The Best Free VPN for Torrenting and File Sharing for Users in Canada

Embrace secure file sharing habits with the best yet free VPN for torrenting!

Two of the most historic things that came into being in 2004 – Facebook and BitTorrent – are seeing a modern transformation. Facebook is operating under a new name “Meta” and BitTorrent is getting more popular than ever before. As per Sandvine’s latest Global Internet Phenomena Report, BitTorrent has almost 22% of the total upstream volume of global traffic and over 31% in Europe alone.

Finally, after years of decline, BitTorrent usage and piracy is on the rise again. The credit goes to an increase in exclusivity deals that force binge-watchers to hunt and pick among a myriad of the US and Canadian streaming services to find the content that they’re actually looking for.

Honestly, this makes sense because ever since the streaming war has begun, more and more companies are pulling their content from Netflix and Amazon Prime video to distribute them on their separate streaming platforms as “exclusives”. As a result, it becomes heftier for viewers to pay for subscription charges separately for each streaming service, so they’ve started relying on torrent services instead to cherry-pick their favorite titles.

But here’s the thing: not only is this act shady (in terms of ethics and copyrights), but also a risk to our online security. And that’s exactly where the best VPN for torrenting in Canada comes in to fill in the gaps! The best torrenting VPN allows you to remain completely anonymous while downloading torrents, ensuring that any data received or sent by you is end-to-end encrypted.

Besides, regardless of how greyish this may seem, torrenting is here to stay – at least until the war between streaming services last. Just to be clear, we don’t condone any kind of copyright breaching, but we also don’t want you to risk your security either by indulging in torrent activities without any privacy gear. That’s why we at CanadaVPNs are here with VPN recommendations for torrenting that will ensure your maximum anonymity, security, and privacy online. Also, you can enjoy their free and reliable services.

The Best Free VPNs for torrenting – Quick Overview

After thoroughly testing and assessing tons of VPN services as free candidates, we have finally come down to five VPNs suitable for torrenting and file-sharing purposes which provide their services for Free, Let’s see how.

Here’s a quick summary of our shortlisted best free VPN for torrenting in case you want to enjoy free yet premium services.

What do we look for in Free VPN for Torrenting in Canada?

We look for the following things while choosing a free VPN for torrenting in Canada:

1. Bandwidth limitation – A VPN should offer enough bandwidth and data usage to facilitate a good torrenting experience.
2. Support for P2P – Most free VPN providers don’t have P2P-supported servers. So, you need to pay special attention to this feature and choose only the service that supports torrenting activities.
3. Encryption and security – your chosen VPN should provide military-grade encryption and robust security features like Kill Switch and DNS leak protection.
4. Transparent privacy and logging policies – Before making any deal, make sure that your torrenting VPN has a transparent business model. If the service is completely free of cost with no apparent and publicly declared source of revenue and profits, then it’s a huge red flag as they might be selling your data to third parties. That said, pay extra attention to their policies and see if they keep logs of their users’ activities.
5. Speeds – your VPN should deliver maximum speed enough to stream and download torrents.

How to use a free VPN for Torrenting?

Torrenting with a free VPN doesn’t require you to be tech-savvy – even a novice user can use it. You just need to get a hang of some basics and you will be good to go. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you learn how to torrent with a VPN:

Best Free Torrent VPN in 2022

Following are the details of the 5 best free VPN for torrenting 2022. Please note that all these VPNs have been shortlisted after thorough testing in a professional lab setting:

1. ExpressVPN – Best VPN, Not fully free but worth every penny!

Key Features

ExpressVPN is the best VPN for torrenting, offering lightning-fast speed, unlimited bandwidth, and robust security. Yes, we know, it’s not entirely free but has so many advantages that we are compelled to add this provider to our list – don’t worry, we will explain to you why.

First of all, ExpressVPN is known to be the fastest VPN out there, delivering a speed of 95.6 Mbps on a 100 Mbps connection during our testing. It means you can enjoy hours of streaming and torrenting without any lag and buffering issues. Another thing that makes this service the right choice for free torrenting is that it offers unlimited bandwidth and allows file sharing on every single one of its servers (not just a few). Selecting ExpressVPN as a no.1 pick for torrenting was a no-brainer, honestly!

As far as security is concerned, it is considered the best IP block for torrenting due to powerful security features like a Kill Switch, VPN Split Tunneling, and no logs policy. It comes with an AES 256-bit encryption and ensures guaranteed DNS and IPv6 leak protection.

Talking about its server network, ExpressVPN has around 3000+ servers spread across 90+ countries. All of these servers are P2P-friendly and support uTorrent proxy, BitTorrent, and other torrent clients. With ExpressVPN, you can enjoy free movie downloads with no registration needed!

Like we said, it ticks every box when it comes to fulfilling torrenting needs – super fast speed, a broad network of P2P-supported servers, kill switch, and unlimited bandwidth. If you ask me, I would gladly choose ExpressVPN over any free service because no service can beat it in quality and performance. So, what if it requires you to pay some money? Given the overall excellence of its service, it’s well worth our every penny! Its 2 year plan is available for CA$ 9.13/mo (US$ 6.67/mo)(Save up to 49% with exclusive 1-year plans + 3 months free), along with 3 months of free services. You will also get a 30-day money-back guarantee to try it for a while, and in case of a change of heart, you can cancel it to claim your refund.

2. NordVPN – the largest server network VPN for torrenting

Key Features

NordVPN is hands-down the most reliable VPN for torrenting. Its induction to our list of best free VPN for torrenting is due to its largest server network, fast speed, powerful security features, and flexible risk-free trial.

NordVPN bills itself as a torrent-friendly VPN, offering 5500+ servers in 59 countries, kill switch, split tunneling, AES 256-bit encryption, and many more. What’s more? NordVPN falls outside the jurisdiction of the 14 Eyes alliance due to the fact that it is based in Panama. The country does not impose any data retention requirement on the ISP and VPN.

NordVPN is also known for its powerful security features like Double VPN, built-in ad blocker (CyberSec), advanced VPN protocols, and Onion Over VPN to layer your traffic through a maze of networks and nodes for impenetrable privacy and anonymity online.

Just like ExpressVPN, it’s not entirely free either but does offer a 30-day money-back guarantee for users. This allows you to use the service for 30 days before making any permanent transaction. It only costs around CA$ 5.46/mo (US$ 3.99/mo)- Save up to 63% with exclusive 2-year plan + 3 months free for a friend with 3 months of free services.

3. Windscribe – Best VPN for P2p torrenting (Up to 10 GB free data per month)

Key Features

Windscribe is the best choice when it comes to an entirely free VPN for torrenting. Initially, you will get 2 GB of data per month, which can be extended to 5 GB if you tweet about Windscribe.

There are also 10 GB of free data, but you will have to provide an email address for that. Otherwise, you have to settle with a 2 GB data limit, which is quite less for free anonymous torrenting.

Moreover, with Windscribe’s free version, you can only access 10 servers located in countries like the UK, Hong Kong, the US, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, and Switzerland. Note that you won’t be able to access torrenting sites located in countries other than the ones mentioned above.

While most of its servers are P2P-friendly, it does no good as they are mostly overworked, resulting in below-average downloading and streaming speed. It was slow, but we still managed to torrent via Windscribe.

As far as online security is concerned, Windscribe offers AES 256-Bit encryption, a built-in ad blocker, and DNS leak protection. Although it claims to have a strict no-log policy, it is headquartered in Canada – a known member of the Five Eyes Alliance.

4. Hide.Me – P2P-friendly servers around the world

Key Features

Hide.Me is another VPN service suitable for free Torrenting. It has servers located in five different locations including the US East, US West, Canada, the Netherlands, and Singapore. All Hide.me servers support torrenting except US-based servers. Since you won’t be able to connect US-based servers for torrenting, you only have to rely on the servers outside North America and Europe.

Hide.Me offers only 2GB of data per month to free users, which is quite reasonable for sharing a few minutes of video with your friends, maybe a handful of photos. You will easily exhaust this limit within one hour of downloading the service. In this case, switching to a premium VPN with unlimited bandwidth will be a better option!

Speaking of security, Hide.Me offers an internet kill switch, IP address leak protection, and a military-grade level of encryption. Even if you face a connection failure, your actual IP address and online information will be not be exposed to anyone.

Hide.Me is headquartered in Malaysia, which is not a part of the Fourteen Eyes alliance. This means it does not log your data and other online activities.

5. TunnelBear – best for low-volume users

Key Features

TunnelBear is a user-friendly free VPN for torrenting and best for low-volume users. It has an easy-to-use interface with an animated bear helping to navigate through its features.

It provides P2P-friendly servers in 23 locations, including in the UK, Germany, Canada, Sweden, and the Netherlands for torrenting.

However, its bandwidth limit is quite less, offering only 500 Mb of free data per month. You can get an additional 1 GB of free data if you tweet about this service on Twitter. With that in mind, we won’t recommend TunnelBear for downloading large torrent files.

Speaking of security, TunnelBear offers great security with AES-256-bit encryption, an internet kill switch, DNS, and IPv6 Leak protection to ensure maximum security while torrenting. It has a feature called GhostBear that obfuscates your traffic, allowing you to access sites in a restrictions-heavy zone like China. VPN Split Tunneling facility is also available for Android users.

Why do you need a VPN for torrenting?

There are multiple reasons why you should use a VPN for torrenting. For a start, getting caught downloading torrent files can have far worse consequences than just legal notices. As we all know, torrenting can be seen as a bit of a grey area in terms of ethics. And indulging in such activities without VPN can put you at severe risks of getting jail time or other legal action.

Please note that we do not condone using VPNs for covering up any illegal activities. Just like any digital product, VPNs too are subjected to exploitation. Yes, in theory, it does hide your identity and encrypts your traffic, but that’s only for legitimate reasons. If you are caught doing any such illegal activity, you will be dealt with according to the laws of your jurisdiction.

Anyways, with a torrenting VPN, you can fully remain anonymous when downloading torrents, as it ensures that any data shared or received by you is end-to-end encrypted. If you don’t use a VPN, all your torrenting activity will be tracked, monitored, and recorded online.

Besides, there is always a possibility of getting hacked after downloading a suspicious torrent file. It’s a risky move and could pose a significant threat to your online security. This is why P2P file sharing via VPN is encouraged to avoid hacking attempts and protect your data from being exposed to people with malicious intent. In short, if you are tight on budget and searching for a free VPN for torrenting, our suggested VPNs offer Free yet premium service for a certain period or bandwidth to give you an experience of security and online protection.

Best Free VPN for Torrenting – Comparison Table

The table below compares the best free VPN for torrenting side-by-side, including their features, bandwidth cap, kill switch availability, average speed, and more:

Should you “avoid” Free VPN for Torrenting?

Yes, you should definitely avoid completely free VPN services either for torrenting or any other purpose, due to various technical, security, and privacy concerns. Some of them are mentioned below:

1. Speed: As we said earlier, 100% free VPNs usually have over-crowded servers, which makes them prone to slow speed. Their speed is no way near the premium VPN servers, thus, you will experience severe buffer and lagging issues when torrenting.

2. Bandwidth: Free VPN services usually set a certain limit on bandwidth usage, restricting you from downloading large-sized files from the internet.

3. Data leaks: As per a study, it has been found that about 80% of Fully free VPNs were exposing users’ actual IP addresses while torrenting – and that’s exactly why a torrenting VPN is designed to prevent your data from leaking outside the secure tunnel. Since they are unable to perform the basic functionality of a VPN, then what’s the point of using one? Instead, go for the premium options that are far more reliable and secure than the free VPN services. You can also enjoy free trials of Premium VPNs as mentioned above.

4. Encryption: there’s no doubt that completely free VPN services use weak encryption protocols or no protocols at all. There’s no guarantee whether your traffic is being encrypted or not.

5. Tracking and Malware: a number of free VPN services that are completely free, were found to have trackers and malware installed in their software. These fraudulent services lure users into downloading the malware to gain unauthorized access to private information for their personal interest.

We understand the allure behind free VPN services, but there’s nothing in the world more precious than your personal security. Don’t risk it for the sake of saving some bucks! Remember: you will get your money back (via ExpressVPN 30-day money-back guarantee), but you won’t get your privacy back once it’s out there and exposed.

FAQs

Conclusion

Torrenting has become a quite popular way of sharing files online, albeit not the safest one. Thus using a VPN is a must. For freebies looking for the best free VPN for torrenting this blog has covered the best possible free option of VPNs.

A torrenting VPN hides your internet traffic and provides you with complete anonymity, ensuring that whatever files you share online are end-to-end encrypted. However, free VPN services often come with a baggage of restrictions such as speed, bandwidth cap, servers count, and more. That’s why it is recommended to use premium VPNs – ExpressVPN and NordVPN – that are reliable and offer unlimited bandwidth for uploading and downloading torrent large-sized files with a risk-free money-back guarantee period.

If you still want to use a completely free VPN for torrenting, you can try Windscribe, which is less dangerous than the other free service, offering 10 GB of free data per month.