How Much Does Surfshark Cost?
Surfshark is one of our top choices for VPNs, and its pricing can’t be beat.
- No-logs VPN company based in the Virgin Islands
- Allows unlimited connections, double VPN, and split tunneling
- Choice of OpenVPN, WireGuard, and IKEv2
What can you buy with $2 these days? Maybe a bagel with cream cheese or a small cup of coffee. But not many people know that a little over $2 per month can get them a premium VPN – yes, a VPN that typically costs over $10 per month. How is that possible? Well, Surfshark is one of the most affordable VPNs.
A lot of VPNs start at around $2 to $5 per month if you sign on for a long-term commitment. What’s interesting about Surfshark is that it’s one of the top VPNs today. It’s one of the most feature-rich options with things like Dynamic MultiHop and obfuscation in its arsenal. Don’t worry; we’ll get to those features in a minute. The short of it is that Surfshark is well worth its $2.49 starting price, but because Surfshark requires a two-year subscription to get that best-price offer, let’s take a more in-depth look at the service before you sign up. Let’s start!
Surfshark VPN Subscription Options
Surfshark’s subscriptions aren’t the most straightforward, especially now that Surfshark offers antivirus software and identity monitoring. The packages are divided into three tiers: Surfshark Starter, Surfshark One, and Surfshark One+.
Surfshark One and One+ include antivirus and identity monitoring features, respectively, but if you want just the VPN, go for Surfshark Starter. We’ll focus on that, since the Surfshark VPN is the star of this show. For Surfshark Starter, you get the option to sign up for one month, one year, or two years. The rate becomes cheaper as the subscription gets longer.
Months in contract | Monthly cost | Total amount billed | Total price for one year after the first billing |
---|---|---|---|
1 | $15.45 | $15.45 | $185.40 ($15.45 monthly, renews every month) |
12 | $2.79 (incl. 3 months free) | $41.85 | $59.76 |
24 | $2.19 (incl. 3 months free) | $59.13 | $59.76 (renews yearly after first 2 years) |
You get the lowest rate – $2.19 per month counting the freebies – if you sign up for the two-year plan. Without the freebies, it’s still only $2.49 per month and that’s well below the usual cost of a VPN.
That said, there are a couple of things to consider. First, you won’t pay monthly if you sign up for two years. You’ll pay the entire two-year price upfront, which is $59.76. Second, that’s the introductory price. After two years, your subscription will expire and you’ll have the option to renew for one year at a time. The current renewal price is also $59.76 (SEE: per year), essentially doubling the monthly average cost to $5.
Pro Tip: The low introductory price for the two-year plan is reason enough to choose the two-year plan over the monthly or one-year plan. Add to that the three-month freebie exclusive to new users. And if you’re worried about making a long-term commitment, Surfshark has a 30-day money-back guarantee, which we’ll discuss below.
Let’s go back to Surfshark’s introductory pricing, though, because that’s what you’ll pay right now if you decide to go with Surfshark. Compared to some of the other top VPNs, Surfshark is affordable. Take ExpressVPN’s pricing, for instance. The best price we got when we bought a subscription for our ExpressVPN review was $6.67 per month for the one year plan, and that’s the rate with the three free months included. The regular going rate for the one-year option is $8.32 per month or almost squarely $100 upfront. The cost of a Surfshark plan for the same time period is $41.85 ($3.99 per month), less than half of what ExpressVPN charges.
It’s not just about the price, though. Surfshark protects an unlimited number of devices under one account, whereas most other VPNs have a connection limit. ExpressVPN, for instance, limits the number of devices to five or eight, depending on your plan. With Surfshark, one subscription is all you’ll need.
As you can see, Surfshark’s one-year and two-year introductory prices are both affordable. But beware of the monthly plan. At $15.45 per month, it costs around $3 more than our other top picks – NordVPN ($12.99) and Private Internet Access ($11.99). So while Surfshark doesn’t have the highest monthly price (Astrill VPN subscriptions cost $30 per month), there are more practical options for a month-to-month VPN.
KEEP IN MIND: Connecting to public Wi-Fi or mobile hotspot is always unsafe without a VPN; your online data could leak through your devices to the internet. Fortunately, you can use Surfshark on any number of devices. Just download the Surfshark app and it’s ready to protect your privacy anytime.
Surfshark’s Best Features
Surfshark is one of our personal favorites because it offers value for money. You’ve seen how affordable it is; now let’s discuss its best features. You’ll notice that the list is long. That’s why we like Surfshark. It’s budget-friendly, but it’s one of the most feature-rich VPNs we’ve tested. Let’s take a look at those features, and if you want an even closer look, read our Surfshark review.
- Speedy servers: Surfshark has upgraded the throughput of all its servers to 10 Gbps from 1 Gbps. That means they can allow more traffic to pass through at the same time. Surfshark was already one of the fastest VPNs when it had 1 Gbps servers, so we expect it to be even faster now – at least when it comes to download speed. We’re hopeful they can resolve the lower upload speed soon, too, as that was one of the friction points we noticed during our most recent testing.
- Logging policy: Surfshark doesn’t log browsing activity (e.g. the websites you visit), but it does record IP addresses at the beginning of each connection. The record is permanently deleted within 15 minutes after the session ends, as confirmed by numerous third-party audits. That’s why despite Surfshark’s IP address logging, it’s still one of the best “no-logs” VPNs.
- Split tunneling: Connecting your device to a VPN might cause some apps and websites to function abnormally. For example, some online banking apps won’t give you access if your VPN IP address is showing that you’re in a different country. For such instances, Surfshark’s split tunneling will let you route some website or app traffic outside the VPN.
- Free trial: Okay, this is not a feature, but it’s worth mentioning. We were able to test out Surfshark for seven days by signing up through the iOS App Store. It also works if you sign up through the Google Play Store. It’s one of the best VPNs with a free trial (there aren’t a lot of them).
- P2P/Torrenting support: Downloading a torrent requires the utmost privacy and anonymity because ISPs and the government frown upon the use of torrents. Surfshark, fortunately, can provide that privacy without much effect on the speed and connection quality of torrents. Read our guide on how to use a VPN to torrent.
- Netflix and streaming: This is another popular use-case for VPNs. Changing your IP address allows you to access streaming libraries of other regions. For example, we hopped over to the U.K. Netflix while connected to Surfshark, which allowed us to catch up on TV shows not available on the U.S version using a U.K. IP address.
- An effective app: We love that Surfshark has an app for both Android and iOS users that works just as effectively on each. Many other VPNs we’ve reviewed, like VPN Secure and Mozilla VPN, suffer from lower app ratings, as you can see in our VPNSecure review and our Mozilla VPN review. That’s not the case with Surfshark. Surfshark’s iOS app boasts a 4.4-star rating, and its Android app has a 4.0-star rating.
FYI: With Surfshark connected, you can watch Netflix (or any streaming service) from another country’s server, giving you endless amounts of new entertainment choices. For more information, read our articles on how to change your region on Netflix and how to watch Netflix with a VPN.
- Unlimited and simultaneous connections: Surfshark allowed us to connect to as many devices as we wanted, with no limit on simultaneous connections.
- GPS changing: Surfshark is the only VPN we’ve reviewed that allows us to change our Android’s location within the app. If you’re looking for a VPN that allows you to change your GPS location rather than just your IP address, look no further.
- Dynamic MultiHop: Multihop doubles your encryption and protection by connecting you to two servers. Surfshark’s multihop does the same, but it also lets you customize your server pairings by choosing two servers from its list of over 3,200 servers, unlike other VPNs (such as NordVPN) that offer a limited selection of pre-configured server multihop servers.
- NoBorders Mode: When traveling outside the country, Surfshark used NoBorders Mode to bypass censorship and restrictions set forth by the countries we were visiting, including China.
- Camouflage Mode: Additionally, it camouflaged our online traffic to make it look like normal traffic rather than VPN traffic. This helped draw suspicion away from our online data, particularly in countries where VPNs are illegal or frowned upon.
FROM THE PROS: Sometimes, we want to catch a Snapchat filter from a different part of the world while we’re on our couch in Manhattan. The easiest way to change your location on Snapchat is by purchasing a Surfshark subscription. It’s the only VPN we’ve reviewed that allows us to change our GPS location on Android.
Surfshark One
Remember the other subscription tiers from Surfshark we mentioned? In case you’re looking to overhaul your digital security toolbelt, Surfshark offers multiple digital safety tools like antivirus software and a secure browser. You can get those extra features with a Surfshark One or Surfshark One+ plan. Let’s take a second to look at those bundles.
First, let’s compare the inclusions and cost of Surfshark Starter, One, and One+.
Service | Surfshark Starter(2 years) | Surfshark One (2 years) | Surfshark One+ (2 years) |
---|---|---|---|
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Antivirus | No | Yes | Yes |
Alert | No | Yes | Yes |
Search | No | Yes | Yes |
Alternative ID | No | Yes | Yes |
Data deletion from people search sites | No | No | Yes |
Term length | 2 years | 2 years | 2 years |
Price per month | $2.19 | $2.69 | $4.29 |
Total amount billed | $59.13 | $72.63 | $115.83 |
Annual price after the first billing period | $59.76 | $79.00 | $99.00 |
In addition to the VPN, a Surfshark One subscription gives you access to a Surfshark Antivirus, Alert, and Search.
Here’s a closer look at each service.
- Surfshark Alert: Did you know that in 2020, it took an average of 280 days to identify and contain a data breach? That’s nearly a year of stolen credentials floating around the web.
But we could have found out about data breaches sooner with Surfshark Alert, which would’ve scanned the entire internet for our email addresses. Sure, that’s not as comprehensive as the best identity theft protection services; it doesn’t offer credit monitoring, identity restoration, or dark web monitoring, for example. But it’s better than nothing.
>> Related Reading: Increase your Digital Anonymity with SurfShark’s Incogni
- Surfshark Search: Advertisements above the organic search results can be annoying and can affect what we end up clicking on. In fact, the first link that appears in the search engine results page receives 28.5 percent of the clicks, and many times, that link is an ad. If you dislike ads as much as we do, consider Surfshark Search, which gets rid of ads so all the search results are as organic as your local farmer’s market.
- Antivirus: Another service we subscribed to is antivirus protection. We loved that this complete subscription package allowed us to protect our personal information and safeguard our devices.
- Alternative ID: Lastly, Alternative ID is a nice addition to Surfshark One’s features, as it helps you protect your personal data by generating an alternative online profile. This profile includes a name, birthday, home address, and email address, the types of personal data websites usually ask for. Surfshark added this feature so users can continue to use and sign up for online services without risking their actual data, especially for sites with vague privacy policies.
- Email Alias: Additionally, if you need a burner email to sign up for anything from email newsletters to free trials, you can create a secondary email address via Surfshark. All emails will be forwarded to your primary email, while also keeping all your communications – and most importantly, address – secret and private.
You can learn more about Surfshark One antivirus in our Surfshark antivirus review.
Finally, going beyond just privacy protection and cybersecurity, Surfshark One+ adds identity monitoring to the mix. It searches data broker sites and people search sites that have your information and requests your data to be removed on your behalf. That can help you avoid becoming a victim of data breaches.
Payment Options
Speaking of data breaches, we encourage our readers to check what a company uses to process online payments. We shouldn’t just mindlessly enter our credit card numbers, because if the processing service isn’t secure and a data breach happens, the consequences can be costly.
Surfshark uses a third-party payment service called DragonPay for credit card purchases – and yes, it’s safe. However, it’s not the safest since you’re sharing payment information with a third party.
When it comes to data privacy, one effective strategy is to minimize the exposure of your data. That means using your own payment service provider like PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, or Amazon Pay. Your payment service will transact on your behalf. Surfshark accepts payment from all those services, except Apple Pay.
>>Learn More: Is PayPal Safe?
If you want a more secure and anonymous method of payment, Surfshark also accepts cryptocurrency payments via CoinGate. Note that it may take up to 24 hours for payments to clear, so your access to Surfshark could be delayed.
Here are all the payment methods Surfshark accepts:
- Major credit cards including Mastercard, Visa, American Express, and Discover
- PayPal
- Google Pay
- Amazon Pay
- Cryptocurrency including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple
TIP: For the most privacy, pay for Surfshark using cryptocurrency as opposed to a more traditional method like Visa or Mastercard.
Cancelling Surfshark
Although we’re talking about VPN subscriptions, figuring out a VPN’s cancellation process should be on your checklist before you even purchase a plan. It’s important to know that you have the option and power to opt out of the service for whatever reason.
Cancelling a VPN subscription is typically headache-free. With Surfshark, it’s as easy as logging into your online dashboard, opening a live chat ticket, and indicating your desire to cancel your subscription. You won’t even have to talk to a live agent, because the chatbot will handle it for you.
That said, keep in mind that cancelling your subscription simply means stopping your auto-renewal. There won’t be a refund for unused months because you’ll continue to have access to the VPN until the very last day you paid for. For example, if you bought a one-year subscription in March and cancelled in November, your subscription will stay active until March the following year but will not renew after that.
However, if you’re cancelling within 30 days of signing up, you might be entitled to a full refund. Full details below.
Surfshark: Is There A Free Trial?
There are several ways to enjoy Surfshark for free.
First off, you can buy a subscription through the App Store or Google Play Store and enjoy a week-long free trial. Your card won’t be charged initially and you can cancel the trial anytime before it expires to avoid auto-renewal. You can also use your iOS or Android sign-in credentials to use Surfshark on Windows or macOS. Just note that after the free trial, your subscription will auto-renew and you will be billed.
Second, you can use the 30-day money-back option, but only if you buy a subscription from Surfshark’s website. Here’s how it works:
- Log-in to your Surfshark web dashboard and cancel your subscription.
- If you’re still within the 30-day grace period, ask for a refund.
- Surfshark will process your refund request and inform you of the timeline for the process.
Unlike most companies that offer a 30-day money-back option only to new customers, you can request a refund from Surfshark twice. The only condition is that those refund requests must be made at least six months apart. So even if you’ve used and canceled Surfshark before, you can still try it risk-free. That’s why it made our list of the best free VPNs.
Student Discounts
When it comes down to it, monthly subscriptions add up. This reminds us of another reason why we love Surfshark: it offers generous student discounts. Purchasing a VPN subscription is a good idea if you’re a student, and Surfshark is a great VPN for school.
Aside from protecting you from the insecure public Wi-Fi networks across campus, a VPN will allow you to bypass location-based pricing when you shop online, which could help you save money on books and back-to-school clothes. Plus, if you plan on studying abroad, Surfshark will allow you to access sites some other countries block, such as Wikipedia.
But we get it; between tuition and textbooks, most college students don’t have a pile of money lying around to spend on a VPN, which is why Surfshark offers an extra 15-percent off. This discount only applies to the two-year plan, though, but it brings the monthly cost of the two-year plan down to $2.11. Additionally, it includes three months of free service. It’s not much, but at least, it’s there.
Other Discounts
But even though we’re no longer students, we still got to enjoy discounted prices. If you purchase a one-year or two-year subscription, Surfshark will usually give you additional months for free. For example, it’s offering three months free right now, which is how we got the $2.19 average monthly price for the two-year plan (27 months of access for $59.13).
Before you subscribe to Surfshark, be sure to browse its website for its current deals, or check our pages on Surfshark deals and Surfshark Black Friday deals.
Referral Program
We’re always interested in freebies, which is why we took advantage of Surfshark’s referral program.
Number of invited friends | Number of free months |
---|---|
1 | 1 |
3 | 6 |
5 | 12 |
Here’s how it worked: first, we told all our friends and family about Surfshark and sent them referral links, which were easy to access in our app’s settings under Earn Free Months. If anyone signed up for more than 30 days and used Surfshark via a Windows, iOS, or Android app, we received free months of its VPN, which ranged anywhere from just a month all the way up to a year.
NOTE: In order to receive rewards, the referral must be a completely new customer to Surfshark. Also, you’ll need an active Surfshark subscription to refer friends; you can’t use the referral link on its own.
Server Locations
Before you test out any VPN, we recommend checking its list of servers to find one near you. The distance between the user and the server can greatly affect the internet connection speed, so make sure Surfshark has a server in your area:
- Albania
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Egypt
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hong Kong
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Kazakhstan
- Latvia
- Libya
- Luxembourg
- Malaysia
- Mexico
- Moldova
- New Zealand
- Nigeria
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Pakistan
- Paraguay
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- Saudi Arabia
- Serbia
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Africa
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- Thailand
- The Netherlands
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
Will My Device Work With Surfshark?
Another thing to check before you purchase a Surfshark subscription is the devices compatible with its VPN software. However, it’s highly unlikely that your device won’t work with Surfshark, as it’s compatible with all of the most popular consumer electronics brands like:
- Android
- Apple TV
- Fire TV
- iOS
- Linux
- macOS
- Playstation
- Samsung TV
- Windows
- Xbox
Can Surfshark stand toe-to-toe with other brands? Find out below.
Surfshark is a great choice, but there may be better options out there. See how Surfshark compares to our favorite VPNs.
>> For Further Insight: Our Favorite Surfshark Alternatives
Surfshark Recap
Just because we like a VPN doesn’t mean it’s worth it, especially if the price isn’t right. However, Surfshark made our investment well worth it, with prices starting at just $2.49 a month or less with its generous student discount.
Still unsure? Try out Surfshark for seven days with no risk; you won’t even have to put a credit card down. And if you do decide to get a paid subscription, you’ll get 30 more days to test Surfshark or get your entire money back.
FAQs
Not to brag, but we’re experts on Surfshark, and dozens of other VPNs to boot. But let’s focus on Surfshark, specifically the questions we get asked the most.
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Is the Surfshark VPN any good?
The Surfshark VPN is good in terms of fast speeds, security, and overall performance. Based in the British Virgin Islands, the federal government can’t legally force Surfshark to hand over customer data, and it has a strict logging policy to boot. It will never log our web activity or traffic when connected to its server, which completely encrypts our web traffic and private IP addresses on an unlimited number of devices.
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How much does Surfshark cost?
Surfshark costs between $2.49 and $12.49 per month, depending on the length of the subscription.
Months in contract Monthly cost Total amount billed Annual price after the first billing period 24 $2.49 $59.76 $59.76 12 $3.99 $47.88 $59.76 1 $12.95 $12.95 $155.40 -
Is Surfshark better than NordVPN?
Surfshark is better than NordVPN in terms of its pricing and GPS-changing features. But when we looked at Surfshark vs. NordVPN overall, we thought NordVPN was slightly better, especially when it came to the size of its server network and its iOS app.
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How much does Surfshark cost after two years?
After the first two years, Surfshark will cost $59.76 per year, or $4.98 a month. Additional taxes may apply, depending on where you live.
IBM. (2019). Cost of a Data Breach Report.
ibm.com/downloads/cas/ZBZLY7KL?_ga=2.148238199.1762516747.1577395260-1128561362.1577395260Power Traffick. (2019). PPC Statistics and Trends.
powertraffick.com/ppc-trends-and-statisticsInvestopedia. (2020). Bitcoin vs. Credit Card Transactions: What's the Difference?
investopedia.com/articles/forex/042215/bitcoin-transactions-vs-credit-card-transactions.asp