Ivan Stevanovic
Updated on: October 6, 2025
Fact-checked by Sam Boyd
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🥇 Private Internet Access
: Is super affordable, with prices starting at just £1.69 / month. It also allows torrenting on servers in 91 countries and comes with port forwarding and SOCKS5 proxy support. Plus, it has very fast download speeds, great security and privacy for torrenting, and a 30-day refund policy.
I always use a VPN while torrenting because it secures my P2P traffic, provides privacy by preventing anyone in the torrent swarm from seeing my real IP address, and prevents my internet service provider (ISP) from throttling my P2P speeds.
However, like most people, I’m on a budget — and VPNs can be pricey. So I spent a few weeks testing all the best-known and low-cost VPNs out there, looking for a fast, secure, reliable VPN for torrenting that wouldn’t cost me a fortune.
Unfortunately, many P2P VPNs that are cheap aren’t really good. They either only allow torrenting on very few server locations or lack essential security features and provide very slow download speeds.
Fortunately, I managed to find a few great P2P VPNs that are also affordable. Private Internet Access is my favorite — its deals start as low as £1.69 / month, it allows torrenting on servers in 91 countries, it has P2P-related features for boosting download speeds, and it includes a 30-day refund policy.
September 2025 update: We have added new details and a pros & cons table to all of our VPN reviews, created a new Other Options section, and updated our Quick Comparison Table and FAQ with new information.
Editor’s Note: Private Internet Access and this site are in the same ownership group.
Quick Summary of the Best Cheap VPNs for Torrenting
NOTE: Neither I nor anyone from SafetyDetectives endorses or supports illegal activities. It’s essential to familiarize yourself with local laws and regulations relevant to your region to ensure full compliance.
Editor’s Note: Intego, Private Internet Access, CyberGhost and ExpressVPN are owned by Kape Technologies, our parent company
🥇1. Private Internet Access (PIA) — Best Cheap VPN for Torrenting in 2025
Approved by our experts
Private Internet Access (PIA) is the best cheap VPN for torrenting, with prices starting at just £1.69 / month. In addition to being so affordable, the provider often includes several months of service for free via its 2-year deal. PIA also has excellent P2P support, as it allows torrenting on servers in 91 countries.
- Several torrenting extras
- All servers support P2P
- Full leak protection
- Blocks ads & trackers
- No MACE on iOS
PIA is great for torrenting because it has port forwarding (allows you to set up direct connections to private networks/specific private servers, improving file transfer speed) and provides SOCKS5 support (trades encryption for faster speeds). It also allows split-tunneling, which lets you choose which apps and websites will go through your VPN connection and which remain on your local network to avoid unnecessary slowdowns.
Plus, all PIA purchases come with a free ad, tracker, and malicious website blocker (PIA MACE). I tested it out by visiting some known malware-infected URLs, and it blocked every attempt to connect to those sites. PIA MACE (the best VPN ad blocker on the market) also successfully blocked all ads on P2P sites in my tests. This is incredibly useful because many torrent sites feature a ton of ads and harmful links, so MACE ensures you get to your chosen files faster and more securely.
I also enjoyed great download speeds with PIA. A 3 GB file took me a little more than 4 minutes to download while connected to a local server, and the same file took just 6 minutes to download on a distant server.
PIA also provides great privacy for torrenting, as it has open-source apps (anyone can inspect the code for security issues). Also, it has a strict no-logs policy that has been proven true in court documents and in an independent security audit.
The VPN is also excellent for securing P2P downloads. It has RAM-only servers that ensure every server reset wipes all data and perfect forward secrecy (changes the encryption key for each VPN session). Plus, it has full leak protection. What’s more, it has Identity Guard, which lets you check if your email address has been compromised — this is good for securing login details on private torrenting sites.
Bottom Line:
Private Internet Access (PIA) is one of the cheapest torrenting VPNs available, with plans starting as low as £1.69 / month. It has a large server network, supports torrenting on every server, and has very fast download speeds. It also comes with top-notch security features like RAM-only servers and open-source apps, as well as excellent extra features like port forwarding, split-tunneling, and an ad blocker. All together, it’s easily the best budget VPN for torrenting in 2025.
Read the full Private Internet Access review
🥈2. CyberGhost VPN — Great Automation & Large P2P Server Network
CyberGhost VPN has cheap plans and deals starting at £1.92 / month and a huge P2P server network numbering servers in 85+ countries. So, it’s easy to avoid overcrowded servers and use nearby servers for torrenting to get fast downloads — in fact, in my tests, it only took 7 minutes to download a 5 GB file using a local server and 12 minutes using a distant server.
- Fast P2P servers
- Physically secure servers
- Convenient automation
- Can’t torrent on all servers
- No P2P extras
I really like that CyberGhost VPN’s apps have a very intuitive interface, which makes it extremely easy to find all features and connect to any P2P-optimized server in seconds. What’s more, the Smart Rules feature lets you automate VPN connections — for example, you can configure CyberGhost VPN to automatically connect to a P2P server and open a P2P client on launch. This will ensure your IP address isn’t exposed to the torrent client or anyone in its P2P network.
The VPN provides great security while torrenting via perfect forward secrecy, RAM-only servers, protection against DNS and IPv6 leaks, and an ad blocker. That said, there’s no WebRTC protection, unlike Private Internet Access. Also, you get access to its extra secure NoSpy servers, which can’t be compromised by malicious actors because only the provider’s staff has access to them. It also has Identity Guard, which lets you check if a specific login has been compromised (like the one you use on private torrenting sites, for example).
In addition, CyberGhost VPN has an audited no-logs policy, and it publishes a transparency report every quarter. The report details the number of DMCA complaints it’s received, malicious activity it’s deflected, and police requests for data it’s been unable to comply with due to its zero-logs policy.
Bottom Line:
CyberGhost VPN has a huge torrenting server network and is a very affordable VPN for P2P purposes, with plans starting as low as £1.92 / month. It’s also secure, fast, and has very intuitive apps that let you automate VPN connections. It also comes with great security features such as perfect forward secrecy and RAM-only servers.
Read the full CyberGhost review
Editor’s Note: CyberGhost and this site are in the same ownership group.
🥉3. NordVPN — Secure P2P VPN With Malware Protection
NordVPN’s plans start at £2.52 / month, and the VPN has servers in 118 countries. Its huge P2P server network helps you get blazing-fast torrenting speeds — in my tests, it only took about 13 minutes to download a 17.3 GB file, which is really good. In addition, you also get access to SOCKS5 proxy support for even faster download speeds.
- Excellent speeds
- SOCKS5 proxy support
- Blocks malware downloads
- No port forwarding
- Malware blocker costs extra
I love the VPN’s Threat Protection feature — in addition to blocking ads, ad trackers, and shady sites, it also protects your device from malicious downloads. And that includes malware-infected torrents. And, on Windows, it also alerts you about app vulnerabilities, so that you know to update your P2P clients to avoid any issues.
However, you need to get the provider’s Plus subscription to use the Threat Protection feature. Luckily, its prices begin at £2.52 / month, which is still affordable.
There’s also a convenient app-based kill switch, which shuts down selected apps if the VPN disconnects. I tested it with my P2P client 5+ times, and it always worked as intended. It also secures your P2P data with advanced features, like full leak protection, RAM-only servers, perfect forward secrecy, and an audited no-logs policy. Unfortunately, NordVPN doesn’t support port forwarding, unlike Private Internet Access.
What’s more, the VPN also has a dark web monitoring tool. This feature alerts you if your NordVPN login details have been compromised. Using the same login info on a private torrenting website, you can use NordVPN’s Dark Web Monitor to keep tabs on it.
Expires: 10/15/25
Bottom Line:
NordVPN’s plans start at £2.52 / month, with a huge P2P server network and SOCKS5 support. The VPN has full leak protection and a data breach monitoring tool. It also has an ad blocker with malware protection, but you need to get the Plus subscription to use it — luckily, Plus prices start at £2.97 / month, which is still affordable.
4. Surfshark — Good P2P VPN for Beginners
Surfshark starts at only £1.48 / month, and it’s very user-friendly. I really like how all features and settings come with helpful explanations, and Surfshark allows unlimited connections, so you can use it to torrent on as many devices as you want.
- Frequently changes IP
- Ad & tracker blocker
- Beginner-friendly
- Small P2P network
- DNS leak protection only
Surfshark allows torrenting on servers in 49+ countries, which is pretty good. That said, it’s a shame it’s missing additional P2P features like port forwarding and SOCKS5 support (Private Internet Access has both).
I had decent speeds when torrenting with Surfshark. It took me 17 minutes to download a 20 GB file on a local server, which is good, and around 30 minutes to download the file on a more distant server.
In terms of security and privacy features, I like IP Rotator, which regularly changes your VPN IP without interrupting the VPN connection — this makes it harder for users in the torrent swarm to track your VPN IP. Surfshark also has a solid ad blocker (CleanWeb) that blocks ads, trackers, and malicious sites. Finally, it uses RAM-only servers, utilizes perfect forward secrecy, and offers DNS leak protection.
Bottom Line:
Surfshark is a beginner-friendly VPN that’s super cheap, with plans starting at just £1.48 / month. It comes with a large P2P server network, advanced security features, a VPN IP-rotating feature, decent download speeds, and unlimited connections.
Read the full Surfshark review
5. PrivateVPN — Low-Cost & User-Friendly
PrivateVPN has some of the cheapest plans on the market (starting at £1.86 / month), and it offers intuitive apps and decent speeds for torrenting.
- Port forwarding & SOCKS5
- Customizable interface
- App kill switch
- No split-tunneling
- Small server network
PrivateVPN is very user-friendly, with interfaces to suit both beginners and advanced users. It has a simple and intuitive default interface — called the Simple View. However, there’s also an Advanced View option which lets experienced VPN users access additional configurations.
Torrenting is supported on 200+ servers in 63 countries, and you get access to port forwarding and SOCKS5 proxy support (each VPN server doubles as a SOCKS5 proxy server).
The provider has strong security features for torrenting, including perfect forward secrecy and an app-based kill switch. That said, it’s a shame its no-logs policy hasn’t been audited, and it’s missing additional features that would be useful while torrenting, like split-tunneling or an ad blocker — if this is a deal-breaker, just get Private Internet Access instead.
In my speed tests, PrivateVPN performed pretty well. Downloading a 3 GB file while connected to a local server took me 6 minutes, and the same file took me 9 minutes to download while connected to a distant server.
Bottom Line:
PrivateVPN is a good budget VPN for torrenting, with plans starting at just £1.86 / month. It allows torrenting on every server, includes port forwarding and SOCKS5 proxy support, has fast speeds, and comes with a user-friendly interface. However, it’s missing some of the additional security features that other VPNs offer, such as split-tunneling and an ad blocker.
Read the full PrivateVPN review
6. Proton VPN — Strong Privacy Features
Proton VPN is a highly secure and affordable VPN that’s great for torrenting — its plans start at £2.67 / month, which is pretty decent.
- Port forwarding
- Malicious site blocker
- Fast on distant servers
- No SOCKS5 support
- Limits P2P servers
Proton VPN has great security features for torrenting — like perfect forward secrecy, full leak protection, and an ad, tracker, and malicious website blocker (called NetShield). All of its servers are also protected by full-disk encryption, which makes all data unreadable even if its servers were compromised.
The provider allows torrenting on P2P servers in 120 countries, which is solid but nowhere near NordVPN’s 118 countries. I’m also happy to see that the VPN supports port forwarding. That said, if you also wanted SOCKS5 proxy support, it’s better to get Private Internet Access instead — it has both port forwarding and SOCKS5 proxy support, and it allows torrenting on all servers.
In my tests, Proton VPN had pretty good speeds for torrenting. It took me 8 minutes to download a 5 GB file using a local server, and 13 minutes to download the same file while connected to a distant server. Plus, Proton VPN has a unique VPN Accelerator feature (across all apps) that can increase your speeds.
Bottom Line:
Proton VPN’s plans start at £2.67 / month, and it provides strong privacy. It also comes with P2P servers in 75+ countries and extras like perfect forward secrecy, VPN Accelerator, and an ad blocker.
Read the full Proton VPN review
7. IPVanish — Decent Affordable VPN for Torrenting
IPVanish’s prices start at £1.63 / month, and it has good P2P features. It allows torrenting on 2,400+ servers in 109 countries and provides access to multiple SOCKS5 proxy servers.
- SOCKS5 proxy servers
- All servers support torrenting
- Split-tunneling
- Missing key security features
- No port forwarding
During my speed tests, I had decent results. Torrenting a 5 GB file while connected to a server in my country took just over 7 minutes, and the same file took 14 minutes while connected to a server in a distant location. Plus, it’s great that the VPN has split-tunneling, so that you can boost your P2P speeds.
IPVanish is pretty secure since it has perfect forward secrecy and comes with an audited no-logs policy. Also, I like how it provides access to a good ad and malware blocker called Threat Protection. But it’s still missing other advanced features like RAM-only servers and full leak protection, which Private Internet Access and NordVPN have.
Bottom Line:
At just £1.63 / month, IPVanish is a good, cheap VPN for torrenting. It has good speeds, allows torrenting on all of its servers, and has a number of SOCKS5 proxy servers. However, it lacks some of the more advanced features that other VPNs offer.
Other Options
If you still haven’t found the right cheap VPN for torrenting, here are 3 more strong choices that didn’t quite make the top of my list.
- TunnelBear — It has good torrenting speeds, full IP leak protection, and provides easy-to-use obfuscation through its GhostBear mode, which helps bypass VPN blocks. It is very user-friendly and operates servers in 47 countries, including regions near restrictive networks like South Korea and Taiwan. That said, its overall server count is much lower compared to our top picks like ExpressVPN.
- VyprVPN — This service is highly affordable, supports P2P traffic across all of its 700+ servers, and even has a proprietary Chameleon protocol for ultimate privacy when torrenting in restricted countries like China. Still, it doesn’t have P2P-centric features like SOCKS5 support or port forwarding, which you’d find with my top picks like Private Internet Access.
- Hotspot Shield — The VPN offers fast servers across the globe, full IP leak protection on Windows, and has support for perfect forward secrecy. However, other platforms are less protected against DNS & IPv6 leaks. Unfortunately, its no logs policy isn’t audited (unlike CyberGhost VPN).
Quick Comparison Table
Editor’s Note: Intego, Private Internet Access, CyberGhost and ExpressVPN are owned by Kape Technologies, our parent company
Testing Methodology: Comparison & Ranking Criteria
I used our proven testing methodology to find the best budget vpn for P2P. In addition to looking at providers’ prices, I also put each vendor through a series of tests to make sure they provide a good torrenting experience. Here’s a quick look at the exact ranking criteria I used:
- I only recommended VPNs that are cheap. I checked what savings you get with each provider’s long-term plans, as those plans offer the best savings. I made sure to only include providers whose pricing starts at under $5 per month.
- I only picked VPNs with good P2P support. All the VPNs I recommend allow P2P downloads on servers in a wide range of locations, or on a large number of dedicated P2P servers. What’s more, some of my top picks also come with extra torrenting features that boost your speeds, like port forwarding and SOCKS5 proxy support (Private Internet Access has both).
- I made sure to only rank VPNs that are secure. Security and privacy is important while torrenting, so I only added VPNs to my list that have all essential security and privacy features. This includes 256-bit AES encryption, a kill switch to prevent traffic leaks, and a no-logs policy. I also ran leak tests before torrenting with each VPN to make sure they’re all safe to use.
- I only picked VPNs that provide fast P2P speeds. When you use a VPN while torrenting, your original download speeds will take a hit. This is due to the added layer of encryption, and also due to the distance between you and the VPN server. But I ran speed tests while torrenting with each of the VPNs on my list, and I can personally confirm they’re all really fast.
- I only included intuitive VPNs on my list. I made sure to only add vendors that have apps for all major platforms that are simple to install. In addition, I made sure their apps are very easy to navigate, so that you don’t need to spend more than 10 seconds finding and connecting to a server to start downloading torrents.
- I prioritized VPNs that provide good value. I ensured the providers on my list also provide access to other perks (like great streaming and gaming support, and useful extra security features) in case you want to use them for other online activities. Also, most of the VPNs on my list come with a generous money-back guarantee.
Top Brands That Didn’t Make the Cut
- ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN is the best P2P VPN on the market, as it allows torrenting on all servers, it has super-fast download speeds, and it’s extremely secure. However, its prices aren’t ideal for users on a tight budget.
- hide.me. hide.me offers excellent security features like full leak protection and perfect forward secrecy. It also has very fast speeds and supports torrenting on all its servers. Still, this list is about finding cheap VPNs for torrents, and this one is on the pricey side.
- Astrill. Astrill has great security features like port forwarding, fast speeds, and good torrenting support, but it’s way too expensive for anyone looking for a cheap plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the cheapest VPN for torrenting?
I recommend Private Internet Access — it’s very affordable, with prices starting as low as £1.69 / month. Also, it has excellent P2P support since it allows torrenting on servers in 91 countries, and it comes with port forwarding and SOCKS5 proxy support (both features improve torrenting speeds). What’s more, the provider is very fast, and it provides excellent security and privacy for torrenting.
Do free VPNs work for torrenting?
I don’t recommend using free VPNs for torrenting. Some free VPNs don’t allow P2P file sharing at all, but the ones that do tend to give you slow speeds, data usage limitations, and/or access to a limited number of servers, increasing the likelihood of overcrowding.
Free VPNs also often come with a number of privacy and security concerns. The provider may keep logs, leak your IP address, or fail to include essential security features like a kill switch. This will compromise your online anonymity and safety. Finally, some free VPNs may even collect and sell your data to advertisers.
I strongly suggest using a paid VPN instead. The best premium VPNs all offer affordable plans and will give you faster speeds as well as complete peace of mind regarding your online security.
Can I get caught torrenting with a VPN?
No — it’s highly unlikely that a third-party will know that you’re torrenting if you’re using a good VPN. VPNs encrypt all of your internet traffic, hiding your online activity from others. And a good VPN provider will have a no-logs policy, which means that they will keep no records of what you’re doing while connected to their servers.
All of the VPNs I’ve recommended above include important security features that will keep your activity completely private, such as a kill switch, which disconnects your devices from the internet if your VPN connection is interrupted, and IPv6, DNS, and/or WebRTC leak protection. All of this helps maintain your online privacy and safety.
Is a VPN recommended for torrenting?
Yes. What you do online should be nobody’s business but your own. And if you don’t use a VPN while torrenting, it’s easy for your ISP, or anyone else, to see what you’re downloading. This can be disconcerting even if you’re only using torrents to download legal content. Plus, if they detect that you’re torrenting, some ISPs may also respond by throttling your torrent downloads, resulting in drastically reduced speeds.
If you’re looking for a good and affordable torrenting VPN, try Private Internet Access since its plans start as low as £1.69 / month. Also, it allows torrenting on servers in 91 countries, it has SOCKS5 proxy support and port forwarding (to boost P2P speeds), it’s very fast, and it provides strong security and privacy for torrenting.
What’s the best way to save money when getting a VPN for torrenting?
The best way to do this is to get the VPN provider’s longest plan, as it usually provides the best savings. For example, with Private Internet Access’s long-term deal, you only pay £1.69 / month, which is super affordable.
