Short answer: pretty much. A free trial VPN offers the same strong protection and privacy as the full subscription. This means torrenting shouldn’t be a problem, but you do need to watch out for a few things before you start downloading. See more available free trial options (just in case your current VPN provider isn’t torrent-friendly) and keep an eye out for the following.
Check the Terms of Service First
Some VPN providers try to distance themselves from torrenting, and make it fairly clear in the Terms of Service (ToS). We don’t condone illegal torrenting either, but we do understand that the price of digital goods may be prohibitive in disadvantaged countries. Besides, there are plenty of legal uses for torrents, like sharing large files within a company or distributing your creative work online.
Ethical dilemmas of piracy aside, you should always check whether the free trial VPN is P2P-friendly in the ToS. Now, some providers have servers optimized for torrenting. That doesn’t mean you have free rein to download illegal torrents, but it may be a sign that the VPN provider is more lenient towards the practice.
Further, when you connect to a VPN server, you’re most likely sharing the same IP address with hundreds of other users. The advantage is obvious: you can’t be singled out for torrenting. Make sure your VPN provider doesn’t keep any activity logs, either. As you may have guessed, the ToS contains everything you need to know about your provider’s logging policy.
This is mostly for privacy reasons (after all, nobody is fine with somebody logging their online activity), but it’s especially crucial when torrenting.
See the VPN Provider’s Jurisdiction
To be sure you’re in the clear – at least relatively so – your best bet is to choose a VPN whose jurisdiction has:
- Strong privacy laws
- No data retention laws
- Lax P2P laws like in Switzerland, Spain, and so on.
Did you glance through the terms of service? Then you’ve probably found out which country your VPN provider is based in already. Connecting to a VPN server from a country with lax P2P laws may also help. Once again, these tips aren’t a guarantee of anything.
Overall, you’re better off not risking any shady activity on your free trial VPN account. This is especially true if you have to input your credit card details at sign-up. Fortunately, many of the VPNs linked right in the beginning don’t require payment details to start a free trial.
Finally, there’s one more issue you may face by using a free trial VPN for torrenting.
Free Trials Expire Fast
While free trials last just long enough for you to get a feel for the VPN’s performance, they’re probably not enough for any serious torrenting. Stuck at a hotel that blocks Wi-Fi access for torrent usage? Have any large work files you need to download? Then you’d better hope the download finishes before the trial period is up – which is usually one day for desktop versions. Mobile VPN trials are typically longer (up to 7 days), but torrenting on your smartphone can be unwieldy.
In the end, your best option is to rely on your provider’s 30 day money-back guarantee. Ever read about a “30 day free trial VPN” and thought it too good to be true? Things might make more sense when you realize it’s just an eye-catching phrase for the provider’s “no questions asked” refund policy.
We won’t tell anyone how to run their business, but we won’t tell you to pass on such offers, either. Try out the VPN at your own pace – who knows, you may end up renewing your subscription when you realize how useful they can be.