PureVPN is certainly one of the most popular VPNs on the market. And it’s been around for quite a while.
But is it good for torrenting? In other words, is it safe, fast, and easy to use? Keep reading to find out.
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Is PureVPN Good for Torrenting?
Checklist
These are some of the biggest things of consider when it comes to using PureVPN for torrenting.
Is PureVPN Safe for Torrenting?
Here are some of the top torrenting safety features that PureVPN brings to the table.
No Logs?
When choosing a torrenting VPN, it’s crucial that you pick one that doesn’t keep logs. Unfortunately, in 2017, PureVPN found itself in the midst of a controversy when it turned over logs to the FBI.
This is a big no-no, and it really hurt PureVPN’s reputation at the time. However, they’ve since taken steps to become a zero logs provider – and had their no-logs claims verified by a third-party auditor... twice.
They're also the first and, as far we know, only VPN provider with an "Always-On Audit" policy, which allows them to be audited at any time, with zero notice. In short, they've made every effort to verify their no logs policy.
Based in the British Virgin Isles
PureVPN was previously based in Hong Kong, but moved their headquarters to the British Virgin Isles after increased scrutiny from the Chinese government. This is a win, as far as we're concerned, since BVI are outside of the “Fourteen Eyes”, and it’s not as hostile to P2P as some countries.
And PureVPN users no longer have to worry about potential snooping from the notoriously invasive Chinese surveillance network.
P2P Friendly
Not all VPNs welcome torrenting on their service. Fortunately, PureVPN does. They advertise themselves as P2P friendly, and even offer dedicated file-sharing servers.
However, as you can see in the screenshot below, PureVPN no longer allows p2p/filesharing on servers in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, and several other countries.
To be clear, you can still torrent if you live in those countries, you'll just need to connect to a server outside of them.
Strong Encryption
One of the main ways a VPN keeps you safe when torrenting is by encrypting your data. Not only does this keep your personal info hidden from the torrent “swarm”, it keeps your internet service provider from seeing what you’re downloading – or even that you’re downloading via P2P.
Of course, there are multiple levels of encryption available. But PureVPN uses the strongest, AES 256-bit. They also offer several protocols, including OpenVPN and Wireguard.
Leak Protection
When a VPN is working as it should, it keeps you pretty dang safe when torrenting.
But unfortunately, they don’t always work as they should. Leaks sometimes occur, which can expose your IP address, DNS, or more.
That’s why it’s important to choose a torrenting VPN with IPv6 and DNS leak protection, both of which you’ll get with PureVPN.
Split Tunneling
Split tunneling allows you to route some apps (like, say, a torrent client) through the VPN, while the other apps continue to connect normally. Or you can do the opposite, sending all your apps through the VPN except for the one (or few) that you choose.
Keep in mind that split tunneling is a beta feature in the PureVPN app, so it might not be totally bug-free – and it also requires you to enable ‘Beta Features’ in the app.
Cryptocurrency Payments
It’s always good to see torrenting VPNs accepting Bitcoin payments, since it provides yet another layer of security to your file sharing.
But PureVPN takes it a step further by allowing payments through Coingate, which supports dozens of different cryptocurrencies.
Port Forwarding
Port forwarding is more of an advanced feature, but it does make torrent seeding possible (or faster), which is great if you use a private torrent tracker and want to maintain your ratio. Not all torrenting VPNs offer port forwarding, but PureVPN does.
Is PureVPN Fast for Torrenting?
As you might already know, a good VPN makes file sharing a lot safer – but it also makes your downloads a little slower. Fortunately, the best torrenting VPNs manage to minimize this speed loss as much as possible.
Is PureVPN one of them? Let’s take a look.
As you can see, there was a noticeable drop in speed when downloading through the VPN. But this may have been influenced by the server that we were connected to.
PureVPN has a very large network of countries, with 70, but their total server count is more modest, at just over 6,500. This includes over 200 dedicated P2P servers, and these are limited to countries with P2P-friendly laws.
Now, on one hand, this makes your torrenting activities safer – but on the other hand, it means that you might be stuck using a server that’s not particularly close to you.
For example, if you’re in the United States or Canada, the closest P2P servers are in the Caribbean and Central America.
Also, many of PureVPN’s servers are “virtual”, meaning it’ll look like your browsing through country X, including your IP address, when in fact the physical server you’re using is in country Y.
Unfortunately, the physical and virtual server location is sometimes far apart, from what we can tell, because there were many servers which were “virtually” close to our location – but their ping was very high, indicating they were physically far away.
There were also several P2P servers that we simply couldn’t connect to, for whatever reason.
Conclusion:
PureVPN’s server network and its associated speeds are a mixed bag. There are lots of countries to choose from – but many of them are virtual. And this led to only okay (but not great) downloading speeds.
Is PureVPN Easy to Use?
When it comes to user-friendliness, some torrenting VPNs are definitely better than others. Here’s how PureVPN stacks up.
Support for Multiple Languages
The PureVPN app offers support for multiple major languages, including German, French, Chinese, and even Arabic. This is really helpful if English isn’t your native language.
Quick and Easy Sign Up
Signing up with PureVPN is very easy, whether you’re starting a long-term membership or just taking advantage of the money-back guarantee period.
Just enter some basic personal info, along with your payment details, and boom, you’re in the door.
Servers Arranged by Type
Whether you’re file-sharing, streaming, or trying to protect your privacy, PureVPN makes it easy to pick the right server by arranging them by specific functions.
So, for instance, you can choose between ‘Stream’, ‘Internet Freedom’, ‘Security/Privacy’, ‘File-Sharing’ or ‘Dedicated IP’, and they’ll give you a list of servers for that task.
You can then arrange the servers by ping.
Unfortunately, PureVPN doesn’t have a map feature, which is especially noticeable since sorting by ping doesn’t always show the servers in countries closest to yours. You’re also unable to choose specific servers within a country (ex. New York, Los Angeles, etc.)
Live Chat Support
On one hand, PureVPN offers 24/7 live chat support, which makes it easy to get an answer to your questions. However, when we reached out for clarification on a feature, the rep we spoke to seemed to struggle to give us a clear, concise answer.
It wasn’t a bad experience, by any means, but it wasn’t the best we've had either.
Conclusion:
PureVPN is easy enough to use, but we weren’t blown away by the support team and we’d really like to see a map view added to the app for server selection.
PureVPN Torrenting Tips
Torrenting with PureVPN is pretty straightforward, but here are a few extra tips to keep you safe.
1. Use the Dedicated P2P Servers
As we highlighted above, PureVPN does have dedicated P2P servers, and most (though not all) of them are in countries with minimal or no laws against file-sharing.
To find them, simply click ‘Change mode’ on the left side of the app, and then select ‘File-Sharing’.
From there, you can choose from a list of P2P-enabled servers based on their location and ping.
2. Enable the Kill Switch Before Torrenting
PureVPN’s app does come with a built-in kill switch, but it’s turned off by default. So, you’ll want to enable it.
This can be done from the ‘Advanced Options’ section of the ‘Preferences’ menu. You can reach the menu by clicking the gear in the top-right corner of the app, or by selecting ‘Change mode’ on the left.
There’s a box that can be selected to enable the kill switch, but you may have to take one extra step, which is restarting the app with admin rights.
With that done, you should be able to select the box to enable the kill switch as normal.
3. Use the Best Torrent Sites
Even with a good torrenting VPN like PureVPN, you still need to find the media content files you are looking for. For tips on finding the torrents you’re looking for, check our list of the Best Torrent Sites.
PureVPN Plans & Prices
PureVPN only offers one plan, but they provide pretty sweet discounts if you sign up for a year or more.
At $2.08 per month, they’re one of the most affordable torrenting VPNs on the market.
And all subscriptions come with a 31-day money-back guarantee, so you’ll get a chance to test the service for yourself before you’re locked in.
By the way, PureVPN recently introduced a 7-day trial for only 99 cents
Paying is easy too – and as private as you want it to be. That’s because PureVPN now accepts payments through Coingate, a cryptocurrency marketplace, allowing you to pay with everything from Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum to less popular cryptos like Dogecoin.
Of course, you can still just pay with a credit card or PayPal, if you prefer.
Conclusion:
PureVPN’s low price makes it one of the cheapest torrenting VPNs, and it’s great to see a VPN provider accepting such a wide variety of private payment methods.
PureVPN Apps
PureVPN supports all the major operating systems, including:
- Windows
- Mac
- Android
- iOS
- Linux
Each platform has an easy-to-install, simple-to-use app. What’s more, PureVPN provides extensions for the Chrome and Firefox browsers to make connecting even more convenient.
More PureVPN Uses
We don’t just consider a VPN a must-have for torrenting; we think everyone should have one, period. That’s because it has so many other useful features, like these ones.
“PureVPN provides pretty much everything you’d want to see in a torrenting VPN”
PureVPN Alternatives
If PureVPN isn’t quite what you’re looking for, you might like one of these PureVPN torrenting alternatives:
What Private Internet Access does better than PureVPN: A little cheaper, better track record, more total servers
What PureVPN does better than PIA: More countries, based outside of US
Conclusion: While PureVPN is a very solid and affordable torrenting VPN, PIA VPN is even cheaper – and it has an excellent track record.
What NordVPN does better than PureVPN: More total servers, advanced security features, better support
What PureVPN does better than NordVPN: Slightly cheaper, more countries
Conclusion: PureVPN’s price is only slightly cheaper than NordVPN’s, and it doesn’t hold up to NordVPN on security features and usability.
What ExpressVPN does better than PureVPN: Faster, more total servers
What PureVPN does better than ExpressVPN: Cheaper, more countries
Conclusion: Want faster downloads? ExpressVPN beats PureVPN in that regard. But PureVPN is much cheaper.
What Mullvad does better than PureVPN: Better security, cash payments, Wireguard
What PureVPN does better than Mullvad: Cheaper, more servers, dedicated phone apps
Conclusion: Mullvad offers killer security at a nice price, but it’s not quite as cheap or user-friendly as PureVPN.
What IPVanish does better than PureVPN: Cheaper, more devices
What PureVPN does better than IPVanish: More servers, audited as no logs
Conclusion: Like PureVPN, IPVanish has had its no-logging claims come into question in the past. Unlike PureVPN, they haven’t gone far enough to correct the issue. PureVPN gets the nod here.
Final Thoughts
PureVPN Torrenting Recap
To recap, what are PureVPN’s strengths when it comes to torrenting?
Conclusion:
PureVPN provides pretty much everything you’d want to see in a torrenting VPN. However, in our opinion, it’s not quite as good as oure favorite VPN for torrenting, PIA VPN.