Do I Actually Need a VPN?
Tap each location to set how often you connect there. Everything below recalculates live — no submit button.
Each location carries its own contribution to the final score. As you cycle through the four frequency levels, the halo grows, that location’s contribution changes immediately, and every result below updates without a separate calculation step.
Your details
A few more inputs that change the math underneath.
Two of these toggles change the calculation in opposite directions. Switching on “handle sensitive work data” adds weight only because a leaked session would actually cost something for that profile. Switching on “password manager + 2FA already on” subtracts weight immediately — the Risk Score drops the moment you flip it, since that single habit closes more measurable exposure than anything else on this page. Streaming and torrent stay outside the Risk Score entirely and only feed the separate Value Score below, which is why toggling them never moves the Risk Pill.
Risk vs. Value
Each pill has its own purpose: one always reflects exposure, the other only reflects optional convenience features. Keeping them separate lets both numbers move independently as different inputs change, instead of collapsing into a single blended score. The bar breakdown underneath shows exactly which input contributed how many points, the “Biggest weak spot” line names the single largest contributor by itself, and the “Why this result” checklist below it lists the two or three specific factors actually driving your current score.
One Change Challenge
Instead of changing every input at once, this section isolates one improvement at a time. Selecting either chip builds a preview version of your profile — one with hygiene turned on, or one with public wifi dropped to zero — recalculates it separately from your real inputs, and reports the exact point difference between your actual Risk Score and that preview. Nothing here changes your live profile; “Reset preview” clears it back to a neutral state.
Exposure value vs. subscription cost
Location, country, and device weights behind the Risk Score are editorial estimates based on common cybersecurity guidance, not a measured probability for any individual. “Exposure value avoided” extends that same estimate into a dollar comparison — your Risk Score scaled against a typical editorial figure for the time and hassle of resolving a privacy or account-security incident, then discounted by an assumed VPN mitigation effect. It’s a comparison tool, not a prediction of what will happen to you.
Every month extends the cumulative comparison, letting both lines grow independently until they either intersect or stay apart for the full year. The teal line is exposure value avoided; the dashed line is simply the monthly budget added up. Where teal crosses above dashed marks the month the chart considers the subscription recovered, shown as a dot with a vertical guide line; when the two lines never cross within twelve months, the “Crossover” field below reads “Beyond 12 months” instead of forcing a date. The verdict in the next section also factors in device count, sensitivity, and torrent use directly, so this chart is read alongside those inputs rather than treated as the deciding number on its own.
Your verdict
Only one of the three cards above stays fully lit; the other two stay visible but display a single italic line explaining why they weren’t selected, generated from the same thresholds that picked the active one. Device count, Risk Score, Value Score, and torrent use all participate in that selection together, which is why two people with a similar Risk Score can still land on different cards once their device count or torrent habits differ. The persona line underneath restates that same combination in one sentence rather than introducing any new criteria.