How-to Guide for Anonymous Bittorrent

Disclaimer: Let me get this out of the way right off the bat… Neither I, nor isbittorrentsafe.com condone copyright infringement of any kind. Please make sure the torrents you download are legal and authorized.

Why should you keep Bittorrent Use Anonymous?

There are several reasons all Torrent users should seek to remain anonymous when using Bittorrent:

  • Most ISP’s throttle/block Torrent Use: By using an encrypted/anonymous Bittorrent connection, your ISP even know that you are using Bittorrent, thus allowing you to take advantage of your maximum connection speed.
  • ISP’s keep records of Internet Usage: Some Internet Service Providers keep logs of your internet usage for up to 2 years. These logs can even include records of websites you’ve visited and protocols you’ve used (such as Bittorrent). We firmly believe in a personal right to privacy online.
  • The Copyright Alert System: There have already been multiple cases of false-positives and bogus notices to users who were either downloading legal torrents or not using BitTorrent at all. Even worse, it costs $35 just to contest an alert. Incidentally, that’s basically the same price as 1 year of Torrent VPN Service. The CAS assumes guilt and forces users to pay to prove their innocence. With an anonymous VPN, any alerts will be sent to the VPN server and untraceable back to you.

Anonymous Torrent VPN

How to use Bittorrent Anonymously

The two most popular (and affordable) methods for anonymous bittorrent are: an Anonymous Proxy Service or an Anonymous VPN. While mostly similar in their benefits an anonymity, there is 1 primary difference. A VPN Protects your entire internet connection while a Proxy protects 1 program or protocol (In this case, your bittorrent client.)

Without a VPN or Proxy:

If you don’t use a vpn or proxy with Bittorrent, your true IP address will be clearly visible to any and all users in the same bittorrent swarm (which can be 10’s of thousands of peers). An IP address is a unique number that can identify a single computer or internet connection (your router).

Without a VPN/Proxy your ISP (Time Warner, Comcast, etc) can see that you are using Bittorrent, can see what websites you are visiting, and can throttle (slow down) or record anything they don’t like

With an Anonymous VPN or Proxy

An IP address still shows up in the Bittorrent swarm, but it won’t be yours. The IP address will belong to the VPN/Proxy server that you are connected to. The best VPN providers do not keep connection logs or destroy them frequently so the VPN IP address cannot be traced to your connection.

Because the VPN connection is encrypted, your ISP cannot read your traffic or see the websites you are visiting. They can see that you are connected to a remote server, but that is it. All communication between that server and your computer will be protected by heavy encryption. As a result, your ISP cannot throttle your torrent speed because it cannot tell whether you are using bittorrent.

What is the best Anonymous VPN for Bittorrent?

There are a number of VPN’s that we have found to be excellent solutions. They are all priced under $10/month, offer 256-Bit encryption, allow bittorrent, and are totally anonymous.

1: IBVPN (Invisible Browsing VPN)

IBVPN is an extremely popular choice for several reasons:

  • The Torrent VPN Package starts around $3/month
  • IBVPN does not keep logs
  • IBVPN has easy to use software
  • IBVPN features 256-Bit Encryption

IBVPN also offers a 6-hour free trial of their ultimate vpn package. IBVPN also has a terrific 15 day 100% money back guarantee policy.

2: Torguard

As you may guess from the name, Torguard specializes in anonymous VPN and Proxy service for Bittorrent, and a large percentage of their customers are Bittorrent users. They are able to deliver the anonymity and security solutions you need at an excellent price.

Torguard Anonymous Torrent Proxy is an extremely affordable option. If you buy a year of service, the torrent proxy costs less than $4/month. The proxy creates an encrypted tunnel for your Bittorrent client. They even offer a pre-configured version of Deluge for super easy setup, but you can configure Torguard to work with any Bittorrent client you like.

Torguard torrent proxy lets you choose from over 15 different proxy servers and locations (you can switch any time you like). It’s also quite fast, and we were able to max out our 15 Mbps connection in testing.

Torguard Anonymous VPN

Torguard also offers VPN service (you can get a substantial discount if you purchase VPN and proxy service together. Torguard has their own desktop VPN client software for easy setup (or you can choose from manual options). Torguard also has their own beta VPN app for Android, with a new version coming soon.

Torguard has a portable version of their desktop software which does not require installation. This means you could put it on a flash drive and take it anywhere, to encrypt your browsing on any computer. Torguard’s software also has built in DNS Leak Protection. Torguard allows up to 5 simultaneous VPN connections most VPN’s offer only 1.

Torguard has an industry leading 30 Day Money-Back Guarantee. They also have a Free 24-hour trial of their VPN. Torguard keeps no logs.

3: Private Internet Access VPN

PIA is among the most popular VPN’s, due largely to their incredibly low pricing. You can have their top-of-the-line vpn package for a crazy $3.33/month ($40/year).

Private Internet Access keeps no logs, has excellent software, and has servers in 9 countries. They allow Bittorrent on non US/UK servers.

4: BTguard

BTGuard is one of the original pioneers of anonymous bittorrent, and still one of the most popular. They offer have no logs, competitive prices, and offer both VPN and Proxy service options.

BTGuard Proxy is a great option for users that just need simple, anonymous bittorrent. You can manually set it up with any client, but the easiest (and best option IMO) is their easy install which is a custom version of the Utorrent client with all the correct settings already installed. It takes about 2 minutes from signup to getting online.

BTGuard VPN offers PPTP, L2TP, and OpenVPN connectivity. They don’t currently have their own software, but they do have easy setup guides for users. In our opinion, BTGuard’s proxy service is a better option and better value.