Am i safe downloading torrent vpn

P2P and BitTorrent, peers and seeders… If you’ve heard of these terms, there is no need to explain to you what torrenting is.

And, of course, you know that the use of torrents is a huge risk.

And what if I tell you that whenever you use torrents, you don’t only download a file but also share it? It makes the risk even bigger!

In this article, we will thoroughly study the most efficient way to protect oneself while torrenting – the use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

Get the Best VPN for Torrenting

We’ll delve into 3 questions:

1. What torrent VPNs are the best?
2. What is the right way to use a VPN with torrents?
3. What VPNs are dangerous to use while torrenting?

And the takeaway is that you’ll be able to choose a VPN for torrenting from either of two lists:

Copyright laws develop whether we want it or not. Something perfectly legal yesterday can cause a serious problem tomorrow.

It’s dangerous to open a torrent site without a VPN in many countries already. Just look at real Reddit posts about it:

However, it’s very easy to safeguard oneself. All you have to do is choose a VPN service, subscribe to it, and install its software. But you have to do it right.

Let’s discuss the topics of choosing and using a VPN in more detail.

The best torrent VPNs (March 2020 update)

What should a VPN for torrent users be?

To protect its user, a VPN should:

• Hide their network activity (the most important function);
• Mask their real location (hide an IP address and show an IP from another country instead);
• Not keep any logs (ensuring its after-use safety);
• Be torrenting-friendly (not all VPNs allow torrenting);
• Protect their IP if the connection to a VPN server fails (the Kill Switch technology is superbly important for anonymity).

It’s also preferable for a provider to have good speed, safe jurisdiction, good reputation, and enough positive reviews.

We’ll start with paid VPN services the characteristics of which take care of all the mentioned parameters (unlike those of free VPNs).

1. ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN combines the premium quality with great speeds, huge choice of torrenting-dedicated locations, an offshore jurisdiction and a high price.

This service is well-rounded and suits any sphere of use that requires privacy and security.

It is an experienced provider whose No-Logging policy has been proven. In 2017, TorrentFreak wrote about an investigation incident that involved ExpressVPN. That investigation had proved that this provider doesn’t keep any logs.

Features

• 100% hides the traffic from the internet service provider.
• Hides the addresses of the websites you visit.
• Has a kill switch.
• Affects all the apps on your device at once.
• Lets you choose separate apps to work without a VPN.
• Has the best 24/7 customer support.
• Supports all platforms.

Prices

ExpressVPN is a premium service with an average price which depends on the subscription length:

• $6.67 monthly at the 12-month subscription
• $9.99 monthly at the 6-month subscription
• $12.95 at the 1-month subscription

New customers get 3 extra months for free when subscribing for 1 year.

Accepted payment methods include:

• Credit cards
• PayPal
• Bitcoin and 11 more methods

The provider has a 30-day refund guarantee.

ExpressVPN’s price compared to other services.

(compared to the same-length subscriptions of the VPNs on our Top 5)

Test results

We have studied the performance of ExpressVPN with apps that use peer-to-peer (P2P) technology on all the platforms and confirm that using this software does indeed make any torrenting activity safe:

• Visiting torrenting websites
• Using torrent clients
• Using apps for viewing free video content (Popcorn Time, for example)
• File sharing

Learn more about ExpressVPN

100% protection of torrenting traffic on any platform. Up to 5 simultaneous device connections.

2. Nord VPN

NordVPN has all qualities for anonymous and safe torrenting. “No logging” policy, no IP leaking and 256-bit encryption.

Due to this fact that this provider is paid, you won’t have any doubt that the information about your online activity on the Internet is not collected or saved. This service doesn’t need it.

Why is NordVPN one of the best?

• Bypassing geo-restrictions
• The high level of server speeds (there are more than 5600+ in 60 countries)
• Unlimited traffic
• Safe jurisdiction in Panama, torrent-friendly
• Apps for all platforms (Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Linux)
• Kill switch, which allows preventing IP leaks during the reconnection to the Internet
• Additional protection from malicious websites and hacker attacks
• Total absence of the advertisement

Prices for services and the opportunity to use it for free:

The provider offers a 30-day money-back guarantee if you cancel the subscription.

So, Nord VPN gives you an opportunity to avoid risks of using torrents in each country. Moreover, you can set it up simultaneously on 6 devices using only one subscription.

Read NordVPN review

Panama jurisdiction, automatic kill switch, high speeds without traffic restrictions.

3. Surfshark

To my mind, I suggest you the most advantageous offer for torrenting – Surfshark VPN. It also has special servers for P2P and contains all the best features of VPNs in the field of security – no IP leaking, Kill Switch, “No logs” policy.

Here are the main features of Surfshark:

• Bypassing geo-restrictions
• High level of server speeds (there are more than 1000+ in 60 countries)
• Unlimited traffic
• Safe jurisdiction in an offshore zone
• Apps for all platforms (Windows, macOS, Android, iOS and Linux)
• Kill switch
• Whitelister. You can set up the connection so that all your apps or only your torrent client will work through VPN.
• Total absence of advertisement.

And all these features are available for one of the lowest prices on the market:

You can also refund your money during 30 days, if you wish.

If you are interested in torrenting for Android, you can also use a free trial version for 7 days.

Read Surfshark review

Get access to top torrent sites with Whitelister feature by Surfshark.

4. CyberGhost VPN

There are such kinds of VPNs that have special servers for P2P/Torrenting. The best one is CyberGhost VPN. This one is the most convenient and safe. If you use torrents through these servers, there won’t be any questions to you.

In other aspects, like NordVPN, it’s a large and professional provider with highly-developed infrastructure and apps for each platform:

• Bypassing geo-restrictions
• High level of server speeds (there are more than 5900 in 90 countries)
• Unlimited traffic
• Safe jurisdiction in Romania, torrent-friendly
• Apps for all platforms (Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Linux)
• Kill switch
• Smart rules. You can set up the connection so that all your apps or only a torrent client will work through VPN.
• Total absence of advertisement.

You can feel safe with CyberGhost VPN when you download the content from torrent-trackers. The price is quite affordable and you have an opportunity to refund your money during 45 days.

Prices:

• $2,75 per month ($99 for 3 years) + 2 extra months for free
• $3,69 per month ($88,56 for 2 years)
• $5,99 per month ($71,88 for 1 year)
• $12,99 per month with the subscription for 1 month

Read CyberGhost VPN review

5. ZenMate

ZenMate has fewer individual settings than previous VPNs and doesn’t provide an impressive choice of locations (30 countries available). It has, however, everything that is needed for torrenting and a 7-day free trial on all platforms.

ZenMate is the giant CyberGhost VPN’s “little brother” (they share Kape Technologies as their parent company, have intersecting infrastructures and similar software).

Like CyberGhost VPN, ZenMate has a distinctive feature: a list of servers specialized for torrenting in its PC and Mac apps.

ZenMate’s drawback is that it’s based in Germany.

Characteristics of ZenMate:

• Bypasses blocking;
• High speed of servers;
• Unlimited traffic;
• German jurisdiction (the 14 Eyes alliance);
• Apps for all platforms (Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Linux);
• Kill Switch;
• Smart rules;
• No ads.

Prices and free use:

• $2.22 per month ($39.96 for 1 year)
• $5.39 per month ($32.34 for 6 months)
• $10.99 per month

Apps for all OSs have a 7-day free trial period. You don’t need to enter your credit card information to activate it.

A refund is available within 30 days.

Learn more about ZenMate

Can you use a free VPN for torrenting?

Yes, you can. Both paid and free providers use the same basics of the Virtual Private Network technology.

However, just like in any other field, if there are paid and free versions of some service, there are going to be significant differences between them.

I will tell you about all those differences between paid and free VPNs in the next section. You’ll see for yourself if a free VPN suits you.

Why I don’t recommend such free VPN services for torrenting as Hola VPN and Hoxx VPN

You need to know that not every service that claims to be a VPN actually provides a Virtual Private Network. It is especially true for Android devices but is also sometimes present in software for Windows and macOS.

Such services offer either a proxy browser plugin or a browser with a built-in proxy plugin instead of a VPN.

Remember that a proxy, unless you enter it manually in your torrent client settings, is completely useless and won’t protect you.

Such VPN services are suitable only for web surfing and shouldn’t be used for torrenting.

Here’s a list of popular services that claim to be a ‘’VPN’’ but are not (or not fully) ones:

1. Hola VPN (proxy on all platforms)
2. Hoxx VPN (proxy on desktops)
3. Proxy Master (proxy)
4. Thunder VPN (proxy)

And that’s far from the full list of providers that are poorly suited for torrenting.

But you can read our list of VPN reviews with the best providers of 2020.

To see if a service is really a proxy, just install and run it. If it will install a browser extension or a new browser, then it’s a proxy beyond any doubt.

Free VPNs for torrents

There are two kinds of free VPNs that are not time-limited:

1. Freemium VPN (free + premium). This is the main type of a free VPN. It offers both paid and free subscriptions. There are certain limitations in the free one that I’ll talk about later.
2. 100% free VPN. There are very few of these ones. They are maintained by ads and provide service of the lowest quality possible. VPN Gate is an exception. It is funded by a Japanese university and promotes its own VPN protocol. It’s unsuitable for torrents because it uses computers of other users instead of regular servers.

Both types allow enciphered connection to a P2P network.

A Freemium VPN ensures good enough anonymity. Some even have a Kill Switch.

A fully free VPN doesn’t offer any software. To use it, you have to download third-party programs or set your OS up. Such VPNs don’t have a Kill Switch.

You will find the main differences between paid and free VPNs that matter for torrenting in the table:

Free & paid torrenting VPNs

There are freemium VPNs that have no traffic limits. Such providers, however, forbid the use of torrents.

You can see from the table that a Freemium VPN can be used for torrenting but only partially. It imposes a strict limitation on the traffic. In most cases, this limitation is around 0.5 – 1 Gb per month. Only Windscribe offers a 10 GB limit.

So, using a free VPN provider with torrents will lead to one or more issues:

• Speed drop;
• A significant limitation of traffic;
• Worse privacy protection and increasing risks;
• The inconvenience of use.

However, the use of a free VPN can be justified in some cases.

You can choose one of the five best free VPNs for torrenting from our list. Each of them is efficient and has been tested to qBittorent support.

1. Free Windscribe

The best free VPN provider for torrenting is Windscribe. It has an absolutely free plan with limited traffic from 2 to 15 Gb per month with the opportunity to choose from 10 countries.

The volume of traffic depends on the method of registration (2 Gb without using your e-mail, 10 Gb with using your e-mail and confirmation) and if you tweet Windscribe, you can get 15 Gb per month. It is the best rate in the market of free VPNs.

The tests showed stable and high-quality speeds for all 10 available locations.

When you use the Firewall function, you are additionally protected from IP leaking during the unexpected failure of an Internet connection:

The service claims about “No logs” policy and doesn’t use third-party services for collecting information about users.

Learn more about Windscribe VPN

2. Free hide.me

This VPN offers 2Gb of traffic monthly with the opportunity to choose from 5 locations for all platforms, except Linux. With the help of hide.me you can safely hide your IP and if you need it, you can unblock torrent websites.

I faced some difficulties with setting up its software on Windows 10. I had to reinstall the app several times and reload my computer. But there are no complaints in other aspects of the app work.

Learn more about Hide.me

3. Free TunnelBear

TunnelBear is considered as one of the best VPN providers. Its features help to cope with different tasks, including anonymous torrenting and unblocking of websites. Moreover, you can use it for free from 500 Mb to 1000 Mb per month without any speed restrictions and ads.

Beautifully designed animated apps offer to use the VPN on every platform.

You can register a few accounts on different e-mail addresses because TunnelBear doesn’t demand any credit cards for free plans.

Learn more about TunnelBear

4. FreeVPN.se

The only 100% free torrent-friendly VPN on our list is FreeVPN.se.

Pros of FreeVPN.se

• Unlimited traffic;
• 100% free;

Cons of FreeVPN.se:

• Keeps logs;
• Very slow (the speed we got while testing was no higher than 80 Kbps);
• Requires installation of a third-party VPN client;
• No Kill Switch;
• Only 2 locations are available for torrenting.

Learn more about FreeVPN.se

5. Kaspersky VPN for Torrenting

Another VPN service which has a free plan is Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection. But it has a traffic limit of about 200-300 Mb a day. The volume of traffic depends on the fact if you have an active account with Kaspersky antivirus software.

Unfortunately, you can’t choose the location. You are connected automatically.

Kaspersky VPN provides its users with a “No logs” policy and uses modern methods of data encryption that is why torrenting is safe with it.

FAQ

Once being created for easy and fast file-sharing, now torrenting is associated with such words as copyright infringement and piracy.

Still, I must say that after some research, I found out that technology itself is not banned, while one may share (intentionally or accidentally) content which is not legal to distribute it for free because of copyright abuse. 

If you are an active visitor of such torrent trackers as The Pirate Bay or took use of KickassTorrents which is longer ‘’alive’’, you should be aware of copyright trolls or ISPs tracking.

? How to use a VPN with torrents correctly?

There are some peculiarities of using a Virtual Private Network together with torrent apps. Unlike many other aspects of using a VPN, torrenting requires constant and impenetrable protection.

That’s why it’s so important to know certain rules of the VPN use.

Here are 5 rules to safely use a VPN service for torrenting:

1. Check the settings in advance to see:
   • if the Kill Switch is on (this feature is called the Network Lock in ExpressVPN);
   • if the auto-reconnection is on;
2. Always turn the VPN on before starting the torrent client.
3. Choose countries that are torrenting-friendly (countries that are not are going to be listed in the “Why and how do ISPs track torrent users’ activity?” section).
4. Check your IP address and DNS with any service such as ipleak.net, myip.com, etc.
5. Make sure that the VPN indicator is there on Android.

If you adhere to these simple rules, you will reliably hide your activities and location.

I’d like to elaborate on the importance of the Kill Switch use.

There are a few situations when a VPN doesn’t protect you for some time:

• Changing a VPN server (or location);
• Server issues;
• Unstable signal (on Wi-Fi or the mobile Internet);
• Changing a network (to another Wi-Fi or from Wi-Fi to 3(4)G and vice versa).

Even when the disconnection is very brief, the VPN tunnel breaks. After that, depending on your settings, the app will try or not to reconnect. In any case, while the tunnel is broken, your computer or mobile device isn’t protected.

Activating the Kill Switch beforehand will help you in such a situation. All your traffic (or only the traffic of certain apps, depending on what the VPN application can do) will be blocked until the VPN connection is restored.

This is especially useful while torrenting because devices in a P2P network exchange data almost constantly.

? Is using a VPN legal?

In all states but the UAE, China, Iran, Russia, and several other ones that censor the internet, using virtual private networks is perfectly legal. Moreover, millions of people use VPNs on a daily basis even in those countries.

The technology itself doesn’t use any forbidden methods. It has been in existence almost since the very start of the internet’s development and is indispensable for the operation of modern companies and even power structures.

? What should a VPN service for torrenting be?

The best fit for torrenting is such a VPN service that openly states that it allows torrenting activity. A good service has apps for the OSs or other platforms you require, a kill switch, and high speed. In some cases, the port forwarding function is of use because it can provide the visibility of the computer by the P2P network.

❔ Copyright trolls: who are they?

According to Wikipedia, Copyright troll is

… a party (person or company) that enforces copyrights it owns for purposes of making money through litigation, in a manner considered unduly aggressive or opportunistic, generally without producing or licensing the works it owns for paid distribution.

⚠ Why and how do ISPs track torrent users’ activity?

As the issue of torrenting is ambiguous and copyright infringement takes place on the torrent websites, Internet Service Providers may track or even block access to torrent trackers for users in some countries. Various techniques are applied to perform this, among them is DPI which is quite powerful to technology to ‘’look through’’ the torrent traffic.

Both copyright trolls and ISPs may pass the collected information to copyright owners or officers. Bad news for it is that in some countries you may get a warning letter or fine. Want to pay for anything that you probably didn’t do?

Take a look at the chart with legal issues in some countries:

Thus, the obvious reasons why to use a VPN for torrenting are:

1. ISPs, copyright trolls and authorities observe torrent users’ activities.
2. Torrent users may be accused of piracy and receive warning letters or fines.
3. A lot of mainstream torrent websites are blocked. You need a VPN simply to access them.