Surfshark VPN Fast factsOur rating: 4.6 stars out of 5
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Surfshark VPN makes a compelling argument as a bang-for-buck VPN in 2024. It offers impressive VPN speeds and a variety of security features — all at fairly affordable prices with its long-term plans.
It also supports unlimited simultaneous device connections, adding even more value for users with multiple devices. Even without a dedicated free version, there’s no denying Surfshark’s impressive price-to-performance ratio.
Is Surfshark free?
No, Surfshark is not free and doesn’t have a free version. There is a seven-day free trial, but it is only available for Android, iOS, and macOS users. Unfortunately, this leaves Windows users without access to the free trial — which I hope is resolved in the near future.
SEE: Surfshark vs Norton Secure VPN (2024): Which VPN Is Better? (TechRepublic)
Take note that Surfshark’s seven-day free trial requires payment information to access. So, you will have to provide credit/debit card, PayPal, or other payment data to try out Surfshark VPN.
If you’re not keen on the free trial, Surfshark provides a 30-day money-back guarantee for all its subscription plans, on all platforms. This lets you refund your initial subscription within a 30-day period. If this option is available to you, I think this is a good way to test Surfshark’s service since you can always refund your purchase if it doesn’t fit your needs.
Surfshark VPN pricing
Surfshark has three subscription tiers: Starter, One, and One+. Each tier has a monthly, one-year, and two-year contract option. Below is a rundown of pricing and feature differences for each plan:
| Surfshark Starter | Surfshark One | Surfshark One+ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $15.45 per month | $17.95 per month | $20.65 per month |
| 1 year | $3.69 per month | $4.09 per month | $7.69 per month |
| 2 years | $2.19 per month | $2.69 per month | $4.29 per month |
| Feature differences | Main VPN service; ad blocker; cookie pop-up blocker | All Starter features plus real-time email breach alerts; private search tool; antivirus protection | All One features plus data removal from company databases and people search sites (only available in US, Canada, UK, and EU) |
In terms of which subscription to go for, I recommend Surfshark One’s annual subscription. At $4.09 per month, it offers a good balance between having extra features while not going overboard with a long contract.
SEE: AVG Secure VPN vs Surfshark (2024): Which VPN Is Better? (TechRepublic)
It’s also very affordable compared to the competition. For example, NordVPN’s 1-year Plus plan is priced at $5.99 per month, while ExpressVPN’s annual subscription fluctuates between $6.67 and $8.33, depending on your location.
If you’re specifically looking for a monthly subscription, I suggest looking elsewhere. At $15.45 to $20.65 per month, Surfshark’s monthly plans are on the expensive side on the market. My suggestion would be to consider either Proton VPN’s one-month Plus plan at $9.99 per month or CyberGhost VPN’s monthly subscription at $12.99, especially if you’re on a tighter budget.
One thing to look out for is Surfshark’s tricky renewal pricing. In the small print below its subscription prices, Surfshark states that prices will vary after the initial subscription period.
I would have preferred if Surfshark had stable pricing, even after the renewal period. This would make the purchasing decision less confusing and make its affordable plans even more enticing.
To be fair, Surfshark isn’t the only VPN asking for a different price upon renewal. However, it is worth taking a look at for the purposes of this review.
Security: Is Surfshark VPN safe?
Yes, Surfshark VPN is a safe and secure VPN. It utilizes top-tier AES-256 encryption — widely recognized as one of the most secure encryption algorithms available.
For its VPN protocols, Surfshark carries WireGuard, IKEv2, and OpenVPN. I commend Surfshark for giving users flexibility in having the option between a security-focused tunneling protocol like OpenVPN and more speed-oriented ones like WireGuard.
SEE: Surfshark vs IPVanish (2024): Which VPN Should You Choose? (TechRepublic)
In addition, Surfshark has a no-logs policy, which states that it doesn’t log any user’s online activity such as browsing history or data transfers. While it’s easy to make promises, Surfshark’s no-logs policy has been independently audited by Deloitte in December 2022.
According to Deloitte, Surfshark’s “configuration of IT systems and management of the supporting IT operations is properly prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with Surfshark’s description of its no-logs policy.”
Surfshark also uses RAM-only servers for its server fleet, which means that all data is wiped every time one of their VPN servers is rebooted. This further secures user data, reducing the risk of data breaches and unauthorized access.
SEE: Why Your Business Needs Cybersecurity Awareness Training (TechRepublic Premium)
One small nitpick I have is how Surfshark’s most recent audit was published back in 2022 — which is already two years old. It would be ideal if Surfshark followed suit with other vendors, like NordVPN or ExpressVPN, whose most recent audits are from 2023. However, I don’t fault them too much, especially considering how other VPNs outright don’t have a third-party audit to speak of.
Key features of Surfshark VPN
On top of being able to encrypt your internet traffic, Surfshark provides a healthy amount of features that cater to various needs and circumstances.
Dynamic MultiHop
A highlight feature from Surfshark is Dynamic MultiHop. This is Surfshark’s double VPN feature that enables users to connect via two VPN server locations, adding an extra layer of security to your data. In essence, this hides your data and online activity behind two servers — offering double the protection you’d otherwise get from a single VPN server.
I particularly like how Surfshark provides concrete instances where MultiHop can be a useful tool. According to the VPN provider, MultiHop can be useful for people like political activists or journalists who want increased online anonymity as they reside in more restrictive regions of the world.
While these are more niche use cases, I applaud Surfshark for bringing unique features like this alongside its main VPN.
Surfshark Search
As a writer who does a ton of online research, Surfshark Search is my personal favorite among Surfshark’s features. It provides a customized search engine that automatically blocks all targeted ads and trackers in your search results.
SEE: Surfshark vs CyberGhost (2024): Which VPN Is Better? (TechRepublic)
Normally, if you search something like “best password manager” on a search engine, you’re greeted with a ton of sponsored posts, like in the image below.
With Surfshark Search, all the sponsored posts and ads are removed from the search results entirely. This provides a much cleaner and less intrusive browsing experience. Below is a glimpse of me looking up the same “best password manager” — but now using Surfshark Search.
Once I clicked search, I was redirected to a Surfshark Search page with a cleaner set of queries, all filled with more organic posts and web pages.
I envision this to be useful to people that do a lot of research and are tired of sifting through tons of ads to get to a quality webpage.
Unlimited device connections
With Surfshark, you get unlimited simultaneous device connections that allow users to connect an unlimited number of devices to a VPN server at the same time.
This allows families or small businesses to connect as many devices as they want to a VPN server without having to purchase an additional subscription.
While not the flashiest feature, I find unlimited devices to be a significant value-add. This is especially true if you use a number of laptops, computers, and smartphones and wish to connect all of them to a secure VPN server.
Performance: How fast is Surfshark VPN?
I was thoroughly impressed with Surfshark’s VPN speeds, as they were both fast and reliable during my testing. This involved doing my usual workflow as a writer: having multiple tabs open for research, doing work on Google Workspace apps like Drive and Docs, and attending the occasional online video meeting.
While connected to Surfshark servers, I experienced almost zero decrease in real-world speed. Sites and webpages loaded quickly and browsing online felt snappy. I also didn’t encounter any drops in connectivity, as my VPN connection remained stable from start to finish.
The story was the same when it came to speed testing. For downloads, Surfshark only recorded a decrease of about 12.5% compared to my internet service provider — which is excellent since around a 20-30% drop is considered good. For uploads, Surfshark actually provided faster speeds, having a 49.6% increase when compared to my ISP.
With this, if you need a fast-performing VPN that offers top speed and reliability, I’m confident Surfshark will do the job well.
Surfshark VPN servers and locations
When it comes to VPN servers, Surfshark comes in with a solid 100-country server fleet of 3,200+ servers. In terms of the number of servers, Surfshark’s 3,200-server network is above average compared to the competition.
What’s more interesting to me is the number of VPN server locations or countries. At 100 countries, Surfshark stands on par with other top VPN providers in 2024. Just to compare, CyberGhost VPN also offers a 100-country server fleet, while NordVPN has servers across 111 countries.
In 2024, having around 100 countries in a VPN server network is looking to be the standard. Personally, I support this trend since it gives consumers more choice in terms of unblocking geo-restricted content. It also offers benefits in terms of speed, as it increases the likelihood of having VPN servers nearer our location — reducing latency and increasing overall speed.
Fortunately, Surfshark provides a publicly available summary of all its active VPN server locations. This allows you to check if their VPN has the server locations you plan to use.
Surfshark online server network overview. Image: Surfshark
You can visit the server list here.
Surfshark VPN app experience
For in-app experience, I had a mostly positive experience with Surfshark’s application. For this review, I tested Surfshark’s desktop app for Windows. Overall, I found the Surfshark app to be well-designed and easy to use.
The app itself felt modern, and I appreciate the modern approach it took in terms of design. I also thought everything was well organized, as I had no issues looking for features or important settings while testing.
One area of improvement I have for Surfshark is that some of its features were a bit clunky at first use. In particular, I had some trouble getting Surfshark’s Bypasser split tunneling feature to work for the first time.
Bypasser lets you choose specific apps or websites to route via the VPN or to bypass the VPN altogether.
When I first tried Bypasser, it initially failed to have Microsoft Edge bypass the VPN server as I intended. However, a quick restart of the app and Bypasser did the trick. I also had the same experience when I first used Surfshark’s Dynamic MultiHop feature, where it seemed a bit clunky to use at the start.
Surfshark does inform the user that a restart of the connection or the app itself is required. However, I chose to note it here since it sort of breaks the otherwise seamless app experience I had with Surfshark for most of my testing.
Surfshark VPN customer support
Surfshark VPN has a good amount of customer support options. It provides email support, a ticketing system, live chat, an AI chatbot, and a knowledge base with extensive guides and tutorials.
When I tried Surfshark’s AI chatbot, it provided decent answers to simple questions fairly quickly. However, it did struggle with more complicated queries, so you have to set expectations when using it to resolve an issue.
In other news, I found their support articles to be legitimately helpful. The content and guides were in-depth, and they even offered articles for specific operating systems and devices.
I personally appreciate how the support articles, like the above regarding setup, had screenshots for each step — not assuming the technical knowledge of the reader. It even has a video tutorial alongside the article, providing an impressively comprehensive guide.
Surfshark VPN pros
- Unlimited device connections.
- Very affordable long-term plans.
- Intuitive and well-designed interface.
- Fast and reliable VPN speeds.
- Dynamic MultiHop double VPN.
- Servers across 100 countries.
- Ad-free search engine tool.
Surfshark VPN cons
- Some features may be clunky at the start.
- Renewal pricing is a bit confusing.
- No Windows free trial.
- Monthly plans are expensive.
Who is Surfshark VPN for?
Surfshark is for users who want a value-laden VPN that offers great performance and a variety of thoughtful security features — at affordable prices.
To me, Surfshark’s impressive VPN speeds are its most noteworthy feature. Throughout testing, it provided fast speeds and a stable connection across multiple VPN servers and locations. If you’re specifically looking for a fast-performing VPN, Surfshark is a great pick.
In addition, Surfshark is a good choice for small teams that need a VPN that can accommodate multiple devices. With its unlimited simultaneous device connections, Surfshark can handle a number of computers, smartphones, and other devices without requiring an additional subscription for all of them.
Alternatives to Surfshark VPN
While Surfshark is a great VPN, there are other options that offer different features you may want to consider. I’ve listed three VPN alternatives you can explore:
| NordVPN | CyberGhost VPN | ExpressVPN | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Our rating (out of 5 stars) | 4.7 | 4.3 | 4.6 |
| Starting price | $4.99 per month (annual plan) | $6.99 per month (6-month plan) | $6.67 per month |
| Server network | 6,400+ servers in 111 countries | Servers in 100 countries, 126 locations | Servers across 105 countries |
| Standout features | Extensive server network; built-in threat protection; included password manager subscription | 100-country server suite; 24-hour free trial with no payment data required; specialized servers for streaming, gaming, and torrenting | Intuitive and well-designed app; fast VPN speeds; 18 independent audits as of 2024 |
NordVPN
For security enthusiasts, I suggest looking at NordVPN. NordVPN has built a reputation for offering a wide range of security capabilities with its VPN. It includes built-in web protection against trackers, ads, and malware; a unique encrypted file-sharing system; and a dedicated dark web monitor to keep track of leaked credentials.
To learn more, read our full NordVPN review.
CyberGhost VPN
If you’re looking for optimized servers, I recommend CyberGhost VPN. CyberGhost VPN smartly categorizes its servers depending on what you’ll use them for — whether it’s for streaming, torrenting, or gaming. With its large server fleet that spans 100 countries, it’s a solid pick if your primary use for a VPN is unblocking geo-restricted content online.
To learn more, read our full CyberGhost VPN review.
ExpressVPN
When it comes to having a smooth user experience, I find ExpressVPN to be one of the best. It uses a clean UI that’s well-designed and easy to navigate. ExpressVPN also boasts an impressive amount of third-party security audits, showing its commitment to offering high-quality security to its users.
To learn more, read our full ExpressVPN review.
Review methodology
My review of Surfshark VPN involved a comprehensive evaluation of its features, cost, and real-world performance. I had hands-on time with Surfshark VPN through a one-year Surfshark Starter subscription.
To assess Surfshark VPN, I scored it on everything from its server network to pricing. In particular, I took into account five main pillars, each having corresponding weights:
- Pricing (20%).
- Core VPN features (30%).
- Ease of use (15%).
- Customer support (30%).
- Expert analysis (5%).
From this rubric, Surfshark VPN received a rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars. I also looked into user testimonials and other reputable reviews to round out my final recommendations for this review.
For speed and performance, I used Ookla’s public Speedtest to measure download and upload speeds. I also ran Surfshark VPN through DNSLeakTest multiple times to check for any DNS leaks. Finally, I took into account which types of businesses or individual users would best benefit from using Surfshark VPN.
To learn more about how we review VPNs, read our full VPN Review Methodology.
