Torrenting over a VPN vs Tor: What’s the difference?

Torrenting is undoubtedly a convenient way to share large files, but it comes with privacy concerns because your IP address is visible to others. This makes it easy for your ISP and those looking to enforce copyright to track your torrenting activities. Without protection, your ISP can monitor and throttle your connection. Furthermore, you could receive copyright infringement notices and legal action if you download copyrighted content.

Needless to say, you need some safeguards in place to prevent your data from being exposed and to avoid malware-infected torrents. Using the right tool helps you torrent securely and anonymously. The question is, should you be using VPN or Tor? In fact, what’s the difference? We compare the two options, explaining how they work, when to use them, and how you can go about torrenting securely.

How VPNs work for torrenting

A VPN improves both your security and privacy when torrenting. It does this by encrypting your internet traffic, including torrent downloads and uploads. This prevents your ISP, hackers, and other third parties from seeing what you’re doing online or the torrents you’re downloading. Furthermore, the VPN replaces your real IP address with one from the VPN server. Peers in the torrent swarm only see the VPN’s IP address, protecting your identity.

The encryption offered by a VPN has other advantages. If your ISP throttles or blocks torrent traffic, a VPN hides your activity and prevents this so you can continue torrenting as normal. Some torrent sites are blocked in certain countries, and connecting to a VPN server in another country to spoof your location can help you navigate these geographic restrictions.

If a VPN couples a high level of encryption with a strict no-logs policy (i.e., it doesn’t keep any logs that can identify you as a user), it can help prevent potential legal issues should you accidentally download any copyrighted content. Added security is offered in the form of a kill switch. This instantly cuts your internet connection if the VPN drops, preventing your real IP address from being exposed.

How Tor works for torrenting

Tor (The Onion Router) is a decentralized anonymity network that routes your internet traffic through multiple volunteer-run nodes to hide your IP address. It encrypts data in multiple layers, like an onion, so no single node knows who you are and where your traffic is going.

When torrenting over Tor, traffic enters the Tor network through a guard node. This node knows your IP address but not the final destination of your data. The encrypted data is then passed through at least one middle relay to obscure its origin further. The final relay in the Tor circuit, known as the exit node, decrypts the last layer of encryption and forwards the request to the destination. This node sees the traffic but doesn’t know the sender’s IP address.

Traffic is routed through multiple relays, which makes Tor very slow and unsuitable for torrenting. Further, the exit node decrypts and can see your traffic. Not all exit nodes allow torrenting either and may block P2P connections. All of this makes Tor bad for torrenting.

Related: How to make torrents faster with a VPN

VPNs vs Tor for torrenting: a side-by-side comparison

We’ve explained how VPNs and Tor work for torrenting, but seeing the key information side-by-side can be helpful. Here’s how VPNs and Tor differ when it comes to torrenting:

When to use a VPN vs when to use Tor for torrenting

Both VPNs and Tor provide privacy-related benefits, but they work differently:

When to use a VPN for torrenting

What’s clear is that a VPN is a far better choice for torrenting, thanks to its superior speeds, use of encryption, and P2P-friendly features. Here’s when you should use a VPN for torrenting:

• Faster download speeds: VPNs allow for high-speed connections because traffic is only routed via one server. In comparison, Tor uses multi-node routing.
• More stable connection: Direct encrypted tunnels between your device and the VPN server make them more reliable than going through multiple Tor relays.
• Bypass throttling: A VPN encrypts your data so your ISP can’t see you torrenting and will not throttle your connection as a result.
• Access blocked torrent sites: You can easily connect to a VPN server in another country and bypass geographic restrictions on torrent sites.
• Protection from copyright enforcement: A VPN hides your IP address from peers in a torrent swarm, shielding you from DMCA notices, fines, and potential legal action.
• User-friendly experience: VPNs are easy to set up and use and sometimes include dedicated P2P servers for torrenting.
• Extra security features: Besides a kill switch and DNS leak protection, the best VPNs often include ad, tracker, and sometimes even malware blocking.

When to use Tor for torrenting

Tor isn’t designed for torrenting, but some users still route P2P traffic through it. This is despite the Tor network having finite resources and often being far too slow for torrenting.

Here’s one reason why someone might choose to torrent over Tor instead of a VPN:

• If you want to avoid VPN providers: If you don’t trust VPN providers and worry they’ll keep identifying logs, Tor may appeal as a decentralized network. The good news is that there are numerous no-logs providers, many of which have offered full transparency by subjecting themselves to independent audits.

How to torrent safely

Torrenting can expose your IP address, make you vulnerable to malware, and lead to legal issues. Here’s how to torrent securely and protect your privacy:

Use a VPN

A VPN is a must-have because it encrypts your traffic and hides your IP address from peers, your ISP, and those looking to enforce copyright. When choosing a VPN, look for one that not only allows P2P traffic but also operates a no-logs policy. Be sure to check that the VPN’s kill switch is active before torrenting to prevent accidental leaks should the VPN disconnect. You’ll also want to make sure DNS and IP leak protection are also activated.

Choose a safe torrent client

The torrent client you use has a big impact not only in terms of security and privacy but also the kind of performance you can expect. Ideally, you’ll use a torrent client that’s lightweight and open-source, free from ads, and has support for advanced privacy settings. qBittorrent is highly recommended for all of these reasons. What’s more, you can bind your VPN with it so that it only ever works when connected to it.

Download torrents from trusted sources

Not all torrents are safe, which makes sticking to reputable torrent sites all the more important. This reduces the risk you’ll encounter malware, spyware, or fake files. Generally, you want to avoid torrents with a low number of seeders. Likewise, those with vague descriptions or suspicious comments are best avoided.

Scan files for malware

Anyone can upload torrents and this means that they may contain threats such as trojans, ransomware, or spyware. You can stay safe by using a quality antivirus such as Norton Antivirus or Malwarebytes to scan files before opening them. You can even consider opening files in a sandbox or virtual machine if you’re still unsure.

Avoid seeding copyrighted content

Although seeding helps the torrent community, seeding copyrighted material increases legal risks. In some countries, downloading copyrighted content is more of a gray area but seeding is often considered distribution, and thus has more serious legal consequences. You can limit these risks by disabling automatic seeding in your torrent client.

Avoid free VPNs and proxy services

We highly recommend you use a VPN for torrenting but free VPNs and proxy services are best avoided. A free VPN is likely to have slow speeds and bandwidth limits. A lack of security may see your IP address leaked while the free VPN may even keep identifying logs to sell to third parties. Proxy services hide your IP address but, crucially, don’t encrypt your data.

Torrenting over VPN vs Tor: FAQ