12 Best Torrent Sites for October 2021 That Are Safe and …
Finding a torrent site on Google is more dangerous than you might think. A Google search will usually hide torrent websites and display fake ones that contain dodgy links and irritating ads. There are still a few good sites out there, but finding them will take you ages.
To make your life easier, I tested over 50 torrent sites and shortlisted the top 12. These sites have good reputations, have been online for a long time, and verify most of their torrents for safety. However, even using these sites can put your online safety at risk. That’s why I strongly recommend using a powerful VPN with them to protect yourself.
A VPN will hide your IP address and come with military-grade encryption to keep you safe and anonymous. My favorite is ExpressVPN because of its robust security features and fast speeds for torrenting. It’s also backed by a money-back guarantee so you can test it out yourself completely risk-free. If you’re not impressed, then you have 30 days to claim a full refund.
Important! Torrenting itself is not illegal in most countries, but the file you torrent MAY be if it is still under copyright. My team and I don’t condone illegal torrenting, so be sure to check the rules and regulations in your country before you download anything that might be protected under copyright.
Access Torrent Sites Safely
Short on Time? Here Are the 5 Best Torrent Sites in October 2021
The Pirate Bay — Most well-established torrent download site with plenty of seeders and verified uploaders.
RARBG — Verifies all torrents and has a personalized user experience, but plenty of ads.
1337x — Massive torrent library and simple interface, but has a few fake links.
YTS — The best torrent site for high-quality movies and has small files, but lots of ads.
Torrentz2 — A torrent search engine that’s excellent for music but contains fake links.
7 more torrent sites you can trust | Best VPNs for accessing torrent sites safely
The Best Torrent Sites That Still Work in October 2021
1. The Pirate Bay — The Most Well-Established Torrent Site
Year founded: 2003
Mirror sites/alternate URLs:,,,,,,,,,,
Alexa ranking: 224
Banned locations: United Kingdom, Spain, Singapore, Argentina, Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Austria, Norway, Finland, Sweden, China, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, India, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Kuwait, Russia, Sri Lanka, Germany, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Belgium
Instant download support: Yes
The Pirate Bay is one of the best-known torrent sites globally, with up to 60 million visitors a month. It is available in 35 different languages, and has held the title for the world’s best torrent site since 2018. Even though it was temporarily shut down in early 2020, it’s still thriving and has avoided numerous takedown attempts over the years. The exact number of torrenting files on the site is estimated to be in the millions.
What I liked most about The Pirate Bay was the site’s focus on safety. It verifies uploaders and indicates whether torrents are trustworthy or not. While you can’t guarantee protection from malware and spyware, this verification reduces the likelihood of infection. I also liked its filtering system, too, where I could specify torrents by file format, quality, and console. This saved me a lot of time when searching for Sita Sings the Blues.
Another benefit is that most torrents have at least a few seeders for faster downloads due to the large community (including even old and obscure torrents). In addition, The Pirate Bay has a simple, easy-to-navigate interface. When I searched for a torrent, I could filter my searches by file format, quality, and gaming console (for games), which meant that I didn’t need to assess each torrent individually to find the right one.
A minor con of The Pirate Bay is that it displays a few ads on the site. But you can always use a trusted ad blocker, or even better, protect yourself while downloading torrents with a VPN that comes with an ad blocker built in.
Check out The Pirate Bay
2. RARBG — Verifies All Torrents to Ensure High Quality
Year founded: 2008
Mirror sites/alternate URLs: 185. 37. 100. 122,,,,,,,,,
Alexa ranking: 7, 542
Banned locations: The UK, Bulgaria, Portugal, Denmark, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Ireland
RARBG is known for high-quality torrents, thanks to its group of moderators and active community. The site verifies each torrent that gets uploaded to weed out all the bad ones effectively. But this also means that its library is smaller than other sites, even though it gets updated regularly.
Thanks to its personalized user experience, I found it easy to find and assess torrents. Once I found a torrent, I could hover over the file to see some screenshots, album art, and posters that popped up. I could also filter torrents by size, date added, or the number of seeders and leechers by clicking on the respective icons in each category. Although it does have an unnecessary amount of pop-up ads, so it’s a good idea to use an ad blocker. The easiest solution is to use a VPN with ad blockers built-in to protect your downloads and block all the ads at once.
The site also displays the top ten rankings for each category, and users can add reviews to torrents, too — so you know the files are legitimate. It also lets you use the site as a guest or as a registered member, which makes it a hybrid between a private and a public torrent site.
But since the site verifies all torrents, it has caught the attention of many authorities, which have tried to shut it down. Luckily, no attempts have succeeded.
Check out RARBG
3. 1337x — Huge Torrent Library With Great Variety
Year founded: 2007
Mirror sites/alternate URLs:,,,,,
Alexa ranking: 257
Banned locations: Australia, the UK, Austria, and Ireland
1337x is a well-known torrent website with over 53 million monthly visitors and a vast selection of high-quality torrents. Most of its torrents are movies, TV shows, and music, although it has several games as well. It has been around for a long time and its community is very active, meaning that its torrents are regularly updated every few hours.
I found its user interface is simple and informative, as it includes the technical details of each torrent and other useful information. For example, it’ll display whether a show or movie has been nominated for an award or not, and the number of times it’s been downloaded (this can tell you whether it’s a good quality torrent or not). This is a massive improvement compared to a few years ago when the user interface was slow and clunky.
Another benefit of 1337x is that it has very few ads compared to other sites. In addition, it only makes money through Bitcoin donations, which further shows that it values its users’ privacy.
Even though its community is active, it might still host the occasional bad torrent with spyware or malware, so I’d recommend using an ad and malware blocker to protect yourself just in case.
Check out 1337x
4. YTS — Best Torrent Site for High-Quality Movies
Year founded: 2011
Mirror sites/alternate URLs:,,,,,,,
Alexa ranking: 696
Banned locations: Ireland
YTS (sometimes known as YIFY) is arguably the best torrent website for high-quality movies, with over 75 million users worldwide. The site contains almost 30, 000 titles, many of which come with subtitles and are available in 1080p. Its files are small and don’t compromise quality, so it’s excellent for all bandwidth levels.
It also has a clear and simple interface that reminds me of Netflix. When I searched for the film Carnival of Souls, it provided the tech specs, synopsis, and IMBD ratings of the film, along with a list of similar films and film pictures. But the site has been the target of several copyright infringement lawsuits recently, which raises concerns.
Since YTS specializes in movies, it lacks other types of content, so you’ll need to go elsewhere for music, games, or software. Also, it has annoying pop-up ads, which can jeopardize your privacy. However, the amount of ads has reduced over the years. If you would like to avoid ads altogether, I suggest using a reliable ad blocker. I use a VPN that comes with a built-in ad and malware blocker (CyberGhost). That way I don’t have to endure the ads and I’m anonymous while downloading torrents at the same time.
Check out YTS/YIFY
5. Torrentz2 — Optimized Torrent Search Engine With a Focus on Music
Year founded: 2016
Alexa ranking: 21, 682
Banned locations: None
Instant download support: No
Torrentz2 (formerly known as Torrentz) is a torrent search engine that uses your search query to index torrents from over 90 torrent download sites. From your search results, you can go to one of the sites to download your torrent by clicking on the magnet link. If your favorite torrent site doesn’t have the file that you’re looking for, then Torrentz2 is a great alternative.
Even though you can download all kinds of torrents on Torrentz2, it’s mainly used for music. It gives you access to an extensive music library with an impressive choice of genres but isn’t great for other media types. When I tested it, I had to spend a few minutes looking for the file I was after because the site lacks filtering options. However, you can filter torrents to see if they’re verified or not, which is convenient.
Pop-up ads are also common on the site, as well as fake and misleading links. But a recent update has fixed a lot of bugs, making the site a lot safer.
Check out Torrentz2
6. EZTV — Great Torrent Site for TV Shows
Year founded: 2015
Mirror sites/Alternate URLs:,,,,,,,,,,
Alexa ranking: 3, 163
Banned locations: The UK, Ireland, and Australia
EZTV is known for its selection of TV shows, which are in HD or 1080p. It may not have an extensive library like The Pirate Bay or 1337x, but that’s what happens when you specialize in a particular type of content. It has a convenient “live countdown” list for new releases and a large collection of TV shows, with more old shows than new ones.
Just be aware that new releases tend to be under copyright, so downloading them is illegal and can land you in serious trouble. I strongly advise against it. EZTV also copies content from other torrent sites, which could get you in trouble unknowingly.
That being said, EZTV has a handy drop-down search box — no matter what I searched, I always got results. However, its interface is pretty old and unappealing, and the large number of ads were intrusive. Also, I found it pretty annoying that you can’t download full seasons in one go — you need to download each episode separately, which is pretty time-consuming.
Check out EZTV
7. Limetorrents — Huge Torrent Library With Tons of Variety
Year founded: 2009
Alexa ranking: 3, 001
Banned locations: France, Australia, and the UK
Limetorrents boasts a massive torrent library with over 10 million torrents across all media types, and attracts more than 20 million users every month. Searches on the site always yield plenty of results so you won’t be disappointed. Its library is even larger than The Pirate Bay’s library, which is very impressive.
You can download torrents of movies, games, music, apps, and TV shows, and the site shows the top 100 torrents available for each category. This top 100 list focuses on newer releases — which means most of them are under copyright and illegal to download — so be careful when using this list to make sure you’re not breaking any laws.
Otherwise, Limetorrents has tons of other files which are in the public domain that you can download safely. I also found its interface to be sleek and visually pleasing and liked being able to filter torrents by their health or verification status.
But having millions of torrents has its drawbacks, as quite a lot of them are fake. Also, irritating ads are pretty common on the site.
Check out Limetorrents
8. Torlock — Good Site for Safe Torrent Downloads
Year founded: 2010
Mirror sites/alternate URLs:,
Alexa ranking: 21, 900
Banned locations: The UK, India, and Australia
If you’re concerned about downloading unsafe torrents, then consider using Torlock. The site pays its users $1 for every fake torrent reported, which shows its commitment to your safety. It’s also one of the few torrent sites that still uses domain name, which means it’s well established. In particular, it has a lot of music, eBooks, and anime series in its library.
Its homepage displays the most recent and popular torrents for each category. However, new releases are usually under copyright, which means downloading them is illegal — so beware. I liked that the site also displays all the file specifications for each torrent, including the file size, upload date, seeders, and health. When you search for a torrent, the site will also display torrents containing all of your search terms.
Check out Torlock
9. Zooqle — User-Friendly Interface and an Extensive Torrent Library
Year founded: 2013
Alexa ranking: 2, 086
Zooqle is a new torrent website that’s becoming popular. It has an extensive library that’s particularly good for games, as well as movies, software, TV shows, and eBooks. To diversify its torrent library, it uses links from other torrent sites like Torrenthound and Katcr.
Keep in mind that because games are a relatively new media, most of them are under copyright protection and therefore are illegal to download. My team and I don’t condone illegal torrenting, so be sure to check the rules and regulations in your country.
I found its interface simple and visually pleasing, and its search bar pretty useful. Simply search for any torrent you’re after, and you’ll be given a comprehensive list of related torrents. You can also filter by seeder to leecher ratio and by the quality of each torrent. All torrents contain file specifications as well as comments and reviews from other users. This made it easier to select a good quality version of Kansas City Confidential when I searched for it.
Check out Zooqle
10. IPTorrents — Private Torrent Site That’s Safe
Year founded: Unknown
Mirror sites/alternate URLs:,,,
Alexa ranking: 4, 731
Banned locations: Not available
Unlike the other sites on this list, IPTorrents is a private torrent download site with over 7 million monthly visits. This means you can only use it if you get invited and make a donation. But once you’re in, you’ll get access to a big library and an active community — without any pop-up ads. It’s also safer because it’s much harder for people to spread spyware or malware since not just anyone can use it.
Another benefit of IPTorrents is that its download speeds tend to be faster because members need to comply with seeding quotas. Its only downside is that you’ll need to pay a donation of $20 to get in, which is quite high. Without this donation, you won’t be accepted.
Check out IPTorrents
11. Demonoid — Well-Established Torrent Site With Many Media Types
Alexa ranking: 160, 289
Demonoid is one of the original torrent sites that’s still active today. The site once struggled due to increased political pressure to get it taken down but now has over 10 million users and 1 million torrents. You can find a great variety of media types on Demonoid, including movies, TV shows, music, games, and more. Movies and TV shows are especially popular on the site.
In the past, you needed to create an account to use the site, and registration was only open to those who received the invite. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. I was able to download Night of the Living Dead without signing up.
Check out Demonoid
12. — Specialized Site for Asian Content
Year founded: 2005
Alexa ranking: 895
Banned locations: The UK, US, Japan, South Korea, and Australia
is a specialist site for Asian content, particularly from Japan, China, and South Korea. Its main focus is on anime series, but I also found music and software. The site is a resurrection of the anime torrent site NYAA.
What I liked about is its simplistic interface, which makes it easy to access the files you’re after. Just keep in mind that it’s quite intrusive with its pop-up ads, so you might want to use an ad blocker, or a VPN that comes with an ad blocker built-in.
Check out
Tips on How to Choose the Best Torrenting Sites
Torrent sites can be dangerous places: a lot of the sites aren’t regulated, so they can contain fake links with viruses, tracking software, or malware.
Therefore, choosing a trusted torrent site is crucial in minimizing the risks involved. But to be fully protected, I recommend that you use a trusted VPN (my favorite is ExpressVPN) while browsing any torrent site. It will keep your data safe and can protect you from malicious links.
When choosing a torrent website, I strongly suggest making sure the site you use has some (if not all) the following:
Security features — Choose a site that has been around for at least 5 years, doesn’t have many ads, and verifies its torrent files. But keep in mind that no torrent site is 100% safe because they can leave your data and activity exposed to third parties. To increase your safety when torrenting, I recommend using a VPN.
Lots of variety — Make sure your site’s library has a wide mix of different content types. If you’re after a particular type of content, such as movies, then consider specialist sites too.
Well established — The established year of the torrent site indicates its reliability. If the site has been around for 5-10 years or more and has never been shut down, then that’s a good sign.
High popularity — Choose a website that has a high number of engaged users. Specifically, look for a site with a lot of comments. Comments from past users on torrent files are very useful because they can help you find out whether a file is fake or not.
High seeder/leecher ratio — A high ratio of seeders to leechers indicates a high level of sharing and results in faster downloads.
As few ads as possible — Intrusive pop-up ads are an inevitable feature of many torrent sites. Avoid sites that bombard you with ads or use a VPN with an ad blocker instead.
High Alexa ranking — The Alexa ranking shows how popular the site is in relation to internet users worldwide. A high ranking indicates an active community.
Availability in your region — Some regions block torrent sites more than others, so make sure you can access the site in your area.
How to Stay Safe and Avoid Fake Torrent Sites
Once you’ve chosen a torrent site, there are extra measures you can take to increase your safety. I highly recommend using a quality VPN like ExpressVPN while using torrent websites and downloading torrent files. Using P2P file-sharing software exposes your personal data to every other person seeding or leeching the same file as you — a VPN masks your IP address so no one can see your real info. In addition, if you use a VPN with built-in ad and malware blockers, it can protect you in case you end up on a shady, fake torrent site.
These additional steps will also help you stay safe:
Inspect every torrent — Unverified torrents are often filled with malware. Make sure any torrent you download has been verified, and check its seeder to leecher ratio, user comments, and the uploader’s history.
Use a private search engine — Mainstream search engines like Google hide the URLs of many torrent sites due to the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), and display dangerous fork sites instead. A private search engine like DuckDuckGo won’t hide URLs and will keep your searches private.
Use a safe torrent client — A good torrent website on its own isn’t enough to stay safe and protected. Using a reliable torrent client like uTorrent or qBittorrent will add further protection against viruses, malware, and spyware.
Check files for malware — Check files like RAR, TAR, and ZIP for malware. Pay close attention to EXE files and stay away from WMA, WMV, and password-protected files because they’re outdated and can be dangerous.
Look out for copycat sites — Strange-looking URLs, numerous pop-up windows, and registration demands are all signs of dangerous copycat sites that can expose you to malware and hackers.
Beware of These Fake Torrenting Sites
Some torrenting sites might be popular but could expose your activity and infect you with malware. Here are a few torrent sites that I recommend avoiding:
KickAssTorrents — KickAssTorrents (KAT) was once the most popular torrent site globally, only to be taken down for good. Its founder, Artem Vaulin, has been on the run from US authorities due to numerous charges of copyright infringement. Several copycat sites look similar but require you to install browser extensions to use them, which is a huge red flag.
SUMOtorrent — This site always asks you to download its torrent client to access its library. It’s usually best to stay away from sites that request this because it’s not common and therefore suspicious.
PassThePopcorn — This site is an invite-only site that requires a login and password to use. There’s nothing wrong with invite-only sites, but since you can’t register properly, it’s best to avoid it.
Torrent Galaxy — Torrent Galaxy is a fake version of 1337x and attracts over 8 million users each month. However, it bombards you with ads to no end, so it warrants a mention.
TorrentFunk — A site that was once decent is now full of unwanted ads that are highly intrusive. Its library is pretty small too.
Quick Guide: How to Use Torrent Sites Safely in 3 Easy Steps
Get a VPN. I recommend ExpressVPN because its strong security features keep you safe while torrenting.
Install a safe torrent client. You’ll need to use a torrent client like uTorrent to extract your downloaded torrent files.
Start torrenting safely! Go to a reliable torrent site, find the torrent you want, and click the magnet link to begin downloading.
Try ExpressVPN Now!
Why Do I Need a VPN for Accessing Torrent Sites?
Most torrent websites explicitly warn you to use a VPN before downloading anything – and there’s a good reason for that. Even the most reputable torrent sites and clients come with inherent dangers. It’s easy for cybercriminals to steal your IP address, monitor your connection, and even upload malware-infected torrents.
It’s very easy for other people to see your torrenting activity
A reliable VPN keeps you safe while you’re browsing a torrent website. It masks your original IP address, which means no one will be able to see what you’re downloading, or where you’re downloading it from. This means no one will be able to see what you’re downloading, or where you’re downloading it from. VPN encryption makes your traffic and data unreadable, even to hackers.
Another benefit of using a VPN is that it prevents your ISP from throttling your connection, which it might do if it notices excessive downloading activity on your end. When you use a VPN, your ISP can’t see what you’re doing online, which means you could get faster torrenting speeds.
Best VPNs for Accessing Torrent Sites Safely
1. ExpressVPN — Ultra-Fast Speeds for Downloading Torrents
3, 000+ servers in 90+ countries that are all P2P optimized
Lightning-fast speeds for downloading torrents
Military-grade encryption, automatic kill-switch, and DNS leak protection keep you safe
Strict no-logs policy to keep you anonymous when torrenting
5 simultaneous device connections
30-day money-back guarantee
Compatible with: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, routers, Apple TV, and more
ExpressVPN’s superfast speeds are ideal when downloading torrents from torrent sites. During my tests, I downloaded the film Carnival of Souls from YTS and my download speed reached 45. 6 Mbps. Another factor that contributed to my fast speed was that my activity was hidden from my ISP, which meant that it couldn’t throttle my bandwidth. Wherever you are, you can quickly download torrents with ExpressVPN.
Its robust security features keep you well protected when torrenting. AES-256 bit encryption is the strongest encryption level available and ensures that hackers can’t intercept your traffic. Meanwhile, its kill switch — called “Network Lock” — cuts off your connection if it unexpectedly drops, so your data can’t be exposed accidentally. In short, your data won’t fall into unwanted hands while using torrent sites.
ExpressVPN’s kill switch is great for torrenting
If you only want to encrypt part of your traffic, you can do that with ExpressVPN’s split tunneling feature. Split tunneling allows you to choose which apps will be routed through your VPN and which ones will be routed through your ISP. This means you can conserve your bandwidth, as only a part of your internet traffic will go through the VPN. For example, you could use split tunneling to encrypt your torrenting activity while using your banking app with no encryption.
A minor downside of ExpressVPN is that it doesn’t block ads when browsing torrent sites, which are often riddled with annoying pop-ups. However, it’s highly compatible with numerous ad blockers and recommends a few on its site. If you go to the site right now, then you can also get 49% off your subscription.
You can also try ExpressVPN completely risk-free, as it’s backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you don’t like it, you can easily get a full refund. I was eager to test this policy, so I canceled my subscription on day 30 by contacting customer support through 24/7 live chat. They asked me a couple of questions for their records before proceeding with my refund, which I received after 3 business days.
2. IPVanish — Unlimited P2P Connections When Torrenting
Unlimited P2P connections mean no restrictions when torrenting
Military-grade encryption and advanced protocols keep you safe on torrent sites
Strict no-logs policy keeps you anonymous when torrenting
Split tunneling to choose which traffic to encrypt
Unlimited simultaneous device connections
IPVanish’s servers are all P2P optimized, which means you can torrent without any limitations. This includes no limits on bandwidth, the number of servers you can access, the number of times you can connect to a server, or the type of content you can download. When I tested its US and UK servers, I was able to download several torrents from RARBG and 1337x without any issues.
It encrypts your data with military-grade encryption and offers several advanced protocols to keep you safe on torrent sites. These protocols include OpenVPN, L2TP/IPSec, and IKEv2/IPSec. I recommend using OpenVPN because it’s one of the fastest encryption protocols in the market, so it offers a good balance between security and speed. IPVanish also offers an automatic kill switch, which is quite handy too since it stops your data from being exposed accidentally.
IPVanish comes with some robust security features
To keep you anonymous on torrent sites, IPVanish adheres to a strict no-logs policy. This means that it won’t record any of your online activity when browsing or downloading torrents on sites like The Pirate Bay and RARBG. This can help protect you from hackers who might be lurking around the torrent site you’re using.
What is inconvenient about IPVanish is that it doesn’t accept any cryptocurrency payments, which isn’t ideal for privacy enthusiasts. However, it accepts other payment methods like credit cards and PayPal, and even has a sale right now that lets you get 66% off your total subscription.
You can try IPVanish for free with its 30-day money-back guarantee, and if you find that it’s not for you, you can always get a refund. To get a refund, I simply navigated to my account’s dashboard, clicked on the Subscription tab, then on “I wish to cancel my subscription”. I didn’t even have to give a reason for canceling. Even though my confirmation email said I’d get my money back in 7 days, I had all my money back in just 2 days.
Try IPVanish Now!
3. CyberGhost — Robust Ad and Malware Blocker for Extra Protection
Ad blocker for Windows and Android that block ads on torrent sites
7, 260 servers in 90 countries, including optimized servers for P2P sharing
AES 256-bit encryption and multiple security protocols to secure your connection
Split tunneling to conserve bandwidth when torrenting
7 simultaneous device connections
45-day money-back guarantee
Compatible with Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, Roku, gaming consoles, and more
CyberGhost’s ad blocker makes it a great choice when using torrent websites. When I turned it on, it significantly reduced the number of pop-ads on sites like YTS, RARBG, and 1337x and blocked several banner ads. This is great for privacy, too, because third parties won’t be able to target you with ads based on your browsing activity.
CyberGhost has its own ad blocker for Windows and Android
It also has over 7, 260 servers in 90 countries, including specialized servers for torrenting. These servers are designed to keep you safe when torrenting and increase your download speeds by not throttling your bandwidth. When I tried a couple of its torrenting servers, I noticed a significant increase in speeds when downloading torrents.
By using its AES 256-bit encryption and advanced protocols, you’ll keep yourself well protected on torrent sites. The world’s leading security agencies use AES-256 bit encryption to protect sensitive data. I liked being able to choose between so many different protocols, like OpenVPN, WireGuard, and IKEv2. WireGuard is my favorite because it keeps you well protected without affecting download speeds.
The main downside with CyberGhost is that its short term plans are expensive. However, longer term plans are super-affordable. If you go to its website right now, you can take advantage of its current deal and save 83%.
Also, you can test it for free with a 45-day money-back guarantee and receive a refund at the end of the period. I was curious to see if this policy was legitimate, so I asked customer support to cancel my subscription on the final day. They asked 1 question and then proceeded with my request. After 5 business days, I was fully refunded.
Try CyberGhost Now!
Tips on Choosing the Best VPN for Torrent Sites and Torrenting
Always make sure to look for the following features when choosing a VPN for torrenting:
Military-grade encryption — This level of encryption is impossible to penetrate, which means that third parties can’t intercept your connection and exploit your data. It’s used by leading security agencies and takes several lifetimes to decrypt.
Strict no-logs policy — Some VPNs are known to sell your data to third parties, which is far from ideal when torrenting. Therefore, it’s best to use a VPN that has a proven track record of not keeping logs and has been independently audited.
P2P optimized servers — Choose a VPN that has either specialized servers for torrenting or enables P2P sharing on all its servers. This ensures that you can download torrents without any limitations.
Automatic kill switch — This acts as your last line of defense if your VPN connection suddenly drops. This means your private information is protected while torrenting, even if your VPN stops working momentarily.
Advanced protocols — Choosing the right protocol for torrenting is essential for both safety and speed. I recommend OpenVPN, as it offers excellent protection while hardly affecting your speeds. WireGuard is also a good choice due to its high-speed encryption. In fact, it can even boost your speeds while torrenting. However, keep in mind that it’s a new protocol, so it’s still undergoing testing.
Visit Torrent Sites Safely Today!
Quick Comparison Table: Best VPNs for Accessing Torrent Sites Safely
ExpressVPN
IPVanish
CyberGhost
Military-grade encryption
Yes
Ad and malware blocker
No
IP/DNS leak protection
OpenVPN protocol
Kill switch
Split tunneling
Only for Android and Amazon FireStick
Number of simultaneous devices
5
Unlimited
7
Unlimited bandwidth
Money-back guarantee
30 days
45 days
FAQs on The Best Torrent Sites
What are some of the best torrenting sites?
Some of the best torrent sites include The Pirate Bay, RARBG, 1337x, and YTS. All of these torrent download sites are well-established and have a vast torrent library with various types of content. Some of them, like The Pirate Bay and RARBG, also verify torrents to make sure they’re trustworthy.
If you’re looking for the best torrent sites for a particular form of content, then refer to the below:
Movies — YTS. It has a wide range of high-quality movies. The files are also small without compromising picture quality, so you can download them quickly.
TV Shows — EZTV. Extensive collection of TV shows in either HD or 1080p. It
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Torrent Proxy: How to set up a proxy for your torrents? (2021 …
A torrent proxy allows you to share torrents anonymously. For instance, proxies like the popular SOCKS5 can be more cost-efficient than VPNs and yet provide a similar security level.
In this torrent proxy guide, you’ll learn the advantages, use cases, and configuration of proxies. You’ll also learn the why and when of using a proxy vs a VPN for torrenting. Plus, we’ll also go through the step-by-step proxy setup in torrent clients, such as uTorrent, qBittorrent, and Deluge.
This guide intends to help you maximize your anonymity and privacy while torrenting with proxy servers.
In a nutshell, a SOCKS5 proxy server should be enough to provide you with adequate anonymity and speed. All it takes is configuring your torrent client with the optimal settings and that your proxy server comes from a reliable provider.
Table of Contents.
The benefits of using a proxy for would a proxy do for your torrent client? What type of proxy to use for torrenting? Configuring proxy in a torrent client. uTorrent proxy up a proxy for up a proxy in to set up proxy in to set up proxy in up SOCKS5 proxy in to configure proxy settings on other torrent clients? Final Words
1. The benefits of using a proxy for torrenting.
Proxy servers were designed to simplify complex distributed networks by centralizing requests and responses. There are many types of proxies used for different use cases, but the two most common are HTTP and SOCKS5 proxies. These two proxies provide a different degree of anonymity and functionality.
Obviously, using free proxies or VPNs will not give you an advantage. There are many reasons to get a paid proxy service, but the most important is that service providers will protect your identity, provide support, and provide you with more resources (dedicated or regulated).
a. Benefits of a proxy for torrenting.
Hide your true identity behind the proxy’s identity. So, when you are participating in a torrent swarm and using a torrent tracker, the IP address visible to your peers will be the anonymous proxy’s, and not yours. With the adequate proxy, tracing your torrenting activity back to you (source IP) can be extremely rare and difficult to achieve.
b. Mask your identity (IP).
When you route the traffic of your torrent client, including uTorrent, BitTorrent, Vuze, or qBittorrent, via an anonymous proxy server, your torrent traffic gets a new identity. The P2P and torrent tracker communications are handled by the proxy, and not by your client’s source IP. Having this flexibility, allows you to use segregate your Internet traffic based on application. For example, you could use your normal IP for web browsing and the proxy’s IP for torrenting.
c. Faster torrent transfer.
A proxy server can be an extremely efficient way to hide your identity within torrent swarms and trackers and still get decent download speeds. Proxies lack encryption overhead, so they are generally faster than VPNs, but less secure. For more on this comparison and more, check our deep VPNs vs proxies comparison.
d. Won’t keep logs.
Traffic logs could be the only way to link a proxy’s IP activity to your IP, and the proxy server provider is the only one with access to these logs. However, the advantage of paid proxy service providers is that they do not keep those logs. On the other hand, free proxy servers might even be free due to the fact that they sell data logs to third-party marketing, advertising, or law firms.
e. Support and allow torrent traffic.
The majority of proxy providers do allow torrent traffic. As long as you are using a SOCKS5 proxy, all your torrent traffic can be routed towards the proxy server.
2. What would a proxy do for your torrent client?
As mentioned earlier, without a proxy, peers sharing a singular torrent file will be able to see the identity (public IP address) of every other peer within a torrent swarm. Obviously, this isn’t a bad thing. After all, giving your IP is how P2P operates and shares information. But having your public IP address exposed in this way isn’t a good thing when torrent swarms (especially in public trackers) are filled up with ill-intentioned hackers or copyright trolls.
Without a proxy, any IP disclosed in the swarm, can be easily logged and then ran through IP traceback technology.
With those popular geolocation services or IP traceback technology, most IP addresses can be traced to their country of origin, town, ISP, and sometimes even to a home address.
With a Proxy?
Your participation in the torrent swarm and communications with the tracker server will happen through the proxy’s IP. Your uTorrent or BitTorrent client will forward their traffic to the proxy so that it uses its identity to talk to the torrent swarm and tracker.
What wouldn’t a proxy do?
A proxy does not encrypt traffic in the same way a VPN does. Obviously, this has its disadvantages and advantages. First, not using encryption makes your traffic “potentially visible” to the eyes of any middle-man, which includes your ISP, hackers, or government. Anyone could identify your torrent traffic via port numbers and throttle its bandwidth simply by setting up a packet sniffer or a Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) device at the first or middle mile.
For example, my Vuze torrent client is using a listening port, 25849 UDP. Someone could set a Wireshark packet trace to a set of network interfaces and then filter for that specific could read my interface IP (public or private) and the destination IP (a peer in the torrent swarm). This shows that someone within the network is using a P2P application. A proxy does not encrypt the contents of this traffic, especially port information and data.
The advantage of not using encryption is simply the lower overhead. Compared to VPNs, proxy servers are much faster and efficient for those bandwidth-intensive traffic applications, like P2P and torrenting.
3. What type of proxy to use for torrenting?
There are different types of proxies out there. The most frequent and available are HTTP and SOCKS5, which can be used for a wide variety of applications. But when it comes to torrenting, SOCKS5 can be a much better option.
SOCKS5 vs HTTP proxies for torrenting.
Technically, you could use HTTP/HTTPS proxies for torrenting, but these are designed for anonymous HTTP web browsing (port 80 or 443). You’ll have to configure your torrent client to use these web browsing ports, which can be good because they are generally not blocked by ISPs, but they will likely leak torrent data easily. Plus, HTTP proxies transport the entire hypertext data, which makes it slower.
SOCKS5 proxy servers are recommended over the HTTP proxies for torrenting.
Why?
SOCKS5 works at the session (layer 5 of the OSI model) level, which means they don’t rewrite requests or responses, and they are not forced to use a specific protocol, as layer 7 proxies do (HTTP). SOCKS5 can be used for web browsing, torrenting, gaming, file transferring, etc. The SOCKS5 may be used with authentication. SOCKS5 proxies are the only type of proxy that provides optional authentication. With this feature, only authorized users may access the SOCKS5 proxy server. User/password authentication mechanisms for SOCKS5 are defined in RFC1929.
4. Configuring proxy in a torrent client.
So now, you know why you need to mask your identity and the benefits of using a SOCKS 5 proxy. It is time to configure the proxy information in your torrent client.
To configure a proxy, you’ll need the IP address (or hostname) of the proxy, port number, and in some cases, authentication. But bear in mind that not all torrent clients allow proxy configuration.
The popular torrent clients with build-in proxy settings include:
uTorrent BitTorrentqBittorrentDelugeVuzeTixati.
Some of these torrent clients provide a great degree of flexibility and added security when configuring a proxy. For example, you can configure your client to use the proxy only for peer connections. This option will ensure that your home IP address does not leak peer connections. In addition, you can also only choose your client to use the proxy for tracker communications.
Some torrent clients allow you to disable connections not supported by proxies. For example, when a peer connection does not support the proxy, it will likely drop the connection, making your ISP or anyone in between notice. Instead, disabling all these connections that do not support proxy will help avoid leaks.
5. uTorrent proxy setup.
uTorrent is a multiplatform torrent client, supported by Microsoft Windows, Linux (server version only), macOS, and Android. You can get uTorrent through different consoles, including uTorrent Web, uTorrent mobile, uTorrent Remote, and uTorrent Desktop classic and Pro.
Some of these uTorrent clients do allow changing the proxy settings, but not all.
uTorrent Web and uTorrent Mobile won’t let you modify the proxy settings. uTorrent Desktop classic and uTorrent Pro do support proxy configuration.
How to set up SOCKS5 proxy in uTorrent for Windows?
To configure uTorrent proxy in your Windows machine:
Go to “Options > Preferences > Connection > Proxy Server. Here you’ll be able to select the type of Proxy Server (SOCKS5), the proxy IP or domain, port (SOCKS is usually 1080), and then authentication (if required). Check “use proxy for peer connections” and “disable connections not supported by proxies. ”
To improve your anonymity level when setting a uTorrent proxy:
The uTorrent proxy configuration can be improved with additional features. In addition to the previous selection, if you want to enhance your anonymity, you can also do the following:
In uTorrent’s Connection window, check the “Use proxy for hostname lookups” option. Rather than having your client resolve hostnames in plain text, make the client forward DNS queries to the SOCKS5 proxy. This option avoids potential DNS leaks. Check “Use proxy for peer-to-peer connections. ” Choose this option so the proxy’s IP is used on the peer-to-peer connection. Check everything under “Proxy Privacy. ” These settings below “Proxy privacy” will help you avoid potential IP leaks. Click on “Apply” > “Ok” > and restart your client.
6. How to set up a proxy for BitTorrent.
Although BitTorrent and uTorrent look alike, they do have some differences like size and number of releases. The BitTorrent client is supported by Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows. Plus, BitTorrent has the following versions, Android, Classic, and Web. You can only modify the proxy settings in the BitTorrent Classic and Pro versions.
To configure a proxy for the BitTorrent classic client, follow these steps:
Go to “Options > Preferences > Connection > Proxy Server. Enter the BitTorrent proxy server information, including IP or hostname, port, and credentials (if required) the two options: “use proxy for peer connections” and “disable connections not supported by proxies. ”
Similar to uTorrent’s configuration, check the following options to avoid IP leaks. Improve the Bit torrent proxy configuration with the following features.
Check the “Use proxy for hostname lookups” and “Use proxy for peer-to-peer connections” options. Check everything under “Proxy Privacy. ”Click on “Apply” > “Ok” > and restart your client.
7. How to set up proxy in qBittorrent.
qBittorrent is a popular cross-platform torrent client supported by: FreeBSD, Linux, macOS, OS/2, and Windows. The current stable versions, as officially stated, are for the following platforms, Windows (7, 8, and 10), macOS (Mojave, Catalina, and Big Sur), and Linux (Source Tarball). Fortunately, you can configure your qBittorrent proxy in all these versions.
To set up the proxy on qBittorrent client for Windows:
Go to Tools > Options > Connection > Proxy Server. In the Proxy Server section, enter the type of proxy (HTTP or SOCKS5), the Host or IP address of the proxy server, and the port number. The proxy service provider should give you all this information. Check the “use proxy for peer connections. ” This option will ensure that your home IP address does not leak peer connections.
Setup qBitTorrent proxy for macOS?
Go to Preferences > Connection > Proxy Server. Enter the proxy’s information and check the “use proxy for peer connections”.
8. How to set up proxy in Deluge.
Deluge is another popular torrent client supported by FreeBSD, Linux, macOS, and Windows. Thankfully, you can configure Deluge proxy settings for any of these platforms. To optimize speed and improve anonymity, check this comprehensive guide to Deluge.
Configure the proxy on Deluge for Windows, using the following steps:
To open Deluge proxy settings, go to Preferences > Proxy.
As you notice, you’ll see four different sections to configure Proxy information in Deluge: Peer, Web Seed, Tracker, and DHT. A different approach on how to configure proxy settings compared to other torrent clients.
Side Note: Many experts in the area suggest that after libtorrent 0. 16, all the torrent traffic uses the proxy and not separate sections, as Deluge’s settings suggest. Libtorrent is an open-source implementation of the BitTorrent protocol. Its main features are the support for Mainline DHT, IPv6, HTTP seeds, and uTorrent’s peer exchange. Our recommendation is to update your Deluge torrent client and set your proxy information on all four sections. But, you can also update libtorrent for Deluge.
What is each of these Deluge proxy settings for? “Peer” to exchange torrent content with peers via proxy. “Web Seed” to share the contents of the torrent with a server. “Tracker” to exchange IP information with a tracker via proxy. “DHT” to share IPs with a Distributed Hash Table.
As suggested above, configure your Deluge Proxy settings on all four sections. Type your SOCKS5 username/password (if needed) and add the Host (Server IP) and port number.
9. How to set up proxy in Vuze.
Vuze is a fully-featured and robust BitTorrent client, supported by Linux, Windows, Android, and OS X. Thankfully, you can configure Vuze proxy in all of these platforms.
Set up a SOCKS5 proxy in Vuze for Windows:
To configure Vuze proxy, go to Tools > Options > Connection > Proxy. If you can’t access the “Proxy” option, you’ll need to enable the advanced configuration. Go to Options > Mode > and click on “Advanced” to unlock full access to all settings and features. Expand “Connection” settings again and choose Proxy.
Vuze divides the proxy configuration into two sections: Tracker Communications and Peer Communications.
Check on “I have a SOCKS5 proxy” and on “Enable proxying of tracker communications [restart required]. ” These two options ensure that the torrent tracker you are connecting to uses the proxy’s IP and not the SOCKS5 proxy’s configuration, including Host, port (1080), and authentication (if required).
Check on the “Enable proxying of peer communications (outgoing connections only)” box. Although not mandatory, “Check on “inform tracker of limitation. ” Choose the SOCKS version as “V5” on the dropdown menu. Check on the “Use same proxy settings for tracker and peer communications proxy” box. Leave the rest by default, and click on Save. Vuze has this great feature that allows you to test the SOCKS proxy connection right from the configuration panel. Go ahead and test your proxy connection!
Once connected to the SOCKS5 proxy, Vuze will show a small connectivity status icon on the bottom of the interface in the status area. You can also see the detailed SOCKS5 connection information in the statistics view.
Set up SOCKS5 proxy in Vuze, for macOS:
The Vuze macOS client uses a similar GUI to Windows.
To change your Vuze proxy settings for macOS: Go to Options > Preferences > Connection > Proxy. To unlock proxy settings, go to Mode, then click on Connection > Proxy, enable both Tracker and Peer Communications for maximum anonymity. Vuze separates these two types of torrent connections so that you can separate proxying for tracker proxying of peer your SOCKS5 proxy information, and choose V5 as the SOCKS version. At this point, you can Test your proxy connection.
If you tick on “Use the same proxy setting for tracker and peer communications proxy, ” you won’t have to enter the information again.
Leave the rest by default and restart your torrent back to your Vuze client and test the connection of your SOCKS5 proxy.
Once connected to the SOCKS5 proxy, Vuze will show a small connectivity status icon on the bottom of the interface. In addition, you can also see the detailed SOCKS5 connection information in the statistics view.
To see the connection details of your proxy.
Tools > Statistics > the top right, you’ll see the SOCKS panel. Click on “more. ”This window will show you the proxy’s connection stats.
10. Set up SOCKS5 proxy in Tixati.
Tixati is a Linux and Window BitTorrent client designed for light computer resources. Like all other torrent clients, Tixati has built-in proxy support. But there is a difference, Tixati only supports TCP connections going out through the proxy, which means that UDP traffic won’t be forwarded to the proxy. UDP is essential for P2P features, including DHT and Magnet links.
If you decide to use a proxy on Tixati, bear in mind that only TCP connections will be routed through the proxy. All non-supported UDP connections will not use the proxy tunnel, so there is the risk of getting your IP exposed.
To configure the Tixati proxy settings:
Disable DHT and UDP. Since Tixati does not route UDP-based peer-to-peer traffic through the proxy, you should disable DHT and UDP trackers to prevent IP leaks. Disabling UDP connections will not affect your torrenting experience, as long as your proxy provider provides good TCP to Settings > DHT > Disable DHTGo to Settings > Transfers > Disable UDP trackers.
Enter Tixati proxy information. Now, go to Settings > Network > Proxy. In addition, notice that Tixati proxy settings point out the lack of UDP support with “TCP Outgoing Connection Proxy” and the below IMPORTANT note. Select SOCKS5 proxy, and enter the proxy’s information. Tick on “Use proxy to resolve names, ” if you want the SOCKS5 proxy to resolve the hostname to IPs. The reason for this is that DNS uses either TCP or UDP, so even if you are using a proxy, UDP connections might leak your IP. If you enable this feature, the name resolution will be taken care of by the SOCKS5 proxy.
11. How to configure proxy settings on other torrent clients?
Not all popular clients support proxy configuration. In fact, some popular clients have deprecated its support due to data leaks, while others have maintained it. Below is a brief list of the current landscape of proxy support on popular torrent clients.
Transmission: A popular macOS client that used to support proxy configuration. Proxy support in Transmission was deprecated on version 1. 4. Unfortunately, there is no plan to implement proxy support in this client after version 1. Ticket 3688. rTorrent: No support for proxy configuration. tTorrent: Android torrent client that does support proxy configuration. Open tTorrent > Top left Menu > Settings > Network Settings > Proxy Settings. Tick the “Use Proxy” box > click on Proxy Settings > enter the Proxy information. BitComet: Supports HTTP/HTTPS and SOCKS5. To set up proxy on BitComet: From the BitComet client, go to Tools > Options > Proxy > Enter your proxy configuration. Leave the rest of the options unchecked, except for “DNS query using proxy server”. BitLord: Supports HTTP/HTTPS and SOCKS5. To set up proxy on BitLord: go to Options > Preferences > Connection > Proxy. Enter your proxy’s configuration.
Final Words.
Using a torrent proxy is the best idea if you want to remain anonymous without compromising torrent speed and performance. Using a VPN while torrenting obviously has the benefit of encryption and IP masking, but generally, if configured properly, a SOCKS5 proxy from a reliable provider (not free) should be as secure as a VPN (if not more).
The most popular torrent clients, like BitTorrent, uTorrent, Deluge, qBittorrent, Vuze, etc., come with built-in proxy setting support. You can, not only configure proxy settings for these clients but also set up additional options to lower the risk of a data leak.
Get an IPv6 and IPv4 proxy to improve the torrenting experience and anonymity. Rapidseebox, offers, optimized, anonymous, IPv6, and IPv4 proxies for everyday use and with a 24-hour money-back guarantee.
Frequently Asked Questions about itorrentz proxy
Is proxy safe for torrenting?
The best/most-secure proxy type for torrenting is Socks5 (don’t use HTTP proxies). A proxy allows your Torrent IP address to be different than the IP for all other internet traffic (good). Unfortunately, most torrents don’t encrypt their traffic, so your ISP could still monitor your downloads if they wanted to.Jul 5, 2017
Can you go to jail for torrenting?
It depends on the circumstances, but no, it’s highly doubtful you would go to jail for torrenting. Most lawsuits regarding torrenting are civil suits, not criminal ones, so if a penalty is levied, it’s usually a fine or some other monetary compensation.Apr 8, 2021
How do I torrent movies in 2021?
Best torrent websites 2021 – Quick listThe Pirate Bay – The ultimate Torrenting King. … 1337.x – The best all-in-one platform. … RARBG – Verified new P2P uploads. … YTS – Best for movies. … Kickass Torrents – Best for TV shows. … TorLock – Top choice for anime and ebooks. … Torrentz2 – Best for music.More items…
