TorGuard Client - Downloads. TorGuard Client versions v4.2.x are the latest stable releases for Windows, MAC and Linux. These are strongly recommended for all new installations and upgrades.
NordVPN and TorGuard are two of the more popular VPNs on the market today. They both have their fans and hordes of satisfied customers. But is one objectively better than the other? Does one offer a lot more value than the other? That’s what you’ll find out in this NordVPN vs TorGuard comparison.
Below we present to you a head-to-head comparison of these two powerful VPNs. We’ll be looking at how they compare, one against the other, in these eight categories:
By the time we finish evaluating all these categories, you’ll have everything you need to know to choose between NordVPN and TorGuard. So let’s do it.
1. Company background check: NordVPN vs TorGuard
When people talk about using a VPN, we tend to think that our online activities are hidden from everyone. But never forget that your VPN does have the potential to see what you do online. While we think most VPN services are honest and do their best to protect your privacy, some have been caught breaking their own “no logs” policies. Case in point: IPVanish, which coughed up user logs to the FBI.
This means the history and integrity of the company that runs a VPN is crucial to the actual value of that VPN. So let’s see what we can discover about the companies behind these two VPNs.
NordVPN background and jurisdiction
NordVPN and other Nord security products all fall under the NordSec brand. The parent company for NordVPN is Tefincom. The company was established in 2012, meaning that they are veterans of the VPN market. But that’s not all. They are rolling out other security solutions, including NordPass, a secure password manager. They have also released NordLocker, which is an encryption tool and secure cloud storage solution all in one.
Another plus for NordVPN is that it is strategically based in Panama. From the beginning, NordVPN was a strictly no-logs VPN service – and they have been audited twice to confirm those claims. Panama lines up with this policy because it is an excellent jurisdiction for a privacy-centric business. The country of Panama is not a member of the 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes, or the 14 Eyes intelligence alliances, and has no mandatory data logging and retention laws which could force them to spy on their users.
In short, NordVPN has a very good reputation, it is a verified no-logs VPN provider, and is based in a good location. We have no problem recommending their products.
TorGuard background and jurisdiction
VPNetworks LLC is the parent company of the TorGuard VPN. Digging a little deeper, we learned that VPNetworks LLC is part of a holding company named Data Protection Services LLC. This holding company owns TorGuard VPN, Private-Email, and PrivateRouter, a company that sells VPN routers that work with TorGuard.
So where are these companies based? VPNetworks LLC and Data Protection Services LLC are both based in Orlando, Florida. Interestingly, in 2013 it seems that TorGuard moved offshore from the USA to Nevis, West Indies. However, more recently, the company moved back to the USA.
We consider the decision to move the VPN legally back to the United States a big drawback. There have been many cases where US VPNs and email services have been forced to log their users for government agencies. We’ll explain this more below in the Privacy category.
NordVPN wins the background check with a better jurisdiction.
Company background check winner: NordVPN
2. NordVPN vs TorGuard speed tests
The speed of a VPN is extremely important. All VPNs slow down your connection to some extent. But some VPNs affect performance more than others. So let’s examine who comes out on top in TorGuard vs NordVPN speed tests.
Note: All tests were performed on a 500 Mbps connection from our location in the United States.
First we tested both services using their respective VPN servers in the United Kingdom. This is a popular location for those needing a UK VPN due to eroding privacy laws in that region.
TorGuard server in UK: 152 Mbps
These results aren’t, horrible, but they also are not impressive. Losing most of the capacity of the internet connection isn’t good at all. Now let’s see if NordVPN is faster than TorGuard.
NordVPN server in UK: 295 Mbps
As you can see, using a NordVPN server in the UK gave us much better results than with TorGuard. Indeed, in this particular test NordVPN was almost twice as fast as TorGuard. This is why we rate NordVPN as one of the best UK VPNs with excellent speeds.
How about servers closer to home? Windows photos not importing. Can TorGuard make a better showing with them?
Next up, we have Seattle. This is the closest server park to our physical location, so speeds should theoretically be excellent with both VPNs.
TorGuard server in Seattle: 202 Mbps
TorGuard is still showing a loss of over 50% of the capacity on our baseline connection, but this is a definite improvement over the previous result. Can NordVPN do better?
NordVPN server in Seattle: 445 Mbps
No, that is not a typo. On our 500 Mbps connection, NordVPN delivered over 445 Mbps. That’s the fastest VPN we have tested so far. And note that NordVPN also recorded a ping of 24 ms for this test. With pings this low, both TorGuard and NordVPN have potential as gaming VPNs.
One last test, New York, New York.
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TorGuard server in New York: 116 Mbps
Surprisingly, this connection is even slower (although with a better ping) than the connection all the way across the Atlantic to the UK. Does NordVPN have the same problem?
NordVPN server in New York: 280 Mbps
NordVPN is more than twice as fast as TorGuard in our speed tests for this region – another excellent result.
Why is NordVPN so much faster than TorGuard?
We tested NordVPN using its NordLynx protocol. NordLynx is NordVPN’s custom implementation of the WireGuard VPN protocol, which is much faster than the current industry-standard OpenVPN protocol. In our OpenVPN vs WireGuard speed tests, WireGuard was on average 58% faster than OpenVPN.
TorGuard also claims to support WireGuard. Unfortunately, we had problems with both our Windows and Mac test machines when we tried to activate TorGuard’s WireGuard protocol. On both machines we encountered SSL Handshake Failure errors whenever we tried to connect using WireGuard. As this occurred on two different computers, physically located thousands of miles apart, running two different operating systems, and connecting to two different sets of TorGuard servers, we have to conclude the problem was on TorGuard’s end.
Based on all the tests we ran, NordVPN was significantly faster than TorGuard in all tested locations.
Speed test winner: NordVPN
3. Features: NordVPN vs TorGuard
TorGuard is a feature-rich VPN, so this should be a good category for them.
TorGuard features
TorGuard supports a ton of VPN protocols: OpenVPN, IKEv2, L2TP, IPSec. They also support several stealth protocols: OpenVPN Stealth, ShadowSocks, Stunnel, and AnyConnect (a.k.a. OpenConnect). The stealth VPN options are useful if you need a VPN for Dubai and UAE, where VPNs are routinely blocked. And as noted above, TorGuard officially supports WireGuard, but it simply did not work in our tests.
On the encryption front, TorGuard offers AES-128, AES-256, Blowfish, and ChaCha20.
If you have a lot of users to support (or run a lot of connected devices yourself), you’ll be happy to hear that TorGuard supports 8 simultaneous connections, an improvement over the 5 that are typical in the industry (or the 6 offered by NordVPN).
TorGuard has a large network, with over 3,000 VPN servers in 50+ countries. This includes countries that are often not supported by other VPN services such as Moldova and the UAE.
You also get the most important security features including a kill switch and leak protection. We’ll look at how well these work a little later.
Just like with NordVPN, TorGuard provides apps for Windows, Mac OS, Linux, iOS, and Android. These VPN clients (apps) offer a huge range of options, which is great if you are a VPN expert and want detailed control over every aspect of your VPNs functionality. That said, we think that casual or first-time VPN users will be confused by the plethora of settings and options available in these clients.
Like NordVPN, TorGuard offers browser extensions for both Firefox and Chrome.
Now let’s see what features NordVPN brings to the contest.
NordVPN features
NordVPN offers a ton of advanced features. They offer all the same apps and browser extensions that TorGuard does, along with support for Amazon Fire devices, even Raspberry Pi. A NordVPN client also comes preinstalled on the Vilfo VPN router.
NordVPN apps use OpenVPN with AES 256-bit encryption, or NordLynx (WireGuard). From a user experience standpoint, NordVPN apps are more user-friendly than TorGuard. The layout is cleaner, although there are fewer customization options as well.
Another impressive aspect of NordVPN is their network of servers. They have over 5,400 servers in 59 countries worldwide. One of the benefits of this huge network is their ability to provide users with a set of specialty servers for many different use cases:
Yet another great feature is CyberSec. This feature blocks ads and trackers as well as malware and phishing domains. Turning this on should be one of the first things you do when you install NordVPN.
Both TorGuard and NordVPN offer dedicated IP VPN add-ons.
One major drawback of TorGuard VPN is that add-ons and additional features, including streaming, all cost extra. This is a major drawback for people who need a good VPN for streaming. Unlike TorGuard, NordVPN includes all features and streaming support in the same base price. It does not uncharge users to access streaming sites through streaming IPs.
Features winner: NordVPN
4. Streaming and Torrenting: TorGuard vs NordVPN
Both TorGuard and NordVPN support streaming and torrenting. But there are some differences in the ways that they do so, which make one of them the clear winner for anyone who sees streaming and torrenting as an important part of their VPN use.
Streaming: NordVPN compared to TorGuard
If you intend to use your VPN for streaming media from sites around the world, you aren’t alone. Hundreds of millions of people use their VPN to get access to the Netflix libraries around the world or other streaming media services. But only a few VPNs are good at defeating the geo-blocking technology employed by more and more services.
NordVPN – NordVPN is a great answer to the question of which VPN to use for Netflix. It can give you access to the major Netflix libraries around the world. Simply type the following into NordVPN’s 24/7 chat box, “How to securely watch Netflix with NordVPN?” Within seconds, you’ll receive a list of every NordVPN server that can connect to Netflix at this instant. Besides Netflix, NordVPN works with all the other top streaming media services, including: Amazon Prime, Hulu, Roku, BBC iPlayer, and more.
Even better, because NordVPN is so fast, you’ll likely be able to stream anything you want without annoying delays, buffering, or reductions in streaming quality.
TorGuard – TorGuard takes a different approach to streaming. The basic service is actually pretty mediocre for streaming. If you want good streaming performance from this VPN, you need to pay for a special streaming IP address, ideally near or in the country where the servers for the streaming content you want are located. Worse, each streaming IP address costs an additional $7.99 per month. This massively drives up the price of a TorGuard subscription.
Adding to the fun, streaming IP addresses can only be used for streaming or general web browsing. No torrenting allowed on these IPs! While this may work fine if you need a good VPN for Hulu and other streaming services, the added cost is a serious drawback.
Unless you have lots of money to burn, we advise you to avoid TorGuard if streaming is important.
NordVPN is easily the winner when it comes to streaming.
Torrenting: Is TorGuard or NordVPN best?
Torrenting requires different characteristics than streaming, so maybe TorGuard can gain ground in this category. For downloading torrents, the most important characteristics are speed and leak protection.
NordVPN beats TorGuard when it comes to torrenting too.
Streaming and Torrenting winner: NordVPN
5. Security and Encryption: TorGuard VPN vs NordVPN
Security and encryption are supremely important for a VPN, and happily, both services are secure and use strong encryption.
VPN Encryption
NordVPN and TorGuard have comparable levels of encryption: Can you delete mail app from mac.
While TorGuard gives you more options, using AES-256 with OpenVPN, and ChaCha20 with WireGuard or NordLynx will give excellent results under most any circumstances. We’ll call this sub-category a tie.
Security audits
NordVPN has undergone the following third-party audits:
TorGuard has not had any third-party audits that we know of.
NordVPN has the edge here.
VPN server security
NordVPN is in the process of converting all their VPN servers to diskless operation (running in RAM-disk mode). Removing disk drives from VPN servers eliminates a large security risk. There have been several cases in the past where a VPN has had a server seized by local authorities looking for evidence of a crime, such as the case with ExpressVPN. Going diskless eliminates this problem since a diskless server loses all its data the moment it loses power.
As far as we can ascertain, TorGuard does not run any of its servers in diskless mode. While most VPNs do not do this, with exceptions such as NordVPN and Surfshark, there is nothing wrong with TorGuard not doing so. However, the simple fact that NordVPN has done so is enough to give them the win this section of the security category.
Security winner: While TorGuard tied NordVPN when it comes to the strength of their encryption, NordVPN’s independent security audits and server security give it the win in this category.
6. Privacy: TorGuard vs NordVPN
That was security. Now is the time to talk about privacy. Which VPN will protect your privacy better?
Both TorGuard and NordVPN have good, no-logs policies. But there are other factors to consider.
TorGuard – Unfortunately, TorGuard has one big strike against it when it comes to user privacy. While the service is a no-log service, it is also bound to obey the laws of the United States. And those laws are not the friend of anyone who values their privacy. Here are a few examples of cases where the US government has forced privacy-related companies to violate the privacy of their users:
When you choose a privacy service in the US, you put your data at risk. How to uninstall app on macbook pro.
NordVPN – In comparison to TorGuard, NordVPN is in a much better jurisdiction. Panama is one of the best places in the world for privacy-focused businesses.
Privacy winner: NordVPN
7. Prices and refunds: TorGuard vs NordVPN
Let’s see how these two compare when it comes to pricing.
TorGuard pricing – TorGuard now gives you three variants on their basic plan: Anonymous VPN, Anonymous VPN Pro, and Anonymous VPN + FREE Router, in addition to numerous options and add-ons that further increase the price. We have already explained how this pricing system is confusing at best.
First you need to choose your billing cycle, then check the Available Addons section to see if you need any of the additional price elements such as a streaming IP address. For the basic plan, TorGuard billing starts at $9.99 per month (Monthly plan). Their six-month plan runs $5.00 per month, and the one-year plan likewise goes for $5.00 per month.
The cheapest price on TorGuard VPN is $4.16 per month with the two-year plan. That still comes out to about $4.16 per month, which is more expensive than NordVPN.
Note: Most VPNs do not offer complex pricing with different add-on options. The two biggest VPNs, NordVPN and ExpressVPN, have standard prices that include all features.
NordVPN pricing – This is much less complex than TorGuard pricing. While NordVPN doesn’t offer all the addons to the basic NordVPN product, they do now offer subscriptions to their NordPass and NordLocker services when you sign up for the VPN. Putting the additional products aside, NordVPN is a good cheap VPN with prices coming out ahead of TorGuard.
One big benefit of NordVPN is that they are offering a discounted two-year subscription. The savings here are indeed significant, dropping the price down to only $3.71 per month. Here are the discounted prices:
Note: Without the discount coupon, the standard price of NordVPN is $6.58 per month, which is significantly more expensive. Grab the NordVPN discount coupon here >>
When you consider the streaming support that comes standard with all NordVPN plans, it’s easy to see how it comes out on top in this category.
Does NordVPN or TorGuard offer the best refund policy?
TorGuard offers a somewhat confusing 7-day refund policy with numerous exceptions. NordVPN offers a 30 day money-back guarantee on all plans. Case closed.
Price and Refund Winner: NordVPN
Wireguard Killswitch8. Value comparison of NordVPN and TorGuard
Figuring out the value of a particular item can be tricky. A large part of it comes down to your specific needs. For example, if you need streaming media support, that boosts the value of NordVPN relative to TorGuard. But if you don’t care about streaming, NordVPN’s greater proficiency with streaming adds no value in your eyes.
At the same time, there are some characteristics that are important to virtually all VPN users. We want a fast VPN that is secure and protects our privacy.
While both VPNs are solidly secure, NordVPN is far, far faster than TorGuard. And TorGuard’s location in the United States entails much more risk of being forced to spy on their users than NordVPN’s location in Panama.
Unless you are a highly technical user with very specific needs NordVPN offers much greater value than TorGuard. This is especially true when comparing the baseline VPN packages, without add-ons. NordVPN simply offers more features, more support for streaming, and much better speeds, all at a lower price.
Value winner: NordVPN
Conclusion: NordVPN wins
As far as the testing goes, NordVPN clearly comes out ahead of TorGuard in all categories. Here is a summary of our TorGuard vs Nord tests:
Now this doesn’t mean that TorGuard is a bad VPN. In a competition against most VPNs, TorGuard would do pretty well. But in this comparison, TorGuard went up against one of the top VPNs in the world.
Whichever VPN you decide to go with, be sure to pick up the best savings with the discounts below:
Get NordVPN for $3.71 per month with the 68% discount >>Get TorGuard for $4.16 per month with the two-year plan >>
That’s all for now. You can see our other VPN comparisons here.
Have you used either NordVPN or TorGuard VPN? If so, share your experience below in the comments to help others. And if this review has motivated you to invest in one of our contenders, please let us know which one you chose and why.
Some VPN services cater to people who just want something that works, and don’t care about details like VPN protocols and encryption algorithms. Others seem geared more towards experienced VPN users who understand and want control over the technical side of their VPN. TorGuard VPN seems to fit into this second category.
In this TorGuard VPN review we’ll take a close look and examine all the test results. We’ve cataloged the good, and the bad, with the goal of helping you decide whether this might be the right VPN for you.
Let’s get started.
TorGuard VPN overview
We tested the core TorGuard VPN product with particular emphasis on performance and how it protects your privacy. Here’s what we found:
TorGuard VPN PROs:
TorGuard VPN CONs:
TorGuard VPN interesting FACTs:
TorGuard VPN PROs
TorGuard VPN does a lot right, and could be particularly interesting if you are an advanced VPN user.
1. Strong encryption and secure VPN protocols
When it comes to the technical side of things, TorGuard VPN is very strong. They utilize strong encryption standards together with secure VPN protocols. Here’s what they offer:
VPN protocols: OpenVPN, IKEv2, L2TP, IPSec, plus the following stealth protocols: OpenVPN Stealth, ShadowSocks, Stunnel, and AnyConnect (a.k.a. OpenConnect).
TorGuard now supports the WireGuard VPN protocol, which is integrated directly into the clients. Just select WireGuard in the Tunnel Type drop-down list and go. Unfortunately, we found problems with this implementation, which we’ll discuss in the cons section.
Encryption: AES-128, AES-256, and Blowfish. The addition of full WireGuard support brings ChaCha20 to the list of supported ciphers.
Their support for 8 simultaneous connections is generous compared to most VPN services (but note that Surfshark, among others, supports an unlimited number of simultaneous connections).
2. Consistent speeds
Another great aspect of TorGuard VPN is the performance. We ran all tests with the OpenVPN protocol using the official TorGuard VPN client and a baseline connection speed of 500 Mbps.
Note: At the time of this review, TorGuard’s implementation of WireGuard was inoperable, constantly returning connection errors. Therefore we could not run WireGuard speed tests.
For the first round of speed tests, I selected servers around the United States and Canada.
Seattle was the closest server to my location: 202 Mbps.
At over 200 Mbps, this is a good speed test result.
Next I tested a server in Los Angeles: 266 Mbps.
These are even better speeds despite the longer distance and higher ping.
The last US server I tested was in New York: 116 Mbps.
This was the slowest TorGuard VPN server I tested.
Next I tested a TorGuard server in Toronto, Canada: 200 Mbps.
Finally, I tested a server in the UK: 152 Mbps.
Overall, these are good speeds, but with that being said, there is room for improvement. Also note that we ran all tests with OpenVPN and WireGuard should offer even better speeds. In our WireGuard vs OpenVPN comparison, WireGuard outperformed OpenVPN by a sizable margin.
While TorGuard is not the fastest VPN we have tested, it’s still pretty darn good.
Comparison: If you’re looking for an even faster VPN, we’d recommend checking out NordVPN with the WireGuard protocol. We were able to hit speeds up to 445 Mbps in tests for the NordVPN review.
3. 3,000+ servers in 50+ countries
The TorGuard network of VPN servers numbers more than 3,000 servers. They are located in 68 locations spread across more than 50 countries. Their network includes some countries that most VPN services don’t support, such as Moldova and the UAE.
This network is a good size, putting TorGuard on par with many other leading VPN services, including NordVPN and Surfshark.
4. Support for Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Android, iOS, browsers, and routers
TorGuard VPN provides support for the top desktop and mobile operating systems: Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Android and iOS. They also have browser extensions for Firefox and Chrome. These proxies can change your IP address within the browser only and do not include the encryption of the full VPN.
On the hardware side, they support DD-WRT and Tomato routers, along with pfsense.
Finally, TorGuard offers a collection of OpenVPN and DD-WRT configuration files and scripts. You could use these to connect TorGuard to VPN routers such as the Vilfo, which can work with any OpenVPN-capable VPN service, as long as a configuration file is available.
In short, you can use the TorGuard VPN with a wider range of hardware and software than the typical VPN.
5. No IP address or DNS leaks detected
Applying our standard set of VPN tests against TorGuard, we weren’t able to find any leaks of any kind. You can see the IP address in the leak tests matches up with the VPN’s IP address and location in the VPN client on the right. Further strengthening TorGuard is their built-in kill switch.
Likewise, the TorGuard VPN Android app was leak-free. It did not, however, make it onto our list of the best VPNs for Android.
6. Multiple payment methods including cryptocurrencies
You have a good range of payment options if you decide to get a TorGuard subscription. Beyond the usual credit cards, you can pay with cryptocurrencies, gift cards, Paymentwall (a global payment service), and Amazon Pay.
Warning: TorGuard will not offer refunds if you choose to pay with cryptocurrencies or gift cards! We found these exceptions and fine print when examining the Terms of Service, as we’ll explain further below.
7. Pre-flashed VPN routers available
Another potential benefit to going with TorGuard VPN is the availability of a large selection of VPN routers pre-flashed to run with the service. We didn’t get a chance to test one of these routers for this review.
If you are interested in a router that comes ready to run TorGuard right out of the box, you can get more information on their website.
8. Optional features to customize your experience
While TorGuard doesn’t offer some of the more advanced VPN features of other services (split tunneling, for example) they do give you some options for customizing your experience. These include:
9. Additional pricing options
TorGuard has added two new pricing options: the Pro package and the VPN router bundle.
Pro package – We seem to use ever more devices that need an internet connection. And if we are going to use a VPN, we want to be able to protect most or all of our devices with a VPN at the same time. But most VPN services support no more than 5 or 6 simultaneous connections on a single subscription. To help deal with this problem TorGuard’s new Pro package supports 12 simultaneous connections. You also get 1 free dedicated IP address in any location, along with free 10 GB network access.
Note: You can see other VPNs offering a dedicated IP here.
VPN router bundle – TorGuard found that their recent WireGuard update is particularly fast on VPN routers. You can now order the VPN router bundle and receive a free GL.iNET GL-MT300N-V2 mini WiFi router. This router is compatible with both TorGuard’s new WireGuard service and with OpenVPN. To mark the availability of this bundle, for a limited time TorGuard will ship the GL.iNET router to you free when you sign up for the VPN router bundle.
To get access to these new plans, select the Anonymous VPN subscription you want (monthly, quarterly, etc.). Once you do, you’ll see a new page like this one that lets you choose the current plan or one of the new plans. Note that you may have to select the Anonymous VPN product group before you can see the specific pricing plans.
Now let’s move on to the drawbacks of TorGuard VPN.
TorGuard VPN CONs
While TorGuard has a number of good points, it also has a few bad points. These include:
1. VPN apps will be confusing for most users
It appears that the TorGuard team focuses most of their effort on the technical side of the business, and caters more toward technical users. This can best be seen in their VPN clients, which are rich in technical options but not very user-friendly. Here is what the Windows desktop client looks like:
As you can see, all the technical options are front and center in the user interface. While this is great for the more technical user, less-experienced users may find the interface intimidating and/or confusing.
If you would prefer a VPN service that works great without requiring you to mess with all this, check out ExpressVPN.
2. Unclear VPN data collection policies
TorGuard’s Privacy Policy lays out the information they collect and how they use the data. The policy states that they handle your data in accordance with Europe’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). This is good.
However, they appear to be using Google Analytics to collect anonymized data, which we don’t like. In addition, they collect Apache Webserver logs, which are “purged regularly.” Finally, they state that they do not collect or log any data from the VPN and proxy services, which of course is good.
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As seems to be the case with most US-based services, the Terms of Service is full of legalese protecting the company from liability and binding the user to the terms of the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act).
It would be helpful if the company provided more details on the data it collects, including how long it retains such data. This is particularly important in light of where the company is based.
3. Based in the United States (a bad privacy jurisdiction)
Whatever your feelings about the United States as a place to live, the country is not a good location for a VPN or any other business involving privacy.
Many of the most active international surveillance organizations were created by the United States. The government has vast legal and perhaps extra-legal surveillance powers over companies based in the country. One of those is the ability to force a company to spy on their customers, regardless of their own privacy policies and terms of service. As part of these powers, they can even force the company to do this surveillance in secret, pretending to honor their policies while passing data to the NSA or other government agencies.
The legal situation in the United States is one of the major reasons that leading VPN services like ExpressVPN and NordVPN are not based in the US or UK.
Some people dismiss the risks of a “Five Eyes” VPN. But there have been numerous cases where privacy-focused companies have been forced to collect logs on their users:
And these are just the examples that we know about.
4. Limited streaming support – unless you pay extra for “Streaming Bundle”
The TorGuard VPN does support streaming and torrenting. As a matter of fact, their name, TorGuard, refers to their support for using a VPN for torrenting, rather than any connection to the Tor anonymity network. But their approach is different than that of other services.
The basic VPN isn’t particularly good at streaming. For people that need reliable streaming support, TorGuard offers “streaming IP addresses” located in any of 12 locations around the world. This sounds like a great idea — get an IP address that isn’t associated with a VPN so you can stream without worry.
But there are a few problems with this approach. First, each such IP address costs an additional $7.99 per month. That greatly drives up the price of the overall service.
Second, you can’t use these IP addresses for torrenting. According to the website,
They are designed for general use and streaming your favourite services – (Non-Refundable + No Torrents)
We can’t guarantee these IP’s will work for any services outside of streaming networks – they are not designed for anything other than streaming or general browsing.
Overall, we’re not big fans of this approach.
Considering that there are several VPNs that do a good job defeating geo-blocking without charging you extra for the ability, we recommend checking our best VPNs for streaming review if you need to defeat geo-blocking.
There are also VPNs that work with Netflix – without having to pay for any add-ons or dedicated IPs.
And now that we’re discussing pricing, that brings us to another drawback of TorGuard VPN…
5. Confusing pricing and order form
We found both the TorGuard VPN pricing and order form to be rather confusing.
The basic pricing is simple enough, even though there are three different versions that you first need to choose from:
After you select your plan and payment schedule, you are then bombarded with a plethora of add-ons to choose from:
Add in the fact that the order form itself is very poorly designed, and you have a recipe for confusion. It took us several tries to even specify exactly what we wanted and successfully place an order.
To make matters even more confusing, the homepage lists a bunch of other subscription plans including:
Beating our way through the subscription process gave us bad feelings about the product before we even installed it.
6. Limited refund window with many exceptions
The TorGuard refund policy rates poorly compared to those of the leading VPN services. While most give you 30 days, here you get 7. And only certain items are refundable. The policy is complicated, so instead of us trying to describe it, we’ve included the entire policy below:
If you are less than 100% satisfied with the TorGuard.net VPN and Proxy services, we will gladly refund your payment if the refund is requested within seven (7) days from the date of the purchase, all Dedicated IP’s, Streaming or Residential IP’s are excluded from the refund. Requests made later than the 7 day purchase date window will be denied. Refunds can be denied within the 7 day period in certain cases. Refunds can also be withheld in the event of a terms of service violation. Gift cards and Crypto Payments cannot be refunded, they also cannot be refunded to alternative gateways, cards that cannot be refunded to the source will be applied as a credit on your TorGuard account.
As you can see, there are numerous clauses, exceptions, and barriers that prevent you from getting all of your money back. Meanwhile, leading VPNs such as NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark, all offer a full 30 day money-back guarantee without all of these exceptions and clauses.
All of the exceptions and clauses where refunds are denied are noteworthy.
Proceed with caution.
TorGuard VPN interesting FACTs
Finally, let’s look at some additional interesting facts about the TorGuard.
1. TorGuard VPN and VPNetworks LLC (background info)
TorGuard’s parent company is VPNetworks LLC, which itself is part of the Data Protection Services LLC holding company. Both VPNetworks and Data Protection Services LLC are based in Orlando, Florida, USA.
According to the Data Protection Services LLC website, the holding company owns TorGuard VPN, Private-Email, and PrivateRouter, the company that sells pre-flashed TorGuard routers.
Offshore to Nevis, now back in the USA
In 2013 it appears that TorGuard moved its business structure offshore to Nevis. This was presumably done to better protect user data in the wake of the 2013 surveillance revelations.
At some point, however, TorGuard decided to move the corporate structure back to the United States.
2. WireGuard implementation not working well
In August 2020, TorGuard announced the release of WireGuard support, with direct protocol selection available in the updated VPN client:
To access the latest TorGuard app featuring WireGuard simply click the update banner at the bottom of the TorGuard app or visit our downloads page to grab the latest copy. After the install opens the TorGuard app, under tunnel-type chose “WireGuard”. You will now be able to connect to any server through this new protocol.
However, there are still some bugs and issues with TorGuard implementation of WireGuard. We tested it with both the Windows and Mac OS VPN clients. In both cases, the WireGuard connection failed and returned this message:
In the meantime, if you want to use this new protocol, there are other VPNs that support WireGuard.
3. TorGuard customer supportTorguard Client Download
While you will hopefully never need customer support, if you do, TorGuard offers a full range of contact points. This includes all the usual social media channels, email, and a US-only toll-free phone line. Beyond these, they also offer an FAQ page, knowledge base, community forum, and a YouTube channel.
The team also has a good reputation around the web for their fast, helpful support. This is particularly important since TorGuard is less user-friendly than many other VPN services.
TorGuard VPN review conclusion
The TorGuard VPN has a lot of technical strengths, and might appeal to users who need detailed control over VPN protocols and other technical aspects of their VPN connection.
If that does not describe you, we recommend you consider a different VPN service. There are numerous VPNs available that we think would better serve general VPN users.
Torguard App Mac Killswitch
Additionally, if you are a privacy-focused user who wants a VPN that’s located in a good privacy jurisdiction, then TorGuard does not fit the bill. And as we’ve seen with IPVanish, even a “no logs” VPN can be forced to collect data for the FBI (government agencies).
You can also check out these VPNs services that passed our tests and are located in good privacy jurisdictions.
Want to give TorGuard VPN a try? You can get started here >>
Best alternatives to TorGuard
Click the VPN name below to read our full review – or grab the discount for the best savings. All three of these VPNs have a 30 day money-back guarantee.
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And lastly, you can get more info on the top recommendations in our Best VPN report.
Wireguard Kill Switch
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