no torrent download using vpn Torrenting Without a VPN: A Terrible Idea in 2021 & Any Other Year. We’ve all wanted to watch a movie or TV show or play a game that wasn’t immediately available to us. Maybe you want to watch The Shield but all you have is a Netflix subscription, or you want to play a game that isn’t on Steam. The easiest thing you can do is to torrent whatever you want, but before you do so, you need to know that torrenting without a VPN is a terrible idea. This is because in most countries (check out our censorship map for which ones, specifically) torrenting has been made illegal, and it will mean fines and maybe even prison when you get caught. Note that we said “when,” not “if.” Detection methods have only improved since the first time some poor soul got hit with a digital cease-and-desist notice about 15 years ago. The only good way to stay safe while torrenting is by using a virtual private network, an app that will encrypt your internet connection and hide your IP address. There are lots of good reasons to use a VPN, and we recommend everybody use one, but they are absolutely vital when downloading copyrighted material. We have selected several services for our ranking of the best VPNs for torrenting, but if you’re in a hurry you should just go ahead and check out NordVPN. It’s a great VPN and has several features that make it a must for torrenters. Currently, you can get three years of service for just over $100, making it a steal. If you’d like to know a bit more about all this before making up your mind about any of it, keep reading. However, we’re going to get a little technical in spots after this, so if terms like “seeders” and “leechers” sound like something from medieval surgery rather than something from the here and now, we have a guide on what torrenting is that you might want to read first. The Risks of Torrenting Without VPN Protection. Before we go on, we do want to emphasize we’re not prophets of doom trying to sling some snake oil your way. Several members of the Cloudwards team have been hit with DMCA notices (or their equivalent in other countries) when torrenting without protection. For example, your author got slapped with two: one in Taiwan and one in the Netherlands. In almost all cases, you’ll get off with a warning the first few times, but how many warnings you get depends on the country you’re in. Copyright law is still mostly a national affair and different countries handle these matters differently. Ignore the warnings, however, and the fines will start. Again, these vary from country to country, with some setting fixed amounts while others depend on a civil suits being filed. You read that right: in some places, when you download a torrent you are starting a process that might involve you needing to hire a lawyer. These kinds of strong-arm tactics have become popular in Holland, for example. Read our guide on the best VPN for the Netherlands for the details. Will I Get Caught Torrenting? However, the more slick-minded among you will have already remarked that it’s not a crime till you get caught. That’s, of course, true, but rest assured that you will indeed get caught when torrenting. That’s because there’s just way too much money in catching people for these copyright watchdogs to not set up surveillance on the best torrent websites and wait for some overconfident rube to walk into their trap. Though there are ways to circumvent this surveillance, most of them are rather technical or will limit what you can download. That’s why we recommend using a VPN for the overwhelming majority of users. They’re easy to set up and they will cover all your torrenting needs, as well as make streaming a lot more fun. How to Torrent Safely: Use a VPN. As we mentioned in the introduction, our favorite VPN for torrenting is NordVPN. Other contenders we really like are ExpressVPN and CyberGhost, so check those out for some solid alternatives to NordVPN. If you do opt for NordVPN, check out our guide to torrenting with NordVPN. However, in all cases the process is pretty much the same: you go to the website of the VPN provider you like and sign up. Any of the best VPN services we recommend will have some kind of money-back guarantee, so you’ve nothing to lose. Once you’ve signed up and the VPN client is installed on your device, make sure to switch the VPN on. All of this is pointless if you don’t do this, so make sure you do. Once it’s working, surf to your favorite torrent site and find the movie or show that you like. Click on it, download it using uTorrent or another download client and simply wait. Whatever you do, don’t mess with the VPN while this is going on or you’ll get caught (also read our best VPN for uTorrent guide). Once the file is on your computer, you can either leave the torrent to seed with the VPN on or disengage the VPN if you’ve removed the file. Then, make yourself some popcorn and watch your movie. How to Torrent With a VPN. Sign up to the VPN of your choice Make sure to turn it on, then surf to a torrent site Find the torrent you want and download it Don’t touch the VPN while the download is ongoing Sit back and enjoy the show. Final Thoughts. That’s really all there is to it. It’s very simple to download with a VPN, and we honestly can’t understand why there are still people not doing it. The risks of not using a VPN when downloading are well known and messing with copyright agencies is no joke. We hope you found this short guide useful and that you’ll go with NordVPN as your VPN of choice. Let us know in the comments below if you have any questions or remarks and, as always, thank you for reading. How does torrent vpn works? US, UK, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc. countries made downloading torrents using public torrent trackers illegal. Companies often work with the ISP to trace person engaged in downloading torrents and also have powers to sue them. CAS warning goes from ISP to the torrent downloaders. ISPs also ban the accounts of the torrent users. A secure tunnel is created between the torrent user’s computer and the VPN server. The data transfer between these two is encrypted by encryption algorithms. So, The ISPs can’t track your torrent activities. VPNs also change your IP and mask it with the server IP so the torrent user can’t be tagged with their IP. It makes almost impossible for the copyright companies and ISP to track you and helps you avoid getting caught while downloading torrent files. Types of Torrent VPN. There are three types of VPNs available in the market. VPNs that block torrenting: Some VPN companies avoid torrent traffic because it consumes so much server resources and may be they want to comply with the copyright laws so they will not allow torrenting. These companies often ban torrent users as soon as they find out that you are downloading torrents. There are also some companies that allow torrenting but they keeps user’s IP, email, name, address etc. details on their server. Some companies keep the log for say, 6 months. This is risky because sometimes, they are forced to hand over the user’s data by Government Agencies or copyright protection companies based in Hollywood. So don’t be the victim of these VPN companies. Top Torrent VPN for anonymous Torrenting. Is downloading torrents with no VPN safe? No. It is absolutely not safe to download torrent without any VPN software. Some valid reasons are given below to encourage you to use a VPN while downloading torrent files. What happens if you download torrents (without) using a VPN. But a few brave souls have resisted the flight to safety, and decided to roll the dice. Many of those have ultimate regretted it. Which begs that question: What are the risks of downloading torrents without a vpn? The risks of getting caught (and penalties you might face) vary drastically by country (and even by state). But this guide will clarify the risks you run by continuing to torrent unprotected. We’ll go more in-depth shortly, but these are the key takeaways : If you stick to legal torrents, your risks are minimal. Risks from other files can range from mild (loss of internet access) to severe (Lawsuits or Jail). Risks and legality vary by country. Proper use of a torrent-friendly VPN makes torrent activity very difficult/impossible to trace. Most (probably 99+%) of people caught torrenting were NOT using a VPN. Note: This article is not legal advice and is for educational use only. This website does not condone the downloading of copyrighted materials. We do, however, advocate for your right to online privacy while torrenting. LEGAL vs. ILLEGAL TORRENTS. While many people use BitTorrent to share copyrighted files, not all torrents are illegal. There are dozens of sites with completely free and legal torrent sites, consisting of public domain or creative commons licensed works. And even ultra-popular sites like ThePirateBay host a mix of legal and copy-protected works. The trouble is distinguishing between the two. Even more confusing, is the downloading (and sometimes sharing) of copy-protected works may be legal depending on what country you live in. For example, in The Netherlands it is legal to download copyrighted works of art (like Music or films) for ‘personal’ use as long as there isn’t a commercial motive. But in most countries, frequent torrenters will risk running afoul of copyright law. And the penalties for doing so can be quite harsh, and often aren’t proportionate to the infringement. PENALTIES FOR DOWNLOADING TORRENTS. Unprotected BitTorrent users or open to a range of potential penalties ranging from inconvenience, to civil lawsuits, to criminal punishment in the most extreme cases. Here are common penalties from mild to severe: Internet Service Disruptions. Most Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) monitor their subscribers web traffic using a process called ‘Deep Packet Inspection.’ This allows them to see what types of traffic you’re transmitting. It also allows them to throttle (slow down) or block certain traffic. Many ISP’s will throttle all torrent traffic, regardless of whether you’re downloading fully legal torrents or not. And repeated torrent downloads can even cause your ISP to suspend your internet access altogether. The good news is that a VPN will fully encrypt your torrent traffic, so that your ISP cannot see what you’re downloading (or even that you’re torrenting at all). Lawsuits & Fines. There has been a growing epidemic of copyright trolls targeting bittorrent users. In fact they’ve turned it into a pretty lucrative business. This is especially true of small pornography production companies and some independent film studios. And the business model is simple: Produce of piece of content and charge an exorbitant price for it (few people pay). Wait for it to get distributed as a torrent (or leak it yourself). Monitor the public IP addresses in the torrent swarm, then sue those users en masse ​ Demand $1000-3000 to settle the lawsuit (calculated to be below the cost of hiring a lawyer). Repeat. In fact, many of the people who have settled these lawsuits didn’t even download the infringing content at all. That’s why it’s a predatory tactic. One notorious troll Prenda Law extracted millions in settlements until collapsing from a criminal probe. Of course, it stands to reason that few or none of the people who settled were using a non-logging VPN (which would have shielded their public IP address). Recommended: IPVanish VPN (one of our favorite torrent-friendly services). WHY MANY BITTORRENT USERS CHOOSE TO USE A VPN. By their very design, p2p networks like BitTorrent are very exposed to 3rd party observers. In fact, there are many organizations and even public websites that track torrent downloads. You can even check I know what you download to see (a small percentage) of the files specific IP addresses have downloaded (even yours!). So the benefits of a VPN are obvious: so your ISP can’t read/block/throttle Hides your public IP address in torrent swarms (peers will see the VPNs IP address, not yours) If the VPN keeps no logs, there is no link between your public torrent IP and your identity. And don’t worry , using a VPN isn’t complicated or confusing… Most VPN’s come with easy-to-use software that makes encrypting your torrents as easy as a 1-click . But if you want to go more in-depth, we have complete VPN setup guides for all of the most popular torrent clients: RECOMMENDED VPNS. If you’re ready to level up your privacy and protect your torrent history, these are some of our favorite torrent-friendly VPN providers. They’re all true ‘Zero-Log’ VPN services, and most of them cost less than $5/month if you choose a 1-year subscription. The best VPN for torrenting and torrents 2021. Using a VPN while you torrent is a no-brainer - but which is best? Whatever you think about torrents (and, as you've landed here, we reckon we can guess which way your opinion swings), they've become an extremely popular way to share files online - but still not an altogether safe one. So using a VPN for torrenting is a no-brainer. Among their many uses, torrenting VPNs ensure that your identity is anonymous when you download torrents and that all data shared or received by you is completely encrypted. That’s the basic premise, but you can scroll down this page if you want more information with our full FAQ on using a VPN to torrent. Despite governments and internet providers attempting to stop it, downloading music, films and video games via P2P torrenting is still incredibly popular. Of course TechRadar doesn’t condone any copyright-breaching activities, but we are concerned about your safety when you're trying to watch, play and listen to stuff online. That's why we recommend using one of the best torrenting VPN options that we've listed below to ensure that your details stay private. How to choose the best VPN for torrenting. The virtual private networks we've picked out all support torrents (not every VPN does) but - equally as important - are all equipped with the right features and tools that you require when torrenting. A few are obvious, starting with privacy and security. Torrenting by its very nature is pretty risky and, while peer-to-peer sharing of big files is undeniably useful, you can leave yourself exposed to threats from bad actors. So you want a VPN with strong encryption protocols and plenty of security smarts. A clear no-logs policy is also crucial - the biggest VPN providers have even started to have these independently audited. Download speeds are crucial, too - there's no point in choosing a VPN that throttles your speeds so much that downloads crawl along at a snail's pace. We also recommend only opting for torrenting VPNs that are watertight from DNS leaks and have a kill switch. The latter shuts down the internet connection if the VPN stops working, thus preventing your true IP from being exposed. Today's top 3 best torrenting VPNs: 1. ExpressVPN - #1 torrenting VPN in the world ExpressVPN ticks all the boxes when it comes to your torrenting VPN needs - tons of servers spread wide across the globe, fast connection speeds to ensure the speediest downloads, effective kill switches across a range of devices, and it's so easy to use. Plus, you can try it for 30-days risk-free . View Deal. 2. Hotspot Shield - lag-free torrenting downloads Having one of the fastest VPNs out there is really something worth bragging about, and they don't come quicker than Hotspot Shield. It's also a really easy-to-use service that you can get for a really reasonable price. And thanks to our exclusive pricing , you can get it for as little as $2.49 per month! View Deal. 3. NordVPN - a secure choice for P2P and torrenting Nord has become a synonymous name with VPN, and its world class security credentials fit nicely for torrenters. Double VPN, 'Onion over' privacy and a no-logging policy audited yearly by PricewaterhouseCoopers should give you the peace of mind you require when downloading anonymously. View Deal. The best torrenting VPNs in 2021: 1. ExpressVPN. Best all-round VPN for torrenting and P2P traffic. Allows torrenting/P2P: Yes | Audited no-logs policy: Yes | Fast connections: Yes | Kill switch supported: Windows, Mac, Android | Servers: 3,000+ | 24/7 live chat support: Yes. Put simply, ExpressVPN boasts all the features you'd want from a VPN for torrenting - indeed, the provider also tops our overall best VPN list. We say "boast", but Express doesn't bother pasting its claims all over its homepage. Instead, it just gets on with the business of establishing P2P support across every one of its servers, and all with unlimited bandwidth. It's certainly fast. We tested its connection speed to multiple servers around the world and witnessed some of the best, most reliable connections of the 200+ VPNs we've reviewed. That’s obviously a major advantage for anyone who downloads large files. And payment by Bitcoin is supported, too. In terms of security, ExpressVPN ticks all the right boxes with strong encryption, its own secure server DNS and a range of VPN protocols, while the privacy policy clearly states that they keep no activity logs and no connection logs. We're glad to see effective kill switches for desktop and Android phones, although iOS doesn't have one specifically - you'll have to settle for an auto-reconnect option if you do most of your torrenting on iPhone or iPad. The software’s split tunneling feature for both Mac and Windows users is definitely worth mentioning as it allows users to choose to protect their torrent client only. That leaves all other online activities, such as web browsing or online gaming, unaffected by the VPN. And should you encounter any problems with the VPN, 24/7 customer support is provided via live chat or email. ExpressVPN’s offshore jurisdiction in the BVI is also a key advantage for protecting your anonymity. So too its independently audited no-logging policy. Price-wise, ExpressVPN costs more than other providers - although its now packing in the value with a whole year of Backblaze cloud backup thrown in with all annual subs. Ultimately, it's certainly worth it for those who want the very best experience when torrenting via VPN. Best torrenting VPN 2021: 49% off and 3 months FREE You can tell that we really rate ExpressVPN - it's the VPN we use around the office ourselves! And the good news is that you TechRadar readers can get a little perk, too. ExpressVPN has agreed to give readers three months extra free when you sign up. And don't forget about the no quibble 30-day money back guarantee, too. View Deal. 2. Hotspot Shield. One of the fastest VPNs around with 100% P2P supported servers. Allows torrenting/P2P: Yes | Audited no logs policy: No | Fast connections: Very | Kill switch supported: Windows, Mac, Android | Servers: 1,800+ | 24/7 live chat support: Yes. In recent times particularly, Hotspot Shield has built its reputation on its market-leading speeds. Its brilliantly named Catapult Hydra protocol means that it can ramp up the connection speeds to a much faster Mbps than the mere OpenVPN can manage. So you know that having Hotspot running in the background won't reduce your torrents down to a sluggish download speed. But honestly, barely any of the torrenting VPNs on this list will either. Luckily, Hotspot Shield has plenty more strings to its bow. It fully supports P2P on every last one of its 1,500+ servers around the world, and there are reliable kill switches on desktop and also Android (but not on the provider's slightly undercooked iOS app, alas). We reckon that if you're a big torrenter, then you probably like the idea of streaming safely - and more expansively - as well. Hotspot Shield is the ideal streaming VPN, being able to pretty much get around all geo-restricted content that we threw its way. We found the ready availability of online support guides on how to safely torrent with Hotspot Shield somewhat lacking. But at least there's an effective 24/7 live chat support service in case you're in need of immediate assistance. To climb higher in this countdown, we'd really like the service to begin auditing the no-logging policy to give us a bit more confidence in its privacy credentials. Indeed, Hotspot actually admits that there is some logging of sessions. Nothing potentially harmful to you - we're talking about session duration, devices and IP addresses. Again, nothing that we'd really consider a red flag, but it does mean that we prefer the above torrenting VPNs in this list. 3. NordVPN. Watertight security measures make it a natural choice for P2P. Allows torrenting/P2P: Yes | Audited no-logs policy: Yes | Fast connections: Yes | Kill switch supported: Windows, Mac, iOS | Servers: 5,200+ | 24/7 live chat support: Yes. When talking about VPN security, NordVPN is one of the first names that springs to mind. That's unsurprising when you consider the ultra-secure connections you get with IKEv2/IPsec and OpenVPN protocols both supported, alongside the provider's very own high-speed NordLynx version of WireGuard. In fact, there are a certain number of ‘Double VPN’ servers which actually pass your data through two separate VPN servers for additional security. Furthermore, Onion over VPN is supported for extra privacy. Like most top-notch VPNs, there’s a clear no log policy, too. But Nord has gone the extra step by inviting external auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers to verify the security of its apps. And a bug bounty program gives an incentive for anyone to uncover and report security problems with the service. P2P is not supported on all servers, but Nord won't leave you trying to find a needle in a haystack. It implements a really easy one-click 'P2P' option from its main interface, to ensure that you're directed straight to an appropriate server when you're preparing to torrent. It also offers ample server coverage, an automatic kill switch for Windows, Mac and iOS (with an easy-to-activate equivalent on Android), DNS leak blocking, a good client and great performance levels with above-average download speeds. Crypto is supported (including Bitcoin), and you have the option to try and cancel with its 30-day money-back guarantee. The multi-year plan is clearly the best choice in terms of pure value for money. 4. Private Internet Access. PIA reaches P2P areas others can't reach. Allows torrenting/P2P: Yes | Audited no logs policy: No | Fast connections: Average | Kill switch supported: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS | Servers: 35,00+ (unconfirmed) | 24/7 live chat support: Yes. Private Internet Access (or PIA) certainly takes the prize for the product name that best suits the needs of torrenters wanting a VPN. It sure sounds comforting on the surface, but does PIA have what it takes to match your needs? Well, let's face it. it wouldn't be on this list if it didn't! For starters, there's P2P support on every one of its many servers (how many servers is a little unclear right now - up until recently its site claimed an enormous 35,000, but that has recently disappeared from the site). And you'll have learned enough from this guide by now to know that its clean sweep of kill switches on desktop (Windows and Mac) and mobile VPN apps (Android and iOS), is enough to get in our good books. But the PIA engineers have gone the extra mile by making 'port forwarding' available, too. Now, the jury is out on just how useful this is - see the bottom of this article for the thoughts of other torrenting VPN providers - but toggle the setting on to enable redirecting of incoming connections to bypass a NAT firewall and so help improve P2P download speeds. Again, it's up to you whether or not you use this. But the fact PIA lags behind the direct competition a little when it comes to pure download speeds might help make your decision for you - we suppose it depends just how long you can wait to download that latest blockbuster. Elsewhere, PIA has upped its game of late when it comes to streaming (US Netflix good, BBC iPlayer bad) and its apps are a real delight to use, with plenty of features to explore. What's more, the multi-year plan that Private Internet Access offers is among the most reasonably priced around. 5. Surfshark. Bringing affordability to your secure torrenting. Allows torrenting/P2P: Yes | Audited no logs policy: Partially | Fast connections: Yes | Kill switch supported: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS | Servers: 3,200+ | 24/7 live chat support: Yes. If Surfshark is already on your VPN shortlist, it's most likely to be because of its price. It always features prominently in our cheap VPN guide, thanks to the rock-bottom cost of its multi-year plan. An absolute bargain, frankly. Especially when you consider that Surfshark really has the goods to back up that status. For torrent fiends there's P2P support on most servers (although it would be nice if they made it more obvious which ones have it), zero-knowledge DNS servers, Bitcoin support, split tunneling, and even URL and ad blocking. On the off chance you're struggling to get Surfshark working with your torrent client, there's also really handy 24/7 support via email and live chat. Going back to value for money, a single subscription covers unlimited devices. So you can get the VPN working on your PC, Mac, mobiles, TV streaming devices, games consoles, router, and everything else that's compatible - and maybe a few of your friends and family members, too! It includes a kill switch on Windows, Macs, Android and iPhones. That's great, but the were some minor issues with it on Windows during our testing where we didn't feel like we were given a clear enough warning when the connection drops. But again, Surfshark is a fantastic VPN option for torrenters that are also budget-conscious. Torrenting VPNs FAQ. Do I really need a VPN for torrenting? We'd highly recommend it - especially if you're main reason for doing so is to downloaded pirated videos and games. Because torrenting VPNs effectively make your movements online anonymous, nobody can tie your activity back to your IP address. So you don't need to worry about aggressive letters through the door telling you to cease and desist. What is the best torrenting VPN in 2021? We've put ExpressVPN to the top of our torrenting VPN list - it just ticks all the boxes. It's a given that it's fast, secure and easy to use. But it also benefits from really effective kill switches on its desktop clients and Android app and we really like that its thorough no-logging policy is independently audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. It's an excellent choice for torrenters. Is torrenting safe with a VPN? As well as giving all the data you exchange online end-to-end encryption, torrenting with a VPN turned on also helps to keep your identity completely anonymous. That means there's no chance for your ISP or anybody else finding out who you are or what you're downloading online. Is a free download good enough for torrenting? In a word. no. There are some genuinely excellent free VPN downloads out there that function perfectly well for letting you check emails on public Wi-Fi and basic IP spoofing. But they tend to limit the data you use and throttle internet speed. So for torrenting, it pays to grab a premium version like ExpressVPN or NordVPN. What does a kill switch do? VPNs are fantastic for online privacy, but if your VPN connection drops for any reason you'll immediately be at risk from having your IP details leaked - a real problem if you're downloading something dodgy. A kill switch shuts off your entire internet connection the moment its own connection drops, and thus keeps your IP address hidden. What are DNS leaks? A DNS leak is a type of security flaw that effectively allows your IP address to be seen by other people, for example cybercriminals or the government. Any VPN worth its salt will have strong encryption measures and protocols in place that make sure DNS leaks aren't possible and therefore keep you anonymous online. Port forwarding - what is it and what do VPN companies say? We approached some of the biggest VPN companies in the world to get their thoughts on torrenting and port forwarding and this is what three of them had to say. "We don't support port forwarding, almost no VPNs do. In order for true port forwarding to work, the customer would need a dedicated IP. We use shared IP's for enhanced privacy. A little explanation: It's impossible to do port forwarding when everyone shares the same IP address on the VPN server. Because you'd run into port collisions. However, torrenting still works fine on the VPN. Why? Because of NAT. A torrent client makes an outbound connection to a seeder with an ephemeral port, then the server associates that connection to your private/internal IP address via connection tracking (conntrack) / NAT. Inbound connections then work through that. It's more or less the same how NAT would work in your home environment on your router. You might be wondering: What's the difference between port forwarding & NAT? Port forwarding dedicates a specific port to a specific client. Say for instance you wanted to start a Minecraft server on port 25565. You'd setup your router to tell it All connections for port 25565 should be directed to 192.168.1.10 (which is your PC for example) then the router knows that 25565 should ALWAYS be forwarded to that specific IP on your network. This works well for your home, but it doesn't work well for VPN's where multiple users would want to open the same port for the same reasons. NAT, on the other hand, opens ports based on association, and it assigns the ports at random so it avoids space exhaustion and collision." "We do not support port forwarding as it might lead to service abuse. Meanwhile, P2P traffic is allowed on the portion of designated servers." "We have opted to not to allow port forwarding due to potential abuse and security risks that exposes. It is the same policy as a number of other VPN providers on the market. Many customers believe our speeds for torrenting are fast nevertheless, and in our internal testing port forwarding often has little impact on speeds when downloading popular legal torrent files. There are a number of VPNs that do offer port forwarding if that is something you are looking for, but unfortunately we do not offer that. What is the best VPN for Torrents? Will using one of the free VPN services out there protect you from getting the nasty letters from Comcast when downloading some movies on TPB using Utorrent? I've read some reviews/articles that say some of the Free VPN's out there do not work with torrents. this makes me assume that some DO work with torrents/Hide you from trackers? What is the best Free VPN, or a good one, for someone who wishes to keep downloading movie torrents from TPB, but wants to stop getting threatening letters from Comcast? Is a VPN even the best solution? (aside from just stopping the activity altogether) My new favorite https://vpnme.com. And read the privacy policy and do some research. VPN's like hma are not for torrents. VPN's are now more important than ever with the six strikes being adopted by U.S. ISP's such as Verizon, and Comcast. Services like HMA, STRONG, viper, etc all log, if they have your credit card payment on file which as a buisness they have to then thats a form of logging. Best bet is to get a prepaid debit card with cash in the most sketchy place without cameras, then rent a chinese servers which cost like 3 bucks a month. from there you tunnel the traffic through. So no more listening to WOW forums or HAK5 douche bags. I also personally like HMA (hidemyass pro VPN) [Edit: referral code removed] While I'm sure we all appreciate the fact that the next poster just so happened to have randomly stumbled upon a coupon code for vpnme.com (how convenient) I would like to make things a bit more transparent for all who read this thread. VPNme.com gets less than 500 visitors per day. They are in no way an established vpn and may possibly not even be an authentic vpn. Their marketing method consists of trolling for high-profile bittorrent articles with open comments, and then blasting whoever the last poster was to recommend another VPN. If you want to check VPNme.com's web traffic for yourself, go to www.freewebsitereport.org and type in their domain name. Real VPN providers get 10's of thousands of hits per day. When I contacted vpnme.com's webmaster (before I saw this comment) they didn't even respond with a professional email, or actual names. I sent them an email to learn more about their service and explore the possibility of reviewing them for my website The Best Bittorrent VPN Guide and their response email was signed "One of the founders of VPNme.com." Not even a real name. I'm not sure that's what most vpn's mean when they say they "take anonymity seriously." If you go to my website, you will see that I actually mention the fact that HideMyAss keeps logs, but the commenter didn't even bother to read my review before blasting me. I like HideMyAss because of the functionality and massive array of servers and IP addresses available. It's not secret that they aren't the most anonymous of VPN's (they famously handed over one of the lulzec hackers who mistakenly thought he was anonymous). So while I urge you to consider all sources to find good information regarding the best vpn choices for bittorrent, I would highly advise all reading this to stay away from vpnme.com until they have established themselves as a real, viable vpn option. VPN service is not the type of thing where I would want to be an early adopter, and you're likely to be one of the first 100 customers if you sign up. As always, torrent safe! For VPN, you can try ( http://www.virtualprivate-network.com/hidemyass-vpnreview/ ), which I found to be fast, reliable, and affordable. Cheapest I've found so far, and I'm using it on my iPhone as well to access Facebook, Twitter apps. I don't reallly know how to describe speed, but while connected to vpn, Youtube streaming is also pretty fast. A 3 min video takes about 30 secs to load? I'm able to choose to connect from LA, UK, etc.