Do you want to know the difference between a Web Proxy and a VPN? This sentence present in the website of Hidemyass is good way to start our explanation: “Our free web proxy is a secure service that allows you to surf anonymously online in complete privacy. For more advanced features our Pro VPN service adds increased security and anonymity on to your existing internet connection.”

Thus, the answer is easy: you are more protected with a VPN than a Proxy server. Why? Indeed, as we explain in our article “What is a VPN?”, a VPN encrypts your data. Therefore, even if someone could intercept your communications (despite the fact that you are hidden by your VPN server’s IP address), it could only see encrypted data. Proxy server hides you too behind a Proxy IP, but your data are not fully protected because not encrypted.

Another reason to prefer VPN services:  the speed. Proxies are much slower because bandwidth costs money; as proxy services are often free -which is their main advantage- they don’t invest a lot in bandwidth and can’t provide you a great speed in order to guarantee you a free service.

So naturally, if you need an IP address because you are in China for three days and miss Facebook a lot, we advise you to use proxy (but you have to be patient!). Otherwise, a VPN server is more efficient and is not that expensive.

Conclusion

VPN is superior in almost every way to proxies. It provides vastly improved online anonymity, and protects your entire on-line life. In addition to this, because ISPs cannot monitor your online activity, it is an effective means of bypassing ISP throttling.

The only real reason for choosing a proxy service is over VPN is price, which we understand is a real factor for many. However, for typically less than $10 per month, VPN services do represent excellent value for money.

We will leave with just one word of caution: nothing in this world is ever absolutely 100% secure, so be careful out there!