How to Hide Your IP Address: Options and Limits
Websites you visit can see your public IP address. If you want more privacy, you can route your traffic through another network so sites see a different address. Here are the common options and their limits.
Option 1: VPN
A virtual private network encrypts your traffic and sends it through the provider's server, so websites see the VPN server's IP address instead of yours. It also hides your activity from the local Wi-Fi network. Limit: the VPN provider can see your real IP and traffic, so choose a provider with an independently audited no-logs policy.
Option 2: Tor Browser
Tor sends your traffic through several volunteer-run relays, so no single relay knows both who you are and what you are visiting. It offers strong anonymity but is slower and some sites block Tor exit nodes.
Option 3: Proxy server
A proxy forwards your requests and shows its own IP. Most proxies do not encrypt traffic, so they are weaker than a VPN for privacy and are mainly used for location testing and scraping.
Option 4: Switch networks
Using mobile data or a different Wi-Fi network gives you a different public IP. This is a quick way to test, but it does not make you anonymous.
What hiding your IP does not do
- It does not stop sites from recognizing you through logins, cookies or browser fingerprinting.
- It does not protect you if your browser leaks the real IP through WebRTC or your device leaks DNS queries outside the tunnel.
- It does not make illegal activity legal or untraceable.
How to check that it worked
- Open our My IP page before connecting and note the IP, ISP and location.
- Connect your VPN, proxy or Tor.
- Reload the page. The IP, ISP and country should now match the VPN server, and the lookup may show the address as a proxy or hosting network.
If the original IP still appears, the connection is leaking or the app is not routing the browser's traffic.