Surfshark VPN Review
One of the fastest VPNs available
Verdict
Surfshark provides an excellent VPN service, and the unlimited number of connected devices – within reason – is useful for households with many devices. You probably don’t need the extra online security features of the One and One+ bundles, though.
Pros
- Blisteringly fast
- Good for streaming
- Unlimited devices
- Great value subscriptions
Cons
- Subscriptions renew at a higher rate
- You have to interact with a human being if you wish to cancel your subscription
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Key Features
- Connect unlimited devices:Surfshark puts no limits on the number of devices you can use with the VPN service. So, if you’re somebody with a lot of gadgets, this could be one of the best VPNs to go for.
- Clients for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS:Surrfshark supports a wide range of operating systems, so you can use it on Apple and Windows laptops, tablets, smartphones and more.
Introduction
Surfshark is one of the very best VPNs if you’re looking for speed and seamless access to international websites and services of all kinds.
Like its sibling company NordVPN, it’s been adding plenty of extra features to its core service. Surfshark is cheaper than Nord, and its renewal price increases – although still a factor – are more modest.
Although it’s headquartered in the Netherlands, having moved from the more famously privacy-friendly British Virgin Islands, Surfshark has a clear no-logging policy, and the security of its software and systems is independently audited. Most recently, its no-logging policy was audited in January 2023.
Users may connect an unlimited number of devices simultaneously; it uses RAM-disk servers throughout its infrastructure and supports torrenting across all its servers.
Pricing and subscriptions
Subscribing to Surfshark’s core VPN service, Surfshark Starter, costs £14.75 per month, £37.62 for one year + 3 months and £54.76 for two years + 3 months. Those last two only apply to first-time subscribers, though. They’ll both renew at Surfshark’s standard rate, which is currently £47.39 per year. Note that I’ve listed prices including VAT, while Surfshark’s site only adds VAT at the final purchase stage.
There are two further Surfshark tiers – Surfshark One and Surfshark One+. These include a range of additional anti-malware and security features, but are more expensive.
Surfshark One gets you the company’s antivirus tools, which have unfortunately only seen limited assessment by major security testing houses, a search engine, and breach monitoring. Surfshark One+ adds Incogni data broker removal tools to help you scrub your personal data from the internet directories that wish to profit from it.
All three tiers include ad and cookie blocking, a nominally unlimited number of devices and alternative identity and email address generation for use when registering on suspect websites.
Note that Surfshark requires you to contact its representatives via either email or via a live chat service if you wish to cancel a recurring subscription, rather than simply allowing you to do this from your account page.
Privacy and Protection
- Recent move to the Netherlands could have legal implications
- Now maintains a transparency document
- Retirement of IKEv2 for Windows closes potential security risk
Surfshark’s 2021 move from the British Virgin Islands to the Netherlands disconcerted a number of users. Although it remains less than clear what the practical legal implications of this are for a VPN that keeps no logs, it’s worth noting that the Netherlands is one of the “Nine Eyes” international government intelligence information sharing cooperative.
I’m pleased to note that Surfshark now publishes a warrant canary and has, at the time of writing, received no US national security letters or gag orders, nor warrants from any government organisation.
Surfshark has ended support for the IKEv2/IPsec protocol on Windows, thus resolving potential issues surrounding its use of self-signed certificates. IKEv2 support is retained for mobile users.
Features and usability
- Supports a wide range of platforms
- Features include a kill switch, NoBorders Mode and an ad blocker
There are official Surfshark clients for the expected major platforms: Windows, Linux – now with a glossy GUI app alongside its command-line connection tool – macOS, iOS and Android.
It also has clients for Amazon’s Fire TV stick, and Chrome and Firefox browsers. You get detailed connection information for setting up your VPN on other devices, including routers and servers, and on sharing a connection from your PC to a games console.
Surfshark’s chunky Windows application shows your connection status and makes it easy to choose from locations,
The kill switch, to block traffic if your connection to the VPN endpoint drops, is disabled by default. You can choose between a soft and strict kill switch, the former of which only kicks in if VPN traffic is interrupted, while the latter keeps you offline under any conditions in which you’re not connected to the VPN, including manual disconnection, assuming Surfshark’s processes are active.
Features include multi-hop connections (which go through two VPN endpoints in an attempt to further obfuscate your point of origin), IP address rotation, an on-by-default NoBorders Mode (which attempts to evade national-level firewalls), endpoints with static IP addresses, a split tunnelling whitelist for applications/IP addresses that you want to use with your un-VPN’d internet connection, and an ad blocker that’s disabled by default.
Obfuscated servers are available if you switch to the OpenVPN protocol – Surfshark uses WireGuard by default, which doesn’t support the obfuscation standard in use here.
Performance
- One of the fastest VPNs in our group test
- Great for TV streaming
Surfshark, like ProtonVPN, NordVPN, ExpressVPN and Tunnelbear, is consistently among the fastest-performing VPN services in our tests, and this round of testing has been no exception. Its average came in marginally behind NordVPN, but in practice, it’s so close as to make no odds.
| VPN Provider | UK | Netherlands | United States | Average |
| Surfshark | 264.8 Mbps | 297.6 Mbps | 228 Mbps | 263.47 Mbps |
| Reference Group Average | 240 Mbps | 316 Mbps | 47.97 Mbps | 201.32 Mbps |
| Reference (no VPN) | 219.05 Mbps | 210.43 Mbps | 144.51 Mbps | 183.81 Mbps |
Surfshark uses the fast WireGuard protocol by default, and has the infrastructure to match. It’s also a popular choice with those who don’t want to shut down their VPN whenever they watch a streaming video service.
Repeated speed tests over the past year have shown that Surfshark persistently places among the top scorers, and it does a consistently good job of hiding the fact that you’re actually connected to a VPN.
Latest deals
Surfshark – Save 86% + 3 free months
Our Best VPN 2023 award winner Surfshark is now available at just £2.19 per month this Black Friday!
- Surshark
- Save 83% + 3 free months
- £1.69 p/m
Should you buy it?
You want a VPN for multiple devices
One of Surfshark’s standout features is that it can run on an unlimited number of devices, making it a good option if you have lots and lots of gadgets, from tablets and smartphones to laptops.
You want tried-and-tested security
Surfshark clearly values security. It has a credible policy of not logging user activity, maintains a warrant canary and has commissioned security audits. But its policies are yet to be tested by legal action or server seizures – unlike a handful of rivals, most notably Perfect Privacy.
Final Thoughts
Surfshark is one of the best VPN services you can subscribe to right now, competing aggressively on both price and performance, although those UK prices cost a little more once you’ve added VAT.
Cancelling a subscription is also unnecessarily involved. Despite this, it’s an excellent choice alongside sibling company NordVPN and highly capable rivals ProtonVPN and ExpressVPN. I’m also impressed by the wide range of supported platforms and use cases and the fact that there’s no limit to the number of devices you can connect to it.
Surfshark has proven its track record when it comes to performance, but for those who value security above all else, Perfect Privacy remains your best bet despite its cost and comparatively slow speeds.
How we test
All speed tests are run across a fibre connection with a maximum tested connection speed of 980Mbps, which means that we’re able to get a good idea of the upper threshold of each VPN service’s speed at the time of testing.
We test multiple endpoints from each provider in three locations: the UK, the Netherlands and the US.
We research security and no-logging claims.
We inventory and test client features on Windows and Linux.
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FAQs
No. You’ll need to pay a subscription fee to use Surfshark. However, a 7-day free trial is available to Android, macOS, and iOS users who sign up via their device’s app store.
Surfshark is now based in the Netherlands, although long-term legacy subscriptions will remain under the British Virgin Islands’ regulations until their next renewal.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
