Do you really need a VPN?

Jared Newman

August 28, 2023

In this guide

What a VPN does
What VPNs won’t do
VPNs have trade-offs

As a way to protect your privacy and security, the benefits of a virtual private network are often overblown.

VPN providers present them as cure-alls that magically make you invisible on the web. (Surfshark’s “Should I use a VPN all the time?” article is a classic of the genre.) VPN reviewers, meanwhile, can be too eager to play along, perhaps because they earn a commission from the sales their sites generate.

Almost there.

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