The best torrenting VPN in
Finding the best torrenting VPN can be tricky, as not every one of the best VPN services can actually do the job. And, alongside that, while torrenting is hugely useful for sharing files at great speed without relying on a centralized server, it also presents some unique risks that can only be remedied by a VPN.
Since P2P sharing opens you up to unknown and unknowable files from an often-faceless source, it's always best to use a safety net, and a dedicated torrenting VPN provides the security and anonymity necessary to protect your data and identity.
While it is a real risk, accidentally downloading incriminating pirated content isn’t the only danger of torrenting. When connected to a P2P network your online activity essentially becomes public knowledge, and anyone with the right tools can trace your activity back to you. Having a quality torrenting VPN active on your machine is the best way of ensuring no activity can be traced or used to identify you.
While of course we do not condone illegal torrenting, we understand this can be a grey area where protection is absolutely recommended.
What makes a great torrenting VPN?
The two most important things a torrenting VPN should provide are excellent security and good connection speeds. Features like a kill switch and split tunnelling are especially useful here, too.
Using a kill switch means your connection will be cut if your VPN fails (avoiding any unexpected leaks), and split tunneling allows you to route your torrent traffic through the VPN while letting other apps use an unprotected line.
Great speeds are useful for any VPN application, but when downloading from a torrent they’re especially important. If your download or upload speeds are at a crawl, then one of the greatest benefits of sharing P2P is negated. Plus, your Internet provider won't be able to tell you're torrenting at all – which means it can't selectively slow down, or 'throttle', your connection.
We rate ExpressVPN as the very best VPN for torrenting thanks to its blistering connections speeds and world-class security credentials. However, there are a number of other excellent options available, so read on to find out the five best torrenting VPNs on the market today.
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1. ExpressVPN – hands-down the best VPN available
ExpressVPN is simply the best torrenting VPN on the market. Every one of its 3,+ servers is P2P optimized, meaning you can get the absolute fastest download speeds whereever you are, whatever you're downloading. Plus, you'll get three months free through Tom's Guide.View Deal
The best torrenting VPNs you can get right now
ExpressVPN, simply put, is the top VPN out there right now – the fact it's also perfectly suited to torrenting is just a great bonus. Or, to look at it another way, this is the ideal torrenting VPN that offers everything else you'd require from your VPN.
A quality VPN for torrenting should have plenty of security features to keep you safe, and Express has these in spades. Not only does it have full torrenting support on every server, but it provides WebRTC leak protection, private DNS servers and Perfect Forward Secrecy, which uses a unique key every time you connect and every 60 minutes afterwards.
Beyond excellent privacy, ExpressVPN also provides blazing connection speeds – essential for any torrenting VPN. Connections to servers in your home country will stay relatively unaffected, and the wide server choice means you'll be able to pick from a whole host of overseas connections to make sure you stay up to speed.
Express boasts both a kill switch and split tunnelling, and combined with a strict policy of no activity or connection logs, it offers the most complete torrenting VPN package we've had the pleasure of testing.
However, as with any VPN, users can run into issues, and Express has got you covered with its 24/7 live chat support. In the unlikely event you'll need it, the helpful team will get you torrenting in a matter of minutes rather than hours
While ExpressVPN costs marginally more than some of its rivals, it's not worth scrimping on a torrenting VPN as there's often be a lot at stake – and if it's not for you, then there's a day money-back guarantee too.
Tom's Guide readers get 3 months free from ExpressVPN
Sign up for a full 12 months on ExpressVPN and you'll get 49% off the normal monthly price plus a free 3 months additional coverage. And don't forget, if you just want to give it a try with no obligation, there's a day money back guarantee in place that you can rely upon without any quibbles.
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CyberGhost is a fantastic VPN for torrenting, and while it's packed with features, it still remains nice and simple to use. From the get-go you'll be able to tell torrenting is a priority, as the VPN will automatically configure itself to deliver the best torrenting experience.
That mean you don't have to fuss around with protocols or testing servers randomly to try and find the best P2P performance – CyberGhost knows what you want to do, and it'll make it happen. It even has a great big 'Torrent Anonymously' button to make the whole process entirely idiot-proof. There's also a clear no logging policy, a reliable kill switch and split tunnelling available, as you'd expect.
A specialized feature we'd like to see in every torrenting VPN is CyberGhost's App Protection. Essentially, this means you can configure the VPN to automatically connect to a server of your choice when you launch a particular app. In practice, the app in question will be your torrent client, and once you've set that up you won't even need to open CyberGhost to get protected.
One of the few downsides is the slightly crude apps, but while it doesn't offer such a well-rounded experience as ExpressVPN, CyberGhost is a fantastic specialised torrenting VPN.
Private Internet Access offers plenty of servers, all of which support P2P torrenting, and like any good torrenting VPN there are no bandwidth restrictions whatsoever – but PIA also offers a couple of features not seen in your garden-variety VPN.
Port forwarding allows the VPN to redirect connections around a NAT firewall, and this ensures you torrenting speeds stay as fast as possible. Alongside that you'll also get the requisite kill switch and split tunnelling to further optimise your P2P experience.
On the performance front, PIA delivers great connections speeds and in our testing we didn't experience any dropped connections or failures to connect. As well as that, when using servers further away from our location, speeds stayed stable and worked perfectly well.
Alongside a zero-log policy, PIA offers an industry-standard day money-back guarantee and serviceable live-chat support. While it's not a slick as some others, PIA is a good-value torrenting VPN that runs on plenty of devices and will keep you safe.
Sign up on the Private Internet Access website now.
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