Privacy explained simply
What a VPN Hides—and What Websites Can Still Learn About You
By Datante · Prepared
Illustration
May change
The connection address that websites and apps see.
Still visible
Your signed-in account, and what you do while signed in.
A VPN helps hide your browsing from your local Wi-Fi network and internet provider by sending it through an encrypted connection to another network.
It can also change the internet address a website sees for your connection.
But a VPN does not make you invisible. If you sign into a shop, the shop still knows which account you are using.
What does a VPN actually change?
A VPN connects your device to a server on another network. The websites you visit usually see that server's public address instead of your home's.
An internet address is the location where a web page or server can be found on the internet. Your connection also has an address that websites can see.
The VPN company becomes part of that connection. You need to trust it too.
A website's secure connection, shown by HTTPS in its address, separately helps protect what you send to that website. The website itself can still read what you send.
The EFF's VPN guide explains these choices.
Why can a website still recognize you?
Imagine turning on a VPN, opening a shopping website and signing in. The store may see a different internet address, but it still sees your account.
It can record the items you view or buy.
A cookie is a small piece of information a website saves in your browser. Some keep you signed in. Others help with tracking. A VPN does not automatically remove them.
A website may also recognize clues about your browser and device. This is called fingerprinting. Changing your connection's address does not remove all those clues.
Where do ad blockers and home filters help?
A browser ad blocker can stop some ads and tracking inside that browser.
A home DNS filter can block known unwanted websites that devices try to contact. That can help with TVs and other devices that cannot use a browser extension.
Neither tool can promise to stop a shop from recording a purchase on its own computers while still allowing the purchase.
Datante offers user friendly guided router setup and managed household filters. NextDNS and AdGuard DNS also offer online DNS filtering. Pi-hole and AdGuard Home run on equipment you manage. AdGuard also makes browser extensions and device apps.
AdGuard's explanation shows why these tools work differently.
Does a low ad-block score mean the VPN failed?
No. Blocking ads and protecting a connection are different jobs.
In seven setups tested by Datante, the selected Turtlecute scores were:
| Setup | Turtlecute test score |
|---|---|
| No filtering reported | 7% |
| Hotspot Shield VPN, default US setup | 10% |
| Datante | 97% |
These are scores from a particular blocking test. They do not measure VPN encryption or the percentage of all tracking stopped.
Turtlecute's tests have changed over time. The old results should not be treated as a ranking of every product today.
Can you use a VPN and Datante together?
It depends on the settings. A VPN may choose its own DNS service instead of the one on your router.
To check:
- Confirm your filtering works before starting the VPN.
- Turn the VPN on.
- Run the supported filtering check again.
- If the result changes, review the VPN's DNS settings or ask support.
Keep required work protections turned on. Do not weaken security just to improve a score.
Use a VPN when its connection helps with your goal. Add a browser ad blocker for browser ads, or home filtering for known unwanted websites contacted by home devices.
Read Datante vs AdGuard or Datante vs Pi-hole vs NextDNS to compare your options.
About the tests
The scores were reported by Datante, which also sells home filtering. They are early results, not independent testing. Test versions and repeat runs were not supplied. The shopping example explains how a login works; it is not a measured experiment.