Surfshark VPN
MSRP $15.45
“Surfshark is a quick streaming VPN that allow me join a limiteless variety of units, making it a fantastic selection to guard privateness and unblock worldwide streaming for the entire household.”
Execs
- Fast, dependable server connections
- Loads of quick servers worldwide
- Simple-to-use design
- Quick, useful reside chat assist
- Helps limitless units
Cons
- No free model
- Two-year plan reverts to annual upon renewal
Surfshark would possibly sound harmful, however it’s actually a VPN that protects your privateness, quarantines malware, and hides your location and on-line exercise from intrusive trackers.
As one in all the leading streaming VPNs, Surfshark is thought to keep up quick speeds, however I needed to seek out out simply how briskly it was and if there have been any gaps in efficiency.
In my evaluate, I additionally examined the antivirus safety included with a Surfshark One subscription, checked up on costs, and examined buyer assist.
Tiers and pricing (free, trial, subs)
Surfshark is one in all just a few VPNs that support an unlimited number of devices, including further worth if you happen to share the account with relations and shut mates.
You possibly can strive Surfshark free for seven days earlier than paying and the 30-day money-back assure offers you much more time to determine whether or not it’s definitely worth the subscription price.
If you happen to’re in search of a totally free answer, try our guide to the best free VPNs that shield your privateness with a couple of restrictions.
Surfshark Starter prices $15.45 month-to-month, however the financial savings begin whenever you subscribe for one or two years. The annual plan prices $45 and contains three free months. It renews at $60 per yr, which is about common for a very good VPN.
The 2-year plan at $59 is a good discount, plus you get three months at no cost. After 27 months, the renewal reverts to an annual plan at $60. Nonetheless, that beats the value of some prime rivals. For instance, NordVPN is an excellent VPN, however the subscription price greater than doubles whenever you renew.
Surfshark additionally gives cybersecurity bundles. Surfshark One contains malware safety for lower than a greenback extra every month. Surfshark One+ prices $2 to $3 extra month-to-month and protects your privateness with ongoing requests to take away your private info from information brokers.
If you’re looking for a better VPN deal, there are often gross sales and promotions that may enable you to save extra. Simply be sure to keep watch over renewal dates so that you aren’t caught off guard when costs go up.
Design
I examined Surfshark One, which I believed sounded just like the candy spot. Set up was fast, with useful tricks to set up the apps and browser extensions.
The Home windows app is well-designed, with a panel on the suitable displaying at-a-glance affirmation of whether or not or not the VPN is enabled, which options are on, and which server I’m linked to.
On the left, I get a listing of worldwide servers with fast hyperlinks to really useful, not too long ago used, and favorites on the prime of the listing. I may also seek for a location and filter the listing to see solely static IP addresses or multi-hop servers.
It’s simple to make use of the fundamentals with out understanding superior options, but fine-tuning is a click on away everytime you need.
A toolbar on the far left lets me change settings for the VPN connection, entry my account, get assist, and discover options like antivirus safety and id alerts.
The browser extension is handy since that’s the place I’m almost certainly to need to change VPN settings. Nevertheless, the app has extra settings.
Past defending privateness, I need a VPN that’s quick and dependable. To check Surfshark, I linked to a number of servers positioned around the globe. The outcomes have been spectacular.
With Surfshark’s Home windows app and browser extension, I loved fast connections that by no means dropped and good speeds worldwide. My ISP delivers 900 Mbps obtain speeds over Ethernet. Most streaming VPNs lower that in half even after I choose a close-by server.
With the closest Surfshark VPN server, I measured 728 Mbpson the SpeedTest web site, one of many quickest I’ve ever recorded for a VPN. Add pace was 38 Mbps and ping was round 44 ms each methods. I’m in Nova Scotia, Canada, on the East Coast and the closest Surfshark server was in Montreal, over 700 miles away.
Nice pace throughout the nation is good, however I usually use a VPN to browse worldwide like I used to be a neighborhood, so the true problem is sustaining good bandwidth throughout the border.
Surfshark continued to ship blistering pace with 667 Mbps down, 17 Mbps up, and a 75 ms ping with a U.S. server. Add speeds and ping all the time drops abroad, and that was true for Surfshark, however downloads have been very quick with 579 Mbps for the U.Okay., 651 Mbps for France, and 630 Mbps for Germany.
The primary vital drop confirmed up with an Australian server that managed 306 Mbps downloads. The 5 Mbps uploads and 100+ ms ping of European servers fell to 2Mbps uploads and 244 ms ping Down Underneath.
General, Surfshark outpaced speedy VPNs like ExpressVPN and the fast and cheap TorGuard. Whereas Surfshark was persistently quick, the opposite two carried out effectively with close by servers, however fell behind when connecting to extra distant places.
Surfshark One features a virus scanner and real-time safety for as much as 5 units. Surfshark’s antivirus earned an ideal rating in a June 2024 analysis by unbiased cybersecurity lab AV-Take a look at.
In my spot-check of Surfshark One’s CleanWeb function, it didn’t block any of Wicar’s malware checks. That’s as a result of Surfshark’s blocking is reputation-based. Meaning it gained’t block and warn you to harmful web sites or downloads except they’re in its database.
After downloading the EICAR malware check file, I ran Surfshark One’s antivirus scanner and it rapidly recognized and quarantined the risk. Though Wicar.org is protected, more advanced antivirus software detects browser exploits and malicious recordsdata, stopping the potential risk earlier than it’s downloaded to your laptop.
Help
Some VPN suppliers have good, however gradual assist since solutions come through e-mail. Surfshark has 24/7 reside chat assist so you may get assist all day, on daily basis.
I examined it by asking about CleanWeb, Surfshark One’s blocking function. An AI chatbot was useful, providing a number of buttons to slim down my questions and pointing me to related assist paperwork.
After I stumped the bot, I requested for a human and was instantly transferred. I realized that the Surfshark browser extension is for comfort, however you get the identical VPN and antivirus safety from the app.
Privateness and safety
Surfshark makes its privateness coverage simple to grasp by attending to crucial particulars first: minimal information is collected, solely what’s wanted to supply the service you’re paying for. Surfshark requires your consumer ID or IP tackle and time stamp whereas shopping, however deletes that information inside quarter-hour of your session ending.
I couldn’t discover any document of Surfshark safety breaches, and the privateness coverage checks out. Whereas Surfshark is positioned in a 9 Eyes nation, it’s audited no-log coverage signifies the corporate gained’t have any information to share even when there are official requests.
Surfshark doesn’t promote or share your e-mail to third-party advertisers.
Is Surfshark best for you?
Surfshark has a well-designed app, nice customer support, and one of the fastest streaming VPNs with plenty of servers across the globe. The limitless system assist makes it laborious to go improper with this service, significantly if you happen to subscribe for one to 2 years.
For lower than a greenback further every month, Surfshark One features a good malware scanner and darkish internet monitoring. That’s a tempting supply, however it gives restricted browser safety. You’ll need to hold your devoted antivirus software program lively to dam viruses. Surfshark Starter is one of the best decide for most individuals.
I used to be impressed with Surfshark’s pace, reliability, and depth of options. The short assist makes it simple to get assist or be taught extra about the right way to use Surfshark’s apps and extensions.
I like to recommend Surfshark as one of the best VPNs with glorious pace, good privateness safety, simple operation, and nice worth.
