Surfshark is an easy-to-use VPN (virtual private network) with more than 3,200 servers in 65 countries. In this Surfshark review, we’ll show you what this VPN has to offer so you can decide if it’s the best VPN for you, whether you need it for business or personal use.
Not sure if you need a VPN? Check out this advice guide.
In this Surfshark review…
- Surfshark Review Summary
- Surfshark Pros and Cons
- Surfshark Features
- Surfshark Desktop Version Features
- Surfshark Mobile App Features
- How Does Surfshark Compare To Competitors
- Surfshark Prices And Plans
- Surfshark Performance and Speed
- Surfshark Review Conclusion
Surfshark Review Summary
Surfshark is a VPN company that supports both mobile and desktop versions. Both VPN versions have a very user-friendly approach. With so many servers around the globe, Surfshark VPN also comes with 15 Netflix libraries that can be a very handy tool if you want to stream geo-restricted content.
Users from around the world can access Surfshark VPN servers and hide their browser activity and identity with their end to end encryption. Surfshark VPN has apps for Windows, macOS, Android, iPhone, and iPads and offers browser extensions for Firefox and Chrome web browsers.
Surfshark does not log your activities such as IP addresses and internet surfing. Also, it supports peer-to-peer downloads on specific servers. It is a fast, reliable, and great VPN for streaming and torrenting. However, you can not stream content from Hulu with Surfshark as you can with ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and NordVPN.
Surfshark Pros and Cons
Pros
- Unlimited connections with unlimited devices
- Over 3200 servers in 65 countries
- 15 different Netflix libraries
- Quality encryption for secure browsing
- Independently audited for privacy when it comes to Surshark’s browser extensions
- Excellent Customer Service through Live chat and email
- Unbelievably cheap prices
- Private DNS address to ensure no data gets leaked
Cons
- Split tunnel with Surfshark VPN works with Android and Windows devices but not with Mac or iPhone
- Unpredictable P2P behaviour
- No customer support over the phone
- Won’t work with Hulu
Surfshark Features
The primary feature of the Surfshark VPN on both the desktop and mobile versions is its split tunnelling tool that is known as the “Whitelister” tool. It means that you can decide which apps and websites you want to visit with Surfshark VPN and which apps and websites you want to go through without encryption and anonymity.
Now let’s take a look at the few features that are a little different between the desktop and mobile versions.
Surfshark Desktop Version Features
For you advanced users: The Surfshark Mac desktop version uses IKEv2 and Wireguard VPN encryption protocol to handle request and response actions. However, you can choose from Wireguard, IKEv2, UDP, or TCP protocols in the Windows desktop version.
You have access to a quick-connect button in your Surfshark desktop version that allows you to connect directly to the fastest VPN in the nearest country.
Surfshark don’t log your internet session information, IP address, bandwidth usage, and browsing history. They have a lot of VPNs that give you both physical and virtual servers to choose from over the globe. However, not all of them indicates which ones are physical and virtual.
Surfshark has servers that are specifically dedicated to peer-to-peer streaming and downloading. If you want an added layer of security and want to go through two different servers at a time, the Surfshark desktop VPN extension also has a multi-hop feature that allows you to do that. However, P2P and multi-hop features can slow your connection speed.
Surfshark VPN offers a kill switch you can turn on and off. A kill switch allows that if the Surfshark software is somehow disconnected, your entire internet connection gets killed. As a result, you won’t transmit unencrypted data across the internet. Along with that, Surfshark uses AES-256 encryption to secure your sensitive data.
You can choose to connect to the Surfshark VPN automatically for unknown and known WIFI networks in the Network setting tab. Furthermore, you can always connect to a specific country whenever you first open up your desktop browser. The clean web feature lets you block ads and malware to save a good amount of network data.
Surfshark Mobile App Features
The mobile VPN app looks identical for both tablet and mobile phones. The home screen is similar to the desktop version of the Surfshark VPN. Not only can you choose the fastest and nearest VPN server on the mobile app but also you can mark your favourite servers.
Under your Surfshark mobile VPN app, the circle on the right-hand side of each server indicates how many people are using the same server. Therefore, you can avoid those specific high load servers that may cause slow connection and internet speed.
You can choose servers that operate with static IPs no matter how many times you connect or disconnect. Also, you can use the multihop feature which is the same as with the Surfshark desktop version to utilize multiple IPs.
Surfshark iOS and Android mobile app versions let you choose from different encryption protocols (IKEv2, UDP, or TCP). The no border feature in the mobile app allows you to connect with high censorship countries such as China and Russia.
How Does Surfshark Compare To Competitors?
Compare all VPN services
- Surfshark, NordVPN, and Express VPN offer split tunnelling features while CyberGhost lacks it.
- NordVPN has more than 5400 servers in 59 countries and CyberGhost has more than 7300 VPN servers in 91 countries
as compared to 3200 Surfshark servers in 65 countries. Express VPN has fewer servers than Surfshark. - Surfshark offers unlimited connections on mobile and desktop devices while NordVPN offers 6, Express VPN offers 5, and CyberGhost offers 7 simultaneous connections on different devices.
- Surfshark, NordVPN, Express VPN, and CyberGhost do not log your internet activities.
- NordVPN, Surfshark, and CyberGhost have a kill switch. The kill switch in Express VPN is called a network lock.
- Surfshark, NordVPN, Express VPN, and CyberGhost offer P2P sharing in many countries.
- NordVPN, Express VPN, CyberGhost, and Surfshark use the same AES-256 encryption.
- You can choose dynamic and static IP servers in Surfshark VPN while Express VPN offers dynamic IP servers, NordVPN comes with Dynamic and dedicated IP servers, and CyberGhost offers static and shared IP servers.
- You can select Wireguard, IKEv2, UDP, or TCP protocols with Surfshark while NordVPN uses UDP protocol by default, Express VPN uses IKEv2, and CyberGhost uses IKEv2, Wireguard, L2TP, and PPTP protocols.
- You may also want to check out PrivadoVPN and ProtonVPN as well as the best VPN for streaming.
Surfshark Prices And Plans
Surfshark VPN comes with a 30-day free trial. You can choose from one of the following price plans.
- Select a monthly plan which comes at $12.95/month.
- Subscribe to a 2-year pricing plan for the cost of $59.56 and save 81% by paying only $2.49/month.
- Subscribe to a 6-month pricing plan for the cost of $38.94 every six months and save 50% by paying $6.49/month.
Whilst writing this Surfshark review, we looked at the prices and yearly plans of competitors such as NordVPN, CyberGhost and ExpressVPN, we found that all of these VPNs have almost the same monthly price plans to offer to their subscribers.
However, when we compared these VPNs for their 6-months, 1-year, and 2-year deals, only CyberGhost has 6-months ($4.8/month) and 1-year ($1.99/month + three free months) price plans that are cheaper than Surfshark VPN.
Surfshark Performance and Speed
Our Surfshark review found that speed is more than sufficient for an average home user. Its performance and speed depend on your internet service provider and the servers that you would like to use.
For example, our Surfshark review found the VPN can reach speeds over 250 Mbps when you connect with its Vancouver server which is impressive but you may only get 90 Mbps of speed coming out of their Portugal server.
A lot of the time, 90 Mbps speed is enough to browse, watch videos on Netflix and other major streaming platforms.
In comparison with Surfshark:
- NordVPN has a better average speed than the Surshark VPN. However, NordVPN’s average time to initiate a server connection is 13 seconds which is not so impressive as compared with Surfshark’s 2 seconds server connection initiation.
- When tested with New York and the UK servers, we found that ExpressVPN showed 214 Mbps and 235 Mbps respectively while Surfshark VPN showed speed test results of 397 Mbps with the New York server and 330 Mbps in the UK server.
- In our test results, CyberGhost underperformed in every speed test through any server as compared with Surfshark and never crossed speeds over 60 Mbps.
Surfshark Review Conclusion
So what’s the outcome of our Surfshark review?
Surfshark offers impressive service with very few weaknesses. It may not have the most advanced features for professional security like changing the encryption rate or port forwarding. However, they have all the necessary basic features such as malware and ad blocking that are amazing for average home users.
Surfshark comes with a clean and simple user experience. If you want unlimited connections with unlimited devices, we recommend you buy their subscription.
One Surfshark subscription can cover every device in your household and comes with a lot of servers at a cheap price. Surfshark VPN is designed for feature-conscious and price-conscious consumers and it is a solid choice for someone looking for an affordable VPN.
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