The Good, The Dangerous, The Ugly

TorGuard VPN’s quick info Beginning value: $9.99 per person per 30 days Key options: Limitless bandwidth. Stealth proxy. 3,000+ servers in 50+ nations.

TorGuard, as its title implies, is a stable selection VPN, particularly for these on the lookout for a quick torrenting VPN pace. The VPN has robust security measures and an in depth server suite in 50+ nations. Nonetheless, accessing the free trial entails leaping by means of many hoops, and the refund course of is equally difficult. It made me query whether or not this quick VPN is well worth the funding.

Here’s a TorGuard assessment protecting all the things you could know concerning the VPN, together with the great, the dangerous, and the ugly aspect, so you’ll be able to resolve if it’s the most effective VPN for what you are promoting or private use.

Is TorGuard a great VPN for streaming?

Whereas TorGuard gives most VPN safety and pace in all its plans, the power to stream geo-restricted content material with the VPN depends upon your chosen plan. After I examined the VPN, TorGuard’s common servers have been unreliable for streaming Netflix or Amazon Prime Video in sure areas. Fortuitously, the VPN’s Professional plan gives a free devoted IP deal with as an add-on, which you should use to acquire a streaming IP deal with to unblock streaming content material in any particular area.

SEE: 5 Greatest VPNs for Streaming in 2024 (TechRepublic)

However, if you need a VPN that works out-of-the-box for streaming providers, different choices like ExpressVPN, NordVPN, or Surfshark VPN would possibly provide a extra seamless expertise.

TorGuard VPN’s pricing

TorGuard VPN pricing is split into two plans, Normal and Professional. Every has month-to-month and annual billing choices. Beneath is a desk summarizing how the pricing plans evaluate to one another.

TorGuard VPN plans	Nameless VPN (Normal)	Nameless VPN (Professional)
Month-to-month	$9.99 per 30 days	$12.99 per 30 days
Annual	$59.99 per yr	$69.99 per yr
Characteristic variations	x8 Gadgets, Static IP Pool, Most Safety, Most Pace	x12 Gadgets, x1 Streaming IP, Most Safety, Most Pace

No matter which TorGuard VPN plan you select, you’ll obtain nearly the identical most security measures. Options like entry to three,000 servers throughout 50 nations, and limitless speeds and bandwidth can be found in all plans.

Some variations nonetheless exist between the TorGuard pricing plans. TorGuard VPN Professional plan gives a free devoted IP and streaming possibility and might concurrently connect with as much as 12 units, whereas the Normal plan falls quick in these choices and solely permits eight simultaneous system connections.

SEE: The right way to Create an Efficient Cybersecurity Consciousness Program (TechRepublic Premium)

Additionally, as with most VPNs, the longer the billing plan you decide, the extra money you’ll save on subscriptions. If you choose the annual billing possibility within the TorGuard Normal plan, you’ll save as much as 50% of the fee. That may quantity to you paying $60 as a substitute of $120 when calculated on a $10 month-to-month billing foundation. The Professional plan, alternatively, saves you about 42% of the subscription price while you select the annual billing possibility.

I like to recommend the annual billing possibility if TorGuard is the precise VPN service in your wants. That manner, it can save you substantial billing prices. In any other case, go for the month-to-month cost possibility if you happen to’re solely testing the waters.

SEE: The 5 Greatest VPNs with Free Trials in 2024 (TechRepublic)

I counsel you to make use of the seven-day money-back assure obtainable in all of the plans to check the product first earlier than any long-term dedication.

TorGuard VPN’s key options

TorGuard VPN is understood to have one of many quickest torrenting capabilities with no capped obtain pace. It additionally gives different helpful VPN options like Stealth Protocol and Port Forwarding.

TorGuard Stealth protocol

Stealth VPN protocol makes it practically unimaginable to dam VPN utilization, and this allows you to bypass deep packet inspection and overcome the hardest firewalls, even in nations that prohibit VPN ports. TorGuard gives a number of Stealth VPN protocols for censored and strict nations or firewalls which embrace — SSTP protocols, OpenVPN obfuscation, and OpenConnect/AnyConnect.

SEE: How A lot Does a VPN Price? + Financial savings Ideas (TechRepublic)

Throughout testing, TorGuard’s Stealth protocol allowed me to bypass firewalls in China, Russia, and Turkey after I paired it with the Stealth proxy.

Port forwarding

Port forwarding means that you can open a port to the web whereas related to a VPN, so you’ll be able to have distant entry to software program hosted in your community. This performance is present in TorGuard’s member’s space, which lets you shortly allow varied port ahead guidelines and apply whitelisted firewall settings to your port ahead requests.

SEE: 6 Greatest Nameless (No-Log) VPNs for 2024 (TechRepublic)

Nonetheless, you will need to notice that when exposing a port to the web, ensure you safe the login to your software program and permit solely particular IPs to entry the port remotely over the VPN.

TorGuard VPN advert blocking

Advert blocking protects your privateness and performs a key position in strengthening your general on-line safety. By default, TorGuard VPN’s DNS depends on its inner VPN server DNS, however you’ll be able to select the “Advert Blocking DNS” possibility within the VPN consumer settings for added safety. TorGuard claims that this function is often up to date to make sure ongoing effectiveness.

SEE: The 6 Greatest Small Enterprise VPNs for 2024 (TechRepublic)

Whereas TorGuard’s advert blocking is a superb privateness device, pairing it with different methods enhances your safety much more. I like to recommend utilizing privacy-focused browsers like Firefox or Courageous for optimum efficiency of this TorGuard function, since it may actively work to dam fingerprinting and different types of monitoring that may bypass DNS-based advert blocking.

1000’s of VPN servers and areas

TorGuard boasts over 3,000 VPN server networks spanning quite a few areas and nations. This contains key areas like the US, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Canada, Netherlands, Turkey, Germany, Australia, Japan, and Hong Kong. With good protection throughout 4 continents, TorGuard improves the possibilities of discovering a close-by server and gives quite a few digital areas for safe searching and geo-spoofing. Nonetheless, different VPN suppliers like ExpressVPN and NordVPN even have giant server networks, so this benefit is probably not important in all circumstances.

SEE: Does a VPN Sluggish Down Your Web Pace? (TechRepublic)

Whereas TorGuard is well-established in most areas, further server areas in areas like North America and Africa, the place Africa presently solely has one server in South Africa, would additional enhance entry and efficiency.

OpenVPN obfuscation

Nearly all of VPN providers right this moment use the OpenVPN protocol. However whereas the protocol is great and efficient, it leaves behind a tiny mark of VPN utilization for web service suppliers to detect.

SEE: Can a VPN Be Hacked? (TechRepublic)

OpenVPN obfuscation disguises VPN site visitors to bypass DPI and firewalls, making it tougher for censors or ISPs to detect VPN use. TorGuard supplies a number of obfuscation choices by means of Stunnel. So you’ll be able to simply swap to a unique methodology if one isn’t working.

TorGuard professionals

• Limitless speeds.
• Limitless bandwidth.
• Affords 3,000+ servers in 50+ nations.
• Overcomes VPN blockers with stealth mode.
• Good for torrenting.

TorGuard cons

• Dated-looking interface.
• The usual plan doesn’t unblock Netflix in some areas.

Alternate options to TorGuard VPN

Whereas TorGuard gives wonderful pace, there are different different VPNs you might wish to take into account. Listed here are the highest three I in contrast.

	TorGuard VPN	Surfshark	NordLayer	CyberGhost
Beginning value (month-to-month plan)	$9.99 per 30 days	$15.45 per 30 days	$10 per person per 30 days	$12.99 per 30 days
Variety of servers and areas	3,000+ servers in 50+ location	3,200+ servers in 100 nations	30+ international server areas	1000’s of servers in 124 international areas
Free trial	7-day money-back assure	7 days free trial	14-day money-back assure	24 hours free trial or 45-day money-back assure
System connections	As much as 12 simultaneous system connections	Limitless system connections	As much as 6 simultaneous system connections	As much as 7 simultaneous system connections
Standout options	Affords limitless bandwidth and pace, stealth mode, and inner encrypted DNS	Surfshark antivirus, Surfshark search, alternate ID, Free GPS spoofing, camouflage mode, Dynamic MultiHop, and so on.	Digital personal gateway, good distant entry, customized DNS, system posture safety, and so on.	45-day money-back assure, specialised servers for gaming, torrenting, and streaming.

Surfshark VPN

I like to recommend Surfshark if you happen to’re on the lookout for a VPN that’s reasonably priced and comes with an all-inclusive package deal. Surfshark premium plans — Surfshark One and One+ — provide robust VPN security measures alongside different premium options, together with Surfshark antivirus, Surfshark search, Surfshark alert, and alternate ID.

SEE: Is a VPN Actually Value It in 2024? (TechRepublic)

Whereas TorGuard instructions respect in pace and efficiency, it falls quick in wider protections just like the antivirus. Surfshark additionally gives limitless system connections, in comparison with TorGuard’s 12 units at a time. So, decide Surfshark if in case you have a bigger group with a number of units to guard.

To be taught extra, learn our full Surfshark VPN assessment.

NordLayer VPN

NordLayer is one other all-in-one community safety answer that gives a robust VPN service. I like to recommend the answer if you need a enterprise VPN that gives robust cybersecurity instruments. NordLayer’s 30+ international server areas may not be as spectacular as TorGuard’s 50+ areas, however its providing, together with cloud firewall, system posture safety, digital personal gateways, and devoted servers with mounted ID, makes it a greater different.

NordLayer Management Panel additionally streamlines community administration duties in a single intuitive interface, in comparison with TorGuard, which has a dated-looking interface.

CyberGhost VPN

CyberGhost is an effective different to TorGuard in case your main want for a VPN is unblocking geo-restricted content material on-line. I like the extent of element CyberGhost goes into when offering what precisely every server is greatest for. It categorizes servers into three teams — gaming, torrenting, and streaming.

Whereas the CyberGhost month-to-month plan is pricier than the TorGuard providing, its 14-day and 45-day money-back ensures for month-to-month and bi-annual subscriptions imply you’ve extra time to resolve on the package deal earlier than cancellation.

To be taught extra, learn our full CyberGhost VPN assessment.

Methodology

I evaluated the TorGuard VPN primarily based on its options, safety, and pricing. Since TorGuard gives a seven-day money-back assure, I used the chance to enroll to get hands-on expertise with the VPN, though the method isn’t as simple as the corporate marketed it.

Although each TorGuard’s Android and iOS apps look the identical, I observed that the Android model gives OpenVPN and WireGuard, and never IKEv2/IPSec protocols as could be discovered within the iOS model. The Stealth protocol was additionally capable of bypass geo-restrictions in China and Russia.

From my expertise, not one of the TorGuard purposes are as intuitive as they may very well be. Tech-savvy people will fancy it greater than the common person. Total, I discovered TorGuard VPN to be an honest VPN, particularly for torrenting.