv6 for any site that offers it, and that traffic never enters the tunnel. The site records your real address while the VPN app shows a connected state.

The DNS check catches the second most common one. A tunnel that carries your packets but leaves the system resolver pointed at your ISP hides the addresses you connect to and not the names you look up.

We do not rank VPN providers on this page. Provider comparisons live separately, with tests we actually ran.

Method 1: a VPN

A VPN client builds an encrypted tunnel to a server you choose and sends your traffic through it. Websites see the server’s address. Your ISP sees an encrypted connection to that server and nothing about its contents.

What it hides: your address from the sites you visit, and your traffic contents and destinations from your ISP and from the local network.

What it does not hide: your identity from anyone you log in to, your browser fingerprint, or your activity from the VPN provider itself. You move the trust from your ISP to the provider, which is a real change but not the removal of trust.

What to look for: WireGuard or OpenVPN rather than a proprietary protocol, IPv6 support or a documented IPv6 block, a kill switch that fails closed, and DNS handled inside the tunnel. Published independent audits matter more than a no-logs claim on the marketing page.

Method 2: Tor

The Tor Browser routes each connection through three relays. The exit relay’s address is what the site sees, and no single relay knows both who you are and where you are going.

Tor is the strongest option against network-level observation and it is free. The costs are real: pages load slowly, many sites block known exit addresses outright, and Tor Browser deliberately resists customisation because changing settings makes your fingerprint unique. Use the browser bundle rather than routing an ordinary browser through Tor, because the bundle is the part that fixes fingerprinting.

Method 3: a proxy

An HTTP or SOCKS5 proxy forwards requests on your behalf and substitutes its own address. It is per-application, so a browser proxy leaves everything else on your normal connection.

A proxy usually adds no encryption. A plain HTTP proxy sees and can modify unencrypted traffic, and your ISP still sees your DNS queries unless the application resolves through the proxy. Browser-based web proxies are the weakest form of all: they rewrite one page and miss the rest.

Proxies are useful for a specific task, such as testing how a site renders from another country. They are not a general privacy tool.

Method 4: use a different network

Tether to your phone, or use a network that is not yours. You get a different public address immediately, with no software.

This is the honest floor of the technique. Mobile data gives you a carrier address that is shared through CGNAT with many other subscribers, which is coarse in a useful way. It is still an account in your name, and the carrier holds the mapping. It changes what a website sees, not what a legal process can obtain.

Comparing the four

	Cost	Hides from sites	Hides from ISP	Speed cost	Weak point
VPN	Paid	Yes	Yes	Small	You trust the provider
Tor	Free	Yes	Yes	Large	Sites block exit nodes
Proxy	Free or paid	Per application	Rarely	Small	No encryption, partial coverage
Other network	Free	Yes	Your ISP sees nothing, the other one sees everything	None	Still tied to an account

What none of these change

Replacing your IP address does nothing about the identifiers that follow you between sessions. Cookies, a logged-in account, your browser fingerprint, and anything you type into a form all persist through a tunnel. The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Cover Your Tracks demonstrates the fingerprinting half.

An IP address on its own reveals your ISP, your ASN, and an approximate city. Only your ISP holds the subscriber record behind it, and it releases that under legal process. What your IP reveals sets out exactly which fields are involved, and it is a shorter list than most advertising implies.

Check what you actually have right now on /vpn-check.