Editors’ word, Feb. 9, 2022: At the beginning of February, Surfshark and Nord Safety introduced that the 2 corporations have been merging, however they are going to proceed to function one at a time. We are within the means of reevaluating each products and services, and can replace our suggestions and opinions as soon as that analysis has concluded.
Even if Surfshark is more recent than its extra established and readily known friends, it is moved temporarily to ascertain itself as a severely aggressive VPN choice. Regardless of having a smaller VPN server fleet than ExpressVPN or NordVPN, Surfshark makes up for it with its aggressive speeds and ambitious security measures. The budget-friendly VPN additionally has extra configurable privateness add-ons than respected products and services similar to IPVanish.
I like to recommend Surfshark for its blazing speeds, its limitless instrument make stronger, and its wealthy suite of privateness and security measures.
Like
- Marketplace-leading speeds
- Doorbuster pricing
- Multihop VPN
Do not Like
- Privateness coverage may use extra element
Velocity
- Reasonable velocity loss: 53% velocity misplaced in autumn 2020 assessments
- Collection of servers: 3,200+
- Collection of server places: 65 nations
- Not obligatory static IP addresses to be had
I ran my velocity assessments over the route of 3 days with dynamic IP addresses the use of each wi-fi and ethernet connections. Web speeds in the USA range extensively through state and supplier. And with any velocity check, effects are going to depend on your native infrastructure, with hyperfast web carrier yielding upper check velocity effects.
That is one explanation why I am extra inquisitive about checking out the quantity of velocity misplaced (which for many VPNs is generally part or extra) throughout each high-speed and slower web connection sorts, and in the use of equipment like Speedtest.web to even out the enjoying box. On the subject of Surfshark, best 17% of reasonable web speeds have been misplaced. That is even sooner than the 27% velocity loss I measured in 2019, and makes Surfshark the present quickest VPN in our autumn 2020 velocity assessments.
Surfshark’s rapid speeds all over checking out driven the carrier right away previous NordVPN’s examined speeds, which averaged 53% velocity loss, and forward of alternative speed-intensive VPNs similar to ExpressVPN and IPVanish. That is in particular spectacular given the relatively small measurement of Surfshark’s VPN server fleet.
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The remarkable thing about Surfshark’s speed is that its average speeds aren’t fighting to overcome major speed losses in any particular test region. This thing showed up on race day and stole the gold, seemingly without breaking a sweat. During testing, my base non-VPN speeds averaged 194 megabits per second, while Surfshark’s overall average was 161Mbps. After taking the averages of five testing locations, not one of the averages from those locations fell below 100Mbps. That’s an across-the-board win against its competitors in every test column.
The VPN service provider clocked a 204Mbps average on US connections. It outperformed its peers during UK and European tests, averaging 165Mbps and 171Mbps in each, respectively. It then averaged 126Mbps in Australia, before averaging 142Mbps in Singapore. These are speeds I haven’t seen from any virtual private network I’ve tested so far.
Security and privacy
- Jurisdiction: British Virgin Islands
- Encryption: AES-256-GCM, RSA-2048, Perfect Forward Secrecy
- No leaks detected
- Includes kill switch
I like that Surfshark is headquartered in the British Virgin Islands, which is generally considered a privacy-friendly country due to its lack of surveillance-sharing agreements with other countries. Although it’s a territory of the United Kingdom, the British Virgin Islands is a separate legal jurisdiction to the UK with no data-retention laws. And its national High Court is historically averse to extra-national business record requests.
While it’s nearly impossible to verify whether a VPN keeps logs of usage data, Surfshark’s privacy policy affirms that it goes beyond typical VPN practices, keeping no location-identifying connection logs and allowing you to opt out of default-enabled diagnostic crash reports. That said, I’d still prefer to see more detail fleshed out in the policy.
Its encryption is standard AES-256-GCM, and it supports Perfect Forward Secrecy, which means it frequently changes encryption keys to avoid security compromises. The VPN company offers a useful kill switch feature, which prevents network data from leaking outside of their secure VPN tunnel in the event the VPN connection fails. Surfshark’s browser extension add-ons for Chrome and Firefox have also been independently audited by security research firm Cure 53.
No IP address, DNS or other potentially user-identifying data leaks were detected during my testing. I didn’t detect any WebRTC leaks, which are common among VPNs due to more widespread and well-known browser issues, either. Even if you don’t need it, it’s noteworthy that Surfshark offers a specific browser plug-in to prevent additional WebRTC leaks.
If you’re concerned about DNS privacy on mobile, Surfshark also offers a standalone app Trust DNS from the Google Play Store. In the simplest terms, it reroutes the website information requests from your browser and sends them to Surfshark instead of your internet service provider. Rerouting DNS information in this way could help you get past censorship walls and keep your telecom company out of your business.
What makes Surfshark stand out from other services we’ve recently reviewed at CNET? It offers a multihop VPN. For an added layer of VPN protection, you can tell Surfshark to send your internet traffic through servers in two countries instead of just one. Multihop VPNs can be particularly useful in preventing your information from being identified if a security breach happens at one of the VPN’s own data centers.
Cost
- Usability: Intuitive and fresh
- Platforms: Linux, Windows, Android, MacOS, iOS, Android TV and Amazon Fire TV
- Price: $2.49 monthly for a two-year plan
- Number of simultaneous connections: Unlimited
Surfshark imposes no data caps, and allows unlimited server switching and torrenting. I also had no problems using it to access Netflix. In a rare move for a VPN, it offers unlimited simultaneous connections. This functionality is wrapped up in an intuitive, easy-to-use interface that’s recently undergone a slick revamp.
I’m delighted to see lots of optional add-on features you wouldn’t normally expect from a low-cost VPN provider. CleanWeb, an ad-blocking anti-tracking feature, is available for all accounts. For a dollar more a month, you can opt to get Blindsearch, Surfshark’s nonlogging private search engine, and Hacklock, a tool that constantly searches the internet to see if your email address has been affected by a data breach.
Surfshark is currently living up to its name with an aggressive pricing scheme. As of September, its price is $2.49 monthly for a two-year plan ($59.76 in total). That offer stands up easily to NordVPN’s two-year plan at $3.71 a month ($89 in total), and IPVanish’s one-year plan at $5.20 per month ($62 a year). On its six-month plan, Surfshark costs $6.49 monthly ($38.94 in total). It also offers a monthly plan for $12.95.
Along with credit or debit, you can pay via PayPal, Alipay or Bitcoin and be assured of a 30-day money-back guarantee. The site offers 24/7 chat support, and a healthy amount of support articles and tutorials.
Read more: NordVPN vs. ExpressVPN: Speed, security and price compared
