When a VPN is up and running, most people don’t think about what’s happening behind the scenes. You press connect, the app shows you’re protected, and that’s it. But for anyone responsible for running a VPN business — or troubleshooting VPN-related issues — knowing how data moves across networks is critical.
This is where a tool like traceroute comes into play. It can help you spot latency problems, route loops, or firewall blocks. But how does it behave when a VPN is involved? That’s where things get tricky.
This article breaks down exactly how traceroute VPN testing works, where it fails, and what you can learn from it. Especially if you’re running your own white label VPN solution.
What Is Traceroute?
Traceroute is a simple diagnostic tool that shows you the path data takes from your device to a target server. It reveals each “hop” along the way — typically a router or switch — along with how long each step takes.
It works by sending packets with increasing Time-To-Live (TTL) values. Each hop along the way reduces the TTL by 1, and when it hits zero, the router sends back an error. That error message includes the router’s IP address. Stack enough of those together, and you’ve got a map of the full journey.
On Windows, you’d use the command:
tracert example.com
On Linux or macOS:
traceroute example.com
What Happens When You Run Traceroute Through a VPN?
Once you connect to a VPN, your traffic is encrypted and sent through a VPN tunnel to the VPN server. That server decrypts the data and passes it along to the destination website or service. In traceroute terms, that changes what you see.
Here’s what’s typical when you run traceroute through VPN:
- The first hop is your local gateway/router.
- The next visible hop is often the VPN server’s public IP.
- After that, you might see some external internet hops — or nothing at all.
That’s because the VPN tunnel hides your traffic’s original route. All the packets are wrapped and sent straight to the VPN server, meaning the path to that server is now invisible to standard traceroute commands.
This is where the term “traceroute VPN tunnel” becomes relevant. You’re only seeing what’s outside the tunnel — not inside it.
Why Traceroute May Not Work While Ping Does?
A common frustration: can ping host through VPN but cannot traceroute.
This usually throws people off. The target is reachable. The ping replies work fine. But traceroute gets stuck, drops packets, or doesn’t show anything after a certain point.
Why?
- Ping uses ICMP echo requests and responses — which most devices allow.
- Traceroute often uses either ICMP or UDP packets with low TTLs.
- VPNs or routers in the middle may block those packets (especially if they look suspicious or malformed).
Some firewall configurations drop ICMP packets entirely. Others may allow ping but drop UDP or ICMP Time Exceeded responses — both of which are required for traceroute to work properly.
Bottom line: It’s totally normal to be able to ping a server and still have traceroute fail.
Can Traceroute Trace a VPN Source?
No — not really.
If you’re asking: can traceroute trace VPN source, the answer is no in most situations.
When a VPN connection is active, your traffic is encrypted and rerouted. The source IP becomes the VPN server’s IP, not your device’s real IP. Traceroute (and other tools) only see what’s publicly visible from the VPN’s side — not what’s behind it.
This is by design. The entire purpose of a VPN is to obscure the origin of the request.
You might be able to identify that someone is using a VPN (for example, by noticing traffic coming from a known VPN IP range), but you cannot trace back to the real IP through a traceroute.
AWS VPN Traceroute Considerations
Running traceroute over an AWS VPN connection introduces even more complexity.
AWS VPN services — whether site-to-site or client VPN — often block or mask traceroute traffic beyond the first few hops. This is due to:
- Routing policies
- Network ACLs
- VPN endpoint configuration
- NAT gateways stripping headers
In a typical AWS VPN traceroute, you’ll see your side of the VPN tunnel and then… nothing. Or at best, the destination IP — without any hops in between.
To debug these paths, you’ll need cloud-native tools like AWS VPC Flow Logs or CloudWatch metrics instead of relying on traditional traceroute behavior.
What About Traceroute on Android?
Running traceroute VPN Android tests is possible but less straightforward.
Android doesn’t come with built-in traceroute support, but you can install third-party tools like:
- PingTools
- Termux + traceroute package
- NetAnalyzer
These apps allow you to run traceroute even when connected to a VPN, though the output is still subject to the same visibility limits as on desktop.
Expect the results to stop at the VPN server, especially if you’re using OpenVPN or WireGuard, which suppress ICMP traffic as a default behavior.
Can You Traceroute Through a VPN? (Yes, but…)
This is a commonly asked question: Can you traceroute through a VPN?
Yes — technically you can run the command while connected to a VPN. But whether it gives you meaningful results is a different story.
Traceroute:
- Will show the VPN server as one of the first hops
- May not show the route beyond the VPN tunnel (depending on the protocol)
- Won’t expose the real internal route between your device and the VPN server
If your goal is diagnostics, traceroute can still tell you if something’s breaking after your VPN server. But if you’re trying to see where your traffic goes between you and the VPN node — traceroute won’t help.
How Useful Is Traceroute for VPN Diagnostics?
For day-to-day users? Not very.
For VPN operators, support teams, and IT managers? Still useful — in the right context.
Here’s when traceroute helps:
- Determining if your VPN server is reachable from a user’s location
- Spotting drops after exit nodes
- Identifying CDN-level blocks (e.g., Cloudflare or Akamai)
But keep in mind:
- Results can be inconsistent across ISPs and devices
- Some protocols (like WireGuard) don’t respond to TTL-limited packets at all
- Hop responses can be delayed or dropped — making the path look broken even if it works
To get deeper insights, use advanced tools like mtr, tcpdump, or server-side logging.
How Do You Route a VPN Through a Router?
Now let’s flip the scenario.
If you want all your devices — phones, TVs, laptops — to route through a VPN without installing apps individually, you can configure your router to act as a VPN client.
This is called routing VPN through a router.
Steps:
- Choose a router that supports VPN (many ASUS and OpenWRT-based models do)
- Install your VPN provider’s .ovpn config file
- Set up credentials and test the tunnel
Once that’s running, everything connected to your Wi-Fi is routed through the VPN.
Traceroute from any device behind that router will now show:
- Your local IP as the first hop
- The VPN server IP (maybe)
- Then destination
The internal path to the VPN tunnel is hidden just like before.
PureVPN White Label: Provide VPN Services Under Your Brand
If you’re running a VPN-based product or want to offer secure browsing to your customers, you need more than just diagnostics. You need the full platform.
That’s exactly what PureVPN’s White Label VPN solution offers.
We handle the backend — infrastructure, maintenance, encryption protocols, global servers — and you get:
- Branded VPN apps for desktop and mobile
- Access control, usage analytics, and admin dashboard
- Ability to set your own pricing and user base
- Full privacy features: no-logs, DNS leak protection, kill switch, and more
- Multi-protocol support: OpenVPN, IKEv2, WireGuard
Traceroute tests are just one part of maintaining a VPN. PureVPN White Label gives you a complete business-ready platform, with the reliability to match.
Whether you’re launching a cybersecurity product, adding value to an existing SaaS, or creating a passive income stream — this solution gives you a real product, under your brand, with zero dev work.
Final Thoughts
Traceroute is an old but still useful tool. When paired with VPNs, it becomes less transparent — and that’s okay. VPNs are designed to protect data, hide paths, and prevent traceability.
But for VPN operators, white label providers, and business owners offering VPN services, knowing how traceroute behaves helps you answer support questions, detect failures, and set user expectations.
Use traceroute for what it’s good at. But build your service on something built to last.
PureVPN White Label. Your VPN. Our tech.