VPN basics · Plain-English answer
A double VPN, also called multi-hop, routes your traffic through two VPN servers instead of one, encrypting it at each step. The second server never sees your real IP address and the first never sees your final destination. It adds a layer of separation at the cost of noticeably slower speeds.
In a standard VPN connection, one server knows both your real IP address and the sites you visit. A double VPN splits that knowledge. Your traffic goes to server one, which forwards it to server two, which sends it to the internet. Server one sees your IP but not your destinations, and server two sees your destinations but not your IP.
The extra hop and extra encryption both cost performance, so multi-hop connections are noticeably slower than single-server ones.
For most people, honestly, no. If your provider genuinely keeps no logs, a single hop already means there is no stored record linking you to your activity, and a second hop within the same company does not change what that company could theoretically observe.
Multi-hop appeals most to people with elevated risk, such as those worried about a specific server or its host country being monitored. If your threat model is that serious, routing through the Tor network is a stronger option, and ROOT VPN offers Tor-over-VPN servers for exactly that layered approach.
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