Some VPN providers include the Tor functionality in their services. In this article, we briefly review some of the VPN providers that offer Tor as part of their features, or work well with Tor even when used separately.

What’s the difference between Tor and VPN?

The value of Tor is in the anonymity that it offers and its biggest disadvantage is that it hinders the day-to-day usability of the Internet. On the other hand, a VPN is valuable because it offers privacy but doesn’t offer anonymity because your VPN provider always knows your actual IP address.

However, unlike Tor, a VPN doesn’t impede the everyday use of the Internet, and it’s because of this that many Internet users prefer it to Tor.

That is not to say that there isn’t a small subset of Internet users for whom Tor is indispensable, because maximum security is their top priority for one reason or another.

One of the greatest appeals of Tor is the fact that it’s free, making it the perfect anti-censorship tool for those who aren’t willing to spend a few dollars a month to bypass Internet restrictions set by ISPs, governments, employers, etc.

VPNs are more suitable than Tor because they are faster. However, for some Internet users, the fact that Tor does not require you to trust anyone makes them superior to VPNs. A common concern for VPN users is that a law enforcement agency or law firm can compel a VPN provider to hand over user data with relative ease.

How we selected the top recommended providers offering Tor with VPN

Our experts test and research numerous VPN services on a regular basis and take into account important factors in order to come up with a list of VPNs that are most likely to meet the needs of prospective users.

In this case, the main feature under consideration was Tor over VPN. Other features that were taken into account include performance, speeds, Privacy Policy, encryption strength, price, legal jurisdiction, money-back guarantee, and free trial.

Needless to say, there’s a huge variability in services offered by different providers because they have varying priorities. For that reason, a provider at the top of the list may miss one or two features that some users may consider indispensable.

It is important to note that the benefits of the Tor-over-VPN feature is debatable. Some experts assert that, in many cases, you’re better off using a VPN and Tor separately, but concurrently rather than using a VPN service that offers Tor-over-VPN.

1. AirVPN

Advantages:

VPN through Tor
No logs
P2P support
Accepts Bitcoin
Transparent service

Disadvantages:

A bit too techy for a casual VPN user
Customer support needs improvement
Limited server network

Based in Italy, AirVPN offers superior anti-censorship and security technology, including both SSL and SSH tunneling to prevent nosey governments from spying on the provider’s users. In addition to that, the provider has a strict no logging policy, powerful encryption, a built-in kill switch, DNS leak protection, and clients for MacOS, Windows and Linux.

Furthermore, this provider is among the only two that offer VPN through Tor, along with instructions for using the Tor browser to connect to a VPN. The only downside of AirVPN is that it seems to be tailored to the needs of advanced VPN users, and this might put off beginners or casual users.

Other benefits of this service include real-time server and user stats, VPN through SSH and SSL, highly reliable connections, open source clients (with DNS leak protection and a kill switch), three simultaneous connections, dynamic port forwarding, and a 3-day free trial.

2. NordVPN

Advantages:

Based in privacy-friendly Panama
No logs
2 simultaneous connections
Tor over VPN
Accepts Bitcoin

Disadvantages:

Can be slow at times

Panama-based NordVPN has an OpenVPN configuration file that supports Tor through VPN. The primary benefit of this feature is that all your online traffic is routed through both Tor and a VPN, which adds a layer of security. Although it scores high on security and privacy, it can at times disappoint with slow speeds.

3. PrivateVPN

Advantages:

30-day money-back guarantee
VPN through Tor
6 simultaneous connections
Full DNS leak protection
Excellent mobile apps

PrivateVPN is a Swedish VPN provider with a server network of more than 80 servers in 52 countries. It has a strict zero-logging Privacy Policy, a firewall-based system kill switch, a per-app kill switch, and built-in IPv4 and IPv6 kill switch.

It offers true anonymity with its Tor over VPN functionality. However, the functionality requires manual configuration as it’s not built into the client.

Other benefits include an excellent customer service, up to six simultaneous connections, port forwarding, and SOCKS5 and HTTPS proxies. Thanks to its 30-day no-questions-asked money-back guarantee, you can test the features risk-free.

Conclusion

Regardless of the combination you use, using a combination of Tor and VPN dramatically improves your online privacy and anonymity.

However, it is important that you clearly define your priorities and weigh them against the pros and cons of the VPN providers you’re considering, in order to choose the most suitable one.