Surfshark boasts a powerful suite of privateness and safety features, limitless simultaneous connections, easy-to-use interface and expansive world community. And it is nonetheless considerably cheaper than most of its rivals. That is what has helped Surfshark earn CNET’s Editors’ Alternative for Finest Worth VPN in 2022.
Together with commonplace VPN options like a kill change and DNS leak safety, among the extra notable Surfshark options embody 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 may 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 means that you can select a number of servers to route your connection by means of. The performance is considerably just like Tor, however Surfshark says it is sooner. With its Dynamic MultiHop, IP Randomizer and IP Rotator features, the Nexus community may give you just a few additional layers of safety when you use the VPN — which may be significantly helpful to customers with important privateness wants.
Surfshark says it does not log any consumer exercise. And though no-logging claims are nearly unattainable 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 handed its first impartial no-logs audit in January.
Starting in February 2022, each Surfshark and NordVPN share the identical company guardian, however Surfshark mentioned it’s legally certain to not share any info between the entities that may go towards its Privateness Coverage or Phrases of Service. We did not discover any language in both doc that may point out Surfshark has any obligation to share consumer information with its guardian firm or any sibling firms, together with NordVPN.
Surfshark used to persistently charge as one of many quickest VPNs out there, however we have been dissatisfied with its inconsistent speeds not too long ago. 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 means of WireGuard had been spectacular, registering solely an 8% pace loss, the 76% pace loss we registered by means of 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 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 numerous servers within the US and different nations the place Disney Plus is accessible, we had been lastly capable of entry the content material once we linked to a server in Boston. You might 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’ Alternative for Finest Worth. The yearly plan begins out at $48 for the primary yr, then jumps to $60 for any extra years of service. If you happen to go for the two-year plan, you may pay $60 up entrance for the preliminary two years mixed, then $60 per yr for any extra years. Surfshark’s month-to-month plan stays fixed at $13 a month. If you happen to’re not happy with the service for any motive, Surfshark affords a 30-day money-back assure. Surfshark assessment.