Ads are annoying, and that is something that most of us will agree upon. They ruin your experience, but more significantly, ads are often the primary target for scammers to lure you into their traps with different promotional offers. Every day over 560,000 pieces of malware are detected, many of which are pop-up ads. Therefore it is important to block these ads to ensure your safety.
Many of us already have a VPN installed, which encrypts our internet connection and hides our IP address from ISP or potential hackers. But can VPNs also be used as an AD blocker? Many VPNs come bundled with ad-blocking features, and in this article, we will take a closer look and try to find out if VPNs are really effective in blocking ads.
Does all VPN block ads?
No, not all virtual private networks; VPNs can block ads. This is a special feature that only a handful of VPNs possess as, by default, a VPN is designed to change your IP address and hide your traffic, not block ads.
But because a VPN is responsible for your online security, some VPN services now claim to bundle ad blocking as part of their total internet security package.
How good are VPN ads blockers
VPNs are not designed to block ads and when using a VPN ad blocker it is apparent that this feature was more of an afterthought than a key selling point. For starters, VPN ad blockers are unable to block any types of ads on Google, Spotify, Twitch, YouTube, and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. They are even unable to work on normal websites with a success rate of around 70%. But credit where it’s due, the VPN ads blocker did manage to remove the banner ads on youtube videos which were really surprising.
So if you are serious about ad blockers and not willing to see any ads, you will be better off installing a third-party app specializing in ad blocking.
Ad blocker vs VPN vs Antivirus, do I need all of them?
Ad blockers, VPN, and antivirus all serve different purposes, and to maintain a reliable, safe, and consistent experience, you will be better off installing all three of these applications.
Several options on the market promise to provide all three services but, in our testing, fall short almost every time.
Moreover, ‘ad blockers’ provided by VPN service providers are actually closer to DNS site filters and anti-trackers. VPN ad blockers work as malicious site blockers and tracker blockers but are rarely the same as ad blockers.
But why are there ads on my VPN itself?
If you see ads on your VPN, you are most likely using a free VPN. There are hundreds of free VPNs out there, and it is quite counterintuitive to use as free VPNs almost always sell your data to make earnings that enable them to keep the servers going. Therefore it is highly recommended to use a premium VPN as most of them come with a free trial for you to try them out before paying.
Final words
VPNs and Ad blockers serve completely different purposes and can not be interchanged. However, some great VPNs out there do 60% of what an independent ad blocker would do, but they fall short in blocking youtube and other social media ads.
