When it comes to location, the United States is not the best place to base a vpn company today.
This is because the US is a founding member of the 14 eyes countries surveillance alliance of countries that spy on their citizens and share their personal information amongst each other.
That being said, there are two popular vpn services that based in the United States: IPVanish and TorGuard.
In this IPVanish vs TorGuard comparison today we are going to look at these two US based vpns to establish which is a better vpn overall.
We’ll compare both IPVanish and TorGuard along the lines of their connection speeds, streaming as well as torrenting support.
I hope that by the end of this TorGuard vs IPVanish comparison you’ll be able to between either IPVanish or TorGuard.
So without further ado, let’s get started.
Here is a quick summary.
IPVanish | TorGuard | |
Website | ipvanish.com | torguard.net |
Servers | 1,400 | 3,000 |
Jurisdiction | United States | United States |
Streaming | Netflix US, Hulu, Amazon | Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, iPlayer |
Speed | 4.2/5 | 4.4/5 |
Torrenting | P2P servers | All servers |
Kill Switch | YES | YES |
Works in China? | NO | YES |
Devices | 10 | 8 |
Pricing | $ 6.49/month | $ 59.99/year |
About
IPVanish, like I already said, is a VPN company that is based in the US that provides secure internet access and the ability to access geo-restricted content on platforms like Netflix.
Here is a detailed IPVanish review.
TorGuard, just like IPVanish, is based in the United States and provides anonymous Internet access and torrenting through their anonymous VPN services.
Here is an indepth TorGuard review.
Server Collection
Which vpn between IPVanish and TorGuard will give you more options when it comes to choosing the server to connect to.
If a vpn has more servers, they are not only able to even spread server load across different other serves but also able to available multiple servers in different that you might want to connect to.

IPVanish, at as the time of writing this IPVanish vs TorGuard comparison, has a collection of 1,300 servers in 75 different countries.
TorGuard, on the other hand, has a collection of 3,000 vpn servers that they have spread over 50 different countries.

Even though TorGuard has more servers in general compared to IPVanish, IPVanish has done a better job of distributing their servers across different countries.
If you are looking for a vpn with a larger geographical coverage then I recommend IPVanish.
Streaming
Now that both of these vpns are located in the United States, you expect them to at least be able to unblock streaming content that is destined for the US audience on the various streaming platforms, right?
Not so fast.

Let’s compare TorGuard vs IPVanish in terms of their ability to unblock popular video streaming websites.
IPVanish, luckily, is able to unblock Netflix libraries when you are connected to their US based servers.
You’ll be able to stream your favorite tv shows destined for the US audience without experiencing any proxy server errors.
However, that’s it with streaming using IPVanish.

When I tried to access other streaming sites like Hulu and BBC iPlayer using their servers based in the US, my IP was blocked and I was not able to stream anything more than Netflix for the US.
TorGuard, on the other hand, performed dismally.
I was not able to unblock any streaming platform using any of the TorGuard servers that are based in the United States… or any other country for that matter.
Apparently, none of TorGuard servers can unblock Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime or even BBC iPlayer.
Because this is something that you purchase separately, it adds to your cost of using this TorGuard vpn.
If you are looking for a vpn that is great for streaming Netflix US, then I recommend IPVanish.
However, TorGuard dedicated IPs are able to unblock most of the streaming platforms that you’ll need… you just have to purchase it separately.
Speed
So which is the faster vpn between IPVanish and TorGuard?
Connection speeds are crucial if you want a vpn that will deliver you a great user experience.
Let’s now do a TorGuard vs IPVanish comparison in terms of their speeds.
In order to test the connection speeds of these two vpns, I connected to three of their servers based in the US, UK and Hong Kong.

I then used speedtest.net to measure the download and upload speeds before and after connecting to these vpns.
IPVanish was able to give me download speeds that were 84% on average of my initial download speeds before connecting to their servers.
TorGuard, on the flip side, maintained an average download speed that was 87% of my initial download speeds.

It is therefore clear that TorGuard is a faster vpn compared to IPVanish.
If you are looking for a vpn with fast download speeds then I recommend TorGuard anonymous vpn.
Torrenting
How about torrenting support?
Which vpn between IPVanish and TorGuard has better support for torrenting?
Never start downloading any torrent file before first connecting to an anonymous vpn or proxy service.

You need to hide your real IP address using these services to ensure that your torrenting activities cannot be traced back to you.
IPVanish currently will enable you to download torrent files from the internet but only if your connect to their P2P optimized servers.
In order to located the P2P servers, you’ll click on the torreting tab in the applications menu.
You’ll then get a list of torrenting enables servers that you choose to connect to.
TorGuard, on the flip side, support torrenting activities on all their servers.

So you don’t need to first connect to any specialized P2P servers before you can start torrenting… any of their servers can do.
At the time of writing this TorGuard vs IPVanish comparison, none of these vpns keep logs of your IP address so your torrenting is completely private and anonymous.
If you are a looking for a vpn for torrent downloads then I recommend TorGuard because it not only allows torrenting on all its servers but it also lets you torrent with better download speeds than IPVanish.
Privacy Policy
It is through their privacy policy that will know if a vpn is logging too much information about you or not.
If a vpn logs less identifiable information about you, it makes it harder for them to identify who you are which is great for your anonymity online.
So how does IPVanish vs TorGuard compare in terms of their privacy policies?

First of all, both TorGuard and IPVanish are based in the United States, which like we already said are not great for privacy.
IPVanish, in addition to this, states in their privacy policy that they do no log data when you are connected to their vpn servers.
Compare that to TorGuard which also says that they do no log traffic data.
Even though I might want to be merry about these statement, considering the fact that IPVanish has provided logs to the authorities that were used to identify one of their users, I am not convinced.
I find these statements very vague.

IPVanish and TorGuard would make life easier for everyone if they stated clearly what kind of data they keep and what they don’t keep.
We know that all vpns keep some kind of logs.
If you are looking for for a vpn that is very transparent about their no logs policy then I don’t recommend neither IPVanish nor TorGuard.
Both vpns have opted to be very vague of their privacy policies and keep us guessing.
Encryption and Data Protection
Whenever your data leaves your devices to be transmitted to a destination device, it is not guaranteed that it will reach there.
It could also be that there are multiple number of devices that are listening to your network packets.
In order to stay secure, you should ensure that your data is encrypted using an encryption technology that is impossible to crack.

This will ensure that if your personal information lands in the hands of a malicious hacker, they won’t be able to decrypt and see the actual information.
IPVanish uses an AES 256-bit encryption technology that will ensure that your information is secure because it is impossible to hack.
TorGuard, on the other hand, supports more encryption technologies that include AES 256-bit encryption and 128-bit encryption.
Even though both 128-bit and 256-bit encryption technologies are tamper proof and impossible, 256-bit encryption offers better security while 128-bit encryption offers better connection speeds.
In addition to encryption technologies, vpns also use connection protocols to ensure that your data is securely transmitted.

IPVanish supports OpenVPN, L2TP, SSTP and PPTP protocols.
PPTP protocol however, is very vulnerable to attacks and should not be used.
TorGuard also supports OpenVPN, OpenConnect, L2TP/IPSec and IKEv2 protocols.
OpenConnect protocol is particularly important if you want to use TorGuard in internet restricted countries like China.
Overall, both IPVanish and TorGuard use technologies that guarantee the security of your information online.
If you are looking for a vpn that is great for security then either IPVanish or TorGuard is a great option.
Ad Blocker
Do you find yourself wishing that you could just turn off ads on certain websites altogether?
This could be for two reasons…
The websites it too aggressive with their ads to the extent that they become very intrusive and annoying.
It could also be because a particular company keep tracking you around the internet and bothering you with their particular ad that you’ve already seen 1000 + 1 times.
It is for this reason that most vpns today are shipping their application with ad blockers.
These ad blockers enable you to turn off ads completely on these websites and enjoy an ad free browsing experience.
So how does IPVanish vs TorGuard ad blocking capabilities compare?
IPVanish, even though a very premium vpn, does not have an ad blocker in any of their desktop or mobile apps.

A malware blocker that could protect you from malware infected websites is also missing in their apps.
TorGuard, on the flip side, has an inbuilt ad blocker in their apps that will protect you from aggressive and intrusive advertising as well as from being tracked around.
In addition to this ad blocker, TorGuard also has a malware blocker that is able to protect you from known phishing websites online.
If you are looking for a vpn with an ad blocker then I recommend TorGuard.
Dedicated IP
A dedicated IP enables you to access the internet using the same IP address each time.
It is the contrary to a shared IP address that you will be assigned if your connect to your vpn as usually using a shared server.
Even though a shared IP address is great for your anonymity online, you will need dedicated app to remotely access certain security sensitive applications.
It could be your work network or your home security camera feed.
So which vpn between IPVanish and TorGuard will provide you with a dedicated IP?
IPVanish, at the time of writing this TorGuard vs IPVanish comparison, does not support any dedicated IP address.
You won’t get a dedicated IP to whitelist in your applications using IPVanish.
TorGuard, though I already mentioned it when talking of streaming, supports dedicated IPs that are used only by you and are not shared by anyone.
You’ll need to purchase these dedicated IPs separately from your normal vpn subscriptions.

However, remember that when a particular IP address can be tied back to you like in the case of a dedicated IP then it is also easy for activities on this IP to be traced back to you.
So do you not use a dedicated IP for prohibited activities like torrenting.
If you are looking for a vpn with a dedicated IP then I recommend TorGuard.
Kill Switch
A vpn will secure your internet connection and make you invisible to your ISP and government.
But you are only secure as long as your remain connected to their servers.
If your internet connection drops and your vpn app disconnects from the server then your IP is exposed and your ISP can see your traffic.

In order to ensure that your real IP is not revealed whenever your vpn disconnects from the server then you need to a kill switch that you can turn on whenever you are connected to the internet.
A kill switch will disable internet for your device entirely whenever your vpn disconnects from the server.

IPVanish and TorGuard have an inbuilt automatic internet kill switch that ensures that you are always protected online.

Once your turn on this kill switch, it will ensure that you only access the internet when it is through a vpn tunnel.
If you are looking for a vpn with an inbuilt kill switch then either IPVanish or TorGuard will do a great job.
Split Tunnelling
A vpn definitely brings an added layer of security to your internet access.
This is especially amplified by the fact that you are assigned a different IP address every time you choose to connect to a different server.
It becomes impossible to track you online.
Some applications however do not work very will with this kind of setting.
Say for example your internet banking app that will block you anytime you try to login with a strange IP address.
In order to circumvent this while still enjoying the use of a vpn, you need a split tunnel that can enable you exempt certain applications from your vpn.
Once you specify a particular application in your split tunnel, it will have its traffic routed through your ISP as usual.
Even though traffic through your ISP is not encrypted and is transparent to them, a split tunnel lets you have your traffic encrypted for other apps while other apps or exempted.
While IPVanish does not have a split tunnel, TorGuard has a split tunnel that enables you to whitelist certain applications to be exempted from the vpn.
You could also use a split tunnel if you don’t want your application that runs backups slowed down by the speed drops caused by a vpn.
Works in China?
Getting vpn to work in China is no simple feat?
China’s firewall is getting smarter everyday at detecting and blocking any vpn traffic that tries to pass through it.
The government doesn’t want you encrypting your traffic because you want to see what you are accessing as well as control what you have access to.
Since a vpn can be used to access even government censored content, it is not welcome in China.
Some vpns though are smart enough to be able to fly under the radar and access censored content in China without being detected.
So how does TorGuard vs IPVanish compare in terms of their abilities to bypass China’s firewall?
IPVanish is completely blocked in China and will not work for access the internet from within China.
TorGuard, on the flip side, has the technology that enables it to bypass the great firewall.

In order to be able to access internet in China using TorGuard, you need to first change your vpn protocol to open connect and then activate the STunnel feature.
This way you’ll be able to access both censored and uncensored content while in China without being blocked.
If you are looking for a vpn that works in China then I recommend TorGuard.
Pricing
Let’s now compare the different pricing plans of these two vpns as we near the end of this IPVanish vs TorGuard comparison in 2021.
Both IPVanish and TorGuard offer long subscription plans with great discounts.
Which is the cheaper vpn: TorGuard or IPVanish?

Both IPVanish and TorGuard only offer 1 year subscription plans as their longest plans.
IPVanish 1 year plan costs $ 6.49/month while TorGuard 1 year plan costs $ 59.99/year which is approximately $ 5/month.
TorGuard is therefore a cheaper vpn than IPVanish.

If you are looking for a vpn that will save you a couple bucks on a year subscription then I recommend TorGuard.
It however very disappointing that neither IPVanish nor TorGuard offer plans that are longer than 1 year… considering renewing plans every year is very cumbersome.
Payment Options
Let’s now finish this IPVanish vs TorGuard review by looking at the payment methods that each of these vpns supports.
I am particularly looking for the vpn with anonymous payment methods that enable me give as little identifying information about me as possible.

Anonymous payments through Bitcoin and gift cards do not require a billing address.
You can therefore sign up with a disposable email address and then pay with some Bitcoins.
IPVanish only supports payments through credit cards and PayPal. It does not support crypto payments.

TorGuard on the other hand supports credit cards, PayPal and crypto payments through Bitcoins.
If you are looking for a vpn that supports Bitcoin payments then I recommend TorGuard.
In Conclusion
I hope this IPVanish vs TorGuard comparison has helped you learn about the pros and cons of these two US based vpn companies.
Are you now ready to make a choice between IPVanish and TorGuard?
If you are looking for a cheaper vpn that delivers excellent connection speeds, provides you a dedicated IP and works in China then I recommend TorGuard.
However, if you are willing to pay a little more for a vpn that covers more countries, unblocks Netflix US and supports more connected devices then I recommend IPVanish.
Have you used either TorGuard or IPVanish before?
Please share your thoughts in the comments below.