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How to Use PIA VPN for Torrenting
Our Verdict
Private Internet Access (PIA) is a superb VPN for torrenting, recording much faster P2P speeds than most other VPNs we tested. To torrent safely with PIA, connect to a nearby VPN server and download your torrent file as usual. The VPN will automatically mask your IP address from the torrent swarm and protect your data from leaks.
Without a Virtual Private Network (VPN), anyone connected to your torrent swarm can see your public IP address and trace it to your location. Your identity and torrenting activity will be exposed to copyright trolls, copyright holders, and your Internet Service Provider (ISP).
In short, VPNs are essential for torrenting safely. However, VPN services can vary wildly when it comes to security, support, and performance. Some VPNs will log your traffic or leak your data, while others are simply too slow to torrent large files.
Private Internet Access is a popular VPN known for its transparent, P2P-friendly service. However, some users have expressed concerns about its ownership and compatibility with popular torrent clients such as uTorrent and Deluge.
We’ve tested over 62 VPN services in detail and can confidently recommend Private Internet Access (PIA) for downloading torrents safely.
Summary: PIA VPN’s Torrenting Performance
| Torrenting Attribute | Result |
|---|---|
| Average Download Bitrate | 9.6MiB/s (4% loss) |
| Countries with P2P Servers | 91 |
| Logging Policy | No Logs |
| Kill Switch | Yes |
| Port Forwarding | Yes |
Why Trust Us?
We’re fully independent and have been reviewing VPNs since 2016. Our advice is based on our own testing results and is unaffected by financial incentives. Learn who we are and how we test VPNs.
How to Torrent Securely with Private Internet Access
EXPERT ADVICE: It’s incredibly important to set up and activate your VPN before you start torrenting. This ensures your public IP address is hidden effectively so you can torrent safely.
Torrenting safely with PIA is relatively simple, as long as you remember to activate the optional security features. Here’s a video demonstrating how to torrent securely with PIA:
Here are more detailed instructions:
1. Choose a PIA Subscription Plan
Choose your preferred PIA subscription plan. The three-year plan offers the best value at $2.03 per month, including three months for free. All subscriptions come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
2. Download and Install the PIA App
PIA offers native applications for all operating systems and mobile devices that support torrenting, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. Download and install the app for your device, then enter your activation key.
3. Turn On the Optional Security Features
Open the Settings menu by clicking on the three vertical dots in the top-right corner of the app. In the Protocols section, make sure the Protocol toggle is set to OpenVPN, the Transport is set to UDP, and choose AES-256 under Data Encryption.
In the Privacy menu, ensure the VPN Kill Switch is set to Always. Activating the kill switch will temporarily block all internet traffic if the connection to the VPN server drops.
4. Turn on Port Forwarding (Optional)
PIA is one of the few VPNs to support port forwarding, which can dramatically improve performance, especially when uploading or ‘seeding’ torrents.
To activate port forwarding go to Settings > Network and check the box labeled Request Port Forwarding. It doesn’t work with the VPN’s US-based servers either, so you’ll need to connect to a server in another country if you have port forwarding enabled.
5. Install A Safe Torrenting Client
Once PIA has connected to a VPN server, it will be safe to download, install, and activate your preferred torrent client. Our tests show that qBittorrent is the safest torrenting client, while uTorrent presents some security risks.
Should You Use a SOCKS5 Proxy When Torrenting with PIA VPN?
If you’re a PIA subscriber then you have access to the service’s very own SOCKS5 proxy server. SOCKS5 is often recommended as a great way to get fast speeds while torrenting.
SOCKS5 can be easily enabled in the desktop app, as shown here – but we don’t recommend it.
We don’t recommend you use SOCKS5 for torrenting with PIA. Using it without the VPN will leave your traffic totally unencrypted, while using it in combination with the VPN caused our download speeds to drop dramatically.
SOCKS5 is just like any other proxy. If you use it without the protection of a VPN, it will hide your IP address but leave all of your torrenting traffic entirely unencrypted. This means your ISP will be able to detect and monitor the torrenting files you’re downloading.
We tested using SOCKS5 in combination with a Private Internet Access VPN connection and found that this setup reduced our torrenting speeds by almost 90%.
Put simply, using SOCKS5 in combination with PIA is simply not worth it. Private Internet Access is a very good VPN – you don’t need to use a proxy on top of it to stay protected.
Is PIA a Good VPN for Torrenting?
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Supports torrenting on all 18,651 servers | Based in the USA (FVEY jurisdiction) |
| Verified zero-logs privacy policy | Port forwarding unavailable on US servers |
| Fast torrent speeds | |
| Industry-standard AES-256 & ChaCha20 encryption | |
| Automatic kill switch in all applications | |
| Supports port forwarding | |
| SOCKS5 proxy available |
Following years of testing and personal use, we found Private Internet Access to be the best VPN for torrenting.
PIA easily passed all of our torrenting security and performance tests. It has a zero-logs policy, AES-256 encryption, leak prevention, and a kill switch.
We tested PIA on the torrent client, qBittorrent
In the following section, we’ll explain PIA’s torrenting strengths and weaknesses in detail.
Offers a High Level of Privacy
PIA is based in the United States, where torrenting copyrighted material is illegal, and it is also one of the worst possible jurisdictions for a VPN. For torrenters, this means that state authorities can compel PIA to disclose user activity information if requested by copyright owners or copyright trolls.
However, PIA’s excellent zero-logs privacy policy ensures that any such requests are unlikely to reveal any personally identifiable information. Even if authorities demanded user data, PIA would have nothing to provide.
PIA does not collect or store any data about your VPN usage.
A zero-logs policy is an important requirement for a VPN for P2P networking. Even some highly-secure VPNs are not recommended for torrenting due to the provider’s invasive logging policy.
There have been several real-world cases which demonstrate PIA is a trustworthy VPN:
- In 2016, the FBI subpoenaed PIA to provide data belonging to a user suspected of making terrorist threats. However, since the company does not collect any user logs, it had no data to provide.
- The same year, Russian authorities seized PIA’s servers but could not find any user activity data or personally identifiable information. PIA responded by removing all its servers located in Russia.
PIA has an excellent real-world track record when it comes to user privacy and security. PIA is a VPN provider you can trust, especially for torrenting.
Owned by Kape Technologies
In November 2019, Private Internet Access was acquired by Kape Technologies — a move that garnered some controversy. The bulk of this controversy surrounds the company’s past activities when it was known as Crossrider.
Crossrider was the target of serious backlash after it was found bundling a PUP (potentially unwanted program) with other software. Once installed, this PUP would serve unwanted advertisements via user’s web browsers.
Crossider shut its ad platforms in 2016, and re-branded to Kape Technologies in 2018. Since then, it has focused solely on promoting privacy and security software globally. The company now operates four trustworthy VPN services, including ExpressVPN and PIA.
PIA still upholds its industry-leading standards of privacy and security, including its no-log policy and open-source software. Put simply, there is absolutely no evidence to suggest its ownership poses any threat to user privacy.
An Excellent Suite of Security Features
PIA is safe to use for torrenting thanks to its robust security. PIA encrypts your P2P traffic with either ChaCha20 or AES-256 encryption and tunnels it with WireGuard or OpenVPN protocols respectively. These are both secure encryption methods backed by extensive testing.
As such, anyone trying to intercept your torrenting traffic will be unable to read it – including your ISP.
This is important as your real IP address can be exposed in a torrent swarm.
We tested PIA’s built-in IP, DNS, and WebRTC leak protection and found no leaks on desktop or mobile. We detected WebRTC leaks when using the Firefox extension, but this will not affect your torrenting.
You can customize your encryption settings directly in the PIA app.
The kill switch (formerly referred to in-app as the Network Lock) effectively blocks all internet traffic if your connection to the VPN server unexpectedly drops. This is essential for protecting your torrenting activity if there is a service outage or a connection failure.
Torrenting Speeds Are Fast
Torrenting bitrate is determined by many factors – the most important being the number of peers you are connected to and the upload speeds of those peers. However, the VPN service you choose can also have an impact on performance.
PIA supports P2P traffic on all its servers, and our tests have found it to be one of the fastest VPNs for torrenting.
In our latest torrent VPN tests, our download bitrate dropped from 10.0MiB/s to 9.6MiB/s when using PIA. We were able to download the file almost as quickly as without any VPN connection.
Port Forwarding Specifically for P2P
Port forwarding increases the number of peers you can connect to in a torrent swarm. This potentially improves your torrenting bitrate when both downloading and uploading data.
Port forwarding on PIA is as simple as checking a toggle inside the app.
PIA is one of the few VPN services to offer port forwarding. The feature is available on PIA for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android.
Port forwarding is especially important if you want to upload or ‘seed’ torrents as quickly as possible. Seeding without properly forwarded ports is a lot slower.
However, port forwarding on PIA is not available when you’re connected to servers in the US. If you live in the US then you’ll need to make a choice between port forwarding and connecting to a nearby server, as both will affect your upload speeds.
Alternatives to PIA for Torrenting
PIA compares well to NordVPN and other top VPNs for P2P file-sharing. In fact, we rate it as the very best torrenting VPN on the market.
It’s a trustworthy VPN for privacy-conscious P2P users: its apps are open-sourced and audited, it uses a no-logs policy, and we’ve never recorded any leaks.
Here’s how PIA compares to other leading VPNs for torrenting:
1. Astrill VPN: Faster Average Bitrate than PIA
Astrill is the fastest VPN for P2P file-sharing, even faster than PIA, due to its P2P-optimized servers.
Like PIA, it also protects your BitTorrent traffic with AES-256 encryption, an advanced kill switch, and built-in leak protection.
That said, we found Astrill far too expensive at $12.50 per month, especially when compared to PIA’s affordable pricing plans.
Astrill Had No Impact on Our File-Sharing Speeds
While using Astrill, we did not observe any slowdown in our torrenting speeds across multiple tests.
From a baseline of 10MiB/s, we recorded an average bitrate of 10MiB/s while torrenting with Astrill — an exceptional result.
As such, we did not detect any slowdown in our torrenting speeds across multiple tests.
Our tests confirm that Astrill is the fastest VPN for torrenting.
For the best performance, we suggest you connect to one of the P2P-optimized servers that marked by a star. Sadly, Astrill only has 70 P2P servers compared to PIA’s 18,651 servers.
Includes P2P-Friendly Features
Astrill encrypts your torrenting traffic with AES-256 or ChaCha20 encryption and tunnels it using OpenVPN or WireGuard protocols.
You can also activate Astrill’s “App Guard” kill switch for added safety. It lets you block specific apps, like torrent clients, from using the internet if the VPN connection unexpectedly drops. Sadly, we discovered that this is a Windows exclusive feature, leaving Mac users less secure.
Astrill includes both manual and automatic port forwarding support whereas PIA only allows the latter.
We found this feature helpful for maximizing our torrenting speeds, although it was somewhat challenging to configure.
2. ExpressVPN: Easier to Use for Torrenting than PIA
ExpressVPN is one of the easiest VPNs to use for torrenting with most of the necessary P2P features enabled by default. You don’t need to manually select P2P-optimized servers or enable its kill switch.
ExpressVPN’s main drawbacks are its lack of port forwarding support and an advanced kill switch. It also has a fractionally slower average bitrate than Astrill and PIA.
Beginner-Friendly Apps, but Missing Features
All of ExpressVPN’s servers are P2P-optimized and its kill switch is enabled by default. As such, the only setup required is connecting to a VPN server.
We found this particularly helpful when conducting multiple P2P speed tests.
ExpressVPN is fully compatible with BitTorrent clients.
Though user-friendly, ExpressVPN’s apps are missing some torrenting features. Most notably, ExpressVPN doesn’t have a port forward feature which prevents it from closing the gap on PIA.
However, we still recorded an impressive 9.4MiB/s average bitrate while connected to a nearby ExpressVPN server.
Anonymous Torrenting in over 106 Locations
ExpressVPN does not log enough data to identify you, as proven by a KPMG audit.
It’s also based in the British Virgin Island (BVI), a privacy haven, and uses a diskless server network. As a result, it is near-impossible for anyone to access your torrenting activity.
ExpressVPN is also highly secure due to its use of robust AES-256 encryption alongside its Lightway protocol. We tested this with a packet analyzer and confirmted that ExpressVPN encrypted our P2P traffic:
Using Wireshark to analyze ExpressVPN’s encryption.
