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What is the difference and which one is safer?

What is the difference and which one is safer?

๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ป

VPN and Tor have a lot in common, but they have different uses.

Both use proxies that act as relays through which Internet connections are forwarded. This hides the user’s real IP address and location from third parties, making it difficult to track users.

Both also use encryption, which obfuscates the contents of data sent to and from the Internet so that no third party can decrypt the intercepted data.

So what is the difference between Tor and a VPN, and which one should you use?

In principle, VPNs emphasize privacy, and Tor emphasizes anonymity. While there is some overlap between these two concepts, think of it this way: anonymity hides who you are, and privacy hides what you do.

A VPN encrypts your connection and routes it through an intermediary server in another location chosen by the user. This server is operated by the VPN provider.

Tor encrypts your Internet connection and routes it through a random chain of servers run by volunteers.

But let’s move on to the copper rivets. Which Tor networks and VPNs are best suited for them?

Related: Best VPNs for Tor

When should Tor be used?

Tor is better than VPN for the following:

  • Access the web anonymously – It is almost impossible to trace a Tor connection back to the original user. You can safely visit a website without leaving any specific evidence behind, either on your device or on the website’s server.
  • Accessing the dark web – Tor can be used to access the dark web (also known as the darknet). Most dark web sites consist of sites that can only be accessed through a Tor connection and are not on Google. It is often associated with criminal activity, such as black markets, but it is also used for a wide variety of legal reasons.
  • Untraceable Communication – Journalists, their sources, whistleblowers, activists, dissidents, and victims of crime who wish to remain anonymous can use Tor to communicate securely without being traced or leaving a trail of evidence.

Tor by default does not allow you to choose the location from which you access the web. Additionally, most websites can learn about the traffic coming from the Tor exit relay, which they can then block accordingly.

Although Tor is very secure, communications must pass through Tor’s entry and exit relays. These relays are public, so your ISP and third parties can know when you’re using Tor. Even if they can’t figure out what you’re doing or who you’re online, using Tor at all could raise suspicion because many people associate it with criminal activity. It is possible to get around this using a Tor feature called bridging, but this is a discussion for another article.

See also: The Ultimate Guide to Tor

When should you use a VPN?

A VPN is better than Tor for these purposes:

  • Unblock region-locked content – Many streaming services, for example, only allow access to viewers from certain countries. The VPN allows the user to โ€œspoofโ€ their location by changing it to whatever country the VPN provider operates servers in, thus bypassing region restrictions.
  • Torrenting – VPNs tend to be much faster than Tor, allowing for more bandwidth for downloads.
  • Secure public wifi – If you are on the go and need to connect to public wifi, VPN is the most convenient solution. The VPN’s encryption will prevent hackers from snooping and launching man-in-the-middle attacks, but it won’t hamper your browsing experience otherwise.
  • Bypass Censorship – If you are in a country like China where a lot of the web is blocked by authorities, a VPN allows you to access censored content as if you were in another country.
  • Prevent ISP throttling โ€“ If your ISP is throttling certain types of internet traffic, such as torrents or video streams, a VPN can mask this activity so it isn’t discriminated against.
  • Access Blocked Content at Work or School โ€“ If you work or study in a place that restricts web access, a VPN can bypass these bans.

A VPN can mask your IP address, but the VPN provider can still see the connection data and traffic that goes through its servers. Although most VPN providers say they keep no logs of this information, using it to anonymize still requires trusting the VPN provider, while Tor uses an untrusted system (more on that later).

A VPN will not take you to the dark web (although its use is still popular). A Tor connection is required to access .onion sites.

What is the difference between Tor and a VPN?

A standard Internet connection is not encrypted by default, and goes directly from your device to the destination website, app or service.

Both Tor and a VPN encrypt the data before it leaves your device, then route it through proxy servers to mask your IP address and location. Incoming data goes through the same process in reverse.

Centralization vs Decentralization

The biggest difference is that VPN is a centralized service. This means that the central authority controls and manages communications. In this case, this is the VPN provider, which is usually a private company. A VPN company may own and operate thousands of servers all over the world for users to connect to. While VPNs provide adequate privacy and fast connections, they require users to trust the VPN provider to some extent.

Decentralized Tor. Nobody owns it or manages it. Proxy servers, called “nodes” or “relays,” are run by thousands of volunteers around the world. When you connect to Tor, your connection is routed through a random sequence of these servers each time you visit a different website. It is possible for the exit relay – the last relay in the sequence – to read the unencrypted traffic passing through it, but it cannot determine the source of that data.

One hop VPN vs Tor onion router

Most VPNs use only one proxy server. The data outgoing on your device is encrypted, sent to the VPN server, decrypted, and then sent to the destination website, app or service. Few VPNs offer multi-hop settings, but this is the exception to the rule.

Tor sends your data through at least three relays randomly. Your data is encrypted once for each relay, including the IP address of the next relay in the sequence. A coding layer is removed at each relay, revealing the next sequence in the sequence while hiding it from the previous relays in the series. No relay can see the contents, source and destination of Internet traffic, which makes it very difficult to track it. This process is called onion routing, so called because layers of encryption are removed like layers of onions. Tor is actually an acronym for “The Onion Router”.

VPN Apps vs Tor Browser

Devices and applications can be set up to use Tor in many ways, but most users access the Tor network through the Tor Browser. This is a Firefox-based web browser built with security and anonymity in mind. Tor Browser routes all web traffic through the Tor network. It does not store your web history, does not run scripts, and will not keep cookies after you close it.

Tor can be used in many other ways, from complete operating systems such as TAILS to communication applications such as SecureDrop and Ricochet.

Devices and apps connect to VPNs either through a VPN app or by using built-in clients on computers, smartphones, and wifi routers. Most commercial VPN services make their own apps, which come pre-configured with all of the VPN provider’s servers. Good VPN apps can greatly improve the privacy and security of connections with features such as leak protection, kill switches, obfuscation, split tunneling, and IP address modification.

Primitive VPN clients are built into most major operating systems including Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, but each VPN server must be individually configured to use them.

Can I use Tor and VPN at the same time?

Yes! It will definitely have a negative impact on your internet speed, but it is definitely possible.

The easiest way is to simply connect your device to the VPN and then launch the Tor Browser. This will route outbound traffic through the VPN first, and then through the Tor network.

This setting will make it difficult for third parties to track you. If your ISP is upset with your Tor connections, the VPN will hide the fact that you are using Tor.

Tor vs VPN: Which Should I Use?

Tor and VPN both have their uses, but your use depends on what you want to do.

A good rule of thumb is to use a VPN all the time and use Tor when you need it. A VPN improves your privacy without interfering with your daily web browsing and internet usage. Run Tor when anonymity is critical or if you want to access the dark web.

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