What the check looks at
The check looks up your own IP address, without a token, and shows the anonymity scores from the answer. Each list has a score from 0 to 1: 0 means the address is not on that list, and any score above 0 means it is. A higher score means more, or more certain, evidence; it is not a probability.
| List | What it means |
|---|---|
| VPN | Servers of commercial VPN services and ranges known to be VPN exits. Cloudflare WARP scores 0.5, because it also carries ordinary users of a privacy app. Apple iCloud Private Relay is not counted as a VPN and scores 0 |
| Proxy | Public open proxies, from lists that are tested about every hour. Many of them are compromised home or mobile devices |
| Tor | Tor exit nodes |
| Hosting | Hosting and data center ranges: cloud, VPS and dedicated servers, with the provider's name where it is known |
| CDN | CDN edge ranges |
| Crawler | Ranges that search engines, AI crawlers and monitoring services publish for their crawlers |
The VPN, proxy, Tor, hosting, CDN and crawler lists are updated every 6 hours. The response fields page has the details.
Signals, not verdicts
A hit says the address is on a list, not who is behind it. A listed proxy may be a home router that was taken over; a hosting address may be a VPN server, a company's office gateway or an ordinary server. And an address that isn't listed proves nothing either: a new, private or self-hosted VPN server can be on no list at all. Use the scores together with other signals, and don't block people on one score alone.
The same scores are in the lookup API under connection.anonymity; with a token you can check any address.
FAQ
Does this detect every VPN?
No. It finds addresses on the lists of commercial VPN services and known VPN exits. A VPN server that is new, private or self-hosted may not be listed, and then the check shows no hit.
Why is my home connection on the proxy list?
Open proxy lists include many compromised home and mobile devices, and an address can be reused by another customer after a device on it was listed. If you don't run a proxy, check your devices and router. The lists test their proxies about every hour, so a proxy that stops answering usually drops off them.
Is iCloud Private Relay counted as a VPN?
No. Apple iCloud Private Relay scores 0 for VPN. Cloudflare WARP scores 0.5, because the same network also carries ordinary users of a privacy app.
Why does it say my address belongs to a hosting provider?
The address is in a cloud or data center range. That is normal for VPN and proxy servers, but also for servers, some company networks and remote desktops.
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