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VPNs are meant to protect your online privacy, but they don’t always work properly. This guide lists several trusted VPN test websites and teaches you how to use each one to check your VPN for vulnerabilities
Written by Aleksandar Kochovski (Writer)
Reviewed by Samuel Chapman (Writer, Editor)
Facts checked by Igor Kurtz (Fact-checking editor)
Last Updated: 2024-09-30T20:57:11+00:00
All our content is written fully by humans; we do not publish AI writing. Learn more here.
Facts & Expert Analysis: VPN Connection Issues
The best VPNs (virtual private networks) make crucial privacy software easy to use — that is, when they’re working properly. Unfortunately, the background technology may be too complex for you to troubleshoot by yourself. Luckily, you can usually run a VPN test at no cost. This article will show you how to do just that.
Join us as we look into the various types of VPN tests, including IP address and DNS leak tests, speed tests, WebRTC leak tests and more. We’ll link all the necessary resources and include detailed steps on how to use them to facilitate the process for you. Let’s hop right in.
Aleksandar Kochovski (Writer)
Aleksandar Kochovski is a cybersecurity writer and editor at Cloudwards, with a rich background in writing, editing and YouTube content creation, focused on making complex online safety topics accessible to all. With a Master’s in Architecture and experience as an assistant professor of architectural planning and interior design, Aleksandar applies his research prowess to guide readers through the intricacies of VPNs and secure cloud services. His work is featured in Cloudwards and he has been quoted in The Daily Beast, reflecting his dedication to internet privacy. When not demystifying digital security, he indulges in diverse hobbies from bonsai to powerlifting.
Samuel Chapman (Writer, Editor)
Samuel Chapman, a writer and editor at Cloudwards, possesses over four years of experience specializing in online security, privacy and cryptocurrency. Holding an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine, Samuel combines his academic background with a diverse professional portfolio, including writing web copy for notable brands and editorial contributions to various platforms. Beyond his professional life, Samuel indulges in fiction writing, historical fencing and board games.
Learn more about our editorial team and our research process.
We updated the article to include more testing resources, as well as more detailed steps on how to perform the tests.
The table below lists seven trustworthy websites that let you test your VPN software. For the purposes of this guide, we’ll use ipleak.net, dnsleaktest.com, browserleaks.com, speedtest.net and wicar.org.
Your VPN’s performance depends on multiple factors, like your choice of VPN provider, internet service provider, DNS server and more. This can make it difficult to know what kind of test to run. Don’t worry — most of these tests run on their own and take less than two minutes. Here are the most common tests you’ll need to run to figure out if your VPN is running properly.
Your website visits and country become visible to others.
To connect to a website or online service, your device sends DNS queries to a domain name server. The domain name system (or DNS) then matches the domain name you’re accessing (like Google.com) to its corresponding numerical IP address (for example, 142.251.46.174) to connect you to the website’s servers.
DNS leaks occur when your device’s DNS requests bypass the VPN tunnel, exposing your actual DNS server information and potentially compromising your online privacy.
To check for DNS leaks, you can use a dedicated DNS leak test tool. We’ll use NordVPN in our example and test it using dnsleaktest.com. See our NordVPN review to learn more about this service.
The first step is to ensure that your VPN service is active and that your device is connected to a VPN server. Simply turn on your VPN and connect to a server outside your country.
There are several reputable websites that offer DNS leak tests, though we prefer dnsleaktest.com.
The DNS test website will only show the DNS server information it detects. It’s up to you to “analyze” it. All you need to do is see if the DNS provider matches your VPN’s or internet service provider’s IP address. If you see your ISP’s DNS server instead of your VPN’s, then you have a leak.
If the DNS leak test comes out positive, you can try the following steps:
Your IP address and rough location become visible to others.
Your IP address is a unique identifier that your internet service provider assigns to your device. When using a VPN, your real IP address should be replaced with the VPN server’s IP address. If the IP address leak test shows your actual IP address, you likely have a leak.
Like the DNS leak test, all you need to do is hop over to an IP address checker and run the test. We recommend whatismyipaddress.com.
Without connecting to a VPN, go to whatismyipaddress.com. The page should display your public IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.
Now connect to the VPN, preferably via a server outside your country (so it’s easier to determine whether it’s working), and run the test again.
The test will display both your IP address and your approximate geographic location. If you see the same IP address as before and your real location, that’s a positive result for leaks. If the test shows a different IP address and location, your VPN passed the test. In our example, the location changed from Marseille to Paris.
If the test to check the IP address location was positive, you can take these steps to remedy the issue:
Your IP address and rough location become visible to others when on a video or audio call in your browser.
WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) is a technology that enables audio and video communication directly between browsers, without the need for extra software (think in-browser Zoom calls directly through the website, with no app installed).
WebRTC needs to transmit your IP address in order to establish a call. If your browser’s WebRTC implementation isn’t properly configured to work with your VPN, it can bypass the VPN tunnel entirely and expose your IP address in a WebRTC leak.
Here’s how to check for WebRTC leaks using the browserleaks.com test.
As always, start by connecting to a VPN.
Open browserleaks.com and let the test run automatically. You should see a green checkmark and “no leak” written next to it. We haven’t detected any WebRTC leaks on any of our VPNs, so we’re not quite sure what a positive test would show. However, we imagine it wouldn’t say “no leak.”
If you’ve been unlucky enough to spring a WebRTC leak, here’s what to do:
Your internet connection could slow down, pages may refuse to load and your VPN protection could become less reliable.
We take VPN speed testing seriously here at Cloudwards. We run our own automated speed tests daily for a selection of VPNs, which you can check in our fastest VPN guide. If your VPN is on our list, then these results should give you a baseline of what to expect from that VPN’s speed performance.
Don’t worry if your VPN is not on our list, though. You can still reliably check the VPN’s speed by comparing your regular, unprotected speed with your VPN-connected speed.
We regularly rely on Ookla’s speedtest.net, so that’s what we’ll use for this example (and we suggest you do the same):
Without connecting to the VPN, open the speedtest.net website and run the test. Log your ping (latency), download and upload speeds.
Connect to the fastest VPN server available to you. The VPN itself will usually recommend one, but if it doesn’t, just use the one closest to you. Next, run the test again and log the new set of speed results. If the VPN’s speeds are less than 80% of your top speed, you might have an issue.
All VPNs decrease your connection speed. Many factors go into how fast a VPN is, such as the hardware its servers use, the server congestion and your distance from the server. For a full breakdown, refer to our VPN speed guide.
If your internet speed test revealed a significant decrease in performance while using your VPN, you can try the following troubleshooting tips:
Your device could have a malware infection.
Though most VPNs can’t protect you from computer viruses, there are some that have decent antivirus or antimalware capabilities. Let’s start by breaking down the different types of VPN antivirus you can find.
If you’re looking for an antivirus that’s separate from a VPN (which we recommend), see our picks for the best antivirus software.
To test your VPN’s malware fighting chops, you can use WICAR’s website, which offers a host of tests. However, the tests required are different for each type of malware protection.
This table shows the different types of VPN malware protection and the corresponding tests:
Here’s how to use the WICAR tests to check if your VPN antivirus is working:
Turn on the VPN and connect to a server.
If you have a separate antivirus app, disable it (you shouldn’t be running two antiviruses concurrently anyway). This goes for Windows Defender too, as well as any other built-in malware protection your device might come with.
Open the WICAR test site (or another antivirus testing site) and choose a test based on the type of malware protection your VPN offers. You can refer to our table above to determine which one to use. Follow the steps below to analyze your results.
This is the simplest test to run. All you need to do is click the link to the JavaScript Crypto Miner test. If you see a warning message preventing you from entering the site, your VPN’s malware blocker is working.
For this test, you’ll need to go a step further. First, dismiss the warning message (and any other consecutive messages that pop up). Then, with the site open, right-click and choose “save as” in the context menu. If the VPN’s malware blocker is working, the file should be blocked from downloading or deleted immediately upon downloading.
We ran the infected file download test twice on NordVPN. It deleted the infected file on the second try but failed on the first attempt, despite initially blocking us from opening the download site.
Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do if your VPN’s malware blocker is malfunctioning apart from general VPN troubleshooting.
You could have no access to international content.
Most VPNs can unblock streaming sites, but some are better at it than others. To see if your VPN works with a streaming site, all you need to do is connect to the VPN and open the streaming service’s website. However, you may not always have enough speed for high-quality streaming with a VPN, so you’ll want to check that aspect as well.
The following steps explain how to test a VPN’s streaming performance.
Turn on the VPN and connect to a server in a different country where the streaming service you’re testing is available.
Open the streaming platform’s website. If it’s usually unavailable in your current location, it should be unblocked now. If it’s an international site like Netflix, you should see content from the library where you’re connecting (France, in our case).
If your VPN failed this test, try our list of the best VPNs for Netflix to check out some alternatives.
If a streaming platform is blocking your VPN, the solution can be as easy as switching to another server. However, sometimes it’s a bit more complicated than that.
As we discussed, websites routinely block access to VPN servers, usually due to content licensing contracts or security. However, there are tricks to help you get around these kinds of blocks.
There could be a number of reasons why your VPN isn’t working right. First, ensure your VPN is actually malfunctioning by running all of the tests we suggested. If you’re absolutely sure it isn’t working, it could be due to one of the most common reasons for VPN failures, listed below:
Free VPN apps are rarely secure. There are hundreds of free VPN apps in the Google Play Store, and most of them don’t work correctly. Some of them flat-out harvest your browsing data. In fact, a study of around 280 free mobile VPN apps found that a staggering 38% of them contained malware, with users appearing to be mostly oblivious to its presence.
We’re not suggesting all free VPNs will steal your data and report you for torrenting — far from it. However, using an unsafe VPN can be as dangerous as using a malicious one. That said, quite a few of us at the office trust a handful of free VPNs with our data (Proton VPN is your author’s VPN of choice). Check out some of our recommendations on our list of the best free VPNs.
Ensuring that your VPN is functioning properly is crucial for maintaining your online privacy and security. By regularly testing your VPN for leaks and other issues, you can proactively identify and address any potential issues with your VPN connection. Always remember that a well-configured and functioning VPN is a powerful tool in your digital security arsenal.
Have you tested any VPNs yourself? What was your experience like? Have you ever encountered a leaky VPN? Please let us know in the comments below. As always, thank you for reading.
If you want to make sure your VPN is working correctly, you can test it using a leak testing website like ipleak.net or browserleaks.com.
Yes, VPN traffic is always detectable to a network admin, even if you have obfuscation on. However, with obfuscation activated, the admin would have to perform deep packet inspection to see the VPN traffic, which is difficult to do — especially for large websites with many visitors.
Just check our list of the best VPNs to see if it’s on there. Our reporting is genuine, and our top VPN list is accurate based on our experience. You’ll find a bunch of good, secure VPN options there, but you can also run the tests for yourself to find out if the one you’re currently using is at least safe to use.
Stay Smart, Stay Secure
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