NordVPN for Torrenting Reviewed (Setup, Use & Speed Test)

Using NordVPN for torrenting can make your peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing process quicker and more secure. Thanks to its proven no-logging policy, top-level encryption, and thousands of servers all over the world, the VPN provider is designed to protect the privacy of your torrenting activities.

Please note that while NordVPN allows torrenting, it’s against copyright laws to use torrenting programs to share copyrighted materials.

Thus, I don’t endorse using NordVPN torrenting features for that purpose.

Moving on, I tested NordVPN for torrenting security, speed, and convenience, using its (then separate) P2P servers and SOCKS5.

Keep reading to learn about torrenting with NordVPN!

Torrent Safely With NordVPN

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Does NordVPN Allow Safe Torrenting?

Thanks to its privacy and security features, NordVPN allows safe torrenting on over 7,000 servers worldwide, since P2P now works on all its standard servers.

The VPN also offers a strict no-logging policy, RAM-only servers, top-level encryption and IP obfuscation. Thus, your ISP and copyright trolls won’t see your torrenting activity and can’t come after you for that.

I’ll review some of NordVPN’s unique torrent-focused features to give you a complete picture of how NordVPN keeps your activities private.

No-logging Policy

NordVPN’s proven no logs policy confirms that your IP, connection logs, and browsing activities aren’t stored, including your torrenting activities.

That means that if you’re using a torrenting client, there’s no record of what you’ve torrented, when you’ve torrented, or where you got the file from.

That’s why you should keep the NordVPN connection on at all times when your torrent is in progress to avoid any record of your activity by your ISP.

Security & IP Obfuscation

NordVPN offers 256-bit AES encryption on all servers, including the ones you torrent on. This makes it impossible for hackers, your internet service provider or copyright trolls to hack your live traffic and see what you’re doing on torrent websites.

Furthermore, NordVPN replaces your IP address with another one. This ensures that your actual IP address isn’t visible to other peers downloading the same torrents – all they can see is your VPN IP.

Combining that with the no-logging policy and NordVPN’s RAM-only servers, which erase your data after each reboot, you can be sure that your torrenting activity isn’t logged or stored anywhere.

Torrenting Speeds

An important feature of NordVPN torrenting servers is speed optimization.

Its encrypted servers, all of which now support P2P, ensure that your ISP doesn’t throttle your P2P VPN traffic, as some tend to do. However, the use of VPNs does sometimes restrict your speed.

 I’ve conducted speed tests on NordVPN torrenting servers, which I’ll describe later, to see their impact on your torrenting sessions.

DNS Leak Protection

I ran a DNS Leak Test when connected to two different NordVPN P2P servers – one in Sweden and another one in the USA.

Both tests showed that there were no DNS leaks.

SOCKS5 Proxy

NordVPN supports the SOCKS5 proxy – but only on some servers.

You can request a list of them from the NordVPN support team, or check some of the existing resources on its website.

Luckily, you can use NordVPN’s SOCKS5 torrent clients like uTorrent, BitTorrent, and qBittorent.

I recommend opting for SOCKS5 if you want faster downloads or are concerned that your ISP or the government is blacklisting VPN IP addresses.

However, the SOCKS5 proxy alone lacks encryption, so your internet activity over the proxy servers may be visible to everyone. The only upside is that your IP address is hidden, making it harder to trace those internet activities to you.

P2P Servers

NordVPN used to route torrents through P2P servers, a subset of its standard servers that was designed to accommodate heavy P2P traffic and only available in a few locations.

That category is gone: all standard NordVPN servers now support P2P, and the P2P category has been removed from the apps’ server list. 

So you no longer have to hunt for a special server: any standard server near you gives you fast torrent downloads with minimal throttling.

How to Torrent Safely With NordVPN?

Here’s how you can safely torrent with NordVPN on Windows.

The first step is the same for both P2P and SOCKS5 torrenting.

1. Get a NordVPN subscription (use our exclusive discount!)

2. Depending on your chosen torrenting method, follow the steps below.

How to Torrent With NordVPN’s P2P-Enabled Servers?

NordVPN has removed its separate P2P category, and all standard servers now support P2P. So, for torrenting with NordVPN:

1. Download and install the NordVPN Desktop application.
2. Launch and login.
3. Click “Quick Connect” to connect to the best server near you (older app versions, like the one in these screenshots, had a “P2P” option on the left-hand menu).

4. If you want a specific server, choose a country (and, where available, a city) from the server list.

5. Start torrenting once NordVPN connects to that server.

How to Torrent With NordVPN SOCKS5 Proxy?

Here’s how to torrent with NordVPN using SOCKS5 proxy on different clients.

Set Up NordVPN SOCKS5 on uTorrent, BitTorrent and qBittorrent

1. After you get your NordVPN account, launch the BitTorrent or uTorrent client.
2. Click “Preferences” (or “Tools” in qBittorrent) under “Options.”

3. Go to “Connections” and choose “SOCKS5” from the Type dropdown menu.

4. Enter one of the addresses below into the “Proxy” field.

5. Enter “1080” in the Port field, check all six boxes (for qBittorrent, tick only “Use Proxy for peer connections” and “Authentication”) and enter your NordVPN username and password. Then click “OK.”

6. The setup is done, and you can now torrent!

I’ve tested the SOCKS5 download with IPMagnet by adding its testing magnet to my torrenting client, and it confirmed that my IP was obfuscated.

In other words, other torrenting peers could only see the replacement IP address rather than my real one.

Are NordVPN’s P2P-Enabled Servers Better Than SOCKS5?

NordVPN’s VPN servers (all of which now support P2P) are better than SOCKS5 servers on security and privacy since they encrypt all the traffic passing through them. 

However, SOCKS5 makes up for its lack of encryption in speed, ensuring faster download times than the VPN servers usually offer.

That said, you can combine SOCKS5 proxy with NordVPN to get the best of both worlds by setting your torrent client up with both methods described above.

NordVPN Torrenting Servers

Here’s a complete list of NordVPN’s SOCKS5 server locations.

As you can see, NordVPN has ten (10) servers for SOCKS5 proxy torrenting.

And here’s the list of NordVPN P2P servers from when I first tested it. NordVPN has since removed the separate P2P category, so P2P now works on all its standard servers, in these countries and across the rest of its network.

NordVPN Torrenting Speed Tests

I tested NordVPN’s torrenting speeds on its OpenVPN and NordLynx protocols, using a couple of 80 MB files.

I ran these tests across the P2P servers and  SOCKS5 functionality to determine which is the best and fastest for torrenting.

Here are the test results.

Spoiler alert – P2P servers are the winner.

OpenVPN (UDP) Speed Test

This is the baseline:

P2P Servers

I connected to P2P servers in Sweden and the USA. Here are the test results.

Since I’m closer to Sweden than the US, it’s no surprise that my speed and latency were better when connected to a Swedish server.

I, therefore, recommend using the NordVPN server closest to you (all standard servers now support P2P). Thankfully, you can configure the  “Quick Connect” tool to automatically search and assign you the nearest server.

Note: My upload speed was non-existent in these tests, as NordVPN’s standard servers have no port forwarding for seeding. More on that in a minute.

NordLynx Speed Test

I did the same tests with the NordLynx protocol.

Baseline connection speed:

P2P Servers

I connected to P2P servers in Sweden and the USA in the same way as with OpenVPN. Here are the results over NordLynx.

Here, the US-based server resulted in higher download speeds than the Swedish server, despite higher latency. 

That said, please note that torrenting speed can be largely affected by the peers and bandwidth, not just VPN server location. So, it’s important to choose a file with a healthy seed-leech ratio.

Moving on, the high latency with both OpenVPN and NordLynx on the US server was no surprise, since it’s so far away.  So, yet another reason to use a closer server for the best results.

SOCKS5 Proxy

Here’s my NordVPN performance with SOCKS5 proxy on:

If everything was a little bit technical to follow, here’s an overview of NordVPN torrenting speed tests results:

As you can see from the data, it’s better to use NordVPN’s VPN servers for torrenting (P2P now works on all standard ones). 

These servers provide more options in more countries than SOCKS5 proxy connections, which are only available in ten regions.

So, with the VPN servers, there are more ways to optimize your speed than with SOCKS5.

Does NordVPN Allow Seeding?

When I tested it, a NordVPN representative confirmed that NordVPN does NOT allow seeding when torrenting. Its standard servers still have no port forwarding (NordVPN only offers that with its paid Dedicated Server add-on), so a standard plan isn’t an appropriate choice for users trying to maintain a proper seed-to-leech ratio.

Instead, if seeding is important to you, I recommend ExpressVPN.

What to Do if a NordVPN Server Doesn’t Work for P2P?

If your NordVPN server doesn’t work for torrenting, here are a few things to do:

• Switch to another one – every standard server now supports P2P, so you have thousands to pick from.
• If none work, restart your VPN connection or computer or connect to a different network.
• If you’re using a mobile device hotspot, switch to another network – some internet service providers block VPNs.
• If none works, contact NordVPN via Live Chat and explain the issue.
• Use one of the SOCKS5 proxy servers.

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FAQ

Conclusion

NordVPN allows many options for torrenting, as P2P now works on all its standard servers. In this case, the USA, the UK, and Canada have the most significant number of servers for you to choose.

Many other countries have plenty of servers too. However, if your country doesn’t have a NordVPN server, you can connect to the closest one or use the SOCKS5 proxy instead.

Want to try out NordVPN for torrenting? Grab this exclusive discount today!