What does "no-logs VPN" mean?
Also asked as: What is a no-log VPN? · Do VPNs keep logs?
Direct answer
It means the provider does not record your browsing activity: the sites you visit, your DNS lookups or the content of your traffic. It does not mean nothing is stored — every provider keeps some account and connection data to run the service. A trustworthy policy names each category it keeps, why, and for how long, and lists what it never keeps.
The categories a policy should name
Account data: an email address if you register. Kept until you delete the account.
Device data: a random device identifier, platform and app version, so the service can deliver configuration and limit abuse.
Connection metadata: which server a session used, when it started and ended, how much data moved. This is the one most providers are vague about. It is not a record of the sites you visited, but it exists, and an honest policy says for how long.
Never: the destinations, the DNS queries, the content, and your originating address paired with your activity.
How to read a vague one
"Zero logs" with no list of categories is marketing, because the service could not function with literally nothing. A policy that cannot say what it keeps is telling you it would rather you did not ask. A policy that names the categories and the retention periods can be checked, which is the whole point.
VPNmine's version
Account email until deletion; device identifier, platform and app version for up to 12 months after the device last connects; which server a session used, start and end time and data volume for up to 30 days; diagnostics in aggregate. Never the sites, the DNS queries, the content or your address paired with activity — the servers are configured so that data is not written to disk.
Related questions
- Does VPNmine keep logs?VPNmine keeps connection metadata (which server, when, how much) for 30 days and device data for 12 months. Never the sites, DNS queries or content.
- Is a VPN safe?A VPN is as safe as the provider behind it. What decides it: who runs the servers, what is logged, how the service makes money, and whether you can leave.
- Does a VPN make internet browsing private?A VPN hides browsing from your network and ISP and hides your address from sites. It does not hide you from accounts, or from the VPN provider itself.
- How does VPNmine protect my privacy?Own servers, a WireGuard tunnel, a logging policy that names what is kept and for how long, no ads or data sale, one-tap deletion. Each one can be checked.