Torrenting is the one task where privacy is not a feature but the whole point, and where a device limit or a missing port can end the download.
A torrent client announces your address to every peer in the swarm. With a VPN the swarm sees the VPN's address instead, which is the entire mechanism — and the reason a provider's logging policy matters more here than anywhere else on this site.
The practical constraints are just as blunt: the connection must permit the traffic, the plan must cover the devices you run it on, and a download that pauses every time the tunnel reconnects is worse than no VPN at all.
Ordered by how well each one fits this task, not by our overall ranking — every score here is the score on that provider's review.
Open-source apps, unlimited devices, port forwarding, and the only no-logs claim proven twice in US federal court.
30-day money-back guarantee
Unlimited devices, open-source apps, port forwarding, and a no-logs claim tested twice in US federal court.
Swiss jurisdiction, open-source apps and a transparency report with real numbers in it.
30-day money-back guarantee
The highest privacy score in the table at 9.7, Swiss jurisdiction and open-source apps you can read rather than trust.
Swedish, independent, no account email, no subscription tier — and a police raid that came up empty.
30-day money-back guarantee
Swedish, independent, no account email and one flat monthly price — built for leaving as little trace as the category allows.
Privacy carries 40% for this guide, with speed and value at 20% each, ease of use at 10% and streaming at 10% — streaming stays in the model only so this guide remains comparable with the others.
| Criterion | Weight | How it is scored |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy | 40 % | Jurisdiction and data-retention law; membership of the 5/9/14-Eyes alliances; independent audits of the no-logs claim with a named firm and date; whether servers are RAM-only, which makes retention structurally impossible; documented cases of legal compulsion; how much identifying information signup collects. |
| Speed | 20 % | An architectural estimate, not our own benchmark. Protocol support and whether WireGuard is available; RAM-only versus disk infrastructure; server density and proximity to major cities; dedicated streaming and gaming capacity; stability reported in published independent reviews. |
| Value | 20 % | The effective monthly cost of the longest term offered, weighted against what the subscription actually delivers — device count, features and network size. Providers whose renewal price roughly doubles score lower, because the real cost of a VPN is the second year, not the first. |
| Ease of use | 10 % | How quickly a non-technical person can install, connect and trust the app; whether servers are labelled by purpose; platform coverage including smart TVs and routers; and whether support is reachable and useful. |
| Streaming | 10 % | How consistently the provider restores geo-blocked catalogues across major streaming services, whether it maintains dedicated servers for them, and how often the answer changes. Providers that do not attempt this score low by design, which we state rather than penalise silently. |
The full table with the same published scores. Sort it here, or open the main comparison with filters.
| # | VPN | Our score | From /month | Devices | Jurisdiction | Audits | Free tier | Guarantee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | ExternalNordVPNBest overall | 9.3 | $3.09 | 10 | Panama Outside | 6x Deloitte | No | 30 days |
| #2 | ExternalSurfsharkBest value | 9.1 | $2.49 | Unlimited | Netherlands 9 Eyes | 2x Deloitte | No | 30 days |
| #3 | ExternalExpressVPNBest for speed | 9.0 | $4.96 | 8 | British Virgin Islands Outside | 6x KPMG | No | 30 days |
| #4 | ExternalProton VPNBest privacy | 8.9 | $3.68 | 10 | Switzerland Outside | 5x Securitum (no-logs) | Yes | 30 days |
| #5 | ExternalCyberGhostBest for beginners | 8.9 | $2.69 | 7 | Romania Outside | 3x Deloitte | No | 45 days |
| #6 | ExternalPrivate Internet AccessBest for power users | 8.5 | $1.64 | Unlimited | United States 5 Eyes | 3x Deloitte | No | 30 days |
| #7 | ExternalWindscribeBest free tier | 8.4 | $2.25 | Unlimited | Canada 5 Eyes | 2x Leviathan Security Group | Yes | 30 days |
| #8 | AdAdGuard VPNBuilt-in ad blocking | 8.4 | $2.99 | 10 | Cyprus Outside | None found | Yes | 30 days |
| #9 | ExternalTunnelBearBest simple apps | 8.1 | $3.67 | 5 | Canada 5 Eyes | 9x Cure53 | Yes | 30 days |
| #10 | ExternalIVPNBest transparency | 7.9 | $4.12 | 2 | Gibraltar Outside | 7x Cure53 | No | 30 days |
| #11 | ExternalMullvadBest anonymity | 7.5 | $5.00 | 5 | Sweden 14 Eyes | 6x Cure53 | No | 30 days |
No provider matches those filters. Try widening them.
Read the logging policy the way a lawyer would: what is retained, for how long, and what happens on receipt of a legal request. Independent audits and court-tested claims are worth more than a slogan, and both are facts we record per provider.
Then look at device limits and incoming connections. A desktop client plus a second machine can exceed a small plan quickly, and one of our picks is marked for port forwarding precisely because P2P behaves better when incoming connections work.
Not for the protocol itself, which works without one. You need one if you do not want your address visible to every peer, which is the normal reason people use it — and you should only ever download material you have the right to download.
Private Internet Access for this task: unlimited devices, open-source apps and port forwarding, with a court-tested privacy claim. Proton VPN leads on privacy score and Mullvad on leaving no account behind.
Encryption and routing cost some throughput, yes. Our speed component covers that cost, and it is the reason this guide weights speed at 20% rather than ignoring it — a tunnel that is private but unusable has failed at the job too.
Twelve guides, one per task. Pick the job you actually have.
All eleven providers, with the same published scores this guide is built on — no separate list, no inflated numbers.
