The Best VPNs for Torrenting

Being a verified no-logs VPN, PIA doesn’t store any user data or connection logs.

This policy is backed up by independent audits and PIA’s regularly updated transparency reports.

And for additional peace of mind, PIA’s server network is completely diskless, making it incredibly hard to see or extract your torrenting activity.

If that wasn’t enough, PIA encrypts your internet traffic with either AES-256 or ChaCha20 encryption, depending on which protocol you select: either WireGuard or OpenVPN.

I ran a live download through Wireshark, a data packet analyzer, to check the VPN was fully encrypting my P2P traffic. Every packet came back as unreadable noise, as you can see below.

To prevent any unexpected IP leaks, PIA comes with built-in IPv4/IPv6 leak protection and a customizable kill switch. In 10 years of testing, PIA has never exposed our real IP address.

Finally, PIA’s MACE ad and malware blocker was extremely effective at de-cluttering torrent websites and blocking known bad destination URLs. It’s the first setting I turn on after a fresh install.

PIA allows BitTorrent traffic on all 18,651 servers spanning across 91 countries.

While connected to a nearby US server, we recorded an average bitrate of 9.6MiB/s.

It wasn’t the fastest speed recorded in this round of testing, but it was more than quick enough for large files: a 4K movie torrent landed while I was still deciding what else to queue up.

If you don’t want to simply leech, and would rather share the love with other torrenters in the swarm, you can also use PIA’s port forwarding tool to speed up your uploads.

Just remember that it isn’t available on US servers, so you’ll need to hop to a nearby country first. And as PIA randomly assigns port numbers, make sure you add the new port to your torrent client before you begin file sharing.

True to the Proton brand, its VPN service breezed through our rigorous security testing.

My Wireshark packet analysis confirmed that its implementation of OpenVPN and WireGuard is rock-solid, rendering my traffic completely unreadable.

While its use of Perfect Forward Secrecy is fairly standard industry practice, Proton VPN truly stands out by making its desktop and mobile apps fully open-source for external experts to audit.

The platform isn’t just resting on its current defenses, either. Proton has future-proofed its architecture with post-quantum protection to safeguard against next-generation cyberattacks.

Proton VPN is equally bulletproof when it comes to everyday privacy. It operates its own DNS servers (not subject to third-party setup and maintenance) protected by a verified no-logs policy.

The only real flaw in this otherwise pristine security suite is the kill switch. It held firm every time I forced a disconnection mid-download, on every platform, but it isn’t enabled by default.

Remember to activate it when you first launch the app, so your internet connection is severed the moment the VPN drops unexpectedly.

Very little separates Proton VPN from PIA, and torrenting speed is the one area where it trails.

While PIA registered an average bitrate of 9.6MiB/s, Proton VPN only achieved 9.2MiB/s.

Truth be told, you’ll barely notice the difference, but our tests do show Proton VPN pulling files down at a slightly slower pace than its main rivals.

More noticeable in daily use is that you’re forced onto Proton VPN’s P2P-enabled servers for torrenting.

Finding them is easy enough through the P2P tab in the app’s Countries area, but I’d rather just pick a server from the standard list and start a download, the way I can with PIA.

On the plus side, Proton VPN’s P2P network spans 144 countries, the highest count in the industry.