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Tor VPN

Network / Mesh

The Tor Project's free, open-source, experimental Android app that routes each app through a 3-hop Tor circuit (onion routing), with per-app circuits and .onion access.

www.torproject.org/
Not scored
Jurisdiction
Decentralised (Tor network)
Founded
2006
Owner
The Tor Project (US 501(c)(3) non-profit)
Best price
n/a
Devices
n/a
Free tier
Yes

Network / Mesh. A decentralised anonymity network you route through (Tor onion routing, HOPR mixnet) or a private device mesh (Tailscale-style), rather than a commercial VPN provider. Listed but not scored head-to-head.

Tor VPN is in the Network / Meshcategory, so we don't give it a head-to-head score. It is a decentralised anonymity network or device mesh rather than a commercial VPN, so there's no provider no-logs policy, jurisdiction, or server network to rate on the conventional rubric. The data sheet below shows what it does offer.

Best for

  • · Maximum anonymity against powerful adversaries (the long-standing gold standard)
  • · Censorship circumvention and reaching .onion services
  • · Testers and developers willing to try a beta

Not ideal for

  • · Anything sensitive right now: the Tor Project warns it's experimental and may leak identifiers
  • · Speed or streaming (Tor is slow by design)
  • · iOS or desktop users (Android-only for now)

Strengths

  • Routes through the Tor network, the most studied anonymity system, with per-app circuits and exit IPs
  • Free and open-source (BSD-3), built on Arti (Tor's Rust rewrite)
  • From the non-profit Tor Project; censorship circumvention and .onion access
  • No accounts, no payment, no single provider to trust

Weaknesses

  • Experimental beta: not to be relied on for sensitive activity yet
  • May expose Android system-level identifiers; expect bugs and crashes
  • Android-only; slow compared with a normal VPN
  • Different architecture from a commercial VPN, so we list it but don't score it head-to-head

Protocols & encryption

The tunnelling protocols this service offers and the cryptography behind them.

In-house protocol. Tor onion routing (3-hop circuits) via Arti, Tor's Rust implementation; per-app circuit isolation and pluggable transports for censorship circumvention
This provider's setup
Stated data cipher
AES-128 (per onion layer)
Stated handshake
Curve25519 (ntor handshake)
Perfect forward secrecy
Unknown
RAM-only servers
Unknown
Kill switch
Unknown
First-party DNS (leak protection)
Yes
IPv6
Unknown

Full data sheet

Every attribute we track, coloured by whether it helps or hurts your privacy.

Company & jurisdiction
Based inDecentralised (Tor network)
Eyes allianceOutside 5/9/14 Eyes
Enemy of the InternetNo
OwnerThe Tor Project (US 501(c)(3) non-profit)
Conglomeraten/a
Founded2006
Logging
Traffic / activityNone kept
DNS requestsNone kept
TimestampsNone kept
BandwidthNone kept
Source IP addressNone kept

No central operator logs your activity; anonymity comes from routing through volunteer-run relays where no single relay sees both your identity and your destination. Caveat: this is an experimental beta that may still expose Android system-level identifiers.

Payment & anonymity
Anonymous signupYes
Accepts cashUnknown
Accepts cryptoUnknown
PGP keyUnknown
Protocols & features
OpenVPNNo
WireGuardNo
Proprietary protocolTor onion routing (3-hop circuits) via Arti, Tor's Rust implementation; per-app circuit isolation and pluggable transports for censorship circumvention
Multi-hopYes
ObfuscationYes
Kill switchUnknown
First-party DNSYes
RAM-only serversUnknown
Port forwardingNo
P2P / torrentingNo
IPv6Unknown
Encryption
Data cipherAES-128 (per onion layer)
HandshakeCurve25519 (ntor handshake)
Transparency
Open-source clientsYes, all apps
Independent auditsNone
Transparency reportYes
Court / seizure-testedProven

The Tor network's anonymity has withstood years of real-world subpoenas and investigations; volunteer relays hold no logs that could deanonymise users. (The new Android app itself is beta.)

Infrastructure
Simultaneous devicesn/a
Countriesn/a
Serversn/a
Linux supportNo
Pricing
Month-to-monthn/a
Best $/mon/a
On plann/a
Free trialNone
Refund windown/a
Free tierYes
Ethics
Logging policyConsistent
Marketing honestyNo overclaiming

The Tor Project's first official VPN-style app (beta, Android-only, launched September 2025). Routes each app's traffic through a 3-hop Tor circuit using Arti, Tor's modern Rust implementation. Free, open-source (BSD-3 licence). Listed as a decentralised anonymity network rather than scored against conventional VPNs.

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