TorGuard VPN Review: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

TorGuard, as its name implies, is a solid choice. VPNEspecially for those looking for fast torrenting VPN speeds. The VPN has strong security features and an extensive server suite in 50+ countries. However, getting access to a free trial involves jumping through a lot of hoops, and the refund process is similarly complicated. This leads me to question, is this fast VPN worth the investment?

Here’s a TorGuard review that covers everything you need to know about VPNs, including the good, the bad, and the ugly, so you can decide if it’s the best VPN for your business or personal use. .

Is TorGuard a good VPN for streaming?

While TorGuard offers maximum VPN security and speed in all of its plans, the ability to stream geo-restricted content with VPN depends on the plan you choose. When I tested the VPN, TorGuard’s regular servers were unreliable for streaming Netflix or Amazon Prime Video in some regions. Fortunately, the VPN’s Pro plan offers a free dedicated IP address as an add-on, which you can use to get a streaming IP address to unblock streaming content in a certain region.

See: 5 Best VPNs for Streaming in 2024 (Tech Republic)

But, if you want a VPN that works outside of streaming services, other options like Express VPN, NordVPNor Surfshark VPN Can offer a more seamless experience.

TorGuard VPN Pricing

TorGuard VPN pricing is split into two plans, Standard and Pro. Each has monthly and annual billing options. Below is a table that summarizes how the pricing plans compare to each other.

Regardless of which TorGuard VPN plan you choose, you’ll receive almost the same maximum security features. Features like access to 3,000 servers in 50 countries, and unlimited speed and bandwidth are available in all plans.

There are still some differences between TorGuard pricing plans. The TorGuard VPN Pro plan offers a free dedicated IP and streaming option and can connect up to 12 devices simultaneously, while the standard plan is limited in these offerings and only allows eight simultaneous device connections.

See: How to Create an Effective Cybersecurity Awareness Program (TechRepublic Premium)

Also, as with most VPNs, the longer you choose a billing plan, the more money you’ll save on subscriptions. If you choose the annual billing option in the TorGuard Standard plan, you’ll save up to 50% of the cost. This would equate to you paying $60 instead of $120 when calculated based on $10 monthly billing. On the other hand, the Pro plan saves you around 42% of the subscription cost when you choose the annual billing option.

I recommend the annual billing option if TorGuard is the right VPN service for your needs. Thus, you can save considerable billing costs. Otherwise, go for the monthly payment option if you are just testing the waters.

See: 5 Best VPNs with Free Trials in 2024 (Tech Republic)

I suggest you use the seven-day money-back guarantee available on all plans to test the product before making any long-term commitment.

Key Features of TorGuard VPN

TorGuard VPN is known for having one of the fastest torrenting capabilities with unlimited download speeds. It also offers other useful VPN features such as stealth protocol and port forwarding.

TorGuard Stealth Protocol

The Stealth VPN protocol makes it nearly impossible to intercept VPN usage, and it enables you to bypass deep packet inspection and bypass the toughest firewalls, even in countries that restrict VPN ports. are TorGuard offers several stealth VPN protocols for censored and hardened countries or firewalls including — SSTP protocol, OpenVPN obfuscation, and OpenConnect/AnyConnect.

See: How much does a VPN cost? + Saving tips (Tech Republic)

During testing, TorGuard’s stealth protocol allowed me to bypass firewalls in China, Russia, and Turkey when I paired it with a stealth proxy.

Port Forwarding

Port forwarding allows you to open a port on the Internet while connected to a VPN, so you can remotely access software hosted on your network. This functionality is found in TorGuard’s member area, which allows you to instantly enable various port forward rules and apply whitelisted firewall settings to your port forward requests.

See: 6 Best Anonymous (No-Log) VPNs for 2024 (Tech Republic)

However, it’s important to note that when exposing a port to the Internet, make sure you’ve secured logins in your software and only allow specific IPs to access the port remotely via VPN. give

TorGuard VPN Ad Blocking

Blocking ads protects your privacy and plays a key role in strengthening your overall online security. By default, TorGuard VPN’s DNS relies on its internal VPN server DNS, but you can select the “Ad Blocking DNS” option in the VPN client settings for additional protection. TorGuard claims that this feature is regularly updated to ensure ongoing effectiveness.

See: 6 Best Small Business VPNs for 2024 (Tech Republic)

While TorGuard’s ad blocking is a great privacy tool, combining it with other strategies can increase your security even further. I recommend using a privacy-focused browser like Firefox or Brave to get the most out of this TorGuard feature, as it can actively work to prevent fingerprinting and other forms of tracking that DNS-based advertising can do. Can ignore blocking.

Thousands of VPN servers and locations

TorGuard boasts over 3,000 VPN server networks spanning multiple locations and countries. This includes key regions such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Canada, the Netherlands, Turkey, Germany, Australia, Japan, and Hong Kong. With good coverage across four continents, TorGuard improves the chances of finding a nearby server and offers multiple virtual locations for secure browsing and geospoofing. However, other VPN providers such as ExpressVPN and NordVPN also have large server networks, so this advantage may not be significant in all cases.

See: Does VPN slow down your internet speed? (Tech Republic)

While TorGuard is well established in most regions, additional server locations in regions such as North America and Africa, where currently only one server in Africa is in South Africa, will further improve access and performance.

OpenVPN Confusion

The majority of VPN services today use the OpenVPN protocol. But even though the protocol is great and efficient, it leaves a small footprint for Internet service providers to use VPN.

See: Can a VPN be hacked? (Tech Republic)

OpenVPN obfuscates DPI and cloaks VPN traffic to bypass firewalls, making it difficult for censors or ISPs to detect VPN use. TorGuard provides several obfuscation options via Stunnel. So if one is not working you can easily switch to a different method.

TorGuard Pros

• Unlimited speed.
• Unlimited bandwidth.
• Offers 3,000+ servers in 50+ countries.
• Overcomes VPN blockers with Stealth Mode.
• Good for torrenting.

TorGuard cons

• Date visible interface.
• The standard plan does not unblock Netflix in some regions.

Alternatives to TorGuard VPN

While TorGuard offers excellent speeds, there are other alternative VPNs you may want to consider. Here are the top three I compared.

Surfshark VPN

I recommend Surfshark if you’re looking for a VPN that’s affordable and comes with an all-inclusive package. Surfshark Premium plans — Surfshark One and One+ — offer other premium features as well as strong VPN security features, including Surfshark Antivirus, Surfshark Search, Surfshark Alerts, and Alternative ID.

See: Is VPN really worth it in 2024? (Tech Republic)

While TorGuard commands respect in speed and performance, it falls short in comprehensive protections like antivirus. Surfshark also offers unlimited device connections, compared to TorGuard’s 12 devices at a time. So, if you have a large organization with multiple devices to protect, choose Surfshark.

To learn more, read our Full Surfshark VPN Review.

NordLayer VPN

NordLayer is another all-in-one network security solution that offers a robust VPN service. If you want a business VPN that offers strong cybersecurity tools, I recommend the solution. NordLayer’s 30+ global server locations may not be as impressive as TorGuard’s 50+ locations, but its offerings, including cloud firewall, device posture Security, virtual private gateways, and dedicated servers with fixed IDs, make it a better alternative.

The NordLayer control panel also streamlines network management tasks into an intuitive interface, compared to TorGuard, which has a history-looking interface.

Cyberghost VPN

CyberGhost is a good alternative to TorGuard if your primary VPN need is to unblock geo-restricted content online. I love the level of detail CyberGhost goes into when it comes to what each server is best for. It classifies the servers into three groups – gaming, torrenting and streaming.

While CyberGhost’s monthly plan is pricier than TorGuard’s offering, its 14-day and 45-day money-back guarantees for its monthly and two-year subscriptions mean you have time to decide on a package before you cancel. There is more time.

To learn more, read our Full CyberGhost VPN Review.

Procedure

I reviewed TorGuard VPN based on its features, security and pricing. Since TorGuard offers a seven-day money-back guarantee, I took the opportunity to sign up to get hands-on experience with the VPN, even though the process isn’t as straightforward as the company marketed it to be.

Although TorGuard’s Android and iOS apps both look similar, I noticed that the Android version offers OpenVPN and WireGuard, not the IKEv2/IPSec protocol that can be found in the iOS version. The Stealth Protocol was also able to bypass geo-restrictions in China and Russia.

From my experience, none of the TorGuard applications are as intuitive as they could be. Tech-savvy people will like it more than the average user. Overall, I found TorGuard VPN to be a decent VPN, especially for torrenting.