Torrent download vpn

This speed drop happened because Hotspot Shield throttles speeds for free users to encourage them to switch to the high-speed paid plan. When I checked the privacy policy, I was also concerned to find that Hotspot Shield logs a substantial amount of user data. The logs include your general geographic location, device information, non-identifiable data from the domains you visit, and VPN timestamps. Fortunately, Hotspot Shield requires no sign-up information to use the service. Torrent anonymously with Hotspot Shield.

This range of servers makes it easy to find a local connection, minimizing speed loss and keeping torrent times as short as possible. I found TunnelBear had reasonably fast download speeds on its global servers. This is normal, as distance always causes some slowdown. I ran tests on multiple TunnelBear servers and found my data was secure with every connection.

TunnelBear also has a TCP Override feature, which creates a more stable connection if your internet is unreliable. This function can stabilize your connection while torrenting, to ensure your files download without interruptions.

You may be concerned that TunnelBear is based in Canada — a 5-Eyes alliance member. That said, TunnelBear has been independently audited multiple times to verify it never logs user data — it would have no records to share with authorities in the first place.

Unfortunately, TunnelBear only provides MB of data per month for free users. This is a tiny amount of data — running a single speed test used almost MB of data alone. The process is easy, and took me less than 5 minutes to set up and get connected. Torrent anonymously with TunnelBear. I was surprised to find hide. Its military-grade AES bit encryption, bit RSA keys, and leak protection are always active when connected, creating a secure tunnel for torrent activity.

I ran multiple leak tests and found my data was private and secure. Since hide. I configured hide. I was happy to see that hide. Impressively, hide. As hide. This is because the physical distance increases the time it takes for data to be sent and received, slowing your speed. The only downside is that hide. The subscription lasts for 30 days at a time, but you can renew as many times as you want, so hide. Torrent anonymously with hide. Here is a list of the criteria I used to test over 50 free VPNs and rank them based on how well they performed:.

Based on extensive testing, ExpressVPN is the top choice for anonymous torrenting overall. It has no data caps or server restrictions, plus its entire global network supports P2P file-sharing, so you can torrent anonymously wherever you are. These are safe, reliable free VPNs that are actually limited versions of high-quality premium providers. Freemium VPNs are like trial versions of the paid products , supported by paying customers to try and entice you to upgrade. These have the same high-level security as their premium counterparts but come with limitations, usually to speed and data.

Fully free VPNs rely on third-party advertisers for revenue , which means they could be logging your data and online activity to sell for profit. Worse still, some shady free services are loaded with malware designed to steal your information, so you could experience identity theft or fraud. Using a completely free VPN poses a risk to your privacy and device security. Data logging and poor encryption mean you could be targeted by ads, attacked by malware, or even found liable for torrenting copyrighted content.

During my research and testing, I found these 3 services that you should avoid at all costs:. The free VPNs listed above have guaranteed security and privacy, so you can torrent anonymously. Note: None of the free VPNs on this list support port-forwarding. This means that you cannot seed or upload torrents while connected to these VPNs, as this would assign you a port and make you easily identifiable — stopping you from torrenting anonymously. Not all free VPNs are ready to start torrenting anonymously as soon as you download them to your device.

Here are a few key settings and configurations you should use to ensure you get maximum security and anonymity while P2P file-sharing. A kill switch is a feature that blocks your access to the internet if the VPN server connection is lost or interrupted.

Even worse, random groups are now creating giant databases of torrenting activity, which is linked up with IP address, available for anyone to see. This information is logged, published online, and available for everyone to see :. Thanks to websites such as these, it is easier than ever for copyright attorneys and media companies to target you.

If you are using a good VPN service that effectively secures your connection, then torrenting with a VPN is indeed safe. In fact, it is much safer than torrenting without a VPN service. If you want blanket protection for all devices on your network, you may also want to consider using a VPN router. This allows you to protect everything on the network without having to install VPN software on each device.

Free VPNs are also regularly in the news for unscrupulous activities. Here are a few of the dangers when using a free VPN for torrenting:. Additionally, most free VPNs also do not allow torrenting on their network. For example, ProtonVPN has a basic free plan, but all torrenting activity is blocked.

The bottom line here is that using a free VPN for torrenting is not safe or secure. Most people are now using a VPN for torrenting simply to protect themselves against copyright infringement penalties. But aside from copyright issues, there are many other alarming trends, which further highlight the importance of a good VPN service:.

As a brief recap, here are the best VPNs for torrenting with fast speeds and secure apps to keep your data safe:. NordVPN Review. Surfshark VPN Review. ExpressVPN Review. Perfect Privacy Review. This guide on the best VPNs for torrenting was last updated on December 7, with new information and test results. Sven Taylor is the founder of RestorePrivacy. With a passion for digital privacy and online freedom, he created this website to provide you with honest, useful, and up-to-date information about online privacy, security, and related topics.

His focus is on privacy research, writing guides, testing privacy tools, and website admin. Do review VPN. AC on the torrenting part as it shows extreme potential on every other aspect. Sawatikhap, Sven. As for ZenMate and KeepSolid, the former has blocked torrenting and the latter is based in the US and has concerning data policies. The harassment was made by the infamous Kerry Culpepper, who abuses his opinions to harass non-partisan views.

Is it not possible to split-tunnel when the app being excluded or bypassed is a browser. Tor is used to browse torrent sites, and a client like utorrent does the actual downloading. How can I use Tor to browse the torrent sites and kick off the torrenting with the torrent client, while still using VPN without worrying about leaks? Is there a setup guide specifically for Tor, a torrent client, and VPN together?

This comment does not make sense to me. Windscribe also takes care of your online privacy as it offers AESbit military-grade encryption for protecting your data, with a built-in ad blocker and a DNS leak protection for hiding your real identity and keeping your online privacy intact.

Although it claims to have a zero-log policy , it is headquartered in Canada — part of the Five Eyes Alliance. You can learn more about this service in our Windscribe VPN review.

Me supports torrenting and P2P on its 5 server locations on the free account. Looking at the locations, it is safe to assume that you may face slow speed issues if you are connecting from outside North America and Europe. The provider only allocates 10 GB of data a month , which is still pretty reasonable for torrenting. There are no restrictions on speeds or bandwidth , although we did notice that reconnecting to servers can take a little bit more time.

If your internet connection is unreliable, then you will be forced to seek a new server when you reconnect, which is time-consuming.

Me offers an internet kill switch and IP address leak protection. Even if you are disconnected from the VPN, your actual IP address and online activities will not be revealed to anyone. For encryption, it uses bit AES encryption , and its headquarter is located in Malaysia, which is not a part of the Fourteen Eyes alliance. That means you can trust its strict no-logs policy. It does not log , store , or pass on any of your sensitive information or usage data.

You can learn more about this VPN in our Hide. Me review. TunnelBear is one of the most user-friendly free VPNs for torrenting and is a great choice for beginners. It features an easy-to-use app with a cartoonish interface with a bear guiding you across the app. It offers a wide range of P2P-friendly servers in 23 countries. During testing, TunnelBear also offered reliable download speeds of It is more than enough for lag-free downloading. However, it does come with bandwidth restrictions as you only get MB of free data per month.

It is too little for downloading torrent files. Unfortunately, it is still not enough for downloading large files. TunnelBear also offers a GhostBear feature that obfuscates your traffic. It makes it a great option for countries with tight internet restrictions like China. There is also a split tunneling feature called SplitBear on its Android app. For more information, read our TunnelBear review. Speedify is one of the fastest free VPN for torrenting offering an innovative feature called channel bonding.

It combines your Wi-Fi connection with cellular data to maximize your speeds for torrenting. It also splits your online activity between these connections so you get maximum performance. Due to this feature, Speedify is one of the fastest free VPNs out there offering reliable speeds for downloading torrent files.

These features make sure that your identity remains hidden and your privacy stays protected during torrent sessions. Speedify does keep minimal logs of your timestamps, and the server you connect to. It does not store IP addresses. Each of those steps is equally important, so make sure to read this article very carefully.

Have you already decided on which VPN to use? If it's set to automatic or something similar, we highly recommend switching that to OpenVPN , which comes as the best protocol for torrenting as you get both speed and high-end data protection.

Once you enable a kill switch , your VPN shut down your Web connectivity if your secure connection becomes compromised for any reason. Just like switching to a different protocol, you can enable your VPN's kill switch by visiting its settings. When configuring your torrent client, there are a couple of things to enable and disable via your torrent client's settings to ensure that everything works smoothly.

If your torrent client supports enabling UPnP port mapping, you should definitely use that option. And aside from that, ensure to "whitelist" your torrent client if you use any firewall-related software or if you use Windows. We won't get into details on how the above said is done, as we offer you our dedicated guide on how to configure uTorrent. We mentioned uTorrent just above as that's the most popular option right now. However, it's not the only option, as you can download torrents with a VPN using various clients.

So, check out the best torrent clients overall and here are our picks for macOS only.