Is Windscribe safe without a published no-logs audit?
Privacy and jurisdiction 4.0/10 and security 5.4/10 (segment medians 2.7 and 2.1). No red flag in our data. Independent no-logs audit: Not stated.
In 10 seconds
- RAM-only servers
- Open-source apps
- Kill switch
- Stores session times
- Jurisdiction in 5 Eyes
Privacy
- Jurisdiction
- Canada, 5 Eyes
- Legal entity
- Windscribe Limited
- No-logs policy
- Yes no historical logs
- Independent no-logs audit
- Not stated
- Data retention
- payment transaction IDs 30 days; bandwidth 30 days; inactive accounts pruned
- Shared with third parties
- payment processors only
- Trackers on the website
- no third-party (self-hosted Piwik)
What the privacy policy says is collected
Red ✕: collected. Green ✓: not collected. Grey: the policy does not say.
- Email✕ Yes
- IP at sign-upNot stated
- Connection IP✓ No
- Session times✕ Yes
- Bandwidth✕ Yes
- Device info✕ Yes
- App analyticsNot stated
- Crash reportsNot stated
Security
- Kill switch
- Yes (yes (Firewall))
- DNS leak protection
- Yes (yes (firewall blocks leaks))
- Security audits
- audit article linked
- Open-source apps
- Yes GitHub linked
- Two-factor sign-in
- Not stated
Mostly, yes, with one gap worth knowing before you sign up. Windscribe's privacy policy is tight where it counts: no source IP stored, no historical session logs, email optional at sign-up, and payment by cash or crypto accepted. What weakens the picture is the absence of any published independent audit of that policy, plus the Canadian registration inside the Five Eyes alliance. That combination explains the 4.0 out of 10 privacy score despite the clean policy text.
Windscribe Limited, Ontario law and the Five Eyes problem
Windscribe Limited is registered in Ontario and headquartered in Toronto. Canadian authorities can serve the company orders, and as a Five Eyes member Canada shares intelligence with the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, so the alliance criterion costs it the full two points.
Windscribe's defence is structural. When a request arrives, its stated answer is that no historical logs exist. A transparency report is published, showing what requests the company received. A warrant canary, the silent signal a provider can display if a gag order lands, is not recorded in our site data, so treat that protection as unconfirmed.
The privacy policy line by line
| Data item | What the policy says | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Optional | Not stated | |
| Connection source IP | Not stored | — |
| Session time | Held in RAM only | Ends with the session |
| Last activity | Timestamp kept | Not stated |
| Bandwidth | Byte counter | 30 days |
| Payment transaction IDs | Kept | 30 days |
| Website visits | User-agent, language, resolution, first 3 IP octets in self-hosted Piwik, no third-party trackers | Not stated |
| Sharing | Payment processors only | — |
The counter exists to enforce data caps on free and Build-A-Plan accounts, and it is what a court order could actually reach. The kept last-activity timestamp is why a point is lost: it marks when an account was active, even without an IP attached. Inactive accounts get pruned, and the policy was last updated on 30 July 2024.
Does the free plan put you at more risk?
Not really. The terms of service list bandwidth and locations as the only differences between the free tier and Pro, so the same privacy policy covers both. Sign-up needs no email, phone or ID check; you log in with a username and a password, not an anonymous account number, which costs half a privacy point. One mistake people make is treating the browser extension as a VPN: for Chrome, Firefox and Edge it works as a proxy with fingerprint protection, leaving every other app outside the tunnel. Install the desktop or mobile app for full-device coverage.
Protections inside the apps and the gaps
| Protection | Status |
|---|---|
| Kill switch (Firewall) | Yes |
| DNS leak protection | Yes |
| WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2 (6 protocols total) | Yes |
| RAM-only servers | Yes |
| Open-source apps on GitHub | Yes |
| R.O.B.E.R.T. ad and malware blocker, own DNS (Control D) | Yes |
| Split tunnelling | Yes |
| Static IP and port forwarding | Yes, as add-ons |
| Security audit, two-factor sign-in, bug bounty, multi-hop, post-quantum | Not published |
On café Wi-Fi the Firewall is the feature that matters: if the tunnel drops, it blocks traffic instead of letting it escape over your real address. RAM-only servers limit what a seized or rebooted machine could reveal, and anyone can inspect the clients' code on GitHub.
Where the 4.09 comes from
Security lands at 5.4 versus a median of 2.1 for consumer VPNs, earned by the kill switch, DNS leak protection, WireGuard, RAM-only servers and open-source apps; privacy sits at 4.0 against a median of 2.7. The losses sit where outside confirmation is absent. The missing independent no-logs audit (0 of 3 points) is the single largest loss, and the Five Eyes alliance removes the next block. On the security side, Windscribe does not publish a code audit, two-factor sign-in, a bug bounty, multi-hop or post-quantum encryption, which together cost 6 of the 14 security points (6.5 with perfect forward secrecy also unaccounted). Censorship bypass scores 0.5 of 10, since the sources name only a Telegram channel as a fallback and no stealth protocol. Overall it ranks 32nd with no red flags in the data.
Windscribe safety questions
Can the police get my browsing history from Windscribe?
By its own policy, nothing historical exists to hand over: no source IP, no session log past the RAM. An order could reach your chosen email, the payment records held for 30 days and the byte counter.
Can I use Windscribe without revealing my identity?
Mostly. Choose a username, skip the optional email, pay through "Buy with Cash" or with cryptocurrency.
Is the browser extension as safe as the app?
No. It proxies browser traffic only. Anything outside the browser is untouched.
Is Windscribe safe on Android and iPhone?
Yes. The iOS and Android apps are open source and fall under the same privacy policy as the desktop builds.
Should you trust Windscribe?
For hotel Wi-Fi, keeping your ISP out of your browsing, or a no-cost tier that doesn't harvest data, Windscribe holds up: the policy, the protocols and the sign-up options all point the right way. If you need a no-logs promise someone outside the company has verified, start with VPN services with an audited no-logs policy instead. Compare the free tier in the free VPN ranking, and check the official privacy policy before relying on it.