{"data":{"notes":[{"key":"list","long":"Every provider page is based on the list the provider publishes for its apps or website. The list is read several times a day. The site records the location, country and city, the number of server endpoints, and a virtual marker where the list provides one. Nothing is corrected: a location remains assigned to the country named in the list. Every country code a list uses counts as a country, including territories such as Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, or Greenland. The number of endpoints is the number of server names or addresses a list gives. Where a list gives one name per location or a changing sample, that is not a number of servers and is not shown as one. A source counts as documented if the provider describes it for third-party use. It counts as used by published tools if the provider's own apps or website access it. It counts as public but undocumented if it can be accessed without a login but is not described anywhere. If a provider's website also states its own totals, they are shown next to the figures from its list. The two can differ, for example if a page counts servers that it does not list individually. If a provider offers no such list, the server page on its website is read instead. Such a page may name servers but provide no addresses, so its locations cannot be measured. Server addresses are used only for measurement and are not published.","short":"Locations, countries, cities, and the number of endpoints come from the provider's own public server list. It is read several times a day and shown as listed.","title":"Server lists"},{"key":"table","long":"A dash means the list does not contain this information, or that it has not yet been collected or measured. “Servers listed” also shows a dash where the list gives only one name per location or a changing sample. Neither is a number of servers. The lowest price is the lowest monthly price a provider states on its pricing page for the initial term of a full plan. Free plans and plans for single locations do not count. Prices are in each provider's own currency and, depending on the provider, with or without tax. The provider's page says which.","short":"A dash: not in the provider's list, or not collected or measured yet. Prices: the lowest monthly price of the initial term, in the provider's currency.","title":"Comparison tables"},{"key":"virtual","long":"Some providers mark locations whose servers are in a different country from the one they are listed under. The site shows this marker exactly as it appears in the list. If a list has no such field, the column shows a dash. That is a statement about the list only. A provider without virtual locations has nothing to mark. A provider may also name its virtual locations somewhere other than its list. Where a list marks a location in its name instead of a field, as with locations called “Fake”, that counts as the marker. The marker is the provider's own statement, not a finding by this site. The measurement result is shown separately under Status.","short":"“Marked as virtual” reflects what the provider's own list says. A dash means the list has no field for it. That says nothing about whether the provider has virtual locations.","title":"Virtual marker"},{"key":"measurement","long":"For a rotating selection of locations, one published server endpoint is pinged from probes in many countries. If a reply arrives faster than the distance to the listed country allows, it rules that country out. A location is shown as “server outside the country” only when several independent probes rule the country out. If the provider does not mark the location as virtual itself, a second day, at least 12 hours later, must also show the same. Until then the status is “no finding.” Where a provider publishes a city, the replies are also checked against that city. The result is shown with the location and does not change the status, which is about the country. A probe whose stated position was contradicted in several runs is no longer used. A location is shown as “matches the country” only when no probe rules it out and the closest reply places the server within 1,000 km of the listed country. If no probe is close enough, the result is “no conclusion possible.” First come locations where a finding could say something the provider's list does not: lists without a virtual marker, then locations left unmarked by a list that uses such markers. The published endpoint is measured, not the address the traffic exits through. A full round across all locations takes a few days. Until then, a location is shown as pending.","short":"The status comes from a latency check of one published server endpoint per location. “Matches the country” means that no reply ruled out the listed country and one reply placed the server near it. This does not prove that the server is located there. “Pending” means not yet measured.","title":"Measurements"},{"key":"network","long":"For every published server endpoint, the site records which network announces its address on the internet. This information comes from a public routing table, not from our own measurement. The site publishes the network and the number of locations in it, never an address. The country shown next to a network is where the network is registered and says nothing about where a server is located. The table shows which providers place servers with the same operators.","short":"Network: the operator that announces the endpoint's address on the internet. The listed country is where the network is registered, not where a server is located.","title":"Networks"},{"key":"prices","long":"Prices are read from each provider's pricing page without an account or discount code and from the country shown above the table. A provider may show different prices to visitors from other countries. The page is read as it is delivered, without running its scripts. If a page converts a price or currency only in the browser, the figure here is the one in the page itself. Some providers state prices with tax, others without. The line above each table says which. Free plans and plans limited to single locations are not recorded. The site records the plan, term, initial-term price, any crossed-out price, and the renewal price and term, but only where the page provides them. The monthly price and comparison with the renewal price are calculated from these figures, including bonus months. If a renewal costs the same amount as the initial term and only the bonus months are gone, the price per month is higher for that reason alone. A review says so. Prices last checked more than 14 days ago are no longer shown.","short":"The prices are those stated on the provider's pricing page for the listed country. The last column is calculated from them: it compares the monthly renewal price with the monthly price during the initial term, including bonus time.","title":"Prices"},{"key":"changes","long":"Each reading of a server list or pricing page is compared with the previous one. Every difference is recorded with its time: a location added or removed, a marker, country, or network changed, or a price changed. A provider's first reading is the baseline and does not count as a change. A changed marker or country counts only after two consecutive readings show the same change. That is because some lists respond differently from one request to the next. If a list returns a different selection of servers with every request, changes in the number of endpoints are not recorded. The page and feed show changes from the last 90 days.","short":"A change is a difference between two consecutive readings of a provider's list or pricing page. It is recorded with the time of the later reading.","title":"Changes"},{"key":"alliances","long":"Five Eyes refers to the intelligence-sharing arrangement among Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Nine Eyes includes those five plus Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Norway. Fourteen Eyes also adds Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Sweden. The site assigns each listed location to the smallest of these groups that includes its listed country. A territory with a country code of its own, such as Gibraltar, Puerto Rico, or Greenland, is counted with the country it belongs to. The same is done for the country where the carrying network is registered. The figures show where servers are listed and which networks carry them. They do not say where a provider is based, which laws apply to it, or what information any authority actually receives.","short":"Five, Nine, and Fourteen Eyes are counted using the countries commonly named as members. The count uses the country a location is listed under, not where the provider is based.","title":"Intelligence alliances"},{"key":"signals","long":"A review on this site evaluates what the archive contains about a provider: its server list, measurements, networks, and stated prices. Each line follows a fixed rule. Points in a provider's favor include: its list is documented or used by its own published tools, every measured location matches its country, it states which servers it owns, or the price does not increase after the initial term. Points against it include: measurements on two days place a location's measured server outside the listed country and the list does not mark it as virtual; the list provides no addresses and therefore cannot be measured; or the price increases after the initial term. Everything else is listed as worth knowing, without a judgment. That includes whether a list has a field for virtual locations: a provider without virtual locations has nothing to mark. It also includes a renewal at the same amount that only drops the bonus months. Apps, speed, streaming, and customer support are not tested. No line depends on whether a provider pays a commission.","short":"Every line of a review is generated from archive figures using a fixed rule, not an editorial judgment. Apps, speed, and support are not tested.","title":"Review statements"},{"key":"websites","long":"Once a day, a browser opens each provider's home page as a first-time visitor would: with no cookies, clicks, or consent. Its network log shows every address the page contacts. Addresses on the provider's own domains count as the provider's own. Everything else is a third-party service, identified by its domain and, for well-known services, by company and purpose. Advertising, analytics, tag managers, session recording, and A/B testing are counted together: they are used to track visitors or to load code that does so. A service counts once, even when it is loaded from several domains of the same company. Requests the browser makes for its own purposes, such as filling in forms, are not counted. What a website loads depends on the country the request comes from, so that country is shown. Where a short summary gives one figure and checks from several countries are available, it shows the check with the most advertising or analytics services and names its country. It says “none” only where no country showed any. The check does not capture anything that happens after a click, after consent, or after login, or analytics a provider runs on its own domain. A third-party service counts as added or removed only after two consecutive checks show the same result.","short":"A browser opens the provider's home page as a first-time visitor from the listed country and clicks nothing. Every other company the page contacts while loading is listed.","title":"Providers' websites"},{"key":"features","long":"A feature such as a free plan, a free trial, streaming, an ad blocker, or P2P support is listed for a provider if it is mentioned on the provider's pricing page or server-list page. The wording is reviewed and recorded by hand. Each later reading checks whether that wording is still present. If it disappears, the feature is no longer shown. This reflects what the provider advertises. Whether streaming actually works, how well a blocker performs, or how fast a server is cannot be tested without an account with every provider and is not tested here.","short":"Features are based on what the provider explicitly states on its pricing or server page. None of these features is tested here, and a feature that is not listed may still exist.","title":"Features"},{"key":"facts","long":"Who is behind a provider cannot be taken from a server list, so it is checked manually. That covers the company named in the provider's own terms or About page, the country it gives as its seat, the owner named by the provider or owner, and what it publishes about independent audits. Nothing is added from memory or third-party websites. If a provider's own pages do not provide the information, the field is left blank. Entries are reviewed every few months, so a recent change of ownership may not yet be reflected.","short":"Company, seat, owner, and audits are checked manually on the provider's or owner's own pages. If nothing can be confirmed there, the field is left blank.","title":"Company, seat, and owner"}]},"description":"What the figures on crackthe.net refer to, where each provider's list and prices come from, and where the limits of the data are.","language":"en","latest_measurement":"2026-11-01","method":"latency-v3","method_page":"https://crackthe.net/data/method/","source":"https://crackthe.net/","title":"Data notes: sources and limits of the VPN data","url":"https://crackthe.net/data/notes/"}