What is VPN (Virtual Private Network)?
Also: virtual private network
A VPN, or virtual private network, routes your internet traffic through an encrypted tunnel to a server run by the VPN provider. Websites then see the VPN server's IP address instead of your real one, masking your location and ISP. Commercial examples include NordVPN, Mullvad, and ProtonVPN.
VPNs are used for privacy, to reach geo-restricted content, to secure traffic on untrusted Wi-Fi, and inside corporate networks for remote access. Because the exit IP belongs to the provider's datacenter ranges rather than a consumer ISP, VPN traffic is detectable at the network level.
Detecting a VPN is rarely a simple blacklist check: providers add and rotate servers constantly, and some run obfuscated or residential exits. Reliable detection combines published provider relay lists with active protocol probing and network fingerprinting.
How IPLogs handles it
IPLogs ingests seven VPN providers' own server lists directly (Mullvad, PIA, IVPN, AirVPN, Surfshark, IPVanish, AzireVPN), cross-references the X4BNet aggregator for the rest, and actively probes for OpenVPN, WireGuard, and IKEv2 handshakes.
Browse VPN providersFAQ
Can websites detect that I'm using a VPN?
Often, yes. If the VPN's exit IP appears on a published provider list, sits in a datacenter ASN, or responds to a VPN protocol probe, a detection service can flag it. Obfuscated and residential-exit VPNs are harder but not impossible to detect.