Cost, ease of use, speed, other good features, etc.
ProtonVPN for port forwarding, Mullvad for easy usage (Wireguard on Linux).
I use vopono on Linux too.
ProtonVPN works great via Wiregurd on Linux as well just not through the GUI; you can download the configs and connect through terminal or other Wireguard client
ProtonVPN also provides Wireguard config files if you don’t want to use their shitty python based GUI. Supports port forwarding aswell, althought it sucks to set up and requires to manually disable ipv6 support
Another benefit of using network namespaces is that I can just disable IPv6 in the network namespace itself.
I created a simple script to automatically request a port to ProtonVPN servers and assign it to qbittorrent:
Thank you, luckily arch-qbittorrentvpn already does those things, so I don’t have to
Thanks for sharing! I still need the script because I already have a tunnel on a Mikrotik OS vm router to route all my containers through the vpn.
I’ll admit, I have no idea what the benefit of port forwarding is. I use Mullvad in a Gluten container.
It’s when you open a publicly facing port and map (forward) it to a local port your machine. In this case, it’s opened at the vpn provider’s public gateway. Otherwise, it would typically be opened in your router instead.
You can then configure your torrent client to listen on that local port that the public port is forwarded to. I think generally the public and the local port are the same number when using VPN.
If you do that, then others have the ability to initiate a connection to you instead of only you being able to initiate the connection to somebody else.
When seeding/leeching to/from someone else, at least one of you needs a port open. So, if you always have one open, you allow yourself to connect to anyone on the network regardless if they have one open or not.
Sorry if I confused you more, I’m not that great at explaining.
Faster downloads (sometimes significantly), easier to connect to seeders.
Mullvad or Proton
Note that Mullvad no longer allows port forwarding, which can make it harder to torrent effectively
Is it really that bad? I haven’t had any issues torrenting stuff with Mullvad, although I usually don’t torrent files above like 20GB
It’s non issue, even with +80 gb files.
The size of the file doesn’t matter. Without port forwarding you won’t be able to use things like private trackers without running the risk of getting banned. There’s no reason to use a VPN without it if your goal is torrenting.
I haven’t got any private trackers and I want a cheap setup. The only thing I’m paying for is the vpn.
Is the difference really that big and worth it?
I use AirVPN and it’s cheap with port forwarding. Without it, trackers will show you as unconnectable and nobody will be able to download from you unless they’ve set up port forwarding.
It reduces your available peers. You can’t connect to other people with closed ports, one side needs to be open.
It isn’t a huge deal with popular torrents, but it can cause problems with unpopular/old stuff.
Then, Proton it is
I’ve been using airvpn for the last 4 or 5 years with no issue.
I use Mullvad through Tailscale. If you already use Tailscale it’s a no-brainer
deleted by creator
Whatever you do, maybe sure you network bind the vpn interface
On Linux you can use network namespaces for the same effect (and then a firewall) - this way it doesn’t affect other applications running.
I do it with vopono.
Express VPN
Mullvad or IVPN. Some VPNs like Perfect Privacy do leak your IP via DHT and other torrent features, even when full lockdown mode is on. You can search ‘torrent leak test’ to verify yours doesn’t. I found out with a 2nd DMCA warning from my ISP.
Proton VPN has been working pretty well for me. Includes port forwarding and a lot of servers.
Same.
I’m all in on proton. VPN, email, calendar, and cloud storage. Unlimited is $10/mo and while it’s a little deceptive as a name it’s still great. The simple login alias feature if fantastic.
I pay for Proton Unlimited so I use Proton VPN. Getting port forwarding to work on Linux is a bit of a hassle but they have steps on their website. It’s hardly any slower than my internet connection, but that’s because I’m on the paid servers. The free servers are rather slow. They have a graphical client for Windows and Linux.
Proton Unlimited is €9.99/month. The VPN has a good number of features and you get the whole Proton suite with it and 500GB of storage. You can pay for just the VPN which is cheaper if you don’t want the rest of Proton.
I created a script exactly for that, I’m using it for months now and it’s working fine: https://github.com/giu176/ProtonVPN-auto-NATPMP
Yo!! Thanks for sharing. The qbittorrent-nox integration is just what I need!
I use proton myself
Yeah proton!
No VPN, just qBittorrent and I2P = anoymous torrents
does it still require port forwarding for seeding ? (yeah, I know port forwarding isn’t required for torrenting)
As in I2P itself or bittorrent? In order for I2P to access the network it needs to be able to access the internet. If you’re behind a router, that does mean either enabling universal plug and play (UPnP) or manually opening a port for it that forwards traffic to the port on the I2P machine. UPnP is obviously the easiest (if you’re behind a router).
If I turn off mixed mode in qbittorrent i2p settings, it should only use i2p, right?
If “mixed mode” is enabled I2P torrents are allowed to also get peers from other sources than the tracker, and connect to regular IPs, not providing any anonymization. This may be useful if the user is not interested in the anonymization of I2P, but still wants to be able to connect to I2P peers
That’s what the description says.
So then, with mixed mode disabled, I’ll be fully anonymous?
I2P?
An alternative to TOR that’s better for P2P.
It isnt the best one, but its cheap, allows port forwarding and its not sketchy as far as we know
Air vpn
+1 for airvpn. I’ve never had any issues, port forwarding works flawlessly, and you can get some incredible deals if you buy 3 years at a time during a sale.
You may want to take a look at Italy’s recent changes in legislation around VPNs tl;dr Italy’s government has an anti-piracy measure called Piracy Shield which is a list that needs to be blocked by ISPs, VPN providers etc but is entirely arbitrary with no governance.
Air has stopped onboarding Italian customers but you may want to consider given they’re based in Italy, if this compromises your use case/opsec
I’ve been using it for probably 5+ years and it’s been great. I wish I could port forward to incoming 80 in my server so I could run a site while it’s up, but at the end of the day I can always run a site elsewhere.
That aside, it’s never gone down on me, the speeds are fast, it auto-connects to the best server available, and they run lots of promos.
I’m wondering, is there any anonymous VPN that supports port forwarding to port 80? I’m thinking about self-hosting a website from my server at home under a VPN.
It’s based in the EU, and they’d have to comply with legislations accordingly. I’d never use anything not domiciled in sketchy islands.
Is a VPN even worth it for that use case? A seedbox won’t cost that much more, esp. if you factor in electricity costs from keeping your machine running. And getting to 1.0 seed ratio is also much easier.
Do you have an off prem seed box then? Mine is in my home lab but still needs to be routed through a vpn
I went the seed box route and I’ll never go back. It’s faster and I don’t even need a stable connection. Start the download from my phone and it’s waiting for me when I get home.
I use Mullvad and have a qbit go through gluetun. I don’t mind the lack of port forwarding, as I leave the Pi on 24/7 and I’m not under ratio constraints. Also, my system isn’t secure enough for me to be messing with that stuff, next build I’ll get everything off root, set proper permissions, route everything through a single port etc, then think about port forwarding. For now I’ll hide behind my ISP and Mullvad’s security while I learn and make mistakes.
Down is quick enough for me and Up is slow but constant.
