Surfshark VPN is a service founded in 2018 and headquartered in the Netherlands. It's owned by the same parent company as NordVPN, Nord Security, but operates independently. It has servers in 100 countries, allows for unlimited simultaneous connections, and has apps for a variety of different platforms. It also offers many additional features like multi-hop, obfuscation, and more.
Our Verdict
Surfshark VPN is very good for torrenting. Its security is acceptable, as it keeps your IP address and DNS queries within its tunnel while you use it. However, its kill switch doesn't work properly, as it allows some unencrypted traffic to leak past the VPN in the event of a system reboot or a software crash. It also lacks anonymity-preserving registration options, requiring an email address and password to create an account, but you can pay with cryptocurrencies. It allows you to download P2P files in most countries and doesn't have a data limit. However, P2P is blocked on servers in several different countries, so if you're in those locations, you'll have to connect to different servers if you want to download torrents at the cost of speed.
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Accepts cryptocurrencies for payment.
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Proper TLS implementation doesn't leave you vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.
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Doesn't leak your IP address or DNS queries.
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Torrenting is blocked on several servers.
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No registration options that preserve anonymity.
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Kill switch doesn't work properly.
Surfshark VPN has acceptable security. It doesn't leak your IP address or DNS queries while you're connected to it, and it has proper TLS implementation, protecting you from man-in-the-middle attacks. Unfortunately, its kill switch doesn't work as intended, as it leaks some unencrypted traffic upon rebooting your system and after a software crash. This is a concern if you need all your traffic to be encrypted after a system crash.
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Proper TLS implementation doesn't leave you vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.
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Doesn't leak your IP address or DNS queries.
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Kill switch doesn't work properly.
Surfshark VPN delivers fast download and upload speeds, so you can download files quickly and have enough bandwidth for 4k video streaming. That said, its latency is inconsistent with frequent spikes that can interrupt online games and video calls.
Changelog
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
Surfshark has three tiers that come with different sets of features in addition to the regular VPN features. We bought and tested the Starter plan.
| Plan | Antivirus | Identity Theft Alert | Ad-Blocker | *Incogni |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surfshark Starter | No | No | No | No |
| Surfshark One | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Surfshark One+ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
*Incogni is a data broker removal service that removes your personal information from the web.
Compared To Other VPNs
SurfsharkVPN is a solid choice with comparable performance to most VPNs on the market. It offers a variety of additional features like obfuscation, split tunneling, multi-hop, unlimited simultaneous device connections, and more if you opt for one of their more expensive tiers. Like most VPNs, however, it fails the kill switch test, so your system could leak your IP address if you reboot it or the software crashes. It also doesn't allow for P2P downloads on many of its servers worldwide, so if you're in an unsupported region, you'll have to connect to a server elsewhere, likely slowing your connection down in the process.
Surfshark logs your personal IP address when you connect to one of its servers, which is an issue if you don't want your VPN service to collect more personal information than it needs to. While they claim to delete the logs 15 minutes after you end your session, it's impossible to verify. Other options like Mullvad or IVPN have a better reputation for privacy policies, but there's always a risk when connecting to any VPN, regardless of their track record. For more information, check out our article about VPN privacy.
To see which services we recommend, check out our article on the best VPNs.
Test Results
You can pay for SurfsharkVPN with Google Pay, credit card, debit card, PayPal, and a variety of different cryptocurrencies.
The kill switch doesn't work as intended, as network traffic leaks outside the VPN tunnel after a reboot. This can be problematic if you're concerned with keeping your traffic encrypted at all times, like if your system freezes and you have to restart it.
SurfsharkVPN doesn't implement BGP properly, but this is true with almost every VPN service.
This VPN delivers fast download speeds that are suitable for quickly downloading large files and other high bandwidth uses.
This VPN delivers consistent upload speeds that are suitable for tasks like video calls or quickly uploading files.
This VPN has very inconsistent latency on average, with frequent spikes, so it's not suitable for latency-sensitive tasks like gaming.
Peer-to-peer services are blocked in several countries. You can see the complete list on Surfshark's website.
This VPN has native apps for various Linux distributions, and you can also configure it manually.
It's also available on various platforms, including iOS, Android, smart TVs, and as Chrome and Firefox extensions.
