Are you looking for a side by side TorGuard vs HMA comparison?
TorGuard is a VPN with great torrenting support while Hidemyass is the VPN with the widest geographical coverage of their servers.
So how do these two compare in other aspects like their connection speeds and streaming capabilities?
In this TorGuard vs HMA comparison, we are going to compare TorGuard with HMA along the lines of their speeds, privacy policies as well as advanced security feature like malware blocking.
I hope that by the end of this HMA vs TorGuard comparison you’ll be able to make a choice between either TorGuard or Hidemyass.
So let’s get started.
Here is a quick summary.
| TorGuard | Hidemyass | |
| Website | torguard.net | hidemyass.com |
| Servers | 3,000 | 1,000 |
| Jurisdiction | United States | United Kingdom |
| Streaming | Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, iPlayer | Netflix US, iPlayer |
| Speed | 4.4/5 | 3.9/5 |
| Torrenting | All servers | P2P servers |
| Kill Switch | YES | YES |
| Works in China? | YES | YES |
| Devices | 8 | 5 |
| Pricing | $ 5/month | $ 3.99/month |
About
TorGuard is a US-based VPN company that provides you with secure and anonymous internet access including in restricted countries like China.
Here is an indepth TorGuard review.
HMA, on the other hand, is based in the United Kingdom and will enable you to access the internet securely and access geo-restricted content on platforms like Netflix.
Here is a more detailed HMA review.
Server Collection
How many servers do TorGuard and HMA have?
In order to provide better services, a VPN should have a large collection of servers.
A large collection also technically means that you’ll have more options when choosing the appropriate server to connect to.
TorGuard has a total of 3,000 VPN servers that are based in 50 different countries, at the time of writing this TorGuard vs HMA comparison. HMA, on the other hand, has more than 1000 servers that are very widely spread out to cover 190 countries.
It is therefore clear that while TorGuard has more servers in general, HMA has their fewer servers spread over more countries hence coverting a wider geographical region.
If you are looking for a VPN that will avail a server in most of the countries that you’d like to connect to then I recommend HMA over TorGuard.
Streaming
When we talk of streaming, we are referring to the ability of VPNs to unblock content libraries on different video streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu etc.
So how does TorGuard vs HMA streaming capabilities compare?
In order to establish their streaming capabilities, I tried to access the most popular streaming platforms using servers that are based in different countries.
TorGuard, unfortunately, is not able to unblock any popular streaming platform using their shared IPs.
If you are want to stream your favorite tv series on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon or even iPlayer then you need to purchase a TorGuard dedicated IP separately.
HMA, on the flip side, was able to unlock different content libraries for Netflix and BBC iPlayer.
Since their streaming servers are not labelled, you need to first connect to a VPN server based in the country whose content library you want to access and then launch your streaming app.
HMA is, however, blocked on other platforms like Hulu and Amazon Prime.
If you are looking for a VPN that can unblock Netflix and BBC iPlayer then I recommend Hidemyass over TorGuard.
Speeds
Even if your internet speeds are fast enough, your final speeds will be cut down to the speeds that your VPN connection supports.
So if you want to be able to enjoy fast speeds, you need to choose a VPN that will maintain at least 80% of your original speeds before connecting to their servers.
I tested the speeds of both TorGuard and HMA by connecting to three different servers based in the UK, the US and Hong Kong.
I then used the popular speedtest.net website to measure the download and upload speeds before and after connecting to their servers.
TorGuard gave me download speeds that were 87% on average of my initial download speeds.
HMA performed pretty poorly as I only got 78% of my original download speeds before connecting to their servers.
It is therefore clear that TorGuard is a much faster VPN compared to HMA. If you are looking for a VPN with fast connection speeds then I recommend TorGuard over Hidemyass.
Torrenting
You don’t want to be caught downloading copyrighted material from any website on the internet.
However, since torrenting is an activity that is not going anywhere anytime soon, you should exercise necessary precaution when downloading torrent files to ensure that your torrenting cannot be traced back to you.
You do that by first connecting to the internet with an anonymous VPN before starting your torrent downloads.
Let’s now compare TorGuard vs HMA in terms of their torrenting support.
TorGuard supports P2P file sharing activities on all their servers.
So, unlike other VPNs, you don’t need to first connect to any special P2P servers as all their servers are P2P optimized.
HMA, on the flip side, only allows P2P file sharing on certain dedicated P2P servers. If you want to to torrent anonymously, you need to first connect to these designated torrenting servers.
However, as we’ll discover below, HMA is the worst option if you want private and anonymous torrenting because they keep logs of your IP address.
So if you are looking for a VPN that supports safe anonymous torrenting then I recommend TorGuard instead of HMA.
Privacy Policy
Which VPN between TorGuard and HMA will offer you true privacy online?
Remember that certain VPNs like HMA have cooperated with the authorities in the past and handed over user logs that were used to identify a particular user.
You, therefore, should not believe any VPN that claims that the don’t keep logs, until they specify exactly what logs they keep and what they don’t.
Let’s now compare TorGuard with HMA in terms of their physical locations and their stands when it comes to zero logs.
TorGuard is based in the United States while HMA is based in the United Kingdom, which are both countries that are not great for privacy.
Both the US & UK are founding members of the 14 eyes countries that spy on their citizens and share their personal information among themselves.
That being said, TorGuard states in their privacy policy that they do not keep logs of your traffic.
Hidemyass on the other hand keeps logs of your IP address subnet mask, server connection timestamps and total bandwidth usage. It is therefore clear that HMA is too much log happy that I would like.
If you really care about your privacy then run away from VPNs like HMA that keep logs of your IP address.
That being said, I recommend TorGuard if you are looking for a VPN that has a zero logs policy and does not log your internet traffic.
Encryption and Data Protection
How do TorGuard and HMA protect your data while being transmitted?
Let’s now compare HMA vs TorGuard in terms of the encryption technologies that they use.
TorGuard supports both 128-bit and 256-bit encryption technologies when encrypting your data before transmission. You have the option to choose the particular encryption technology that you want to use in the apps.
HMA, on the other hand, only supports 256-bit encryption algorithms that will make your data unreadable to an unintended device.
While 128-bit encryption is great for faster speeds, 256-bit encryption offers better security to your data.
TorGuard also supports OpenVPN, OpenConnect, IKEv2 and L2TP/IPSec VPN connection protocols to communicate between the VPN apps and servers.
HMA also supports OpenVPN, PPTP and L2TP VPN protocols in their apps.
Overall, both HMA and TorGuard offer secure internet access thanks to the tamper proof encryption technologies that each one of them uses.
If you are looking for a VPN for secure internet access then either HMA or TorGuard provides secure internet access.
Ad Blockers
Some websites are very intrusive with their ads and will bombard you with ads that lead to a poor user experience.
Most ad networks are also trying to get as much information about you as possible through the scripts that they install in your browser and then use them to build a profile of you and track you around the web.
If you want to disable ads on most websites and block these tracking scripts then you need an ad blocker.
TorGuard has an ad blocker that once turned on, will enable you to have an ad free browsing experience.
Hidemyass, unfortunately, does not support an ad blocker at the time of writing this TorGuard vs HMA comparison.
If you are looking for a vpn that supports ad blocker then I recommend TorGuard over Hidemyass.
Dedicated IPs
Are you looking for a unique IP address that you can use for personal access to sensitive applications remotely?
For example, you’ll need a dedicated IP that you can use to access your home security camera feed.
So does either HMA or TorGuard provide you with a dedicated IP address?
While TorGuard provides you with a dedicated IP, HMA does not support dedicated IPs at the time of writing this HMA vs TorGuard comparison.
With the TorGuard dedicated IP, you’ll also be able to access geo restricted content for the streaming platforms based in the country that you choose.
However, you should know that a dedicated IP is tied to your account. For this reason, activities on this IP can very easily be traced back to you because you are the only one using this IP address.
So I don’t recommend using a dedicated IP for activities that you would not like traced back to you, like downloading torrent files online.
Kill Switch
In order to prevent your IP from being revealed when your VPN app disconnects from the server, you need to use a kill switch.
Once activated a kill switch will ensure that the internet access for your entire device is blocked when you disconnect from the server… like when your internet connection drops.
It is usually during these few seconds that your IP is exposed and your anonymity online is compromised.
TorGuard and HMA both have a kill switch that will ensure that all your internet traffic for your device is first encrypted and channelled through your secure VPN tunnel.
And in any case the VPN disconnects, all internet traffic on your device will be paused until you reconnect.
I recommend either HMA or TorGuard if you want a vpn that supports a kill switch.
Split Tunnelling
A VPN makes it impossible to track you online by assigning you different IPs every time you choose a different server.
However, frequently changing your IP may not work well with security-sensitive apps like your banking app. When you log in with a strange IP address, these apps may think that your account was hacked and ask for additional verification.
In a situation like this, you may need to split tunnels so that traffic from your banking app is routed through your ISP while everything else goes through your VPN tunnel.
TorGuard and HMA both support split tunnelling where you get to whitelist certain apps and exempt them from your VPN tunnel.
Once whitelisted these apps do not have their traffic encrypted by your VPN and so do not enjoy the added security and privacy that a VPN provides.
Traffic through the apps that you whitelist is visible to your ISP.
If you are looking for a VPN that supports split tunnelling then I recommend either HMA or TorGuard.
Works in China?
Are you looking for a VPN that will enable you to access the internet in China and unblock censored websites like Facebook.com?
In China, just like in other countries where internet access is controlled, certain websites are completely blocked. You are also not allowed to use a VPN to try and circumvent this content censorship.
In order to enforce this, all internet traffic in China passes through their firewall that filters and blocks all VPN traffic.
So in order for your VPN to work in China, it needs to make its traffic look like normal HTTPS traffic and bypass the deep packet inspection of the great firewall of China.
How does HMA vs TorGuard compare in terms of their abilities to bypass the great firewall of China?
TorGuard and HMA are able to work in China and access censored websites.
In order to use TorGuard in China, you need to connect using the OpenConnect protocol and activate the STunnel feature.
If you are looking for a VPN that will work in China then I recommend TorGuard as HMA is blocked in some cities in China.
Pricing
How much does it cost to purchase TorGuard or Hidemyass?
As we near the end of this TorGuard vs HMA comparison, let’s compare their best pricing plans to establish the cheaper VPN.
TorGuard has a 1-year plan that costs $ 59.99/year, that is approximately $ 5/month, while HMA costs $ 3.99/month on their 3 year plan.
As you can see, HMA is a much cheaper VPN compared to TorGuard in the long term.
HMA also gives you longer subscription plans that save you the hassle of having to renew subscription plans every year that comes.
It is even more cumbersome of you have to look for a disposable email address every year in order to create a new VPN account.
Even though HMA is cheaper than TorGuard, it is still much more expensive than other popular VPNs that offer much better services.
So if you are looking for a VPN that is both cheaper and offers you longer subscription plans then I recommend HMA.
Payment Options
Let’s finish this TorGuard vs HMA comparison by looking at the various ways that they let you make payment for your VPN subscription.
A VPN that really cares about your anonymity online will support various payments options, including anonymous payments through cryptocurrencies or gift cards.
In fact with anonymous payments methods, I prefer to signup with a fake email address and then pay with some Bitcoins. That way, nobody gets to know who I am.
TorGuard supports various payment methods that include all the major credit cards, PayPal and cryptocurrency payments through Bitcoins.
HMA accepts PayPal and credit cards only… it does not support any crypto payments.
So if you are looking for a vpn that supports cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, then I recommend TorGuard.
In Conclusion
I hope this HMA vs TorGuard comparison has helped you learn about the pros and cons of HMA and TorGuard.
Are you now read to make a choice between either TorGuard or HMA?
If you are looking for a VPN with servers in the largest number of countries, has average speeds and are okay with them keeping logs of your internet activities then HMA is your best bet.
However, if you are looking for a VPN that has great connection speeds, supports anonymous torrenting and works in China then I recommend TorGuard.
Have you used either TorGuard or Hidemyass before?
Please share your experience in the comments below.
