How to check whether your VPN is working
The clearest first test is a before-and-after comparison. Save your current public IP before connecting to the VPN, connect to the VPN, then use your current IP and run the check again. If the address and network change to the expected VPN endpoint, that is useful evidence that web traffic is leaving through a different public route.
The baseline on this page is stored only in localStorage in your browser. It is intended as a convenience for your own comparison rather than a server-side history of your IP addresses.
What a VPN classification means
Security-intelligence services identify infrastructure that appears associated with commercial VPNs, private relays or other anonymizing services. A positive classification can support what the before-and-after test shows, but it should be read as a network classification rather than proof about a particular person.
Why VPN detection is not infallible
VPN providers add, remove and rotate servers. Some rent obvious datacenter addresses, while others use less distinctive infrastructure. Self-hosted VPNs can look like ordinary servers. Intelligence databases also need time to observe and classify new endpoints, so “not detected” does not guarantee that an address is not being used as a VPN.
Why changing the public IP is only one test
A VPN can successfully change the web-facing IPv4 address while another path behaves differently. WebRTC may expose browser networking candidates, IPv6 can use a separate route if the VPN does not handle it as expected, and DNS requests can be resolved outside the intended tunnel.
What should a good VPN test include?
Check the public IP and ASN before and after connection, confirm that the new network is expected, inspect WebRTC and IPv6 behavior, and use a dedicated resolver-observation service for DNS leak testing. No single browser flag can prove complete anonymity.