Surfshark is a highly polished and powerful VPN that competes with the very finest premium providers while offering a pricing point that is genuinely enticing to potential customers. At this price, you won’t find a better virtual private network (VPN), despite the fact that we discovered some very small flaws with the kill switch and that OpenVPN speeds aren’t the best.
SURFSHARK 1-MINUTE REVIEW
The pricing of Surfshark’s two-year subscription, which comes in at an amazing $2.30 per month at the time this article was written and includes two free months, is the service’s primary selling point. A single month costs $12.95 with shorter plans, which are significantly more expensive overall.
However, you should be aware that the price will increase after the initial two years of your term, so set yourself a reminder to look over the fine print before you decide to renew.
The essential requirements for protecting one’s privacy online are met by Surfshark thanks to its use of the AES-256 encryption standard and professionally inspected servers. Split tunnelling, which is great for torrenting and separating off your connections, as well as a kill switch, will be made available to you on both PC and Mac. In the course of our exhaustive stress testing, we did discover a minor problem with the kill switch; however, it is extremely improbable that this would occur in actual use.
However, beyond these fundamentals, Surfshark VPN has truly gone beyond in terms of the services it offers. GPS spoofing, URL and ad blocking, multi-hop (routing through two consecutive servers for added privacy), wide P2P support, additional password technology that will alert you of leaks, and ‘invisible to devices’ mode, which can hide your device from others on the same network. These features are all included in ExpressVPN’s free version. Additionally, the new Nexus feature will rotate your IP without any interruptions. Not exactly a meagre picking, then.
Latest updates
Nexus, which for the time being simply serves as an IP rotation tool, was just recently added as a new function by Surfshark. This will modify your IP address without periodically removing you from the network. In the future, Nexus may develop into a feature that stands out from the crowd because it is still in the process of being developed.
The British Virgin Islands will no longer serve as the official location of Surfshark’s base of operations as the company has moved its headquarters to the Netherlands. In relation to this topic, Surfshark made the following assertion: “The Netherlands serves no legal duty for companies to record or store user data. As a result, we are able to continue enforcing our stringent no-logs policy.”
“Before deciding to move our jurisdiction from the British Virgin Islands to the Netherlands, we talked with law professionals and carried out our due diligence to ensure that we would not be compelled to register our transactions or keep a record of them in the new location.”
Surfshark on paper
· Number of servers: 3,200+
· Number of countries: 65+
· Platforms supported: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Fire TV, Apple TV, other TVs, PlayStation, Xbox, Chrome & Firefox (browser extensions)
· Simultaneous connections: Unlimited
· Split tunneling: Yes
· Kill switch: Yes
· Supported protocols: WireGuard, OpenVPN UDP, OpenVPN TCP, IKEv2
· Country of registration: Netherlands
· Support: 24/7 live chat, email, knowledgebase
How private is Surfshark?
The privacy features offered by Surfshark are extensive. You will find that all of the traditional safeguards for your privacy have been included, including encryption with a key length of AES-256, as well as the secure protocols OpenVPN UDP and TCP, IKEv2, and WireGuard.
On the other hand, there are a lot of innovative privacy features available. Users of Surfshark are able to add an additional layer of security to their browsing sessions and prevent third parties from eavesdropping on those sessions as a result of the company’s deployment of a private DNS on each and every one of its server servers.
In addition to that, the service implements a VPN chaining technique. Users are able to route their traffic through a pair of independent servers thanks to this arrangement. Users are able to connect to one location and leave from another with the assistance of this feature, which may be enabled by pressing the MultiHop button.
Because of this, a cyber criminal will be unable to identify your IP address even if they gain access to the exit server and browse through the logs there. There are 15 routes available on Surfshark. Your connection location is determined by Server one, which could be in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Germany, Singapore, France, the Netherlands, India, or Australia.
How fast is Surfshark?
There is no doubt that Surfshark is one of the quickest VPNs. During our examinations, we did not encounter any connectivity problems of any kind, and the download and upload rates were satisfactory.
Since the time of our previous review, Surfshark’s connection speeds have seen significant improvements. WireGuard speeds reached a maximum of 792 Mbps in the United States, while in the United Kingdom they hit 700 Mbps. Our connections were reliable, and the speeds were the same each time we established a connection.
When OpenVPN was utilised, the picture was not quite as bright and cheery. With maximum speeds of only 150Mbps in both locations, it is more than enough for a casual user, but it is nothing like the 400Mbps+ that we witnessed from services such as ProtonVPN and Hide.me. ProtonVPN and Hide.me are two examples of VPN services that are superior in this regard.
Does it truly make a difference? Not for the majority of individuals — connecting with WireGuard is now considered to be the standard, and we anticipate that practically all users will do so.
Overall, this means that Surfshark is capable of providing strong connections, and if you’re using a standard domestic line, the service won’t have a major bearing on the speeds you experience.
How good is Surfshark for streaming?
The nearly flawless streaming capabilities of Surfshark are a welcome addition to the service’s already stellar performance. Surfshark is not like the majority of other VPN providers, which make bold promises but fail to deliver on those promises when it comes to unblocking streaming sites.
Surfshark has historically been quite capable when used as a virtual private network (VPN) for Netflix. However, within the past year or so, Netflix has updated the technology it uses to block VPNs, and as a result, practically every VPN available on the market has experienced varying degrees of success.
During our most current round of testing, Surfshark was successful in unblocking all of the Netflix regions that we put it through its paces, including those in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan. That easily competes with the very best examples of that kind of thing.
We were also able to watch content from the United States YouTube without any problems, despite the fact that this being the most straightforward block to circumvent. In addition, we were able to access BBC iPlayer without any problems at all, since our tests conducted from three different locations in the UK were all successful. In addition, we were able to achieve success with Disney+ and Amazon Prime in the United States.
At general, Surfshark is a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that is extremely proficient in streaming, and we strongly recommend using it in order to get the most out of your subscriptions.
How good is Surfshark for torrenting?
Although not one of its core features, Surfshark can be utilised as a virtual private network (VPN) for torrenting purposes. To achieve this goal, the network provides P2P support on the majority of its servers. In addition, customers have the option of paying for the service with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which further protects their anonymity.
Whitelisting capabilities are another another function that Surfshark offers that could be of use to consumers who are interested in using it for torrenting. You have the option of singling out your torrent client and directing all of its traffic over a virtual private network (VPN), while the rest of your internet traffic is routed through a regular connection.
Therefore, it will work just fine for you, but other services, such as ExpressVPN, offer support for P2P file sharing on every server, while other services, such as Private Internet Access, have comprehensive features such as port forwarding, which may be more suited to torrent users.
How easy is it to install Surfshark?
Installing Surfshark and establishing a connection to it for the very first time is an extremely simple process. We downloaded the Windows software from the Surfshark website in order to conduct this review. To our pleasant surprise, we were able to sign up for the service and make payment while the app was being installed.
Simply tapping the connect button was all that was required of us to get the VPN up and running. Following this, a desktop notice informed us that our connection had been established. The IP location was displayed once the option was selected on the interface.
How good are Surfshark’s desktop apps?
As was discussed earlier on in this analysis, installing the Surfshark programme on Windows is an extremely simple process. We tested Surfshark as a virtual private network (VPN) for Windows 10, but the company also offers a programme for Mac users who want to set up a VPN.
The user interface was considerably more adaptable than we had anticipated, and it reacted appropriately whenever we experimented with changing the size of the window. A Connect button, information describing the current state of the server, and a menu featuring server locations are displayed by the application before it allows the user to resize the window. When you expand the user interface, it shows a variety of options as well as panels that can be selected.
Even though the list of locations doesn’t provide latency clearly, there are icons that flag the best selections, and the Favorites tab is a convenient method to store the locations you use the most.
Because Surfshark’s Static IP list allows you to connect to servers in Singapore, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany (the server in the United States has been removed since our previous review), you will always have a consistent IP address originating from the country of your choosing whenever you use the service.
It’s interesting to note that Surfshark has an option called NoBorders. This innovative technology should make it feasible for you to log up to the VPN in regions and jurisdictions where it is typically illegal to do so; this is particularly useful for a China VPN.
As was indicated before in this analysis, the Windows client is equipped with a variety of features, including MultiHop, Whitelister, and a kill switch. The Mac app contains exactly the same features as its iOS counterpart.
We were blown away by the capability of the Windows software, and it was quite easy to use as well. Despite the fact that the app might use some small enhancements, we were very impressed by it.
How good are Surfshark’s mobile apps?
It’s impressive how well Surfshark works as a mobile VPN. While it appears that some VPN service providers view mobile apps as an afterthought, Surfshark’s iPhone VPN and Android VPN are both highly functional and packed with a variety of advanced capabilities.
The apps have a highly streamlined appearance, and they are simple to operate. Small additions, like as the dark mode (seen on iOS above), give the impression that it has been thoughtfully designed and is a joy to use.
As part of this assessment, we put the Android app through its paces and discovered that it is quite analogous to the Windows client. There is an interface that is quite similar to the one that is used, the list of server locations is the same, and it is also possible to make use of the split-tunneling, MultiHop, blocking, and whitelisting functions.
Users on mobile devices can take advantage of a number of other support protocols, such as OpenVPN/IVEv2 and WireGuard, in addition to the kill switch that is available in the desktop version. Shadowsocks, on the other hand, has been discontinued, which is a tragedy.
In addition to this, the Surfshark Android app gives you the ability to improve performance on mobile networks, automatically connect to the VPN in specific circumstances, and select from several encryption algorithms, including AES-256-GGM and Chacha20Poly1305.
You won’t need to go to the main help website if you run into any problems with the application because you’ll be able to submit bug reports, create support tickets, or look up answers to support questions even if you do have problems.
This capability is duplicated on the iOS app as well, albeit without the Android-exclusive features such as changeable encryption choices and split tunnelling (both of which are completely unavailable on iOS in any form).
What customer support does Surfshark offer?
You can find solutions to a variety of issues on the specialised help site that Surfshark provides for its customers. It has Frequently Asked Questions, instructions, and tutorials, which should cover a broad range of difficulties; nonetheless, it is not totally definitive.
Although there is some attention paid to fundamental query running, the vast majority of the content is devoted to configuration-related concerns. Having said that, the vast majority of the articles do not contain the details that you would anticipate and could benefit from being lengthier.
If the articles were grouped in a different way, it would be much easier to discover the information you require. There is room for significant improvement in this aspect. For instance, if you type “iOS” into the search field, you will receive a list of articles relating to iOS-related topics. These articles may include instructions on how to install Surfshark on an iOS device.
It would be to everyone’s advantage to have an alternative, similar to the one that is offered by the customer service team of ExpressVPN, in which all iOS-related difficulties are addressed in a single document.
If you’re in a hurry or can’t find what you’re looking for, you’re in luck since there’s a capable team of live chat employees on hand who will respond to your questions quickly and in a way that’s both informative and useful. At this pricing point, we’re impressed with how good the live chat is, so if you’re having any issues while using Surfshark, this should probably be your first port of call if you have any questions or concerns.
Final verdict
The Surfshark service is really amazing thanks to its abundance of useful features and high level of functionality. When you take into account how affordable the initial package for two years is, any minor drawbacks, such as the slow OpenVPN connection speeds or the kill switch’s occasional inability to function properly, begin to lose their significance.
ExpressVPN is still our top recommendation even if you are seeking for the best of the best. In spite of the fact that it is more expensive than Surfshark, it provides faster download speeds, more locations, and customer service that is unparalleled in its class.
On the other hand, if all you need is a VPN that functions consistently across a wide variety of devices, then Surfshark is a fairly enticing choice to consider.