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Is my VPN working? Three quick checks
Three simple checks to see whether your VPN hides your IP address, shows the country you picked, and does not leak, using the tools on this site.
Key points
- Check 1: your IP address must change when the VPN is on.
- Check 2: the country should match the location you picked. If not, the location may be virtual or the address database may be wrong.
- Check 3: a website that blocks your country should answer like it does in the VPN’s country. The geoblocking check shows the difference by country.
Check 1: does your address change?
- Turn the VPN off and open the IP check. Write down the IP address.
- Turn the VPN on, wait until the app says “connected”, and reload the page.
- Compare. A different address means your browser’s traffic goes through the VPN.
If the address stays the same, the VPN is not active for your browser. Common causes: the app is still connecting, the browser uses its own proxy settings, or split tunneling excludes the browser.
Check 2: does the country match?
The IP check shows the country that address databases link to the address. If it differs from the location you chose, there are two common reasons:
| Reason | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| The location is virtual | the provider gives you an address registered in the country, but the server is elsewhere | check the provider’s page on this site |
| The database is wrong | some databases have not caught up with a new address | try another location in the same country |
Virtual locations are common: providers themselves mark 430 of 1,673 listed locations as virtual, and our measurements place the server outside the listed country for 132 of 1,126 measured locations.
- matches the country: 644 (57 %)
- no conclusion possible: 346 (31 %)
- server outside the country: 132 (12 %)
Check 3: do websites see you in the right country?
Some websites answer differently by country. The geoblocking check asks the same site from 12 countries at once. If the site answers your VPN country the way you expect, the location works for that site.
What these checks do not cover
- DNS leaks: your device may still ask your internet provider for website addresses. The IP check does not test this. See DNS and WebRTC leaks.
- Kill switch: whether your real address shows when the VPN drops. Test it by turning off Wi-Fi briefly while the VPN is on, and check your app’s settings.
Nothing is stored. The IP check is a single request from your browser to this site. The geoblocking check sends the domain you enter to the public measurement network Globalping.
Next step
To understand why a country can be wrong, read Virtual VPN locations.
The figures in this guide come from the archive and change with every data update. As of October 17, 2026.
Check it with the archive's data
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