Microsoft Edge Secure Network: What can the free VPN really do?

One of the key features of a VPN is that it replaces your IP address with another. This is also the case with Edge Secure Network, where the established web infrastructure company Cloudflare takes care of the appropriate routing and assigns the user a new IP address. Unlike conventional VPN services, this cannot be changed manually.

So far, Microsoft has only said that Edge Secure Network will replace real geolocation with a “similar regional address”. According to this reading, this is a Cloudflare server in close proximity to the real location. Basically, this corresponds to the features of Cloudflare Warp, which may be used as a substructure. This is not a VPN in the classic definition, but from a technical point of view is more of a proxy that conceals the identity and origin of the user.

In its support document, Microsoft points out that “Cloudflare is committed to privacy and only collects a limited amount of diagnostic and support data, which is activated as Microsoft’s data subprocessor to provide the services”. According to the information, the company permanently deletes this information after 25 hours. From a technical point of view, this is fine as long as no usage behavior is tracked, but many VPN providers store less information (no-log policy). With the VPN solution from Microsoft, two providers collect your data at the same time.

According to the current state of knowledge, this is not possible with Edge Secure Network, since the provider always assigns an IP address that is close to the actual location. So if you want to access content from other countries, you are still better off with a paid VPN service.

On the other hand, blockages that come directly from the Internet provider can probably be largely avoided with Edge Secure Network. If your provider has blocked certain sites or services (keyword: torrents), these can most likely be made accessible again with Edge Secure Network.

After all, users can use the secure network free of charge after registration – but only until the data volume of 1 gigabyte per month has been used up. This is a bit cheap, other VPNs offer more. Microsoft has not yet announced further plans, but it can be assumed that the company will introduce paid tariffs with more data volume.

The Norwegian browser Opera based on Chromium comes closest to Microsoft’s approach with its integrated VPN. In view of the available traffic, Opera VPN represents an attractive alternative: the function is completely free and the data volume is unlimited. Users can also choose between three locations (Europe, Asia, North and South America), registration is not required. Like Edge Secure Network, it’s not a true VPN, but sort of an advanced proxy that protects browser-only connections.

Overall, it is therefore not surprising that Microsoft’s announcement did not cause any unrest in the VPN industry. When asked by COMPUTER BILD, Marijus Briedis, CTO at NordVPN, said: “At NordVPN […] one can not only choose the best location (country, city) from more than 5,400 servers, but also enjoy the threat protection feature that blocks malicious websites, malware, trackers and ads, monitors the dark web, split tunneling, onion over VPN, VPN Kill Switch and other features.”

Briedis goes on to point out that Edge only encrypts browser traffic, while NordVPN encrypts all internet traffic regardless of its type. His conclusion: “Therefore, I don’t see Edge Secure Network as a competitor for NordVPN, it’s a good additional security tool for the browser.”

Provider Surfshark takes a similar line and also emphasizes the fact that users have to log into a Microsoft account, which ultimately runs counter to anonymity.

If NordVPN shows you a lower discount, clear your browser cache or try again in incognito mode.

All in all, Microsoft Edge Secure Network offers Edge users access to a free VPN-like feature from a trusted company, which cannot be said for many other free offerings. With Cloudflare, Microsoft has a powerful partner on board who has the necessary technical infrastructure. It therefore remains to be seen how the company from Redmond (Washington State) will advance the topic of VPN. It is generally to be welcomed that Microsoft is improving privacy functions with Edge Secure Network. So far, however, Edge Secure Network is not a fully-fledged VPN in the narrower sense, and it lacks important features. In a direct comparison, Opera has so far had a much more sophisticated solution ready. If you are looking for a VPN with full features that also bypasses country blocks, you still cannot avoid a classic VPN service.