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VPN glossary: VPN meaning and terms explained
What VPN stands for and what kill switch, VPN tunnel, encryption, proxy, split tunneling, and no-logs mean, with the archive's current figures.
- Ad and tracker blocker
A VPN feature that blocks requests to known advertising and tracking domains. How well it works is not tested here.
An ad or tracker blocker is named on 6 of the 10 pricing pages the archive reads.
- Affiliate link
A link to a provider that contains a code through which the site receives a commission if a purchase is made. Such links are labeled wherever they appear on this site. The price for you stays the same, and a commission changes no figure, order, or statement here.
There is currently an affiliate link for 0 providers.
- Company seat (jurisdiction)
The country where the company behind a VPN is registered. Its laws decide which data authorities can request from the provider.
The archive records the company seat of 8 providers; 2 of them are outside the Five, Nine, and Fourteen Eyes countries.
- Dedicated IP (static IP)
An IP address that only you use, instead of sharing the VPN server's address with other users. Some providers sell it as an extra. It helps with services that block shared VPN addresses, but it also makes you easier to recognize.
- DNS leak
When your device asks your internet provider, not the VPN, which address belongs to a website name. Your internet provider can then see which sites you visit even though the VPN is on. The IP check on this site does not test for DNS leaks.
- Encryption
Data is scrambled so that only the intended receiver can read it. A VPN encrypts the traffic between your device and its server. Many websites already encrypt their own traffic (HTTPS); a VPN adds protection mainly against your internet provider and the operator of the Wi-Fi network.
- Endpoint
The published hostname or address of a server that an app connects to. This is what the site measures. The address your traffic exits through may be different and is not included in the lists.
The lists contain 35,899 endpoints in total. One endpoint can stand for several servers.
- Five, Nine, and Fourteen Eyes
Names for groups of countries whose intelligence services share collected information: five countries at the core, with additional members in the groups of nine and fourteen.
541 of 1,676 listed locations are in Five Eyes countries.
- Free plan and free trial
A free plan costs nothing and has no end date, but the provider limits it, for example to fewer countries, one device, or lower speed. A free trial gives you the paid plan for a short time only.
Pricing pages the archive reads: 10. A free plan is named on 3 of them, a free trial on 1.
- Geoblocking
A website responds differently, or not at all, depending on the country the request comes from.
- Initial term
The period covered by the first payment, including any bonus months. The advertised monthly price of a longer plan applies only to this period.
21 collected offers state a price for the time after the initial term.
- IP address
The number used to reach your internet connection. Every website you open sees it and can use it to roughly determine where you are and which network you use.
- Kill switch
A setting in a VPN app that blocks all internet traffic when the VPN connection drops, so your real IP address does not show. Apps are not tested on this site, so whether a kill switch works is not checked here.
- Latency (round-trip time)
The time, in milliseconds, that a small data packet takes to reach a server and return. Because nothing travels faster than light through fiber, the round-trip time sets an upper limit on how far away the server can be.
The site allows 100 km per millisecond of round-trip time. A reply after 10 ms therefore cannot come from more than 1,000 km away.
- Location
An entry in a provider's server list: a city or region in a country with one or more servers behind it. The site counts locations as they appear in the list and assigns each one to the country given there.
The 13 providers list 1,676 locations in 177 countries.
- Matches the country
The result of a measurement where no reply rules out the listed country and the closest reply places the server near that country. This is not proof: the server could still be just across the border.
652 of 1130 measured locations match their country.
- Money-back guarantee
A promise to refund your payment if you cancel within a set number of days after buying. The provider sets the conditions, for example which payment methods qualify.
A refund period is named on 9 pricing pages, a period of 30 days or more on 6. The shortest period named is 7 days.
- Multi-hop (double VPN)
Your traffic passes through two VPN servers instead of one, often in different countries. This adds a step between you and the website, but the connection gets slower.
Multi-hop is named on 4 of the 10 pricing or server pages the archive reads.
- Network (autonomous system)
The operator that announces a server's address on the internet, identified by an AS number. It is usually the hosting company whose data center and network connections the VPN provider rents.
The published endpoints are in 129 networks.
- No conclusion possible
The result of a measurement where no reply rules out the listed country, but no probe is close enough to locate the server. A slow reply is consistent with many possible locations, so the server's location in the country can neither be confirmed nor ruled out.
No conclusion can be drawn for 346 of 1130 measured locations.
- No-logs policy and audit
A no-logs policy is a provider's promise not to record what you do online. An audit is a check by an outside firm; it shows the state at the time of the check. Both appear here as the provider describes them.
The archive has recorded a published audit for 6 of 13 providers so far; for the others, audits are not recorded yet.
- P2P / BitTorrent
Peer-to-peer file sharing, where devices exchange files directly with each other. Some providers allow it only on certain servers, and what you share still has to be legal.
P2P is named on 1 of the 10 pricing pages the archive reads.
- Pending
A location that has not been measured yet. Locations are measured in turn; a full round takes a few days.
Measurements are still pending for 0 of 1,130 measurable locations.
- Port forwarding
Lets incoming connections reach your device through the VPN server. Some apps for file sharing, games, or a home server need this.
Port forwarding is named on 3 of the 10 pricing pages the archive reads.
- Probe
A computer at a known location that sends the measurement packets. The site uses public probes in many countries. Each reply is recorded together with the probe's city, network, and time.
1130 locations have been measured so far.
- Proxy
A server that forwards your requests, so websites see its address instead of yours. Unlike a VPN, a proxy usually covers only one app or the browser, and many proxies do not encrypt the connection.
- Renewal price
What a plan costs after the initial term ends, if the provider's pricing page states that price.
The largest monthly price increase found is 231 %.
- Server list
The list of locations and servers a provider publishes for its apps or on its website. This list is used unchanged as the basis for everything the site says about the provider's locations.
The lists of 13 providers are read several times a day.
- Server outside the country
The result of a measurement where several independent probes received replies that were too fast for the listed country. The server therefore cannot be located where the list places it.
For 124 of 1130 measured locations, the measured server is not in the listed country.
- Simultaneous connections
How many devices can use one account at the same time, as the provider's pricing page states it.
Pricing pages that allow unlimited devices: 2. The others allow between 4 and 10 devices.
- Split tunneling
A VPN app setting that sends only some apps or websites through the VPN and the rest directly. It helps when a service, such as a banking app, blocks VPN addresses.
- Third-party service
A service from another company that a website contacts when you open it, for example to show ads, count visitors, or load a script. That company learns your address and which page you are visiting.
5 of the 12 provider home pages checked load advertising or analytics services.
- Tor over VPN
Connecting to the Tor network through a VPN server. Tor hides your address behind several relays; the VPN hides from your internet provider that you use Tor.
Tor over VPN is named on 1 of the 10 pricing or server pages the archive reads.
- Virtual location
A location whose server is in a different country from the one it is listed under. It assigns an address registered for the listed country. Some providers mark such locations in their list, while others do not use this type of marker at all.
Of 1,676 listed locations, 436 are marked as virtual; 6 of 13 lists contain such a marker.
- VPN
VPN stands for virtual private network: a service that routes your traffic through an encrypted tunnel to one of its servers. Websites you visit then see the server's address instead of yours. Your internet provider sees the tunnel but not its contents; the VPN provider now sees what your internet provider saw before.
The archive covers 13 VPN providers.
- VPN app (client)
The program on your device that connects to the VPN server. Phones and computers come with basic VPN settings built in, but you still need a VPN service to connect to, and most providers offer their own app.
- VPN protocol (WireGuard, OpenVPN)
The rules that the VPN app and the server use to build the encrypted tunnel. WireGuard and OpenVPN are two widely used open standards; some providers also use their own. The protocol affects speed and how well the connection gets through networks that block VPNs. Protocols are not tested here.
- VPN tunnel
The encrypted connection between your device and the VPN server. Your internet provider can see that the tunnel exists, but not what passes through it. After the VPN server, your traffic travels on to the website like any other traffic.
As of October 31, 2026.