June 2, 2023

Surfshark boasts a powerful suite of privateness and security measures, limitless simultaneous connections, easy-to-use interface and expansive world community. And it is nonetheless considerably cheaper than most of its opponents. That is what helped Surfshark earn CNET’s Editors’ Selection for Greatest Worth VPN.

Together with customary VPN options corresponding to a kill change and DNS leak safety, among the extra notable Surfshark options embrace camouflage mode (which hides the actual 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 will additionally get entry to Surfshark’s CleanWeb know-how, which blocks advertisements and malware and helps you keep away from phishing assaults. 

One innovation we’re excited to see Surfshark roll out over the subsequent yr is its Nexus community, which connects the VPN’s total community of servers collectively and permits you to select a number of servers to route your connection by. The performance is considerably just like Tor, however Surfshark says it is sooner. With its Dynamic MultiHop, IP Randomizer and IP Rotator capabilities, the Nexus community can provide you just a few further layers of safety whilst you use the VPN — which may be significantly helpful to customers with important privateness wants. 

Surfshark says it does not log any person exercise. And though no-logging claims are just about inconceivable 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 top of this yr. 

Since February 2022, each Surfshark and NordVPN have had the identical company mum or dad (Tesonet), however Surfshark mentioned it’s legally sure to not share any info between the entities that will go towards its privateness coverage or phrases of service. We did not discover any language in both doc that will point out Surfshark has any obligation to share person information with its mum or dad firm or any sibling firms, which embrace NordVPN. 

Surfshark charges constantly as one of many quickest VPNs accessible. Which is why we had been stunned that one of many solely points we had with Surfshark got here in our velocity take a look at. Whereas it nonetheless ranks as one of many quickest VPNs we have examined — with an web velocity lack of simply 19% — we had been upset with the inconsistent velocity outcomes we received to sure places. Speeds to Europe and Singapore had been erratic (dipping as little as 9Mbps to Singapore), whereas speeds to New York had been slower than speeds to the UK and even Australia. Surfhark is within the means of considerably increasing its server community, now providing greater than 3,200 servers in 99 international locations. The continued enlargement of its server community may probably assist deliver some extra consistency to the VPN’s speeds. 

In our checks, 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 offered, we had been lastly capable of entry the content material once we related to a server in Boston. You could want to check just a few servers your self earlier than getting access to Disney Plus content material with Surfshark.

Surfshark affords 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’ Selection for Greatest Worth. The yearly plan begins out at $48 for the primary yr, then jumps to $60 for any further years of service. In case you go for the two-year plan, you will pay $60 up entrance for the preliminary two years mixed, then $60 per yr for any further years. Surfshark’s month-to-month plan stays fixed at $13 a month. In case you’re not glad with the service for any purpose, Surfshark affords a 30-day money-back assure.

Financial savings $2.49/mo with 24-mo plan (+2 free months)

Professionals

  • Plenty of distinctive security measures
  • Limitless simultaneous connections
  • RAM-only server community
Cons

  • Inconsistent velocity efficiency
  • 14 Eyes jurisdiction (Netherlands)
  • No transparency experiences

Newest checks Zero information leaks and 19% web velocity loss in fall 2022 checks

Community 3,200-plus in 99 international locations

Jurisdiction Netherlands

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