Surfshark review for 2024
Surfshark in brief:
- P2P allowed: Yes
- Simultaneous device connections: Unlimited
- Business location: The Netherlands
- Number of servers: 3,200+
- Number of country locations: 100
- Cost: $12.95 per month, or $59.76 for a two year subscription
Surfshark has, in the last few years, catapulted from basic VPN company to one-stop shop for all things personal online-security. The company now offers a top-tier VPN product that continues to improve on itself with each new iteration. And since its merger with NordVPN under the parent company Cyberspace, Surfshark has pushed into developing cutting-edge personal security features via its Nexus technology. This all sounds great, but are all of these features really worth it in a VPN service? We took Surfshark for a spin to find out.
Further reading: See our roundup of the best VPNs to learn about competing products.
Surfshark VPN features and services
The UI of Surfshark is clear and easy to use when you first open it. There are options for VPN, Alert, Antivirus, and Settings on the left rail. A list of all server locations is displayed in the center, arranged alphabetically by nation, and a button to connect to the selected server is located on the right. Though unassuming, the interface’s simplicity and ease of use made it simple to use and navigate.
Surfshark prides itself on the number of servers it provides, which is well over 3,200 across 100 different country locations. There are admittedly a lot of countries that only have one server to connect to, but more popular locations such as the U.S., Canada, and Australia offer multiple server locations spread throughout. In addition to all of these server options, Surfshark allows unlimited simultaneous device connections. This is a big draw since most other VPN providers limit subscribers to five or six simultaneous connections.
Sam Singleton
On the main screen, above the available servers, you’re able to choose between three options: Locations, StaticIP, and MultiHop. Locations is a list of all of the available country servers you can connect to. StaticIP allows you to connect to shared servers with IP addresses that never change. MultiHop allows you to further obfuscate your actual location by routing your traffic through more than one external server. While many VPN services now offer multi-hop connections, Surfshark stands out by allowing the user to not only choose a predetermined route, but also create their own multi-hop route. This is a nifty feature that gives power users and those concerned with privacy more autonomy in securing and optimizing their connections.
Surfshark
Additionally, Surfshark offers CleanWeb, a tracker, malware blocker, and advertisement that isn’t activated by default. Additionally, it provides a function called Whitelister for split-tunneling, which gives you the choice of routing websites and apps via the VPN or maintaining separate connections for each. For those who want to avoid any latency difficulties by keeping online gaming outside of the VPN connection while yet maintaining safe web browsing, this is a viable solution.
Furthermore, Surfshark has a kill-switch feature that, in the event that your VPN connection drops for any reason, will immediately cut off your internet access. Additionally, there is a feature called NoBorders, which is a variant of obfuscated servers and is activated by default.Users in nations that typically forbid VPN connections can still visit Surfshark thanks to NoBorders.
All things considered, it’s a well-made, user-friendly program with a strong feature set and an abundance of practical features. The inability to quickly identify server-load indications or ping times while browsing connections was the only overall problem we could find with the service. It would be handy to have this information provided under each server location, but in the end, we located it in the settings menu under Speed Test.
While many VPN services now offer multi-hop connections, Surfshark stands out by allowing the user to not only choose a predetermined route, but also create their own multi-hop route.
Surfshark is also working hard to bring new and innovative ideas to the VPN scene. It’s set to roll out its exclusive Nexus VPN network throughout 2023. Nexus is a single network made up of Surfshark VPN servers. There are huge potential security and privacy boosts from this technology. It will allow for rotating IP addresses without disconnecting your active VPN connection, further obfuscating your browsing activity. Nexus will also use a Dynamic MultiHop feature to connect you to the fastest available entry server and exit at any desired location, presumably optimizing connection speeds across the board. As of this writing, only the IP rotator feature is available, with the complete feature set due later this year.
How does Surfshark VPN perform?
We evaluated connection speeds using Surfshark’s servers in five different nations during our testing, and we then contrasted those results with our internet speed baseline. The Surfshark server performance was respectable, albeit not very remarkable. They achieved an average download speed of slightly over 61 percent and an upload speed that was marginally more outstanding at 72 percent of the base. Although it’s not the best we’ve seen, you should be able to stream HD video without any problems based on your home internet.
For those looking to use the service to bypass location restrictions on streaming websites, our testing showed that Surfshark was overwhelmingly successful. Across every server we tested and for all major streaming services the VPN was able to unblock everything. This included services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Hulu, and Disney Plus. That result puts Surfshark among our very best VPNs for streaming Netflix right along with NordVPN and ExpressVPN.
Surfshark VPN security and privacy
Surfshark states that it does not collect any of your online activity, including browsing history, session information, bandwidth used, connection time stamps, network traffic, or IP addresses. This no-logs policy claim was verified by the company Deloitte during an independent audit of Surfshark at the end of 2022. These are exactly the steps users should expect from a top VPN company and it goes a long way towards backing up Surfshark’s privacy claims.
The service also keeps privacy in mind during setup. When signing up for a Surfshark subscription you only need to supply an email address. Furthermore, the company accepts payments via credit cards, PayPal, Google Pay, and various cryptocurrencies.
One thing of note is that Surfshark has moved its headquarters from the British Virgin Islands to the Netherlands in recent years. This shouldn’t be too much of a concern as the Netherlands’ data retention laws are generally privacy-friendly. However, the Netherlands is still subject to Nine Eyes jurisdiction, which means that the government can force Surfshark to share certain information about customers.
Sam Singleton
In regards to security, Surfshark uses standard AES 256-bit encryption. It also offers options for several VPN protocols including OpenVPN, WireGuard, IKEv2—depending on your operating system.
Is Surfshark VPN worth it?
Surfshark offers unlimited device connections, good speeds, compatibility with major streaming services, and an impressive number of country connections. The Windows app is well designed and easy enough to understand. It also has some nice extras such as ad, tracker, and malware blocking as well as split-tunneling and multi-hop.
With all of these fantastic features, Surfshark is a reliable VPN service in general. You may also receive all of this for a great deal if you choose the two-year contract. And Surfshark may surpass its primary rivals in the market with the upcoming launch of its Nexus network. All things considered, Surfshark continues to be one of our favorites for circumventing region limits or simply enjoying a more private and secure browsing experience.
