Is It Price The Worth?

Surfshark VPN makes a compelling argument as a bang-for-buck VPN in 2024. It provides spectacular VPN speeds and quite a lot of safety features — all at pretty reasonably priced costs with its long-term plans.

It additionally helps limitless simultaneous gadget connections, including much more worth for customers with a number of gadgets. Even and not using a devoted free model, there’s no denying Surfshark’s spectacular price-to-performance ratio.

Is Surfshark free?

No, Surfshark shouldn’t be free and doesn’t have a free model. There’s a seven-day free trial, however it’s only obtainable for Android, iOS, and macOS customers. Sadly, this leaves Home windows customers with out entry to the free trial — which I hope is resolved within the close to future.

SEE: Surfshark vs Norton Safe VPN (2024): Which VPN Is Higher? (TechRepublic)

Take observe that Surfshark’s seven-day free trial requires cost data to entry. So, you’ll have to present credit score/debit card, PayPal, or different cost knowledge to check out Surfshark VPN.

When you’re not eager on the free trial, Surfshark gives a 30-day money-back assure for all its subscription plans, on all platforms. This allows you to refund your preliminary subscription inside a 30-day interval. If this feature is out there to you, I believe it is a good strategy to take a look at Surfshark’s service since you’ll be able to all the time refund your buy if it doesn’t suit your wants.

Surfshark VPN pricing

Surfshark has three subscription tiers: Starter, One, and One+. Every tier has a month-to-month, one-year, and two-year contract possibility. Beneath is a rundown of pricing and have variations for every plan:

When it comes to which subscription to go for, I like to recommend Surfshark One’s annual subscription. At $4.09 per 30 days, it provides a very good stability between having further options whereas not going overboard with an extended contract.

SEE: AVG Safe VPN vs Surfshark (2024): Which VPN Is Higher? (TechRepublic)

It’s additionally very reasonably priced in comparison with the competitors. For instance, NordVPN’s 1-year Plus plan is priced at $5.99 per 30 days, whereas ExpressVPN’s annual subscription fluctuates between $6.67 and $8.33, relying in your location.

When you’re particularly on the lookout for a month-to-month subscription, I counsel wanting elsewhere. At $15.45 to $20.65 per 30 days, Surfshark’s month-to-month plans are on the costly facet available on the market. My suggestion can be to think about both Proton VPN’s one-month Plus plan at $9.99 per 30 days or CyberGhost VPN’s month-to-month subscription at $12.99, particularly in case you’re on a tighter finances.

One factor to look out for is Surfshark’s tough renewal pricing. Within the small print under its subscription costs, Surfshark states that costs will range after the preliminary subscription interval.

I’d have most popular if Surfshark had steady pricing, even after the renewal interval. This is able to make the buying resolution much less complicated and make its reasonably priced plans much more attractive.

To be honest, Surfshark isn’t the one VPN asking for a unique worth upon renewal. Nonetheless, it’s price looking at for the needs of this evaluation.

Safety: Is Surfshark VPN secure?

Sure, Surfshark VPN is a secure and safe VPN. It makes use of top-tier AES-256 encryption — well known as one of the crucial safe encryption algorithms obtainable.

For its VPN protocols, Surfshark carries WireGuard, IKEv2, and OpenVPN. I commend Surfshark for giving customers flexibility in having the choice between a security-focused tunneling protocol like OpenVPN and extra speed-oriented ones like WireGuard.

SEE: Surfshark vs IPVanish (2024): Which VPN Ought to You Select? (TechRepublic)

As well as, Surfshark has a no-logs coverage, which states that it doesn’t log any person’s on-line exercise resembling looking historical past or knowledge transfers. Whereas it’s straightforward to make guarantees, Surfshark’s no-logs coverage has been independently audited by Deloitte in December 2022.

Based on Deloitte, Surfshark’s “configuration of IT methods and administration of the supporting IT operations is correctly ready, in all materials respects, in accordance with Surfshark’s description of its no-logs coverage.”

Surfshark additionally makes use of RAM-only servers for its server fleet, which implies that all knowledge is wiped each time one in all their VPN servers is rebooted. This additional secures person knowledge, decreasing the danger of knowledge breaches and unauthorized entry.

SEE: Why Your Enterprise Wants Cybersecurity Consciousness Coaching (TechRepublic Premium)

One small nitpick I’ve is how Surfshark’s most up-to-date audit was revealed again in 2022 — which is already two years outdated. It might be supreme if Surfshark adopted go well with with different distributors, like NordVPN or ExpressVPN, whose most up-to-date audits are from 2023. Nonetheless, I don’t fault them an excessive amount of, particularly contemplating how different VPNs outright don’t have a third-party audit to talk of.

Key options of Surfshark VPN

On high of with the ability to encrypt your web visitors, Surfshark gives a wholesome quantity of options that cater to numerous wants and circumstances.

Dynamic MultiHop

A spotlight characteristic from Surfshark is Dynamic MultiHop. That is Surfshark’s double VPN characteristic that permits customers to attach by way of two VPN server places, including an additional layer of safety to your knowledge. In essence, this hides your knowledge and on-line exercise behind two servers — providing double the safety you’d in any other case get from a single VPN server.

I notably like how Surfshark gives concrete cases the place MultiHop could be a great tool. Based on the VPN supplier, MultiHop could be helpful for folks like political activists or journalists who need elevated on-line anonymity as they reside in additional restrictive areas of the world.

Whereas these are extra area of interest use circumstances, I applaud Surfshark for bringing distinctive options like this alongside its principal VPN.

Surfshark Search

As a author who does a ton of on-line analysis, Surfshark Search is my private favourite amongst Surfshark’s options. It gives a personalized search engine that robotically blocks all focused advertisements and trackers in your search outcomes.

SEE: Surfshark vs CyberGhost (2024): Which VPN Is Higher? (TechRepublic)

Usually, in case you search one thing like “finest password supervisor” on a search engine, you’re greeted with a ton of sponsored posts, like within the picture under.

With Surfshark Search, all of the sponsored posts and advertisements are faraway from the search outcomes solely. This gives a a lot cleaner and fewer intrusive looking expertise. Beneath is a glimpse of me wanting up the identical “finest password supervisor” — however now utilizing Surfshark Search.

As soon as I clicked search, I used to be redirected to a Surfshark Search web page with a cleaner set of queries, all full of extra natural posts and net pages.

I envision this to be helpful to those who do a variety of analysis and are uninterested in sifting by way of tons of advertisements to get to a high quality webpage.

Limitless gadget connections

With Surfshark, you get limitless simultaneous gadget connections that permit customers to attach an infinite variety of gadgets to a VPN server on the similar time.

This enables households or small companies to attach as many gadgets as they need to a VPN server with out having to buy an extra subscription.

Whereas not the flashiest characteristic, I discover limitless gadgets to be a big value-add. That is very true in case you use quite a few laptops, computer systems, and smartphones and want to join all of them to a safe VPN server.

Efficiency: How briskly is Surfshark VPN?

I used to be totally impressed with Surfshark’s VPN speeds, as they have been each quick and dependable throughout my testing. This concerned doing my standard workflow as a author: having a number of tabs open for analysis, doing work on Google Workspace apps like Drive and Docs, and attending the occasional on-line video assembly.

Whereas related to Surfshark servers, I skilled nearly zero lower in real-world velocity. Websites and webpages loaded shortly and looking on-line felt snappy. I additionally didn’t encounter any drops in connectivity, as my VPN connection remained steady from begin to end.

The story was the identical when it got here to hurry testing. For downloads, Surfshark solely recorded a lower of about 12.5% in comparison with my web service supplier — which is great since round a 20-30% drop is taken into account good. For uploads, Surfshark truly supplied sooner speeds, having a 49.6% improve when in comparison with my ISP.

With this, in case you want a fast-performing VPN that provides high velocity and reliability, I’m assured Surfshark will do the job nicely.

Surfshark VPN servers and places

With regards to VPN servers, Surfshark is available in with a strong 100-country server fleet of three,200+ servers. When it comes to the variety of servers, Surfshark’s 3,200-server community is above common in comparison with the competitors.

What’s extra attention-grabbing to me is the variety of VPN server places or international locations. At 100 international locations, Surfshark stands on par with different high VPN suppliers in 2024. Simply to check, CyberGhost VPN additionally provides a 100-country server fleet, whereas NordVPN has servers throughout 111 international locations.

In 2024, having round 100 international locations in a VPN server community is seeking to be the usual. Personally, I assist this development because it offers customers extra selection when it comes to unblocking geo-restricted content material. It additionally provides advantages when it comes to velocity, because it will increase the probability of getting VPN servers nearer our location — decreasing latency and growing general velocity.

Thankfully, Surfshark gives a publicly obtainable abstract of all its lively VPN server places. This lets you verify if their VPN has the server places you intend to make use of.

Surfshark on-line server community overview. Picture: Surfshark

You possibly can go to the server listing right here.

Surfshark VPN app expertise

For in-app expertise, I had a largely constructive expertise with Surfshark’s software. For this evaluation, I examined Surfshark’s desktop app for Home windows. Total, I discovered the Surfshark app to be well-designed and straightforward to make use of.

The app itself felt fashionable, and I admire the fashionable strategy it took when it comes to design. I additionally thought every part was nicely organized, as I had no points on the lookout for options or essential settings whereas testing.

One space of enchancment I’ve for Surfshark is that a few of its options have been a bit clunky at first use. Specifically, I had some bother getting Surfshark’s Bypasser cut up tunneling characteristic to work for the primary time.

Bypasser helps you to select particular apps or web sites to route by way of the VPN or to bypass the VPN altogether.

Once I first tried Bypasser, it initially didn’t have Microsoft Edge bypass the VPN server as I meant. Nonetheless, a fast restart of the app and Bypasser did the trick. I additionally had the identical expertise after I first used Surfshark’s Dynamic MultiHop characteristic, the place it appeared a bit clunky to make use of at the beginning.

Surfshark does inform the person {that a} restart of the connection or the app itself is required. Nonetheless, I selected to notice it right here because it kind of breaks the in any other case seamless app expertise I had with Surfshark for many of my testing.

Surfshark VPN buyer assist

Surfshark VPN has a very good quantity of buyer assist choices. It gives e-mail assist, a ticketing system, stay chat, an AI chatbot, and a information base with intensive guides and tutorials.

Once I tried Surfshark’s AI chatbot, it supplied first rate solutions to easy questions pretty shortly. Nonetheless, it did wrestle with extra sophisticated queries, so you must set expectations when utilizing it to resolve a problem.

In different information, I discovered their assist articles to be legitimately useful. The content material and guides have been in-depth, they usually even provided articles for particular working methods and gadgets.

I personally admire how the assist articles, just like the above concerning setup, had screenshots for every step — not assuming the technical information of the reader. It even has a video tutorial alongside the article, offering an impressively complete information.

Surfshark VPN execs

• Limitless gadget connections.
• Very reasonably priced long-term plans.
• Intuitive and well-designed interface.
• Quick and dependable VPN speeds.
• Dynamic MultiHop double VPN.
• Servers throughout 100 international locations.
• Advert-free search engine device.

Surfshark VPN cons

• Some options could also be clunky at the beginning.
• Renewal pricing is a bit complicated.
• No Home windows free trial.
• Month-to-month plans are costly.

Who’s Surfshark VPN for?

Surfshark is for customers who desire a value-laden VPN that provides nice efficiency and quite a lot of considerate safety features — at reasonably priced costs.

To me, Surfshark’s spectacular VPN speeds are its most noteworthy characteristic. All through testing, it supplied quick speeds and a steady connection throughout a number of VPN servers and places. When you’re particularly on the lookout for a fast-performing VPN, Surfshark is a superb decide.

As well as, Surfshark is an effective selection for small groups that want a VPN that may accommodate a number of gadgets. With its limitless simultaneous gadget connections, Surfshark can deal with quite a few computer systems, smartphones, and different gadgets with out requiring an extra subscription for all of them.

Alternate options to Surfshark VPN

Whereas Surfshark is a superb VPN, there are different choices that supply totally different options chances are you’ll need to take into account. I’ve listed three VPN alternate options you’ll be able to discover:

NordVPN

For safety fanatics, I counsel NordVPN. NordVPN has constructed a popularity for providing a variety of safety capabilities with its VPN. It contains built-in net safety in opposition to trackers, advertisements, and malware; a singular encrypted file-sharing system; and a devoted darkish net monitor to maintain monitor of leaked credentials.

To study extra, learn our full NordVPN evaluation.

CyberGhost VPN

When you’re on the lookout for optimized servers, I like to recommend CyberGhost VPN. CyberGhost VPN well categorizes its servers relying on what you’ll use them for — whether or not it’s for streaming, torrenting, or gaming. With its giant server fleet that spans 100 international locations, it’s a strong decide in case your main use for a VPN is unblocking geo-restricted content material on-line.

To study extra, learn our full CyberGhost VPN evaluation.

ExpressVPN

With regards to having a clean person expertise, I discover ExpressVPN to be probably the greatest. It makes use of a clear UI that’s well-designed and straightforward to navigate. ExpressVPN additionally boasts a powerful quantity of third-party safety audits, exhibiting its dedication to providing high-quality safety to its customers.

To study extra, learn our full ExpressVPN evaluation.

Evaluation methodology

My evaluation of Surfshark VPN concerned a complete analysis of its options, price, and real-world efficiency. I had hands-on time with Surfshark VPN by way of a one-year Surfshark Starter subscription.

To evaluate Surfshark VPN, I scored it on every part from its server community to pricing. Specifically, I took under consideration 5 principal pillars, every having corresponding weights:

• Pricing (20%).
• Core VPN options (30%).
• Ease of use (15%).
• Buyer assist (30%).
• Knowledgeable evaluation (5%).

From this rubric, Surfshark VPN acquired a ranking of 4.6 out of 5 stars. I additionally seemed into person testimonials and different respected evaluations to spherical out my closing suggestions for this evaluation.

For velocity and efficiency, I used Ookla’s public Speedtest to measure obtain and add speeds. I additionally ran Surfshark VPN by way of DNSLeakTest a number of occasions to verify for any DNS leaks. Lastly, I took under consideration which sorts of companies or particular person customers would finest profit from utilizing Surfshark VPN.

To study extra about how we evaluation VPNs, learn our full VPN Evaluation Methodology.