VPNs can increase your online anonymity by routing your web traffic through an encrypted connection to a faraway server. However, this level of security can come at a cost – in the case of Surfshark VPN, in actual dollars and cents. The Surfshark VPN is our most recent VPN Editors’ Choice winner and one of the most expensive. However, the corporation does a wonderful job justifying the price by providing unlimited device connections, an increasing offering, and outstanding applications. Additionally, Surfshark VPN has backed up its claims with an independent audit. In a competitive market, Surfshark VPN continues to excel.
Does Surfshark VPN fulfill your Needs?
Surfshark Is Best For:
- Those looking for a VPN for several devices
- Users desire “camouflage mode,” so an ISP cannot detect VPN use.
- People seeking to watch content that is unavailable in their home nations
- Surfshark Is Not Suggested When:
- Users with limited funds
- Someone wanting the largest worldwide server network
Surfshark receives good reviews for its feature-rich VPN that supports an infinite number of connections. It matches the privacy and anonymity of most competitors and offers “camouflage mode” if you do not want your internet service provider to know you are using a VPN. It helps you to conceal your digital identity behind an IP address that cannot be linked to you. You also receive the features that most users look for in a VPN, such as split-tunneling to choose which apps receive the most protection, AES-256-GCM encryption, a kill switch, and leak protection in case your VPN connection stops. Surfshark is a “torrent-friendly” VPN that provides anonymous P2P file sharing with an integrated ad blocker and malware protection.
Professional critics commend Surfshark for providing an infinite number of simultaneous connections, which is advantageous for businesses and large families. Additionally, they report that the mobile app is simple to use. According to reviews, Surfshark’s speed is merely ordinary.
Surfshark’s tight no-logging policy and offshore location make it less accessible to intelligence-sharing agencies like Five Eyes. It enables global access despite having fewer servers than some other VPN providers. Surfshark is not the least expensive VPN, but an annual subscription offers substantial savings.
How Much Does Surfshark VPN Cost?
A membership to Surfshark VPN costs $12.95 per month, compared to $9.90 per month on average among the providers we’ve evaluated. This places Surfshark among the most costly VPNs we’ve examined to date, well beyond the $9.99 per month charged by Mozilla’s VPN and the 5 euros per month charged by our Editors’ Choice VPN, Mullvad VPN.
Can I use Surfshark VPN on all my devices, such as my smartphone and tablet?
Indeed, as it turns out, And in a huge manner. The majority of VPNs limit the number of simultaneous connections. Therefore, a VPN that restricts you to three simultaneous connections cannot be utilized on four devices simultaneously.
One of the most valuable aspects of Surfshark is that it may be used on many devices. If you connect your entire home and all of its devices to Surfshark’s VPN, you may do so without worrying about exceeding some arbitrary restriction.
Let’s also discuss the varieties of gadgets available. Surfshark includes specialized client programs for MacOS, Windows, Android, and iOS and is compatible with mobile phones and tablets. In addition, it offers setup instructions for a variety of TVs and game consoles, routers, and Linux.
What Do You Get for Your Money?
Surfshark’s true merits are its rarely utilized features. Bypasser, for example, is a split-tunneling application that enables you to select which applications and websites use the VPN connection. It’s useful since some websites ban VPN access, so you must stop from visiting them. Surfshark’s solution is much more streamlined and user-friendly than its rivals.
Another feature that is frequently omitted from VPN services is multi-hop, which establishes a VPN connection to a server and then bounces your traffic to a second VPN server for added security. IVPN allows you to construct a multi-hop connection between any of its servers, but Surfshark only offers prepared multi-hop connections.
Access to Tor via VPN, provided by NordVPN and ProtonVPN, is a rare function that Surfshark does not offer. Tor does not require a VPN; however this kind of one-click access is useful.
Numerous VPN providers provide add-ons for an additional fee in addition to the main subscription. Private, static IP addresses are provided by NordVPN and others, which are useful if a VPN connection is prohibited. Surfshark VPN does not sell dedicated IP addresses. However, it does give free access to static servers. Each user of a Surfshark static server shares an IP address with all other users of the same server.
Surfshark VPN offers a Smart DNS solution and an ad-blocker dubbed CleanWeb. Both are relatively prevalent among VPNs. Surfshark Alert functions similarly to HaveIBeenPwned(Opens in a new window) and notifies you if your accounts have been compromised, and Surfshark Search, a search engine that respects your privacy, are rarer features. Both Surfshark Alert and Surfshark Search are $0.99 per month more expensive.
The company now offers Surfshark One in addition to its privacy products. This security package combines the fundamental VPN solution with antivirus protection for only a modest premium: $14.44 per month or $96 per year (discounted to $65.76 for the first year). Surfshark One surpasses the flimsy claims made by the majority of other VPNs regarding the detection of harmful websites by providing real-time security and on-demand virus scanning. In our hands-on testing, the performance of the antivirus features was notably bad. Existing Surfshark users should, for the time being, remain with the VPN and explore elsewhere for a dedicated antivirus solution.
The most exciting new features of Surfshark VPN are occurring behind the scenes. The company has been attempting to turn its fleet of individual servers into the Surfshark Nexus network (Opens in a new window). According to the business, this will allow for various additional privacy features that are not available with the present VPN design. The first function to be released is IP Rotator, which regularly assigns you a fresh IP address without interrupting your connection. We anticipate testing these features when they become available. so Download VPN (Surfshark) today and enjoy ulimited premium service
VPNs are effective tools, but they can only solve some privacy and security issues. There are a variety of internet tracking methods. We advocate using the privacy features integrated into the majority of browsers as well as an independent ad- or tracker-blocker. Notably, the Tor anonymization network makes it even more difficult to track your online behavior. We strongly recommend using a password manager to generate unique and complicated passwords, activating multi-factor authentication whenever possible, and installing antivirus software.
Using Surfshark with Social Media
Even if Facebook and Instagram are restricted in your country, Surfshark’s website will guide you through accessing and interacting with these sites. The NoBorders function of Surfshark will provide you with step-by-step directions on how to access the desired websites. However, ensure familiarity with local rules about restricted websites.
Surfshark has a no-logs policy, which means that it does not collect or keep browsing, bandwidth, or connection information. It collects only the information necessary for account management and site analytics. WireGuard, IKEv2, and OpenVPN are the three encryption methods used. That is less than other VPNs. Nonetheless, these protocols are among the most prevalent, particularly for torrenting. Surfshark asserts that its VPN is compatible with China and that its “camouflage mode” prevents the internet service provider from detecting VPN usage.
Speed and Performance
Using a VPN typically decreases the speed of both upload and download while increasing latency. Using the Ookla Speedtest tool, we calculated the percentage change between VPN-enabled and VPN-disabled test batches to provide a feel of the speed reduction (Opens in a new window). To learn more about how we collect and evaluate this data, please read How We Test VPNs.
Representatives for Surfshark VPN informed us that the firm recently upgraded its server architecture to 10GB connections, which improved the VPN’s speed in our testing. Surfshark VPN reduced download and upload Speedtest results by 8.5% and 16.6%, respectively. The service has significantly improved since the last time we tried it.
Additionally, our research revealed a 3.1% decrease in latency when using Surfshark VPN. We would normally anticipate a significant increase in latency while using a VPN. However, we believe this is not reproducible and is likely due to modest network conditions changes during testing. In terms of actual numbers, the change is negligible: a baseline median latency of 4.047ms and a median latency of 3.923ms when Surfshark VPN is active. However, we are confident in asserting that Surfshark VPN has a negligible impact on connection latency.
Is Surfshark a good VPN?
There are numerous advantages of Surfshark VPN. It allows you to connect unlimited devices, enables split tunneling and a multi-hop connection tool, and has a generous unlimited device policy. It is also developing and expanding with new products and services; although we cannot endorse the Surfshark One bundle, this is nonetheless a welcome development. The audit of Surfshark’s VPN infrastructure demonstrates the company’s adherence to best standards and willingness to display its work; we hope the company continues to conduct similar audits regularly. However, the most recent versions of the Surfshark VPN Terms of Services and Privacy Policy have elements that are unclear and should be clarified.
Surfshark VPN continues to win the Editors’ Choice Award due to the product’s overall superiority. This category joins Proton VPN, IVPN, Mullvad VPN, NordVPN, and TunnelBear VPN as co-winners.