Surfshark Review

Ever since it showed up on the VPN stage, Surfshark has been a mainstay on our list of the best VPN services, thanks to its strong security, great user experience and excellent speeds. For our latest Surfshark VPN review, we tested the virtual private network for any vulnerabilities and reexamined all of its features to bring you the final word on the service.

Key Takeaways:

• Surfshark is a reliable and affordable virtual private network (VPN) that lets you connect unlimited devices at once.
• It has a host of advanced features and apps that are very easy to use, even for beginners.
• It’s a relatively fast VPN, but its latency tends to be high, making it unsuitable for gaming.
• Although Surfshark keeps no logs about your VPN use, it may collect your IP address when you’re using its website.

Surfshark was founded in 2018 in the British Virgin Islands — a privacy-friendly location. In 2021, it moved house to The Netherlands and currently abides by its laws. In early 2022, it merged with privacy juggernaut NordVPN to gain a competitive edge over other consolidated VPNs, like ExpressVPN and CyberGhost.

We’ll give you the lowdown on the NordVPN merger, Surfshark’s latest feature updates and our most recent speed test results later on in this Surfshark review. We’ll leave no stone unturned, so keep reading for all the details.

• Is Surfshark Trustworthy?

  Surfshark is a trustworthy VPN company with airtight security and a solid no-logs policy.

• Is Surfshark a Chinese Company?

  Surfshark is not a Chinese company — it is based in the Netherlands, which is in the European Union.

• Which Is Better, NordVPN or Surfshark?

  Despite all of Surfshark’s features and customization options, NordVPN still beats it on several fronts, including privacy and speed.

• Is Surfshark a Good VPN for Netflix?

  Surfshark is an excellent VPN for Netflix, thanks to its unblocking capabilities and decent speeds.

Surfshark Alternatives

Surfshark VPN Review: Strengths & Weaknesses

Download

90 Mbps
Very Fast

Upload

9 Mbps
Very Fast

Latency

110 ms
Good

Source: Cloudwards VPN Speed Test. We test daily. Data from 02/26/23 to 03/28/23

Data for region: AllUSUKAUBRSASG

Features

Surfshark is one of the more feature-rich VPNs out there. It covers the basic VPN features well and adds a few unique flourishes on top.

Like most VPNs nowadays, it has an automatic kill switch. Surfshark’s kill switch feature will shut down your internet if the VPN connection drops. It also has split tunneling, which you’ll find under the name “Bypasser.” This feature lets you choose which apps go through the VPN tunnel and which stay unprotected. You can also choose specific websites or IP addresses to bypass the VPN.

CleanWeb

CleanWeb is Surfshark’s malware and ad blocker. While ad-blocking browser extensions are readily available, CleanWeb stops ads from loading in all apps, and not just browsers. It even works on mobile, though it might disable some features in heavily ad-reliant games. It also prevents you from opening known malware-infected websites.

NoBorders Mode 

If you’re in a country that restricts internet access or VPN use, you can rely on Surfshark’s NoBorders mode to help you out. NoBorders is toggled on by default, and it automatically detects network restrictions. If it detects them, it will switch the server list to a curated selection of server locations that are specifically configured to bypass internet restrictions, like China’s Great Firewall.

MultiHop Servers 

Surfshark offers a selection of 14 paired server locations called MultiHop servers. This feature routes your internet traffic through VPN servers in two countries, so that even if the security of one server fails, your IP address will still be private. These servers will slow down your speed a little more than the regular servers, though not by much, as you’ll see in the “speed” section below.

Currently, you can only connect to predefined pairs, but Surfshark is working on letting you pick and choose which two server locations you want to hop.

IP Address Rotation

The latest addition to Surfshark’s arsenal is the option to rotate your IP address every few minutes. While this isn’t going to be very useful for most VPN users, it’s great for businesses that do a lot of data scraping and need a constantly rotating pool of IP addresses to avoid getting blocked. It can also be useful for gamers who want to circumvent IP address bans.

Currently, the feature changes your IP address on a timer, but in the future, it will assign you a new IP every time you visit a different website.

Static IP Servers

Besides rotating IP addresses, Surfshark also offers static servers. Again, this is more of a business feature, and it’s useful for website owners who need a constant IP address their users can use to communicate. Keep in mind that these are not dedicated IP addresses. The static IP servers give you the same IP address every time, but it’s shared with others on the server.

Paid Add-Ons

Aside from what you get with your Surfshark subscription, you can also get a separate online security package called Surfshark One. The suite, which costs $2.49 per month, includes three services: Surfshark Alert, Surfshark Antivirus and Surfshark Search.

Alert will notify you if it detects that your personal data has leaked online, similarly to NordVPN’s free dark web monitor (see how the VPNs compare in our NordVPN vs Surfshark article. Surfshark Search is an alternative to Google Search that doesn’t keep your search history, and Surfshark Antivirus’ name is self-explanatory.

While it’s not really an add-on, Surfshark also has a separate service called Incogni, which lets you remove your information from data broker archives.

Unlimited Simultaneous Connections & Data

One of Surfshark’s biggest selling points is its lack of limits. Surfshark gives you unlimited data, unlimited bandwidth and unlimited simultaneous connections on as many devices as you want. This means you can protect all of your personal devices, as well as those of your family or anyone in your household.

You can even share your account with friends and split the bill. Not that you would need to, as Surfshark is already outrageously cheap, as you’ll see in the next section.

Security Dashboard

In the September 2022 update, Surfshark added a centralized security dashboard where users can access a smorgasbord of information. You can see statistics on your VPN connection, alert reports on data breaches, antivirus scan results and an “overall security level score.” Few of these numbers are vital, but they’re nice to have in one place.

The update also added a new antivirus feature for Windows only. Surfshark users on Windows can now quarantine downloaded files and check them for viruses in a controlled environment. While you still shouldn’t be using a VPN as your sole antivirus program, Surfshark’s file quarantine is pretty convenient.

Surfshark Features Overview

	Visit Surfshark
General
Payment methods	PayPal, Credit card
Accepts cryptocurrency
Simultaneous connections	Unlimited
Supports split tunneling
Unlimited bandwidth
Free trial available
Refund period
Worldwide server amount	3,200 +, 140 server locations in 95 countries
Desktop OSes	Windows, MacOS, Linux
Mobile OSes	Android, iOS
Browser extensions	Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge
Can be installed on routers
Streaming
Can access Netflix US
Can access BBC iPlayer
Can access Hulu
Can access Amazon Prime Video
Security
Encryption types	256-AES
VPN protocols available	OpenVPN, IKEv2, WireGuard
Enabled at device startup
Allows torrenting
No-logging policy
Passed DNS leak test
Killswitch available
Malware/ad blocker included
Support
Live Chat	24/7
Email support	24/7
Phone support
User forum
Knowledgebase

Pricing

Surfshark is one of the most affordable VPNs, and it gives you a lot of value for your money. Signing up for the longer Surfshark plans will get you a discount, depending on the length of the plan.

For example, if you pay monthly, Surfshark costs $12.95 per month, which certainly isn’t cheap. However, if you pay for a year up front, that gets discounted to $3.99 per month, and the two year plan cuts that price all the way down to $2.49 per month. 

Plus, as we mentioned before, you can reduce the price even further if you make use of its unlimited connections and divide the cost among friends.

Surfshark Free VPN Trial & 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee 

Surfshark doesn’t offer a free plan, but it does have a seven-day free trial on mobile if you install Surfshark via Apple’s app store or the Google Play store. You can also get free months of VPN use via referrals. If you successfully refer a friend, you get one free month, and the reward increases the more friends you recruit.

The VPN provider also has a 30-day money-back guarantee that entitles you to a full refund if you’re not satisfied. We have a complete guide on how to get a Surfshark refund. If you need a good free VPN instead, you can peruse our list of the best free VPN providers.

Surfshark Plans

• Unlimited GB bandwidth, Unlimited devices
• Unlimited GB
• Unlimited
• Yes

30-days money-back guarantee

1-month plan

$12.95/month

1-year plan

$3.99/month

$47.88 billed every year

Save 69%

2-year plan

$2.49/month

$59.76 billed every 2 years

Save 80%

Ease of Use

Thanks to its sleek user interface, Surfshark nabbed a spot on our best VPN for beginners list. We particularly appreciate that it gives explanations below its features that make the service easy to jump into for rookies and veterans alike. The Surfshark VPN website is similarly easy to use and features a chat support button on all of its pages. Installing Surfshark is a cinch as well.

You can install Surfshark on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and routers. For the purposes of this review, we used Surfshark’s Windows app on desktop, and the Android version of the Surfshark app on mobile.

Surfshark App on Desktop

Surfshark’s desktop app is one of the most polished we’ve seen, alongside ExpressVPN’s app (see our Surfshark vs ExpressVPN article for a comparison of the two VPN services). The right side of the app houses the “quick connect” button and a list of recently used servers. While you’re connected, you’ll also see a timer that tracks your connection time.

The left-hand side of the main screen displays a list of Surfshark servers, separated into tabs according to function. Below the tabs, there are two buttons that will automatically connect you to the fastest location or the nearest country. You can “favorite” a location for quick access as well. 

To the left of the server list there’s a vertical bar showing icons for the VPN server list, Surfshark’s alert, antivirus and search features, as well as the “settings” button.

Surfshark Settings 

The “settings” menu has three categories that let you customize your VPN configuration, a separate menu for support links and a menu that shows your referral code. 

The menu called “my account” has preferences for, well… your account. Here, you can switch accounts, change your password, extend your subscription or enter a login code to quickly log in to another device.

The “app settings” menu has settings for theme (light or dark), language (with a choice of 17 languages), push notifications and crash reports.

The “VPN settings” menu is where you get to play around with Surfshark’s wealth of features. All of these settings are in one scrolling list and separated into two groups: basic connectivity options and advanced features. This makes it easy to find a setting because you don’t have to wade through different menus or tabs.

Mobile Apps 

Surfshark’s mobile app is similar to the desktop app, with a few minor differences. For example, there’s a setting that improves performance over mobile data networks, and GPS spoofing to override your GPS location and change it to your VPN location. If you’re on Android, you can also use Surfshark’s Android native kill switch, which also applies to apps you’ve bypassed with the split tunneling feature.

Surfshark’s Browser Extensions

Surfshark has browser extensions available for all major browsers, including Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge. 

The browser extension is an HTTPS proxy (or SSL proxy) that works similarly to a VPN, but is no replacement for the desktop app (see our VPN vs proxy article for the why). If you want to use some of the extension’s features, you should use the desktop app alongside it.

Besides that major technical difference, it also has a few different features. For example, the bypasser (logically) only works on websites and IP addresses, and there’s no kill switch. The browser add-on can also block websites from using WebRTC to prevent vulnerabilities.

There’s also a cookie pop-up blocker that automatically handles annoying cookie permission pop-ups. Surfshark will automatically allow or deny cookies based on the preferences in your browser settings, and it will deny everything it can by default. The browser extension will also notify you when you visit a website that has had a data breach.

Speed

Surfshark is a very fast VPN. It uses special technology to establish a VPN connection without interrupting your network traffic. This means that connecting to or disconnecting from a server won’t interrupt your internet, and neither will switching between servers, making it very fast to connect. Its speeds while connected are a different story, though.

To test VPN speeds, we run automated speed tests using a virtual remote desktop. Our internet connection is capped at 100 Mbps for downloads and 10 Mbps for uploads, which we believe is representative of the average internet connection in the U.S. 

The line graphs below represent Surfshark’s speed performance over time. The bar charts farther down represent a 30-day average of the VPNs’ performance.

The results represent data from our U.S. and worldwide testing, but you can tinker with the settings to display results from any specific test region. You can also disable or enable competitors for a clearer overview. 

Surfshark Speed Test Results

Download Speed (Higher is better)

Upload Speed (Higher is better)

Latency (Lower is better)

Source: Cloudwards VPN Speed Test. We test daily. Data from 02/26/23 to 03/28/23

There’s no doubt about it — Surfshark is an incredibly fast VPN. Its upload and download speeds are the fastest that we’ve tested. Over the 30-day period preceding the writing of this review, Surfshark was also the most consistently fast VPN. Unfortunately, its latency was also the highest in our testing, even when connecting to nearby servers. This makes Surfshark a poor choice for gaming.

Thankfully, things were different when we tested Surfshark internationally. Surfshark still consistently displayed very fast upload and download speeds, but it also had the lowest latency, making it the fastest VPN for connecting to distant servers. These stellar results rank it as one of the best fast VPNs.

Surfshark VPN Speed Comparison (U.S.)

Surfshark VPN Speed Comparison (Worldwide)

MultiHop Speeds

Surfshark’s MultiHop servers reduce your speed more than its regular servers, but not by a lot. We had to run manual testing for these servers, as we don’t do automated speed tests for provider-specific server types.

Our unprotected connection had a download speed of 37 Mbps, an upload of 18 Mbps and a latency of 2 ms. We tested MultiHop using the closest possible combination of servers, which was the U.K. via Germany. We’ll be comparing the results to our automated U.S. results, expressed in percentage decreases for a more even comparison.

Our downloads slowed down to 34.33 Mbps, our uploads to 7.86 Mbps and our latency to 103 ms. This represents a drop of around 10% for downloads, which is roughly the same as the regular servers.

Uploads suffered a bit more, dropping almost 40%, compared to 20% for the regular servers. Latency took the worst hit, though it’s actually comparable to Surfshark’s regular servers which usually hover around 100ms (instability and spikes notwithstanding).

Security

To get proper VPN protection, VPN connections need to be encrypted. Besides encryption, you also need a good selection of VPN protocols. 

Surfshark uses AES-256 encryption with all of its available VPN protocols, and that’s about as good as you can get. Surfshark lets you choose between three secure protocols: OpenVPN (UDP and TCP), WireGuard and IKEv2, all of which are open source. 

Our testing turned up no DNS leaks or IPv6 vulnerabilities, and our original IP address was protected.

OpenVPN & IKEv2

The OpenVPN protocol has been the gold standard for years, and is a tried-and-tested solution. It performs well in terms of speed and is practically uncrackable. It’s also the only protocol you can use over a router. 

OpenVPN also enables obfuscation, which makes your VPN traffic undetectable. This makes it the best option for countries that ban or limit VPN use, like China, India and Russia.

IKEv2 is a secure protocol that can boost your speeds on mobile devices, thanks to its superior handling of network switching. It’s only available on Android and iOS.

WireGuard Protocol 

WireGuard is a newer protocol that is built on a much lighter codebase than OpenVPN. It only uses 4,000 lines of code, compared to OpenVPN’s 70,000. This should make it faster and easier to secure and audit for vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, WireGuard isn’t available on Linux and doesn’t support obfuscation.

Surfshark recently expanded its protocol support with a manual WireGuard connection. This makes it possible to use Surfshark via WireGuard without downloading a Surfshark client.

You can now set up WireGuard on routers and other devices without a dedicated Surfshark app, and access the Surfshark network in countries that block direct VPN downloads.

Privacy

Surfshark is a no-log VPN, which means that it doesn’t keep any data about your network traffic while you’re using it. We dug through Surfshark’s privacy policy to find out if this claim is true.

The policy is a very long and detailed document, and there’s more legal jargon than we’d like. There are short summaries before each section, though they can sometimes be misleading. Thankfully, our expert researchers are used to deciphering double-speak and were able to suss out the policy’s key points.

Surfshark doesn’t record or keep any logs about your VPN use, the websites you visit or your real IP address when you use its VPN service. It logs connection timestamps and your user ID temporarily, but deletes them 15 minutes after you disconnect. 

Surfshark’s servers run on RAM (as opposed to hard disks), which makes it physically incapable of keeping data after powering down, so a reboot wipes all server data.

Full Deloitte Audit

A good policy isn’t necessarily enough on its own, as we’ve seen VPNs lie about keeping logs in the past. Surfshark has been audited in the past by Cure53, but those were smaller scale.

The recent audit by Deloitte had a wider scope, and tells us that we can have full confidence that Surfshark is capable of living up to its promises. This is an important step for a younger VPN service like Surfshark, as most of the seasoned providers already have these full independent audits backing their claims.

Information Surfshark Collects

There are a few cases where Surfshark collects sensitive data, including your real IP address, and unfortunately, one of those cases is when you use its website. 

According to the policy, Surfshark “may retain your IP address and a unique identifier of your device” when you use its website. That’s not very encouraging, considering it may keep your data for up to two years.

It also collects your IP address when you use its private DNS service (called Smart DNS). This is standard practice because the service needs you to input your IP address in order to work. Thankfully, Surfshark only keeps it for as long as the session is active.

Where Is Surfshark Located?

Surfshark was founded in the British Virgin Islands, a jurisdiction with no data retention laws, where ExpressVPN, the top VPN in our books, also makes its abode. However, the company has since moved to the Netherlands, which is part of the EU.

Users who subscribed to the service before the 2021 Netherlands move are still treated as if they’re within BVI jurisdiction, but new users are protected by Dutch and EU laws.

GDPR Compliance

Surfshark is fully compliant with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This means that it needs to ask for explicit consent to process your data, and you can request to have your data deleted at any time. You can also request a full copy of the data that Surfshark has collected about you and rectify any errors if you so wish.

Who Owns Surfshark? 

In February 2022, Surfshark merged with NordVPN. Both VPNs are now owned by Nord Security, which is in turn owned by a creatively named company called Cyberspace. Cyberspace also owns Atlas VPN, for a total of three VPNs under the same umbrella. However, all three claim to operate independently even after their mergers or acquisitions.

You can read our article dedicated to the Surfshark-NordVPN merger to find out its full implications. The gist of it is that it’s just part of a larger global trend for VPN consolidation, and that it’s a necessary response to other VPNs merging (our Kape Technologies report sheds more light on that). 

Streaming Performance

Surfshark is able to unblock all major streaming services, including Hulu, Disney Plus, ESPN, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer and Netflix. We were able to stream in full HD with no lag, buffering or other issues. 

Can Surfshark Unblock Netflix? 

Surfshark can indeed unblock Netflix and it got us into the U.S. library on our first try. This is an upgrade from the last time we reviewed Surfshark, when it took us a few tries to avoid getting blocked. Because of this, Surfshark easily makes it onto the list of the best VPNs for Netflix.

Server Locations

Surfshark boasts over 3,200 servers in 140 server locations covering 95 countries, which is the most impressive server spread we’ve encountered. The Surfshark server network consists of RAM-only servers, which can’t keep your connection logs. Most of its locations are physical, though some are virtual (they are marked with a “V” icon in the server list).

The network covers a lot of ground, and we were impressed to find excellent coverage even in often neglected areas like South America and Africa. The table below shows Surfshark’s full server spread.

As you can see, most areas are covered well, though Europe gets a little extra attention. We were surprised to see that nearly every country in South America has a dedicated server location. The Middle East is the most underserved, and Africa — the second-largest continent — only gets five locations, but that’s five more than most VPNs give it.

Surfshark Nexus

Surfshark’s server infrastructure uses unique technology that lets multiple servers function together. With other VPN providers, when you connect to a server location, you’re connected to only one server. If that server faces high user traffic, your connection could slow down.

Surfshark’s Nexus technology joins all of its servers into one “hive mind,” so to speak. This should allow servers to offload users to another server, alleviating issues stemming from congestion, like slow speeds and connection instability.

MultiHop VPN Server Locations

Surfshark offers 14 MultiHop country pairs between 12 different countries. This includes the U.K., Germany, France, Sweden, the Netherlands and Portugal in Europe; the United States and Canada in North America; Singapore, India and Hong Kong in Asia and Australia in Oceania.

Static IP Address VPN Server Locations

You can only get a static IP in six countries, though there are multiple options for each of them. Germany gets five servers in Frankfurt, Japan has 12 servers in Tokyo, the Netherlands has one server, Singapore has six, the U.K. has five servers in London and the U.S. has five in New York.

Surfshark Torrenting Servers

Surfshark’s speed makes it great for torrenting, but it doesn’t support torrenting on all of its servers. Although its torrenting servers aren’t listed as such, we discovered that searching for “P2P” in the server list turns up 58 server locations, including all U.S. locations.

If you open a torrent client while connected to a server that isn’t on that list, Surfshark will reroute your connection through a server that is. Surfshark doesn’t tell you that it does this and it displays the server location that you originally chose. However, an IP address test will show you that you’re connected to another location.

We don’t appreciate how secretive Surfshark is about this, nor that the P2P servers are effectively hidden from users. At the very least, the torrenting server list could be visible, and the redirection could be a bit more conspicuous.

Customer Support

Surfshark has an excellently organized knowledgebase with detailed entries that go into the technical side of things in a very clear way. You can contact support via email as well, though there’s no official user forum or phone support, which prevents it from getting a perfect score. However, the star of the show is Surfshark’s live chat support.

Live Chat Support 

In our experience, we found Surfshark’s support agents very friendly and well-meaning. We asked a range of questions, both simple and technical, and always got a satisfactory answer, along with some courteous chit-chat. We were even offered a special discount on our first communication with a support agent.

The Verdict: Surfshark VPN Review

We have come to the conclusion of our Surfshark review. This excellent VPN service once again proves why it’s one of the best VPNs. With a suite of advanced features, cheap pricing and enviable (if inconsistent) speeds, it’s hard to find much against Surfshark.

Then again, we found its privacy policy goes a hair too far, and the circumstances around its torrenting servers could be made clearer. However, its security is still stellar and its unlimited device support allows you to get Surfshark for pennies on a shared account.

Do you agree with our review? What is your personal Surfshark rating? Let us know in the comments below, and as always, thank you for reading.