When you need to hide your true identity or protect yourself online, you will definitely choose between VPN and proxy. Although they both have certain features, VPN and proxy are not interchangeable. To make the right choice, you must understand your use case and learn more about VPN and proxy. In this article, we will dive into what proxy and VPN are, how they can benefit your business, and which proxy makes sense to use based on your needs.
What is VPN?
VPN stands for "Virtual Private Network". When you type in your request and hit the "Enter" key, the VPN server creates an encrypted tunnel. Encryption means that the data you send is encrypted. Your data travels through this tunnel to the VPN server. The server then sends it to the destination server. The destination server sees the IP and location of the VPN server. Basically, VPN creates a private network within the global network, so you don't have to touch the global network directly.
VPN: Benefits
The main benefit that VPN provides you is encryption, which increases security and privacy.
Even if you only exchange information between trusted parties, malicious actors may intercept your data in transit. This is called a man-in-the-middle attack. However, if the data is encrypted by the VPN, then stealing the data is futile. During the encryption process, two special keys are created. They are used to decrypt the encrypted data. You can think of them as passwords. It is impossible to find out or guess these keys. If intercepted and not decrypted, the data will look like a string of random symbols that have no meaning. That is why VPNs offer you a huge security advantage, as you are protected from hackers. When your data travels inside an encrypted tunnel, no one, including your internet service provider, can see the source of your access or what you do there. Your security and privacy are guaranteed.
In addition, you can choose whether to route all your traffic through the VPN or only traffic from certain applications.
Browsers and servers communicate with each other on multiple levels. The Open Systems Interconnection model can describe this way of communication. It consists of seven layers. Depending on which layer the VPN is located, you can route only traffic from a specific application or from everywhere. This is very convenient, as you usually use VPN only for specific tasks. Routing all traffic would unnecessarily increase your expenses and slow down your connection.
VPN: Use Cases
Businesses use VPNs to control who has access to sensitive internal data. Due to encryption, VPNs are also used to protect sensitive operations involving sending documents, processing employee data, or entering payment details. Many groups or competitors may be after your company. Hackers may want to get your data to steal your money. Your competitors may try to track your online activities to learn more about your company's internal affairs. Your Internet Service Provider may collect your information and sell it to third parties.
Sometimes you or your employees have to use public networks such as Wi-Fi at airports or cafes, which is dangerous. VPN can help solve all these problems. It not only protects your online activities but also your data. So you can safely send important information or use Wi-Fi in public places, even for business needs.
What is a proxy?
A proxy is a middleman between you and the global network. Normally, when you search for something on Google, your browser sends a request directly to the internet. With a proxy, your request reaches the proxy server. The server then forwards your request to the target server. The target server can see the proxy's IP and location instead of your real IP. Your connection may or may not be encrypted. This depends on the protocol used by the proxy. For example, the SOCKS protocol does not encrypt your data, while the HTTPS protocol does. You can choose which protocol to use according to your needs.
There are several types of proxies: datacenter proxies, residential proxies, and mobile proxies. Datacenter proxies are somewhat similar to VPNs because their IPs are also generated by servers. Residential and mobile proxies are IPs of real user devices. People install special apps on their devices and choose to sell part of their traffic to proxy providers. When you buy a proxy from a provider, you use that traffic. So, using a proxy is like you are using someone's device. In fact, the global network sees you as another person and doesn't know that you are not a regular user.
Proxies: Benefits
The biggest advantage of proxies is that you can have an IP of a real human device instead of an artificial, server-generated address. When you use a server-generated IP, your real identity and location remain hidden. However, it is easy to detect that the request is coming from a VPN or proxy. Therefore, the network knows that something is going on and that you are hiding your real identity. For some websites, this looks suspicious. Therefore, they may block you. This is why it is often necessary to use proxies because they can provide you with a real IP. A real IP can help you access almost any website and stay under the radar of anti-bot systems. In addition, proxy providers can provide you with more IPs than VPN providers. When you have a large number of real IPs, it becomes much easier to trick websites into thinking you are a regular customer.
Another advantage is that proxies give you more freedom, as you can adjust it to your needs. For example, choose between different protocols. With different protocols, you get different benefits. For example, the HTTPS protocol will encrypt your traffic and ensure that your data reaches the final destination. However, there are cases where you don't deal with sensitive information and don't need encryption, but crave speed, such as when streaming. Then the SOCKS protocol will be the best choice, as it will help you bypass geo-based restrictions, hide your real IP, and provide you with a fast connection at the same time.
Proxies: Use Cases
Ad verification, SERP tracking, price comparisons, and all tasks that require web scraping require proxies. With proxies, you can rotate your IP, in other words, change it every time it is requested. It will help you bypass anti-bot systems that websites usually implement to protect themselves from scraping. Web scraping is almost impossible on most VPNs, as you have to change your IP manually. This is time-consuming and ineffective. Some advanced VPN providers offer IP rotation. It is different from proxy rotation, though. The IPs provided by VPN providers are server-generated. It increases your chances of getting detected and banned.
Similarities between Proxy and VPN
There are similarities in how VPN and proxy work, so they share some common advantages. Among the things that proxies and VPNs can achieve are:
Enhance your privacy by hiding your real location and IP;
Provide access to geo-restricted content;
Help you avoid bandwidth restrictions.
Whatever you decide to use, you must be careful when choosing a provider. Both proxy and VPN providers may monitor your online activities or collect your personal data and sell it to third parties. In addition, you may experience slow connection speeds when using low-quality VPNs and proxies. Therefore, it is important to be careful when choosing a provider.
Conclusion
If you are choosing between a proxy and a VPN, there is no silver bullet. To make the right choice, you need to understand your use case. If security is your top priority, VPN is a good choice. On the other hand, proxies are usually better suited for certain business tasks, such as SERP tracking or ad verification. With a proxy, you use your real IP, while the IP of a VPN is server-generated. In these cases, a VPN cannot replace a proxy.