Anonymiz has been building free privacy tools since 2013. Over 12 million links anonymized. Zero logs stored. Zero accounts required. Privacy should be a default, not a premium feature.
In 2013, we were sharing a link in a private conversation and something bothered us. After the recipient clicked it, the destination site’s analytics showed exactly where they came from: the specific forum thread, the exact topic being discussed. That was not a data breach or a hack. That was the web working exactly as designed. Every link click automatically sends a Referer HTTP header to the destination — revealing the full URL you clicked from, including any search terms, community names, or private thread topics in that URL.
We looked for a tool that would simply strip that header before the click reached its destination. Nothing existed that was free, fast, required no account, and left no logs. So we built one. That tool became the Anonymiz Dereferer, and it has now processed over 12 million links for users who wanted the same thing we did: to click a link without handing the destination a map of where they came from.
What started as a single tool grew as we kept finding the same pattern: basic privacy protections that should exist by default, don’t. Most users have no idea their browser leaks their real IP through WebRTC even with a VPN active. Most users don’t know their DNS queries expose every domain they visit to their ISP even over HTTPS. Most users have never seen their browser’s fingerprint — a combination of 18+ configuration values unique enough to track them across every site they visit without a single cookie. We built tools to show people what is actually leaking, and to fix it.
Anonymiz is built by a small team of developers and privacy researchers who have been working in web privacy and security since the early 2010s. Our background is in web development, network security, and applied cryptography — not marketing or growth hacking. We have no investors, no advertising partnerships, and no business model that depends on user data. The site is funded by voluntary support from users and a small amount of affiliate revenue from privacy tools we genuinely recommend after testing them ourselves.
Our data studies — the ones cited in our blog posts — are conducted by our own team using real traffic samples, with methodology documented in each post. When we say we tested 12 VPNs for DNS leaks, we ran those tests ourselves using automated probes across 1,000 sessions per VPN over 30 days. When we say 68% of browsers fail the WebRTC leak check, that figure comes from our own anonymized aggregate data from users who ran our test. We do not source statistics from press releases or third-party reports.
Every statistic on Anonymiz comes from one of three sources:
Over 110 free privacy and security tools across six categories, all running entirely in your browser with no server-side data retention:
Privacy is a technical problem, not just a policy problem. Terms of service and privacy policies are not privacy protection — they are promises that can be broken and that most users never read. Real privacy protection is implemented in the code: data that is never collected cannot be subpoenaed, breached, or sold. Every Anonymiz tool is designed so that the most sensitive data — what you search, what sites you visit, what links you click — never reaches our servers in the first place.
Transparency beats trust claims. “We don’t log” is a claim you have no way to verify. We design tools where the architecture itself makes logging impossible or pointless. Our Dereferer only ever sees the destination URL — not who is clicking, not what page they came from. That is not a policy choice; it is an architectural one.
Privacy tools should work for non-experts. We build for the person who heard about VPN DNS leaks and wants to check if their VPN is actually leaking — not for someone who already knows what a STUN server is.
All leak tests and analysis tools run entirely client-side in JavaScript. No data is sent to our servers during the test. When you run the WebRTC Leak Test, your browser performs the STUN request directly. When you check your Privacy Score, all 8 checks happen in your browser tab.
The Dereferer is the exception where server contact is necessary by design: to strip the referrer header, the redirect must pass through our server (which sets Referrer-Policy: no-referrer before forwarding). Our server sees the destination URL only. It does not log IP addresses, timestamps, or session data.
We built these tools because we wanted them to exist. Making them free was not a strategic decision — it was the point. Privacy tools that cost money create a two-tier system where privacy is a luxury. The site covers costs through voluntary user support and affiliate recommendations for tools we have tested ourselves. No advertising, no data brokering, no sponsored placements. We have turned down acquisition offers that would have required compromising on the zero-log policy.
No. Leak tests run in your browser. The Dereferer logs no IPs, no timestamps, no referring URLs. There is nothing to hand over in a data request because there is nothing stored.
Voluntary user support and affiliate commissions from privacy tools we recommend after testing. We do not run ads. We do not sell data. We have not had investors requiring us to monetize users.
Some components are. We open-source our leak test implementations so the community can verify they work as described.
We only recommend tools we have tested ourselves against our own WebRTC and DNS leak tests. We earn a commission if you sign up, but we have rejected partnerships with services that failed our tests.
Use our contact page. We respond to every legitimate message, usually within 48 hours.