Is Surfshark Good for Torrenting?

Surfshark is one of the latest services to enter the VPN market, and it has already conquered a place in the torrent community. On paper, this VPN ticks all the boxes of a solid torrenting VPN.

• Allows torrenting
• Kill Switch
• No-logging policy

Try Surfshark

Surfshark has a friendly policy regarding file-sharing, fast speeds, P2P servers, and good security features. These include military-grade encryption and a kill switch. In addition, the company behind the VPN has a clear no-log policy. Overall, Surfshark VPN is a reliable and secure option for torrenting.

Pros

• Allows P2P file-sharing
• No logging or data retention
• Good combination of security features
• Good download speeds
• One of the best prices in the VPN market
• Impressive for a newcomer VPN

Cons

• At first sight, it may be hard to know which servers allow P2P
• No kill switch for Linux users

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In this review, we will put Surfshark’s features to the test and evaluate its performance, security, and overall usability for torrenting. I hope that by the end of this post, you will better understand whether this VPN is the right choice for your torrenting needs.

Does Surfshark Allow BitTorrent Traffic?

Surfshark VPN does allow torrent downloads. One clear indicator of this is the fact that they have servers specifically designated for torrenting. By offering a specific set of servers for torrenting, Surfshark demonstrates its commitment to providing a safe experience for torrent users.

How to Torrent With Surfshark?

P2P Servers

Surfshark has around 3200 servers spread across approximately 100 countries, but torrenting isn’t allowed in all of them.

Surfshark only allows torrenting on a select number of servers. If you attempt downloading torrents on any other server, you will be automatically redirected to one of the designated servers where torrenting is allowed.

How to know which servers allow torrents?

I could only find one way to determine which servers allow torrenting on Surfshark. Unfortunately, they do not mention this information on their website. You will have to go to their speed test tool, in the “VPN Settings” tab, as shown below.

Built-in server speed test

This feature is designed to let you test the speed and performance of each server. There is a tab just for P2P servers; from there, you can see each of them.

List of P2P servers

To make your life easier, I made this list by checking the feature mentioned above and writing them down one by one. So, if you don’t have Surfshark yet, you can check their P2P designated servers here:

Safety Features

In this section of our review, I will examine Surfshark’s features that can impact your torrenting experience. I’ll go over each one and discuss how they can benefit your P2P downloads.

Kill Switch

This feature is crucial for P2P. It automatically kills your Internet if the VPN connection drops. While Surfshark users rarely experience dropped connections, the kill switch ensures that your real IP address isn’t exposed if this issue occurs.

I was happy to see that the Surfshark team added a second type of kill switch to the software in one of their latest updates. Here are both options explained:

Soft kill switch: It’s activated when the VPN connection is lost due to an accidental disconnection or other temporary interruption. It prevents the user’s real IP address from being exposed by blocking all internet traffic until the VPN connection is reestablished.

Strict kill switch: This newly added version is activated if the VPN connection is lost for any reason, including an intentional disconnection. That means the Internet will shut down even if the user turns the VPN off. In other words, you will only have Internet if the VPN is on.

DNS Leak Protection

The DNS protection is always activated to ensure your identity does not leak whenever a DNS request is made. Unlike other VPNs, Surfshark does not allow you to turn this feature on or off.

Encryption and Protocols

Surfshark offers five VPN protocols and uses AES 256-bit network encryption to ensure that connections remain private. The protocols include OpenVPN (UDP and TCP) and WireGuard. 

The main interface shows you the essential

Finally, when it comes to security features, Surfshark’s main interface shows you the main details you need to know. From there, it’s possible to check the IP address being used at the moment and the connection status. You can even turn the kill switch on and off from the main interface.

Extra Features

Besides the tools I’ve already discussed, such as the kill switch and the DNS leak prevention, some features can help you improve your torrenting experience.

Bypasser: allows you to select which programs operate through the secure VPN tunnel and those that don’t. This is also known as the split tunneling tool.

CleanWeb: helps keep you safe while browsing the web through the VPN. It’s an anti-malware solution that blocks ads, malware, and trackers. Since many torrent sites contain malware in their ads, such a tool can be helpful.

MultiHop: also known as a “double VPN”, this tool routes traffic through multiple VPN connections before coming out the other end. It may be overkill for some users, but it adds another security layer. It’s rare to find this feature at no extra charge.

Price

The price is one of the factors that torrenters appreciate most about Surfshark. It’s famous for being a budget-friendly VPN. Right now, users can choose between three different pricing plans:

Like most services, you save more money when you choose a longer billing cycle. With the monthly plan, you pay $12.95 per month. Most users will agree that the monthly rate is steep. Luckily, the following two options save you a considerable amount. 

The two-year plan costs $53.28 and renews every two years. With two additional free months, it makes an average of $2.05 per month. There is no reason to choose the 12-month plan, as you can get more than double the time for an additional $5.4.

If you aren’t happy with the service, they have a money-back guarantee policy of 30 days. Keep in mind that such a policy applies only to the 2-year plan.

Security Tests

As part of our evaluation of Surfshark’s suitability for torrenting, we conducted several tests to verify its security. These tests were designed to check for potential vulnerabilities that could allow our real IP address to be leaked.

We also tested Surfshark’s DNS leak protection measures to verify if it could effectively route our requests through the VPN, instead of the ISP.

The test I am sharing is one of many we conducted, and it was performed while connected to a P2P server in the Netherlands.

Basic IP Test

The simple IP check test came back clean, with no indication of an IP leak. This means that Surfshark’s servers and protocols could successfully mask my real IP address.

DSN Leak Test

There were no IP leaks or vulnerabilities detected during the DNS leak test. Every request was routed how it was supposed to; through Surfshark’s DNS servers.

This is a significant result, as a DNS leak can expose users to various security risks. Those include the compromise of sensitive data and unauthorized online activity tracking.

Torrent detection test

This is the most important test in this review. It is crucial to determine whether Surfshark can protect users’ privacy and security while torrenting.

We are pleased to report that this test also came back clean. The outcome of this test is significant, as it demonstrates Surfshark’s ability to mask users’ torrenting activity and prevent it from being detected by third parties.

Torrent Speed Tests

Before we move on, it’s important to mention that every VPN will impact your speed because its encryption consumes resources.

Our team performed several tests on different servers to verify how fast we could download a torrent file while connected to Surfshark. On average, we registered a speed loss of approximately 15% when connecting to nearby servers. As you probably know, the closer you are to the server, the faster your download speed will be.

For reference, the test I am sharing was performed in Poland, and I was connected to a server in Denmark, which is not far away.

Generally, we consider 15% or below a very good speed here at BitTorrentVPN; and Surfshark is right on that limit. To be more precise, this particular speed test shows us a 14.97% speed loss. In other words, I maintained 85.03% of my regular Internet connection speed.

Considering that the software has only a few years, it’s pretty impressive. These test results are comparable to other top VPN services that have been improving their speed for many years.

Other test locations

To help you understand how distance plays a role in download speed, I am also sharing average results on two other locations further than the one above.

Portugal: (Same continent but distant from where the test was performed) – This server’s speed loss averaged 24%.

Canada: (Very far from the test location, on a different continent) – The speed bump was quite noticeable here. We saw a loss of 49%, which is understandable.

Compatibility

The software works with almost every device. The app features an intuitive user interface no matter which platform you use. The main features and settings are easy to find and use on every platform.

The fact that they have no limits for simultaneous connections was a pleasant surprise. Users can have all their devices protected at the same time. That’s a good option for entire families.

It’s the only VPN on our list that currently offers unlimited connections. I can’t wait to see if other providers will take this path.

What Do Users Say About Torrenting with Surfshark?

Here are some opinions about Surfshark in some threads I’ve checked on Reddit.

Overall, users seem to be happy with Surfshark for their torrent needs. The main things users point out on Reddit seem to be the VPN’s stability and good speeds.

The Surfshark Company

There are several rules a VPN provider has to respect to be considered safe for torrenting and P2P. Below, I analyze the main security details of the company behind Surfshark.

Company Location

Surfshark B.V. is located in the Netherlands, and it was founded in 2018. The Netherlands does not abide by the same privacy regulations and data retention laws as some other stricter countries in the EU, which is good news for VPN users.

No logging policy

Surfshark doesn’t need to handle activity logs to foreign or domestic governments due to its neutral company location. What’s even better is that they don’t have to save logs, including torrent activity logs. The only thing they keep is time stamps used for debugging purposes. And these are deleted after 15 minutes after a session ends.

To make their users even more relaxed, the company clearly states their position regarding logs on privacy policy, available on their website. The following excerpt mentions that their activity isn’t stored and cannot be passed on to governmental agencies.

Should You Torrent with Surfshark?

Surfshark is a good option for most users, but a few drawbacks may not be convenient for some. Here’s what I liked and what I think could be improved.

What I liked about Surfshark

What I think could be improved

Conclusion

Surfshark is a good option for most torrent users. It has all the necessary features, a company with clear policies, no ambiguities, and a good download speed.

Overall, the clean results of the security and speed tests give us confidence in Surfshark’s ability to provide a secure and reliable service for torrenting.

I like the fact that a relatively new player can compete with big names in the VPN market. I can’t wait to see what’s coming.

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