110+ VPN Logging Policies Revealed (2020)

“We tested 110+ VPN providers logging policies and only few of them are safe to use including NordVPN, Surfshark, ExpressVPN, PIA, Cyberghost, VyprVPN and few more”

Not a single internet user in this world is safe from the vigilance of mass surveillance agencies. Every single thing you do online, leaves a trace that will be there forever.

And it was really shocking for me, all the VPN providers are not safe at all since they keep logs of your online activity.

Where using internet is full of concerns related to online privacy, it is quite heart wrenching to tell you that not every VPN provider is your online privacy protector.

The reason why I raise this concern here is because very few users don’t know the significance of logging policies while choosing best VPN services.

In this blog, I will tell you about why you need to understand why logging policy is so important while choosing secure and best VPN service.

But first before going in to detailed explanation which VPN provider would be the best choice to maintain your online privacy, it is important to know what types of logs these VPN services keep.

Before that, there are only few VPN providers who make their logging policies transparent.

Otherwise, users get to know only when some security agencies or Government identify about VPN service that it is safe or not.

However, providing awareness about VPN services logging policies does not mean not a single VPB is not to use. But the primary objective is to provide the one of the pillars of choosing best VPN service.

Types of VPN Logs

Before providing all this information, I spend almost a month to analyse the logging policy of over 250+ VPN Providers.

And one thing I want to confess here, not many but few VPN providers have transparent logging policy.

In simple terms VPN logs are the data that VPN services keep regarding usage of their services.

Here I am going to give a deep understanding to you why VPN providers should not keep log regarding all your online activities.

And those review sites that convince you to accept their biased reviews of VPN providers, where they explicitly confirms their affiliate VPN providers that they don’t keep logs at all.

However, sometimes, the reality is totally different regarding what they claim about multiple VPN services log policy.

When you see claims like “no log” or “zero log” policy, your mind quickly make a decision to purchase that service without thinking for a second.

But keep this thing in mind not every VPN review that ranks on Google is not always unbiased. Though Google is very efficient but still there is a way to rank on Google falsely.

One thing that I want you to put in your mind, every single VPN provider that keep some kind of logs. Because this is a necessity of a provider to keep providing you great service.

Another ambiguity arises is due to there are many types of logs that VPN provider might keep.

For this, you need to extensive analysis of their privacy policy regarding what kind of information they keep. And is this kind of log stores by VPN provider doesn’t hurt my online privacy.

Next thing that you should keep in your mind is time duration of logs keep by VPN providers. Some VPN services deletes your data just after 24 hours.

On the other hand, there are VPN providers who keep your data for a long long time. Without a doubt, as per user perspective the former one is feasible.

One more thing that I want you to understand, logging policy is totally different from cookies and tracking on the providers own site. It is completely another thing that is a part of online business

I hope until now you get the basic understanding about the basics of keeping logs. Now It is much easier for me to explain different types of logs here:

Connection Logs

Connection logs are the most basic kind of logs, which also recognized as usage logs, meta data and diagnostic logs.

These connection logs include time period of using VPN service and the amount of bandwidth used. In the case of some VPN providers, connection logs store on individual basis.

However, some VPN providers collect connection logs on aggregate basis.

Primarily, connections logs comes under personally non-identifiable information, which collects by a VPN provider to maintain and improve their services.

And when it comes to collect connection logs on per user basis, the main purpose is to monitor number of simultaneous connections or how much data is used on monthly basis.

It also makes sense that a provider would want to know how many people are using a given server at one time and the load being placed on that server, in order to optimize the service.

Now lets talk about online privacy regarding connection logs. When connection logs collect by VPN providers on aggregate basis, it doesn’t put your data privacy on severe risk.

However, when connection logs are store on per user basis, it is little trickier.

To understand this lets suppose, if your connection logs leads to personally non-identifiable information, it is less dangerous to your privacy.

Alternatively, if your connections leads to personally identifiable information, then it is highly risky for your online privacy.

So it means, if the VPN provider can access Personal identifiable information through connection logs, it can trace your every online activity you do.

Many VPN providers say that they do not collect Personal Identifiable Information.

However, they alter the PII terms, which is miss my majority of users since we don’t have habit of reading privacy policy.

As per the privacy policy of more than 100 VPN providers they do record your IP address. And when you talk about on normal terms, IP address is a part of PII.

Therefore, his may be connected to the account upon signup or recorded as part of the connection logs. This brings us to our next type of log.

IP Address Logs

You can relate this type of logs as the key evidence against those VPN providers who mention “no logs” in their privacy policy.

For every VPN, who doesn’t know much about whether IP address logs is a part of PII or not. Or is VPN provider can access our activities by keeping these IP address logs.

Well IP address can easily tagged to an individual user, which means it is a part of PII. So, it must not collected by any best VPN service since it is dangerous to your online privacy.

And you must understand this thing that connection logs are totally different from IP address logs. They are totally different from each other.

Connection logs are part of non-personal identifiable information.IP address logs on the other hand, comes under personal identifiable information.

It means if a VPN provider is tracking your IP address, it has all the potential to access other PII information. And in this way it can be exposed to third parties.

So if you are using a VPN service and you still get targeted ads while browsing, you must reconsider your VPN service choice.

Because there is a high chance that your VPN service tracking your IP address.

Moreover, in the most extreme scenario your personal information goes in the hand of dark online entities, cyber stalkers or government agencies.

Traffic Logs

When you talk about VPN service, traffic logs are consider as worst type of logs to your privacy. These logs are part of PII, but they are consist of everything that you want to hide by using VPN.

It includes data regarding internet traffic like your browsing history, files you download online, email history, online purchase and what type of other software you are using.

Therefore, it is simple if a VPN service collects traffic logs, it is highly prone for your online privacy. And you should not opt for this kind of VPN service, even though it’s very cheap.

This is why I never recommend my audience to use free VPN services.

Think logically, not a single VPN provider in this world provide their services for society wellness without earning a single penny.

And this is why 99% of free VPN services keep traffic logs to earn profit. Since data is fuel of online businesses especially when you talk about target ad marketing businesses.

These free VPN providers trick users by saying they don’t keep any PII information. But in reality they do and earn massive amount of profits by selling it to third parties.

And in the most worse case, if the hackers get their hands in to these logs and you might be a victim of online harassment and identity theft.

Warrant Canaries

Another terms that is associated with VPN providers logging policies is “Warrant Canary”. I don’t know if you are aware about this term or not while choosing a best VPN service.

But let me tell you in recent time, VPN providers advertise it to transparent their privacy policy. Warrant Canary is a single web page that you can find on provider website.

This page tells you regarding no secret government subpoenas have been issued by the provider. And for instance if the page is removed by any means, it is a red flag for you to use this service.

It means there is a high chance the subpoena has been issued by the provider.

However, the condition remains there that if a provider is entirely log less, then there is no way to provide data to government agencies or any third parties.

Five, Nine and Fourteen Eyes Jurisdictions

Forgetting to talk about VPN providers’ jurisdiction when explaining their logging policies is a crime.

Additionally it is very helpful to know which VPN provider is located in Five, Nine and Fourteen Eyes countries.

And if your VPN provider is a part of these mass surveillance countries, I would recommend it is highly pernicious to your online privacy. And if you don’t know why, see my 5, 9 and 14 eyes guide.

These mass surveillance countries shares signals intelligence with each other.

Another scary thing about these Eyes countries agreement, which is very significant to consider while choosing a VPN service is that these countries have no boundaries in terms of tracking their residents.

It means they can bypass their own surveillance laws to track your online activities. And these countries also share information with each other and trade intelligence.

Criteria of Choosing a Best VPN Service Based On Logging Policy

AceVPN (USA) 6/10

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

According AceVPN privacy policy:“We do not spy on our users and we don’t monitor their Internet usage. If we have reasonable grounds to suspect that an end user is involved in criminal activities, we reserve the right to notify law enforcement agencies.” This sounds good but is a little ambiguous as it doesn’t actually define “internet usage.”

In the FAQ page it states that “We do not log period. No meta-data logging, no traffic logging, no bandwidth usage tracking.”

Recommended:No

AirVPN (Italy) 6/10

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: Yes, (Aggregated logs)
IP address logs: No

In AirVPN’s FAQ section, in response to the question “Do you keep session logs or any other kind of logs that can be used to track identity and Net activity?” the response is “No, we don’t keep logs of that kind.”

According to its privacy policy: “Air servers and software procedures acquire only personal data which are strictly necessary for the technical functioning of the service, for example IP address.”

Recommended:No

Anonine (UK) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

According to Anonine official website, it says“Always anonymous, nothing logged.” In the privacy policy, it is stated that “We NEVER keep online activity logs or store private information about individual user activities on our network. Information regarding payments may be logged, as per payment processor regulations.”

Recommended: No

Anonymizer (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

On the homepage of Anonymizer’s website, the company kicks off by stating that it “will never view, track, or keep logs of the websites you visit.” But in the terms of use, there is the following statement:

“To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Anonymizer may monitor e-mail, or other electronic communications and may disclose such information in the event it has a good faith reason to believe it is necessary for purposes of ensuring your compliance with this Agreement, and protecting the rights, property, and interests of the Anonymizer Parties or any customer of a Anonymizer Party.”

Anonymous VPN (Seychelles) 4/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No

Traffic Logs: No

Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

The Anonymous VPN website has some bold claims:

“No Logs what-so-ever. We’re dead serious about this. We don’t store any logs of your online activity. So if push comes to shove and governments ask us to hand over logs of our users, we just tell them “sorry folks, can’t help you cause we don’t keep logs”. It’s that simple.”

Astrill VPN (Seychelles) 4/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No

Traffic Logs: No

Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

In its FAQ sections, Astrill VPN explains that it logs connection data, including IP and connection time during active sessions, in order to monitor the number of simultaneous connections from a single account. It does state that these are removed immediately after the session is over or you can erase them (presumably during a session) from the member area.

In the same answer, it is explained that connection logs, including connection time and duration, country, and device type, are logged for the last 20 connections (per user). Although, there is no personally identifiable data (such as an IP address) involved.

Avira Phantom VPN (Germany) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

In the FAQ section of this provider’s homepage, it is explicitly stated that personally identifiable information such as an IP address is not tracked. Avira Phantom VPN does keep some connection logs including the amount of data used and diagnostic data (e.g. bugs encountered). The latter can be turned off within the product interface.

Avast SecureLine VPN (Czech Republic) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

Avast offers a full suite of privacy and security products and, as a result, has a lengthy privacy policy. Here’s what relates specifically to the VPN service:

“Avast SecureLine: When you use the Avast SecureLine virtual private network (VPN) service, the server may capture certain basic data such as the time and network location from which the VPN connection was made and the duration of the VPN connection. This information is routinely deleted within 30 days. In addition, the system may store data on the bandwidth transferred per session.”

So connection logs may be maintained for up to 30 days.

Banana VPN (UK/Cyprus) 2/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

As stated in the privacy policy FAQ section:

“Q: – Do you keep any log files of user activity and for how long? A: – Banana VPN does not log any user activity whatsoever (sites visited, dns lookups, emails etc.) We only log access attempts to our servers (for security and troubleshooting), session durations and bandwidth used. Those are kept for 2 weeks.”

So, in short, Banana VPN doesn’t keep traffic logs but they do keep connection logs which are stored for two weeks.

Betternet (Canada) 2/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes, 5 Eyes (0 points)
Traffic Logs: Yes, aggregate traffic logs (1 point)
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No (1 point)

Betternet keeps connection logs but only during an active session, after which the user IP address is deleted. In the intro to the privacy policy, it talks about the fact that it doesn’t associate your PII, including your IP address with your online browsing activity. This indicates that there are some traffic logs and indeed this is clarified later on in the policy.

Betternet stores aggregate data about website visited and apps used. One of the reasons is to place generic ads on certain sites or apps. While it doesn’t actually connect browsing history to a particular user, some may be uncomfortable with the idea of there being any traffic logs at all.

BlackVPN (Hong Kong) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

The first claim on the homepage of blackVPN’s website is “No traffic logs. No connection logs. No DNS logs. Your real IP address is never logged.” This provider has never kept traffic logs, but as outlined in a blog post, it used to keep connection logs for seven days. It later realized this was damaging to its reputation of being a private and secure provider. As such, it no longer keeps these logs and all data is removed at the end of each session.

BolehVPN (Malaysia) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

BolehVPN doesn’t keep traffic logs or monitor user activity. It doesn’t typically keep connection logs such as timestamps or bandwidth usage for individual users. But it does keep track of overall traffic and number of connections for each server. This is fine since it isn’t attached to any particular user. The privacy policy states that it “may turn on logs temporarily to identify abuse of our services…” and that this has happened “a handful of times in our many years of operation.”

Boxpn (Turkey) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

In its privacy policy, Boxpn tells users “We NEVER keep online activity logs or store private information about individual user activities on our network.” We double-checked with the provider about connection logs and a representative confirmed that no logs are kept.

BTGuard (Canada) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

The BTGuard website doesn’t break down exactly what it does or doesn’t collect but the privacy policy does state “Netcrawled LLC DOES NOT collect your Internet Protocol (IP) addresses or customer usage.” This is good enough, as the IP address is not recorded.

Buffered (Gibraltar) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

The homepage of this providers site states, “At Buffered VPN we do not log any of your online activities under any circumstances.” This is built upon in the TOS which tells us that are no traffic logs but some connection logs are stored for 30 days. These include your real IP address, the connection duration, and the amount of data transferred.

BulletVPN (Estonia) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

BulletVPN’s privacy policy lays out exactly what information it does and doesn’t collect. There are no traffic logs and no connection logs linked to an IP. BulletVPN does track the total amount of data used for each user and monitors the number of simultaneous connections per account.

CactusVPN (Moldova) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

CactusVPN has a true no logs policy as stated on its Terms & Conditions page: “That means that we will not store any data relating to your activities while using any of our privacy solutions, and will not record, monitor, log or store any of your information. CactusVPN also guarantees that none of your information will be passed on to a third party. We do not store any IP addresses, traffic logs, connection timestamps, used bandwidth or session duration information that could be traced to a single person.”

CitizenVPN (Denmark/The Bahamas) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

The Denmark base of this provider may sound some alarm bells. However, as detailed on its website, its VPN services are provided from the Bahamas. This means CitizenVPN is not subject to EU data retention laws. Furthermore, its privacy policy explains that while it does keep some connection logs, it ensures that any attached IP information is anonymized.

CyberGhost (Romania) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

As stated in CyberGhost’s privacy policy, “Through our strict no-logs-policy, we ensure that we do NOT track user traffic performed inside the CyberGhost VPN tunnel such as: browsing history, traffic destination, search preferences, data content, IP addresses or DNS queries.”

In short, CyberGhost doesn’t keep any traffic logs and keeps no connection logs that can be tied to an individual user. The only things it tracks are connection attempts and whether or not they were successful, but this information is not tied to user accounts.

CyberSilent (Poland) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

Within its TOS, CyberSilent explicitly lays out its zero-logs policy: “CyberSilent VPN does not monitor, store or record logs for any VPN client. We don’t store time stamps, utilized data transmission, activity logs, IP addresses.”

DefenceVPN (Canada) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

The DefenceVPN homepage states “We don’t log here at DefenceVPN, that way your information is totally secure from third parties.” The privacy policy goes on to say “DefenceVPN does not store or log any traffic or usage from its Virtual Private Network (VPN). We do log total data used during a session, stored by username. We do not keep traffic logs, incoming or outgoing timestamps, IP addresses during a session.”

So the only log that is kept is total data used per user during a session. This provider offers unlimited bandwidth so this log is presumably used to avoid and identify abuse of the service by an individual.

DefenceVPN offers a warrant canary which reported a clean bill at the time of writing.

EarthVPN (Cyprus) 3/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No (1 point)
Traffic Logs: No (2 points)
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: Potentially (0 points)

EarthVPN’s privacy policy is a little confusing when it comes to the subject of logging. On the one hand it says that “Your IP address is logged by us so that we can prevent any spam, fraud or abuse of our site and our services.”

Later on there is the statement that “EarthVPN neither logs VPN usage nor user activity. Neither us nor third parties are technically able to match an IP address to an account.” The latter part of this appears to contradict what is said earlier. We asked the provider for clarification but didn’t receive a response at the time of writing.

Easy Hide IP (Seychelles) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

Easy-Hide-IP has a true no logs policy. “We NEVER keep online activity logs or store private information about individual user activities on our network.”

ExpressVPN (British Virgin Islands) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

ExpressVPN doesn’t keep any traffic logs or monitor user activity. It does keep connection logs including the date of the connection (not the time) and the server used. The total amount of data transferred per user is also monitored. ExpressVPN doesn’t log your IP address, but the connection logs are tied to the user account. However, since you could sign up to ExpressVPN without handing over any PII (using Bitcoin and a burner email), this doesn’t mean the logs can be linked to an individual.

Note that ExpressVPN defines the term “connection logs” slightly differently to how we have defined it above, and according to their definition (which doesn’t include datestamps or amount of data transferred), they don’t keep any connection logs. Those discrepancies aside, the important thing here is that the company maintains no logs of any data that could be used to identify an individual user.

A recent case saw Turkish authorities seize an ExpressVPN server as part of an investigation. However, they found no useful information, a fact that serves to back up the company’s no-log claims.

Faceless.Me (Cyprus) 3/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No (1 point)
Traffic Logs: No (2 points)
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: Yes (0 points)

This provider claims to have a true no-logs policy. It even states on its homepage that “We’re not keeping logs of your activity, so in case FBI asks – there’s nothing.” Moving over to the FAQ page, when asked about logs of online activity, the response is “No! Absolutely not! We only track your data usage totals and your IP address, which is required for our internal bookkeeping. And even this data is kept on our servers for a limited time.”

So really, there are logs in the form of connection logs and these include real user IP addresses.

FinchVPN (Malaysia) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

In its privacy policy, FinchVPN explains that it does not record any internet usage data or track user activity. It does keep some connection logs including timestamps and bandwidth usage. These are connected to user accounts rather than real user IPs. Since it accepts coin payments, a user ID doesn’t necessarily constitute PII.

FlyVPN (USA) 1/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes, 5 Eyes (0 points)
Traffic Logs: No, but source and destination IPs are logged (1 point)
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: Yes (0 points)

FlyVPN doesn’t keep any traffic logs. It does keep a full list of connection logs, including your IP address, timestamps, destination IP, and port number. Bear in mind that by collecting your real IP, timestamps, and your destination IP, this provider might as well be keeping traffic logs.

FrootVPN (Sweden) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

The FrootVPN homepage states “We do care about your internet privacy and therefore we do not log anything at all. Your details will never be shared with any third party.” This is further clarified in the ‘No logging’ page which confirms that no connection logs such as timestamps are stored.

Freedom-IP (France) 2/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes, 14 Eyes (0 points)
Traffic Logs: No (2 points)
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: Yes (0 points)

Freedom-IP does not record any traffic logs and is up front about the data it collects from each session:

“IP Address of connection
Start time of session
End time of session
Data received of session
Data sent of session”

Of course, it does include user IP address, which is not ideal.

FrostVPN (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

FrostVPN doesn’t log any traffic data. It does record “time, date and location VPN connection was made.” However, this information cannot be connected to an individual user which implies IP addresses are not part of the connection logs.

GhostPath (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

GhostPath has a true zero logs policy. As outlined in its privacy policy “We do not track activities outside of the Ghost Path site,” and, “We do not log any data related to your VPN sessions.”

GOOSE VPN (The Netherlands) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

GOOSE VPN doesn’t keep traffic logs or monitor user activity. It does keep connection logs, including a date stamp, Operating System (OS) used, general geographic location, and a couple more items. User IP addresses are not logged and the connection data is automatically aggregated. It is then stored for 30 days before being deleted.

GoTrusted VPN (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

In its privacy policy, GoTrusted VPN mentions that it may “gather data on connection information, including the timing and size of all packets sent over the Internet during a session.” This is a bit vague and nowhere does it state whether traffic logs are kept and whether connection logs include IP addresses.

We posed the question to GoTrusted and they responded that although the overall network performance is monitored, “GoTrusted does not log the URLs that you are browsing or monitor individual session traffic.”

HeadVPN (UK) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

In its VPN privacy policy within its terms and conditions page, this provider states “The Website does not, and will not, actively monitor user activity for inappropriate behavior, nor do we maintain direct logs of any customer’s Internet activities.” There is no mention of connection logs, but when we asked customer support, a rep told us that there are no connection logs kept whatsoever.

HideIPVPN (Moldova) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

HideIPVPN “does not store IP addresses, browsing history, traffic destination or DNS queries.” Although, later in the privacy policy we’re warned that “HideIPVPN urges its clients to assume that all of their on-line communications are insecure.” This doesn’t exactly scream confidence in its abilities as a provider.

HideMyAss (UK) 1/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes, 5 Eyes (0 points)
Traffic Logs: No, but it records source and VPN IP addresses (1 point)
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: Yes (0 points)

HideMyAss does not store information about the websites you visit, but it does store fairly detailed connection logs. These include your IP address, the VPN IP address, timestamps, and amount of data used. The IP address is concerning, especially as it is accompanied by the VPN IP address. This means that activity can fairly easily be traced back to an individual user, so it might as well keep traffic logs.

Indeed, this provider was involved in an FBI case back in 2011, in which it handed over details used to track down a LulzSec hacker.

Hola (Israel) 1/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No (1 point)
Traffic Logs: Yes (0 points)
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: Yes (0 points)

Hola appears to have a very distinctive “all logs policy” within its privacy policy: “Log Data may include information about your device such as: your IP address, browser type, webpages you visit, time spent on those pages, access times and dates, and the unique identifier generated for your device (if you use the Services from your mobile device then such an identifier may be you mobile number).”(which could be your phone number!)

It goes on to say “We use such data in its aggregated form and is not combined with any Personal Information.” Clearly a phone number is PII, and so effectively is an IP address. Both could easily be traced to an individual user.

Hotspot Shield (Switzerland) 3/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No (1 point)
Traffic Logs: Yes, aggregate logs (1 point)
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No (1 point)

Hotspot Shield does maintain some connection logs, including your real IP. However, these are deleted at the end of each session. While it says that it doesn’t tie real user IP addresses to online activity, it does keep aggregate logs of websites visited and apps used.

Indeed there has been some controversy surrounding this VPN and it has even has a complaint filed against it by a privacy advocacy group. It was also one of the subjects in a 2016 report that brought to light some of its questionable activities, including redirecting traffic through affiliate links. While privacy might not be a major concern here, these tactics are enough to put off many users.

ibVPN (Romania) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

ibVPN does not track the browsing activities of VPN service users. “ibVPN does not collect or log any traffic or use of its Virtual Private Network service. We cannot relate any specific activity with any specific user.” Although “use” implies connection logs, it doesn’t explicitly talk about them, so we asked the question. A customer support representative confirmed that no connection logs are kept.

IPinator (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

IPinator’s TOS is a little vague when it comes to logging: “Although we do not keep content logs of use or share any of your private information with any third party, we will turn over any information we do have if required to do so by law.” This sounds like it doesn’t keep any traffic logs but it’s not quite clear. It goes on to say “IPinator.com. may monitor certain aspects of the network to manage abuse, maintain and/or improve service.” This sounds like connection logs, but again, it’s lacking detail.

The FAQ section offers a little more insight: “We do not keep traffic content logs. We may monitor and aggregate other variables such as bandwidth and server load to ensure quality of service.”

So we have no traffic logs and only aggregate connection data.

IPredator (Cyprus) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

IPredator does not keep traffic logs of any kind. It does temporarily store session data including the server location and username, but no real IP address. Moreover, this data is only used to limit simultaneous logins and is deleted once the session has ended. As such, these wouldn’t really be considered connection logs anyway.

IPVanish (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

One of the first claims on the IPVanish homepage reads: “Our strict zero-logs policy keeps your identity under wraps. We do not record any of your activity while connected to our apps in order to preserve your civil right to privacy.” There is no mention in the privacy policy or elsewhere of specific connection logs. We asked support and were informed that this provider does “not monitor, record or store logs for any single customer’s VPN activity.”

It recently surfaced that IPVanish logs were used in a Homeland Security investigation. However, the company was under different ownership at the time and the current owners have assured users that IPVanish stands by its existing no-logs policy.

Ivacy (Singapore) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

Ivacy operates with a true no-logs policy. It does not monitor traffic or record session data, “meaning we cannot identify and connect a specific activity with a particular user of our service.”

IVPN (Gibraltar) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

IVPN is another provider that uses a strict no-logs policy. It doesn’t monitor web traffic nor does it record any session data, such as timestamps or bandwidth usage.

Kaspersky (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

We looked for a terms of service or privacy policy for Kaspersky’s VPN service but couldn’t find anything. A customer support representative was able to direct us to the license agreement but there is nothing here regarding logging. However, the rep did assure us that no traffic or connection logs are maintained. If there is an issue with the service, logs may be collected to diagnose the issue.

Keenow (Israel) 3/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No (1 point)
Traffic Logs: No (2 points)
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: Yes (0 points)

Keenow doesn’t keep traffic logs or monitor user activity. It does store connection logs, including real IP address, bandwidth usage, and timestamps. Of course, the one worrying piece of information here is the real user IP address which can be traced to an individual.

Liberty Shield (UK) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

Liberty Shield’s very brief privacy policy is buried at the bottom of its TOS, but it does state: “We are committed to your privacy and do not collect or log traffic data or browsing activity from individual users connected to our VPN.” It does keep connection logs but these are limited to timestamps, server location, and amount of data transferred.

LiquidVPN (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

LiquidVPN does not record any traffic logs. It does monitor some real-time metadata, including whether or not you’re logged in and how many devices are being used on an account.

Its TOS does state that it will store more metadata in the event that the service is being abused. This might include local and remote IP addresses, timestamps, and username. However, there will be a notification on the transparency page before any logging takes place. LiquidVPN also provides a warrant canary.

Mullvad (Sweden) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

While this provider’s privacy policy is a little difficult to find (there’s no direct link from the homepage), it does eventually reveal a strict no logs policy. There are no activity logs and no metadata is attributed to an individual user. Instead, Mullvad simply tracks total bandwidth per server, total number of current connections, and CPU load per core.

MyIP.io (USA) 2/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

The MyIP.io homepage states that there are no activity logs, which is great. There is no mention of logs in the privacy policy or the TOS, so it’s unclear whether or not there connection logs. We asked for clarification and were told that logs are kept and include timestamps and real IP, “among other information.”

NoodleVPN (Malaysia) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

The homepage of the NoodleVPN website states:

“Because of the special equipment NoodleVPN does not store any customer data and does not know what users are doing on the Internet. The only thing we known [sic] about users is their e-mail address and username.”

This seems to cover both traffic and connection logs, but we got in touch to make sure. A customer support representative assured us that no logs are kept whatsoever.

NordVPN (Panama) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

NordVPN “guarantees a strict no-logs policy” of its VPN service. Aside from traffic logs, this includes timestamps, bandwidth, and real IP addresses.

nVPN (Bosnia) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

nVPN is another provider with a strict no-logs policy. There are no traffic logs and user activity is not monitored. Furthermore, it does not record timestamps, bandwidth used, or real user IP addresses.

OctaneVPN (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

OctaneVPN is very up front about addressing users’ concerns surrounding logging. Within its privacy policy it notes that “When you sell a product that enhances privacy and anonymity, questions of logging come up.” Indeed, it maintains a true no-logs policy in that there are no logs that can be tied to an individual user. The only connection logs kept are aggregate ones related to each individual server, including number of connections and bandwidth usage.

OverPlay (UK) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

The OverPlay privacy policy is short and sweet, stating, “Overplay, Inc. does not collect or log any traffic or use of its Virtual Private Network service.” The word “use” may refer to connection logs but we asked them to make sure. In response, we were told that no connection logs are kept whatsoever.

OVPN (Sweden) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

OVPN maintains that it takes user privacy extremely seriously, and indeed it has a strict no-logs policy. With no traffic logs or connection logs, it states that the only information it could ever provide to a requesting party would be the method of payment used. As stated in the privacy policy: “Writing permissions for the OpenVPN processes have been removed from the servers operating our VPN service. This prevents any user information from being logged at any time.”

PandaPow (Hong Kong) 3/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No (1 point)
Traffic Logs: No (2 points)
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: Yes (0 points)

PandaPow does not, under any circumstances, keep traffic logs or monitor user activity. It does keep connection logs, including IP address, timestamps, amount of data transferred, and transfer speed. Of course, of most concern here is the IP address. PandaPow does not specify how long the data is stored for.

Perfect Privacy (Switzerland) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

Perfect Privacy’s privacy policy is just a couple of paragraphs long, but it it is made clear that it does not record any logs related to individuals. It only records the total usage on its servers.

Private Internet Access (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

On this provider’s homepage, one of the main features states “No VPN Traffic Logs,” so that’s clear at least. There is nothing else related to logs within the privacy policy or TOS. Over in the FAQ section, we find what we’re looking for. Here, a representative states “PIA absolutely does not keep any logs, of any kind, period.” The response then goes into more detail stating:

“We can unequivocally state that our company has not and still does not maintain metadata logs regarding when a subscriber accesses the VPN service, how long a subscriber’s use was, and what IP address a subscriber originated from. Moreover, the encryption system does not allow us to view and thus log what IP addresses a subscriber is visiting or has visited.”

Sounds like a pretty solid zero-logs policy to us.

PrivateVPN (Sweden) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

PrivateVPN also offers a no-logs policy. In its privacy policy it states “PrivateVPN does not collect or log any traffic or use of its service.” We emailed just to check if this applies to connection logs and were told, yes, it does.

Privatoria (Czech Republic) 3/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No (1 point)
Traffic Logs: No (2 points)
Connection logs: Unclear
IP address logs: Potentially (0 points)

The Privatoria privacy policy is poorly worded with a lot of typos, but it’s fairly clear that no traffic logs are kept by this provider. We asked about connection logs but haven’t received a response at the time of writing.

ProtonVPN (Switzerland) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

ProtonVPN’s homepage states “As a Swiss VPN provider, we do not log user activity or share data with third parties.” We can assume this pertains to traffic logs but it’s a little unclear when it comes to connection logs.

Over in the privacy policy, we learn that indeed ProtonVPN maintains a timestamp log of the last successful login attempt.

proXPN (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

On the homepage, one of the statements is “proXPN’s VPN software lets you surf the web the way it was intended: anonymously and without logging and tracking your activity.” We can safely assume there are no traffic logs. So what about connection logs? Over on the privacy policy page, we learn, “We do not keep logs of connection times, activity, or origin IPs.” So we’re all clear here.

Proxy.sh (Seychelles) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

On the Proxy.sh website, we find what we’re looking for within the FAQ section. This provider keeps no traffic logs and no connection logs. It does state that at times, it needs to view connections in real time. While it provides alerts in these instances, it is reiterated that connections are not attributable to individual users.

PureVPN (Hong Kong) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

The subheading of PureVPN’s privacy policy reads: “We do NOT keep any logs that can identify or help in monitoring a user’s activity.”

SaferVPN (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

SaferVPN does not keep any traffic logs or monitor user activity. It is very explicit about which metadata is recorded and that includes timestamps, amount of data transferred, and the server location. It does not record IP addresses.

SaturnVPN (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

SaturnVPN doesn’t appear to provide any information about its logging policy. When we asked the provider for information we were told that no traffic logs or connection logs are kept at all.

SecurityKISS (Ireland) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

This provider posts a short and concise privacy policy, including clear information about its logging policy:

“We do not monitor, record or store logs for any connection activity, except for the following:

• Time and duration of the user VPN connection
• Bandwidth used during the connection
• User IP address”

As you can see, this does include user IP addresses. Although, on the plus side, most of these logs are deleted after ten days. The only thing that is stored longer is the total usage per billing period for each client.

Seed4.me (Taiwan) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

This provider does not have a privacy policy and does not cover logs in its TOS statement. Instead, it addresses the issue of logs in a blog post. Here, it explains that it records aggregate connection data. This is stored for seven days before being deleted permanently.

Shade You (The Netherlands) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

Shade You has a true zero logs policy and does not keep logs of any kind. “We do not keep logs, so we simply do not have data that could be transferred to third parties.”

Shellfire VPN (Germany) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

The homepage of Shellfire VPN states, “We don’t log any connection data. You’re surfing absolutely securely and anonymously!” This is one of the rare providers that actually refers to connection logs on its homepage, rather than just a blanket logs statement which often only mentions traffic logs.

SlickVPN (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

This provider has a zero logs policy but doesn’t explicitly talk about connection logs. We asked a representative and were told that no traffic logs or connection logs are kept at all.

SmartVPN (Seychelles) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

SmartVPN doesn’t offer any logging policy information on its website, so we got in touch. A live chat response claimed that no logs are kept whatsoever.

Speedify (USA) 2/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

Speedify’s privacy policy starts with “TL;DR: We DO NOT log what you do or what sites you visit through the Speedify service.” So there are definitely no traffic logs here. The privacy policy also states that Speedify does not collect IP addresses. However, when you enter the app, a notification tells you that IP addresses are stored temporarily, along with timestamps, amount of data transferred, and the duration of the connection.

SpyOff (San Marino) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

We couldn’t find any information pertaining to a logging policy on SpyOff’s website so we sent an email. A representative informed us that “We do not keep any records concerning traffic logs or connection logs, time stamps, bandwidth, IP addresses.”

StrongVPN (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

This provider’s privacy policy states: “StrongVPN does not collect or log any traffic or use of its Virtual Private Network service.” Again, “use” likely refers to connection logs but is a little vague. We emailed customer support and they confirmed that no connection logs of any kind are kept.

SurfEasy VPN (Canada) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

SurfEasy VPN doesn’t keep traffic logs, but it does state:

“We perform automated rules-based traffic management for the purposes of maintaining and improving our service. Applying these rules may require real-time analysis of Internet and data traffic including destination websites or IP addresses, originating IP addresses.”

This information is not logged, but it sounds more intrusive than you would want and expect from a VPN provider. As for connection logs, it stores aggregate bandwidth used but there is no log of IP addresses.

Surfshark (British Virgin Islands) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

Surfshark keeps no traffic logs whatsoever. It doesn’t keep any connection logs that can be tied to an individual user, such as IP addresses. It does store some aggregate data for diagnostic purposes, such as unsuccessful connection attempts, but these are not tied to user accounts.

SwitchVPN (India) 4/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

“SwitchVPN does not collect or log any traffic or use of its Virtual Private Network service.” The privacy policy goes on to talk about personal information but gets rather confusing. We sent an email to get some clarification and were told that no logs are kept whatsoever.

TigerVPN (Slovakia) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

This provider does “not collect or log traffic data or browsing activity from individual users connected to our VPN.” It keeps connection logs but, similar to ExpressVPN, it records connection dates instead of timestamps. Other data collected includes server selection and total amount of data transferred per day, but no real user IP addresses.

Torguard (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

Torguard has a true zero-logs policy and “does not store or log any traffic or usage from its Virtual Private Network (VPN) or Proxy.”

Total VPN (UK) 2/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes, 5 Eyes (0 points)
Traffic Logs: No (2 points)
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: Yes (0 points)

As outlined in its privacy policy, Total VPN does not “collect information concerning the content you transmit through the Services or the specific websites that you visit.” It does collect connection logs including timestamps and real user IP addresses, which is not ideal.

TunnelBear (Canada) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

TunnelBear does not collect traffic logs or monitor any user activity. It does collect some data, including your OS, whether or not you’ve been active this month, and the total amount data used within a month. However, “TunnelBear does NOT store users originating IP addresses when connected to our service and thus cannot identify users when provided IP addresses of our servers.”

UnoTelly (Canada) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

UnoTelly doesn’t actively monitor internet usage, but the privacy policy for this provider is a little disconcerting. As related to VPN usage, it states:

“UnoTelly keeps the login time, logout time, and bandwidth used for UnoVPN. We also keep a minimum amount of log to satisfy the jurisdictional requirements of our VPN server and only release to authorized parties if it required by law.”

While there is no mention of IP addresses, “a minimum amount of log” is very vague. We asked for clarification and were told no logs are kept other than timestamps and bandwidth used.

Unspyable (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

This provider maintains that it does not keep traffic logs of any kind. Its privacy policy states“We do not keep any user logs.” We could assume that this refers to connection logs, but we checked just to make sure. In response to the question of whether any connection logs are kept, we got a very clear “Nope.” Well, that’s that, then.

VersaVPN (Philippines) 4/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

As outlined in its TOS, VersaVPN does not keep any traffic logs. There is no mention of connection logs so we asked customer support. We were told that absolutely no connection logs are maintained.

VPN Baron (Romania) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

VPN Baron does not keep any traffic logs or monitor user activity. It does keep connection logs, including timestamps, server location, and the amount of data transferred per session. Although, it does not record the real user IP address.

VPN Unlimited (USA) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

This VPN service is provided by KeepSolid Inc. This provider “does NOT collect and log any user activities while using any of their VPN services, except the total amount of web traffic for each session and session dates.” So we have no traffic logs and minimal connection logs, with no real user IP address.

VPN.ac (Romania) 3/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No (1 point)
Traffic Logs: No (2 points)
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: Yes, but only stored for one day (0 points)

As stated on its homepage, VPN.ac keeps no activity logs. In the privacy policy, we discover that connection logs are kept. These include bandwidth usage, timestamps, and source IP addresses. On the plus side, the timestamps and IP addresses are only stored for one day before being deleted.

VPN.asia (Belize) 4/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

This provider doesn’t log any website traffic or monitor user activity. In the privacy policy it states: “VPN.asia does not collect or log any traffic or use of its Virtual Private Network service.” “Use” implies connection logs but we checked to make sure as there is no mention of it elsewhere. We were assured that no logs are kept.

VPN4All (The Netherlands) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

The VPN4All service is provided by Web Broadcasting Ltd. It has a strict no-logs policy and does not keep any traffic logs or connection logs. The only thing it tracks is bandwidth usageper license number.

VPNArea (Bulgaria) 4/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

VPNArea has a refreshingly clear logging section within its privacy policy and indeed maintains a true zero-logs stance: “We do not monitor, record or store logs for any single customer’s VPN activity. We do not monitor, record or store any login dates, timestamps, incoming and outgoing IP addresses, bandwidth statistics or any other identifiable data of any VPN users using our VPN servers.”

VPNLand (Canada) 2/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes, 5 Eyes (0 points)
Traffic Logs: No (2 points)
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: Yes, but only for signup (0 points)

The VPNLand homepage states, “We do not keep logs and we won’t share your information to any third party.” Over in the TOS, we read that this provider keeps “log files on our servers for only 5 days for the reasons of security. After that the log files are deleted from our servers.”

VPNLUX (Belize) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

VPNLUX does not store logs of traffic data. As is clearly laid out in its privacy policy, it does store some connection logs, including timestamps and bandwidth usage. These are associated with the account ID number and not an actual real user IP.

VyprVPN (Switzerland) 4/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

VyprVPN from Golden Frog does not record any traffic data or monitor user activity. It used to keep connection logs, including the user’s source IP address and VyprVPN IP address. However, as of November 2018, it is a log-free service and it no longer records this information or other connection logs. These claims are backed by an audit performed by Leviathan Security Group.

Windscribe (Canada) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

This provider doesn’t keep any traffic logs and connection logs are kept to a bare minimum. However, they do keep connection logs which is not a big deal at all.

WorldVPN (UK) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

WorldVPN doesn’t monitor internet activity but it keeps some connection logs. These include the duration of the VPN connection and the amount of bandwidth used during the connection. Note that they do not include timestamps or real user IP addresses, so this can still be considered a fairly solid no-logs policy.

ZenMate (Germany) 3/4

Located in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? Yes
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

ZenMate operates with a no-logs policy. It does not keep traffic logs of any kind. It does track data transferred, but only for accounts that have a data cap.

ZenVPN (Dominica) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

ZenVPN doesn’t keep any traffic logs. The only connection data it tracks is each user’s aggregate daily bandwidth usage.

ZoogVPN (Isle of Man) 4/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

This provider’s privacy policy is very explicit about what it does and doesn’t track. Indeed, we have another zero-logs provider. The only thing it does track is total bandwidth usage on its servers.

ZorroVPN (Belize) 4/4

Based in 5 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: No
IP address logs: No

In its very brief TOS (there is no privacy policy) ZorroVPN states “We guarantee no logging any user’s activity.” However, there is no mention of connection logs. ZorroVPN provides an up-to-date warrant canary.

ZPN (United Arab Emirates) 4/4

Located in 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes or 14 Eyes? No
Traffic Logs: No
Connection logs: Yes
IP address logs: No

ZPN does not monitor traffic or user activity. It does state in the TOS “We only log bandwidth usage for calculating monthly quota excluding premium accounts.” So for premium account holders with no data cap, there are no logs.