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 in 2022.
Together with commonplace VPN options corresponding to a kill swap and DNS leak safety, a number of the extra notable Surfshark options embrace camouflage mode (which hides the very 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 expertise, 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 12 months is its Nexus community, which connects the VPN’s whole community of servers collectively and lets you select a number of servers to route your connection by way of. The performance is considerably much 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 whilst you use the VPN — which will be significantly useful to customers with crucial privateness wants.
Surfshark says it does not log any consumer 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 tip of this 12 months.
Since February 2022, each Surfshark and NordVPN have the identical company mum or dad (Tesonet), however Surfshark stated it’s legally sure to not share any data between the entities that may go in opposition to 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 knowledge with its mum or dad firm or any sibling firms, which embrace NordVPN.
Surfshark charges persistently as one of many quickest VPNs accessible, however we have been dissatisfied with its inconsistent speeds just lately. The 40% velocity loss we measured in February and March of 2023 was greater than double the 19% velocity loss we measured in 2022. Although speeds by way of WireGuard had been spectacular, registering solely an 8% velocity loss, the 76% velocity loss we registered by way of OpenVPN dragged Surfshark’s general velocity ranking down significantly. The corporate tells us that it’s engaged on resolving the OpenVPN velocity points.
In our exams, Surfshark had no issues unblocking Netflix and Amazon Prime Video content material, however we did run right into a good bit of bother accessing Disney Plus. After testing numerous servers within the US and different international locations the place Disney Plus is obtainable, we had been lastly capable of entry the content material after we related to a server in Boston. You could want to check just a few servers your self earlier than having access to Disney Plus content material with Surfshark.
Surfshark gives 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 12 months, then jumps to $60 for any extra years of service. When you go for the two-year plan, you may pay $60 up entrance for the preliminary two years mixed, then $60 per 12 months for any extra years. Surfshark’s month-to-month plan stays fixed at $13 a month. When you’re not happy with the service for any motive, Surfshark gives a 30-day money-back assure.
