Surfshark boasts a powerful suite of privateness and security measures, limitless simultaneous connections, easy-to-use interface and expansive international community. And it is nonetheless considerably cheaper than most of its opponents. That is what helped Surfshark earn CNET’s Editors’ Alternative for Greatest Worth VPN in 2022.
Together with normal VPN options akin to a kill change and DNS leak safety, a number of the extra notable Surfshark options embrace camouflage mode (which hides the very fact you are utilizing a VPN), split-tunneling, NoBorders mode (which helps you to use Surfshark in areas the place VPNs are restricted) and multihop VPN connections. You may additionally get entry to Surfshark’s CleanWeb know-how, which blocks adverts and malware and helps you keep away from phishing assaults.Â
One innovation we’re excited to see Surfshark roll out over the subsequent 12 months is its Nexus community, which connects the VPN’s total community of servers collectively and means that you can select a number of servers to route your connection by. The performance is considerably much like Tor, however Surfshark says it is sooner. With its Dynamic MultiHop, IP Randomizer and IP Rotator capabilities, the Nexus community may give you a couple of further layers of safety whilst you use the VPN — which will be notably helpful to customers with important privateness wants.Â
Surfshark says it does not log any consumer exercise. And though no-logging claims are just about unimaginable to show with 100% certainty, German cybersecurity agency Cure53 declared Surfshark’s safety to be “stable” in its 2021 safety audit of the VPN. Surfshark says a brand new audit is forthcoming by the tip of this 12 months.Â
Since February 2022, each Surfshark and NordVPN have the identical company mother or father (Tesonet), however Surfshark stated it’s legally sure to not share any data between the entities that might go towards its privateness coverage or phrases of service. We did not discover any language in both doc that might point out Surfshark has any obligation to share consumer knowledge with its mother or father firm or any sibling firms, which embrace NordVPN.Â
Surfshark charges persistently as one of many quickest VPNs obtainable, however we have been disenchanted with its inconsistent speeds lately. The 40% pace loss we measured in February and March of 2023 was greater than double the 19% pace loss we measured in 2022. Although speeds by WireGuard have been spectacular, registering solely an 8% pace loss, the 76% pace loss we registered by OpenVPN dragged Surfshark’s general pace ranking down significantly. The corporate tells us that it’s engaged on resolving the OpenVPN pace points.
In our assessments, Surfshark had no issues unblocking Netflix and Amazon Prime Video content material, however we did run right into a good bit of hassle accessing Disney Plus. After testing varied servers within the US and different international locations the place Disney Plus is on the market, we have been lastly in a position to entry the content material after we linked to a server in Boston. It’s possible you’ll want to check a couple of servers your self earlier than having access to Disney Plus content material with Surfshark.
Surfshark presents cheaper introductory costs that leap after the primary billing cycle. Even so, Surfshark manages to maintain its costs decrease than most different VPNs — serving to it earn CNET’s Editors’ Alternative for Greatest Worth. The yearly plan begins out at $48 for the primary 12 months, then jumps to $60 for any extra years of service. For those who go for the two-year plan, you will pay $60 up entrance for the preliminary two years mixed, then $60 per 12 months for any extra years. Surfshark’s month-to-month plan stays fixed at $13 a month. For those who’re not happy with the service for any motive, Surfshark presents a 30-day money-back assure.