Surfshark Review: Is It Any Good?

Video Review

Company Background

It’s always a good idea to do a background check about the VPN company you’re planning to deal with. You never know; what if they are actually out to profit off of your data instead of protecting it?

Surfshark’s location in the Netherlands puts it in a good position. The Netherlands is privacy-friendly. However, the country is part of an international band of countries that share data with one another. And these countries can even force companies under their jurisdiction to share sensitive customer information.

It’s a good thing Surfshark has a “no-logs” policy. Under this policy, it won’t capture any sensitive browsing data – what files you downloaded or websites you visited – while you’re connected to the service. Concerningly, though, Surfshark does log the IP address of users connecting to its VPN. Most trustworthy VPNs don’t do that.

In Surfshark’s defense, it deletes that information within 15 minutes after you disconnect. That was confirmed by a third-party auditing firm that evaluated Surfshark’s servers.1 Plus, knowing your IP address by itself isn’t harmful. As long as Surfshark doesn’t know what websites you visited, there’s no way your IP address can be used to backtrack your VPN activity. In short, Surfshark is trustworthy, despite its logging of IP addresses.

Surfshark Features

Now that you know Surfshark as a company, it’s time to get to know Surfshark as a VPN. We tested Surfshark on multiple devices and saw a VPN capable of encrypting web activity and hiding IP addresses from websites and online services. We proved that with the DNS and WebRTC leak tests we performed on the VPN.

Those are just the core functions of a VPN though. We saw more from Surfshark, from its privacy-improving features such as Camouflage mode to experience-enhancing ones like its ability to stream and download torrent. Let’s discuss those features one by one.

Torrenting and Streaming

VPNs are powerful tools for protecting your online privacy, but they do have more entertainment-oriented uses. In a recent VPN usage study we conducted, we found that more than a quarter of VPNs users do so to access online content not available to them locally. That includes streaming and torrenting, which is why we have pages dedicated for the best streaming VPNs and the top torrenting VPNs. In the U.S. specifically, using a VPN to torrent is necessary because of copyright laws.

Surfshark allowed us to safely torrent non-copyrighted materials, with additional features such as Camouflage mode to make the experience even better. The speeds were also great most of the time. Our torrent downloads didn’t last any more than they normally do when we’re downloading without a VPN. That’s always a good sign that the VPN is technologically capable of providing good internet speeds.

As for streaming, we named Surfshark one of the best Netflix VPNs. It changed our Netflix region in a snap, and was able to bypass Netflix’s VPN detection tools. We should also mention that Surfshark has an Apple TV app now, in addition to its apps for Android TV. These native apps for smart TVs make it easy to use Surfshark to watch on Netflix and other streaming platforms such as Hulu, Prime Video, and Disney+.

Camouflage and No-Borders Mode

Another term for Camouflage Mode is obfuscation, and it essentially hides the fact that you’re using a VPN. But why would you need that? Well, because some networks are more restrictive than others. For example, in China, VPNs are highly moderated. You could get into trouble if they find out you’re hiding your browsing activity using a VPN not approved by the government. The problem is, government-approved VPNs give the Chinese government backdoor access to their networks. So even though Surfshark isn’t approved by the Chinese government, it’s one of the VPNs we recommend for users in China – living in or traveling to.

NoBorders Mode, on the other hand, automatically kicks in when Surfshark detects that you’re in a restrictive country, and will limit your selection of servers to those designed to bypass censorship specifically. It doesn’t just work in restrictive countries. It also kicks in when Surfshark detects that your network might block VPN traffic, such as office and campus networks.

Just remember that these features aren’t fool-proof, so use them at your own risk. Better still, stay on the good side of the law and don’t use a VPN when you’re in a restrictive country unless absolutely necessary.

Kill switch

No VPN is perfect, and dropping a connection unexpectedly every once in a while is normal. However, if that happens, it could expose your online traffic to your ISP. That’s where the kill switch feature comes in. It automatically disrupts all your internet traffic to prevent it from ever leaking out in case of dropped VPN connections.

Many VPNs have a built-in kill switch, including Surfshark. It’s a necessary VPN feature. For instance, when our Wi-Fi dropped unexpectedly during one of our tests, the kill switch immediately stopped our internet connection while waiting for Surfshark to reconnect. It saved us because we were doing our torrent download test at the time, which could have resulted in another piracy notice from our ISP if not for the kill switch.

Split tunneling

Through a feature called Whitelister, you can configure certain apps or websites to bypass Surfshark’s VPN tunnel. This is useful if you’re using services that don’t allow connections through a VPN, such as online banking. Instead of turning off Surfshark, which would compromise all the other tabs you have open on your browser, you can simply whitelist the online banking website to access it outside Surfshark’s VPN tunnel.

For Surfshark’s browser extensions, split tunneling is available through a setting called bypass list. There, you’ll list all the websites and domains you want to bypass Surfshark’s encryption, so that next time you open those sites, they’ll automatically connect outside the encrypted tunnel.

Dedicated IP Address

This feature wasn’t included in our subscription, but it’s an optional add-on service for an additional $3.75 per month. It’s quite pricey, but it’s something you might need.

As we explained earlier, using a VPN changes your IP address to that of the VPN server. Normally, you won’t be able to control which IP address will be assigned to you. This will change every time you connect. That’s called a dynamic IP address.

>> Learn More: Dynamic and Static IP Addresses

Moreover, VPN IP addresses are shared, so if you and another user connect to the same server, it’s possible you’ll have the same VPN IP address. That’s fine for most users, although it could cause some minor inconveniences. For example, if Google detects that more than a handful of users are connecting to its services using the same IP address, it might require them to solve a CAPTCHA before letting them proceed. Even worse, Google and websites could blacklist a shared IP address.

A dedicated IP address solves that. If you buy a subscription to one, Surfshark will give you an IP address only you can use. The IP address can be either in the U.S., the U.K., or the Netherlands. And with your own VPN IP address, you won’t have to worry about IP blacklisting anymore.

Dynamic MultiHop

Want some extra security and privacy? MultiHop, otherwise known as a double VPN, connects you through two VPN servers. That means twice the data encryption and double the privacy. We see the same from other top-rated VPNs, including NordVPN (called Double VPN).

What sets Surfshark apart is the ‘Dynamic’ aspect. Most VPNs that offer multihopping have pre-selected server pairs. That limits your ability to change your device’s location because only a few server pairs are available. For example, at the time of writing, NordVPN offers nine multihop server pairs.

With Surfhark, you can designate your first and second servers to be used for multihopping. We suggest choosing a server close to you for the first (entry) server, and then your desired IP address location for the second (exit) server. That will give you better speeds than traditional multihopping.

Alternative ID

This isn’t a VPN feature per se, but it helps protect your privacy and anonymity. And with Surfshark, you get this feature no matter which package you go for.

Alternative ID does exactly what its name implies. It gives you an alias. Let’s say for example you’re signing up for a company’s email newsletter to hear about their latest deals. You could provide your real name and email address, but that’s risky if you don’t read their privacy policy. They might be selling data to third parties and advertisers, or worse, they might not have enough data security in place, opening up their databases to breaches.

With Alternative ID, you can create a fake online persona complete with a name, email address, and even birthday that you can use to sign up. In case of a data breach, your real personal information will be safe.

Surfshark added the Alternative ID feature in 2023 as part of the Surfshark One package, which we’ll discuss next. But in January 2024, it made the feature available to all Surfshark subscribers.

Surfshark One

Lastly, Surfshark One is an all-in-one digital security subscription that includes access to the Surfshark VPN, antivirus software, secure search engine, and identity monitoring service.

Surfshark One is designed to enhance your online privacy and identity protection using a combination of those features. The antivirus software protects you from malware that could be used to steal digital data. The identity monitoring service monitors the internet for breaches that contain your personal data. The secure search engine offers an alternative to popular search engines that can be risky to your privacy, such as Google.

Surfshark One comes in two levels. The standard Surfshark One plan costs $3.49 if you pay for a two-year subscription. This plan includes all the features mentioned above. The advanced plan called Surfshark One+ costs $6.49 per month, again, if you pay for two years. It adds in personal data removal from people search sites and data broker lists, enhancing your identity protection.

How Fast Is Surfshark?

It’s no secret that using a VPN tends to slow down your internet speed, as your online traffic has to go through encryption and be routed through a VPN server. Fast VPNs, however, can keep the speed loss to a minimum.

To test Surfshark’s speed, we connected both a Macbook Pro running macOS and an Acer laptop with Windows 10 to the VPN and performed a few speed tests. It performed better on the Macbook, but its performance on Windows wasn’t half bad either.

However, speed is determined by a large number of factors, including your distance to the server, device make and model, operating system, browser type, and more, so take our speed tests with a grain of salt.

Later, we tested Surfshark again against other VPNs, and we used a more comprehensive testing process this time around. While Surfshark didn’t come out the fastest, its performance was solid, delivering high download speeds, passable upload speeds, and a consistent latency. You can read more about this test on our VPN speed test page.

How Secure Is Surfshark?

If your VPN isn’t taking good care of your data, you may be experiencing a “the call is coming from inside the house” situation. But have no fear: we walked around this proverbial house checking under every bed frame, and here’s what we came out with.

Encryption Methods

Using outdated encrypted methods is kind of like using an old lock on a safe; sure, it’s better than nothing, but we want better protection for our valuables. So, after some digging, we found that Surfshark encrypted our information using AES 256-bit, which is what we expect from VPNs in 2024.

On top of that, Surfshark encrypted our traffic through multiple servers, hiding our web traffic even more. This isn’t usually the case for even the best VPNs on the market, so we feel good about Surfshark protecting our web activity.

Logging Policy

But that wasn’t enough for us. No, we wanted to actually read the fine print of Surfshark’s privacy policy to see what data of ours they kept and vice versa. Our findings?

• What Surfshark logs: There are two types of data logging in VPNs. The first one is when you sign up for the service, and the data logged for this one usually consists of email address, subscription information, and payment information. Surfshark collects all those, but they are absolutely necessary for creating a VPN account. The second type is the data logged while using the service i.e. when you’re connected to Surfshark. And while Surfshark has a “no-logs” policy, its servers do store user ID and IP address information, but deletes them no more than 15 minutes after a session ends.
• What Surfshark doesn’t log: Surfshark didn’t keep our session information, browsing history, the times we connected, the amount of bandwidth we used while connected to the VPN, our network traffic, etc.

You might be worried about Surfshark’s IP address tracking – and you have good reasons to. Hiding one’s IP address is one of the core functions of a VPN, so if your VPN records your real IP address, it defeats the purpose of using a VPN in the first place.

Surfshark only keeps IP addresses for a maximum of 15 minutes after a session ends. It doesn’t permanently store that information.

The IP address also doesn’t have much use without other relevant VPN usage data. To track a VPN user, someone would need both the IP address they used to connect to the VPN, the VPN server they connected to, and the browsing history from that server. By not logging any of those other types of information, Surfshark keeps its users private.

>> Learn More: The Best “No-Logs” VPNs

DNS Leak Tests

A DNS is a domain name server, meaning, the common name that comes with an IP address; think Security.Org (our domain name) as opposed to 13.35.89.25, one of our website’s IP addresses.

Of course, if a VPN isn’t hiding our DNS when connected, something is off, which is why we tested it out. Fortunately for us, the test showed a different IP address when connected versus not connected. That means Surfshark hid our web activity when we tested it out on both our Mac and Windows computers. Checkmate!

WebRTC Leak Tests

Finally, we also performed a WebRTC leak test using Surfshark. A little background info: whenever we video chat with friends, transfer files, or live stream Netflix, our computers use something called WebRTC, which is basically a collection of technologies that let web browsers communicate directly with each other as opposed to going through a middle-man server.

Sure, this creates faster speeds and rids us of excessive lag, but it also requires the two devices to know each other’s private IP address; no thank you. The question remained: did Surfshark leak our private IP addresses?

The short answer is: no, it didn’t. Even while we chatted on video, Surfshark hid our real IP addresses. So as far as privacy and security are concerned, Surfshark is at the top of its game.

Surfshark Pricing Overview

Obviously, to enjoy all those features, you need a subscription. And here’s the thing: Surfshark can both be affordable and pricey, depending on how long you’re planning to use the service. Here’s a quick overview of Surfshark’s pricing for its VPN:

All those subscriptions offer the same features, so all you have to consider is whether you want to use Surfshark for a month or a year or two. Surfshark is notably pricey if you’re looking to buy a one-month subscription. That $15.45 per month adds up to $185 in a year. Fortunately, you can opt to buy a one-year or two-year subscription for much less than that.

It’s worth noting that’s usually the case for VPN subscriptions. For example, if we look at NordVPN’s pricing, the monthly average cost drops down to $3.49 per month from $12.99 if you purchase a two-year plan. We can also see that while Surfshark’s monthly plan is more expensive than NordVPN, Surfshark is more affordable in the long run. Of course, there are other factors to consider besides price, so give our Surfshark vs. NordVPN comparison a read for a more in-depth look at how they compare.

With prices as low as $2.19 a month for its two-year package, Surfshark isn’t only secure; it’s also about as cheap as VPNs come. For more information, read our Surfshark subscription page, or read about Surfshark deals and Surfshark Black Friday deals.

>> Discover: Our Favorite Surfshark VPN Alternatives

Recap

Like any other VPN, Surfshark has its flaws, but they’re very minimal and the benefits definitely outweigh the costs, financial and otherwise. With military-grade encryption, an impressive privacy policy, and extremely low prices, Surfshark is a good fit for most people who want to hide their web activity.

Using a VPN isn’t the only way to protect yourself online. Check out our list of the best digital security practices for more tried and tested methods.