A super cheap yet safe VPN for all your torrent file-sharing needs.
As we continue to review the top torrenting VPNs across the ‘net, we come to Trust.Zone. While it’s not quite as well-known as Private Internet Access or NordVPN, it’s built up a respectable following. And man, is it cheap!
But cheap doesn’t always mean good. So, how does Trust.Zone compare to other torrenting VPNs?
Let’s take a look.
Trust.Zone Torrenting Review
Overall Rating (4.5 of 5 stars)
[+] 'Trust.Zone Torrenting' contents (select to expand)
Is Trust.Zone Good for Torrenting?
Checklist
If you’re just looking for a quick rundown, here are some of the most important features that Trust.Zone offers. Check the rest of the review for a more detailed examination.
Is Trust.Zone Safe for Torrenting?
As we all know, it’s never a good idea to torrent without a VPN. But not all VPNs are suited to keeping your protected. Let’s see if Trust.Zone is up to the task.
No P2P Restrictions
When choosing a torrenting VPN, it’s important to check their stance on P2P traffic. You obviously don’t want to choose a VPN service that outright restricts it, but it’s also a good idea to avoid ones that don’t mention it at all.
Because unfortunately, VPNs that are silent about their torrenting policy will often use this as a way to cover their own butts, even if it means throwing you under the bus.
The good news is, Trust.Zone is open about their stance on P2P, and they don’t place any restrictions on torrenting traffic. They even have a basic guide here for using Bittorent safely.
Based in the Seychelles
VPNs are subject to the laws of the country they call home. This can be a bad thing if they’re located somewhere like the US or UK, where the government’s snooping can be quite invasive. Fortunately, Trust.Zone is based in the Seychelles, a small island nation off the coast of Africa.
They’re not part of the “Fourteen Eyes” countries (who are notorious for collecting data on the people and businesses within their borders).
They also don’t have mandatory data retention laws, making them a good option for a privacy-focused service.
No Traffic Logs
Want a torrenting VPN? Then you want one that doesn’t keep logs. And Trust.Zone fits the bill. Well, mostly.
While they don’t log traffic, they do seem to log bandwidth in some way. Otherwise, they’d have no way of knowing how many GBs of data you use, and we know they track this since they use it as criteria for both their free trial and calculating refunds.
Exactly how much bandwidth information they log is anyone’s guess though, especially since Trust.Zone has neither undergone an independent audit, like NordVPN, nor had their logging claims tested in court, like Private Internet Access.
“Trust.Zone is one of the cheapest torrenting VPNs around”
Personal Info Required at Sign-Up
While Trust.Zone’s site claims they don’t require your personal info at sign up, this wasn’t the case when we tried it. Their form required our full name and address, along with payment info.
Of course, this isn’t exactly out of the ordinary for VPNs. However, Trust.Zone took it a step further and asked for our phone number, which they called to confirm our subscription!
Needless to say, we’re not a fan of this at all. Especially when Trust.Zone’s own site says they only require an email address.
Built-In Kill Switch
On the plus side, Trust.Zone’s app does include a built-in killswitch, which is a must for any torrent user.
Why? Because if you’re torrent connection drops for any reason while you’re downloading, your P2P traffic will be unprotected until it’s reconnected. This definitely isn’t what you want.
But with a killswitch, your entire internet connection – and thus your torrent downloads – will be stopped if your VPN cuts out, giving you the chance to fix it.
Strong Protocols and Encryption
A good torrenting VPN needs good encryption. And Trust.Zone provides the best you can get: 256-bit AES encryption.
They also primarily use the OpenVPN protocol, which is the industry standard, but they also have L2TP.
DNS Leak Protection
The last thing you want when torrenting is a leak. Which is why we always recommend VPNs that have built-in leak protection for DNS, like Trust.Zone does.
IPv6 Not Supported
Unfortunately, Trust.Zone doesn’t provide IPv6 leak protection, and instead suggests that you don’t use IPv6 with the service. Not only is this a major bummer, it can be a security risk as well.
Warrant Canary Posted
A “warrant canary” is a discreet way for online services to let their customers know if they’ve been compromised by law enforcement. If the warrant canary remains up, you should be good. But if it’s ever taken down, it’s time to take precautions.
While not foolproof, it’s a helpful indicator of a service’s security level, so it’s good to see Trust.Zone offer one.
Bitcoin Accepted (with a 10% Discount)
For those that want to pay with cryptocurrency, Trust.Zone accepts Bitcoin payments. In fact, they’ll even give you a further 10% discount for paying with Bitcoin.
Conclusion:
Trust.Zone’s overall security for torrent is pretty solid, but you’ll have to disable IPv6. And you don’t get access to any advanced features, like split tunneling.
Is Trust.Zone Fast for Torrenting?
No one likes slow torrent downloads. And while some speed loss is to be expected when using the VPN, the best torrenting VPNs manage to minimize the drop as much as possible.
So, we made sure to open Trust.Zone up and see what it can do, and we were fairly impressed. There wasn’t much difference in the download speed when connected to the fastest server we could find as compared to when we were downloading with no VPN.
However, we should point out that the first couple servers we tried weren’t nearly as good.
And unfortunately, Trust.Zone’s overall server network is quite small. In fact, it’s really small, at just over 170 total servers in 35 countries.
For comparison, NordVPN has nearly 6,000 total servers, PIA has over 3,000, and PureVPN has over 2,000. And while PureVPN has the least total servers of that small group, theirs are spread across 140 different countries. That’s 4x times more than Trust.Zone!
Conclusion:
Trust.Zone pulls off good torrenting speeds on its fastest servers. However, not all of its servers are equally fast, and their overall network is pretty small.
Is Trust.Zone Easy to Use?
While top-notch security is important for a torrenting VPN, they should always be intuitive and easy to use. Let’s see how Trust.Zone measures up.
Fast, Lightweight App
Let’s start with the positive, which is Trust.Zone’s app. It doesn’t have quite as many features as, say, NordVPN’s, but it’s one of the most lightweight, minimalist designs we tried.
It does what you need it to, when you need it to, and the rest of the time it tucks quietly away in the toolbar, taking up little resources or screen space.
Lackluster Refund Policy
While Trust.Zone does offer a refund policy, it’s only 10 days. What makes it even worse is that they’ll prorate your refund if you used over 1GB of data. Pretty much any sort of torrenting will take you over that mark, and even streaming a 1-hour TV show can use 3 to 7GBs, depending on the quality.
And even then, it can take up to 20 days to get your refund, according to their site.
Compare this to nearly every other major torrenting VPN, who offer 30-day, no-questions-asked guarantees with no data restrictions, and take half the time (or less) to return your money. This includes premium services, like Private Internet Access, NordVPN, and more. Heck, ProtonVPN’s free trial (7 days) is nearly as long as Trust.Zone’s refund period.
Limited Support Options
While some torrenting VPNs offer everything from contact numbers to 24/7 live chat support, Trust.Zone only offers ticket support. And even that is only open from 1:00pm to 11:00pm on Monday through Friday.
Only 3 Simultaneous Connections
Each Trust.Zone account allows up to 3 connections at a time. And for most people, that will probably be fine.
For instance, it would allow you to run it on your smartphone, tablet, and laptop at the same time. Or your work computer, home computer, and phone. Or your… okay, you get the picture.
That being said, we have to point out that other top torrenting VPNs usually offer a minimum of 5 connections. Some, like Private Internet Access, offer up to 10.
Conclusion:
While we like Trust.Zone’s app, almost every other aspect of their customer experience, from their refund policy to the number of connections, could use some improvement.
Trust.Zone Torrenting Tips
1. Enable the killswitch before any torrenting session
The killswitch won’t work if it’s not turned on! Fortunately, it’s easy to enable: just check the box in the Settings menu of the Trust.Zone app.
Make sure DNS Leak Protection is checked to while you’re at it.
2. Choose the right servers
Since Trust.Zone doesn’t have dedicated P2P servers, you may be wondering which one to connect to for torrenting. The basic rule of thumb is that servers closer to your location are typically faster, but that wasn’t always the case in our Trust.Zone torrenting, so make sure to try different servers. Or, if you want the safest servers, use this guide.
3. Follow safe torrenting best practices
No matter what VPN you’re using, there are certain things you should – and shouldn’t – do when torrenting. If you’re new to the game, you’ll want to check out this guide for an in-depth tutorial. Better safe than sorry!
Trust.Zone Plans & Prices
If you’re a total cheapskate budget-conscious individual who loves to save money (and aren’t we all?), you’ll be happy to hear that Trust.Zone is one of the cheapest torrenting VPNs around.
Of course, it will require signing up for a longer-term subscription to get the best monthly price, but that’s pretty much par for the course.
Trust.Zone also offers a free trial, which doesn’t require payment info to take advantage of. However, while it technically lasts for 7 days, it only allows you to use up to 1GB of bandwidth. That means torrenting (and streaming) are pretty much out of the question. Though you could probably manage a single, standard definition movie with that.
That being said, most VPNs don’t offer any trial at all, so it’s better than nothing.
Trust.Zone accepts a variety of payment types, including Bitcoin. In fact, they even offer a 10% discount for Bitcoin payments.
And all subscriptions come with a 10-day money back guarantee… though you’ll have to pay attention to the “fine print”, as we highlighted in our breakdown of their refund policy earlier in the review.
Conclusion:
Trust.Zone is, simply put, one of the cheapest torrenting VPNs you can get.
Trust.Zone Apps
Trust.Zone supports all of the following operating systems:
- Windows
- MacOS
- Android
- iOS
- Linux
And its app is equally easy to use with all of them.
More Trust.Zone Uses
VPNs don’t just help you torrent safely. They’re like the Swiss army knife of online security and convenience. Here are some other cool ways to use Trust.Zone.
Stay Safe on Unsecured WiFi
The next time you go to connect to the hotspot at your favorite cafe or the departures area at the airport make sure to enable your VPN first.
Because these public wifi networks can be privacy and security nightmares, even if they’re protected by a password. But Trust.Zone’s strong encryption will keep your data and device secure.
Stream Content from Other Countries
Whether you’re in a country that doesn’t support a particular streaming service or you just want access to another country’s streaming library, Trust.Zone can help. Simply connect to a server in the country you want to watch “from”, and then access the streaming service through that connection.
While some VPNs struggle to bypass the VPN blocks used by services like Netflix, Trust.Zone still manages to work with most of them. Just don’t binge too hard!
Trust.Zone Alternatives
While some VPNs struggle to bypass the VPN blocks used by services like Netflix, Trust.Zone still manages to work with most of them. Just don’t binge too hard!
What Private Internet Access does better than Trust.Zone: Stronger no-logs policy, better security features, more servers, more devices, longer money-back guarantee
What Trust.Zone does better than PIA: Slightly cheaper
Conclusion: PIA is just barely more expensive than Trust.Zone, while allowing 10 devices per account and coming with a stronger security track record and server network.
What NordVPN does better than Trust.Zone: Faster, more servers, better security features, more devices, better refund policy
What Trust.Zone does better than NordVPN: Slightly cheaper, more minimalist app
Conclusion: At their cheapest, Trust.Zone is about $1 cheaper per month than NordVPN. But Nord allows twice as many devices and is better in nearly every way.
What ExpressVPN does better than Trust.Zone: Faster, more servers, better support
What Trust.Zone does better than ExpressVPN: Cheaper
Conclusion: While ExpressVPN offers the better service overall, Trust.Zone is significantly cheaper.
What PureVPN does better than Trust.Zone: More servers, more devices, better guarantee
What Trust.Zone does better than PureVPN: Slightly cheaper
Conclusion: PureVPN is nearly the same price as Trust.Zone; even cheaper when you calculate the cost per device.
What IPVanish does better than Trust.Zone: More servers, more devices
What Trust.Zone does better than IPVanish: Cheaper, better reputation
Conclusion: IPVanish offers a lot more servers and connections that Trust.Zone, but it’s a little more expensive – and still answering for past logging failures.
Final Thoughts
Checklist
To sum it all up, here are some of highlights of Trust.Zone as a torrenting VPN:
Conclusion:
While there are some things to like about Trust.Zone, we can’t really see any reason to recommend it over competitor torrenting VPNs that offer better security and better features at pretty much the same price.
But of course, it can’t hurt to check out their free 7-day trial, which doesn’t require any payment info. Just keep in mind that you won’t be able to do much torrenting with the 1GB data cap.