5 Best VPNs with SOCKS5 in 2024

What Is SOCKS5 Internet Protocol? 

SOCKS proxies have existed since the ’90s, but, until recently, have not been accessible and user-friendly enough for Internet users without technical knowledge.

Socks5 is the fifth (or latest) version of the SOCKS protocol that has built on previous versions to make it easier to set up, more reliable, more affordable, and offered by many mainstream VPN companies, like NordVPN and Surfshark.

With this protocol, the remote proxy server conceals your original IP address by rerouting it. When your data travels across the web from your device to your destination, your proxy connection hides your IP address and replaces it with a new IP address of its own, ensuring that your Internet traffic is anonymous. SOCKS5 also helps bypass regional restrictions by spoofing your location online.

SOCKS5 is also hugely useful for those looking to access torrenting sites online, as it can be configured for torrent clients and other individual apps and uses like Telegram or web browsers, ensuring that only certain websites or apps communicate using SOCKS5 and that your other communication goes through your regular network. This means that you can connect a torrent client to SOCKS while your other user traffic uses your original online network.

SOCKS5 uses its proxy servers for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connections, or User Datagram Protocol (UDP) connections. UDP does not convert data packets into fixed packets, so it can offer better speeds and reliability. Other proxies rewrite packet headers, which leads to data being mislabeled or misrouted, but a SOCKS5 proxy does not rewrite data packet headers, so there are fewer errors.

SOCKS offers 3 authentication methods:

1. Username and password authentication
2. Null (no) authentication
3. GSS-API authentication, where you and your server must use authentication methods.

Difference Between SOCKS5 and a VPN

First of all, while many users may think of these two things interchangeably, SOCKS is not a VPN.

A VPN is a tool that helps users encrypt their Internet traffic to ensure online privacy and enhance online security.

One of the major benefits of a VPN is that it allows you to conceal your physical location and IP address by routing through an encrypted server so that your activity online is hidden from your Internet Service Provider (ISP), hackers, third parties, or cyber-criminals, and you are given complete anonymity and protection when web browsing, streaming, torrenting, or gaming.

A result of this process of concealing your IP address from your ISP is that you can avoid bandwidth throttling, which slows your speeds. But, since VPNs do slow your speeds a bit due to their extra step of encryption, you won’t reach maximum speed anyway using one.

If you want the best speeds and are okay foregoing the process of encryption that slows you a bit, a SOCKS5 proxy may be the way to go. We would not advise using a proxy without your VPN encryption if you are torrenting or doing any activities that require intense Internet security or protection.

The similarities between the two are concerning some of their functions, namely, that both of them will help protect you when torrenting by concealing your IP address. If you are looking for both a VPN and a SOCKS5 protocol, the VPNs on our list all offer SOCKS5 alongside their service, along with a simple setup for SOCKS5.

5 Best VPNs with SOCKS5

Surprisingly, not all VPNs offer SOCKS5. Based on our research, these are the 5 best VPN services that also offer SOCKS5:

1. NordVPN

NordVPN is one of the most popular VPN services with one of the fastest VPN server networks spread across over 60 countries worldwide. NordVPN also has an easy-to-navigate guide directing users on combining SOCKS5 with a torrent client.

NordVPN offers great online protection features, like AES 256–bit encryption, a strict no–logs policy, a Kill Switch, and DNS leak protection, and it is based in a private location in Panama, which is a country outside of the 5/9/14 Eyes information-sharing alliance.

You can use NordVPN on your iOS, Android, Linux, Windows, and macOS devices and connect up to 6 devices to a single VPN subscription. NordVPN also easily unblocks popular geo-blocked services like Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Disney, or BBC iPlayer.

The broad capabilities of this VPN service, combined with the fact that it has the SOCKS5 proxy included in its subscription, make it one of the best VPN services on the market.

2. Surfshark

Surfshark is another great VPN with over 3,200 VPN servers spread across over 65 countries, also offering SOCKS5 proxies.

Surfshark can unblock a huge range of geo-restricted content around the world, including platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, and more, and you will only experience mild buffering on certain servers.

Surfshark has top privacy and security features, like NordVPN, including AES 256–bit encryption, a Kill Switch, a strict no–logs policy, a built–in ad and malware blocker, and DNS leak protection, and it is based in the British Virgin Islands, which is outside of the Information-Sharing Alliance.

Surfshark offers unlimited simultaneous device connections, so as many users as you want can connect devices to a single VPN account, allowing you to connect to a server to unblock your geo-restricted content while your family members connect to servers in different regions that suit their needs.

You can test Surfshark for up to 30 days with a money–back guarantee, so you can check out its features, including SOCKS5, before committing.

3. Private Internet Access (PIA)

PIA is another one of the top VPN services that offer a secure and easily set-up SOCKS5 proxy, requiring users to enter a username and password that differ from your VPN client login details.

PIA has a network of almost 30,000 servers in 78 countries worldwide, easily able to unblock popular streaming platforms like Hulu, Netflix, and more, with minimal buffering and great-quality streaming and gaming. You can connect PIA to your iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows, or Linux, and this VPN allows you to use up to 10 devices simultaneously on a single subscription.

In terms of online privacy and security, this VPN offers military–grade encryption, DNS leak protection, a Kill Switch, obfuscation, OpenVPN, port forwarding, split tunneling, a strict no–logs policy, and SOCKS5 proxy. The one downside to this VPN is that it’s based in the USA, which is a member of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance, requiring it is forced to fork over data logs and users’ private information. Since PIA has a no-logs policy, though, there should never be any info to hand over.

4. IPVanish

IPVanish is another one of the best VPN services that have a SOCKS5 proxy. Using one of IPVanish’s more than 1,800 servers in over 75 countries, you can also unblock popular streaming services like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, or Hulu from anywhere.

IPVanish can be used on your macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, or Windows device, and you can connect an unlimited number of devices to a single VPN account, similar to Surfshark.

IPVanish offers military-grade encryption, a strict no-logs policy, DNS leak protection, and a Kill Switch, and it also offers WireGuard protocol. Like PIA, however, IPVanish is based in the USA, so VPN users who are extra cautious of jurisdiction-related privacy may want to steer clear, despite IPVanish’s strict no-logs claim.

This VPN offers a SOCKS5 proxy that you can navigate and control from your member portal on the IPVanish site and provides users with an easy-to-follow guide to help set up SOCKS proxies in your browser or torrent client, so you can set this up and torrent securely and with great speeds.

IPVanish supports a large array of VPN protocols, also offering browser extensions for users who don’t want to download a VPN client, and you can set up your SOCKs5 proxy through this VPN client as well.

5. TorGuard

TorGuard has over 3,000 servers in more than 50 countries around the world and is one of the best VPN providers for advanced users that allows users to connect directly to the SOCKS5 proxy.

With TorGuard, you can actually use your TorGuard username and login to access SOCKS5 servers with no added setup. Since TorGuard makes it extremely easy to use SOCKS5, we would recommend it to novices or experienced users alike.

You can use TorGuard on your Mac, iOS, Android, Windows, or Linux devices, and you can connect 8, 12, or 30 devices to a single user account, depending on which subscription plan you choose.

TorGuard also offers users a 7-day free trial to test the service for committing to a long-term plan.

Can I Use a Free SOCKS5 Proxy Server?

While it is a nice idea to save a few bucks by using a free VPN service or free proxies, these days it is hard to find any good free VPNs or SOCKS5 proxies. Because of this, we recommend subscribing to a VPN provider that will give you the option of using a SOCKS5 proxy.

The VPN provider options on this list will send your Internet traffic through an encrypted tunnel and the SOCKS5 proxy, which will enhance your speed, privacy, and security whether you are accessing the web at home, on public Wi-Fi, or anywhere else. This connection will also help you “change” locations to bypass geo-restrictions from anywhere, which is way more effective than a free proxy.

If you really want to use a free proxy server address, you can find lists of these online, but you will not be able to tell who is in charge of running these free services, so no one can really vouch for them.

Reasons to Use a VPN with SOCKS5

Here are some of the Internet activities you can perform with SOCKS5:

 Hiding your IP address when P2P sharing/torrenting.

 Sharing private files across FTP or HTTP protocols.

 Accessing geo-restricted sites like Hulu, Netflix, Twitter, or YouTube.

How to Set Up SOCKS5

It is really simple to set up your SOCKS5 proxy on your app. All you have to do is follow these steps:

1. Open Torrent and go to Preferences.
2. Go to Connections > Proxy Server and pick SOCKS5.
3. Type in the proxy server URL and the port number.
4. Click Authentication and add your credentials provided by your VPN service.
5. Click Apply.

After you have set up your SOCKS proxy, check to see if it is functioning by going to IPleak.net. If you use a VPN service with built-in support for SOCKS5 proxy, like PIA, you can bypass this setup.

FAQs

Conclusion

A SOCKS proxy server is a useful way to bypass geo-blocks and conceal your IP address online. If you want to make sure you also have an encrypted connection, you will need to first subscribe to one of the reputable VPNs on our list that include SOCKS proxies.

We would advise against using any free proxies that you may find online since they are not reputable and vetted for effectiveness or for safety.

So, if you want to make sure that you have the top encryption for the utmost privacy and protection online, use a tried and tested VPN, like NordVPN, or any of the VPNs on our list. If encryption is not necessary for your activities, consider using the SOCKS5 proxy.