{"data":{"terms":[{"key":"vpn","term":"VPN","text":"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."},{"key":"location","term":"Location","text":"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."},{"key":"virtual","term":"Virtual location","text":"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."},{"key":"endpoint","term":"Endpoint","text":"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."},{"key":"serverlist","term":"Server list","text":"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."},{"key":"latency","term":"Latency (round-trip time)","text":"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."},{"key":"probe","term":"Probe","text":"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."},{"key":"compatible","term":"Matches the country","text":"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."},{"key":"inconclusive","term":"No conclusion possible","text":"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."},{"key":"incompatible","term":"Server outside the country","text":"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."},{"key":"network","term":"Network (autonomous system)","text":"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."},{"key":"shared","term":"Shared network","text":"A network that hosts locations from more than one VPN provider. Different brands at that location then depend on the same network operator."},{"key":"alliances","term":"Five, Nine, and Fourteen Eyes","text":"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."},{"key":"firstterm","term":"Initial term","text":"The period covered by the first payment, including any bonus months. The advertised monthly price of a longer plan applies only to this period."},{"key":"renewal","term":"Renewal price","text":"What a plan costs after the initial term ends, if the provider's pricing page states that price."},{"key":"ip","term":"IP address","text":"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."},{"key":"geoblocking","term":"Geoblocking","text":"A website responds differently, or not at all, depending on the country the request comes from."},{"key":"pending","term":"Pending","text":"A location that has not been measured yet. Locations are measured in turn; a full round takes a few days."},{"key":"partnerlink","term":"Affiliate link","text":"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."},{"key":"thirdparty","term":"Third-party service","text":"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."},{"key":"tunnel","term":"VPN tunnel","text":"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."},{"key":"encryption","term":"Encryption","text":"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."},{"key":"protocol","term":"VPN protocol (WireGuard, OpenVPN)","text":"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."},{"key":"killswitch","term":"Kill switch","text":"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."},{"key":"split","term":"Split tunneling","text":"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."},{"key":"dedicated","term":"Dedicated IP (static IP)","text":"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."},{"key":"multihop","term":"Multi-hop (double VPN)","text":"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."},{"key":"portforward","term":"Port forwarding","text":"Lets incoming connections reach your device through the VPN server. Some apps for file sharing, games, or a home server need this."},{"key":"p2p","term":"P2P / BitTorrent","text":"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."},{"key":"tor","term":"Tor over VPN","text":"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."},{"key":"adblock","term":"Ad and tracker blocker","text":"A VPN feature that blocks requests to known advertising and tracking domains. How well it works is not tested here."},{"key":"freeplan","term":"Free plan and free trial","text":"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."},{"key":"moneyback","term":"Money-back guarantee","text":"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."},{"key":"devices","term":"Simultaneous connections","text":"How many devices can use one account at the same time, as the provider's pricing page states it."},{"key":"nologs","term":"No-logs policy and audit","text":"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."},{"key":"seat","term":"Company seat (jurisdiction)","text":"The country where the company behind a VPN is registered. Its laws decide which data authorities can request from the provider."},{"key":"proxy","term":"Proxy","text":"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."},{"key":"client","term":"VPN app (client)","text":"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."},{"key":"dnsleak","term":"DNS leak","text":"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."}]},"description":"What VPN stands for and what kill switch, VPN tunnel, encryption, proxy, split tunneling, and no-logs mean, with the archive's current figures.","language":"en","latest_measurement":"2026-10-31","method":"latency-v3","method_page":"https://crackthe.net/method/","source":"https://crackthe.net/","title":"VPN glossary: VPN meaning and terms explained","url":"https://crackthe.net/glossary/"}