The 8 PeerBlock Alternatives (To Try Out Now)

Used mainly by P2P and BitTorrent users, PeerBlock is an open-source firewall application that, in theory, ‘hides’ your actual IP address so you can safely use torrents without the fear of anyone tracking your torrent activities. The kicker? It’s free. 

But unfortunately, PeerBlock isn’t as safe as the developers want you to think. Its security features are dangerously lacking, further exacerbated by the fact that the application hasn’t been updated since 2014. 

peerblock app

As a stickler for online safety and privacy, I can’t, in good conscience, recommend PeerBlock to any user. Its popularity is hugely unwarranted, especially as it does more harm than good to your connection. 

In its place, here are some of the best and safest privacy tools you can use for a smoother torrenting and online browsing experience.

1. NordVPN

nordvpn
  • Superior 256-BIT military-grade encryption
  • Protects your account details with a PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) encryption program
  • Prevents DNS leaks 
  • No activity logs
  • Double VPN feature offers an additional layer of protection
  • Doesn’t compromise your connection speed
  • Massive server list

NordVPN is one of the world’s most popular and highly trusted VPN services, and this is by no means unwarranted. 

Best VPN Overall
Best VPN Features

With more than 5,200 different servers across more than 50 countries around the globe, NordVPN is praised for its security features and zero-logging policy that covers bandwidth, timestamps, and IP addresses. 

It also supports an active ‘Kill Switch’ that prevents privacy compromise if the VPN connection fails to reload. This is greatly useful for downloading torrents as it protects your security and anonymity online even when the VPN goes down.

2. ExpressVPN

expressvpn
  • Unlimited bandwidth, server switches, and speed 
  • 256-BIT encryption with SHA-512 HMAC and RSA-4096 authentication
  • Solid and consistent performance 
  • Excellent speeds (99.99% uptime) 
  • No activity logs
  • Private DNS protection

ExpressVPN is highly regarded for its speed. It’s one of the fastest VPNs I’ve tested, largely thanks to its all-new VPN proprietary protocol Lightway. Lightway instantly connects you to your desired services and immediately reconnects if your internet drops. 

It’s lightweight and requires no initial configuration, taking only about a quarter of your device’s processing power to run. 

ExpressVPN offers users access to more than 3000 servers across 90 different countries. It also doesn’t store any identifying connection or activity logs, making it safe to use for torrenting purposes.

3. PIA

privateinternetaccess
  • OpenVPN, Wireguard, PPTP, and L2TP protocols
  • AES-256 BIT encryption 
  • Kill Switch protection feature
  • Fast speed and performance 
  • P2P and torrenting support 
  • No-logs policy
  • No DNS leaks
  • Anonymous payment options like Bitcoin, gift cards, etc.

Private Internet Access is one of the world’s leading VPNs that offers top-notch torrent anonymity services. Similar to NordVPN, Private Internet Access provides 256-BIT AES encryption and a VPN Kill Switch technology. 

PIA also has a no-log policy and a torrent-friendly SOCKS5 proxy. Moreover, it grants users complete control over the software’s VPN protocol and encryption algorithm, allowing you to adjust the VPN’s encryption strength, method of authentication, and connection protocol. 

PIA recommends switching your settings to 128-BIT data encryption, OpenVPN protocol, and UDP connection type for torrenting. 

Another great feature is PIA’s ShadowSOCKS proxy integration, which essentially disguises your VPN traffic as regular web data. ShadowSOCKS is a great way to bypass more advanced firewalls, making it a popular choice for circumventing the Great Firewall of China.

Find more VPNs in our article The 12 Best VPN For Torrenting (Great Privacy & Blazing Speeds).

4. TorGuard

torguard
  • Unlimited speeds and bandwidth
  • Over 3000 servers across 50 countries
  • No DNS leaks
  • STunnel feature bypasses Deep Packet Inspections (DPI) and hides VPN use
  • Multiple security protocols including SOCKS5, SST, HTTP, and SSL
  • Built with P2P in mind

Praised for its strong torrenting support and robust security features, TorGuard is a solid PeerBlock alternative that can easily bypass strict censorship without the fear of detection. 

It goes without saying that ‘Tor’ in TorGuard’s name refers explicitly to torrents. Designed for secure torrenting, this program is fully compatible with popular torrent clients, including uTorrent, Vuze, BitTorrent, qBittorrent, and more. It also comes with a feature called port forwarding, which claims to improve the transfer rate of torrent files. 

TorGuard doesn’t skimp on security, either. Along with AES 256-BIT encryption, TorGuard supports multiple security protocols such as IPv6 leak protection, automatic kill switch, OpenVPN, and OpenConnect VPN. 

Most importantly, the application doesn’t log or store data of any kind. TorGuard is based in the US, but even if the company is legally compelled to hand over information, users are safe because there would be nothing to give. 

Apart from the VPN services above, TorGuard also offers a built-in adblocker.

Read more about torrenting over Tor in The Pros & Cons of Torrenting Over Tor (A Quick Guide).

5. BeeThink IP Blocker

beethink ip blocker
  • Allows users to block specific or an entire list of IP addresses manually 
  • Allows users to look up remote ownership information and IP addresses
  • Allows users to view network traffic detail and network flows in real-time
  • Automatically updates IP list 
  • Supports multiple IP formats

If you’re searching for a straightforward IP address blocker and nothing more, look no further than the BeeThink IP Blocker

It’s user-friendly and straightforward, so you don’t need prior technological knowledge to use it effectively. It supports almost every IP list format known to man, including TXT, DAT, P2P, ZIP, and .htaccess. 

Moreover, users can filter the torrent network based on their desired protocols, IP addresses, and other TCP/IP factors. 

The BeeThink IP Blocker doesn’t have an IP limit and supports unlimited connections. It also has a blacklist/whitelist IP option, so you can manually block unwanted IP addresses while torrenting or browsing. 

Unfortunately, BeeThink IP Blocker only supports Windows OS, but the developers plan to expand their support across all platforms soon.

6. Simplewall

simplewell
  • Lightweight and easy to use 
  • Internal blocklist rules
  • Free and open-source
  • Provides Pv6 support
  • Allows users to block Windows Telemetry and to spy by default
  • Allows users to create custom IP blocklists

Simplewall is another great PeerBlock alternative. Its interface is somewhat similar to PeerBlock, except it offers more control for blacklisting and whitelisting addresses. 

At less than a megabyte, Simplewall is an highly lightweight program. With all the features it has, I find that quite surprising! 

Compared to PeerBlock, Simplewall has better network monitoring capabilities and allows users to configure user settings according to their online preferences manually. 

Simplewall’s interface is straightforward to use and understand. It also has impressive security features and comes with several privacy-centric functions as well, including disabling existing spy trackers, blocklist support, and blocking incoming and outgoing traffic.

7. PeerGuardian 

  • Free and open-source
  • Only compatible with Linux
  • Block or enable peers
  • Add IP ranges
  • Avoid and remove specific IPs

PeerGuardian is a firewall app that is a free and open-source alternative to Peerblock. It’s incredibly easy to use at it has a pleasant user interface. 

Unlike PeerBlock, PeerGuardian does not blanket-block IP addresses and instead lets you choose which ones to restrict and which ones to allow. This can also be done on a temporary or permanent basis. 

Unfortunately, PeerGuard is only available on Linux. There was a version for macOS, but it isn’t being updated for a long time as the PeerGuardian team lost contact with the developer. The same goes for the Windows version.  

8. IPlist

  • Free and open-source
  • IP blocks
  • Only compatible with Linux
  • Has a learning curve
  • Port forwarding
  • Detailed logs

Iplist is an open source IP filtering app that’s very similar to PeerGuardian that we already mentioned above. It’s a free app that can help you block certain IP addresses and ranges with complete control. 

It also works in line with IPTables that allow you to whitelist and blacklist IP addresses when torrenting. The downside to this Peerblock alternative is that it’s only available on Linux, is hard to get used to, and hasn’t been updated in 10 plus years.   

Reasons Why You Should Look For PeerBlock Alternative

Released in 2009, PeerBlock, formerly known as PeerGuardian, is a free application that blocks specific IP addresses from a comprehensive list of blacklisted hosts, primarily provided by the website I-Blocklist. 

The program allows users to apply a block on unwanted IP addresses, monitor FTP transfers, and web traffic, and customize the application’s operations and interface. 

When I-Blocklist began charging its users around 2013, PeerBlock began to limit its updates to paid subscribers. By 2014, PeerBlock stopped updating the software entirely. 

peerblock installation process

Here are some notable reasons why you should avoid PeerBlock:

  • PeerBlock’s software is unstable and outdated
  • Doesn’t conceal or encrypt your internet connection and IP address 
  • Doesn’t protect you from bandwidth throttling and network restrictions set by the ISP 
  • Doesn’t hide you from torrent traffic surveillance
  • Doesn’t block all malicious IP addresses
  • Negatively impacts user upload and download speed 
  • The blacklist function isn’t effective against ISPs and anti-P2P organizations 
  • May block helpful IP addresses that are purposely used for a smoother torrenting experience 
peerblock startup wizard

Conclusion

Avoid torrent monitoring agencies by steering clear of PeerBlock. PeerBlock doesn’t use encryption, its firewall isn’t reliable, and its security protocols are greatly lacking. 

In its place, I recommend the PeerBlock substitutes listed above; particularly NordVPN and ExpressVPN. Both have brilliant security and privacy features, allowing you to stream and torrent privately and safely. 

Best VPN Overall
Best VPN Features
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