The Safest and Most Secure VPN Services for Torrenting

If you spend any time at all on the internet, you're likely to see an advertisement for ExpressVPN. Their aggressive ad campaigns feature everything from pop-ups to social-media redirects. Search the term VPN once, and your Facebook and Twitter pages will be inundated with their ads for for weeks. But their method works. ExpressVPN is one of the most popular VPNs in the world, hitting as many as 1 million downloads per month. ExpressVPN offers excellent clients for every operating system, though each subscription is limited to 5 devices.

You'll enjoy ExpressVPN's speed, whether torrenting, downloading apps, or streaming. The service suffers very little speed loss, and with so many servers it's easy to find one relatively close to you. In addition, ExpressVPN offers a built-in speed testers, so you can check which servers are performing well that day. You can save your "preferred" servers, or you can allow the proprietary algorithm to choose one for you. In addition, you'll find a long list of features, including a kill switch, split-tunneling, an LAN allow/block toggle, a password generator, DNS and WebRTC leak tests, and even shortcuts to apps you often use while connected to the VPN.

ExpressVPN offers the most advanced protocols available: Lightway and OpenVPN. The first protocol, Lightway, is a version of WireGuard specially designed by ExpressVPN in an attempt to optimize speed, security, and stability. Lightway is especially useful if you're trying to get past the guards put up by streaming services, and because the code is shorter, it has fewer exploitable weaknesses (if any). The second protocol, OpenVPN, is slower than Lightway/WireGuard, but it's the only option for iOS devices.

ExpressVPN is not cheap, with the monthly plan costing a whopping $12.95. Add to that the 5-device limit and you're talking about one of the most expensive VPNs on the market. Our two tips for saving money are to purchase an annual plan, which cuts the price in half, and to use the router client, in which can all of your devices can run on one subscription.

NordVPN is among the very best VPNs on the market today, as well as one of the most popular. The service is compatible with all major operating systems, so whether you're using a Mac, an Android phone, an Xbox, a router, or any other system, you'll be well-protected. NordVPN has a built-in kill switch, so even if their VPN drops your data is safe. The service offers a host of features in addition to its VPN, such as NordPass—a password manager that generates extra-strong passwords, and stores them for you behind a master password. It also offers a static-IP and NordLocker, a 1-terabyte storage cloud.

NordVPN is famous for achieving the speeds users want when torrenting, often clocking speed-losses below 30%. While that might seem like a lot, it's not enough to prevent a good connection (100Mbps) from downloading a movie within a reasonable amount of time. For example, 30% loss for a 100Mbps connection means you should still be able to download a 5-gigabyte 4K movie in around 10 minutes. In addition, NordVPN has thousands of servers, and by locating one nearby you can increase your overall speed.

You will certainly get the anonymity you require by using NordVPN. They use the most advanced AES-256-GCM protocols, and because their 5200 servers are all RAM-only servers, you don't have to worry about your activity being stored. In fact, the one time a hacker successfully breached one of their servers he was unable to recover anything due to their no-log policy. Since then, they underwent a full third-party audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). They confirmed NordVPN did not log or otherwise store any data.

NordVPN has numerous price plans, ranging from a monthly plan to a long-term plan, which is obviously the least expensive. If you want the added features, NordPass and NordLocker, you'll have to pay extra, but even with the entire suite of products you won't pay more than $9 per month.

ProtonVPN was developed by the same experts from CERN who developed ProtonMail, one of the most popular secured-email services. Proton offers clients for all major platforms, including Android, iPhone, Windows, Mac, Linux, Chromebook, and Android-based smart TVs. Furthermore, their website provides clear instructions for installing ProtonVPN on a router, though it doesn't work on L2PT-based routers. You'll also find links to router-VPN guides for specific manufacturers. ProtonVPN Plus offers access to Secure Core Servers, which add an important layer of privacy because these servers are located in countries that foster internet privacy. It also means that your computer is buffered by a virtual "safety zone," making it much more difficult to hack. To be sure, using this feature will result in speed-loss, but you always have the option to shut it off.

CERN only hired the brightest scientists and computer programmers, so it's not surprise the experts involved in ProtonVPN developed a sleek and sophisticated, open-source code that has performed well in every independent audit. Like their email, ProtonVPN was designed with journalists and activists in mind, meaning, those who really do face government censorship and intrusion. The product is even recommended by the United Nations. It uses the very best encryption protocols: AES-256 for OpenVPN and IKEv2, and ChaCha20 for WireGuard. The latter is the encryption used by Google, just to give you a sense of the caliber. They also follow a strict no-log policy, and even blocks external trackers.

When it comes to torrenting, we simply cannot recommend the free version, because it suffers speed-losses as high as 85%. At that speed you'd have to sit around for an hour just to downlod a 5-gigabyte movie file. However, the Plus plan (using WireGuard) reports only 15% speed-loss, which is one of the best scores in the industry. Here's a practical scenario, to help you understand the difference: You want to download Season One of your favorite show in HD. That's likely to be a 200-gigabyte file. Assuming you have a 100Mbps connection, which is fairly common these days, you'd need around 36 hours with the free plan, but just 6 hours with the Plus plan.

In addition to their free and Plus plans, users can purchase complete suites. For example, Proton Unlimited offers 500 GB of storage, 15 email addresses with the option to send password-protected emails, custom filters, priority support, a secured calendar system with as many as 20 calenders, and access to the VPN for up to 10 users. While these bundles aren't cheap, they offer a fully integrated security suite that's ideal for small business.

For most torrenters, speed is second only to anonymity. A top-quality 1080p/high-definition movie file can easily be 2 to 5 gigabytes, while a 4K/Ultra-HD Blue Ray rendition can run upwards of 60 gigabytes. If you want to download an entire season of a television show in UHD, you're facing a monumental task involving 150 to 200 gigs. Do you really want to 49 hours while the file downloads at 9.8Mbps? That's where Surfshark come into play. Surfshark clocks some of the lowest speed-reductions of any VPN.

It takes time for a VPN to encrypt, reroute, and decipher your traffic (data), and that slows down your internet. Then again, VPNs un-throttle your internet, and if your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is limiting your connection speed a VPN might actually speed up your internet. However, it's rare to enjoy a net gain, and usually when we speak of "fast" VPNs we mean those with the lowest speed-loss percentage. Some VPNs suffer speed-losses of 65% to 85%, and many suffer 35% to 50%. The fastest VPNs on the market, including Surfshark, clock in at only 15% to 20%, which means if you normally get 100Mbps, you get 85Mbps, which is more than enough for torrenting.

As for anonymity, Surfshark uses the most advanced encryption technology: AES-256, which goes through 14 rounds of encryption. Surfshark boasts a fleet of more than 3200 servers located in 65 countries, with translates into thousands of IPs. More importantly, alll of Surfshark's servers are RAM-only, which means they don't store anything. Lastly, Surfshark is based in the British Virgin Islands, which do not cooperate with any of the Eyes, and do not engage in any tracking of or spying on VPN users.

In terms of cost, we admit there are several less expensive VPNs on the market, but because you can load Surfshark onto as many devices as you want, the nominal-effective price is lower than it seems. Furthermore, the VPN comes with its own malware protection and ad blocker, and its one of the only services with a built-in double VPN system, called MultiHop. To save money, consider a long-term subscription, which they offer at discounts as high as 80%.

If you're interested in torrenting but don't want to spend a lot of money, PureVPN is one of your best options. They offer an impressively fast WireGuard-based VPN that is compatible with most systems. More importantly, they operate dedicated P2P servers located in countries where it's legal, which means torrenters need not fear any government action. PureVPN limits users to 10 devices, but that's more than enough for most people. Lastly, PureVPN offers some of the most generous discounts in the business. If you don't mind spending a little extra, PureVPN has a few special features, such as dedicated-IPs, port forwarding, and focused DDoS protection.

PureVPN uses sophisticated AES-256 encryption, and offers several protocol options: WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, SSTP, and L2TP/IPSec. Users can make use of PureVPN's split tunneling, which allows you to utilize your true IP and a virtual IP simultaneously, depending on which application you're using. There is a tutorial on the PureVPN website showing you exactly how to set up this feature, and how to select which apps and services make use of it. For iOS systems, there is an even more advanced feature called VPN on Demand, which allows you to select which domains should automatically connect via VPN.

PureVPN advertises itself as the "World's Fastest VPN Service," and test scores suggest that might actually be true. In independent speed tests, PureVPN clocked negligible speed losses on US servers (3% - 5%), and even their worst scores, which came out of Europe, were below the 15% "good for torrenting" benchmark. Furthermore, PureVPN has over 6500 servers, so if you're not happy with the speeds you're getting just switch servers.

PureVPN's basic plan offers plenty for little more than $1.50 a month. However, port forwarding, a static-IP, and focused DDoS protection each cost extra, and the total can reach $10 a month after promotions and discounts. The DDoS protection is particularly expensive, costing $3.99 a month all on its own. If you're running a business, you should consider getting the extra protection, but if you're just torrenting from your personal computer, it's probably overkill. 9Ranks recommends you test the standard plan, which comes with a 31-day money-back guarantee.

Few countries place as high a premium on personal privacy as Switzerland. When you think "Swiss bank account" you think "privacy" and "secrecy," and that's by design. In fact, Article 13 of Switzerland's Constitution expressly enumerates a person's right of privacy "in their private and family life and in their home, and in relation to their mail and telecommunications." The latter clause is the basis for the Data Protection Act and Data Protection Ordinance, which protect persons and legal entities.

According to the Supreme Court of Switzerland, that means an IP address is protected data that must not be tracked without consent and/or cause. While some countries actively spy on their citizens, Switzerland has implemented a policy that outclasses some VPN providers. That's why Golden Frog, a leader in internet privacy and the creator of VyprVPN, choose to incorporate in Switzerland. The result is a VPN you can be certain logs zero data, tracks nothing you do, and actively protects your privacy. In addition to the Swiss guarantee and the general efficacy of the VPN, the platform's Chameleon protocol effectively obfuscates IP addresses, evading surveillance and geo-tracking by and and all foreign entities.

Where VyprVPN falters is speed. The Chameleon protocol slows things down far too much. We have observed speed losses exceeding 80%, which is miserable when torrenting large files. Even the WireGuard protocol causes speed losses of around 25% to 40%, though that's at least tolerable. Given that geo-spoofing isn't necessary for torrenting, we recommend you avoid Chameleon, and stick to the WireGuard protocol. It works perfectly well on Windows, Mac, Android, and iSO.

VyprVPN isn't the most expensive service you'll find, but it's not cheap either. There are several inexpensive VPN providers out there, if you're looking to save money. An annual subscription will save you money long-term, but you'll still pay as much as some other providers charge for a security suite that includes secured email addresses, cloud storage, and password generators. That being said, it's nice to know the government is looking out for you, rather than looking into you, so if you're interested in Swiss-backed privacy take a look at VyprVPN.

With more than 500 million users worldwide, Bitdefender is an industry-leading cybersecurity giant. Their antivirus is among the very best on the market, such that even the free version provides better protection than some competitors' paid programs. The Bitdefender Internet Security bundle includes a ton of features: real-time data protection, anti-phishing, Photon (a client configuration tool), and a VPN. However, you don't need to purchase the entire bundle to get the VPN. In fact, if you're just looking for a "good" VPN you don't have to purchase anything at all, as the free version works perfectly well.

The only problem with the free version is that it's limited to 200MB per day. That's enough to download small files, such as single episode of a television show, but it's not enough to download anything in 4K. It's certainly not enough to download an entire season of your favorite show. For serious torrenting you'll want one of the paid plans, which have no data limits. They also allow you to connect on up to 10 devices at once, which is great for families with a bunch of teenagers.

Bitdefender performs exceptionally well on speed tests, due to its implementation of the ominous sounding Catapult Hyrda protocol. On occasion it even reported a negative loss, meaning it increased the internet speed by circumventing the ISP's limits. Obviously you shouldn't rely on any VPN to speed up your internet unless your ISP is extremely restrictive, but the point remains that Bitdefender is very fast. On the other hand, there are whispers that Bitdefender's no-log policy isn't as solid as it seems. The company is based in Romania, an European Union member, and while it's not part of the Eyes Alliances, it is suspected of providing at least some info to the EU.

In terms of cost, Bitdefender's VPN is around the industry average, but it doesn't offer as many features as some of its competitors. Rather than purchasing the VPN alone, 9Ranks recommends purchasing one of the Bitdefender bundles. You'll enjoy the world-class internet protection for which Bitdefender is famous, and you'll get their high-speed VPN for added value.

CyberGhost boasts a massive fleet of servers, impressive speeds, and a feature-rich security suite that answers all your cybersecurity concerns. In addition to their standard servers, CyberGhost's "NoSpy" servers, which were specifically designed to sidestep government surveillance programs, provide users with near-total anonymity. The cost for total protection does add up, but there's no questioning the quality of CyberGhost's product.

In terms of protocols, CyberGhost uses modern AES-256 encryption, and facilitates OpenVPN, IKEv2, and WireGuard. CyberGhost recommends the latter for what it calls Linux-loving Ghosties. In fact, they have an entire page on the site devoted to all things CyberGhost cvm Linux. There are versions specifically designed for Windows and Mac, Amazon Fire TV and Fire Stick, as well as for routers. CyberGhost is great at unlocking all the popular streaming services.

One of the main reasons CyberGhost stands out when it comes to torrenting is its speed. When using the WireGuard protocol, the platform boasts some of the top speeds in the industry, successfully sustaining 850 Mbps on a 1000 Mbps (1G) connection. Those are the kinds of speeds you want to see when downloading a movie in 4K.

CyberGhost's monthly plan is quite pricey, and we really don't recommend it given the 45-day money-back guarantee. Six weeks is more than enough time to determine whether their product it right for you, so there's no logic in paying full price when the 3-year subscription costs 80% less. You even get an extra 3 months for free. If you want the entire Intego security suite you'll have to pay another couple of dollars a month, but you'll get 24/7 protection from malware, spyware, adware, ransomware, phishing, and Trojan horses.

ZoogVPN is a small but safe VPN service based in Greece. While Greece is part of the EU, they aren't part of any spying network, and ZoogVPN's no-log policy is rather strict. According to their policy, they don't store usage information, websites visited, or IP addresses, meaning their isn't much for them to give the EU if asked. Furthermore, they regularly update their Warrant Canary status on their webpage, where they state they are "committed to transparency." ZoogVPN isn't the most sophisticated service around, but if you just want an inexpensive VPN this is a very good option.

ZoogVPN uses the industry standard AES-256 encryption, and supports IKEv2/IPSec and OpenVPN protocols. Unfortunately, they do not support WireGuard, though their speeds via OpenVPN are quite good. Among the features you will find are an automatic kill switch, and servers than have been optimized for P2P/torrenting. What you won't find are the more advanced features, like split-tunneling, doubling, or spoofing. They also don't have the largest fleet, though they have enough for torrenters. ZoogVPN isn't bad for streaming, but it isn't great either. You'll likely have success with Amazon Prime and Disney+, but you're not going to get through Netflix's blockade.

In terms of speeds, ZoogVPN performs surprisingly well. On average, they only see speed-losses of around 10% to 15%, which is well within the acceptable margin for torrenting. 9Ranks is especially impressed by the free version of ZoogVPN, which is just as fast as the paid version. The free version limits you to 5 servers, but it allows up to 10 GB of data, which is far more than some big-brand free versions.

The question is whether you need to settle for the free version, when the paid version costs less than $2 a month and offers 10 times as many servers. One thing we can tell you is that the monthly subscription is not worth the price. Either get the free version, or get the long-term subscription and save a bunch of money. At the monthly price point, there are far better VPNs.