Limitations: Aside from general privacy reasons, people use VPNs to bypass government, school, or work internet censorship to stream on other countries’ servers and to torrent files without getting in trouble.Pricing: Incognito mode is a free feature of all browsers, while VPNs typically cost money (although there are free VPNs as well as VPNs with free trials available).VPNs, on the other hand, hide your web traffic and IP addresses from everyone, including your ISP, so they are much more private than incognito mode. However, your internet service provider (ISP) will still be able to see this information and your device’s IP address.

What it hides: In other words, incognito mode hides your browsing history on the actual device you’re using, so if your mom is going to use your laptop after you, she’ll have no idea that you’ve spent the last five hours reading “Glee” fanfic.

While incognito mode is ideal for hiding from other users of your device, VPNs hide your web traffic from everyone in the world. What Is the Difference Between Incognito Mode and a VPN? In this article, we’ll compare and contrast incognito mode and VPNs so you can make sure you’re as private as possible when surfing the web.

However, incognito mode isn’t as effective at granting you internet privacy as a VPN. All of the major browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.) have some version of an incognito mode, whether it’s called Private Window, InPrivate, or what have you.

Incognito window