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TorGuard vs Astrill is a contest between two specialists that most mainstream buyers never consider. Both target restrictive networks, both sell port forwarding and dedicated IPs, and neither has an independent no-logs audit. One guide dedicated to the Great Firewall, GreatFirewallGuide, has scored both with the same method in April 2026: Astrill at 98%, TorGuard at 78%.
So in China, Astrill has the edge. Everywhere else the comparison turns on price, jurisdiction and conduct under pressure, and there TorGuard has more to show.
TorGuard vs Astrill: The Short Answer
Choose Astrill over TorGuard for living in China. It led GreatFirewallGuide’s reliability figures and rates 3.0 in our Astrill review. It costs $30 a month or $300 for two years.
Choose TorGuard for technical control at a lower price. It ranked second in the same guide, rates 3.1 in our TorGuard review, and reviewers report its Standard plan at $4.27 to $10.99 a month.
Neither has an independent no-logs audit, and both have disputed or unusual refund terms. Check both before paying.
China: Same Guide, Same Method
GreatFirewallGuide scored Astrill at 98% on China Telecom’s CN2 GIA network and ranked it fourth overall because of its cost. It scored TorGuard at 78% and ranked it second, as the pick for developers and businesses.
TorGuard’s China tools are its Stealth VPN servers, which wrap OpenVPN in SSL, and a Stealth Proxy that its support pages, updated this month, describe for China, Iran, the UAE, Russia and Turkey. Astrill’s are StealthVPN and OpenWeb. Our obfuscation guide explains how both approaches work.
⚠️ Using an unapproved VPN in China remains a regulatory violation, with an individual fine of up to RMB 5,000, as our China legality page explains.
Privacy: Two Unaudited Providers
TorGuard has no audit after more than a decade, but it has a record under pressure. When roughly twenty-five film studios sued in 2021, it settled in March 2022 by blocking BitTorrent on its US servers and disclosed no customer records. It operates from Orlando, Florida, inside the Five Eyes.
Astrill has no audit either, and it logs your IP address, connection time and device details during a session, deleting them afterwards by its own account, according to VPN.com. Reviewers disagree on whether it is based in the Seychelles or Liechtenstein. Our audit tracker and our no-logs guide explain why both gaps matter.
| Provider | No-logs audits | Auditor | Jurisdiction |
|---|---|---|---|
| NordVPN | 6 | PwC, Deloitte | Panama |
| Surfshark | 2 | Deloitte | Netherlands (9 Eyes) |
| ExpressVPN | 3 | KPMG (28 security reports in total) | British Virgin Islands, Kape-owned |
| CyberGhost | 3 | Deloitte | Romania, Kape-owned |
| PureVPN | 4 | KPMG | BVI, operated from Pakistan |
| IPVanish | 2 | Leviathan, Schellman | United States (Five Eyes), Ziff Davis-owned |
| Windscribe | 1 | Packetlabs, production infrastructure | Canada (Five Eyes); Greek case dismissed, no data to give |
| Proton VPN | 5 | Securitum | Switzerland, moving infrastructure to EU |
| Private Internet Access | 3 | Deloitte | United States (Five Eyes), Kape-owned |
| Mullvad | 10+ | Cure53, Assured AB | Sweden (14 Eyes) |
| TunnelBear | Annual since 2017 | Cure53 | Canada (Five Eyes), US parent |
| Norton VPN | 2 | VerSprite | United States (Five Eyes) |
| Hotspot Shield | 0 | protocol audited, policy not | United States (Five Eyes) |
| AirVPN | 0 | none — the client is open source instead | Italy (14 Eyes) |
| IVPN | 8, annual since inception | Cure53 | Gibraltar (status disputed) |
| Hide.me | 1 modern, in 2024 | Securitum, though one source names Altius IT | Malaysia (outside the alliances) |
| PrivadoVPN | 0 | none in six years of operation | Iceland (moved from Switzerland, 2026) |
| TorGuard | 0 | none; settled a lawsuit without disclosing records | United States (Five Eyes) |
| FastestVPN | 1, in 2023 | Altius IT | Cayman Islands (outside the alliances) |
| StrongVPN | 0 | none in over two decades | United States (Five Eyes), Ziff Davis-owned |
| VyprVPN | 1, in 2018 | Leviathan Security, before the 2023 sale | United States (Five Eyes), Certida-owned since 2023 |
| PrivateVPN | 0 | none; support says there is nothing to audit | Sweden (14 Eyes), ownership disputed |
| ZoogVPN | 0 | none; support describes one as planned | Greece (outside the alliances), run from Ukraine |
| Malwarebytes Privacy VPN | 1, in 2026 | X41 D-Sec, white-box over two months | United States (Five Eyes), runs AzireVPN infrastructure |
| Astrill | 0 | — | Disputed: Seychelles or Liechtenstein |
TorGuard vs Astrill on Price and Refunds
Astrill costs $30 for one month, $180 for a year or $300 for two years, and the same amount repeats at renewal. Over four years its two-year plan comes to $600.
Reviewers report TorGuard’s Standard plan at $4.27 to $10.99 a month, and GreatFirewallGuide quotes $9.99, with streaming on a higher tier and dedicated IPs extra. At almost any term it costs less than Astrill.
⚠️ Refunds need checking for both. GreatFirewallGuide gives TorGuard a seven-day window. For Astrill, several reviews report no refunds and two sources describe seven days. Our refund guide explains what to ask.
TorGuard vs Astrill on Features
Port forwarding: both offer it, which few providers still do. TorGuard’s is well documented; Astrill lists it among its features. Our port forwarding guide covers the rest of the market.
Torrenting: TorGuard blocks BitTorrent on its US servers since 2022; elsewhere it works. Our torrenting guide explains the options.
Dedicated IPs: both sell them as add-ons. Our dedicated IP guide explains who needs one.
Ease of use: neither suits beginners. TorGuard’s interface is a recurring complaint, and Astrill asks you to choose protocols yourself.
Which One
Astrill if you live or work in mainland China and reliability during crackdowns is worth $300 every two years.
TorGuard for technical users who want stealth servers, port forwarding and dedicated IPs at a lower price, including in China as a second option. ExpressVPN vs Astrill and ExpressVPN vs TorGuard set each against an audited rival.
How We Research
The China scores come from GreatFirewallGuide’s reviews of both providers, published in April 2026, and TorGuard’s Stealth Proxy from its support page, read on 25 September 2026. Astrill’s prices come from its pricing page, read the same day, and its logging, refunds and jurisdiction from the sources named in our Astrill review. TorGuard’s settlement, ownership and price range come from our TorGuard review. We do not run our own tests. Our full approach lives on the About Us page.
TorGuard vs Astrill FAQ
In TorGuard vs Astrill, Astrill leads for China: GreatFirewallGuide scored it at 98% against TorGuard’s 78% with the same method in April 2026. TorGuard ranked higher overall there, as the pick for technical users.
No. Neither TorGuard nor Astrill has an independent no-logs audit. TorGuard settled a studio lawsuit in 2022 without disclosing customer records.
TorGuard, reported at $4.27 to $10.99 a month on its Standard plan. Astrill costs $30 a month or $300 for two years.
Yes. TorGuard includes it, and Astrill lists it among its features. Both also sell dedicated IPs.
Using an unapproved VPN is a regulatory violation, and the rules set an individual fine of up to RMB 5,000. Enforcement is uneven, but the rule names the user.
The Verdict
For China, TorGuard vs Astrill goes to Astrill, on the one like-for-like test available. For almost everything else, TorGuard offers similar technical tools at a fraction of the price, with a record under legal pressure to show.
Nobody has audited either, so treat both as tools for a specific job rather than as general-purpose privacy VPNs.