A virtual private network (VPN) is another way to hide your browsing history from your ISP. Normally, if you access anything on the internet, your request is sent directly to the ISP, who contacts the site you want to access. If you use a VPN, your ISP can only see that you are trying to connect to the server of a VPN, and the VPN then routes your traffic to the site you need.
This adds an extra layer of protection, but remember: Instead of trusting your ISP to keep your data secure, you’re now trusting an anonymous VPN provider to do so. Most people don’t need VPNs for anything other than trying to access Netflix or other streaming services from a different region. For that purpose, a VPN is great—but if you’re worried about your privacy, you should be careful before trusting a VPN provider with all of your data, as well.
In general, you should always avoid free VPNs if you care about privacy. Another red flag to watch out for are affiliate marketing programs where the VPN company pays people to refer others into signing up for the service. There’s nothing wrong with affiliate marketing in itself, but this practice encourages shady review sites to recommend the VPNs with the best affiliate revenue, as opposed to the ones that are actually good for your privacy. Be sure that you trust the reviewer and the website before going through VPN reviews. You should also do some research on the parent company of any VPN that you like. The chances are that multiple VPNs are owned by the same company with a not-so-clean history.
As is clear by now, the world of VPNs is quite murky, and you should evaluate if you really need it before biting the bullet.