What is an IP Leak?
One of the primary goals of connecting to a VPN is to mask your location. An IP leak happens when you use a VPN, and it broadcasts your actual IP address instead of your provider server’s address. It is supposed to protect and secure your location, but a VPN with an IP leak will do the opposite. Some companies do a better job of protecting you than others. Many providers claim to secure your information these days, but have you wondered if they actually do? Our goal in this post is to answer that question.
A quick check for VPNs in the Google Play or the Apple App store will reveal hundreds of options. Unfortunately, most of them will fail the leak test. There are multiple tools online to see if your IP leaks. These tools can be simple or more advanced, depending on what you want to know. Of course, the advanced tests will give you more information.
Other leaks
IP leaks are just one of the three possible leaks you can encounter. The others are DNS (Dynamic Naming System) and WebRTC (web real-time communication) leaks. Many of the more advanced tests will identify all three types of leaks, and we’ll go more in-depth in other posts.
If you are trying to keep your privacy and browsing history safe, VPNs with DNS leaks won’t help you. DNS leaks are security flaws that cause your DNS request to go through the internet service provider’s DNS instead of the VPN. That allows any eavesdroppers (like your ISP) to see any websites you are visiting.
Web real-time communication allows audio and video communication to work inside the web by enabling direct P2P contact. That eliminates the need to install plugins or native software. Though a good idea, it would usually give away your actual IP address. WebRTC leaks happen in all major browsers. While you could have downloaded a blocker extension to stop it, most top providers block WebRTC in their VPN products in modern times.
IP leak tests
Below, we’ll test the Windows versions of some of the most well-known VPN providers in the community. We’ll use one of our favorite tools for this test and post, IPleak.net. However, there are other tools you can use to check IP leaks. If you want to find out your Before you start, you can use any of these websites without a VPN to get your public IP address and DNS servers. That will give you the information you need to be able to make your own assessments. If you are using a VPN different from the ones we mentioned,
Some of the others include:
With most providers, if one of their products performs well, all of them will. We connected to servers in New York City across all providers to keep things fair. Let’s look to see which providers pass the IP Leak test. Please note that we used WireGuard to test our choices whenever possible.
ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is one of the top providers in the VPN community. They have been around since 2009, which means they’ve had more than a decade to become as smooth as possible. That also means they’ve had time to patch any IP leaks that users have encountered through the years. We’ve found their performance to be consistent and IP leak-free, no matter what version of the company’s software you run. Our testing website shows a single IP address in New York in this image. We used the red arrow to point it out. In this test, we used ExpressVPN’s proprietary Lightway protocol. It is both secure and fast. Additionally, the green arrow shows a WebRTC address. Neither one of these addresses is ours, so ExpressVPN doesn’t have any IP leaks in this test. We give it a passing grade.
30-day money-back guarantee
NordVPN
Although NordVPN did not start offering VPN service until 2012, the company began in 2008. The company is highly active in the community, and you can see NordVPN sponsorship and ads everywhere. Through customer feedback, they have grown their support network rapidly. Over the various apps it offers, it works well, and as you can see in this image, it doesn’t have any issues keeping your IP address safe from others. You can also see that the WebRTC address is similar to the one above, and it isn’t our IP address. We give NordVPN a passing grade for meeting the objective.
30-day money-back guarantee
Private Internet Access
Private Internet Access, also called PIA, is a favorite in the privacy community. It’s gone through quite a few changes to the look and feel, but the company’s popularity is hard to deny. Many users have brand loyalty and have had it since the service launched in 2009. In this image, you can see that the IP address has a single source. However, the server says we are in Massachusetts. You’ll also notice that the IP address in the client does not match up. Although we have obscured our real IP address, it is different from the WebRTC and displayed address. Since we don’t see any evidence of our real IP address, we can say that PIA will protect your location. We give PIA a passing grade.
30-day money-back guarantee
CyberGhost
While CyberGhost is one of the rising stars in the community, it started in 2004 as part of a software suite. Since spinning off in 2011, it has undoubtedly made a lasting impression in the space. Like the options above, you don’t have to look hard to find ads or sponsorship from CyberGhost VPN. As far as our test goes, we show that the service has one IP address and WebRTC address, and neither match our IP address. That means you don’t have to worry about CyberGhost leaking your IP address. We give CyberGhost a passing grade for meeting the requirements of this test.
45-day money-back guarantee
IPVanish
IPVanish is a very well-known VPN provider. This veteran service is a favorite in the streaming community due to several factors, including the unlimited number of simultaneous connections and others. Because of the VPN’s long history, the team has had plenty of opportunities to iron out any possible issues over the years. In our IP leak test for IPVanish, you can see the provider holds up to its name and does not give your real IP address away. Neither one of the IP addresses the test shows belong to us. Because of that, we give IP Vanish a passing grade when meeting the objective.
30-day money-back guarantee
Surfshark
As you might guess, Surfshark’s name is inspired by surfing. As of February of 2022, the company announced it was merging with NordVPN. Surfshark was already a good product, but the merger with NordVPN gives it the opportunity to continue to be so. We’ve noticed a solid performance when testing Surfshark now and in the past with no IP leaking. This image shows the server is connected to New York, and the WebRTC address is similar to NordVPN and others. Surfshark received a passing test grade from us because it met the IP leak test goal.
30-day money-back guarantee
PrivadoVPN
PrivadoVPN is a recent entry into the community when it comes to VPNs. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good product. The team behind it has many years of experience behind them, and they believe in privacy. They incorporated their company in Switzerland, a country known for its excellent privacy and security laws. In this image, we circled the matching IP address numbers. Though the webRTC is different from others in this post, it is different from our IP address. That means PrivadoVPN passes the IP leak test.
30-day money-back guarantee
StrongVPN
Arguably the most veteran service on our list, StrongVPN has a long history. Finding where to change servers is not obvious, but you can figure it out if you play with it a bit. We connected to the client for our test, and it gave us a server in New York. This image shows that the numbers match up, and it isn’t showing our real IP address. That means StrongVPN passes our IP leak test, but we would like it better if you could choose your server in the country.
30-day money-back guarantee
HMA
HideMyAss (usually called HMA) has been around for a long time. Since 2009, it has become one of the community’s biggest and most well-known players. Location-wise, they have servers in more locations than anybody, with more than 290 worldwide. The antivirus company, Avast currently owns it. As you can see in this image, the IP addresses match up, and the WebRTC address does not display our real IP. That is the result we had expected and hoped for. We give HMA a passing grade because we did not find any IP leaks with their product.
30-day money-back guarantee
PureVPN
PureVPN has had exposure over the years, and many know the company for the extremely long deals they offer to their users. In this image, you can see that the IP address shows up in New York. Though we did not see our IP address when we ran the test, the IP address they show in the client differs from the test. While the company did not have to show the IP address in the client, they chose to, anyway. We still give PureVPN a pass for not displaying our real IP address, but it’s a bit strange that the IP addresses vary.
31-day money-back guarantee
AtlasVPN
AtlasVPN is one of the smaller providers. They are not very well known but Nord Security bought the company in 2021. That means they have the backing to do great things with the product. The image below shows AtlasVPN’s performance in our IP leak test. As you can see, they do a good job of putting us in NYC. We did not find any IP leaks, so we give Atlas a passing grade.
30-day money-back guarantee
Ivacy
Ivacy is popular in some circles, but it is not as well known as the bigger players. As you can tell, the name is meant to inspire privacy protection. It has several features to offer the user, including the ability to choose your country. In this image, you can see that it shows us in New York. If this VPN provider is trying to be private, it does a good job in hiding your IP address. We did not find any evidence of IP leaks when we ran the test.
30-day money-back guarantee
TorGuard
TorGuard prides itself on its privacy, and the name is used to inspire thoughts of the Tor or Onion browser. It is highly customizable, so you get the option of making sure your private information stays yours. That’s why it is not really surprising to see the results of our IP leak test. As you can see here, TorGuard performed well, and neither address it shows match up with our IP address. TorGuard succeeds in passing our test as one of the good ways to keep you safe.
7-day money-back guarantee
CactusVPN
Wrapping up our list is CactusVPN. It is a smaller player in the community, but it has been around for some time. The client is lightweight and easy to use and also protects your privacy as you would hope. In this image, you can see we ran our IP leak test. We were successful because the IP address matches up with the client, and it did not display our actual IP address. That means CactusVPN passes our IP leak test as well.
30-day money-back guarantee
Bottom Line
IP leak tests are designed to show any leaking issues with the VPN you choose. All of our choices passed the IP leak test as you can see in these tests. That means you can trust the VPNs we listed won’t leak your IP address. While it shouldn’t be the only factor when making a choice, it’s crucial.
