Snapshot
Surfshark’s rise has from zero to hero has been nothing short of outstanding and has quickly become a favourite amongst VPN users worldwide since joining the market in 2018. A secure, no logs VPN with great speeds, it’s ideal for streaming & torrenting. It’s extremely competitively priced, simple to use and allows users to protect an unlimited number of devices.
Compatible with
Rating
Our score:
4.8
★★★★★ 4.8/5
Pricing
Price from:
$8.33
per month
Pros
- Fast, reliable servers with up to 64Mbps download speeds
- Super user-friendly applications ideal for beginners
- Kill switch, DNS leak protection, 256-bit AES encryption
- Access to 800+ servers spanning 50 countries
- Unblocks Netflix, BBC iPlayer and all other popular streaming sites
- Peer-to-peer (P2P) torrenting permitted
- Protect unlimited devices with one account
- One of the cheapest VPNs available
Cons
- Speeds not quite as fast as rivals (at present)
- Server network still has room to grow
- Torrenting routed to servers in Canada and Holland
Introduction
‘Eating other VPN deals alive’, Surfshark has been a great addition to the VPN market. Users benefit from its very robust, secure servers, and with its no logs policy, it keeps everyone’s online privacy totally secure. Couple this with unbeatable pricing and its super user friendly and apps, it’s a great choice too if you’re a beginner or new to the VPN market. It’s also a great choice if you want to unblock Netflix, BBC iPlayer and other geo-restricted content.
Whilst it may not be able to offer the highest speeds going, it’s a fantastic all-round option perfectly capable of suiting most users’ needs. They also offer a no hassle 30-day money back guarantee as well as a 7-day free trial* plus great customer support should you need help or change your mind.
If you’re just starting out your VPN journey and are after ultimate simplicity with market leading security, look no further than Surfshark. It barely puts a foot wrong and is unbelievable value for money right now!
Pricing
Surfshark pretty much smashes all competition out the water with its pricing structure and is consistently cheaper than most of its rivals (as long as you’re looking to sign-up for longer than 1 month). Plans are currently available on monthly or yearly (1 or 2) deals. 2-year plans represent the best value for money and are currently on special offer of 83% off when purchased through our website. It’s also reassuring to know that all plans come with an up to 30-day money back guarantee.
For payment, Surfshark currently accepts a wide range of options including most major debit and credit cards (including American Express), PayPal, as well as Alipay for users in China. If you’re looking for additional anonymity, they also accept Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum cryptocurrencies.
SAVE 50%
Features
Surfshark is filled with all the major features a VPN user could ever wish for whilst adopting a strict no logs policy, DNS leak protection and ‘diamond-strong’ encryption protecting your IP address and helping to keep you safe online.
You can stream all the content you wish from Netflix, BBC iPlayer, live sporting events and other popular sources without any limitations. With 800+ servers in over 50 locations worldwide, despite not currently being a market leader in server quantity, their quality ‘bare metal’ servers deliver faultless reliability and more than sufficient speeds.
Surfshark comes with some cool additional features such as ‘Whitelister’; a tool that allows certain apps and websites that are known to be safe such as online banking etc to bypass the VPN (currently on Windows & Android Apps).
You also get ‘CleanWeb’ included which blocks malware, trackers, phishing and annoying ads (including YouTube ads), giving you a much better online experience.
The fundamentals have been cleverly designed around the user experience and their VPN app is one of the easiest to use we have tested.
Platforms and devices
Surfshark is by far the most generous VPN to those who have lots of devices! You can protect an unlimited amount with just the one account which we think is amazing!
Their user-friendly apps can be installed on macOS, Windows & Linux operating systems as well as iOS and Android mobile devices. If using a Fire TV (Amazon Firestick) or Kodi is your thing… they’ve got you covered too, as well as Chrome and Firefox browser users. It’s also easy enough to configure your home router and protect your entire wi-fi network with a Surfshark VPN.
Streaming
If like us, you want to stream the best content available online, Surfshark is a great VPN to pick. Supported by fast and reliable servers, you can unblock geo-restricted content with ease. A great deal of Netflix content is geo-restricted to the US and of course BBC iPlayer can only be viewed in the UK. Surfshark will effectively lift any blocks on Netflix, BBC iPlayer, HBO, Hulu, ESPN and many more. All you need to do is select a server from the country’s content you want to view (e.g. US for the US Netflix store and the UK for BBC iPlayer) and you’re all set!
Torrenting
Surfshark is a P2P torrenting friendly VPN and has 800+ torrent optimised servers spread across 50+ countries. It doesn’t restrict any torrenting activity for its users, has great speeds whilst doing so, and has the reassurance of a kill switch which is also a must! Stay safe online and remember, you should always use a secure VPN when torrenting!
Speed
Surfshark is relatively new to the VPN scene and to their credit have some of the most reliable servers we have tested offering very consistent connections at all times.
In terms of out and out speed, they are no baby shark but they are not quite as nippy as some of their competition. We are hopeful that they will continue to improve in this area and are excited to see how they continue to grow and develop.
Saying this, they are by no means slow! You will have no problems streaming HD content, take part in P2P file sharing or simply browsing the internet, so unless your main focus is speed, don’t be deterred!
Security
Surfshark is a robust choice for internet security and provide diamond-strong protection with industry leading AES-256-GCM encryption. They use our preferred OpenVPN protocol for Windows users and IKEv2 for its mobile and macOS apps. Both are industry standard for security and the latter is hugely popular with the best VPNs, helping with speeds whilst keeping your connection private. It has a strict no logs policy and is located in an ultra-privacy friendly jurisdiction.
Users also benefit from DNS leak alongside a kill switch (a must have in our eyes), ensuring your activities and sensitive data aren’t unencrypted and exposed should your VPN lose connection.
Users with greater privacy concerns can use the awesome security feature ‘MultiHop’ allowing you to connect and tunnel via 2 VPN servers at the same time. If one doesn’t make you feel safe, go for it and add another is what we say!
Surfshark also offers ‘Camouflage Mode’ which ensures your ISP isn’t able to detect that you are even using a VPN.
They also deploy ‘NoBorders’ obfuscation across all servers. This is a great benefit to those who live or are travelling to locations with high amounts of government censorship blocking certain websites or applications. Turned on, it helps users bypass such restrictions and allow free use of popular apps such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp etc.
Applications
We really enjoy using the Surfshark apps. Despite being packed with some of the most advanced features on the market, they are super user friendly and really well designed. If you are stepping into the VPN world for the first time, we think they are a great choice for beginners for this reason alone.
The Surfshark app can be downloaded on a whole host of popular devices such as iOS, Windows and Android, and works perfectly on the Amazon Firestick or Android TV.
Customer service
For what is an extremely cheap VPN provider, they certainly don’t leave you in open waters when it comes to customer service and technical support. Surfshark has agents on standby 24/7 should you need assistance and you can also get in touch via email. Alternatively, you can read through their excellent help guides online to ensure you have a totally smooth experience.
Log policy
Surfshark is a no logs VPN and adopts a strict policy to ensure all of your activity is totally private. Of course, to create an account you will need to give basic information such as an email address, but you could use a ‘burner’ address if you are really that concerned!
They also collect some anonymous information for diagnostic purposes and to improve their services which includes aggregated performance data, the frequency a user uses the service, crash reports on app, and finally, unsuccessful connection attempts.
Surfshark make it absolutely clear that none of this data can be linked back to any individual account and they don’t even know if you have used their VPN at any point after you’ve signed up. They have zero obligations to store any data and should any authority make a request, we are 100% confident that Surfshark do not have any data to share. You’re firmly under the radar with them!
Jurisdiction
Located in the privacy heaven of the British Virgin Islands (we’re hoping our invite to tour the office is in the post!), Surfshark is totally isolated from any government or law enforcement agencies that require them to log and store information. This is perfect for a VPN provider as it’s well away from prying eyes of the US and EU authorities. They have no connection to any government or international data sharing schemes either.
They also freely display warrant canary information on their website letting you know if they have received any law enforcement interactions or requests. To date it hasn’t received a single one!
The verdict
Surfshark is one of our favourite VPNs and ranks up there with some of the most established and largest VPNs in the market. It’s a fantastic product that will surpass the needs of nearly every VPN users’ requirements, hammering-ahead (sorry, last shark pun!), of a whole host of rivals. Not only do you get total online freedom and privacy with them, you can unblock great content from around the globe without any of your online movements being logged.
Whilst their speeds (currently) aren’t the highest out there, we found Surfshark to work really well under the high demands of HD streaming and P2P file sharing and their apps are super easy to use, removing any complexity associated with using a VPN.
Surfshark certainly offers one of the best value options out there without having to compromise on product quality or features. You can also try before you buy with a free 7-day trial*, and if for any reason you don’t get on with it, for you cancel your plan within 30 days for a full refund.
Melvyn and the team at comparemyvpn.com happily recommend Surfshark to our users and we are excited to see what this innovative VPN has to offer going forward!