5 Best Free VPNs for Fast & Safe Torrenting in 2024

In theory, using a free VPN for torrenting is a no-brainer – after all, why pay for something if you can get it for free (that might even be the torrenters slogan). But, can you really trust a free VPN?

A lot of free VPNs aren’t good for torrenting because they have daily or monthly data limits and don’t have reliable IP and DNS leak protection. This will you vulnerable to trolls, hackers, and other spying third parties.

Over the past few weeks, I ran extensive tests to determine how well free VPNs perform when it comes to torrenting. During that time, I researched every feature from speeds, safety, P2P encryptions, ease of installation to customer support.

What I found was that while there are a few safe options, but they all have severe limitations. Instead, it’s best to invest in a premium VPN like CyberGhost, which offers a 45-day money-back guarantee. You can download your on-demand movies and shows, cancel the plan, and request a refund.

As a torrent user myself, I know the danger that free VPNs can pose to users’ data. Before coming up with this list, I made sure every VPN passed numerous tests and only picked the ones that supported torrenting.

Some of the criteria I considered include download speeds, P2P compatibility, security and privacy, and ease of use.

CyberGhost VPN has a 45-day money-back guarantee so you can test-drive the VPN and request a refund. That paves the way for you to download files through the BitTorrent network.

CyberGhost allows you to torrent anonymously on its P2P-optimized specialty servers. Thanks to its smart server filtering feature and 7000+ server network that spreads across many countries.

You can use any torrent client (uTorrent, BitTorrent, Deluge, among others) to download exceptionally large files and manage them efficiently.

I tested multiple servers, some close to my actual location and others on the other side of the world to get a feeling for the download speeds. I didn’t notice any slowdowns and my average torrent speed consistently hit around 28.94 Mbps. It took only 9 minutes to download a 1-hour video, which is equivalent to 1 GB.

The good news to torrenters is that a lot of these servers aren’t overcrowded. Meaning that you don’t have to waste time testing random servers to find the very best torrent performance.

CyberGhost knows what you want. It offers OpenVPN alongside WireGuard technology so that you can enjoy super-fast speeds. Furthermore, the provider comes with security-focused features to keep your online activity safe.

This VPN uses unbreakable AES 256-bit grade encryption to secure your web traffic and torrenting practices.

An automatic kill switch disconnects your internet connection in case you temporarily lose the VPN connection. It also reconnects your internet when the VPN connection is established.
To set the record straight, I carried out tests by switching from Washington to Idaho server. In this case, I tried to load BitTorrent, but it blocked the activity until the connection bounced back. Your real IP address won’t be exposed at any time.

I can attest that this VPN comes with leak protection too. When connected to its servers, I found no signs of DNS, WebRTC, or IP leaks. You’ll be able to bypass your ISP restrictions without getting noticed.

Privacy is another top-selling asset of a top-notch quality VPN in the market. Its strict no-logs policy and NoSpy servers keep your web traffic private. The ‘logging policy’ states CyberGhost is neither going to collect internet connection nor usage, and not even a hacker will intercept your personal information.

CyberGhost is based in Romania, a well-known privacy-friendly jurisdiction and non-member of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance. No surveillance-sharing agreements or data retention laws that permit government officials to request users’ browsing history.

Better still, CyberGhost works with Windows, Android, Mac, and iOS. The VPN worked extremely fast on my iPhone and Mac.

The apps available include a tracker, malware, and ad blocking feature. You won’t encounter any ads that would otherwise pop ups thus slowing down your online activities. You can safely torrent without any interruption.

One drawback of using CyberGhost to torrent is that its servers don’t work consistently in strictly censored countries like China, UAE, and North Korea. However, this may not affect everybody as it depends on your country of residence and travel plans.

The VPN has the backing of a skilled team of developers that regularly update its features with new releases. Plus 24/7 customer support from its active team of agents is another thing users brag about.

NordVPN is a top torrenting VPN that makes everything simple and welcoming.

If P2P file-sharing is your priority, then NordVPN has a collection of robust security features to keep your personal data safe from third parties. With its app on your device, you can bypass geo-blocked torrenting sites, download and share large files.

NordVPN’s P2P-optimized servers guarantee fast connections regardless of where you live or travel. I ran NordVPN connection tests using wireless connections. It did the job well without impacting my internet speed. The servers spoof locations as you download torrents from anywhere.

I was thrilled with the speed results I got after running regular speed tests in several regions. My benchmark upload speeds stood up at 50 Mbps. The consistency and stability of these speeds are significant for not only torrenting but streaming as well.

Being the best speed I’ve ever gotten, it was easy to download films, video games, and music via P2P torrenting regardless of how hard internet providers tried to prevent this from happening. Along with this, NordVPN comes out strongly to unblock US Netflix and other streaming services, including BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video.

NordVPN secures all its servers with AES 256-bit encryption. This is the same standard encryption that banks and government institutions use to secure their web traffic. So, it adds an extra layer of security to your torrenting history. The company claims it is unbreakable.

If you don’t care about the encryption, you can consider SOCKS5 proxy because it favors better speeds.

With over 5200+ servers across 60 countries, you can find specific servers optimized for torrenting nearby in any location. Even so, the best server coverage is in the US and Europe, with the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and South Africa having a solid selection.

NordVPN can assign dedicated IP addresses to websites on a shared hosting server and individuals can get them too. That means you’ll stay off harmless torrents, hackers stealing and selling your data, or even worse.

I did test NordVPN servers to determine whether they encrypted my online traffic. I can confirm that its servers never exposed my private data throughout the entire browsing session. No leaks were found through DNS, IPv4, and WebRTC leaks.

Users like its strict zero-log policy. Be rest assured that your browsing history won’t leak even if the VPN connection drops. The service only stores your basic information like email and passwords for consistency support.

Lastly, NordVPN Company is based in Panama. It’s a privacy-friendly country with no mandatory data retention laws or mass surveillance programs. Panama falls outside the 5/9/14 eyes, and is therefore under no obligation to share any data logs with any government agencies.

NordVPN has a no-questions-asked 30-day money-back policy, which gave me enough time to download enough torrents to keep me busy for a while. At the end of the 30 days, I received a full refund, which allowed me to enjoy NordVPN for free.

TunnelBear is among the few VPNs that offer a free plan that is secure and worked with torrenting.

Although it’s fast, the free version restricts you to only 500MB per month unless you do some promotional tweets about the company to get an additional 1GB of data. This is not great for large files, but good if you need a show or two.

If you’re planning on downloading a lot of movies and TV shows, I do recommend upgrading to the premium plan. In addition to unlimited data and speeds, it has premium online privacy tools to keep you anonymous and safe,

The VPN has small but well-distributed 1800+ servers across 23 countries. As a cautious Torrenter, I thoroughly tested several different servers by myself to find out if I could download and share files from a torrent site. The results were positive.

You won’t get dedicated servers for torrenting, though. While the coverage is small, the VPN provider owns the entire server infrastructure to keep your web traffic private.

To be sure of the VPN server’s connection speed, I ran a test by downloading a file as I tracked the download speed in uTorrent. The download speed averaged at 24.11Mbps, and I managed to download a 300MB file in just 3 minutes for free.

It’s good to pay attention to every detail before you settle for any VPN. Privacy-conscious users will love the rundown of all TunnelBear security features.

TunnealBear’s kill switch, which is also known as VigilantBear reacts automatically on all servers and apps to block any information should the network connection drops. You can set up the feature on Windows, Android, and macOS. It’s not available on iOS.

Even better, the company doesn’t keep logs including real IP addresses, the sites you visited, and the time the user spent on their servers.

Thumbs up to its customizable encryption settings. Unlike others, TunnelBear uses AES 256-bit along with SHA-256 for authentication. This type of encryption is considered highly secure.

When it comes to security protocols, there are strong choices to go for, yet the selection could be more extensive. OpenVPN, which is the most common protocol, gives you the fastest connection time you’d be seeking all that long.

Setting up TunnelBear on your device is incredibly simple. For any problem, just contact its agents who operate around the clock through live chat. You can also opt for email support.

If you opt for the premium plan, but still want to use a free VPN for torrenting, you can take advantage of the 30-day money-back guarantee, which grants you a full refund without any hassle.

The Hotspot Shield VPN has a pretty good free version, although it does limit you to 500MB/day. If you only want to use your data fr torrenting and not browsing or streaming, it should be enough to download a TV how a data, If you want to torrent more than that, you’ll need to purchase a subscription with unlimited data.  If you go with the subscription you can always cancel your account within the first 45 days and get a full refund.

In terms of security, Hotspot Shield is safe. The VPN will hide your online activity and mask your IP addresses from prying eyes, especially your ISP. Its strong security features that include robust encryption, malware protection, and leak protection keeps your connection secure as you browse. In addition to the data limits, the free version only offers a few US based servers and no Ad Blocker, which is a good thing to have when visiting torrent sites.

When it comes to speed, Hotspot Shield delivers, even for its free users. Using its Catapult Hydra Protocol, one of Hotspot Shield’s unique features, you will maximize your online speed as it fixes some latency issues that occur with the OpenVPN and IPsec protocols. During my tests, I switched between servers and was delighted that I never experienced a slowdown or any connection failures.

Hotspot Shield indeed delivers double download speeds of exceptionally large files (films and videos) and increases ping times. The U.S servers scored nearly 48 Mbps for download speeds in New York, which was faster than what other popular VPNs can deliver.

Due to the limitation of the free version, I recommend making a small investment and buying the paid version of Hotspot Shield. It includes all the watertight security features you’d want from the best VPN for torrenting. Because of its prowess and speedy connections, this VPN is a natural choice for P2P worth your money. You’ll also get access to its entire network of servers (1,800+ servers across 80+ locations).

During my tests of the VPN’s apps, I detected no DNS or IP leaks. My real location in the US, United Kingdom, and Canada remained hidden. Although the VPN uses 128-bit AES encryption, it also supports AES 256-bit. This standard encryption is splendid when implemented properly – which is ideal for P2P downloads and streaming through censored sites.

To those using the VPN for Windows or Android, there is an automatic kill switch that protects your data even if the VPN connection drops. Every data will get lost every time the power goes off – this will keep your online traffic safe from hackers and unauthorized people.

Hotspot Shield is based in the US, a member of 5/9/14-Eyes Alliance – this idea could make privacy-lovers nervous. But in recent times, the company has claimed that it doesn’t keep usage logs and only collects other information like language, email address, username, and hardware model.

Customer support is very crucial. I did appreciate how Hotspot Shield’s 24/7 live chat is helpful and responsive. Their active representatives will assist you within no time. Another interesting thing for beginners is that Hotspot has a great user experience. The native apps are user-friendly and straightforward. Its interface is simple to navigate as well.

Put simply, Windscribe is a popular free VPN service that’s slowly revolutionizing to battle out competition. If you’re embarking on a plan to download torrents without your web traffic getting throttled by your ISP, you’ll be glad to try out this VPN.

Its free version attracts BitTorrent users with a generous 2GB of monthly data on servers in 11 countries. I did speed tests to see how Windscribe VPN compares to other top-notch quality VPNs. Most servers closer to my physical location gave reliable speeds but nothing too impressive. Some servers were inconsistent, especially when I tried out those there weren’t close to my physical location.

When I ran several leak tests with different servers in Dallas, I didn’t experience any IP or DNS leaks. Windscribe prides itself on DNS/IPv6 leak protection, keeping off third parties from accessing your location. Windscribe boosts strong encryption. The user can choose between AES-256 cipher and 4096-bit RSA key. Both work well to keep all your browsing connections safe from hackers, snoopers, and governments. Other advanced security features include; built-in ad blocker, multihop, Stealth VPN mode.

In addition, Windscribe offers two dominant security protocols: OpenVPN and WireGuard. Choose the protocol that suits you, depending on your connection type. There is just minimal to no logging, just basic information needed to manage your account, but nothing related to your online actions.

The fact that Windscribe is headquartered in Canada is something online lovers wouldn’t want to hear as it’s under Five Eye Alliance jurisdiction.

I like the fact that Windscribe VPN is compatible with plenty of devices. Make better use of apps for Windows, Linux, and Mac. It also offers browser extensions for Firefox, Chrome, and Opera so that you torrent without any hassle.

I wasn’t thrilled with the customer support options. I had to type to a chatbot and hope that it understood my questions. The company prefers that all user’s first get the free version and test it out, and therefore only offer a 3-day money-back guarantee on all premium plans.

When seeking a free VPN for torrenting, you need to deliberate on some vital factors. Finding a reliable VPN without paying a single penny is a real challenge – so to speak. Here’s what you’d consider:

• Torrenting and P2P support

Not every Virtual Private Network supports torrenting. Make sure the VPN you choose is packed with the right features required when torrenting. Both security and privacy are obvious.

Check out VPN’s rules because you can get yourself blacklisted if you don’t adhere to them. Torrenting is a very risky practice, while P2P file-sharing can result in serious legal trouble. Pay attention to every detail before you start torrenting.

• Download speeds:

Without a doubt, download speed is paramount. The ability to download and exchange files rapidly can only be achieved with a fast VPN. It helps you avoid sluggish, slow downloads.

There’s no need to settle on a piece of software that throttles your speeds and consistency from time to time.

• Unlimited Bandwidth:

Data and bandwidth are must-have features for torrenting. Choose a VPN that offers unlimited bandwidth and enough data. By now, you should know that risk-free torrenting requires a lot of data.

• Leaks protection, kill switch, logging policy:

Finally, it’s advisable to consider a VPN that features a kill switch, a strict no-logs policy, and DNS leak protection. A kill switch will cut off your internet traffic if the connection drops.

Zero logging keeps your data safe from any prying eyes. Leak protection, on the other, conceals your DNS, IP address and spoofs your locations.

Getting a VPN that hides your torrenting activity is a good move. While it’s the safest way to improve your anonymity on P2P networks, the process of finding a free VPN could be daunting.

Not to mention, many free VPNs are too restrictive, slow, and unreliable. Be sure to choose a VPN that doesn’t compromise your privacy and safety. It should be P2P-friendly, too.

I recommend a premium VPN like CyberGhost any day. It ensures safe and fast torrent downloads and file transfer. Shout out to its military-grade encryption, strict no-logs policy, high-speed servers, and other advanced security features.

Try it for yourself to see whether the service works for you. Take advantage of a free trial, and if not satisfied, you can always claim a refund within 45 days.