Provider-neutral self-test pilot
Bitdefender ships its VPN in two versions, and the standard one carries limits that decide what a leak test can show at all: 200 MB of traffic per device per day, and a server chosen automatically with no possibility of changing it. On top of that, which features you have depends on the protocol you selected and the platform you are on. Read the result as a description of this browser on this connection rather than as an assessment of the service.
Live test
On Bitdefender's standard version the server is chosen for you and traffic is capped at 200 MB per device per day, so a reading taken after the cap describes your ordinary connection.
Current-session checks
Take one reading before connecting and one after, and establish which version and which protocol you are on first, because both change what the other lines can mean.
Before you read the result
The points below come from Bitdefender's own consumer support pages for the VPN and from its published note on the platform audit.
Bitdefender documents the standard version as offering 200 MB of daily traffic per device and connecting you automatically to the optimal server, without the possibility of changing it. Two things follow for these checks. The exit location is not yours to choose, so comparing it against an intended country proves nothing. And a reading taken once the daily allowance has run out describes your ordinary connection.
Bitdefender documents the Internet Kill Switch as stopping all internet traffic if the VPN connection is briefly lost. It is the setting behind most surprising addresses on this provider, and its state is worth confirming before and after a test rather than assumed, because the interface does not report what happened while you were not looking.
Bitdefender documents split tunnelling as letting you select applications and websites to bypass the VPN and access the internet directly. A browser, or one individual site, placed on that list will report your own address. That list is the first explanation to rule out when a check disagrees with what the application's own status says.
Bitdefender publishes a per-platform list of features limited by protocol. On Windows, split tunnelling for websites, the ad blocker, the anti-tracker and double-hop are limited on WireGuard and on OpenVPN. On macOS the same set is limited on WireGuard. On Android local network access joins that list. On iOS the limits apply to WireGuard and IPSec. A feature that seems not to be working may be unavailable on the protocol in use.
Bitdefender documents App Traffic Optimizer as prioritising internet traffic for a maximum of three applications, and as available only on Windows. Separately it publishes that in November 2022 the Pango Group engaged Aon Cyber Solutions for a privacy-focused security assessment of the Catapult Hydra source code and Partner VPN platform. That describes the platform behind the service, not your session.
Between the readings
Bitdefender documents an Internet Kill Switch that stops all internet traffic if the connection is briefly lost. The word briefly is doing real work there, and a recorded drop is what turns it into a number.
Safe Copy exports use safe summary categories and remove raw IP, exact city, full user-agent, raw fingerprint data, raw resolver IPs and WebRTC candidates. It is not a certificate, provider audit, or proof of anonymity.
FAQ
Bitdefender documents the standard version as connecting you automatically to the optimal server without the possibility of changing it. Comparing the exit location against an intended country is therefore not a meaningful check on that version.
Bitdefender documents 200 MB of daily traffic per device on the standard version. A check run after that allowance has been spent will describe your ordinary connection rather than the tunnel.
Bitdefender documents it as stopping all internet traffic if the VPN connection is briefly lost. It is the first setting to confirm when a check reports an address you did not expect.
Check split tunnelling. Bitdefender documents it as letting you select applications and websites to bypass the VPN and reach the internet directly, so a browser or a single site on that list behaves exactly as configured.
Bitdefender publishes a per-platform list of features limited by protocol. On Windows the ad blocker, anti-tracker, website split tunnelling and double-hop are limited on WireGuard and OpenVPN, and the equivalent limits differ on macOS, Android and iOS.
Bitdefender publishes that in November 2022 the Pango Group engaged Aon Cyber Solutions for a privacy-focused security assessment of the Catapult Hydra source code and Partner VPN platform. That covers the platform rather than your session.