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How to Torrent Safely with Surfshark
Our Verdict
Surfshark is a secure VPN for torrenting. All its servers support P2P traffic, with reasonable torrent speeds and high AES-256 encryption. The VPN’s kill switch, double VPN, and privacy-focused logging policy shields your P2P activity from your ISP, and allows anonymous torrenting using qBittorrent, BitTorrent, uTorrent, and Vuze.
A secure VPN is essential to protect your identity when you are torrenting files.
The best VPNs mask your IP address and encrypt your traffic so that your ISP, and other users in the peer-to-peer (P2P) network, cannot record your activity or trace your downloads to target you with malware or copyright claims.
Sadly, not every VPN service supports P2P traffic, and many services simply do not offer the level of security necessary for safe and anonymous torrenting.
We ran Surfshark through our stringent testing methodology to determine how well it performs for torrenting and compared it to other leading VPN services.
EXPERT ADVICE: Surfshark is a good VPN for torrenting, but it’s not the very best. It’s worth trialing ExpressVPN, one of our top-rated torrent VPNs, for 30 days risk-free.
Surfshark’s Torrenting Performance: At a Glance
| Torrenting Attribute | Result |
|---|---|
| Average Download Bitrate | 8.7MiB/s |
| No. of P2P Servers | 3,200 |
| Logging Policy | No Identifying Data |
| Kill Switch | Yes |
| Port Forwarding | No |
We found that Surfshark is a safe and secure choice for torrenting. It supports torrenting across all its servers and works effectively with a wide range of torrent clients including uTorrent, BitTorrent, and qBittorrent.
Surfshark effectively masks your real IP address and can safely be used with torrent and file sharing websites.
However, Surfshark is not the best VPN for P2P activity. Its speeds could be faster, and it doesn’t support port forwarding.
Continue reading for a detailed evaluation of Surfshark’s torrenting performance alongside instructions on how to torrent safely.
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 Safely Torrent with Surfshark
Using a VPN for torrenting requires more steps than just connecting to a VPN server. If you don’t configure Surfshark correctly, you run the risk of revealing your real IP address and torrent downloads.
We’ve covered how to download torrents safely with Surfshark in the video below:
If you prefer written instructions, we’ve covered the same steps below:
How to Torrent Safely with Surfshark
- Subscribe to Surfshark and download the VPN client: If you decide it isn’t for you, there is a 30-day money-back guarantee for you to claim a full refund.
- Make sure the kill switch is enabled: On Windows and Android, it’s in the Connectivity settings. On macOS, it’s in the Preferences menu.
- Switch to the OpenVPN protocol: It’s faster than Surfshark’s WireGuard implementation based on our latest tests.
- Connect to a nearby VPN server: You can find a P2P-optimized server by searching for ‘P2P’ in Surfshark’s server locations menu. For the fastest speeds, choose a server close to your physical location.
- Test for IP address leaks: Use our VPN leak test tool to check that Surfshark is successfully hiding your public IP address.
- Open your torrenting client: Based on our testing, qBittorrent is safe to use, but Surfshark also works with BitTorrent, Transmission, Vuze, and uTorrent.
- Download your files.
- Keep your VPN active: Even when you’ve finished downloading, your torrent client may continue to share pieces with other torrenters. Only turn the VPN off when you are sure you have completely closed your torrenting client.
Is Surfshark Good for Torrenting?
Surfshark is a great VPN for torrenting and can be trusted to keep your downloads hidden.
It uses robust encryption, ChaCha20 or AES-256, to protect your torrenting traffic and its private logging policy assures us that very little of your online activity is recorded.
While Surfshark’s bitrate isn’t the fastest we’ve recorded, partly due to its lack of port forwarding, it’s still fast enough for regular P2P file-sharing.
To match the very best torrenting VPNs, we’d like to see Surfshark implement a no-logs approach to its logging practices as well as port forwarding support.
Below is a table summarizing Surfshark’s strengths and weaknesses at torrenting:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Private logging policy backed by audit | No port forwarding |
| Large network of 3,200 servers | Slower bitrate than competing VPNs |
| Torrenting supported on all servers | Not all servers are fully optimized for torrenting |
| Strong encryption & VPN protocols | Kill switch isn’t enabled by default |
| Diskless servers guarantees anonymity | Doesn’t work with IPv6 connections |
| User-friendly apps for desktop & mobile |
Here’s an in-depth look at torrenting with Surfshark:
Is Surfshark Fast Enough for Torrenting?
Most torrent sites distribute content types with large file sizes like TV series or movies. As such, a fast VPN can substantially minimize the waiting time for a file to download.
On our baseline 10MiB/s connection, we registered an average bitrate of 8.7MiB/s with Surfshark while downloading a variety of file sizes.
This is a fast time, but compares poorly to top-rated torrenting VPNs such as PIA or ExpressVPN.
To put this into context, we’ve shown how long it takes Surfshark to torrent a 50GB torrent file compared to other VPNs:
| VPN Service | Download Bitrate | Time To Download 50GB Torrent File |
|---|---|---|
| No VPN | 10MiB/s | 1 hour 19 minutes |
| Surfshark | 8.7MiB/s | 1 hour 31 minutes |
| ExpressVPN | 9.4MiB/s | 1 hour 25 minutes |
| Private Internet Access | 9.6MiB/s | 1 hour 22 minutes |
| IPVanish | 9.9MiB/s | 1 hour 20 minutes |
As shown above, Surfshark is slightly slower than the very best torrenting VPNs. It’s still fast enough for regular file-sharing, but if you tend to frequently download large file sizes then consider switching to a faster VPN service.
Large P2P-Friendly Server Network
Surfshark has more than 3,200 servers in 100 countries, all of which support BitTorrent traffic.
However, servers that are specifically-optimized for P2P activity are only available in certain locations. These servers aren’t labelled by default – to find them, type “p2p” into the server list or select the P2P tab.
You can find P2P-optimized servers in Surfshark’s server menu.
If you use a normal Surfshark server for torrenting, your downloads are likely to be significantly slower.
It’s better to connect directly to a P2P-optimized server. Surfshark does not disclose how many of these there are, but they are available in the following locations:
- Canada
- Denmark
- Germany
- Hong Kong
- Italy
- Luxembourg
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Singapore
- Spain
- UK
- US
EXPERT TIP: If you’re experiencing slow torrenting speeds, ask Surfshark’s support team which server is best for you to connect to directly. It’s also worth trying a few different torrents and VPN servers first.
Privacy-Friendly Logging Policy
Surfshark doesn’t log any identifying data. It does collect which VPN server you connect to and connection timestamps but these are deleted within 15 minutes of disconnecting your VPN. All of this has been verified by an independent audit from Deloitte.
Surfshark also uses diskless servers that prevent your data from being copied to a hard drive. This ensures your torrent downloads cannot be extracted or recorded.
For further reassurance, we’d like Surfshark to start publishing transparency reports to confirm that no user data is handed over in response to DMCA requests. Regardless, Surfshark is private enough for torrenting.
Strong Encryption & Excellent Security Features
Surfshark hides your IP address and protects your activity with secure encryption ciphers and tunnels your traffic with open-source VPN protocols.
It offers AES-256 encryption with OpenVPN or ChaCha20 with WireGuard, both of which are secure and trusted configurations.
To verify this, we ran our traffic through a packet analyzer while torrenting with Surfshark:
Our network traffic was displayed as incoherent symbols, confirming Surfshark’s encryption.
As seen above, Surfshark successfully encrypted our torrenting traffic with WireGuard. We also used our custom leak test tool and found that Surfshark didn’t leak IPv4, DNS, or WebRTC.
However, Surfshark does not support IPv6 connections, so it won’t work with an IPv6 router or network and may leak your real IP address. We strongly recommend you disable IPv6 or choose a compatible VPN, like ExpressVPN.
EXPERT TIP: Surfshark offers browser extensions, but they only encrypt your activity within the web browser. That means you’ll need the full desktop VPN application to protect your torrenting activity.
No Support for Port Forwarding
Port forwarding enables other torrenters to initiate a connection to your computer so they can download files you are seeding. Without port forwarding, you can only seed files to peers that you initiate a connection to. Some torrenting clients will slow your downloads if you are not seeding enough.
As a result, many users consider port forwarding to be an essential feature for any torrenting VPN.
Surfshark doesn’t support port forwarding due to apparent security risks, which means it isn’t as easy or effective for seeding torrenting files as other top VPNs. In fact, there are some anecdotal reports suggesting that Surfshark doesn’t allow seeding at all.
If you’re looking for a VPN that supports port forwarding, we recommend AirVPN or PIA. Port forwarding does enable external connections to bypass the firewall, so remember to use it with caution.
Wide Range of Additional Security Features
Surfshark is a fully-featured VPN with an extensive suite of additional security features that are useful for torrenting.
We’ve listed some of the most important ones and how they benefit P2P file-sharing, below.
- Kill switch to block your internet connection if the VPN disconnects, protecting your real IP address from leaking. Surfshark excelled in our VPN kill switch tests, terminating our connection following an unexpected disconnect.
- Whitelister, Surfshark’s VPN split tunneling feature. This feature enables you to route some of your web traffic outside the VPN, which means you can use the VPN for torrenting while using your real IP address for other web services.
- CleanWeb to block ads, trackers, and malware commonly found on torrent sites.
- SOCKS5, a popular proxy connection protocol, is supported by Surfshark. While SOCKS5 proxies are popular in the torrenting community, they don’t use encryption and offer much weaker protection than a full VPN.
These security features can be found on all of Surfshark’s apps for Windows, Android, macOS, and iOS devices.
The Amazon Fire TV Stick app can also be used to stream Kodi extensions that use P2P sharing.
How Does Surfshark Compare to Other P2P VPNs?
Surfshark is a good choice for casual torrenting. It protects your identity and encrypts your connection at reasonably fast speeds.
Nevertheless, there are better VPNs for torrenting. Services like ExpressVPN and AirVPN are faster on average, and have additional P2P-specific features.
All these alternative VPNs offer split tunneling, an effective kill switch, and equally strong encryption.
Here’s a table comparing Surfshark to its top torrenting competitors:
1. ExpressVPN: Safe & Secure VPN for Torrenting
ExpressVPN is one of the best VPNs for torrenting we’ve used. It’s apps are beginner-friendly and quick to set up and we never experienced any issues using them alongside torrent clients.
ExpressVPN is also much quicker than Surfshark with an average bitrate of 9.4MiB/s and permits torrenting on over 3,000 servers.
That said, ExpressVPN’s subscriptions cost far more than Surfshark’s and it lacks torrenting features like port forwarding.
Anonymous & Secure Torrenting, but Missing Features
ExpressVPN does not log enough data to identify you, as proven by multiple independent audits.
It’s also based in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), a privacy haven, and uses a diskless server network. This makes it impossible for anyone to record your torrenting activity.
ExpressVPN securely encrypts your torrenting traffic with AES-256 encryption and tunnels it with its proprietary Lightway protocol.
Though private and secure, we’d like ExpressVPN to add a customizable kill switch. This would allow you to cut your internet off at an app-level, specifically targeting your torrent client.
We’d also appreciate the introduction of a port forwarding tool to optimise torrenting performance.
User-Friendly Apps
ExpressVPN is one of the most beginner-friendly VPNs for torrenting.
Unlike Surfshark, it uses built-in P2P-optimized servers, instead of separating them from its standard server list.
Its kill switch and Lightway protocol are also enabled by default, removing any additional setup.
To start torrenting with ExpressVPN, you simply connect to a server and begin your download.
2. IPVanish: Fastest No-logs Torrent VPN
IPVanish is one of the fastest VPNs for torrenting available with a verified no-logs policy.
Unlike Surfshark, it includes IPv6 leak protection and works with the SOCKS5 proxy for fast file-sharing.
However, IPVanish doesn’t operate diskless servers and it also lacks port forwarding support.
Minimal Impact on File-Sharing Speeds
We recorded an average bitrate of 9.9MiB/s with IPVanish, from a baseline of 10MiB/s. Put simply, IPvanish does not slow down your P2P download speeds at all.
IPVanish kept our real IP address hidden while torrenting.
We used IPVanish to quickly download large content files, like 4K movies, within minutes.
This was especially noticeable over long periods of testing, where our torrent downloads with IPVanish were often finished several minutes before Surfshark’s.
No-Logs Privacy Policy but Lacks P2P Features
While Surfshark collects some logs temporarily, IPVanish does not log any of your internet activity.
As such, your torrent downloads cannot be linked to your real online identity.
This was confirmed in an independent audit by Leviathan Security Group, however we’d like IPVanish to publish transparency reports for further reassurance.
Though private, IPVanish lacks port forwarding — a key P2P feature. We’d like to see this added to allow users to optimize IPVanish’s already fast torrenting speeds.
3. AirVPN: Best for Advanced Torrenters
AirVPN is the best alternative to Surfshark if you need port forwarding for torrenting. However, it’s substantially more complicated to use and performs poorly in other VPN use cases like streaming.
We’d only suggest using AirVPN if you’re tech savvy and only interested in using a VPN for P2P file-sharing.
Overly Technical VPN with Advanced P2P Features
While Surfshark has user-friendly apps, AirVPN’s are some of the worst we’ve reviewed.
Its apps look dated, cluttered, and include far too many advanced features and settings. We expect most users, even experts, to struggle with AirVPN’s user interface.
That said, AirVPN includes an exceptional port forwarding tool which allows you to forward 20 ports simultaneously. This isn’t matched by any other VPN service and ensures your torrenting speeds are as fast as possible.
No-Logs Policy Requires Verification
AirVPN does not collect any identifying user data, which means your torrenting activity can’t be linked to you.
Its no-logs policy hasn’t been proven by an audit or real-world event, like a server seizure, but AirVPN has a trustworthy history. It has never faced a security scandal and it is operated by a team of internet privacy activists.
We’re also reassured by AirVPN’s use of diskless servers which ensure your data can’t be extracted or recorded.
