TorGuard Review 2024

TorGuard is a well-known VPN in the industry with an impressive set of network servers. It specializes in providing online privacy services such as secure emails, proxies, and a VPN. Moreover, TorGuard is an excellent choice for anonymous torrenting and secured P2P file sharing. This explains what the term ‘Tor’ from TorGuard is implied to – not affiliated to the Tor project – but excels in offering privacy-related products.

Additionally, TorGuard ships with impressive product specifications including a choice of 3000+ servers in over 55 countries, allows for up to five concurrent connections, supports OpenVPN, OpenConnect, L2TP, SSTP, or IPSec protocols. The VPN also offers multiple stealth options such as OpenVPN obfuscation, Stunnel, OpenConnect, as well as Shadowsocks – to avoid blocking.

Quick Stats

Notably, fast speeds, a reliable service, and robust anonymity are among the top features the VPN promises. We tested the VPN to find out how it stacks up against its competitors in the industry. Let’s find out how it fared.

Money-back guarantee	7 days
Allowed concurrent connections	8
Supported streaming services	None
No logs policy	Yes
Encryption	Military-grade 256-bit AES
Protocols	OpenVPN, OpenConnect, WireGuard
Special features	Stealth servers, kill switch, DNS leak protection, Obfuscation Technology, Ad/Malware Blocker
Customer support	Emails and Tickets
Server locations	68+ cities across 50+ countries
Number of servers	3000+ servers
Server Switches	Unlimited
Data traffic	Unlimited
Supported devices & web extensions	Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, macOS, Routers, Chrome, and Firefox
VPN legal jurisdiction	Nevis, West Indies (USA)

TorGuard – Pros and Cons

Servers

TorGuard holds a competition card against top VPNs with its broad server coverage. The VPN offers over 3000 servers in 68+ server locations, distributed across 50+ countries around the world.

TorGuard has worked hard over the years to ensure users don’t lack a server in whatever corner of the world they desire to connect to. Their servers cover virtually all the major continents including North and South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and parts of Africa.

To give our readers a better idea about TorGuard’s server network, we’ve listed every country that the provider covers below:

The Americas

• Brazil
• Chile
• Canada
• Mexico
• USA

Europe

• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Italy
• Luxembourg
• Moldova
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Russia
• Slovakia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Ukraine
• United Kingdom

Asia Pacific

• Australia
• Hong Kong
• Indonesia
• Japan
• South Korea
• New Zealand
• Singapore
• Taiwan
• Thailand

Africa, Middle East, and India

• India
• Israel
• South Africa
• UAE

TorGuard also boasts a fast Proxy. The fastest VPN and Proxy Network powered by 3K+ Gigabit Servers With unmetered bandwidth.  Moreover, TorGuard holds a competitive card up its sleeves that not all VPNs can boast of – the stealth servers. Ideally, “stealth servers” are perfect for users in heavily censored countries such as China and Iran. Thanks to stealth servers, netizens in those countries can finally enjoy unlimited online freedom.

Speed Performance

Whenever we conduct our speed tests, we do our best to stay empirical. We used an online speed test tool in our speed test runs. Earlier on, we reviewed that TorGuard boasts a massive network of fast speed servers. Therefore, in this section, we tried to find out how fast the speeds vary in different regions.

In our first run, we tested the speeds without a VPN connection to set a benchmark for our tests. Here’s the initial result that we gathered:

Now we connected to a nearby server location and conducted another speed test. Look at how fast the speeds were:

In our experiment, we tested with remote servers, and the results we got were impressive. If you study the results below, you can see that though the download speeds went down slightly, they were compensated with an increase in the upload speeds.

Bearing in mind that TorGuard is well known for torrenting and P2P file sharing, we think the results were great.

TorGuard VPN Review – Privacy

TorGuard recently underwent several corporate restructuring and is now incorporated in Nevis, a smaller island of Saint Kitts located in the West Indies.

As such, TorGuard abides by the strict data retention laws imposed in the area – the United States, which is part of the Five Eyes Association. However, as written in its privacy policy, TorGuard doesn’t store logs from its services – VPN or Proxy. All in all, we can say that TorGuard is safe to use.

TorGuard offers the WebRTC leak protection tool, but you’ll have to enable it manually. In fact, TorGuard client apps display a note warning that it might bring issues during reconnect.

However, features like kill switch, IPv6, and DNS leak protection are always enabled by default. TorGuard also offers an App Kill feature that allows you to kill certain apps if the VPN connection drops – the torrent client is one such app.

Unfortunately, TorGuard has also received criticism that its kill switch options are somewhat complicated. For instance, there several options such as Manage Interface State, App Kill, and “Arm kill switch after first successful connection.”

Every one of these options sports distinct sub-menus, making it hard for novice users to handle. Therefore, if you lack enough experience with these advanced features, we suggest you ignore them.

Let’s take a look at what TorGuard has to offer in the privacy department:

Stealth servers

TorGuard offers stealth servers that will allow you to use online apps for your business – like Dropbox, VoIP, Google Apps and other digital services. This means that you can use the stealth VPN to access restricted content regardless of your location. Ideally, stealth VPN masks itself to appear as a regular HTTPS traffic, which enables your TorGuard to stay undetected even by deep packet inspection.

Adblocker

TorGuard offers an Adblocker feature on both its mobile and desktop client apps. Once you turn on the feature, it’ll block ads allowing you to keep your data private. Moreover, an Adblocker can have significant improvements to your speed by eradicating annoying adverts that also drain the connection bandwidth. The feature can also shield against encroaching advert-tracking that is mostly monetized and shared with third-parties. Therefore, we think TorGuard’s VPN privacy and Ad blocking are a perfect blend!

Anonymous VPN IP

Anytime you try browsing the internet; your IP address is tracked by Ads, websites, and other digital services. Once your actual IP address is exposed, these apps and sites can read your information.

However, TorGuard offers a solution through its Anonymous VPN IP functionality. The feature assigns you an anonymous IP that masks your physical location and identity – allowing you to stay private and secure.

Security

In our review, we noticed that TorGuard uses the 128-bit encryption technique by default. However, you can easily tweak it to the 256-bit advanced encryption on the main page of the desktop client. While both these encryption techniques are considered safe, we advise that you opt for the 256-bit option – since it’s mostly regarded as military-grade.

Additionally, TorGuard also gives you several options with its authentication techniques like SHA1, SHA256, and SHA512. Either of these options work perfectly with the 2048-bit RSA keys as well as Perfect Forward Secrecy. Notably, the SHA1 authentication option is on the verge of being phased out by the VPN.

If you’re using TorGuard’s desktop client, we suggest that you use OpenVPN or OpenConnect. OpenConnect is an SSL VPN tech that TorGuard gives high regard – claiming “it gives users the ability to get the most bandwidth, improve speeds and avoid ISP’s bandwidth throttling.”

This is because TorGuard’s OpenConnect servers move through a second SSH tunnel, which uses the 256-bit encryption technique by default.

Wireguard Support

TorGuard is also one of the few VPN providers to introduce the new state-of-the-art security protocol WireGuard. This new technology is still new, and it uses various techniques like ChaCha20 for symmetric encryption.

Once implemented, these new techniques that the protocol uses promise to be more secure than older VPN protocols still in use today. Security isn’t the only thing that WireGuard brings to the table. It also promises to maintain excellent speeds and bypass any kind of Firewall present.

Ease of use

TorGuard is denoted by its famous slogan – Online Privacy Protection Services – which means that it offers multiple digital services through a well-protected infrastructure.

Immediately you open TorGuard’s website page; you’ll see a beautiful background image that contains self-explanatory information. The VPN displays its multi-platform device support, a 7-day free trial, a link to download TorGuard’s client app, and some text information about its privacy promises.

Its top menu bar shows all products that TorGuard’s offers including Anonymous VPN, Proxy, Business VPN, Email, as well as Routers. The footer menu displays relevant text links to various pages of the VPN’s website.

Getting started

TorGuard VPN offers you multiple ways to get started with its services – and all of them are straight-forward. You can either begin by navigating to the ‘Anonymous VPN’ section, click the ‘Get TorGuard Now’ button, or you can choose to open the ‘Join Now’ button; all found on the home page.

Once you open either one of these links, you’ll be required to select the package you wish to purchase before you proceed. After that, you’ll be able to download the client app you prefer.

Note: TorGuard gives you the option to purchase a specific type of server including Streaming or Dedicated IP servers. TorGuard allows for up to 5 concurrent connections, but you can also adjust the number of connected devices at a considerable cost. However, if you’re after the standard VPN or Proxy bundle, you should ignore the billing cycles you might see on the getting started section. This is because the actual prices will be reflected in the cart.

TorGuard Client apps

macOS Client

Immediately after we finished the setup process, we were met with the main window of the Mac app. However, the app has dated aesthetics but offers several connection options.

While it may seem harsh, getting started with the desktop app is manageable. For instance, the main screen allows users to select the tunnel type, port, protocol, and cipher that best fits your requirements.

Once we tapped Connect, we were connected to the best available server; based on our location. We could also click Select Server to choose our preferred server location. Moreover, there’s the Filter drop-down to access specific regions and to isolate ‘Stealth servers’ as well.

The app automatically connects users to the best server – a series of red notifications keep an update on the connection process. Once a green ‘Connected’ message pops up, users can proceed to browse securely.

TorGuard’s client app has several settings to explore that we think will be welcoming news if the customer an advanced user. To access them, first, users need to disconnect from the service – at which point they’ll see a More Settings link that will pop-up on the main screen.

Once clicked on, a new separate window will open, which will give access to the settings page. The page allows TorGuard subscribers to tweak several connection options as well as some display settings.

Notably, these settings will only be beneficial to advanced users, but they might be overwhelming if someone is a beginner – so we suggest they ignore them, select their preferred server, and connect

Mobile client app

Fortunately, TorGuard’s mobile app has a much improved minimalistic design, unlike its desktop counterparts. While the two clients share the design concept, the mobile app is more intuitive, easy-to-use, and commands a premium look.

Getting started with the app is easy; you need to login and then click Connect to use the service. It takes less than five seconds to connect or disconnect.

Like most top VPNs, TorGuard is equipped with the ability to auto-select the best available server – an option that comes in handy when you’re in a hurry.

Otherwise, if you want to connect to a specific country, tap on the server name displayed on the home page to access the complete server list. Unlike its competitors, TorGuard hasn’t categorized its servers according to their specialized capabilities – say, streaming – but they offer an option to favorite your best servers for easier access.

Just like the desktop client, the mobile app offers many connection options that you can find in the settings page. Moreover, to access its features, click on the Settings icon on the top-right side of the app. Once you open the settings section, you’ll notice that app has far fewer options than those available on the desktop client. Even so, you can change the protocol, connection type to achieve your connection requirements. However, once more, we advise that if you’re not well-versed with them, use the default setting options.

Compatibility in China

We were delighted to learn that TorGuard has invested many resources into enabling users in China to access censored content and unblock websites. The VPN advises you always to use its marked Stealth servers to allow you to to get past the Great Firewall of China. These stealth servers are optimized to go past Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) firewalls similar to those used by ISPs in China and other heavily censored countries.

Additionally, we suggest that when using Stealth servers, you should also use the Stealth Proxy feature that can be found on the Proxy tab of the settings tab of your desktop client.

Customer Service

If you run into trouble with TorGuard products, you’ll need all the help and support you can get. In such situations, you can always navigate to the support page on the VPN’s website – where you’ll have access to a vast knowledge base.

The help page contains documentation about various troubleshooting issues. Users will also find a direct link to TorGuard’s YouTube channel where they’ve updated a wide array of video tutorials to help you solve these issues. TorGuard has also put in place popular FAQs, and a Community Forum where you can consult with other netizens.

If anyone prefers to consult an agent directly, they can only use their email ticket system. Unfortunately, and despite what the website states, the live chat is not available. or you can opt to use the live chat service. 

We kept checking for the chat bubble they mentioned and nothing popped up. After that, we contacted the support team via their “Ticket” option, and the reply was that the live chat feature is temporarily unavailable.

Pricing and payment options

TorGuard has four distinct subscription plans that vary on the period they are offered. You can purchase their monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or the annual plan, depending on your budget. However, TorGuard has made us understand that the longer your subscription period, the better the deal – that is high discounts on the rates. We tried to breakdown the plan rates as explained below:

• The monthly plan sells at $9.99 per month – which is obviously the most expensive plan – so unless you want the VPN for up to a month, we advise against it.
• The quarterly plan is an improvement of the former, and it costs $19.99 billed after every three months. This is the favourited plan according to TorGuard, but what’s stopping you from looking further.
• The Semi-annually plan retails at $29.99 billed at every six months. The 6-months plan is economical but not as much.
• Finally, the annual plan that goes for $59.99 yearly. This is by far a better deal than most VPNs offer. Therefore, unless you want to use the VPN for a few months, we suggest you purchase this plan.

Payment methods

TorGuard has an impressive system of payment options. They accept all major payment options including credit cards, Cryptocurrency, Paymentwall, as well as Amazon Pay.

We were delighted with their Cryptocurrency payment option which means you can pay for a plan without exposing your identity. However, what was missing is the ability to pay through PayPal.

The company is known to be unsupportive of encrypted email or file-sharing services, and TorGuard was adding such features to its arsenal. So, ever since the company sent letters to TorGuard, the VPN no longer accepted PayPal payments for any new or recurring services back in December 2019.

Those who are current subscribers and use PayPal for renewing have to update their payment method to avoid any possible service interruption. It’s a bummer actually, but at least TorGuard allows several other alternatives, including our favorite, Cryptocurrency.

Refund Policy and Free Trial

In the past, TorGuard was among the few top VPNs to offer a risk-free trial of its service. Therefore, if users have any doubts about TorGuard, they can always use the free trial to get a feel of their service, before they upgrade to a premium plan. The provider used to greet new customers with a 7-day free trial sign on the main page of their website.
Yeah, not anymore. Now, no such trial exists, but we didn’t stop there. We went ahead and contacted their customer support in hopes they can shed more light on the matter. He stated that they only offer a 7-day refund policy.
TorGuard promises to refund your money within the first 7 days from the date of purchase in the event users become dissatisfied with their service. Unfortunately, the refund policy only applies to its VPN, Email, or Proxy services and doesn’t include the purchase of a Dedicated IP or any other add-on.

Note: TorGuard warns that if you use Bitcoin as an option of payment, then the money-back will be pre-determined by the market value of the currency at the time of refund.

According to TorGuard, all Cryptocurrencies are not owned by any government entity; therefore, they’re prone to fluctuations over a short period. In general, offering a way out for the customer in the form of refund policy is quite a good service.

However, other top providers offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, which means that the duration offered by TorGuard is quite short. They have to work on that if they want to gain a customer’s trust.

Conclusion

TorGuard targets its services at advanced users who mostly to torrent anonymously. Evidently, its provision of numerous settings options in the desktop client, and the vast array of servers – most optimized for torrenting – make it a perfect choice for anonymity. Though TorGuard doesn’t support streaming, they offer ultra-fast speeds that are ideal for secured P2P file-sharing.

However, we were not impressed with their desktop client app. We strongly feel that a VPN of this caliber should at least provide ‘mouse-over’ explanations in complicated settings. Nonetheless, with the growing competition in the VPN industry, we predict that TorGuard will soon revamp the app to look cleaner and intuitive – just like the mobile app.

If you’re a user who’s after a VPN that can unblock sites in highly censored countries like China, Iran, and the entire UAE; TorGuard is your perfect choice. Thanks to its stealth options, TorGuard can penetrate such stubborn firewalls. However, if you’re after a service that can unblock major streaming outlets like Netflix, iPlayer as well as Amazon Prime, you’ll have to look elsewhere. In that case, you’re better off choosing one of these TorGuard alternatives.