When to Consider Using VPN vs Tor? Which One Is Better For You?

VeePN Research Lab

Dec 1, 2025

9 min read

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Do you follow good security practices? Do you surf the Internet anonymously? Do you know the difference between Tor vs. VPN? If the answer to any of those questions is no, then you may want to keep reading. In the increasingly digital world, online privacy has become of the utmost importance and being aware of the tools that can be used to keep your identity safe online is important.

Thankfully for you, you do not have to look far for a formidable piece of security software. VeePN offers top-grade 256-bit AES encryption, optimal location to help you get the best connection, and over 2500 high-speed servers to choose from. Protect your online safety and freedom in just a few clicks with VeePN.

Tor and VPN: what’s the difference?

When using the Tor network, the traffic is passed through a series of random relays before leaving and traveling to its final destination. With the use of a virtual private network (VPN), the Internet traffic travels through a designated secure server hiding your IP address and encrypting the traffic. Both technologies offer a high level of anonymity online.

VPNs are a great way to provide protection all around if you use the internet for anything or access the internet on public Wi-Fi. Whereas, utilizing the Tor network involves using a specialized browser also capable of accessing websites on the darknet. Each technology is different and serves a specific purpose.

How does Tor work?

Tor is a secure network which anyone can use to hide their browsing habits. Tor technology encrypts the traffic and routes it through different nodes at random. The network is completely decentralized and relies on volunteers to operate the thousands of relays required to provide an acceptable level of anonymity.

The technology utilizes multiple layers of encryption to make tracking users difficult, hence the name Tor, which is short for The Onion Router. The randomness of the relays used, the size of the network, and the depth of encryption offer a considerable amount of protection.

Tor also does allow you to connect to darknet websites, but you’re going to need the right tool to do the job. The dark web is a set of servers that are hidden and unaccessible by standard means, and in order to access the sites which are in the dark web, inputting of a complex onion domain names are often required. If you do want to go onto the dark web (which you should always do with caution) or using the secure Tor network, you will need to download the special Tor Browser.

Is Tor Safe?

In most of the cases, Tor is effective in hiding your IP address and keeping you anonymous, as even a Tor entry node cannot decrypt your traffic and only the exit node ever sees where it is going. However, since anyone can choose to participate as a Tor node, you can’t know whether you’ve randomly connected to a compromised relay. Even so, encryption should still keep you safe. But what if it doesn’t? Read on to know how to make your protection near impenetrable.

Can you be tracked on Tor?

Tracking someone down on the Tor network is not easy but intelligence agencies are constantly working on finding new ways to break encryption. The Guardian reports the NSA have used the Tor Browser, which uses the Firefox browser as a foundation, to invade the computers of certain targets. With that said, up to this point, no one has managed to crack the Tor network per se.

While researchers at MIT, using machine learning to analyze traffic patterns, have proven that discovering some information about Tor users is possible, the network’s encryption remains intact.

What does VPN do?

Tor and VPNs share some of the same features. Both technologies can:

Hide your IP address
Encrypt traffic to conceal activity from internet service providers (ISPs) and other entities
Prevent tracking

VPNs, however, offer a little more than Tor, such as the ability to:

Bypass geo-blocking on streaming services
Access blocked websites and avoid censorship
Safely connect to public W-Fi

If you don’t want sites learning your identity, tracking your actions online, hiding your IP address is important. When you connect to a server there is an exposed IP that someone on the other end can recognize where the connection was from, unless websites only see the VPN server’s IP address instead of your actual IP address. With the help of your ISP, anyone who has the right authority could use that information to unmask your identity.

When you are using a VPN all traffic between your device and the remote server is encrypted. Encrypted information flies out your computer or mobile device, reaches the VPN server, decodes the information, and then continues on its way to its destination. Information that is sent back from the targeted location is also encrypted at the VPN server before reaching your device. This tunneling process means that no one, including your ISP can monitor your activity.

Using a VPN is also a good solution to avoid using streaming services and other websites that have been geo-blocked.Most VPNs let you choose which server you connect to which means that you can appear to be from almost anywhere in the world.

With the help of a VPN, you can also access websites that your government or ISP has blocked. As long as you are connected to a server in a country that doesn’t have the same restrictions you can avoid most attempts to censor the internet.

If you are using your public Wi-Fi, then protecting your Internet connection with a VPN is very important. Encrypting your connection stops someone from being able to monitor your activity or to intrude into your device. The New York Times reports that government employees have been warned by the National Security Agency (NSA) against using public Wi-Fi, but using a VPN provides protection for using unsecured connections.

Is VPN safe?

If you find a good VPN service provider, then using a VPN connection is one of the safest ways to browse the internet because it creates a secure and private connection between your device and the web. When shopping for a service, though, you should be looking for the following features:

Tough encryption
Multiple servers to choose from
No logging
Kill switch

Tough encryption means that anyone attempting to monitor your connection will have next to no chance at deciphering any data. Plenty of thus-far-uncrackable encryption methods exist, and a good VPN provider will employ a powerful protocol like AES 256 used in VeePN.

A choice of multiple servers is a must-have feature for any VPN. Not only does a wide variety help with dodging geo-blockers, but frequently switching servers is a good security practice.

You should only ever consider VPN providers that offer a no logging policy. What’s the point of encrypting data between yourself and a VPN server if the company is recording every connection? Such services should never log user data, as doing so defeats the overall purpose of the product.

A kill switch is another important security feature you shouldn’t do without. With a Kill Switch on, as soon as your VPN connection drops it completely cuts off access to the internet to prevent your IP address from leaking. If you are serious about anonymous internet activity, a VPN with a kill switch is of critical importance.

Do you really need a VPN?

If you are concerned about securing your anonymity online, not allowing people to track your browsing habits, and getting on public Wi-Fi safely, then you should consider a VPN. In a world where everything is connected, good security practices are of the utmost importance. Also, having a VPN to rely on if you want to access region-blocked content such as social media websites, websites, or even streaming services is also a great idea.

Is Tor better than a VPN?

Tor is great for surfing the internet in an anonymous way and accessing the dark web but it is not a VPN and does not provide some of the functionality people are looking for. Due to the fact that Tor uses random relays, you have no control over where you connect to, and so it’s not possible to use the network to get around geo-blocking/censorship.

On top of that, the Tor network is quite slow so it is not ideal to use it to secure your connection all the time, especially when downloading torrents and other large files or when you care about keeping your Internet speeds as high as possible. VPNs, on the other hand, generally have much greater bandwidth so you have little speed reductions.

Do you need a VPN with Tor?

When you use Tor without a VPN, your internet service provider knows what you’re doing. Encryption and routing still protect your connection and hide your activity, but your ISP can see that you’re using the Tor network. Adding a VPN into the equation solves this particular problem, because VPN and Tor together make it much harder to correlate connections and let tools like Tor browser hide the details of what you do inside the encrypted tunnel.

How to use a VPN with Tor

Here’s how to use a VPN with the Tor network:

Sign up for VeePN’s super-fast, highly-secure VPN
Download and install the VeePN client on your device
Download and install Tor Browser
Connect VeePN to the desired server
Launch Tor Browser and connect to the Tor network

That’s it. The many layers of security provided by the Tor network coupled with the extra encryption offered by VeePN’s powerful VPN technology will make tracking you online a near-impossible feat.

VeePN’s top-grade encryption, numerous high-speed servers, and additional security features, including double VPN, kill switch, and DNS leak prevention, provide the ultimate online anonymity toolkit.

Tor, VPN, and everything else

When it comes to security on the internet, it is not a choice to be made between one method of protection and another.Each tool has a specific purpose and the way you browse will determine the kind of technology you need to be using. At the end of the day however, the most important thing is that you stay safe online.

Following good security practices will help you to avoid many of the pitfalls that come with using the internet. You should never open suspicious emails, download anything from an untrusted source, click questionable links, post private information or simply overshare online. Many types of malicious actors are always on the lookout, so arm yourself with knowledge because in our day and age, careless actions online can have some serious offline consequences.

FAQ: Tor vs. VPN

Using Tor is legal in most democratic countries. However, the prominent tech industry players refrain from promoting the use of the Tor Browser. On top of that, in some parts of the world, including China and Iran, Tor is illegal.

Yes, a free VPN service may compromise your online security, which is why you should stick to reputable VPN providers that do not log or resell your data. Although using a VPN server can protect your traffic from your Internet Service Provider (ISP) monitoring, it also allows an unreliable VPN provider to track your activities. Providers offering free VPN services may not prioritize the confidentiality of your data. They can even share it with third parties to make a profit.

Certainly, there is no hindrance in using a free VPN. However, we wouldn’t recommend going for such a solution. Free VPNs are usually not as reliable and are more likely to leak or sell your information to third parties. In addition, they tend to have fewer features and slower speeds.

Even though the Tor browser protects activities from ISPs to a certain level, you can protect yourself by combining Tor with a VPN. VPNs encrypt the traffic even before it reaches your ISP. So while Tor makes it difficult for your Internet service provider to keep track of your Internet activities, it will be almost impossible to track you with the help of a VPN.Check out this article to learn more.

You can install the Tor Browser on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android devices. Additionally, you can use Tor on specific routers using the OnionPi project or use an internal service using OnionShare. Finally, you can jailbreak your iOS device and install an app called Tor Browser which is available from the i-device repository.