What is VPN split tunneling?

Ever wished you could use a VPN without sending all your internet traffic through it? That’s exactly what VPN split tunneling is designed for. It’s a feature that lets you choose which apps, websites, or services use the encrypted VPN tunnel and which connect directly to the internet. This can be useful for streaming local content, gaming with lower latency, or accessing devices on your home network while still protecting sensitive activity with a VPN.

Split tunneling offers more flexibility and convenience, but it also comes with a few privacy and security considerations. In this guide, I’ll break down what VPN split tunneling is, how it works, and when it’s worth using.

How does VPN split tunneling work?

Split tunneling is a clever VPN feature that gives you more control over what data you encrypt and send through a VPN server and what data travels through the faster, unencrypted open web.

So, how does it work? Well, in order to understand what VPN split tunneling is, you first need to understand the basics of a VPN server.

By default, your device will probably have a single, direct connection to the internet, through which your data will be sent and received. But when you use a VPN, this creates a secure connection between your device and a VPN server. That VPN server then accesses the internet on your behalf. So, every single bit of data gets sent and received through the secure VPN server.

On the plus side, this keeps all your data completely encrypted. But, because everything needs to travel through the VPN, it can slow your internet speed.

Split tunneling works by giving you two connections at the same time: the secure VPN connection and an open connection to the internet. So, you can protect your sensitive data without slowing down your other internet activities.

Different types of VPN split tunneling

There are a few different ways to implement VPN split tunneling:

• URL-based split tunneling lets you choose exactly which URLs you want to be encrypted through the VPN. This is usually done using a VPN browser extension.
• App-based split tunneling works in a similar way, as it lets you choose which apps you want to be routed through your VPN, while the rest of your traffic travels through your regular network.
• Inverse split tunneling works the opposite way. While these first two examples route everything through the open network by default and you can choose which apps and URLs you want to be routed through your VPN, with inverse split tunneling, all traffic is automatically sent through the VPN unless you specify otherwise. With inverse split tunneling, you choose what URLs and apps you don’t want to go through the VPN rather than the ones you do.

Pros and cons of VPN split tunneling

As with a lot of VPN features, there are loads of pros and cons to using VPN split tunneling. Take a look at the benefits and drawbacks to help you decide whether to use this feature.

Reasons to use VPN split tunneling

Here are some good reasons to use split tunneling on your VPN:

1. It improves internet speeds by alleviating bottlenecks and conserving bandwidth because all your internet traffic isn’t being forced to pass through a VPN server.
2. It lets you access more than one network at the same time, so you can get onto your corporate network or a foreign network while also remaining connected to your local network. This means you don’t have to keep connecting and disconnecting your VPN. So you can do things like download something without slowing down your browsing speed, stream foreign films while still getting local search results on Google, and access your network printer while maintaining your online privacy.

Reasons not to use VPN split tunneling

The main reason not to use VPN split tunneling is that it’s less secure than using a VPN all the time. But I'll explain the security implications of split tunneling in more detail a bit further down.

Here are some disadvantages to using split tunneling:

1. It bypasses the security measures put in place by your VPN, leaving some of your online activity vulnerable to hackers.
2. It takes time to set up the right split tunneling permissions for what you want. Depending on the type of split tunneling you’re using, you have to decide which URLs or apps you want to go through your VPN and which ones you want to go through the open network.
3. Not all VPNs come with split tunneling features, and even then, not all of them are available on all operating systems. Luckily, there are several VPNs that offer really good split tunneling solutions. More on that later on in this guide.

Is VPN split tunneling secure?

VPN split tunneling isn’t as secure as routing all your traffic through your VPN. But, provided you’ve set it up correctly and you only route traffic through the open network that you don’t want protected, such as downloading a file or accessing your network printer, it can be a good compromise. After all, it lets you retain privacy on the traffic you care about without slowing down your internet speeds.

Using VPN split tunneling is much more secure than not using a VPN at all. But it’s not safe to rely on split tunneling for all your security needs, particularly if you have a lot of sensitive data you need to keep private. There is some debate around whether or not split tunneling weakens the overall encryption of your VPN and leaves you more vulnerable to hackers. This is plainly false.

Risks of split tunneling

Needless to say, there are a few risks of using VPN split tunneling, such as:

• Bypassing security measures, including proxy servers designed to keep your traffic secure.
• If it isn’t set up correctly or is not secure, it can leave room for hackers to access your information, which will also not be hidden from your ISP.
• Risking the security of a corporate system if your employee is using a less secure network.
• Employees could bypass permissions set up on your corporate network, meaning they could access blocked sites or suspicious downloads.
• Corporate IT teams would lose visibility on anything employees are doing, including using less secure networks or browsing forbidden sites on company time.

When you should use split tunneling

You should use VPN split tunneling if you want to protect sensitive data without sacrificing your internet speeds. If you’re happy to split your online activity between things you want to keep private and things you’re not worried about, then VPN split tunneling could work well for you.

Here are some examples of when VPN split tunneling can be really helpful:

• Having additional security without slowing down your internet is really important to a lot of people. It’s likely you’ll want extra security for certain things, such as online banking, email correspondence, or handling sensitive files. But you might be happy to sacrifice some level of privacy on more mundane online tasks in order to keep your internet speeds running smoothly. If that sounds like you, then VPN split tunneling can be a really good option.
• Living overseas can be tricky these days without a VPN. After all, VPNs can protect your computer against government spying, and they can bypass internet censorship if you’re living in a country that blocks a lot of online content, such as China or Saudi Arabia. They can also enable you to catch up on all your favorite TV shows from back home. The benefit of using VPN split tunneling here is that you can do all this without slowing down your other online activities.

How to use split tunneling

It’s usually really easy to enable split tunneling. All you need to do is go into the Settings or Options in your VPN and select Split tunneling. From there, it should give you options to manage your VPN connection on a per-app or per-URL basis. You can then choose which apps or sites you want to use the VPN and which you want to go through the open network. Here’s what the process looks like on NordVPN:

1. Go to the Settings and select Split tunneling
2. Then, turn on split tunneling and choose the connection type you need

3. You can then choose which apps will use the VPN and which will be on the open network.

How do you stop split tunneling?

Again, this is all very straightforward. Just go back to the Settings or Options in your VPN and disable split tunneling.

How do you test split tunneling?

A good way to test your VPN split tunneling is to try out some of the URLs or apps you selected to see if they pass through the VPN. You can do this by checking to see if you can still access region-restricted content or by looking up your IP address.

Split tunnel vs full tunnel

Full tunnel means using your VPN for all your traffic, whereas split tunneling means sending part of your traffic through a VPN and part of it through the open network. This means that full tunneling is more secure than split tunneling because it encrypts all your traffic rather than just some of it.

Of course, this does mean that full tunneling usually leads to slower speeds than split tunneling, as all your data needs to be encrypted. But it’s definitely the more secure option.

Which VPNs support split tunneling?

Luckily, lots of top-rated VPN providers offer split tunneling. Here are some of my favorites.

NordVPN split tunneling

NordVPN lets you enable split tunneling via its browser extension on Chrome, Edge, or Firefox. This makes it really easy to choose which websites you want to go through the VPN and which ones you want to go through the open network.

For more NordVPN features, see our NordVPN review.

Visit NordVPN

Surfshark split tunneling

Surfshark’s VPN split tunneling feature is called Bypasser and is really easy to use. It works on a per-app and per-URL basis, meaning you can add as many different apps and websites as you like to your split tunneling. So, you can easily access different countries' streaming libraries but also browse on your local websites.

Learn more in our in-depth Surfshark VPN review.

Visit Surfshark

PureVPN split tunneling

PureVPN also offers a straightforward VPN split tunneling solution. It has split tunneling features built into its Windows and Android apps as well as its Fire TV Stick and Android TV apps. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support Apple or Mac users.

For more PureVPN features, please check our PureVPN review.

Visit PureVPN

Conclusion

VPN split tunneling can be a really good way of keeping your sensitive data secure without slowing down your internet speeds. But inevitably, it does make your traffic less private than using a VPN for everything, as not all your online activity will be protected.

If online security is your main concern, you should probably steer clear of split tunneling and just use your VPN for all your traffic. But, if you don’t feel the need to encrypt absolutely everything you do and you just want a bit of added protection without compromising your load times, split tunneling is definitely worth a go. Whichever way you choose to go, I recommend NordVPN, as it has advanced security features and some of the highest speeds on the market.

FAQ