Virtual private network, or VPN, is a piece of software that, even when using a public network, helps secure your access to the internet by creating a secure and private connection. Making your browsing secret is what a VPN does. Cover up your IP address (Internet Protocol).
Although Surfshark's Windows kill switch needs work, the service is generally lightning-fast, packed with sophisticated features, has likeable and user-friendly apps, and unblocked all of our test streaming platforms. a necessity for your limited selection of VPNs.
Introduction
One of the greatest VPN services, Surfshark is loaded with features, works with practically every device, and offers some of the fastest download speeds available.
More than 3,200 servers are available on the network, spread across an amazing 160 sites in 100 different countries.
Additionally to Chrome, Firefox, and even Edge extensions, there are Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Linux apps available. There is also a website unblocking Smart DNS system for gaming consoles, smart TVs, and other devices.
You can install and use Surfshark on as many devices as you'd like, so you don't have to worry about bothersome "simultaneous connection" constraints no matter what you're using.
With robust AES-256-GCM encryption, WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2 support, a no-logs policy, and a kill switch to safeguard you if the VPN connection stops, the service excels in the technical necessities.
Surfshark VPN Price
Android apps can bypass the majority of VPNs by asking for your physical location, but not Surfshark because it uses the GPS Spoofing feature to return the location of the VPN server you've selected.
Oh, and there's also 24/7 email and live chat support, ad and malicious URL blocking, P2P compatibility on most servers, VPN chaining (using two servers for one hop), split tunnelling, the business's own zero-knowledge DNS servers, and other features.
Surfshark subscription options for 24 month plan - $2.30 per month ($55.20 total cost)
Updates since our last review include a Pause VPN feature that enables you to turn down the VPN for a predetermined period of time (5, 30, or 120 minutes), after which time your security will automatically resume. If you use the Pause button, the app takes care of reconnection for you, so you can't forget. If you manually disconnect, you must remember to rejoin.
Contrary to most of the competition, Linux users now have access to a VPN programme with a complete GUI. (If any Linux programmes are offered by other vendors, they are typically command-line projects.)
Be careful if you're utilising outdated hardware: Support for outdated platforms is being cut back by Surfshark. For example, the corporation no longer provides complete support for Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 computers and now only provides it for the most recent four versions of MacOS and iOS.
You can still use the outdated apps or manually set up VPN connections, so even if you can't update your device's OS, it's not an imminent catastrophe. However, you won't receive any updates or security patches, so you should update or replace your device soon if you want the optimum performance.
Experts may now precisely customise their Surfshark setup thanks to new support for manual WireGuard connections, or even deploy the service on a device that can't run ordinary programmes.
The network of Surfshark is growing, and the most recent additions include several countries and regions that are uncommon for other VPNs, such as Brunei, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Mongolia, Nepal, and Laos.
As you can see thanks to our comprehensive Surfshark price and discount guide, the service's monthly plan(opens in new tab) costs $12.95, which is more than some.
The price drops to a less expensive-than-most $3.99 a month if you pay for a year in advance, but just for the first year. Upon renewal, it increases to $4.98.
The best value is provided by Surfshark's 24 months plan, which costs $2.05 per month. Or, to talk numbers: a one-year subscription costs $47.88 up front, while a two-year commitment costs only slightly more, $59.76. However, once more, this is only for the initial period; after that, you convert to the standard $4.98 monthly annual plan.
With a few exceptions, that beginning pricing is lower than the majority of the opposition. For instance, the three-year subscription from Private Internet Access costs just $2.03 per month for the first term and includes a basic on-demand antivirus.
You get all the same VPN capabilities with the Surfshark One service in addition to Avira-powered antivirus, data breach monitoring, and privacy-conscious internet search. For an additional $1.99 each month, you can activate it. Cheap? It's a really simple arrangement, I suppose. Recent upgrades to the antivirus include real-time scanning and even webcam hijacking protection to deter hackers from taking covert pictures. But a specialised AV product will still have a lot more features and capabilities.
The 7-day free trial for Surfshark on Android, iOS, and Mac allows you some opportunity to try out the service. Windows users would also appreciate something, but it seems unjust to complain when many suppliers don't offer any samples at all.
With its selection of payment options, including support for credit cards, PayPal, cryptocurrencies, Amazon Pay, and Google Pay, Surfshark even goes above and beyond what you may expect.
However, if after reading all of this you decide to sign up and the business isn't for you, no worries, you're covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Logging and Privacy
The privacy features of Surfshark begin with the fundamentals of a VPN: safe protocols (WireGuard, OpenVPN UDP and TCP), AES-256 encryption, and a kill switch to disable internet access and stop identity leaks in the event that the VPN connection drops out at any time.
Each server in the Surfshark network has its own private DNS, which lowers the possibility of third parties monitoring your online activity. Even more challenging for anyone to track you is the possibility to employ a second VPN hop (connect to Paris, for example, before leaving the Surfshark network in New York).
In its excellent privacy statement, Surfshark outlines its no-logging policy in full, providing in-depth information on the data it does (and does not) collect as well as concise summaries for those who would rather not read the entire statement.
The most important information you need to be aware of is that during a session, Surfshark's servers only gather two pieces of information: your user ID and connection time. The service does not log your visited IP addresses, browser history, session information, network activity, or anything else that could be used to connect you to an internet action, albeit even these are destroyed within 15 minutes of your disconnecting.
Audits
Although privacy policies are crucial, we don't believe that customers should have to accept a VPN provider's assurances on faith. And for that reason, we're pleased to learn that Surfshark has subjected two components of its service to an impartial security audit.
The browser extensions for Surfshark were placed under a very powerful security inspection in November 2018 by the German security firm Cure53. Only a few minor vulnerabilities were discovered by the company, and it declared itself "highly satisfied to see such a strong security posture on the Surfshark VPN extensions."
That was encouraging news in 2018, but it doesn't hold as much interest today, especially since it only looked at a small portion of the service.
However, Surfshark took a step further and reported on a second Cure53 examination of its servers in May 2021.
The maximum severity of the four security-related general concerns the auditors discovered was "Medium." It's okay if you're not used to reading Cure53 audits; they're very thorough and always find something.
The report's conclusion was that "the overall result should be regarded as good," and Surfshark was well aware of the difficulties posed by VPN security.
The audit could have gone a little bit further for Surfshark. It feels like a squandered opportunity because Surfshark's no-logging credentials weren't verified. Additionally, the business has simply released a summary of the study. We'd want to see Surfshark follow the example set by ExpressVPN and a select few others who regularly make their complete audit reports accessible.
Surfshark's Windows App
The Windows software for Surfshark has a few more tabs, icons, lists, and other features than others, but it functions very similarly to other VPNs. There is a Connect button to connect to the server that is closest to you, a location list to see additional servers, and a Settings icon to access some helpful extras.
A connection with WireGuard takes only a few seconds, but one with OpenVPN takes between 8 and 10 seconds. However, the software keeps you informed by letting you know exactly when you are protected (and when you are not) through desktop alerts.
By showing towns and countries in the same list, the thoughtfully designed location picker streamlines your server browsing. This eliminates the need to switch tabs or expand nations to view specific cities; instead, all locations are available at a glance by just scrolling down. By not sorting the cities alphabetically, Surfshark slightly ruins the impression, but other than that, it works great.
Ping timings are not displayed by default in locations, but a tool called "Refresh speed metrics" can locate and display them with a single click. With only a few keystrokes in the Search box, you can quickly identify a specific area (typing "atl" will display Atlanta), and you can save your favourite destinations in the Favourites system for later use.
Connecting to locations in Germany, Japan, Singapore, the UK, and the US allows for receiving a fixed IP from each location thanks to a static IP list. That might be useful in a few circumstances, but use caution if you use it for security purposes, such as to access an IP-restricted network. Despite being static, this IP is not exclusive to you; any other Surfshark user could receive the same IP address, so the IP itself is not a guarantee of your identity.
When using a MultiHop tab, your data is routed across two VPN servers, guaranteeing that your true IP will remain hidden even if the exit server is hacked. There are 12 possible routes, with the first server serving as your initial connection (you can choose from the US, Canada, UK, Singapore, Germany, France, Netherlands, and Australia), and the second serving as your public face (France, Germany, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden, UK, US).
An enlarged version of the split tunnelling function you'll find with service providers like ExpressVPN, the Bypasser panel allows you to designate which programmes, websites, and IP addresses should bypass the VPN. The issue should be resolved if using Surfshark interferes with a specific website or application by adding it to the allow list.
As an alternative, you can configure the Bypasser to just provide the VPN traffic for the apps you specify. For example, if you just use Surfshark for torrenting, setting up your torrent software to connect over the VPN and utilising your regular connection for everything else may be more practical.
It's nice to see a VPN provider offer this level of split tunnelling support on the desktop. There are many setup options, and they all worked well for us.
The CleanWeb function of Surfshark blocks advertisements, trackers, and harmful links. 54 out of the 100 sample tracker links we used for testing were banned by CleanWeb. Though we've seen better - ProtonVPN managed 87, Windscribe's ROBERT feature blocked 98 - that's still enough to be helpful.
The ability to begin the VPN alongside Windows, change the protocol to WireGuard, OpenVPN UDP and TCP, or select Automatically are more traditional capabilities.
Kill Switch
If the VPN disconnects, a kill switch is available to shut off your internet connection. This was recently updated to increase its customizability. When you activated the kill switch in the past, you were forced to use Surfshark to access the internet at all times. Although it's quite secure, that isn't always practical.
You can now choose a "Soft" kill switch instead. This activates if the VPN accidentally disconnects, but not if you intentionally disconnect. You can decide whether you need to be connected or not, but it's not quite as secure.
It's encouraging to see Surfshark giving users the option because the majority of providers only provide one type of kill switch.
The kill switch performed well in our primary tests. The programme warned us when we attempted to disconnect from the VPN using any standard method, prevented our access to the internet, and protected all of our traffic.
But we also perform more rigorous exams. In the worst case, we discovered that the VPN would stop working and the app wouldn't notice if Surfshark's Windows service closed. It kept showing the phrase "Protected." Even if the VPN had failed and you were not at all protected, you might continue using your device for hours under the false impression that you were safe.
It's critical to keep this in context. Although they are not situations you are likely to encounter in real life, we employ our more rigorous testing to determine just how impenetrable a kill switch is. Years could go by while you use Surfshark without ever having a service issue.
However, this is a pointless problem with the software that might be at least partially fixed by more intelligent development. For instance, ExpressVPN configures its Windows services to restart themselves immediately in the event of failure, giving it a chance to recover even in the worst-case scenarios. It's a problem that Surfshark doesn't make advantage of this typical restart feature.
Overall, Surfshark's kill switch is reliable and will shield you from all potential problems. However, we believe there is potential for improvement because it isn't quite as reliable as some of the rivals.
Surfshark's Phone App
Although mobile VPN applications are frequently more simpler than their desktop counterparts, Surfshark's Android app is surprisingly close. The UI is somewhat rearranged to function better on smaller displays, but aside from that, it has the same protocol support, kill switch, static IP, Multi-Hop, and other capabilities as the desktop version.
The Android app exceeds the desktop versions in several ways because it has both the split tunnelling Bypasser system and the "auto-connect on accessing untrusted networks" feature, which are unavailable on Windows and Mac, respectively.
You receive a few new mobile-specific capabilities, one of which is a "Override GPS location" function that allows you to match the GPS location of your device with the VPN server that is connected, making it more difficult for apps to determine your true location. Additionally, some mobile networks' performance could be enhanced by the "use small packets" option.
You can send bug reports and open tickets from within the app if any of stuff isn't functioning as it should.
The iOS VPN software from Surfshark follows a similar pattern in terms of appearance and functionality, and it still offers the kill switch, a variety of protocols (OpenVPN, IKEv2, WireGuard, etc.), and other features. Small but useful Widgets to make connecting easier and the option to report issues directly from the app are recent improvements. It's a rather powerful design considering that apps for Apple's mobile OS frequently lack capabilities when compared to apps for other platforms.
All things considered, they are impressive apps that are beautifully designed, simple to use, and a welcome change for anyone who is sick of losing VPN capabilities on mobile devices.
Surfshark's Mac App
The Mac version of Surfshark resembles the Windows version largely, with a few minor exceptions. For example, you cannot resize the programme window. It's unfortunate that the programme doesn't show your kill switch status in the main Connect pane. However, it resolves a minor difficulty with our Windows software by logically listing city locations in alphabetical order.
A few Surfshark functions are unavailable to Mac users. There isn't a Bypasser, in particular, to allow you to choose which websites or apps you want to bypass the VPN for.
Static IPs, Multi-Hop VPN, WireGuard and OpenVPN support, the kill switch, and CleanWeb's ad and malware prevention are just a few of the features that are still available.
The app even has the useful capability of automatically connecting to the VPN if you access insecure networks, which isn't available on Windows.
Surfshark Supports
The support site contains setup and installation tutorials, troubleshooting guides, FAQs, and other tools to help you in the right direction if Surfshark isn't working for you.
The information is structured well. A Tutorials page with information on configuring the apps, getting the service to work on different platforms, and using its various features can be accessed by clicking "Get Started."
These instructions aren't the dreadfully simple "Download and run the installer" ones you'll get with less reliable VPNs. For instance, the article "How to set up Surfshark on Windows" offers a video tutorial, detailed installation instructions with screenshots, first-step advice on selecting sites and connecting, as well as introductory explanations of all the key functions.
If that weren't enough, Surfshark offers live chat help around-the-clock. While attempting to identify a connectivity problem, we attempted this and received a helpful response in less than 60 seconds. Therefore, if you're having trouble finding something on the website, it might be worthwhile to start a chat session because the issue might be resolved more quickly than you think.
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