BTGuard Review 2024: Before You Buy, Is It Worth It?

Fast Speeds on Every Server

BTGuard’s connection speeds are astonishingly reliable, despite having only a few servers. This provider claims that it offers multi-homed bandwidth to multiple tier-one networks to give you fast reroute speeds, and I did experience those speeds.

Speed Test Results

As BTGuard only offers three server locations, I expected it to be slower than most VPN services. However, its servers provided an average download speed of 26.8 Mbps – a minimal decrease of 37%.

As a point of comparison, I recorded 43.08Mbps download speed and 17.63Mbps upload speed when connected to my home internet connection. My first test was conducted on a BTGuard server in the Netherlands. This server recorded a download speed of 28.19 Mbps, an upload speed of 9.28 Mbps, and a ping time of 205 ms. While download speeds dropped by 34%, playing HD videos on YouTube was as smooth as it could be.

Switching to a Canadian server also resulted in decent speed. The download speed dropped by 42%, and the upload speed was 8.02 Mbps, which is still quite fast. As for the Singapore connection, it suffered a 35% loss in download speed and a 55% loss in upload speed, both of which are quite respectable.

The upload speeds across the entire pool of servers were consistently average. This is more than sufficient to play online multiplayer games which require upload speeds of 3-4Mbps on average. However, the latency/ping scores did not impress me, given that most servers delivered an average of 275 ms.

Server Network — Only 3 Servers to Choose From

BTGuard has 3 servers in 3 countries and 1000 different IP addresses. You can connect to its networks in Canada, the Netherlands, and Singapore. Despite having 1000 different IP addresses, 3 servers aren’t enough when you’re looking for high speeds. With too few servers available, BTGuard easily becomes overcrowded.

Connecting to servers also takes more time when so many users are trying to do so. I don’t like waiting when using a VPN network. With other VPNs like Cyberghost, you don’t have to wait. Cyberghost has 11,780 servers to choose from around the globe, and these servers are designed to make switching between them within the network even easier.

Security — Needs More Options

BTGuard’s basic level of security is its strongest asset with military-grade AES 256-bit encryption. You can choose between two protocols, OpenVPN and PPTP, which both create a secure, point-to-point transfer between your computer and other networks. While PPTP may offer faster speeds, OpenVPN is the more popular protocol due to its better security measures.

What BTGuard lacks in security is a greater list of options. It doesn’t let you customize the proxy or SSL tunneling features available, which are protocols that enable another level of encryption with a single connection between your computer and the web server, like an online store or news site. BTGuard also lacks an automatic kill switch, which protects your data if your connection drops. Without it, your information could suddenly be exposed to others online.

Privacy — Some Logs Are Kept

BTGuard retains its users’ logs under the jurisdiction of the 5/9/14-Eyes Alliance. This means that your information can be turned over in the event of an investigation. The privacy policy was hard to track down on the website.

Despite sifting through FAQs and reading its privacy policy, I still found it very vague. It never specifies what information it collects on its users. It’s also unclear as to how far back its logs go, nor does it state whether or not logs are cleared.

The policy of keeping logs can make some users uncomfortable, as this means that your data is more accessible to hackers than it would be if it weren’t retained at all. As a privacy-minded internet user, I prefer VPNs with a genuine zero-logs policy. ExpressVPN has had its no-logs policy audited by a third party and has proved air-tight in real-life cases.

Torrenting — Supported on all Servers

BTGuard was originally designed to provide anonymity when torrenting. As a matter of fact, the BT in the name is an acronym for BitTorrent, which speaks volumes about BTGuard’s suitability for torrenting.

You will benefit from unlimited torrenting regardless of what server you connect to. BTGuard only operates three servers, but when you connect to one of them, you will be able to enjoy unlimited speed. Make sure that you live near the servers available before signing up for the service since unlimited speed may not be as useful if you live in a distant location.

Security concerns include the absence of a kill switch and a privacy policy that contradicts its user agreement. As well as that, it is under Canadian jurisdiction, which makes it a member of the five-ey alliance.

You should keep in mind that it is illegal to torrent copyrighted files. I always recommend doing your due diligence to make sure that any content you torrent is in the public domain, as well as researching your country’s copyright laws.

Does BTGuard Work in China? No!

BTGuard is not designed to hold up against China’s surveillance and censorship laws, nor does it feature any functionality that makes online access easier in suppressed countries. I’ve confirmed with the BTGuard support team that they’re not currently investing time in workarounds as it currently only works with OpenVPN instead of a dedicated client.

ExpressVPN has been designed to work well in China. The service does not keep any activity logs, guarantees fast speeds across all servers, and offers a wide range of security measures. The protection of a VPN doesn’t give you a license to commit illegal acts, so please exercise a basic level of caution when using a VPN in China.

BTGuard doesn’t have much in the way of quality customer support. The only way to contact the support team is through a ticket on the website. As a result, you are subject to the provider’s response times, which vary widely by time zone.

When I reached out to BTGuard, it was about a week before they responded, and I found it more effective to search online for answers to my questions, as those were quicker to find and more thorough.

I found that searching through their support center FAQs with keywords was difficult. Results weren’t pulled up without very specific terms. Instead, with BTGuard, I had to guess multiple different ways to search for an answer and still often ended up with no results. When I did find the information available on the website, it didn’t clarify matters, or there simply weren’t any postings available to answer my questions. While the provider also maintains a knowledge base, it is unreliable and has not been updated since 2013.