The Onion Router and virtual private networks are both privacy tools that provide encrypted connectivity. While each program aims to mask your online activities, the path to pseudo-anonymity differs. Accordingly, each option has advantages and disadvantages.
When you visit a website or use an internet-connected service like Spotify, that app or site typically views your IP address. Your IP address shows information about your internet service provider and indicates your geographical location. With a VPN or Tor, your request gets routed through one or more servers, so apps and websites view your web traffic as coming from a different location. Let’s explore Tor and VPNs, looking at how they work and which you should use.
What is Tor?
Tor is free and open-source software that sends your traffic through a labyrinth of volunteer-run servers. The Onion Router network servers or nodes are distributed. This means they are operated by different entities on geographically remote servers rather than by one company. The Tor Browser lets you peruse the web pseudo-anonymously (as secure as Tor is, no online activity is ever truly anonymous). It’s dubbed The Onion Router because of its multi-layered approach: Like an onion, a Tor connection consists of multiple proxy servers, or bridges between you and the internet, which layer on top of the other.
How does Tor work?
When you connect to an app or website using the Tor Browser, your request is sent from your home network through multiple randomly selected Tor servers or nodes. You send a request through at least three servers: the entry, middle and exit nodes. The exit point, or the final server your data travels through, is the IP address that your app or website destination views your traffic as originating from.
The Onion Router is like a system of locks through which your data passes. The entry node knows your actual IP address but not the destination of your data. The middle or relay node(s) bridges the gap between the entry point and exit node: It doesn’t know your IP address or its final destination. The exit node can see your data’s destination but not its origin, which is your IP address. Because you’ll probably use the Tor Browser, only information in your browser window gets encrypted -- not all web traffic from your computer, such as your Steam games app or Outlook email client.
What is a VPN?
A virtual private network routes your traffic through a server run by your VPN provider. While using a VPN, internet-connected services like websites or apps don’t view your actual IP address. Instead, they’ll see your activity as originating from the IP address of a VPN server. For instance, if you’re in the US but tapped into a UK VPN server, Netflix will show a UK library.
How does a VPN work?
With a VPN, your computer establishes a secure connection with a server operated by your VPN provider. Web traffic is tunneled through that server before reaching its final destination. You pick a server in a particular country, and apps or websites think you’re located in that area because of the VPN’s proxy server.
I often use a VPN while at home in North Carolina to make the CBC website think I’m actually in Canada so I can stream Murdoch Mysteries episodes. Typically, a VPN only relies on a single server, rather than Tor’s three-plus proxy servers. Some VPNs feature a double VPN -- also called double-hop or multi-hop -- which sends your data through two VPN servers rather than one for extra encryption.
What is the difference between a VPN and Tor?
Both Tor and VPNs accomplish similar feats -- boosting your online privacy -- but operate in different ways, providing various benefits and drawbacks. Generally, VPNs are more user-friendly and deliver faster internet speeds when compared with Tor, while Tor makes communications tough to trace back to their source at the expense of speed.
Tor is usually slower than a VPN
VPNs and Tor each slow down your internet speeds because your data takes a less direct route when communicating with websites or apps. Usually, your data communicates with websites and apps directly. Encrypting it first -- with either a VPN or Tor -- requires bouncing that information off of servers first. The more stops it makes, the more your internet slows down, because of the time it takes to encrypt and decrypt your data. Accordingly, Tor’s multi-layer node system means it’s difficult to trace data back to its origin, which is your network.
You can think of the speed difference between a VPN and Tor like ordering a meal from a food delivery service such as DoorDash or UberEats. Generally, the more stops a delivery driver makes before getting to you, the slower it is for your food to arrive. A traditional VPN connection only makes one stop before it reaches its destination, whereas Tor makes at least three deliveries.
In my experience, the fastest VPNs only drop your internet speed by around an 11% average, which is still snappy enough for bandwidth-intensive applications like 4K streaming or gaming. Tor is usually even slower than a VPN. Whereas your data usually makes one stop with a VPN, it travels through three or more servers, meaning at least three hops. Some VPNs do feature multi-hop capabilities to emulate the multi-level encryption of Tor, but you’ll still get faster speeds with a VPN most of the time.
Tor is a browser, while VPNs offer apps
VPNs typically offer apps for different devices, like Windows or MacOS computers, iPhones, Android phones and streaming boxes like Fire TVs. A VPN app encrypts all of that device’s web traffic. With a VPN app installed and running on your phone, everything from your mobile device’s web browser to the Netflix app uses a VPN server. Split tunneling with a VPN lets you selectively use a VPN for some apps but not others -- like if you want to browse the internet privately in a browser with a VPN, but stream Spotify without an encrypted connection.
The most common way to use The Onion Router is with the Tor Browser, a version of Firefox transformed to use The Onion Router network. Some web browsers like Brave offer Tor built-in. Unlike a VPN, the Tor Browser doesn’t encrypt all of your device’s traffic, just what’s in your browser window. If you want to stream Disney Plus over an encrypted connection, you’re restricted to a browser window instead of the Disney Plus app. Notably, most VPNs provide browser add-ons that only encrypt traffic from your web browser. A VPN app provides much more flexibility, such as encrypting your entire device’s internet connection or choosing servers in specific locations to bypass geographical restrictions -- features Tor lacks.
Tor is decentralized, VPNs are centralized
VPN servers are centralized, meaning all of their nodes are owned and operated by a single entity: your VPN provider. Using a VPN requires trusting that company. Although most VPN providers maintain strict no-logging policies -- which promise not tostore data about your online activity -- you can and should still be skeptical. Thankfully, independent audits conducted by third parties back up claims by VPN companies.
By contrast, Tor is decentralized, so no single organization owns and operates its servers. Instead, servers are managed by multiple volunteers. You’ll still need to trust the different parties running The Onion Router network nodes, but the multi-layered approach to Tor with three-plus servers your information travels through means that it’s unlikely for your data to be compromised.
Can you use Tor and a VPN at the same time?
You can use Tor and a VPN simultaneously for beefed-up privacy by running a Tor Browser while connected to a VPN, or with a VPN that offers Tor connectivity.
How to use Tor and a VPN simultaneously
The easiest way to use a VPN and Tor at the same time is with a VPN that has Tor servers. NordVPN boasts Onion Over VPN connections, where your data first travels through Nord servers, then gets encrypted with the Tor network, before finally reaching its ultimate destination.
Proton VPN has a robust selection of Tor Over VPN servers that route your traffic first through Proton servers, over the Tor network and eventually to its final stop.
Alternatively, you can use a VPN app standalone in conjunction with the Tor Browser or Brave’s private window with Tor. In this scenario, you’d use a Tor browser window with a VPN running on the same device.
Which is better: Tor vs. a VPN
Tor and VPNs are both excellent ways to improve your online privacy. Generally, VPNs are more user-friendly, provide faster internet speeds and can encrypt all of your device’s web traffic, from apps to browsers. I’d recommend a VPN for general privacy use without severely reducing your internet speeds and Tor situations where you need the strictest possible privacy.
You should use a VPN:
- For faster internet speeds than Tor when gaming or streaming 4K videos.
- When unblocking geo-protected content like international Netflix libraries, because a VPN lets you choose your location whereas Tor usually doesn’t.
- To circumvent throttling by your internet service provider or wireless carrier without sacrificing data speeds.
You should use Tor:
- To improve pseudo-anonymity.
You don’t have to pick one or the other. You can use Tor and a VPN together for critical privacy needs. Investigative journalists, political activists and asylum-seekers who need as much anonymity as possible should consider pairing a VPN with Tor. Using a VPN with Tor prevents your ISP from knowing that you’re using Tor in the first place, and restricts the Tor entry node from knowing your actual IP address. Instead, it sees your VPN server’s IP address.
Tor vs. VPN FAQs
Is Tor better than a VPN?
Tor is better to use than or in addition to a VPN in situations where privacy and anonymity are paramount. VPNs are easier to use and don’t reduce your internet speeds as much as The Onion Router, making virtual private networks more suitable for everyday needs.
Is it better to use Tor without VPN?
It’s better to use Tor for privacy without a VPN because you’ll reduce your already slow internet speeds even further by tunneling through a virtual server. If you need the utmost privacy protection, a VPN and Tor can hide the fact that you’re using Tor and prevent Tor from knowing your actual IP address, providing robust pseudo-anonymity.
Is it legal to use Tor?
Tor is legal to use in most countries, although it’s prohibited in certain places, like China. While the Tor network may be legal in many areas, remember that illegal activity is still illegal, even if you obfuscate it with technology.
Is it safer to use Tor with a VPN?
It’s perfectly safe to use Tor without a VPN in most countries. Running both simultaneously provides even stronger privacy protections.
Is Tor safe?
Yes, Tor on its own is safe and is merely a privacy tool.
