Torguard is a USA-based VPN company that focuses on non-logging VPN and proxy service designed to fulfill the requirements of BitTorrent and p2p enthusiasts. they provide VPN and torrent proxy service either individually or during a discounted bundle. They additionally supply encrypted webmail/email with offshore hosting. This is one of my favorite VPN services for their very fair price and the “No Logs” policy gives me peace of mind. The amount of value this VPN gives you is enormous. Stay tuned for the whole article, as at the bottom, I can show you how to get 50% off for life with Torguard.
Additionally, you can get our next 2 favorite VPN recommendations here. If you decide Torguard is not for you, be sure to check out our full review on #1 ExpressVPN and #2 NordVPN. You can find their reviews respectively HERE and HERE.
Let’s get to the details below!
Torguard additionally provides bonus options for torrent users like:
- Custom proxy installer – autoconfigures your favorite torrent consumer for Torguard’s proxy service
- Kill-switch functionality – choice to instantly disable your net access if the VPN connection drops (to stop IP leaks)
- p2p specific servers – higher bandwidth servers in torrent-friendly countries
Review Outline
Torguard is a fashionable VPN service primarily based in Panama. Panama is taken into account a privacy haven, which suggests VPN services primarily based there aren’t needed to stay any server logs concerning their customers’ VPN usage. (Torguard keeps no logs). It additionally means Torguard is also additional immune to pressures from governments or agencies just like the NSA to produce access to their network through a backdoor.
PROS
- No-Logs Policy: this is the foremost anonymous (best) logging policy a VPN supplier can give. It basically means they do not record or log any information concerning your VPN activity or connection history.
- Very ‘Torrent-Friendly’: Torguard has several options designed to fulfill the requirements of torrent/p2p users. This includes an anonymous torrent proxy service, proxy auto-configuration software system, kill switch, and p2p (torrent) optimized servers for optimum speeds.
- Speed: Torguard is incredibly quick. there have been one among the sole VPNs that was able to pass our 4k video streaming check on USA and European servers. There are tricks to make your VPN even quicker.
CONS
- Software/Features: Torguard’s desktop VPN client is pretty bare-bones. it’s all the essential options (plus a few others sort of a kill-switch script) however it’s positively not the most engaging of full-featured software system.
- Support: Torguard’s tech support has gotten better (they’ve value-added live-chat support) however the support price tag responses may be slow if you do happen to run into a problem.
- Torguard provides their own custom VPN software system for all four major OS platforms (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android).
They additionally give some cool extras:
- A free license for viscosity professional (Professional 3rd-party VPN software)
- Proxy auto-installer (for their torrent proxy service.)
- The iOS/Android apps are nearly identical, as are the Windows/Mac clients in terms of practicality. This review specifically tested the Windows/Android clients (as they’re the foremost popular).
Windows App
Torguard’s desktop app is light-weight however quick and reliable. Although Torguard provides access to three VPN protocols (PPTP, L2TP, and OpenVPN), the software system solely uses the OpenVPN protocol. OpenVPN provides the best mix of speed, flexibility, and security. The interface is straightforward, and you’ll be able to hook up with a server in as very little together click.
Available choices from the main screen:
- Choice of server location
- Protocol (UDP: quicker or TCP: most reliability)
- Option to autoconnect on launch
- additional settings menu
- ‘Connect’
- Server choice view
The server choice dialogue provides you access to each one among Torguard’s server locations. simply click your most well-liked server, then click ‘Connect’. There are icons to denote special server varieties.
Torguard has three server types:
- Standard (a traditional VPN server)
- Torrent (Location/protocol optimized for torrents/p2p)
- Stealth (Special encryption/port settings to urge through firewalls and stop your network administrator or ISP from seeing that you’re employing a VPN within the 1st place.
Advanced choices
- Torguard has some pretty cool security measures hiding within the settings menu:
- An app-level kill switch
- IP and DNS leak protection
- System-level kill switch
- VPN over proxy routing (including hiding options)
- App-level kill switch
This tool allows you to choose which apps or processes ought to be instantly terminated (closed) if the VPN disconnects. This protects your true IP address from ever leaking out to these specific applications. the foremost common application varieties would be an internet browser or torrent software system.
Network Settings
- Torguard’s network settings page provides you the power to toggle IP leak protection on/off for three totally different protocols (DNS Lookups, IPV6, and WebRTC). You can additionally activate the System level Kill-Switch which might instantly kill net access to any/all of your installed network adapters to form positive knowledge is never sent outside the secure VPN tunnel.
- Run windows network troubleshooter to reset DCHP
Network Settings and System Kill Switch
DNS Leak protection makes certain that your DNS lookups are perpetually routed through the VPN tunnel to a secure DNS server therefore your IP address isn’t accidentally exposed once requesting an internet address.
Proxy Settings
- Torguard provides you the choice to tunnel through a proxy server before reaching the VPN server, for a new layer of obscurity. choosing both a VPN and proxy can limit your speeds to the slowest of the 2 tunnels.
- You can either choose one among Torguard’s own ‘stealth’ proxy servers, otherwise you will use an internet proxy of your selection.
Software outline
We found the Torguard product stable in testing and had no sudden problems. Speeds were quite smart as you’ll see a small amount later within the speed check.
Viscosity VPN software system
In addition to their own custom software system, Torguard includes complimentary viscosity VPN software system license with each VPN set up ($9 value). though the options of every are pretty similar, you get some additional options with viscosity. Access to all or any three VPN protocols (PPTP, L2TP, and OpenVPN)
Bandwidth monitor
- Able to mix multiple VPN services in one software system
- Custom VPN scripts for viscosity (advanced users)
- Trusted 3rd-party software system, community vetted for security.
We expect most users can opt for Torguard’s own client out of convenience however it’s nice to possess the viscosity possibility. Also, it’s convenient that wish access to different VPN protocols (besides OpenVPN) while not having to manually configure the connections on an individual basis.
Mobile VPN Apps
- Torguard has their own mobile app for each android and iPhone/iPad.
- Their mobile apps give access to all of Torguard’s server locations via the OpenVPN protocol.
- You also get most most of an equivalent settings as security choices as their traditional desktop consumer, with the additional advantage of a bandwidth monitor for following your upstream/downstream data usage.
- The mobile app offers an equivalent 256-bit AES cryptography strength as their desktop VPN software system and speeds were solid.
Speed check
- Torguard performed very well in our speed tests. There was a large improvement in overall speeds since the last time I had done in depth speed testing. this implies that Torguard is focused on frequently improving the speeds and overall network quality.
- For our speed tests, we have a tendency to do both traditional speed tests (such as speedtest.net) yet as real-world speed testing (by streaming Hi-resolution video at max bandwidth)
Real-World check results
We our globe testing by streaming this 4k video at progressively high resolutions on totally different server locations, and record the very best resolution we have a tendency to were able to stream incessantly.
Torguard ranks #2 among all VPN suppliers for our 4k video check.
- Max resolution by server location (4k is the highest)
- USA – 4k
- Canada – 4k
- United Kingdom – 4k
- Australia – 1080p (just on the edge for 4k. Slight buffering.)
Bottom Line: Torguard’s servers are quite quick and clearly aren’t overcrowded like several of the low-cost VPN choices out there. solely private internet Access is in a position to match Torguard’s performance at a cheaper price point.
Torguard should be a wonderful alternative for users with high-speed connections who desire a non-logging VPN service for bandwidth-intensive activities like downloading torrents, or streaming unblocked HD video.
Security and cryptography
- Torguard uses the Blowfish CBC 256-bit cryptography algorithm (OpenVPN protocol) for the VPN tunnel and 1024 or 2048-bit RSA keys for the exchange.
- Torguard has publically expressed they selected Blowfish encryption vs the stronger AES-CBC cryptography algorithm as a result of it delivered quicker speeds for their users.
- Blowfish encryption continues to be quite robust, however we’d opt to see the users have the choice of stronger encryption protocols (and RSA keys) if they require. the choice of security vs speed ought to be left up to the topuser, not chosen for you by your VPN service.
- Private net Access is a wonderful example of a VPN service that provides their users full management over their cryptography alternative. Hopefully Torguard can imitate within the future.
Torrent Proxy Service
- In addition to providing VPN service, Torguard offers their own anonymous proxy service.This can be purchased individually, or bundled with VPN service for a considerable combined discount.
- This proxy uses the SOCKS5 protocol and is specifically designed for the requirements of Bittorrent users. (They persuade you to buy specifically as a torrent proxy service).
- Using a proxy for torrents (as opposed to a VPN) will have it’s own advantages:
- It’s typically cheaper
- It’s quicker (but no encryption)
- It permits your torrent client to possess a unique IP address than your browser.
- The SOCKS5 protocol is a wonderful general-purpose proxy transport protocol, and is way safer than the protocolprotocol normally seen in ‘free’ internet proxies.
Proxy Auto-installer
Some users can opt to manually configure their torrent software system with their own custom proxy settings. But if you don’t understand that settings to settle on, or don’t want to spend the tinkering, Torguard designed some custom software system which will install their proxy with the best security settings within the four most well-liked torrent purchasers (uTorrent, BitTorrent, Vuze, and Deluge).
Proxy subscribers get:
- Proxy servers in eight countries
- 200+ shared IP addresses (shared = anonymous)
- No-logs
- Auto-installer
- Unlimited bandwidth/transfer
- Privacy and logging Policy
Torguard is marketed as a non-logging VPN supplier. Their privacy policy is comparatively short compared to those of different VPN suppliers, however in it they state:
“TorGuard.net doesn’t store or log any traffic or usage from its Virtual private Network (VPN) or Proxy…Personal data won’t be sold or otherwise transferred…without your previous consent, except that we are going to disclose the knowledge we have a tendency to collect to 3rd parties once, in our straightness judgment, we have a tendency to are responsible to do so below applicable laws.”
The statement concerning VPN logging policies is a single sentence, however they do not go in-depth concerning the attainable varieties of logs, and it’s unclear however they outline ‘traffic or usage.’ whether or not this includes connection logging (incoming/outgoing IP address and timestamp) is unclear.
Other Privacy Concerns
- Torguard is presently headquartered within the U.S. (previously they were primarily based in Panama). They those the U.S. as a base because of the shortage of data retention laws for VPN service suppliers, permitting them to make a real non-logging VPN service.
- Torguard is after all still subject to the laws of the U.S. and probably the pressures of the NSA (though the same might be said concerning ninety nine of providers). The service is intended ‘from the bottom up’ to guard users’ privacy, but don’t mistake privacy for a free pass to do whatever you wish on a VPN.
- Privacy Summary: Torguard scores highly with their No-Logs policy, though U.S. primarily based suppliers can likely face additional pressure from the NSA then those from different countries.
Pricing and Plans – VPN
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Torguard offers four subscription lengths for each of their services. The longer your subscription, the bigger the discount vs. paying month to month. a decent strategy is to undertake a VPN supplier for one month, then get an annual set up if you would like to stay with it. you’ll be able to typically save 40-60% annually that way. Additionally, you can pay with credit card and/or bitcoin.
Torrent Proxy Prices
Torguard Conclusion
Torguard impressed USA with their quick speeds and reliable connection status. {they are|they’re} clearly catering to the p2p/Torrent crowd and plenty of of their options are specifically designed for those desires. Their no-logs policy is a plus, though their encryption strength is simply average. This shouldn’t matter for many users (and Torguard created the selection specifically to boost speeds), however I simply wish to point it out. Their software system isn’t flashy, however it’s some additional safety features that make it on top of average, and you get the viscosity professional license if you like to use third party software system.
Torguard will be popular frequent Torrent downloaders, also for users searching for a quicker VPN service.
Torguard could be your answer for:
- Frequent BitTorrent users
- People with a high speed connection (25Mbps+)
- Users behind a network or country firewall (like China)
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