BTGuard VPN Review 2024 — Is It Worth the Money?

BTGuard is a really bad VPN service, and I strongly recommend that you avoid purchasing it. There are significantly better VPNs out there in 2024 like ExpressVPN.

BTGuard has industry-standard security features like bank-grade encryption and a no-logs policy, maintains fast speeds, works with Netflix, and provides decent P2P support.

However, it’s missing a kill switch, it doesn’t have native apps (so you need to perform inconvenient manual setups), it doesn’t make it clear how many simultaneous connections it allows, and it only has servers in 3 countries, which is one of the lowest numbers of server locations I’ve ever seen.

Also, our international team of testers confirmed BTGuard isn’t compatible with top streaming sites like Disney+, and it has no servers in the US so US users can’t watch Hulu or other US streaming services. What’s more, its customer service is terrible, it’s overpriced, and there’s no money-back guarantee.

BTGuard has paid monthly and yearly plans.

BTGuard Full Review

I spent a few weeks testing and researching BTGuard to see if it’s any good. I can safely say it’s one of the worst VPNs I’ve ever used and you should avoid it at all costs.

While it has decent security features, good speeds, works with Netflix, and is P2P friendly, BTGuard is missing a kill switch (an essential VPN security feature), so you risk experiencing traffic leaks, which can reveal your real IP address.

In addition, BTGuard is difficult to use because it lacks native apps — instead, you need to perform inconvenient manual setups using third-party apps. There are much better VPNs out there like ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access, which come with dedicated apps for all platforms, high-end security features (including kill switches), and excellent streaming and torrenting support.

BTGuard Features

BTGuard has the following industry-standard VPN security features:

• 256-bit AES encryption — Bank-grade encryption that makes your traffic unreadable.
• No-logs policy — BTGuard doesn’t log your IP address and traffic (visited sites and downloaded files).

But BTGuard is missing a built-in kill switch, which is an essential VPN security feature that disables online access if the VPN disconnects to protect you from traffic leaks. Without a kill switch, your real IP address will be exposed if the VPN connection drops. You can manually set up a kill switch, but that’s very inconvenient — all the top providers on the market have apps with built-in kill switches.

BTGuard allows manual setups for the PPTP protocol (I recommend avoiding PPTP because it’s very unsafe) and OpenVPN protocol, but it doesn’t allow a WireGuard setup, which is just as secure as OpenVPN but faster.

BTGuard doesn’t mention whether it provides leak protection against IPv6, DNS, and WebRTC leaks. I reached out to customer support about this, but I didn’t receive a response. I ran 10+ leak tests on all of its server locations and didn’t see any leaks — that said, I’d still feel safer using BTGuard if I knew what kind of leak protection it provides (for example, ExpressVPN and NordVPN have full leak protection).

What’s more, BTGuard is missing extra features that other top VPNs include, like split-tunneling and ad blockers. It also lacks advanced security features like perfect forward secrecy (PFS) and RAM-only servers.

Overall, BTGuard is a very bare-bones VPN that’s missing a kill switch, which is an essential security feature. It doesn’t have any advanced security features or any extra tools like an ad blocker.

BTGuard Privacy & Security

BTGuard has a no-logs policy — it doesn’t collect your IP address and traffic. It logs your email address (for account creation and communication), but it doesn’t say if it collects connection timestamps and bandwidth usage (I asked the support reps about this but didn’t receive a reply).

That said, I find it hard to trust BTGuard’s no-logs policy because it was last updated in 2011. I think it’d be easier to trust this VPN if its no-logs policy underwent an independent audit (like ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access) to prove it doesn’t store user data.

BTGuard is headquartered in Canada, which is part of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliances (a group of countries that share surveillance data). But if the government asks BTGuard to hand over user data, it can’t do that because it doesn’t store any personal details — assuming that its no-logs policy is true, of course.

Overall, BTGuard has a no-logs policy, but I can’t fully trust it. Other top VPNs like ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access have strict no-logs policies that have been verified.

BTGuard Speed & Performance

I tested BTGuard’s speeds on a server in each of the 3 countries where it has servers using my Windows 11 PC. I had the fastest speeds while connected to a nearby server in the Netherlands (BTGuard doesn’t have servers in my country, Romania). I also maintained pretty fast speeds while connected to distant servers in Canada and Singapore.

First, I ran a speed test without the VPN to get a baseline for my original speeds:

Next, I used BTGuard’s quick-connect feature to automatically connect to the fastest server for my location, which was in the Netherlands.

Finally, I ran a speed test while connected to a distant server in Canada:

On nearby servers in the Netherlands, my speeds decreased by about 87% — but Romania has very fast internet speeds, so websites still loaded instantly and 4K videos didn’t buffer when I skipped through them. When I connected to distant servers in Canada, I experienced a 92% slowdown, but I still enjoyed fast speeds (I downloaded a 15 GB file in 10–12 minutes, which is very fast).

Overall, I had fast speeds on both nearby and distant servers. That said, there are much faster VPNs out there, like ExpressVPN.

BTGuard Servers & IP Addresses

BTGuard only has servers in 3 countries (Canada, the Netherlands, and Singapore), which is one of the lowest number of locations I have seen from any VPN provider. To put this in context, ExpressVPN has servers in 105 countries, and Private Internet Access has servers in 91 countries. BTGuard has such a small number of server locations that it’s hard for many users to find nearby servers to get fast speeds.

I also don’t like that BTGuard doesn’t publish its number of servers like other top VPNs. I asked the support reps why the server count isn’t available, but I didn’t receive a reply.

Plus, while BTGuard allows torrenting on all of its servers, you still only get servers in 3 countries. The best torrenting VPNs like ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access have P2P servers in almost all parts of the world.

Overall, BTGuard’s server network is simply too small compared to other top VPNs — most users won’t be able to use nearby servers for fast speeds.

BTGuard Streaming & Torrenting

BTGuard is not great for streaming — my Canadian colleague confirmed it worked with his local Netflix and Amazon Prime, but it didn’t work with Disney+. And as there are no servers in the US or the UK, users in those countries won’t be able to access their local streaming services like Hulu and BBC iPlayer.

I think ExpressVPN is the best VPN for streaming — it’s compatible with 100+ streaming apps, and it has user-friendly apps across all platforms.

While BTGuard allows torrenting on all servers and works with top P2P apps like qBittorrent and Vuze, I don’t recommend using it because it doesn’t have a kill switch. The best VPNs for torrenting like ExpressVPN have kill switches (and other advanced security features) and allow torrenting on servers in more countries.

Overall, BTGuard is only good for very basic streaming (it works with Netflix and Amazon Prime, but not other top sites), and is not safe to use for torrenting.

BTGuard Plans and Pricing

BTGuard has paid monthly and yearly plans. It claims to provide unlimited connections, but it also says it might terminate your account if it detects multiple locations at the same time — I asked the support reps to clarify this, but they didn’t reply.

BTGuard’s paid VPN plans, which start at $9.95 / month, are too expensive for what they offer. Other top VPNs like ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access provide significantly better value.

BTGuard accepts credit cards, PayPal, and Bitcoin. I also hate that it doesn’t have a money-back guarantee since most top VPNs have one — for example, ExpressVPN provides a 30-day money-back guarantee.

BTGuard Ease of Use: Mobile & Desktop Apps

BTGuard doesn’t have native apps, so you need to perform manual setups on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux, and other platforms. Step-by-step tutorials are available, but the setup process is still overwhelming for beginners or non-tech savvy people. Top VPNs like ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access have apps for iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, and Linux that are easy to install and use.

On both my mobile and desktop devices, I had to download and install third-party apps and manually import VPN server files into the apps to use BTGuard. I have tons of experience with installing and using VPNs, but this process was still time-consuming and very annoying for me. It took me about 7–10 minutes to get started with BTGuard (on average, it only takes 1–2 minutes to download and install a VPN app). There’s a quick-connect feature (Fastest) but the third-party apps are still complicated to navigate and use.

Overall, BTGuard doesn’t have native apps, so you need to perform difficult and annoying manual setups.

BTGuard Customer Support

BTGuard’s customer support is very bad — it has a few frequently asked questions (FAQs), decent setup guides, and awful email support.

Most of BTGuard’s FAQs are unhelpful because they don’t even answer VPN-related questions (on P2P servers, kill switches, and leak protection, for example). But the setup tutorials are pretty useful — they’re easy to follow and include screenshots.

BTGuard’s email support was disappointing as well. They ignored most of my tickets and provided vague, unhelpful answers when they did respond. Plus, there’s no live chat support, unlike most other top VPNs.

Overall, BTGuard has terrible customer support — its support sections are limited, it’s missing live chat support, its email support is unresponsive, and its support reps are unhelpful.

Is BTGuard Worth the Money in 2024?

I think BTGuard is a terrible VPN and I strongly advise against using it — there are much better VPNs on the market in 2024 like ExpressVPN.

BTGuard comes with bank-grade encryption, a no-logs policy, fast speeds, P2P support, and it works with some streaming sites, but it’s missing a kill switch, which is a crucial industry-standard VPN security feature.

On top of that, BTGuard lacks native apps (which means you need to perform manual setups), doesn’t make it clear how many simultaneous connections it supports, doesn’t make its server count public, and has one of the smallest server networks on the market. Plus, it doesn’t work with top sites like Hulu, Disney+, and BBC iPlayer (confirmed by our international testers), it has really bad customer support, it’s too expensive, and it lacks a money-back guarantee.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is BTGuard good for torrenting?

No — BTGuard allows P2P traffic on all of its servers and works with popular P2P apps like uTorrent and qBittorrent, but it’s missing a kill switch. Without a kill switch, your real IP address will be exposed while torrenting if the VPN connection drops.

If you need a great torrenting VPN, I recommend ExpressVPN — it has excellent security features (including a kill switch), allows torrenting on all of its servers, works with all the top P2P apps, and has blazing-fast download speeds.

Does BTGuard work on Android and iOS?

Yes, but BTGuard doesn’t have native apps for iOS and Android, so you’ll need to perform manual setups using third-party apps, which is extremely inconvenient, time-consuming, and difficult to complete.

There are significantly better Android and iOS VPNs out there — for example, ExpressVPN has dedicated apps for iOS and Android that are easy to install and use, comes with excellent security features, and has blazing-fast speeds.

Is BTGuard safe to use?

No — while BTGuard has a no-logs policy (which hasn’t been independently audited) and 256-bit AES encryption, it lacks a kill switch, which disconnects you from the internet if the VPN connection fails. Without a kill switch, you risk experiencing traffic leaks and exposing your real IP address.

I recommend getting ExpressVPN instead, because it has a kill switch and also comes with advanced security features like perfect forward secrecy (PFS) and RAM-only servers.

Does BTGuard work with Netflix?

Yes, but I don’t recommend using it because BTGuard only has servers in 3 countries, so it’s not compatible with many Netflix libraries.

If you want a good Netflix VPN, I recommend ExpressVPN — it consistently works with Netflix, claims to work with 100+ other streaming apps, and also provides lightning-fast streaming speeds.