VPN and Proxy Server - What's the Difference?
The main goal of VPN and proxy servers is to enhance security on the Internet by hiding the computer's IP address to prevent interception by malicious individuals and the like.
How Does a Proxy Server Work?
When you use a proxy server, it sends a request to the Internet when establishing a connection with a website or is intercepted by a proxy server.
It checks the local cache to determine if the requested content is in it. If it finds it, it retrieves the content without sending a request.
The proxy server sends a request if it does not find it in the local cache. Once it receives the content, it will be sent to the device.
The difference between VPN and proxy lies in the fact that a proxy server establishes an untraceable connection or completely hides the network identifier from observation by hiding the IP address. It can boast several features, such as having a firewall or network data filtering, sharing a network connection, and caching data.
How Does VPN Work?
VPN works as a bridge between the device being used and the internet service provider. When you launch a client to connect to a VPN server, internet traffic is redirected by replacing your IP address with the server's IP for anonymity.
VPN and proxy may look similar to each other, but they are different. VPN has many advantages compared to proxy, such as accessing information through an internet tunnel between computers or hosts. This is done by creating a tunnel through encapsulating received data packets and encrypting protocols using additional security layers such as SSL, TLS, PPTP, IPsec, to encrypt transmitted data. This can help companies route data and minimize expenses on dedicated lines for more secure data transmission.
What Are the Main Differences Between VPN and Proxy?
There is a lot in common between VPN and proxy services, and both work well in hiding your IP address or online identity, but the main difference between them is that VPN will encrypt all your data.
VPNs are the strongest, providing a high level of security using some of the most powerful encryption methods to protect data and traffic passing through them.
Proxy servers do not require any encryption; they do not hide your identity. They can use an SSL connection, which is somewhat secure but not very reliable. If you access a malicious website through a proxy, they can end up on the proxy server without any notification.
No proxy server can hide your IP address like a VPN server does, but the main difference is that the owner of the proxy server always sees the IP address, whereas VPN completely excludes client VPN server traffic from start to finish.
VPN offers the highest level of security to maintain privacy, as all sent and received data is encapsulated.
With proxy servers, you do not get much privacy as not all traffic is encrypted. This means that your internet service provider can monitor sessions and see what you are doing online. Even if you access the internet through HTTP on a proxy server, it still retains tracking packets caused by actions on the network.
Proxy servers do not affect internet speed. Since they use a good encryption method for faster access and page loading, but only when the cached page is stored locally. If it detects a cached file locally, the proxy server does not need to make a separate request to retrieve the file.
VPN slows down internet speed due to the high level of encryption. It is considered that the distance between the VPN client-server contributes to the slowdown. Another advantage of using VPN is the elimination of bandwidth throttling.
Proxy servers are available and free. However, they often experience downtime and can disconnect at any time. Most proxies do not use the HTTPS protocol, which poses a serious threat to data.
You will only use a proxy for simple tasks, such as visiting blocked websites or bypassing geographical restrictions.
VPN is the best option in terms of reliability, support, and security.
VPN will serve as an intermediary for secure routing of online data. But if you want to get rid of geoblocking or hide your IP address without worrying about privacy, consider using a proxy server.
VPNs are much better suited for providing high protection and anonymity compared to proxies.
The choice is up to you.