Is Mullvad Leaking Your Real IP?
First, the quick question: does your traffic leave through Mullvad’s network at all? Then the full test checks IPv4, IPv6, DNS, WebRTC and geolocation - the five channels that can expose you while the app still reports a healthy connection.
Reads your IPv4 and IPv6 addresses from ipify, then looks up the network behind each one via ip-api.com. Your addresses are not stored.
🧪 Our lab also connects to Mullvad every six hours - 235 cycles measured so far.
Mullvad, measured on a schedule
Our measurement stand connects to Mullvad through a server in NL every six hours and runs the same battery each time, from one rented server in a datacentre (Kamatera, Toronto). Each figure is the median of 235 cycles.
Last 30 days: Time to connect moved from 10.5 s to 8 s (-24%) against the week before. (2 changes in all.) The timeline
- “Flagged as a proxy” is ip-api.com’s classification of the exit address. Sites that block VPNs use lists like it; which sites use this one is not something we measure.
- The stand left through 22 different exit addresses over those cycles.
- The datacentre line is much faster than a home connection, so the speed is the ceiling this provider delivered to one client, not what you will see at home. The test at the top of this page measures your own connection.
- These figures come from our stand only. They are never mixed with results visitors share on the results database.
🧪 Method, and every provider we measure ⚖️ ProtonVPN vs Mullvad Last cycle aggregated 1 hour ago.
What This Test Tells You About Mullvad
Mullvad is unusual on two counts relevant to leak testing. It actually supports IPv6 rather than merely blocking it, and its lockdown mode blocks traffic whenever the VPN is not connected. Accounts are random numbers with no email address attached.
The result you see above measures your own connection, right now - your device, your operating system, your version of the app and the server you happen to be on. It is not a verdict on Mullvad as a product, and it is not a lab benchmark. Leak behaviour varies enormously between platforms and client versions, which is precisely why measuring your own setup beats reading anyone’s provider ranking.
Supported protocols: WireGuard, OpenVPN
Mullvad Settings That Affect Leak Results
Before concluding anything from a failed row, check these: a setting can be the explanation, and it is quicker to rule out than a defect.
| Setting | Where to find it | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Always require VPN | Settings → VPN settings | Lockdown mode. Blocks all traffic whenever the tunnel is down, including at boot. |
| Enable IPv6 | Settings → VPN settings → Advanced | Carries IPv6 inside the tunnel instead of blocking it. |
| DNS content blocking | Settings → DNS | Optional filtering of ads, trackers and malware at the resolver level. |
| Custom DNS | Settings → DNS | Overrides Mullvad’s resolver. A stale entry here is the usual cause of an unexpected DNS result. |
| Quantum-resistant tunnel | Settings → VPN settings | Adds post-quantum key exchange to WireGuard. No effect on leak behaviour; slightly slower handshake. |
Settings as described in Mullvad’s own apps and help pages. Menus move between app versions - check yours. If a control is not where this table says, search the app’s settings for the nearest equivalent term rather than assuming the feature is absent.
Common Mullvad Leak Scenarios
An IPv6 address appears in the results
With Mullvad this may be correct. If IPv6 is enabled, check whether the address belongs to Mullvad - a tunnelled IPv6 address is a pass, not a leak.
No internet before the app starts
That is lockdown mode working as intended. It blocks traffic until the tunnel is up.
Unexpected DNS resolver
Check the Custom DNS field and the content-blocking level, both of which change which resolver answers.
How to Read Your Results
Expand any row to see the raw values. The single most reliable way to interpret an ambiguous result is to run the test twice - once with Mullvad disconnected, once connected. Any address or resolver identical across both runs is travelling outside the tunnel.
- IPv4: the ISP and organisation fields should name Mullvad or its hosting partners, not your home ISP.
- DNS: resolvers should sit in the same network as your Mullvad exit. Your ISP’s name, or a public resolver such as
1.1.1.1, means your lookups are leaving the tunnel - even if you chose that resolver deliberately, this test reports it as a leak. - WebRTC: a
192.168.x.xor10.x.x.xaddress is your local network and harmless. A public address differing from your exit IP is a real leak. - IPv6: either nothing at all, or an address on VPN or hosting infrastructure. One on your ISP’s network while IPv4 goes through Mullvad escaped the tunnel.
- Geolocation: your browser timezone should be on the same continent as the exit. A mismatch does not expose your IP, but it tells a site the address is not where you are.
Why a Connected VPN Can Still Leak
The word “connected” in any VPN client describes one thing: the IPv4 tunnel came up. It says nothing about DNS resolution, IPv6 routing or WebRTC, each of which uses a different part of the operating system and can bypass the tunnel independently. A client that fails to capture them will still display a green badge.
This is why single-number IP checkers are misleading. They query one endpoint over IPv4, see the VPN’s address, and report success - while DNS queries go to your ISP and your IPv6 prefix identifies your household to every site that supports it.
Re-test after anything that touches the network stack: a client update, an OS upgrade, a protocol change or a new server. Those are the moments when leak protection regresses, and a regression produces no visible symptom at all - which is the entire problem.
🧰 Test Mullvad Further
The tests run in your browser. Where one needs to know whose network an address is on, our server looks it up and keeps no address. Nothing is stored unless you choose to share the result.
📚 Read next
The longer version: what this test is looking for, and what to do with the answer.
Mullvad Leak Test - FAQ
Provider-specific questions about Mullvad, its settings, and what a failed check actually means.
Does Mullvad support IPv6?
Yes. Mullvad carries IPv6 inside the tunnel when you enable it under Advanced settings. The practical consequence for this test is that an IPv6 address in your results is not automatically a leak - check whether the address belongs to Mullvad before treating it as a failure.
What is Mullvad’s lockdown mode?
It is called “Always require VPN”, and it blocks all internet traffic whenever the tunnel is not connected - including at boot and during reconnection. This is stricter than a conventional kill switch, which only reacts after an established connection drops, and it removes the startup exposure window entirely.
Why does Mullvad not ask for an email address?
By design. Signing up generates a random account number and nothing else, so there is no email, name or payment identity linked to your traffic. They accept cash sent by post for the same reason. It is a data-minimisation stance rather than a technical leak protection, but it means a subpoena finds far less to hand over.
Is Mullvad’s flat pricing a downside?
It is a fixed monthly rate with no long-term contracts or discount tiers, which makes it more expensive than heavily discounted two-year plans elsewhere. In exchange there is no renewal price jump. For leak behaviour specifically, pricing is irrelevant - what matters is the lockdown mode and IPv6 handling above.
How do I test Mullvad for leaks?
Connect to Mullvad as you normally would, then run the test at the top of this page. It checks IPv4, IPv6, DNS, WebRTC and geolocation consistency in a single pass. For a definitive reading, run it once disconnected and once connected - any address or resolver that stays the same across both runs never entered the tunnel.
Do you store my Mullvad test results?
Not unless you ask us to. The checks run in your browser - only the lookup of which network an address belongs to goes through our server, which keeps no address - and by default the results exist only in the page in front of you; closing the tab discards them. After a test you can tick a box to share the result anonymously for our public VPN database; it is off by default. When you do share, we store the outcome, your VPN provider, the exit network, country and city, your browser and OS family, and where your visit came from - never your IP address. The privacy page lists every field.
Is this page affiliated with Mullvad?
No. VPNMeter is independent and this page is not endorsed by or connected to Mullvad. We describe settings you can verify in the app yourself, and the test measures your own connection rather than reporting results from a lab; our lab also measures Mullvad, and its figures are shown separately above. Provider and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.