---
title: "Nym vs VPNs, Tor, I2P, and E2EE"
description: "How the Nym Network compares to traditional VPNs, Tor, I2P, and end-to-end encryption in terms of privacy guarantees, metadata protection, and threat models."
schemaType: "TechArticle"
section: "Network"
lastUpdated: "2026-03-15"
---

# Nym vs Other Systems

There are several existing approaches to network privacy, each with different assumptions about who the adversary is and what they can do.

## Nym vs VPNs

A traditional VPN creates an encrypted tunnel between your device and a VPN server, hiding your IP from destination websites and encrypting traffic from local observers like your ISP. The fundamental limitation is that the VPN provider itself sees all your traffic (every site you visit, when you visit it, how long you stay) and can log this voluntarily or be compelled to by legal process, with your payment information linking your account directly to your activity.

Nym's dVPN mode splits this trust across two independent operators so that the Entry Gateway knows your IP but not your destination, the Exit Gateway knows your destination but not your IP, and neither can build a complete picture. Payment is handled through [zk-nyms](/network/cryptography/zk-nym), making subscriptions unlinkable to activity.

Nym's mixnet mode goes further by adding timing obfuscation and cover traffic, which no traditional VPN offers; see [Mixnet Mode](/network/mixnet-mode) for details.

## Nym vs Tor

[Tor](https://www.torproject.org/) is the best-known anonymous overlay network, routing traffic through three relays using Onion encryption so that no single relay sees both source and destination. It was designed in an era when global passive adversaries were considered unrealistic, and its [architecture](https://2019.www.torproject.org/about/overview.html.en) reflects that: packets flow through without delays and there is no cover traffic, which means an adversary watching both ends of a circuit can try and correlate timing to deanonymise users.

Nym's mixnet addresses this by adding random delays at each Mix Node to break timing correlations, cover traffic so observers can't tell when real communication is occurring, per-packet routing rather than Tor's per-session circuits (so there's no long-lived path to observe), and a blockchain-based topology instead of Tor's centralised directory authority.

The tradeoff is latency: Tor is faster because it doesn't add mixing delays, so it may be a better fit for general browsing where timing protection isn't needed. Nym's mixnet is designed for threat models where the adversary can perform traffic analysis.

## Nym vs I2P

[I2P](https://geti2p.net/) replaces Tor's centralised directory authority with a [distributed hash table](https://geti2p.net/en/docs/how/network-database), which improves decentralisation but introduces its own attack surface: DHT-based routing is vulnerable to eclipse attacks and Sybil attacks on the routing table. Like Tor, I2P provides no timing protection, so packets flow without delays or cover traffic.

Nym uses a blockchain-based topology registry rather than a DHT, which avoids the known attack vectors around DHT-based routing (e.g. eclipse attacks, Sybil attacks on the routing table). The mixing and cover traffic on top of that address the timing analysis gap that I2P shares with Tor.

## Nym vs end-to-end encryption

End-to-end encryption systems like [Signal](https://signal.org/docs/) encrypt messages on your device so that only the recipient can decrypt them, and the server never sees the content. But E2EE does nothing for metadata: the server still sees who you communicate with, when, how often, and how much, which on its own is enough to map relationships and infer sensitive activity.

Nym and E2EE are complementary: E2EE protects message content, Nym protects the metadata around it (who, when, how much). Using Signal over the Nym mixnet, for instance, would protect both message content and the communication metadata around it.

For a practical breakdown of when to use dVPN vs Mixnet mode, see [Choosing a Mode](/network/overview/choosing-a-mode).

## Further reading

- [What is WireGuard?](https://nym.com/blog/what-is-wireguard-vpn)
- [VPN Tunnels Explained](https://nym.com/blog/vpn-tunnels)
- [Tor Project: How Tor Works](https://2019.www.torproject.org/about/overview.html.en)
- [Tor Protocol Specification](https://spec.torproject.org/tor-spec/)
- [I2P: How It Works](https://geti2p.net/en/docs/how/tech-intro)
