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

Fast Speed on Short-Distance Servers

I find TorGuard VPN’s speeds to be good enough to meet most of my needs. You will receive even better results if you select the WireGuard tunneling protocol. If geolocation concerns are irrelevant to you, you can choose a VPN server that is physically close to your location for the most effective performance.

Using a VPN will result in reduced speeds as a price for its advantages. The traffic you send through a VPN gets routed through a server, while also being encrypted. This extra work consumes computing and bandwidth resources, resulting in lower connection speeds. A good VPN service will do all the work behind the scenes, so you won’t notice it if your internet connection is fast.

Speed Test Results

TorGuard is generally fast, but the speed drops the further you are from the server. Its ping time is also reasonably stable. Thus, you should not experience significant lag or buffering while performing data-intensive tasks such as streaming and gaming.

The speed tests were conducted using a high-speed internet connection in the United States. As a first step, I checked my download and upload speeds without a VPN. My base speed averaged 35.74 Mbps for downloads and 32.23 Mbps for uploads. This data served as a benchmark for evaluating the drop-off in speed. Following that, I checked my upload speeds, download speeds, and latency with TorGuard servers in the U.S., UK, France, and Australia, respectively.

As can be seen in the screenshot below, TorGuard provides consistently fast upload and download speeds. While its speed is not fast enough to rank in our list of the fastest VPNs, it does deliver impressive results. Download speeds in the US, UK, and France are fast enough for streaming video and playing online games non-interrupted.

There was a considerable slowdown in download speeds in Australia, but that is understandable given the distance. Please keep in mind that these numbers may vary based on your location. However, they provide a fairly accurate representation of TorGuard’s overall speeds.

Is TorGuard Fast Enough for Gaming? Yes!

You won’t find an ideal ping rate with TorGuard’s servers. This is disappointing considering how good download and upload speeds are. When you’re gaming, you want your ping rate to be low in order to avoid stuttering, connections being dropped, and delays in graphics.

With a top-of-the-line PC, hardware isn’t a bottleneck for me. I also regularly get a latency of 10ms with my standard connection. I play several games online, as well as multiplayer ones that need to connect to servers. I always test Civilization V because it relies on a low ping rate for multiplayer games and a consistent internet connection. Otherwise, you will be removed from the game. When I tried the game, I had issues right away.

Despite connecting to servers in the USA (the ones with the lowest ping rates), I still experienced connection drops and stuttering. When testing other games with similar requirements, they had issues as well, even outright crashing.

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Server Network — Impressive Server Network

TorGuard has extensive coverage of servers. The network has more than 3000 servers in 50+ countries, providing coverage across much of the globe. With such a wide collection of server locations, you have a wide variety of options to choose from.

This network is also well spread out across most regions. You can find a great selection of servers in Europe and a solid server network in North America and Asia. It also operates in countries with strict internet regulations, such as Turkey and Russia. The fact that TorGuard’s expansive reach extends to the Middle East and Africa makes it even more appealing.

It is also important to note that TorGuard owns its DNS server, which ensures the security of your personal information. TorGuard claims that it does not use virtual servers. The company maintains only servers that are located in the country they claim to be located in. It is a nuanced but important consideration, as physical servers can often provide more reliable connections than virtual servers.

The option of obtaining a dedicated IP address is also available. It should be noted, however, that this service is subject to an additional charge. The company also guarantees that you will have unlimited bandwidth, speeds, and the option of switching servers at any time. Choosing servers and switching between them was a breeze thanks to its intuitive server menus and filtering capabilities.

Security — Excellent Protection

TorGuard provides all of the necessary tools and features to ensure that you have a secure VPN experience. The following is a rundown of every security feature TorGuard’s applications possess:

• Strong Traffic Encryption – You can trust that your information is protected with military-grade AES 256-bit encryption. Several of the best VPN providers use this form of traffic encryption because it offers a high level of compatibility, performance, and security.
• Top-of-the-line encryption protocols options – TorGuard employs the Wireguard protocol by default. Also supported are OpenVPN, IKEv2, and IPsec, all with some flaws, but all relatively secure.
• Kill switch and auto connect – Together, they prevent information from leaking out of your system before or after a VPN connection is established. Additionally, you can add apps to the App Kill settings that will automatically close when TorGard loses connection.
• Port forwarding – This feature can boost torrenting speeds or allow remote access to your devices by rerouting incoming connections around NAT firewalls.
• Tracker Blocker – TorGuard also prevents malware from infecting your computer and blocks any intrusive ads from appearing on your screen. Turning this feature on takes some digging, as it’s hidden under a random DNS tab within the Network section.
• Split tunneling – This nifty feature allows you to use the VPN tunnel for some apps while keeping your real IP for all other apps or services. Unfortunately, it is only available on Android, leaving Windows, Mac, and iOS out in the cold.
• Dedicated IP – TorGuard is also able to provide you with a dedicated IP address in any country of choice. Their dedicated IP provides even greater security for your sensitive information and is perfect for businesses and highly secure data transfers.
• Stealth VPN – This technology cloaks your VPN traffic as regular traffic to get past firewalls. You can use this tool to bypass Deep Packet Inspection and access highly restricted regions.

To investigate the effectiveness of TorGuard’s protocol-encryption combination, I tested it for WebRTC leaks, IPv6 leaks, and DNS leaks using the default specifications. Results were clean across all tests, and this was true in several different locations.

Privacy — Uncompromising Privacy

TorGuard complies with a strict privacy policy. This concise document contains only the essentials, without any legal jargon or unnecessary fine print. TorGuard is also forthright about the data it collects instead of focusing on what it does not collect.

You do not have to worry about the provider storing your IP addresses, VPN sessions, or websites you visit when you use its service. Your email address is the only personal information TorGuard stores to send subscription information, payment confirmations, responses to customer inquiries, and TorGuard promotional offers.

Additionally, it collects anonymous website analytics, apache server logs, and customer email correspondence. The provider indicates you can request all personal information be removed at any time by contacting the support department.

TorGuard is based in the US which means that according to US law, the VPN provider is legally obliged to provide information about their users to government agencies. This is an agreement that gives the federal government the right to request any internet data for national security purposes. That said, since TorGuard doesn’t keep any log of your activity or visited sites, it has nothing to hand over or be seized.

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Torrenting — Suitable for Torrenting

TorGuard is specifically designed for torrent downloads, so you are free to use it in that capacity. Many popular torrent apps are supported, including BitTorrent, Vuze, uTorrent, and qBittorrent. Plus, it’s a zero-log service, meaning that no record of your torrenting activities is kept. As an additional feature, TorGuard offers SOCKS5 proxy services to hide and replace your IP address.

The port-forwarding feature of TorGuard makes it particularly convenient for torrenting. By using this tool, you are able to route torrent connections directly to your computer, which greatly increases the speed of torrenting overall. It also offers good speed, which is very important when downloading and uploading content.

With its large number of servers, advanced settings, and no bandwidth restrictions, this VPN is one of the best available. If you do attempt to torrent any content, however, you should make sure you adhere to your local laws before engaging in P2P file-sharing. Do local research and confirm that the content is in the public domain.

Does TorGuard Work in China? Yes!

TorGuard’s servers are designed for stealth, unlike many other VPN vendors who are cautious about this topic. With such a configuration, the online footprint of the server and proxy is hidden behind a tunneling protocol that provides extra security. In this way, you are able to fool deep packet inspections that are actively sniffing out VPNs with your movements that are disguised as regular foot traffic.

According to TorGuard’s user forums, TorGuard works best in China if you connect to servers located in the US, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, or Hong Kong. It will be necessary to download TorGuard before you travel to China because the website is blocked.

As a further confirmation, I emailed the team asking for guidance on ensuring the connection would work while I was in China. I received a response just over five minutes later with instructions to enable STunnel in the app settings to have a successful connection.

The common practice is that China fights VPNs by technologically blocking them, and not by chasing after the people who use them. Using a VPN in China does not provide you with the license to commit illegal acts, so please use extreme caution when using one.

If you’re looking for a VPN that works in China every time, ExpressVPN is a private network you should consider. It is one of the few out there that guarantees you safe access to your online accounts in China.

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There is a decent level of customer support available. While it is possible to make some improvements to the customer service of this VPN, it is among the industry’s best. To begin with, there is a live chat feature, which is always good. Keep in mind, however, that this is not always available. The service agents seem friendly and polite, but a lot of their responses are prewritten, which can be frustrating.

A ticket can be submitted directly on the company’s website or via email if you don’t wish to contact live customer support. As part of this review, I submitted multiple tickets to TorGuard to clarify multiple aspects. My queries were answered promptly. In one instance, I received a response within less than 20 minutes of sending the email.

An FAQ page and knowledge base with helpful guides are available for self-service. You will find information on almost everything related to TorGuard’s service in the knowledge base. The TorGuard team is available via Twitter in addition to its on-site support channels. TorGuard also maintains an active community forum where users can ask basic questions and get answers.

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