Surfshark review: An affordable VPN service packed with features

Price When Reviewed

Starter plan from $1.99 a month for two years + 3 free months. Usually $15.45 a month.

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Surfshark in brief:

• P2P allowed: Yes
• Simultaneous device connections: Unlimited
• Business location: The Netherlands
• Number of servers: 3200+
• Number of country locations: 100
• Cost: $17.95 per month, $50.85 for one year, or $67.23 for two years

Surfshark continues the trend of other mega-VPN services as a one-stop shop for all things related to personal online privacy and security. The company offers a top-tier VPN product that continues to expand and improve with each new iteration. And since its merger with NordVPN under the parent company Cyberspace, Surfshark is now developing cutting-edge personal security features via its Nexus network technology.

This all sounds great, but are all of these features really worth it in a VPN service? I took a deep dive with Surfshark to find out.

Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best VPN services for comparison.

Surfshark design and features

What’s new with Surfshark?

Since my last review Surfshark has released a few significant new features. Everlink is touted as an “industry-first self-healing server infrastructure” that is designed to enhance VPN connection stability. It is a server backup system that reconfigures the VPN connection to another working server in the event of an unexpected problem on the server of your original connection. Think of it like a less disruptive kill switch feature that lets you carry on—privacy intact—like nothing happened after a disconnection.

Additionally, Surfshark just announced its FastTrack technology that optimizes user traffic paths for improved speed and performance. It is essentially a monitoring system that continuously evaluates VPN connection routes in real-time to provide the most efficient paths at any given time. So far, FastTrack has been rolled out for Sydney, Vancouver, and Seattle servers with more on the way in the future.

Surfshark hands-on

Sam Singleton

Surfshark has a simple and easy-to-navigate interface. On the left rail you have options for VPN, Alternative ID, Alert, Antivirus, Search, and Settings. Then in the middle there is a list of all server locations listed alphabetically by country. On the right side there is a button to connect to the chosen server.

The service prides itself on the number of servers it provides, which is well over 3,200 across 100 different country locations. There are admittedly a lot of countries that have only one server to connect to, but more popular locations such as the U.S., Canada, and Australia offer multiple server locations spread throughout. 

Their server network does consist of a large number of virtual servers which aren’t physically located in the countries they claim to be. This can sometimes lead to privacy risks if your data is routed through a country with invasive privacy laws, or a potential for slower speeds and higher latencies if the physical server is further away. Surfshark does a commendable job of pointing out which servers are physical and which are virtual, though, just in case you have a preference.

In addition to a good server spread, Surfshark allows unlimited simultaneous device connections. This is a big draw since most other VPN providers only offer a small number of five or six simultaneous connections.

On the main screen above the servers you can connect to, you’re able to choose between four options: Locations, StaticIP, MultiHop, and the newly added Dedicated IP. Locations is a list of all of the available country servers you can connect. StaticIP allows you to connect to shared servers with IP addresses that never change. MultiHop allows you to further obfuscate your actual location by routing your traffic through more than one VPN server. Surfshark also offers, for an additional fee, the ability to get a Dedicated IP address, which is a unique IP address that never changes and is only used by you.

Sam Singleton

I was thoroughly impressed with Surfshark’s multihop feature. While many VPN services now offer multihop connections, Surfshark stands out by allowing the user to not only choose a predetermined route, but also create their own multihop route. This is a nifty customization option that gives power users and those concerned with privacy more autonomy in securing their connections.

Surfshark provides an ad-, tracker-, and malware-blocker called “CleanWeb”—though it’s not turned on by default. There is also a split-tunneling feature which it calls “Bypasser.” Bypasser allows you the option to route apps and websites through the VPN or keep one or the other connected separately. This is a good option for those who wish to keep their web browsing secure via a VPN while keeping online games outside the VPN connection minimizing potential latency issues.

Additionally, Surfshark provides a kill switch function that will automatically disable your internet connection should your VPN connection drop for whatever reason. There is also a feature called NoBorders, enabled by default, which is its own version of obfuscated servers. This feature allows users in countries that generally restrict VPN connections to maintain access to Surfshark.

Sam Singleton

Included with the Surfshark One and Surfshark One+ plans, you’ll also receive Surfshark Alert for real-time identity and data breach monitoring, as well as access to its standalone antivirus. Plus, included with all plans is Surfshark’s Alternative ID feature, which allows users to create an alternative email or phone number in order to mask your real contact information from spam and data sharing services.

Suffice it to say, Surfshark provides a ton of features. I spent a good chunk of time just setting everything up before I even connected to the VPN. It may seem a bit overwhelming, but Surfshark does a good job of holding your hand through most of it and providing clear and concise explanations for newbies.

Surfshark is also working hard to bring new and innovative ideas to the VPN scene. In 2023 it rolled out Nexus technology. Nexus is a single network made up of Surfshark VPN servers. There are huge potential security and privacy boosts from this, including rotating your IP address without disconnecting your active VPN connection, further obfuscating your browsing activity. Nexus also uses a Dynamic MultiHop feature to connect you to the fastest available entry server and exit through any desired location, presumably increasing connection speeds across the board.

How much does Surfshark cost?

Sam Singleton

Surfshark comes with three different plans: Surfshark Starter, Surfshark One, and Surfshark One+. Each plan option is available in monthly, 1-year, and 2-year terms. 

Surfshark Starter provides the basic VPN along with an ad- and popup-blocker, plus access to its Alternative ID feature. The monthly rate is a steep $15.45 per month, dropping down to a much more reasonable $47.85 for the first year, or $53.73 for the first two years. 

A Surfshark One subscription comes with everything from the Starter pack plus identity and data breach monitoring, private search tools, and access to its Antivirus software. The rate is $17.95 monthly, $50.85 for the first year, or $67.23 for the first two years. If you opt for the 1- or 2-year plans they also throw in three extra months for free.

Surfshark’s top-tier One+ plan gives you all of the above plus a personal data removal service for $20.65 per month, $91.35 for the first year, or $107.73 for the first two years. Subscriptions to the 1- and 2-year plans at this tier also come with three extra months for free.

It’s worth noting that if you opt for the 1- or 2-year plans on any bundle, the renewal price after the initial term will typically default to a more expensive yearly plan.

The monthly prices for all tiers place Surfshark as one of the most expensive month-to-month plans of any VPN I can recall. However, if you opt for longer-term plans, Surfshark instantly becomes one of the cheapest VPNs on the market. These long-term plans make it an incredibly good value for all of the features it provides.

Surfshark accepts payments via credit cards, PayPal, Google Pay, and various cryptocurrencies. 

How is Surfshark’s performance?

In one of the recent updates to Surfshark’s service, the company completed the shift of all servers to 10Gbps, up from 1Gbps previously. This is in addition to the aforementioned FastTrack technology feature they added for some servers. So how do the speeds compare now? Well, not bad, but also still not quite the best. 

During my testing I rated connection speeds across Surfsharks’ servers in six different countries around the world over the course of multiple days and then compared them to my baseline internet speed. Surfshark server speeds were once again solid, ranking in the top 10 of all VPNs I’ve tested. Speeds averaged 65 percent of the base download speed and a slightly more impressive 71 percent of the base upload speed.

This is a bit behind the very fastest VPNs such as NordVPN and ExpressVPN, but depending on your own home internet, it’ll be more than enough to do just about everything, including streaming HD video and downloading large files quickly without any issues.

For those looking to use the service to bypass geo-restrictions on streaming websites, my testing showed that Surfshark was overwhelmingly successful. Across every server tested and for all major streaming services, the VPN was able to access these streaming sites. This included sites such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Hulu, and Disney+. This excellent result puts Surfshark among the very best VPNs for streaming.

How is Surfshark’s security and privacy?

Sam Singleton

Surfshark uses standard AES 256-bit encryption and the Windows app offers options for several VPN protocols including OpenVPN, WireGuard, IKEv2.

Surfshark states that it doesn’t collect any of your online activity, including browsing history, session information, bandwidth used, connection time stamps, network traffic, or IP addresses. This no-logs policy claim has been verified to be true multiple times by security company Deloitte during independent audits of Surfshark, most recently in June of 2025. 

These regular audits are exactly the type of reassurance users should expect from a top VPN company, and it goes to show that Surfshark is serious about its customers’ privacy.

The service also keeps privacy in mind during setup. When signing up for a Surfshark subscription you only need to supply an email address.

One thing to note, though, is that Surfshark has moved its headquarters from the British Virgin Islands to the Netherlands in recent years. This probably isn’t an issue as the Netherlands’ data retention laws are generally privacy-friendly. However, the Netherlands is still subject to Fourteen Eyes jurisdiction, which means that the government could potentially require Surfshark to share certain information about customers. 

Thankfully, as all of its no-logs audits prove, this shouldn’t be a major concern as Surfshark doesn’t log or keep any user data anyways—no records means nothing to share.

Is Surfshark worth it?

Surfshark offers unlimited device connections, good speeds, full compatibility with major streaming services, and an impressive number of extra features. The Surfshark apps are all well designed and easy to navigate. It also offers some great supplemental personal security tools such as ad-, tracker-, and malware-blocking as well as split-tunneling and customizable multihop. That isn’t even mentioning the plethora of advanced features like the latest FastTrack and Everlink that it’s rolling out on a regular basis.

With all of these great features, Surfshark is a solid all-around VPN service. The monthly price is enough to make you choke, but if you opt for the 1- or 2-year contracts you’ll get all of this for a seriously bargain rate price. Overall, whether it’s getting around region blocks or just enjoying a more private and secure browsing experience, Surfshark remains one of my favorites.

Editor’s note: Because online services are often iterative, gaining new features and performance improvements over time, this review is subject to change in order to accurately reflect the current state of the service. Any changes to text or our final review verdict will be noted at the top of this article.