TOR Browser vs. VPN Connection

Nowadays, privacy is a very controversial and debatable issue. Knowledge of online privacy helps the user to hide their activities from Internet Service Providers and Government Agencies. Both TOR Browser & VPN Connection helps to secure online activity and also maintain some degree of anonymity. Let's discuss both of them in little detail.

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What is TOR?

Tor is a program that helps individuals to keep safe on the internet and maintain anonymity. Basically, it is a browser where users access websites and data securely. It also helps the user to prevent tracking of location and hide access websites. e.g., suppose a TOR user access http://www.abc.com, instead of making a direct connection with the site’s server, the browser uses virtual tunnels and volunteer-operated servers to connect the site.

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What is a VPN connection?

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It is a Network connection that helps the user to hide activities from Internet Service Providers and eavesdroppers. It also hides your location.
It works on technology in which the client makes a connection of a virtual tunnel with the VPN server, and the server makes a connection with the target server. All internet traffic passes through an encrypted tunnel to secure data.

Similarity

Both help the user to maintain anonymity but use different technologies to achieve the task.

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Advantages | TOR

• Extremely difficult to trace back user IP as traffic travel through different volunteer-operated servers to reach the destination IP.
• As the network is distributed, it is difficult for the government or enforcement agencies to shut it down.

Disadvantage | TOR

• Very Slow as traffic needs to travel through many volunteer-operated servers.

Advantages | VPN

• Fast compared to TOR as only one proxy server is there to forward traffic to a destination server.
• Able to spoof the IPs of different countries.
• Some VPNs also provide malware protection to secure sensitive data from unauthorized access.

Disadvantages | VPN

• good VPN connection costs money.
• Sometimes, government agencies demand logs from VPN providers, which risk the privacy of the user.

Conclusion

Both TOR and VPN are great tools for privacy online. But, no doubt, it will cause some inconvenience in your online experience while accessing the internet.