When you torrent, software such as uTorrent, BitTorent, Vuze, Popcorn Time etc does not hide your IP address. For this reason, copyright infringement agencies can monitor torrent swarms and easily obtain IP addresses of torrenters.
As a matter of fact, literally anyone can now access the full list of torrent files downloaded by a specific IP address. I Know What You Download is a huge free database where you can enter an IP address that is of interest to you and get a complete torrenting download history in 1 click! Your friends or relatives could use the website to check which files you download, assuming they know your residential IP address.
Additionally, certain ISPs actively monitor torrent traffic and shut down Internet access for torrenting users.
While having your Internet cut off is surely an inconvenience, it is not a big deal comparing to the hefty fines that some torrenters reported. The fines for illegal downloads range from a few hundred dollars to about $1,000,000. Even fines, however, are not as bleak as some pirates getting arrested, while also facing a felony sentence of up to three years in the federal prison, albeit a small percentage of torrenting users are that unlucky with their illegal downloads.
Anonymous no logs VPN is a perfect tool to hide your IP address from being exposed when you torrent. However, certain VPN services explicitly prohibit torrenting mainly because they start receiving DMCA complaints from their hosting providers. If VPN providers do not comply with the law and don’t stop torrenting on their servers, hosting companies shut down the service. As a result, all the other users connected to the affected servers suffer as well. So while it’s important for a VPN provider to be okay with BitTorrent, of course, it’s critical that they also choose to host their servers with the hosting companies that don’t mind it either.
It is also equally important for the best VPN services to have servers that are specifically optimized for torrenting. Secure torrenting servers offer excellent upload and download speeds, while also providing top-notch performance, security and reliability.
As a result, the best VPN services managed to do a great job in this respect and optimized their network for the best torrenting performance. The list below includes some of the best VPN providers for torrenting that ensure excellent download speeds, a reliable service, no logs privacy policy for maximum anonymity, DNS leak protection and a kill switch.
ANNUAL PRICE: 3.49 USD/mo
MONTHLY PRICE: 11.95 USD
Panama based NordVPN is one of the best security oriented VPN companies with amazingly fast infrastructure. NordVPN offers over 5,000 servers in 62 countries, dedicated & shared IP types, and 6 simultaneous logins. NordVPN has a Smart Play technology offering an encrypted connection to access geo-restricted content on Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, BBC iPlayer and similar services. NordVPN implemented a strict no logs privacy policy, offers double data encryption, obfuscation tools and other advanced security features. Their custom apps run on system startup include Kill Switch feature and DNS leak resolver to protect the user from unexpected data leaks. To read a full NordVPN review and get an annual discount click HERE.
ANNUAL PRICE: 2.19 USD/mo
MONTHLY PRICE: 11.95 USD
PIA is a leading no logs VPN provider with a massive amount of servers (over 3,000) that deliver excellent speeds and a very reliable service. PIA VPN does a great job protecting users’ privacy from surveillance, cyber attacks and other online threats. PIA offers an easy to install VPN app for all devices with advanced features that secure VPN connection from unexpected data leaks. For faster streaming and torrenting PIA software offers switching between different connection types and ports. To read a full PIA review click HERE.
ANNUAL PRICE: 1.32 USD/mo
MONTHLY PRICE: 10.95 USD
Hong Kong based PureVPN is a proud owner of a massive 2,000 servers network in over 140 countries with over 60 server locations specifically optimized for torrenting. PureVPN is a fast and reliable VPN provider with exclusive streaming servers to unblock Netflix, Hulu and similar services. PureVPN online gaming VPN servers are dedicated for gamers’ traffic only. Low ping offered by optimized PureVPN servers make it possible for gaming and streaming users to enjoy entertainment with the fastest load time. Secure PureVPN infrastructure is protected behind NAT Firewall. PureVPN offers custom apps for all devices, while desktop apps have a built-in Kill Switch feature that guards the users from unencrypted data leaks when the internet connection drops. To read a full PureVPN review click HERE.
ANNUAL PRICE: 6.67 USD/mo
MONTHLY PRICE: 12.95 USD
ExpressVPN has one of the largest and fastest infrastructures with over 2,000 servers in 94 countries. Ultra fast ExpressVPN network supports gigabit Internet connection which makes it a perfect choice for ultra high speed streaming and torrenting. Besides, ExpressVPN aligns itself as one of the Internet’s leading advocates for net neutrality, for a democratic and open internet. Considering they have a no logs policy, accept Bitcoin and are located on the Caribbean Island, they are a great choice for privacy oriented customers who want to protect their data from surveillance, bypass censorship and access restricted materials. To read a full ExpressVPN review click HERE.
ANNUAL PRICE: 1.99 USD/mo
MONTHLY PRICE: 8.88 USD
Since Trust.Zone is a VPN service launched by one of the largest torrenting websites ExtraTorrent (now shut down), it’s no wonder they are one of the best providers for p2p file sharing. No logs Trust.Zone is a Seychelles based VPN service with user privacy as their foremost priority. Trust.Zone VPN apps have DNS, WebRTC leaks protection and kill switch for maximum torrenting security. To read a full Trust.Zone review click HERE.
ANNUAL PRICE: 2.50 USD/mo
MONTHLY PRICE: 12.99 USD
Romania based CyberGhost is a no logs VPN provider with over 3,500 high speed VPN servers. CyberGhost offers streaming servers to unblock Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer as well as secure torrenting servers. For faster streaming and torrenting CyberGhost VPN allows switching between TCP/UDP protocols. VPN provider offers desktop and mobile apps with built-in advanced security features such as automatic kill switch, DNS & IP leaks, anti-fingerprinting and tracking protection, an ad-blocker and anti-malware. To read a full CyberGhost review click HERE.
ANNUAL PRICE: 4.49 USD/mo [promocode]
MONTHLY PRICE: 8.99 USD
Offering over 3,000 servers in 50 countries, all mainstream protocols and 5 simultaneous connections, TorGuard rightfully earned its place as a top VPN provider. No logs TorGuard offers a reliable, fast and secure VPN connection. Their SOCKS5 proxy is an excellent feature for high speed multimedia streaming and torrenting as it integrates with the main BitTorrent applications. TorGuard native apps offer advanced security features to ensure no data leaks, even when the connection drops. TorGuard’s StealthVPN protocol is an effective tool to bypass strict firewalls and VPN blocking. To read a full TorGuard HERE.
ANNUAL PRICE: 6.49 USD/mo
MONTHLY PRICE: 10 USD
IPVanish is a no logs VPN provider with a global servers infrastructure secured behind NAT Firewall. IPVanish offers native apps for desktop and mobile clients and allows 10 simultaneous connections. IPVanish servers are specifically optimized for streaming and gaming which ensures excellent download speeds and low ping times. IPvanish software protects users from unexpected data leaks and offers a number of advanced features especially useful for torrenting. To read a full IPVanish review click HERE.
ANNUAL PRICE: 4.50 EUR/mo
MONTHLY PRICE: 7 EUR
AirVPN is an Italian VPN provider created by privacy activists whose main goal is data protection. AirVPN has over 200 servers in 23 countries that have Perfect Forward Secrecy through Diffie-Hellman key exchange DHE. Essentially key negotiation is performed every 60 minutes to avoid data breach if the key is compromised. AirVPN offers OpenVPN dynamic port forwarding on 80 TCP/UDP, 443 TCP/UDP and 53 TCP/UDP. Additionally, AirVPN offers OpenVPN over SSH and OpenVPN over SSL that mask OpenVPN and make the use of encryption tools invisible to some of the most advanced firewalls. To read a full AirVPN review click HERE.
ANNUAL PRICE: 4.99 USD/mo
MONTHLY PRICE: 9.95 USD
Based in Malaysia, Hide.me is one the most secure and fastest VPN providers offering ultra fast VPN servers that provide gigabit Internet connection. Hide.Me VPN is extremely reliable and very fast which makes it a perfect choice for security oriented users who would like to enjoy uninterrupted streaming and browsing experience. Hide.Me offers incredibly convenient custom apps for all devices with a number of advanced security features for maximum protection. Hide.me is a no logs company that has custom software with a built-in protection against IP and data leaks, obfuscation tools to bypass strict firewalls, dynamic TCP/UDP port-forwarding (UPnP) and SOCKS5 proxy that is especially useful for torrenting. To read a full Hide.me review click HERE.
ANNUAL PRICE: 1.75 USD/mo
MONTHLY PRICE: 11.99 USD
ZenMate is a no logs privacy oriented VPN provider with a number of built-in security features for advanced protection from cybercrime and various IP leaks. ZenMate has over 1,000 ultra fast VPN servers that are great for streaming (including Netflix), torrenting and gaming since the infrastructure is optimized for low ping times and virtually eliminates lag. ZenMate Premium software for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android is lightweight, efficient and reliable – it takes about 2 seconds to disconnect from one VPN server and connect to another. ZenMate simply never disconnects! To read a full ZenMate review click HERE.
Why You Need VPN for Torrenting
When you torrent, everyone can see your real IP address. VPN encrypts and forwards your traffic through a secure VPN server anywhere in the world. VPN essentially changes your real IP address to a new IP address that belongs to a VPN service. With VPN running, neither your ISP nor piracy trolls can see your true identity.
Additionally, some ISPs selectively throttle torrenting traffic (or ports). Anonymous VPN can bypass speed throttling as well since your ISP can no longer differentiate torrenting traffic from the other kinds of traffic, like normal browsing. As a result, you may get better upload and download speeds comparing to your regular Internet connection.
Which VPN is the Best for Torrenting
The best VPN for torrenting implemented privacy and security features that protect torrenting users’ IP from being exposed, while also offering ultra fast p2p upload and download speeds.
The best torrenting VPN has a no logs privacy policy. No logging policy ensures that DMCA cannot request a torrenting user’s real IP address.
Custom software with DNS leak protection works to protect from accidental IP leaks. DNS leaks are a threat because the VPN may be providing a false sense of security, while your real IP address is leaking and accessible to anti-piracy agencies.
Kill switch is another extremely important feature for torrenting VPN users. Kill switch binds your Internet connection to an anonymous IP address assigned by a VPN server. By actively monitoring and blocking Internet access using your real IP address, kill switch safeguards you from unexpected IP leaks.
For example, it normally takes anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds to switch between VPN servers or to reconnect to a VPN when your VPN connection drops for whatever reason. It is also possible that your VPN may disconnect completely without warning (I mean, shit happens!). During this time frame, your torrenting software continues downloading the file over unencrypted Internet, thereby, exposing your real IP address.
Should the VPN connection drop, the kill switch will immediately shut down your Internet access until VPN is up and running again. Once secure VPN connection reestablishes, kill switch will allow your device to connect to the Internet again and return to a passive monitoring mode. Torrenting clients will automatically resume downloads via secure channels as well.
Which VPN Server to Choose for Torrenting
For some inexplicable reason, certain VPN users suggest that you need to connect to a VPN server that is outside of the hostile jurisdiction towards torrenting. While it may seem like a good idea, it doesn’t really matter, assuming the VPN provider allows torrenting on that server.
The reality is that the best VPN services for torrenting generally have a list of VPN servers where torrenting is allowed. These torrenting VPN servers are also commonly located outside of hostile territories for the reasons we mentioned in the beginning of our article.
So it is best to follow the instructions of a specific VPN service. To achieve the performance and speed, however, we suggest that you pick a torrenting server that is in close proximity to your real location.
Is Torrenting Illegal?
Even though torrenting is most definitely illegal in most parts of the world, it many places it is, nevertheless, possible to torrent safely without legal issues.
However, a number of countries introduced strong anti-piracy laws where torrenting without a VPN may lead to fines, lawsuits and even jail time. We recommend that you use a VPN if you plan on torrenting in the following countries:
- USA
- Canada
- Australia
- New Zealand
- United Kingdom
- Ireland
- Germany
- France
- Sweden
- Denmark
- Finland
- Belgium
- Netherlands
- South Africa
- Japan
- Hong Kong
UK, Europe, Australia and other governments introduced Mandatory Data Retention laws that force Internet Service Providers to collect and store online activity of its users. When subpoenaed, ISPs must disclose IP addresses of the customers who were involved with illegal activities, including torrenting.
While there are countries with more lenient copyright law enforcement agencies, strict copyright enforcement is very common in European countries (France HADOPI law) and the United States (Copyright Alert System). The consequences can range from harmless notices to penalties and lawsuits.
Free VPN for Torrenting
If you are looking to get a torrenting VPN that allows high speed downloads and unlimited data, free VPN is simply not an option. If you are willing to compromise, there are limited free VPN services that throttle the speed and/or cap the amount of data.
Completely free VPN services that run on ads do not allow torrenting on their servers. Completely free VPN providers, additionally, have security risks as well as suffer from IP leaks which defeats the purpose of setting up a VPN in the first place.
We have a whole article dedicated to free VPN for torrenting where we recommend only a few VPN services that can be trusted to provide enough security for safe torrenting. However, the monthly data limit will allow downloading only a few movies per month.
If you are on budget, we recommend purchasing a VPN when the service offers a deal. We regularly track and post active VPN discounts on our Best VPN Deals page.
Port Forwarding VPN to Speed Up Torrenting
I was using free VPN services for years, but apparently they don’t work for torrenting. I tried so many and I actually thought some of them worked, but later realized they don’t because I kept receiving copyright alerts. Most of the issues were very slow speeds or torrenting not allowed at all, constant disconnects, IP leaks etc. After I got my fifth copyright alert from Comcast, I realized I needed to get a real protection or else I’m going to lose my Internet forever lol. I’m writing this comment simply to give advice to fellow torrent users. You do need to get a paid VPN if you are located in a country with strict copyright laws! Free proxies and VPNs don’t work. I’m now with NordVPN that I bought during a sale. I’m extremely happy with their service, the speed, the apps and the fact that I know I don’t have to install yet another questionable VPN app on my PC. I really think paying $3 a month is more that worth it. I no longer have to be constantly annoyed that my new shitty VPN doesn’t work, too slow, doesn’t protect me at all or sells my data for profit. Researching and trying to find a working alternative takes a lot of time. Reinstalling bad VPN programs on your PC is so exhausting. NordVPN is the best $3 a month that I ever spent.
I chose PIA because my friend told me their apps have a kill switch. Using them for 6 months, I pirate content daily, mostly new releases and not a single piracy notice. I also get pretty good speeds most of the time. So I definitely recommend PIA. And like others mentioned here, free VPNs don’t work for torrenting.
I use NordVPN because it’s one the cheapest and most recommended VPN. This is my first VPN so I don’t have any previous experience to compare, but I find that it doesn’t affect my speed at all and doesn’t disconnect. I don’t know what else I should expect from a VPN, I use it primarily to torrent. So I can give NordVPN 5 stars based on what I need from it.
I wanted to find a VPN for a reasonable price so I too chose NordVPN based on online reviews. Torrenting speed is good. Been using it for 2 months.
I didn’t want to pay for a VPN because I thought if I wanted to pay for movies I wouldn’t be pirating. So I kept pirating without a VPN until I got my first piracy warning from ISP. Then I tried free VPNs, but no matter how many of them I tried, they all failed to provide an adequate level of service. I mean they were so bad, impossible to use. The speed was extremely slow, the apps freezing, it could take a week to download a simple movie. So I gave up and decided to stop pirating. That was until I realized that if I wanted to access all the movies paying for 1 or 2 subscriptions wasn’t going to be enough. And even if I paid for a few, I’d still end up pirating at least a few movies. But most importantly, it would cost me A LOT more than getting a cheap VPN. This is how I sucked it up and I bought PIA for like $35/year. And to be perfectly honest I now realize I should have done so a long time ago. I’m really happy with my choice. PIA doesn’t log, doesn’t forward piracy warnings, it’s fast and reliable. I even get a sense of some sort of extra security after I started using PIA.
Is Nordvpn really that good? I need a provider for torrenting, many reviews suggest Nordvpn. I mean it’s cheap but is it really that good?
The best VPN to torrent must be a no logs VPN. PIA proved they don’t log when FBI requested logs and they couldn’t provide identifiable info. I am a proud PIA user, I think they are the best.
I used free Windscribe and free Siga and all I can say is I’d rather pay a few dollars for a VPN. Download speed was so slow, upload speed was zero. I’m now with NordVPN. It’s really cheap and really fast.
I was getting really bad speed when on VPN and very good speed without a VPN. I contacted PIA and they suggested that my ISP could be throttling specific ports that OpenVPN uses. So I tweaked VPN settings to reroute all VPN traffic through port 443 and the magic happened! My VPN speed was as good as my normal speed. Very happy with PIA support and service in general.
HideMyAss banned my account for torrenting and refused to give a refund. Anyone can recommend a good VPN for torrents?
I’ve been using ExpressVPN for years, and not only for torrenting. They are more expensive, but I find that they also offer a higher quality of service. I torrent with Popcorn Time mainly (it’s a streaming app that uses p2p protocol to stream movies) and ExpressVPN gives me the fastest download speeds. I see a lot recommend cheaper VPNs which I suppose makes sense if you only need it to torrent and want to save money, maybe those work alright. But I still think ExpressVPN is superior overall. I use it all the time and I think it’s the best.
If you don’t want to receive copyright notices, you need to activate kill switch. I use NordVPN and they have this option. I wasn’t using it before and I thought I was protected, but one day I saw that utorrent was downloading a file and my VPN was off. So I contacted NordVPN support and they told me that I should activate kill switch to avoid this issue in the future. Kill switch will shut down torrenting in cases when your VPN deactivates. Without kill switch utorrent will continue download over unsecured Internet connection.
I cannot access torrent websites without a VPN, they are being censored by my ISP. Which VPN should I use to bypass censorship?
I highly recommend that you don’t download torrents with free VPN. I personally received a notice from DMCA when I used free VPN. I have a friend who received a notice from DMCA with a paid VPN because he didn’t read their terms and privacy policy and didn’t know they log IP addresses. You should read their policy before choosing any VPN because some providers may forward you DMCA notice on behalf of the agency and ban your account. And provide your real IP address to authorities. You need to be really careful when choosing a VPN. As far as I can tell this article included only VPN providers that do not log and good for torrenting in reality. I’m personally using NordVPN and I highly recommend it.
Do you know any free VPNs that can be used for torrenting?
TPB doesn’t work where I live, torrents are illegal too. I’m using VPN to access TPB and to download p2p content. It’s actually much easier to use than I thought and the speeds are excellent.
Nordvpn is amazing. I don’t know why you’d need to pay more for a VPN. I’ve been torrenting with Nordvpn for several months already and the funny thing is that sometimes I get better speeds with VPN running than my normal Internet connection speed. I was told this is because VPN providers don’t throttle specific traffic (like ISPs do) and generally have better routes. So sometimes you see better speeds with VPN. Anyway, I’m a very satisfied Nordvpn customer so I can recommend it for torrents.
I was using a free proxy for torrents because I thought it worked just like vpn. Proxy is NOT a vpn and worthless for torrenting. Today I received a piracy warning from ISP. Then I read on reddit that proxy is not good. I have just bought NordVPN. Hopefully it will work.
My school completely blocks torrents which means I can’t torrent or seed while I’m there. How do I get past this restriction? Can I use vpn at school?
I just wanted vpn to torrent and I’m on a very tight budget. That’s why I bought PIA because it’s like really cheap and everyone recommends it. I couldn’t find any reliable torrenting vpn for less anyway. So far I like download speeds.
I recently moved to Germany, you can get a fine here if you torrent. Therefore I got NordVPN. I’ve read that activating a kill switch is necessary to avoid IP leaks. So I activated it and never start deluge without VPN. I’ve been using NordVPN here for 3mo, I can only say that I experienced no issues. My download speed with VPN is about 50Mbps when my normal speed is about 70Mbps.
Nordvpn is a great recommendation! It has everything one needs to torrent. The speeds are great, the apps are easy to use, the interface is nice, all kinds of options including a kill switch. Their pricing is very attractive if you buy a long term subscription. I’m a long time Nordvpn user so I definitely recommend it.
I used coupon code on cryptmode and bought TorGuard for $29 per year. I’m really happy with their service and torrenting speeds. Thanks for the recommendation.
I couldn’t find a good free vpn for torrenting so I was looking for a cheap one. I got Nordvpn deal on cryptmode for $2.99/mo. I only signed up, but I confirm the deal is legit and VPN works like it should. I will update later if I like it or not.
My ISP is throttling and blocking a lot of stuff including gaming, torrenting, streaming etc. My friend is using NordVPN for years, recommended that I should try. So I did. My Internet speed is so much better now, I can play games no issues whatsoever. I can access thepiratebay website, I can download all kinds of torrents. NordVPN saved me a lot of money on endless subscriptions to endless services. I’m really happy I found out about VPN.
I got 3 piracy warnings from my ISP so I had to either stop torrenting or hide my torrenting activities. I decided it was cheaper to get a VPN than pay for movies. Obviously I wasn’t going to pay more than $5/mo so I bought PureVPN on Christmas sale for pennies. I’ve only been using it for a few days, but I like that the connection is stable and the speed is good.
I was looking for an unlimited budget VPN to torrent heavily. After reading a lot of reviews and background info I decided to buy NordVPN 3 year deal when they had a Black Friday sale. I’m happy to report that it’s working really well for me and does everything that it’s expected to. So I can surely endorse NordVPN as a great no logging VPN for torrents.
My school doesn’t allow torrents and blocks most ports. That’s why most websites don’t work and most vpns don’t connect. PIA review said it had a port forwarding setting so I bought it and I works. I now use PIA all the time at school to bypass filtering. My torrent speeds are almost the same as the regular speed at school and admins don’t know I torrent. PIA is great!
I personally need a VPN for torrenting with unlimited bandwidth. I torrent a lot of movies and I cannot torrent them with free VPN because it’s quite slow (takes 6 days to download a movie). I would like to do it faster. Can anyone here help?
I bought ExpressVPN to avoid the dreaded piracy notices from my ISP. Been using it for years now, it works properly. As my subscription was coming to an end, I decided to check if maybe there were other options. Now looking at the best VPN for torrenting ranking I still stand by my choice and will be renewing ExpressVPN again. I think it’s the fastest and most reliable VPN provider on the market. They don’t log, their network is very fast, the apps are updated regularly, the apps are light. I don’t have issues with VPN disconnecting or slower than normal speed. Overall an excellent VPN provider and should be ranked #1 everywhere IMO.
PureVPN user here. I was torn between Pure and PIA, but chose Pure because it has split tunneling feature. I only want to use VPN for torrenting and not use it for browsing. And split tunneling does exactly this. Other than that based on my knowledge both providers are about the same in terms of quality.
I got my first copyright infringement notice so I had to buy a VPN. My criteria was the cheapest possible and fast enough. It seems NordVPN is recommended by a lot of users and one of the cheapest VPNs. I’m not sure if the more expensive providers are better but NordVPN is performing quite well for torrent downloads. I’ve only had it for a week so I’m not sure if that’s enough time to draw a conclusion.
CyberGhost free plan doesn’t allow torrents on any of the free servers. I almost wrote an angry comment that CyberGhost claims to allows torrents, but doesn’t allow them actually. And the speeds on their free servers are bad too. I then talked to their support, they told me that if I bought premium plan I’d get fast speeds and p2p servers. They offered me a test account for 1 week, it’s soooo much better. The speeds are virtually no different from what I get normally and torrents download fast. I can recommend CyberGhost paid account if you want to torrent. The free service is just too bad for daily use, but that’s expected I guess.
I heard about Nordvpn that they didn’t log user data and are good for online security. I got Nordvpn for a hugely discounted price which was pretty awesome. Tried it, it works, my speed is not affected much. Their mobile apps are not too good though.
I actually think ExpressVPN is a lot better. Although the price is a little premium and it has flaws too. I have issues with overloaded servers once in a while and some websites block IPs. So if you can afford I’d recommend Express.
Oh, great list you have. I see my vpn here on your list. Anyways, I’d love to recommend NordVPN. So far I did’nt expect it to be so good, but to be true I really enjoy my torrenting because of it, feels like no one can stop me. Haha