DevOps Articles

Proxy Servers vs. VPNs: What's the Difference? | UpGuard

Both proxy servers and VPNs hide your IP address, allowing you to access websites anonymously, but only VPNs direct all network traffic through an encrypted tunnel. Another key difference is that VPNs address all network data while proxy servers only operate on an application level. The differences between the two solutions can be summarized as follows: Both proxy servers and VPNs allow users to access web content securely, but only VPNs offer complete user privacy protection.

When internet activity passes through this remote server, a user's IP address is replaced with the IP provided by the proxy server.

There are several different types of proxy servers to address popular internet traffic use-cases impacting cybersecurity.