Free VPNs for torrenting

The short answer

We went through the torrenting rules of every free VPN plan in our provider files. None clearly allows P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing, which is how BitTorrent works. One bans it outright. One can't carry torrent traffic at all. The others are silent or give only marketing lines with no written policy behind them.

So we don't recommend a free VPN for torrenting. If you need a VPN for P2P, the picks above are paid plans whose own policies allow it, chosen for a low entry price and a strong record. Tunnelcheck hasn't tested any of them; everything here comes from the providers' own pages and our sourced reviews.

What each free plan says about torrenting

Even where P2P isn't banned, the free plans have limits that make torrenting a poor fit. TunnelBear's 2 GB a month is less than many single downloads. Windscribe's 10 GB goes quickly, and without port forwarding a torrent client can connect to fewer peers. Hotspot Shield's free tier is ad-supported, and we rate the service Weak for privacy.

What matters in a VPN for torrenting

• A written P2P policy. You want the provider to say plainly that P2P is allowed, and where. Silence leaves you guessing.
• A kill switch. If the VPN drops, a kill switch stops traffic so your torrent client doesn't fall back to your real IP address. See kill switch.
• A tested no-logs claim. Audits and court cases show what a provider could hand over if asked. See no-logs policies explained.
• Port forwarding, if you seed. It lets your client accept incoming connections, which helps with seeding and ratios. Proton and PIA offer it; Mullvad, IVPN and Surfshark don't.

Low-cost paid VPNs that allow P2P

1. Proton VPN Plus

Proton allows P2P on paid plans, on dedicated P2P servers only; other servers reject P2P traffic. Port forwarding works on those servers on Windows and Linux, and in early access on macOS. Securitum has audited the no-logs claim every year since 2022, and the apps are open source. The first-year price of $35.88 renews at $83.88.

2. Private Internet Access

PIA has the most torrent-friendly written policy here: P2P on every server and port forwarding on selected ones. In US court cases in 2016 and 2018 it had no activity logs to hand over. We rank it below Proton because our review rates it Good: it's US-based, owned by Kape and has no published app audit. Its $2.03 price was a limited promotion when we checked.

3. Mullvad

Mullvad's terms don't restrict P2P. Its kill switch is on by default and can't be turned off, and a 2023 police search found no customer data. Mullvad removed port forwarding in 2023, citing abuse, so it suits downloading more than heavy seeding.

4. IVPN

IVPN says it doesn't restrict any protocols. It asks customers to avoid US servers for P2P, because its US hosts have threatened to disconnect servers over the volume of DMCA notices. It has no port forwarding. A one-week Standard plan costs $2.

5. CyberGhost

CyberGhost runs P2P-optimized servers in selected locations, labeled in its apps. It says P2P isn't offered on every server. Deloitte has checked its no-logs setup three times, but we found no published audit of its apps.

Why some VPNs aren't on this list

• ExpressVPN: we found no published P2P server policy, and its terms ban downloading copyrighted content without permission.
• NordVPN: it allows P2P, but its pricing page refused our reader, so we can't show it as a low-cost option. See the NordVPN review.
• Surfshark: its server list shows a P2P tag without saying what it means, and it has no port forwarding.
• PureVPN and PrivateVPN: both allow P2P on some servers, but our reviews rate them Mixed. PureVPN linked a customer's IP addresses for the FBI in 2017, and PrivateVPN has no independent audit.
• IPVanish: we couldn't read its P2P policy from the source.

For the full picture on staying safe, read our safe torrenting guide, torrent malware and what a copyright notice from your ISP means.