A VPN Hides Your Traffic From Your ISP, Not From the VPN

A VPN sends your internet traffic through an encrypted tunnel to a server run by the VPN provider, which passes it on to the sites you visit. That hides which sites you visit from your internet provider and the local Wi-Fi, and hides your IP address from the sites, but the VPN provider can see what your ISP used to.

It does not make you anonymous. EFF’s Surveillance Self-Defense guide says it plainly: “A VPN is not a tool for anonymity.”

Who can see what

From EFF’s guide, Mullvad’s and Proton VPN’s explainers, and the FTC, read 9 October 2026. This assumes the site uses HTTPS, which the FTC says most now do.

Who	Without a VPN	With a VPN
Your internet provider (home or mobile)	The domain names you visit and when, not the pages or what you type	That you are connected to a VPN server, not the sites behind it
The Wi-Fi operator, and others on a public network	The same as your ISP	The same: a VPN server, not the sites
The VPN provider	Nothing	The sites you visit and when, and your real IP address
The website or app you use	Your IP address, which gives your rough location, plus cookies, logins and your browser’s fingerprint	The VPN server’s IP address and location; cookies, logins and fingerprint are unchanged

What it hides

From your internet provider and the local network. Without a VPN, HTTPS already encrypts what you send and read, but EFF says anyone along the path, from your ISP to the café’s Wi-Fi, “can usually see their domain names (e.g. wikipedia.org) and when you visit them.” With a VPN on, Mullvad says your ISP “only sees that you visit Mullvad, over and over again.” Proton adds that your DNS lookups, the requests that turn a site’s name into an address, go through the tunnel too.

That matters because of what ISPs do with it. An FTC staff report in October 2021 found many ISPs “collect and share far more data about their customers than many consumers may expect”, and that several combine web browsing data with other data to target ads.

From the sites you visit. EFF: “From a website’s point of view, it appears your location is wherever the VPN server is.” This is what lets a VPN get round a block on a school or office network, and what streaming services increasingly detect and block, as EFF also notes. It is also why a VPN adds a detour, and the distance to that server is the usual reason it slows your connection.

What it does not hide

Your traffic from the VPN provider. Mullvad, which sells VPNs, puts it most directly: “you switch your trust from your ISP to your VPN provider.” EFF says that whoever runs a commercial VPN “will see your traffic”, that a provider can be pressed by governments to hand data over, and that a claim of keeping no logs “is not a guarantee of good behavior.” Who pays for the servers is part of that judgement; our look at what a free VPN limits lists what each maker says funds its free tier.

You, from the sites themselves. A new IP address does not clear cookies or sign you out. EFF lists “GPS, web cookies, tracking pixels, or fingerprinting” as ways companies track you regardless, and adds that a VPN does nothing about the history kept in your browser or in an account you are signed in to. If you are logged in to a site, it knows who you are whatever address you arrive from. Mullvad, again a VPN seller, says that claiming a VPN alone gives you privacy online is “not telling the truth.”

Malware and phishing. Proton VPN: “A VPN is no defense if you follow a link in a phishing email or download malicious software from an unauthorized website.” The tunnel carries whatever you send, to wherever you send it. The FTC makes the same point about the padlock: a scam site can be encrypted, and your data “won’t be safe from scammers operating the site.”

Your traffic, whenever the tunnel is down. A VPN protects what goes through it. If the connection drops, traffic can carry on outside the tunnel unless a kill switch blocks it, and apps you exclude with split tunneling go out on your real address by design.

When a VPN is worth having

EFF says VPNs are “best suited for one thing: routing your network connection through a different network”, and names two everyday uses: getting past censorship or blocks on a network, and reaching a work or home network from elsewhere. To those, the table adds a third: keeping the list of sites you visit from your ISP or an untrusted Wi-Fi network, provided you trust the VPN provider more.

What it is not is the security tool its adverts suggest. EFF says those adverts “vastly oversell the benefits of VPNs”, and lists steps that do more for most people: strong passwords, two-factor authentication, HTTPS-only mode, software updates, encrypted DNS and tracker blocking. On public Wi-Fi, the FTC now says connecting is “usually safe” because most sites encrypt.

Questions people ask

What is a VPN and what does it do?

A VPN, or virtual private network, sends your internet traffic through an encrypted tunnel to a server run by the VPN provider, which passes it on to the sites you visit. Your ISP and local Wi-Fi see a connection to that server, and the sites see the server’s IP address instead of yours.

Does a VPN hide your IP address?

From the websites and apps you use, yes: they see the VPN server’s IP address and a location wherever that server is. The VPN provider still sees your real IP address, and EFF notes it may collect it.

Can my ISP see what I do with a VPN?

It can see that you are connected to a VPN server, but not which sites you visit through it. Mullvad puts it as your provider seeing you visit Mullvad over and over again. The VPN provider is now in the position your ISP was.

Does a VPN make you anonymous?

No. EFF says a VPN is not a tool for anonymity. Sites can still recognise you through cookies, tracking pixels, browser fingerprinting and accounts you are signed in to, and the VPN provider knows your real IP address.

Do I need a VPN on public Wi-Fi?

Less than you used to. The FTC says public Wi-Fi is usually safe now because most sites use encryption. EFF says a VPN can hide which sites you visit from people on that network, so it helps most on a network you do not trust.

Does a VPN protect against viruses and phishing?

No. Proton VPN says a VPN is no defense if you follow a phishing link or download malicious software, and is no substitute for antivirus. Some VPN apps add a blocker for known bad sites, which is a separate feature.