TorGuard VPN review

Explore these sections, though, and you’ll discover that they don’t match the level of help you might see elsewhere.

TorGuard Review

TorGuard offers robust security and has some customizability options that appeal to experts. However, as you’ll find out in this TorGuard review, its apps are clunky and difficult to use. Not to mention, it doesn’t get into most streaming platforms. Keep reading for the nitty-gritty details.

TorGuard is a virtual private network (VPN) we took to kindly in our last testing. In our previous TorGuard review, we praised its customizability, fast speed and reasonable price point, weighing all of this against its dated and complex interface. TorGuard seems to have taken our criticism for usability positively and decided to spruce up its app, website and features.

Key Takeaways:

• TorGuard is a VPN that provides all the standard features and a host of advanced options, some of which may be irrelevant, especially for beginners.
• TorGuard is fast enough to support all internet activities, including web browsing and torrenting.
• TorGuard’s speeds can support buffering-free streaming, but this means nothing because it doesn’t get into most streaming platforms; it gets into Netflix just fine, though, if that’s all you need.
• TorGuard’s Android, Windows, Mac and Linux clients are unintuitive, but the iOS app and browser extensions are user-friendly and easy to use.

The last time we reviewed TorGuard, it was difficult to use, and compared to VPN services like ExpressVPN — which beautifully balances advanced options with usability — it looked like a subpar option, at best. So, have the latest upgrades improved TorGuard’s user experience? Does TorGuard now deserve a spot on our best VPN list?

In this updated TorGuard VPN review, we’ll put TorGuard through the wringer to determine how the upgrades have changed its usability and performance. As we did before, we’ll evaluate TorGuard point-for-point across features, pricing, user-friendliness, speed, security, privacy, streaming performance, server locations and customer support before giving our verdict.

If you’d rather skip to the conclusion, you can head over to our ExpressVPN review. Although TorGuard gets a lot right, it’s no match for ExpressVPN.

Is TorGuard Any Good?

TorGuard is good enough if you need a VPN to unblock geo-restricted websites and content. It’s also great for torrenting via a SOCKS5 proxy but doesn’t cut it when it comes to streaming.

TorGuard isn’t related in any way to Tor. However, according to TorGuard, the company does support The Tor Project through donations.

TorGuard isn’t free — it costs $4.99/month on the annual plan.

TorGuard can be installed on a variety of devices, including Windows 10 and macOS computers as well as iOS and Android mobile devices. Tutorials for each of these platforms are provided after checkout.

• : PayPal, Credit card, Bitcoin, PaymentWall
• : 5
• :
• :
• :
• :

Average speed
Download Speed 91 Mbps
Upload Speed 9 Mbps
Latency 5 ms
$6.66 / month (save 48%) (All Plans)
ExpressVPN

• : PayPal, Credit card, Google Pay, AmazonPay, ACH Transfer, Cash
• : 6
• :
• :
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Average speed
Download Speed 94 Mbps
Upload Speed 9 Mbps
Latency 4 ms
$3.59 / month (save 72%) (All Plans)

• : PayPal, Credit card
• : Unlimited
• :
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• :
• :

Average speed
Download Speed 93 Mbps
Upload Speed 9 Mbps
Latency 10 ms
$2.19 / month (save 81%) (All Plans)
Private Internet Access

• : PayPal, Credit card, bitcoin, Amazon Pay
• : 7
• :
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Average speed
Download Speed 73 Mbps
Upload Speed 9 Mbps
Latency 45 ms
$2.37 / month (save 81%) (All Plans)
Cyberghost

Strengths & Weaknesses

• Customizable custom scripts
• Inexpensive
• Can access Netflix
• App kill & kill switch

• Difficult to use
• No split tunneling
• No free trial
• Limited money-back return
• Blocked by Hulu, Amazon & BBC iPlayer

Features

One of TorGuard’s strengths is flexibility, which comes at the cost of accessibility, as you can see in the “user-friendliness” section below. Even so, there’s no denying the features packed into the application, no matter how dated their presentation may be.

TorGuard ticks all the boxes for commonplace features, including a kill switch, options to automatically launch on startup and automatically connect when launched. Beyond that, there are multiple options for techies who want to make TorGuard their own. For example, well-versed VPN users can change the encryption protocol, add custom scripts and set up a stealth proxy (shadowsocks).

Trading Necessity for Complexity

The VPN service presents a laundry list of options, but many are irrelevant or reserved only for advanced users. We would gladly trade some of these goodies like adding custom scripts for better usability for more necessary or practical features.

Besides, TorGuard has put vital features like split tunneling on the backburner. Since it doesn’t have a split tunneling feature, you can’t split your traffic to send some of it through the VPN tunnel and the rest via a normal connection. If you use an online backup service, such as Backblaze (read our Backblaze review), split tunneling is essential.

On the bright side, though, TorGuard has some valuable features, including a kill switch. The network kill switch, which you can enable in the “network” tab, blocks all internet connectivity when you disconnect the VPN. In doing so, it ensures that your internet traffic is always secured and encrypted, even when the VPN is accidentally disconnected.

Although similar to network kill switch, TorGuard’s second kill switch feature — app kill — isn’t the same. In principle, the app kill allows you to specify apps that will abide by the kill switch, meaning they will be terminated if your connection to the remote server is lost. For example, if you want to browse the web while protecting your torrenting application, you could add it to the app kill list.

TorGuard Features Overview

Pricing

70 % – Decent

TorGuard has a complex pricing structure that includes three broad tiers further divided into different plans. Namely, these are Anonymous VPN, Business VPN and streaming bundle.

Standard

• Static IP Pool, Port Forwarding, Ad/Tracker Blocking
• Unlimited GB
• 8
• Yes

1-month plan
1-year plan
$29.99 billed every year
Pro

• 1 Dedicated IP, Port Forwarding, Ad/Tracker Blocking
• Unlimited GB
• 12
• Yes

1-month plan
1-year plan
$59.50 billed every year
Premium

• 1 Dedicated IP, Port Forwarding, Ad/Tracker Blocking. Free Router on Annual Plan
• Unlimited GB
• 30
• Yes

1-month plan
1-year plan
$64.99 billed every year
Business VPN Starter

• 5 User package, 5 E-mail accounts, 1 Dedicated IP, HIPAA Compliant
• Unlimited GB
• 5
• Yes

1-month plan
Business VPN Small

• 10 User package, 10 E-mail accounts, 3 Dedicated IP, HIPAA Compliant
• Unlimited GB
• 10

1-month plan
Business VPN Medium

• 15 User package. 15 E-mail accounts, 5 Dedicated IP, HIPAA Compliant
• Unlimited GB
• 15

1-month plan
Business VPN Large

• 20 User package, 20 E-mail accounts, 10 Dedicated IP. HIPAA Compliant
• Unlimited GB
• 20

1-month plan

Anonymous VPN Package

The Anonymous VPN package comes with three pricing plans: Anonymous VPN, Anonymous VPN Pro and Anonymous VPN + free routers. The three plans offer similar features, like access to over 3,000 servers, unlimited bandwidth, malware and ad blocker and access to a stealth proxy (shadowsocks).

However, the plans differ in that the Anonymous VPN base plan allows eight simultaneous connections. On the other hand, the Pro plan and Anonymous VPN + free router provide 12 simultaneous connections– which is more than most VPNs offer. Still, it’s not the best in an era where some providers like Avira Phantom are removing the restriction entirely.

The base plan costs $9.99 per month, which is $3 cheaper than other VPNs. For example, CyberGhost costs $12.99 per month, as you can see in our CyberGhost review. You can bring the price down to less than $5 per month if you choose to be billed semi-annually or annually.

Streaming Bundle

If you choose the streaming bundle, you still get access to the Anonymous VPN features. On top of that, you get two free streaming IPs in countries with the most popular streaming channels, such as the U.S. and UK. According to TorGuard, the streaming IP addresses are unique in that they can never be blocked by streaming services.

The bundle costs $21.98 per month, but you can bring the cost down to $10.20 per month if you go for the annual plan. Considering ExpressVPN, NordVPN (read our NordVPN review), CyberGhost, Windscribe (read our Windscribe review) and countless other VPNs include streaming IP addresses in the base plan, TorGuard’s streaming bundle doesn’t look as attractive.

Business VPN

TorGuard offers Business VPN pricing plans for businesses that want secure corporate data access. Pricing starts at $32.99 per month for five users and goes all the way up to $169 per month for 20 users. Depending on the plan, you get a user portal, 5-20 email accounts, 1-10 dedicated IP addresses, data leak blocking and unlimited bandwidth.

TorGuard Free “Trial”

Plastered across TorGuard’s website, you’ll find badges for a “seven-day free trial,” but that’s a bit misleading. When you click on those badges, it will bring you to a page for the otherwise unadvertised “fresh start” plan.

A “fresh start” means you get a free week to try TorGuard out (the “trial”) when you trade in your current VPN subscription for one with TorGuard. If you cancel your old plan and email proof, you get another month of TorGuard for free.

For users who don’t already have a VPN subscription, TorGuard has a seven-day money-back guarantee. You can cancel in the first week to receive a refund, but that’s lackluster, at best. Most services offer a 30-day money-back guarantee (read our VPNArea review for just one example), making TorGuard’s refund period unimpressive.

User-Friendliness

70 % – Decent

TorGuard’s checkout is easy to get through, even if the website is a little overbearing. There are multiple services available, including business email and a proxy (read our most secure email providers and VPN vs proxy vs Tor guides for more on those services).

No matter where you are, though, you can always click the “join now” button to go straight to the VPN checkout.

Checking out is a cinch. All you need to do is select your product group and add your account details (email address, new password, name and billing address). Lastly, choose a payment option and hit the “checkout” button. TorGuard accepts payments via PayPal, credit cards, Amazon Pay, bitcoin, CoinPayments, Paymentwall and gift card.

After confirming payment, you’ll be redirected to a download page, where you can download the apps for Windows, Mac and Linux devices. Even better, there are direct links to iOS and Android apps’ download pages, as well as to TorGuard extensions for Firefox and Chrome.

TorGuard Windows Client

We installed the TorGuard application on a Windows 10 machine, and although the installation went off without a hitch, we hit a snag when opening the application. The app didn’t appear automatically on the taskbar, despite us choosing to launch the app after installation. We had to click the TorGuard shortcut on the desktop to fire up the Windows client.

We expected TorGuard to have redesigned the Windows client, but our hopes were dashed when we first opened the app. Nothing much has changed: the Windows client is still as unintuitive as ever, which is disappointing. You can read our Mozilla VPN review for a VPN with a super easy-to-use UI.

TorGuard’s UI displays a few options, including the server you’re connected to, VPN protocol, connect button and an option to auto-connect on app launch. The options don’t cram up the UI, but the way they’re laid out makes it look old-fashioned.

Upon launch, TorGuard’s Windows client auto-selects a server for you. If the default server option isn’t favorable, click the “select server” button to pick a location of choice. When we clicked the “connect” button, TorGuard didn’t connect right away. Instead, it prompted us to enter login credentials (email and password), but not before attempting to connect and, in the process, blocking our internet connection.

The provider hasn’t rectified two issues we pointed out in our previous TorGuard VPN review. First, TorGuard doesn’t offer a login button on the Windows app, and so, the only way to log in is to hit the “connect” button. Second, the app doesn’t boot you into a login page when you first open it, which is very uncommon.

After logging in, though, you’ll be connected right away. While connected, TorGuard will display your connection time, protocol, cipher, IP address and bandwidth usage. It allows you to verify your IP address by clicking “verified.” Doing so will open a browser with TorGuard’s IP address checker.

Once you connect, the app locks all other functions except the disconnect button. In other words, you can’t change your location or tweak any of the settings unless you disconnect the app. Another thing is that the app keeps sending an on-screen notification every five minutes or so when turned off, which is annoying.

Windows Client Settings

TorGuard provides some straightforward settings that you can configure without opening the settings page. For example, it takes only a few clicks to change your transport protocol between UDP and TCP, select the cipher you want to use and choose the port.

When you click the “more settings” button, you enter a playground for techies who know what they’re doing. There’s an abundance of advanced settings like DNS configuration settings, options to set up OpenVPN with your minimum TLS version (read more about that in our SSL vs TLS guide) and input custom scripts to run. We recommend leaving everything the way it is if you’re a beginner.

TorGuard’s Browser Extensions

TorGuard offers a Chrome and Firefox extension alongside the PC and mobile apps. The extension also works flawlessly on Opera. However, you can’t install TorGuard on the Opera browser without the help of “Install Chrome Extensions” — an extension that helps you install add-ons from the Chrome Web Store.

TorGuard works just fine on Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi and Brave browsers, too. However, you have to “allow extensions from other stores” to be able to add TorGuard to Microsoft Edge.

The browser extension is an SSL/TLS proxy service, not a separate way to control the VPN from your browser. It has only a few essential functions and settings options to help you browse anonymously, block ads, add custom proxies and exclude some websites from the proxy.

More than that, TorGuard has redesigned the iOS app. The redesign has given the TorGuard client a new, modern look and significantly improved its usability. TorGuard’s Android app is still dated, though.

Speed

For all of its problems, TorGuard is fast, earning a coveted spot on our fastest VPN list. However, as we pointed out in that guide, it’s fast when you’re looking at averages. When looking at individual servers, TorGuard isn’t as impressive. Some locations offer acceptable speeds, while others are abysmal.

Here’s how we tested it: we ran our unprotected connection through speedtest.net, then tried five locations with an encrypted one, starting with the recommended one and moving geographically further away. We did two speed tests. One test used the reliable OpenVPN, and the other the newly-added WireGuard protocol.

TorGuard VPN review

A fast and highly configurable VPN, crammed with expert-level features

published 24 October 2022

(Image: © TorGuard)

TechRadar Verdict

TorGuard is speedy, hugely configurable, and has some uniquely powerful options, but it’s not built for ease of use, and you’ll need to be an expert to really take advantage of the service.

TorGuard VPN deals
TorGuard 3 Years
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Pros

• + Connect up to 8 devices simultaneously
• + Amazing WireGuard speeds
• + Expert-level configurability
• + Bitcoin support
• + Managed to unblock US Netflix

Cons

• – Intimidating for beginners
• – Poor support website
• – Sub-par unblocking performance overall
• – App inconsistencies across platforms

Why you can trust TechRadar

We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

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The name may look very familiar, but despite sharing the same privacy angle, TorGuard has nothing to do with the Tor Project. Instead, it’s a company which offers a range of products, including an anonymous VPN plan for protecting your privacy while using torrents (which is where the ‘Tor’ part of the name comes from).

Specs are good, with 3,000+ servers in 68 locations across 47 countries, WireGuard and OpenVPN protocol support, with multiple stealth options to avoid VPN blocking (OpenVPN obfuscation, OpenConnect, Shadowsocks). You also get custom apps for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS, and setup instructions for Linux, routers and more.

• Want to try TorGuard? Check out the website here

TorGuard VPN subscription options:
• 36 month plan – $3.89 per month ($140.04 total cost)

TorGuard supports connecting from 8 to 12 devices simultaneously, depending on your plan. That’s better than many, although Atlas VPN, IPVanish, Surfshark, Windscribe and others have no fixed device limits at all.

TorGuard’s network mostly supports P2P, although in March 2022 the company announced it had begun blocking BitTorrent traffic on US servers, apparently to prevent ‘network abuse.’

Pricing

TorGuard’s standard plan is reasonably priced at $9.99 a month, $6.66 on the quarterly plan, $5 per month on the annual plan, $4.17 over two years or $3.89 over three years.

This isn’t bad value, but shop around and there’s plenty of cash to be saved. Private Internet Access offers a great service for $3.33 per month on the annual plan, for instance, and a tiny $2.03 a month for three years (with three months free).

TorGuard offers dedicated streaming and residential IPs for multiple countries and US states, potentially allowing you to unblock just about anything in your destination country, from an extra $7.99 a month ($13.99 for residential IPs). There’s way more choice than you’ll get with most vendors, and the residential IPs are far more likely to unblock your favorite websites, but there are cheaper options around. NordVPN provides static IPs for $70 a year ($5.83 a month), while Ivacy asks a minimal $1.99 a month.

The TorGuard Pro plan adds a dedicated IP, improved streaming support, and supports 12 simultaneous connections (up from 8). It’s a little more expensive at $12.99 billed monthly, $9.92 on the annual plan, falling to $6.94 on the three-year plan. But as we’ve mentioned, other providers can charge $5 or more for dedicated IPs. If you’ll use yours, TorGuard might save you money overall.

If you decide to sign up, there’s support for paying via card, PayPal, Bitcoin, gift cards, and many other payment types via Paymentwall. It’s good to see support for PayPal has arrived since our last review, too.

Sign up and a money-back guarantee offers a little protection, but only for 7 days; most providers give you at least 30. There are some potential catches, too, with the small print stating that ‘Geo location, blocks and Info from third party sites do not merit a refund.’ That suggests this isn’t a ‘no questions asked’ guarantee, and you’ll need to give TorGuard a reason for the refund request that will have to be accepted before you’ll get your money back.

Privacy and logging

Most VPN providers use their privacy policy to spell out any logging issues in detail, but TorGuard’s privacy page restricts itself to a single sentence on the topic: ‘TorGuard does not collect or log any data from its Virtual Private Network (VPN) or Proxy services.’ This is just about as basic as any privacy policy can get, but at least it’s easy to read.

Is it true, though? We’ve no idea. And as TorGuard hasn’t put itself through any form of public audit, we’re left to trust that the company is telling it like it is.

TorGuard certainly provides a pile of technical features to enhance your privacy, at least for old hands who can figure out how to use them. Multiple stealth and obfuscation technologies aim to get you connected, even in countries which detect and block regular VPNs. You’re able to take manual control of your encryption algorithm, port and authentication method (AES-256, various CBC and GCM algorithms, SHA1, SHA256, SHA512). Built-in blocking of WebRTC and IPv6 leaks prevents you giving away clues to your identity, and a kill switch blocks internet access if the VPN drops.

We ran a couple of privacy tests, and they also showed TorGuard in a very positive light.

Despite claiming to be in favor of web anonymity, most VPN provider websites include several trackers (Facebook, Google, and more). The Blacklight website scanner couldn’t find anything on TorGuard’s site: no trackers, third-party cookies, browser fingerprinting or anything else.

Similarly, εxodus scans Android apps and reports on any tracking libraries found. Most providers have 1-5, some have 10 or more, but again, TorGuard has none. That doesn’t prove anything, but it’s a strong indicator that TorGuard is genuinely concerned about privacy and making real attempts to do something about it.

Windows app

The Windows app interface has improved over recent years, ditching the old text-heavy look for sleek graphics and a more stripped-back appearance.

The end result looks good and seems easy to use, at least initially. Just tapping the Connect button routes your traffic to TorGuard’s nearest server, and an appealing location list can be sorted alphabetically, by distance or usage. The latter has a Favorites system for your most commonly-used locations, and it can be filtered by continent, dedicated IPs and more.

Connection times were a little longer than expected, with even WireGuard taking around eight seconds. The app noticed this and suggested we check our firewall, but IVPN’s Windows app connected in around one second on the same review system.

The service seemed reliable, though, and we had no connection failures or drops during the review.

Windows settings

TorGuard’s Windows app may look simpler than previous editions, but don’t worry, it’s not ditched all its low-level tweaks and technical detail. It’s just moved them into a hugely comprehensive Settings dialog with more fine-tuning customizations than we’ve seen anywhere else.

Most VPN apps automatically assign their own DNS servers when they connect, for instance, but TorGuard gives you so much more control. You’re able to use multiple alternative DNS providers (Cloudflare, OpenDNS, Level3, Google, Quad9) while you’re connected, change them at other points (when the client starts, while the VPN connects), add custom nameservers as required, refresh the local DNS cache when connected, or save and recover the DNS state of your VPN session.

The client can run scripts before and after connecting, and after disconnecting. This could be handy for launching programs you only want to run when the VPN is active, or perhaps to clean up after it’s closed (delete cookies or your internet history).

The advanced features continue with WebRTC and IPv6 leak prevention, and the ability to choose the network interface TorGuard will block as part of its kill switch (very useful if you have more than one). It’s all hugely configurable, and could be ideal for experts who need to tailor the service for tricky network situations.

If you’re not an expert, though, it’s a very different story. The various settings assume plenty of technical knowledge, and there are no tooltips or extra captions to explain more about what they do. If you’re looking for power, or are willing to experiment, the Settings panel gives you plenty to explore. But if you’re not the technical type, and you’re looking to be guided towards the few settings you really need, TorGuard will feel like an intimidating mess.

Mac app

TorGuard’s Mac app looks much like the Windows edition, and performed well during testing. The highly configurable location list gave us plenty of ways to present and organize TorGuard’s servers, connection times were faster than Windows (3-4 seconds for WireGuard) and we had no VPN drops or other issues.

If you’re a demanding user, the good news is that unlike most of the competition, TorGuard’s Mac app keeps almost all the advanced settings of the Windows client. It’s far more configurable than any Mac app we’ve seen.

But if you’re not the technical type, the bad news is the Mac app settings assume just as much knowledge as with Windows.

The Network tab has an ‘Active Firewall’ checkbox, for instance, cleared by default. There’s no caption, no tooltip or any explanation of what this is for. Do you turn this on if you have an active firewall? Maybe turning this on activates a firewall? When might you want to do this, what might the consequences be? (Don’t feel bad if you haven’t the faintest idea – we were baffled, too.)

All this techno-speak isn’t necessarily a disaster, as if you’re happy with the VPN basics, you probably won’t spend much time in Settings, anyway. But it could mean you waste more time troubleshooting problems, or maybe fail to configure the app for the best possible security, simply because it’s far from clear how to properly set it up.

Mobile apps

TorGuard’s mobile apps look and feel much like the desktop builds, but with some neat extra touches to take advantage of the new form factor.

For example, when we launched the Android app for the first time, it opened in a very standard portrait view: dark background, colorful Connect button, and the currently selected server leading you to the full location list.

Unlike some VPN apps, though, TorGuard also has a landscape mode which rearranges the interface to make better use of the screen space. On a tablet, for instance, it displays both the connect button, and the location list in a left-hand sidebar.

Mobile connection times, like the Mac, were a little faster than Windows at around 3-4 seconds. These may vary depending on your device and network setup, but keep it in mind when you’re testing: the connection times you see on Windows might be slower than other platforms.

There are a few small but annoying inconsistencies between the platforms. The desktop apps can display locations alphabetically, by proximity or usage, for example. That ‘usage’ option is handy, because your most common locations float to the top, but for some reason it’s not available on Android. Meanwhile the iOS app drops both the usage and proximity options – instead it can only sort by ‘name’ and ‘location’ (which both seem to have exactly the same result).

Although this is far from a disaster – you can just add whatever locations you need to Favorites and access them from there – it is a usability and design issue. The best VPN apps don’t force you to find workarounds for interface features like this, because mostly they don’t have them in the first place. As far as possible, given the differences in screen sizes and so on, the apps should work just the same across all platforms.

Mobile app settings

The iOS app Settings panel can’t begin to match what’s available on the desktop. That’s not a surprise, though, and what you get is capable and well-presented.

There’s support for WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2 and IPSec protocols, for instance. You also get optional auto-connect when you access untrusted Wi-Fi, along with ad blocking, a kill switch, and an option to add your dedicated IPs. That’s not bad at all, but the real plus is (unlike the desktop apps) you don’t need a degree in network geekery to figure out how this works. If you’ve used other VPNs, you’ll have no trouble setting up TorGuard’s iOS app.

TorGuard’s Android settings are more mixed. They don’t have the ease of use (or even all the features) of the iOS build. There’s no auto-connect on accessing insecure Wi-Fi, for instance, and no IKEv2 or IPSec protocol support.

But on the plus side, the Android app does have a few of the low-level network tweaks from the desktop apps (static DNS option, IPv6 leak protection, STunnel support). It also has worthwhile new features of its own, including split tunneling (the ability to choose apps which won’t use the VPN), and the option to set your apparent device location, as visible to other apps, to your TorGuard’s server location.

Overall, these apps do have some appeal, thanks mostly to the interface. But the inconsistency witnessed across the range feels a little jarring, and means there’s no guarantee your favorite platform will have the features and approach you need.

Kill switch

Our in-depth TorGuard testing began with a look at the Windows kill switch. This proved trickier than it sounds, because there are three kill switch settings, but eventually we figured it out (we had to enable the Kill Switch checkbox under ‘Seamless reconnect’).

The results were mostly positive. Whichever way we closed our OpenVPN or WireGuard connections, internet access was immediately blocked, the app displayed a warning within a second or two, and our traffic remained protected at all times.

There was one odd difference. When we closed WireGuard, the connection was automatically re-established in a few seconds, but when we closed OpenVPN, it wasn’t, and we were left to reconnect manually.

Inconsistencies aside, the app scored where it matters by blocking our internet and warning us if the connection dropped. Getting reconnected was easy, and we were generally back online within a few seconds.

Performance

We measured TorGuard performance from a US home and a UK data center, both with fast 1Gbps connections.

After installing the latest TorGuard apps, we connected to our nearest locations and measured download performance using multiple speed test sites and services, including SpeedTest (the website and command line app), TestMy.net, Netflix’s Fast.com and more.

WireGuard speeds left most competitors trailing in TorGuard’s digital dust, with downloads reaching a spectacular 950Mbps or more.

If the app can’t connect using WireGuard, then it might switch to OpenVPN, so we check its performance, too. That’s slower at 590-630Mbps, but we’re not about to complain – it’s still two to three times faster than many competitors.

This all puts the company equal top of our speed rankings with Surfshark and Norton Secure VPN also reaching 950Mbps. You probably don’t need that level of performance – even half TorGuard’s speed is enough to stream 10 movies at 4K resolution simultaneously and still have plenty to spare for browsing – but it’s a strong sign that TorGuard both knows what it’s doing, and is investing heavily in its network.

Netflix and streaming

The TorGuard website confidently claims it allows you to ‘connect to any location in the world and experience content without any restrictions.’ Is that the reality, or marketing spin? Let’s find out…

We couldn’t get into BBC iPlayer from either of TorGuard’s UK servers – not a great start. The service got us into Channel 4, but failed again with ITV.

TorGuard got off to a fair start in the US, giving us access to US Netflix from one of our three test locations. But that quickly evaporated as it failed with Netflix in Australia, Canada, Japan and the UK, and we had a couple of further misses in Amazon Prime Video and Disney Plus.

TorGuard fought back right at the end, allowing us to freely stream content from Australia’s 9Now. But it failed with 10 play, our final test service, giving TorGuard a disappointing result overall.

If unblocking websites is a priority, buying one of TorGuard’s dedicated residential IPs may resolve the problem, hopefully forever (no one else will use the IP, so it’s unlikely it’ll be spotted). It’s an expensive solution, though, at an extra $7.99 a month.

Alternatively, you could just choose another VPN. We found ExpressVPN, Hide.me, Ivacy, NordVPN, PureVPN and Surfshark unblocked all our test services in their most recent reviews.

Support

If you’re baffled by TorGuard’s complexities then you could head off to the support site, where you’ll find a knowledgebase, video guides, a user forum, and more.

Explore these sections, though, and you’ll discover that they don’t match the level of help you might see elsewhere.

There’s little content, for instance, and it’s mostly very limited. The ‘Getting Started On Windows’ says little more than download and run the installer, launch the program, log in and hit Connect. Pretty much stating the obvious, really.

The knowledgebase doesn’t explain key terms used within the app and its settings. What’s a ‘WinTun’, you’re wondering? What’s the ‘arm killswitches’ setting about? We entered them into the search box, hoping to find out. There were zero hits for ‘WinTun’. We had two for ‘arm killswitches’, but as neither contained even the words ‘arm’ or ‘killswitches’, never mind the phrase, they weren’t much help. We appreciate TorGuard’s power and versatility, but that’s not much use if you can’t figure out how to make the most of it.

Fortunately, you can contact support agents directly via tickets, live chat and email. We tried raising a ticket and had excellent results, with a first response arriving in 6 minutes, and most replies taking no more than 15 minutes. We’d like to see a better knowledgebase to help users solve problems at their own pace, but in the meantime, the support team should help you quickly fix most issues.

TorGuard review: Final verdict

TorGuard is very fast and has more low-level VPN tweaks and options than just about anyone else, but the awkward interface and limited online help means most users won’t find it as easy to use as the likes of ExpressVPN. Still, this provider is well worth a look for power users who need way more than the VPN basics.