Best (ANONYMOUS) No Log VPNs Policy [Updated 2023]

We live in a world, where everything we do online, is monitored, tracked, and stored in data centers without us even knowing about it.

Apps want to know our location, browsers want to store cookies, and websites want to shove targeted ads all up in your face.

And the worst part is, we’re least bothered about it. Because let’s face it, when was the last time, you ever read a privacy policy.

Think about it…

Even tools designed to protect our privacy, are actually storing a lot of personal information. I’m talking about VPN logging policies.

Believe it or not, dozens of VPNs advertising “no logs”, actually store quite a bit of user data.

So on that note, we’ll dive deep into VPN logs, and find out what a legitimate no-log policy actually looks like.

Before we begin, we do like to tell you which VPN service we trust and recommend. You know, in case you’re in a hurry. We highly recommend ExpressVPN. It is the number one trusted VPN in the market right now and one of the most recommended VPN by Reddit users.

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ExpressVPN – Overall best VPN, offers no logs policy. Starts from just  $6.67/mo. Offers 3000+ servers in 94 countries. Headquartered in the British Virgin Islands. Independently audited no-logs policy to ensure complete transparency. Supports 5 simultaneous connections and also offers a full 30-day money-back guarantee.

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What Does VPN Logs Even Mean?

When it comes to VPN logs, there can be quite a bit of confusion. It is exactly why some VPN providers get away with logging user data.

To clear up all the misconceptions, I’ve segregated VPN logs into three types. Let’s check out each of them in detail, shall we? Before we head-on, check out our glossary of common terms used for online privacy to keep yourself well aware. 

Usage logs

First up, let’s talk about “usage or browsing logs”. As the name suggests, these logs basically keep tabs on your online activities.

More specifically, VPNs that keep usage logs, actually store your browsing history, IP addresses, connection timestamps, and more.

For anyone concerned about their privacy, such VPNs should be avoided at all costs. Usually, free VPN services are the ones to collect and sell VPN logs to third parties.

Connection logs

Next up we have “connection logs”. This type of logs is generally less invasive and only stores minimal data such as date/time, connection data, and in some rare cases, IP addresses.

But as I said, connection logs aren’t something you should be too worried about. This type of log is usually kept for network optimization and troubleshooting.

No logs

Last but not least, we have “no logs”. This is pretty self-explanatory, but just for the sake of it, no logs simply mean that the VPN service is not keeping any logs.

That being said, guaranteeing 100% no logs can actually be quite difficult. Since VPN services need to store bandwidth usage and the number of connected devices at the very least, some logs are necessary.

Bear in mind that even trustworthy VPN providers that claim no logs, do in fact store some data.

False Claims!

Before we take a look at what a legitimate no logs policy looks like, let’s check out a few VPN providers that we’re actually called out for falsifying their claims.

Let’s start with PureVPN…

PureVPN Helped FBI Catch a Cyber Stalker

Despite advertising no logs, PureVPN was surrounded by quite a bit of controversy in 2017 when their claims turned out to be farfetched.

When news broke out that PureVPN helped the FBI in catching a cyberstalker named Ryan Lin, many customers including the VPN community questioned their so-called no logs policy at the time.

From the FBI’s official reporting on the criminal investigation, it was made clear that PureVPN actually provided two originating IP addresses of the alleged stalker.

Through the provided IPs, the FBI was able to piece in the information and identify the Gmail address used by Lin to carry out some of the threats. All this wouldn’t, of course, be possible if PureVPN actually didn’t store any logs.

IPVanish, Child Abuse & US Department of Homeland Security

Back in 2016, the US Department of Homeland Security approached IPVanish in order to gain information about a suspect involved in and child abuse and pornography.

The criminal affidavit issued by DHS demanded IPVanish to provide date and time records associated with the suspected user’s IP address (209.197.26.72).

At first, the parent company of IPVanish – Highwinds Network Group responded to DHS’s request by simply stating they “do not log any usage information.”

However, when the DHS issued a second request to IPVanish demanding information about the suspect, IPVanish handed over the following information:

Not only that, but IPVanish also handed over the suspect’s source IP address and the date times when the suspect connected and disconnected from IPVanish’s servers.

With so much information on hand, the DHS then issued a federal search warrant for Vincent Gevirtz and his residence in Muncie, Indiana.

Again, all this wouldn’t be possible if IPVanish lived up to their claims of no logs policy.

What actual No logs policy looks

What Actual No Logs Policies Look Like

As I said earlier, guaranteeing zero logs is actually impossible and I’ve already told you why. Even reputable VPNs store some basic information to ensure the quality of service.

So now you might be wondering, what actually is a no-log VPN? Well to make it easy for you, any VPN service that does not collect usage and connection logs is safe to use.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s look at some VPN providers that actually won’t hand over your personal information to the authorities.

ExpressVPN

If you’ve ever searched for VPNs, you’ve probably come across ExpressVPN. This VPN provider is famous for a lot of reasons it is fastest VPN, quickly unblocks geo-blocked websites, etc. Their no logs policy has actually been tried and tested. In fact, their no logs policy has even been audited by PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers).

PwC extensively examined their code and interviewed their team members in order to confirm whether their VPN servers were in compliance with their stated privacy policy.

The audit was performed under the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (Revised) and in accordance with PwC’s standards for such reports. To read the full audit report, you can customers can log on to ExpressVPN’s website and visit the Privacy and Security Audits page.

ExpressVPN has even been audited by other third parties, including the security assessment by Cure53 conducted recently.

Let’s take a look at ExpressVPN’s privacy policy.

If you had over to ExpressVPN’s privacy policy, you can see that they don’t collect any activity logs including browsing history, traffic destinations, data content, or DNS queries.

Not only that, but they also don’t collect connection logs like IP addresses, outgoing IP addresses, connection timestamps, and session durations.

This is what a true no-log policy looks like…

But how can you tell whether ExpressVPN is actually true to their claims?

Well, let me tell you a true story. Soon after the assassination of the Russian Ambassador, Andrei Karlov back in December of 2017, Turkish investigators seized ExpressVPN’s servers linked to the assassination.

However, since ExpressVPN didn’t log usage or activity logs in the first place, the Turkish authorities weren’t able to find any data to support their investigation.

Soon after the seizure, ExpressVPN issued an official statement clarifying that no customer data was compromised during the incident.

The reason why ExpressVPN can operate without storing any logs whatsoever is that they’re headquartered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), and uses TrustedServer technology.

Since BVI has no mandatory data retention laws and trusted servers only run on RAM-disk mode, any stored information on ExpressVPN servers gets wiped out every time they’re powered off and on again.

Surfshark

Despite being a relatively new VPN provider, Surfshark has built quite a reputation for itself. In fact, we highly recommend it as our top VPN provider considering its water-tight privacy policy alone.

Surfshark respects users’ privacy and is committed to not process any information related to any individual’s online activities. The provider is based in the British Virgin Islands and is not required by law to store or report any logs.

They do not collect any information about what users do online. The provider refrains from collecting users’ IP addresses, browsing history, session information, used bandwidth, connection time stamps, network traffic, or any other similar information.

That being said, their servers do store information about users’ connection to any of their 3200+ servers. This includes user ID and connection time stamps. However, this information is automatically deleted within 15 minutes after the session ends.

Here’s a snipper from Surfshark’s privacy policy:

To summarize, here is why we trust Surfshark’s no logs policy:

• It is headquartered in the British Virgin Islands.
• It offers RAM-only servers that are fully wiped when turned off.
• Surfshark’s no logs policy has been independently audited to ensure complete transparency.
• It offers an obfuscation feature meaning that your ISP or anyone else on the internet cannot tell you’re using a VPN.

Perfect Privacy

Perfect Privacy is another VPN service that has actually proven to be a legitimate no logs VPN service. This VPN provider showed up in 2008 and has since then guaranteed zero data logging.

Here’s a screenshot of their privacy policy:

Perfect Privacy explicitly mentions that they don’t store any sort of logs other than just basic information such as login credentials, email addresses, and account expiration dates.

They also boast about the fact that they can’t be forced to give up user information simply because they’re based in Switzerland.

Similar to ExpressVPN, Perfect Privacy also uses strongly encrypted RAM disks to insure everything is wiped out the moment their servers restart.

But these claims are no marketing stunts. In fact, much like ExpressVPN, their Perfect Privacy has also been tested in real-world scenarios.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, back in August of 2016, one of Perfect Privacy’s servers got seized in the Netherlands because of some undisclosed reason. However, Perfect Privacy claimed that no customer data was compromised.

According to their official response, “Since we are not logging any data there is currently no reason to believe that any user data was compromised.”

NordVPN

Last but not least, we’ll look at NordVPN. This is another behemoth in the VPN industry that’s known to offer a legitimate no logs policy.

According to NordVPN’s privacy policy, no user activities are not monitored, logged, stored, or passed on to any third parties.

Not only that, but much like ExpressVPN, NordVPN also doesn’t store connection time stamps, session information, used bandwidth, traffic logs, IP addresses, or other data.

Lastly, the fact that NordVPN is headquartered in Panama means the company doesn’t have to comply with any mandatory data retention laws.

To further strengthen the legitimacy of their no logs policy, NordVPN even conducted a third-party audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers back in 2018. The official audit report confirms that NordVPN is an actual “no-log service” that doesn’t collect any usage or connection logs whatsoever.

You can find the complete audit report in the member’s section of NordVPN’s website.

Some VPNs to Avoid

As I said earlier, the no-logs policy is widely misused in the VPN industry. Despite logging extensively, there are tons of VPN providers in the industry that falsely advertise no logs.

Here are a few VPN providers that are infamous for storing user logs: