Want to cut straight to the chase? The best VPNs for uTorrent right now are CyberGhost and IPVanish.
For those unfamiliar with it, uTorrent is one of the most well-known torrenting applications on the market, with an almost 70% market share of the BitTorrent client market. It’s a lightweight yet fully-featured client for torrenting, with a highly intuitive interface, making it the ideal way to upload and download files.
Given that uTorrent is used by over 100 million people, you might think that it was entirely safe for use, but sadly that is not the case. While the actual uTorrent client is secure enough, using a peer-to-peer network can leave your data extremely vulnerable.
The good news is there are ways to protect yourself. Mac OS has a brilliant built-in anti-virus and malware blocker, and Windows Defender is every bit as good. The biggest threat while torrenting, however, is to your privacy. This is where a VPN steps in.
What does s VPN do?
A Virtual Private Network is absolutely crucial in today’s world. Data theft and hacking are on the rise, and a VPN is the best way to avoid being attacked. A VPN works by sending your internet connection to its own private server, which then encrypts your information before sending it on.
This means that even your own ISP can’t see what you are doing, but why does that matter? Some ISP will track your online habits and sell them to advertising agencies or give them to governments and law enforcement without your consent.
VPN companies, for the most part, do not log any of your data. This is key in making sure your online privacy is not compromised.
VPNs have plenty of other uses too. One of the best features that uTorrent can take advantage of is IP masking. By connecting to a private server before joining the internet, it’s impossible to see your actual IP address, making you much more secure.
Many websites now use geo-restrictions to stop people from certain countries from using their sites, and governments worldwide use the same technology to censor anything they don’t want their citizens to see. VPNs allow you to appear almost anywhere on earth and access pretty much anything and have proved to be an excellent tool for civil liberty across the globe.
So what is P2P?
P2P is simply a peer-to-peer network. Imagine you have a large file that you’d like to download. With a single connection to that file, your download speed is limited to the server’s speed from which you’re downloading. Now imagine if you could break that file down into tiny pieces and download it from many sources simultaneously much faster. That’s how P2P works.
BitTorrent itself is the protocol that uTorrent uses to connect users to a BitTorrent swarm; a swarm is a group of computers uploading and downloading files from each other. The more computers in a swarm, the more potential speed it has. The uTorrent client uses a .torrent tracker file to see which computers in the swarm have a specific file installed. The file contains the IP address of each computer so that others may connect to it.
Users on the BitTorrent network are called seeders and leechers. Seeders are the people sharing the file, and leechers are downloading it. As you download each separate chunk of a file, you can then begin seeding it, which helps increase the overall speed of the swarm.
So why should I use a VPN with uTorrent?
One of the significant drawbacks to torrenting is that its very nature means you need to share an IP address to download or upload anything. These IP addresses are visible to anyone using the network, and that alone could land you in trouble. An unprotected IP is a juicy target for hackers.
In the past, people found to be downloading copyrighted material such as movies have received settlement letters from media corporations demanding money for illegally downloading their property. The fines can be into the tens of thousands of dollars, so tread carefully if you plan to download something you shouldn’t.
ISPs are under pressure from governments worldwide to ban access to torrent sites, and heavy throttling is common on P2P networks due to excessive bandwidth usage. Famously, The PirateBay has been banned by multiple ISPs globally, only to pop back up with a new site each time. Using a VPN would allow you to connect to a P2P network without your ISP knowing and throttling your connection.
With this in mind, one crucial feature we will look for in a VPN is a kill switch. This is an automated cut-off that will cut your connection to the internet entirely if the VPN connection drops out. VPN drops can occur for a staggering number of reasons, and you may not even realize it has happened, which could leave you dangerously exposed.
One excellent feature uTorrent has in its Windows client is the ability to IP bind. This means that the uTorrent client will only begin seeding and leeching while connected with a designated IP address. Effectively, this acts as a kill switch should your connection to your VPN drop while torrenting.
Which VPNs are best for uTorrent
Below we’ve compiled a list of the best VPN services to use with uTorrent and a short breakdown of what they offer. By virtue of making it to this list, pretty much every VPN mentioned here is an excellent choice to use will torrenting, but we all want the best bang for our buck!
While most VPNs will publish a data logging policy, they are still subject to local law jurisdictions. It’s a good idea to check where a company is based; that way, you can check what they can be compelled to hand over to LEAs.
Download speeds will also be high up our list of priorities. There’s not much point connecting to a peer-to-peer network if it runs at a snail’s pace. As we’ve mentioned, kill switches are essential too and strong DNS leak protection.
Let’s take a look…
| Brand | Starting price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 1. CyberGhost | $4.29/month | Cost-effectiveness |
| 2. IPVanish | $10.99/month | Multiple Servers |
| 3. ExpressVPN | $8.32 – $12.95/month | Security |
| 4. Hotspot Shield | €12.99/month | Strong Encryption |
1. CyberGhost
- Dedicated P2P servers
- 45-Day money-back guarantee
- 7000 Servers in 90 countries
- Kill switch
- Zero logging
- Strong Encryption
- Poor customer support
If security is your number one concern, as well it might be, CyberGhost is one of the best choices on this list. It has all the features you would expect, such as kill switch, DNS leak prevention, and 256-bit encryption. It also has a wide variety of security protocols available.
A great feature of CyberGhost is its App Protection feature. This is a special list of designated apps that will automatically launch CyberGhost when they are opened. The beauty of this is that you can use P2P or streaming sites without worrying about forgetting to turn on your VPN; let’s be honest, we’ve all done it.
CyberGhost also has dedicated P2P servers in 61 countries. Located in the ‘For Torrening’ tab in the CyberGhost app, these optimized servers will let you use uTorrent with some blistering speeds.
The biggest cloud hanging over CyberGhost is that they are owned by Kape Technologies, which in the past had some shady practices. Recently though, their reputation has improved, and they offer independent security audits on their VPNs.
Get started with CyberGhost today.
>>MORE: Can Google Track Me If I Use A VPN | Does a VPN Protect Against Viruses? | Is a VPN worth it? | VPNs for Raspberry Pi
2. IPVanish
- Allows P2P
- Zero logging
- 1600 servers
- Unlimited devices
- 250GB secure cloud storage
- Kill switch
- DNS leak prevention
- US-based
For anyone on a budget, IPVanish is a great choice. Their monthly subscription is $3.49 or a mere $31.49 for your first year. That represents terrific value for money given the service on offer. IPVanish offers high speeds connections that are perfect for uTorrent. If your ISP throttles your P2P activity, you may well even notice a speed increase.
A kill switch is available on macOS and Windows, but not on other devices, which is disappointing, but you can connect unlimited devices, so there’s that. The DNS leak prevention works like a charm, which is vital on any P2P network.
The biggest issue we have with IPVanish is that they are US-based. In 2016 they provided LEA’s with information that was used to prosecute a user. However, they were bought by StackPath subsequently and now have a zero-log policy. Being US-based, they could be compelled to hand over any data they hold of yours, so it’s up to you whether you want to take their data policy at face value.
Get started with IPVanish today.
3. ExpressVPN
- Allows P2P
- Split Tunneling
- Kill Switch
- 3000 servers in 94 countries
- Tor Compatability
- Based in the British Virgin Islands
- Zero logging
- Expensive
For anyone who wants to use uTorrent, ExpressVPN is a fantastic choice. Some VPN providers have dedicated servers for P2P; with ExpressVPN, every server is available for torrenting. We found speeds to be consistently high, even on remote servers, which is essential for torrenting.
ExpressVPN has a kill switch included, although the iOS app doesn’t include it for some reason, so be vigilant if you plan on using uTorrent on an Apple device. ExpressVPNs encryption is top-notch, and their no-log policy is one you can trust. They are based in the British Virgin Islands, so they can’t be compelled to hand over data easily regardless.
Priced at $12.95 a month, or $99.95 for 15 months, ExpressVPN is somewhat pricer than many other options, although we do feel that is reflected in the service provided. Customer support is 24/7 and provides expert help.
Overall, ExpressVPN is one of the best options to use while with uTorrent and keep your data protected.
Get started ExpressVPN with today.
4. Hotspot Shield
- Allows P2P
- Free version
- Kill switch
- Breakneck speeds
- Strong Encryption
- Some data logging
- Browser extension may leak
Hotspot shield has some significant advantages over other VPNs on this list, but some pretty significant disadvantages offset those. Whether Hotspot Shield is of any use to you will depend greatly on what you plan to do with it.
Let’s start with the good stuff. Hotspot Shield uses its Catapult Hydra protocol to fix some of the latency issues found in other protocols like OpenVPN. The results are impressive, to say the least. Even on the most far-flung servers, Hotspot shield returned lightning-fast speeds and low ping. This makes it ideally suited for P2P and online gaming. If your ISPs throttles your connection, then you will almost certainly see an average speed increase using Hotspot Shield.
It has all the security features you would come to expect, but not everything is as it seems. Only the windows app has a kill switch, and while Hotspot Shield does have DNS leak protection, data was leaked when using the Chrome extension rather than the app. That could potentially lead to severe issues for you.
Another mark again Hotspot Shield is that it logs some data such as your email, username, OS version, hardware, etc.
>>MORE: Can VPNs Steal Your Passwords or Personal Data? | YouTube VPNs | Amazon Prime VPNs | Should I Pay For a VPN?
So which VPN is best for uTorrent?
Each of the VPN’s we’ve talked about has its own strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately the best one for you will depend on how you plan to use it.
If you plan to download dubious files with uTorrent, then security-conscious VPNs like CyberGhost are a great choice. If high download speeds are what you are looking for, then Hotspot Shield is a great choice, as long as you are ok with some data being logged and only use the Windows app.
If you, like us, prefer to have the best of both worlds, then there is only one choice. ExpressVPN offers consistently high speeds, top-level security and has a data logging policy second-to-none.
ExpressVPN offers split-tunneling, so you can browse normally while a VPN protects your torrent in the background.
Peace of mind is always an important factor in choosing a VPN; after all, it’s there for our protection. ExpressVPN has stellar customer support, and the fact it’s located in the British Virgin Islands and offers independent security audits lets us sleep peacefully at night.
So there we have it. If you want the best VPN to use with Utorrent, go with ExpressVPN.