Many torrenting fans are drawn to TorGuard since it is an optimal choice for torrenting, as suggested by its name. However, NordVPN is also a great torrenting VPN and offers a whole host of other features.
Regardless of whether you want to file share or not, both VPN providers are great choices. But which is the best overall? We’ve examined each VPN to provide you with a detailed comparison so that you can make an informed decision on which VPN to purchase.
There’s more to VPNs than the price and number of simultaneous connections. Users should take things like security and privacy features, server network sizes, and additional services into consideration when browsing providers.
To save you the legwork, we’ve done the research for you. Read on to find out which areas TorGuard and NordVPN excel in and where improvements need to be made.
A secure VPN connection is an essential requirement of any provider; if your VPN doesn’t offer at least AES-128 bit encryption and other security features, then it’s time to find another.
A great VPN will shroud your internet activity in a layer of encryption, hiding it from third parties like Internet Service Providers, governments with strict surveillance, and malicious hackers who want to steal your personal information.
NordVPN offers advanced AES-256 bit encryption, which governments and militaries use to secure their networks. NordVPN also employs Perfect Forward Secrecy to ensure that encryption keys are changed at every session, preventing third parties from easily decrypting the encryption code.
To ensure that subscribers have a strong VPN connection, Nord has three protocol offerings: OpenVPN, IKEv2/IPSec, and NordLynx. NordLynx is NordVPN’s very-own protocol and is based on the ultra-fast WireGuard protocol but provides more privacy.
TorGuard also provides AES-256 bit encryption with SHA-512 but gives its users the option to change this to faster (but slightly less effective) AES-128 bit encryption. There are many options in terms of tunneling protocols, including OpenVPN over TCP/UDP, L2TP/IPSec, OpenConnect, and WireGuard.
When you use a VPN, you’re giving the provider access to your browsing activity; assuming you choose a reliable provider, your data and activity on the VPN server network should remain private.
NordVPN has a no-logs policy in place. We decided to further check this claim in its privacy policy; the provider does not and will never store any data relating to your browsing activity or your real IP address. All that NordVPN logs is your most recent disconnection time for 15 minutes after every session. NordVPN’s no logging claims are backed up by its most recent public audit, carried out in 2020.
TorGuard also insists that it operates a zero-logging policy stating that it has never stored logs and never will. However, it does collect billing information and email addresses for account reasons. Since TorGuard has not had its privacy policy audited, it is impossible to tell whether the provider’s claims are 100% factual. Still, there doesn’t seem to be anything suspect that indicated the no-logging claims are false.
A VPN’s headquarters is critical since it dictates whether the company has to follow any strict data retention laws.
Fortunately for NordVPN customers, the company is located in Panama. Panama enjoys great privacy laws, and residents don’t suffer from government surveillance.
TorGuard, on the other hand, is based in the United States, a member of the Five Eyes, which is an international surveillance alliance between several countries. On top of this, the US imposes strict data privacy laws and is well-known for keeping an eye on its residents’ online movements.
Extra VPN security features are being viewed as more and more essential. TorGuard and NordVPN are two of the best when offering up additional features to ensure maximum security and online privacy.
First of all, NordVPN operates private DNS on all of its servers, processing DNS requests to avoid leaks. As well as this, there is WebRTC and IPv6 leak protection to protect your real IP address.
NordVPN also has the CyberSec feature, which users can activate in the app; this built-in feature blocks malware and prevents subscribers from accessing potentially dangerous websites. As well as this, there is a kill switch that blocks your internet access if your connection falls, ensuring you never browse the web unprotected. A kill switch is vital, so it is great that NordVPN includes one.
You can also use the Double VPN feature that NordVPN offers, which routes your connection through two servers, increasing the level of privacy protection. You can also activate the Onion over VPN feature to route your connection through the Tor network for added online privacy.
You might be wondering, how can TorGuard compete with NordVPN’s immense security offerings? Well, it certainly does! First of all, there is WebRTC, IPv6, and DNS leak protection, as well as a kill switch. TorGuard also offers an impressive feature called the app kill list, which closes apps when the server connection drops.
As well as the above, there is an ad-blocking DNS feature that protects your device from malicious adware. There is also the stealth VPN feature called STunnel, which enables you to browse the web in restricted parts of the world and avoid Deep Packet Inspection (DPI).
The winner: It’s a difficult call since both VPNs offer exceptional security and privacy features. However, NordVPN slightly edges out TorGuard because it is based in privacy-friendly Panama, and its no-logs policy has undergone a third-party audit.
The best VPN services now offer additional features to make users’ VPN experiences more pleasurable.
NordVPN is one of the best VPNs when it comes to extra features. First of all, the provider offers 6 simultaneous connections per plan and is an optimal choice for streaming fans; it can access Netflix in the US as well as Netflix libraries in other countries. On top of this, it works well with platforms like BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video, thanks to its obfuscated servers.
If you want a VPN to hide your download activity on file-sharing platforms like BitTorrent, then you’re in luck; NordVPN offers over 4000 P2P-optimized servers in its immense network.
On top of all this, users can purchase extra add-ons offered by the company. There is a dedicated IP address on offer for those who want to reuse the same IP repeatedly. As well as this, there is NordPass, the provider’s very own password manager, which gives you ease of mind when creating passwords for new online accounts.
There is also split tunneling, which allows you to decide which apps and websites you want to bypass the VPN connection. This is a great feature for streaming fans, who may only want the VPN to access streaming platforms and not slow down the rest of their internet activity.
TorGuard also has a lot of additional features, but these change depending on the plan you choose. With the streaming VPN bundle, you get two streaming IP addresses necessary to unblock streaming services. If you purchase the regular VPN plan, you may need to purchase a dedicated IP add-on to unblock popular streaming sites like Netflix.
Although TorGuard isn’t as strong in the streaming area as NordVPN, it excels as a torrenting VPN. TorGuard is one of the best VPNs for P2P networking, as you may have guessed from its name. Not only does it support torrenting on all of its servers, but it offers a SOCKS5 proxy service and port forwarding for faster data transfer rates.
With TorGuard Anonymous VPN, users get 8 simultaneous connections. However, this increases to 12 on the Anonymous Pro plan, and users can pay per extra connection to get as many as they want, which is something we like to see. Many VPN providers still don’t allow customers to purchase extra device connections.
The winner: NordVPN is the clear winner when compared to TorGuard regarding the features it has on offer. Firstly, it is a great streaming VPN, providing access to many popular sites. Moreover, it has many extra features for a small price. Although TorGuard gives more device connections, we think most users will want a VPN service that can bypass streaming blocks more easily.
Many people use VPN services to bypass geo-restrictions in countries worldwide; therefore, any VPN service you use must have many servers, ensuring you can change your IP in many places.
NordVPN has a large number of servers, amounting to just over 5400 across 59 countries worldwide. This is great server coverage, although we would like to see NordVPN include more servers in continents like Africa and the Middle East. At the moment, it only operates server locations across 5 countries in these areas.
TorGuard offers a decent-sized server network as well, with 3000 servers in 50 countries across 68 locations. Like NordVPN, TorGuard mainly operates servers in Europe, Asia, and North America and lacks server coverage in Africa and the Middle East.
It’s worth mentioning that both providers offer a mixture of physical and virtual servers. There are pros and cons to proxy and physical servers. On the one hand, virtual servers allow VPN services to provide users with access to IP addresses in potentially risky parts of the world; however, some VPN users believe that they slow down connections since they are often placed far away from the physical location they provide services for.
The winner: NordVPN is the winner in terms of server coverage, simply because it has more servers and operates across more countries.
Most providers offer a variety of subscription plans, and NordVPN and TorGuard are no different. Here’s an overview of each VPN’s pricing plans:
In terms of NordVPN’s pricing, the company has three different plans.
NordVPN operates a 30-day money-back guarantee which is standard for a VPN provider. In terms of payment methods, NordVPN accepts most popular credit cards and payments via PayPal and even cryptocurrencies. You can purchase the VPN using Bitcoin if you want to anonymize your internet movements further.
TorGuard’s subscription plans are a little more confusing, and that’s because there are a few. The VPN plan options include the standard Anonymous VPN plan, the Streaming VPN, the BusinessVPN, and an Email VPN.
Since we have been mainly reviewing TorGuard’s Anonymous VPN, we’re going to look at the pricing for this specific plan.
TorGuard’s subscription plans are a little confusing, and this is an area we would like to see some improvement in. Although there are many options, there is almost too much choice which could put some customers off.
With every TorGuard plan, there is a 7-day money-back guarantee, but this is also confusing. If you are already using a VPN, cancel your plan, and can show proof of this, TorGuard will increase your refund policy time to 30 days. It would be better if TorGuard offered a standard money-back guarantee across all plans and for all users.
TorGuard occasionally offers Lifetime plan promotions; while these are often great deals and come at low prices for a lifetime of VPN use, we always recommend avoiding them. You may decide you don’t want to use the VPN service anymore and find a better provider.
One positive thing about TorGuard is that it accepts Bitcoin as a payment method. Since Bitcoin’s popularity is on the rise thanks to backing from large companies like Tesla, we think this is a good move on the provider’s part.
The winner: TorGuard has more subscription plan options, but we prefer NordVPN’s simple subscription plan offerings. Plus, NordVPN offers a long refund policy which acts as a month-long free trial. Compared to TorGuard VPN and its 7-day money-back guarantee, this is extremely lengthy.
VPNs are notorious for sometimes slowing down your connection; however, many can actually speed up your internet by preventing bandwidth throttling. We ran a few speed tests to determine which VPN is faster with a fairly high base speed of 42Mbps.
NordVPN offers unlimited bandwidth and claims to provide fast server speeds. We first connected to a NordVPN in the United States and got a download speed of 39Mbps, which is excellent. After that, we tested our speeds in the UK, South Korea, and Australia. These download speeds were, respectively, 37Mbps, 35Mbps, and 34MBps. All of these are impressive and fast enough for HD streaming with zero buffering.
We then put TorGuard to the (speed) test. Like NordVPN, the provider offers unlimited bandwidth and promises zero throttling, but does it provide fast speeds? We first connected to a server in the US and were seriously impressed. Our speed dropped very slightly to 40Mbps, faster than NordVPN.
For fairness, we then tested the speeds in the same locations as NordVPN. In the UK, we got a fast download speed of 37Mbs, which dropped to 36Mbps in South Korea and remained at this speed in Australia.
The winner: Our speed tests’ results surprised us since NordVPN is known as one of the fastest VPNs in the industry. However, TorGuard delivered some incredible speeds, making it a great choice for torrenting and our speed winner.
TorGuard offers 8 simultaneous connections, and NordVPN provides 6 on each plan. So, which operating systems can you use each VPN on?
With NordVPN, users can enjoy the VPN service on Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Android devices. As well as this, there is support for Android TV, Amazon Firestick TVs, and Smart TVs. You can also enjoy browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox.
NordVPN users can also configure the VPN to their routers, assuming that they have compatible firmware. Failing this, you can buy a preconfigured FlashRouter with NordVPN already installed on it.
For TorGuard customers, you can use the VPN on many operating systems. These include Windows, macOS, Android, Linux, and iOS. Like NordVPN, TorGuard also has Chrome and Firefox browser extensions. The provider also sells pre-configured routers, including ASUS and NetGear routers.
The winner: Neither VPN is better than the other in this area. NordVPN and TorGuard are both great when it comes to device compatibility, offering a heap of options to customers.
The best VPN services provide seamlessly designed apps and clients that provide ease of use to customers. Not everyone who uses VPNs is tech-savvy, so apps need to cater to novices and experts.
The NordVPN app is great for users of all levels. Firstly, it features a great design and is super user-friendly. Users can quickly connect to the best server nearby or choose one from a list of servers that is organized by location.
The settings section is easily accessible and customizable, and customers can activate the kill switch and other security features. NordVPN delivers an excellent app for cell phones and desktops.
While we personally like the TorGuard VPN app, it may be better suited to individuals who have used VPNs before. The app is super configurable and opens up to a bunch of connection settings. Subscribers must choose their protocol, port, and cipher before connecting to a server. This could be a little overwhelming for VPN novices who won’t know which is the best VPN protocol to use.
Once you’re past this point, the TorGuard app is similar in use to other VPNs, with a setting section and servers listed.
The winner: In terms of a user-friendly app, we prefer NordVPN’s because it provides better ease of use overall.
Like all cybersecurity software, users can run into issues with VPNs; this is why VPNs like NordVPN and TorGuard need to offer excellent customer support. Luckily, both VPNs do.
NordVPN has a great help section on its website, which can be your first port of call if you ever have any basic queries. The help section is full of comprehensive guides and FAQs. If you fail to find your answer here, you can talk to the ChatBot on the website or alternatively be put through to a customer support agent via the live chat. There is also a ticketed email system.
Like NordVPN, TorGuard also has various customer service options. There is a support center, an extensive FAQ section as well as a customer forum. The VPN also has an email address users can contact, or they can submit a support ticket. There is a live chat available on the website, but when we tried to speak to someone, we were met with a message that read, ‘Our agents are not available at the moment.’
The winner: It’s a tie; both NordVPN and TorGuard offer up some great customer support solutions to help their subscribers.
NordVPN and TorGuard are two impressive VPNs, making it difficult to decide which is the better one.
The two providers each offer excellent security and privacy features. NordVPN has the Double VPN and Onion over VPN along with an internet kill switch, while TorGuard has STunnel. The two providers both offer fast speeds, perfect for streaming and torrenting.
However, NordVPN performs better in more areas. Firstly, it has better pricing plans, which are well organized and cheaper per month on long-term plans. As well as this, NordVPN has more servers in its network, and its app provides better ease of use.
Overall, either NordVPN or TorGuard would be a good choice for customers, but NordVPN may provide more support for new VPN users.
I’m Madeleine, and I'm a writer that specializes in cybersecurity, tech products, and all things related to the internet.
I have a keen interest in VPNs and believe that everyone deserves internet freedom and security. I wr...
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