PureVPN Vs TorGuard VPN Comparison 2020

When it comes to selecting a VPN, you need to look beyond the pricing. Basically, you need to be sure you get a service with a huge list of security features. PureVPN does quite well in this area.

The British Virgin Islands based provider offers native apps for all platforms/devices, employs a NAT firewall on all connections, implements an ad/tracker blocker, and even a malware-scanner.

For security and torrenting, users even have a “Split Tunneling” feature. This helps in dissecting those services that you want a VPN connection on or do not, to receive appropriate security/speeds.

TorGuard also uses the NAT Firewall, provides support for the new WireGuard protocol, and allows for SSL connections on OpenConnect, Stunnel, WireGuard, and on all browser extensions too.

I honestly expected more from TorGuard with regards to unblocking streaming channels. Sadly, they suffered with downtime issues, proxy detection errors, and poor speed problems.

PureVPN, on the other hand, proved to be highly effective in bypassing geographical and content limitations. All of its servers worked smoothly on a number of streaming websites.

These include hit platforms like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and now even Disney Plus. In fact, their apps have a “popular websites” option that lists all these VoDs.

If you want to access any streaming platform, simply click on its icon, and PureVPN will instantly redirect you to unblocked version within a jiffy; even on their browser extensions!

China

Since PureVPN is based in British Virgin Islands, it offers better functionality to both: Chinese expats and residents in China. In fact, it is the only provider that offers 12 Chinese servers.

Among these 6 are located in Shanghai and 6 in Beijing, allowing expats to access local content, which is otherwise a really difficult task to be honest with “The Great Firewall.”

TorGuard, on the other hand, did not work smoothly for expats or residents. They do not have a dedicated mirror website for users to download their apps and neither do they host Chinese servers.

Our representative in China said the OpenConnect SSL Based VPN can be easily identified by the GFW, which means TorGuard still needs to work on improving their StealthVPN or obfuscation.

One of the best things about PureVPN is its design and appearance across all platforms/devices. Their apps have an incredibly user-friendly and intuitive feel about them.

This works in great favor for them, as both newbies and tech-geeks find the app suitable for their needs. On the main menu, you have a simple connectivity menu with a button.

However, the second you go into the settings menu, you can find various configuration options that allow you to boost your security/privacy online.

Best part of all: the easy-of-use does not get compromised on larger screens including on Amazon Fire TVs, Android TVs, and Apple TVs. Everything works smoothly!

TorGuard still needs some improvements in their app design. The overall UI may seem a bit complicated for the layman user, as connecting to a server needs you to set some settings.

It would have been better if TorGuard had set default settings for security and then given the convenience to users if they want to alter it, but even so not a bad effort at all.

The apps are still quite interactive and user-friendly with easy-to-understand menus and options, but if we compare the two providers, PureVPN definitely seems to be more awesome!

Both PureVPN and TorGuard offer an impressive network infrastructure. Where PureVPN offers 2,000 servers in 140+ countries, TorGuard provides access to 3,000+ servers in 55 countries.

Though the server count from TorGuard is higher than that of PureVPN, the latter makes up for it by adding more in the way of supported countries and locations.

As a result, users may find a more diverse range of servers from PureVPN. Though they need to increase these numbers, TorGuard also has to work on their supported countries.

PureVPN adds PPTP, L2TP, OpenVPN (TCP and UDP), SSTP and IKEv2, to the list of supported protocols. SSTP is mostly used on Windows devices and IKEv2 is a useful addition for mobile devices.

It utilizes AES-256-CBC cipher with HMAC SHA1 hash authentication for the data channel and AES-256-CBC cipher with  HMAC SHA384 hash authentication and RSA-4096 handshake encryption for the control channel.

If we talk about security overall though, PureVPN definitely tends to be stronger. It offers enhanced security options like Double VPN and Split Tunneling, NAT Firewall, and DDoS Protection.

Thanks to its strategic British Virgin Islands jurisdiction, PureVPN gains an edge over TorGuard. This is because the latter is located in US, which is a founding member of the Five, Nine, and Fourteen Eyes Alliances.

Members in such countries are known to pass mandatory laws on mass surveillance and data retention. As such, VPNs will have to cooperate with gag orders and requests accompanied by a subpoena.

As far as payment methods are concerned, TorGuard only supports Bitcoin and Litecoin. PureVPN, on the other hand, supports more options for cryptocurrencies, thanks to the addition of PaymentWall.

In terms of configuration, TorGuard gains an upperhand over PureVPN. This is because the US-based provider supports a shared/static IP structure with more than 30+ dedicated IP locations.

PureVPN, on the other hand, supports both; a shared and static infrastructure. However, they have dedicated IPs available in only 7+ countries worldwide, so they need to improve the listings.

It is important to mention though that dedicated IPs are available as an add-on with separate pricing. If you opt for DDoS protection, you may even have to pay higher for the dedicated IP.

Both PureVPN and TorGuard offer support via live chat, email, and a ticket system. Testing the live chat services revealed that responses were quite fast.

Email/ticket support did take some time with TorGuard (averaging at 45 minutes per reply), whereas PureVPN cut it shorter (averaging at 39 minutes).

We conducted these tests by sending each VPN four questions via email. Among them, two were general queries and two were a little more technical. See the statistics below: