Independent Privacy Testing Since 2025

About PrivacyTestLab

PrivacyTestLab is an independent, browser-based privacy testing platform built to give users accurate, real-world insight into how their browser, VPN, and network configuration expose personal data online. We run live technical tests directly in your browser — no software installs, no accounts required, no marketing spin.

Our Mission

Most people have no reliable way to know whether their VPN is actually working, whether their DNS queries are leaking to their ISP, or how uniquely identifiable their browser fingerprint is. Privacy software companies have a financial incentive to tell you everything is fine — we don't.

PrivacyTestLab exists to give you independent, technically accurate answers. Our tools run real diagnostic checks against live infrastructure and return results based on what your connection actually does, not what any product claims.

Core principle: Every result you see on PrivacyTestLab reflects a real technical measurement from your own browser at the moment you run the test. We report what we detect — including results that contradict popular VPN marketing.

What We Test

PrivacyTestLab covers the most common and technically significant ways browsers and network connections expose user data. Our current testing categories include:

  • IP Leak Testing — detects whether your real IP address is visible to websites despite an active VPN.
  • DNS Leak Testing — checks whether your DNS queries bypass your VPN and reach your ISP's servers.
  • WebRTC Leak Testing — identifies whether WebRTC APIs expose your local or real IP address.
  • IPv6 Leak Testing — tests whether IPv6 traffic escapes your VPN tunnel and reveals your real network identity.
  • Browser Fingerprint Analysis — measures how uniquely identifiable your browser is based on hardware, fonts, canvas, and API signals.
  • Canvas Fingerprint Testing — specifically isolates canvas-based tracking, one of the most persistent browser fingerprinting vectors.
  • Proxy & VPN Detection — tests whether your IP is flagged as a datacenter, proxy, or VPN exit node by major detection databases.
  • DNS & WHOIS Lookups — network-level tools for investigating domain infrastructure and resolver behavior.
  • Password Security Utilities — entropy scoring and strength analysis based on real-world cracking models.
All tests run directly inside your browser. No data is collected for profiling purposes. Results are generated on-demand and reflect your actual network conditions at test time.

Testing Methodology

Browser privacy testing is technically nuanced. Results vary depending on your browser, operating system, extensions, VPN client, DNS resolver, and network environment. We design our tests to be as accurate as possible while being transparent about what each test can and cannot verify.

How Our Tests Work

Each tool uses browser APIs, live network requests, and server-side infrastructure to surface what your actual connection reveals. For example:

  • Our IP and WebRTC leak tests make simultaneous requests through both browser APIs and server endpoints to compare what IP addresses are visible from each path.
  • Our DNS leak test sends uniquely labelled requests to our own DNS infrastructure and detects which resolvers respond — identifying your ISP resolver if DNS is leaking.
  • Our fingerprint tests collect the same signals that real tracking systems use, score entropy mathematically, and compare your result against known fingerprinting datasets.
We use the same detection techniques that ad networks, fraud detection platforms, and network analysis tools actually employ — so you can see exactly what they see when you visit a website.

The exact entropy formulas, per-signal weights, and open-source scoring code behind every fingerprint score are published in full on our Methodology page — not summarised here, but shown line by line.

What We Don't Do

  • We do not simulate or emulate results — tests run against live infrastructure.
  • We do not allow affiliate relationships to influence test outcomes or scoring.
  • We do not store your test results, IP address, or browser data for advertising purposes.
  • We do not make claims of "total anonymity" or "complete protection" — these are technically meaningless guarantees.

Why Trust Our Results

Privacy testing requires specific technical infrastructure that most review websites don't build. We operate our own DNS testing infrastructure so our DNS leak detection returns accurate, real-time results — not theoretical assessments.

Our fingerprinting tests implement entropy calculation models consistent with academic browser fingerprinting research, adapted for 2025–2026 browser environments including changes introduced by Chrome's Privacy Sandbox and Firefox's anti-fingerprinting protections.

No black boxes. If you understand how a test works, you can verify our methodology yourself. Each tool page explains what its signals mean, and our Methodology page publishes the full entropy math, signal weights, and open-source scoring code behind every fingerprint score.

We also cover topics that many "privacy" websites avoid because they conflict with affiliate revenue — including cases where popular VPNs fail leak tests, where "private browsing" provides far less protection than users assume, and where browser extensions create new fingerprinting surface area while claiming to protect you.

Tools We Build

Every tool on PrivacyTestLab is built with three requirements: technically accurate, fast to run, and clearly explained. We don't publish tools that return vague results or require you to interpret raw technical output without context.

Our most-used free tools:

IP Leak Test DNS Leak Test WebRTC Leak Test IPv6 Leak Test Browser Fingerprint Test Canvas Fingerprint Test Proxy / VPN Detection Full Privacy Scan

We are continuously expanding our test coverage. Upcoming tools include TLS fingerprint analysis, HTTP header inspection, and tracker script detection.

Editorial Independence

PrivacyTestLab earns revenue through a small number of affiliate partnerships and Google AdSense advertising. These commercial relationships exist to fund the platform's infrastructure and development — they do not influence our test results, article conclusions, or product rankings.

We only maintain affiliate relationships with products we can honestly recommend based on independent technical merit. Our full affiliate disclosure is available here:

Affiliate Disclosure Transparency Policy

If a product we have an affiliate relationship with performs poorly in testing, that result will be reported honestly. We have declined affiliate arrangements with VPN providers whose technical performance did not meet our standards.

Our Commitment

The internet privacy landscape changes constantly. Browsers add and remove API access. VPN protocols evolve. Tracking technologies become more sophisticated. PrivacyTestLab is committed to keeping our tools current with these changes rather than publishing static assessments that become outdated within months.

  • We update tool logic when browsers change relevant APIs or behaviors.
  • We update articles when new data or research contradicts earlier conclusions.
  • We disclose when a test has known limitations that may affect result accuracy.
  • We do not use dark patterns, fake results, or scare tactics to drive tool usage.
Our standard: Every page on PrivacyTestLab should leave you better informed than when you arrived — with accurate information, not anxiety designed to sell you a product.

Contact

Questions about our testing methodology, tool accuracy, content corrections, or partnership enquiries? We welcome technical feedback from security researchers, privacy advocates, and regular users alike.

Contact PrivacyTestLab Transparency Policy Privacy Policy

We aim to respond to all substantive technical enquiries within 3 business days.