A virtual private network (VPN) service is a proxy server marketed to help users bypass Internet censorship such as geo-blocking and users who want to protect their communications against user profiling or MitM attacks on hostile networks. A wide variety of entities provide VPN services for several purposes. Depending on the provider and the application, they do not always create a true private network. Instead, many providers simply provide an Internet proxy that uses VPN technologies such as OpenVPN or WireGuard. Commercial VPN services are often used by those wishing to disguise or obfuscate their physical location or IP address, typically as a means to evade Internet censorship or geo-blocking. Providers often market VPN services as privacy-enhancing, citing security features, such as encryption, from the underlying VPN technology. However, when the transmitted content is not encrypted before entering the proxy, that content is visible at the receiving endpoint regardless of whether the VPN tunnel itself is encrypted for the inter-node transport. On the client side, configurations intended to use VPN services as proxies are not conventional VPN configurations. However, they do typically utilize the operating system's VPN interfaces to capture the user's data to send to the proxy. This includes virtual network adapters on computer OSes and specialized "VPN" interfaces on mobile operating systems. A less common alternative is to provide a SOCKS proxy interface. In 2025, 1.75 billion people used VPNs. By 2027, this market has been projected to grow to $76 billion. As of 2022, recommendation websites for VPNs tended to be affiliated with or even owned by VPN service providers, and VPN service providers often make misleading claims on their products.
Reasons for use While research on user behavior and motivations for using VPNs is relatively limited compared to technical literature, studies generally find that users are motivated by concerns over security and privacy, particularly protection against hackers. In contrast, a study of 349 college students found that students were more likely to use VPNs to access entertainment content than for privacy-related reasons. Another study of 90 technically savvy users reported that those motivated by privacy concerns, rather than by practical needs such as accessing geo-blocked content, were more likely to continue using VPNs over time. Surveys have also found that users tend to distrust free VPN services and express concern about providers collecting or selling their data. VPN usage has also been observed to increase in response to content restrictions, social media taxes, and the implementation of age verification laws.
Accessing geo-restricted content VPNs allow users to bypass regional restrictions by hiding their IP address from the destination server and simulating a connection from another country.
Improving privacy on public Wi-Fi Where public Wi-Fi networks do not provide isolated encryption for each connected device, VPN services can provide a certain level of protection. When in use, potential eavesdroppers on the network can only observe that a connection to the VPN server is made by a user's device. As of June 2025, however, approximately 98% of human-generated internet traffic was encrypted using TLS through the HTTPS protocol; when TLS is used, network eavesdropping can only point out the IP addresses or hostnames a user is connecting to. Interception of network requests by a bad actor in the form of a Man-in-the-middle attack will most likely result in a certificate warning in being displayed in the user's browser. SSL stripping, the practice of downgrading a connection to unencrypted HTTP, doesn't always result in a browser warning, although this has been partly mitigated by the implementation of HTTP Strict Transport Security.
Improving privacy Activists and journalists working in restrictive or authoritarian regions can use VPNs to help maintain anonymity and protect sensitive communications.
By geographical region As of 2025, four of the top six countries of VPN adoption rates from 2020 through the first half of 2025 were in the Middle East: UAE #1, Qatar #2, Oman #5 and Saudi Arabia #6 Aside from bypassing a block of content it is thought that bypassing of restriction of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services, like WhatsApp, Skype, and FaceTime are motivating factors.
Criticism and limitations Research has generally found that non-specialist users often have flawed mental models of VPNs and misunderstand the extent of the protection they provide. Such misconceptions may persist even among active VPN users. Most users discover VPN services through review websites, which can be influenced by commercial incentives, with some relying on paid reviews and auctioning off the top review spot. Users are commonly exposed to misinformation on the VPN services market, which makes it difficult for them to discern fact from false claims in advertisements. According to research by Consumer Reports, 12 out of 16 surveyed service providers had poor privacy and security practices and also made hyperbolic claims. The New York Times has advised users to reconsider whether a VPN service is worth their money. VPN services are not sufficient for protection against browser fingerprinting. The provider may log the user's traffic, although this depends on the individual company. Users can still be tracked through tracking cookies even if the user's IP address is hidden. A VPN service is not in itself a means for good Internet privacy. The burden of trust is simply transferred from the Internet service provider to the VPN service provider.
Legality
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