How Much Does Surfshark Cost?

Sporting more than 3,000 servers in more than 100 countries, Surfshark offers one of the best return-on-investment of any VPN service we have tested. It’s also one of the most affordable VPNs out there. There’s just one thing you need to do to get this great value: make a commitment. You could sign up for the monthly plan at $15.45 per month, but it makes a lot more sense to sign up for two years for an average cost of $1.99 per month, which is cheaper  than our top-ranked NordVPN.

So, Surfshark looks great when taken at face value, but how is it in practice?  If you’re committing to a VPN service, or any service for that matter, you want to know if you’ll be happy with that commitment from start to finish. We put Surfshark through its paces to give you as much information as possible so you can make an informed decision. Let’s get into the details of our tests below.

Surfshark VPN Subscription Options

Surfshark offers three packages: Surfshark Starter, Surfshark One, and Surfshark One+. The Starter plan includes the VPN, an ad blocker, and a masked email generator, which creates new email addresses so you never have to use your real one when signing up for services.

Surfshark One and Surfshark One+ add extra security products like antivirus software and identity theft protection. Each plan is available to purchase for one month, one year, or two years. The longer you commit, the cheaper the price. Here’s a rundown of the costs.

We need to point out that the prices above are introductory. Once your subscription ends, your subscription will renew on a yearly or monthly basis. The yearly amount due will be $59.76 – an average of $4.98 per month. It’s more expensive than the introductory price, but still within the usual cost of a VPN.

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 $47.84 ($3.99 per month), less than half of what ExpressVPN charges.

Surfshark has more than just a lower price tag when it comes to having the edge on ExpressVPN and other services. In particular, it allows subscribers to connect unlimited devices. Most other VPN services limit the number of devices you can connect. For example, ExpressVPN allows eight devices maximum, and that’s if you have the premium plan.

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.

Surfshark’s Best Features

As if providing great value weren’t enough, Surfshark also has many great features. From split tunneling to torrent (P2P) support and more, Surfshark delivers where some other VPNs fall short. When you combine value and number of features, it should come as no surprise that we raved about this VPN service in 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.

• 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.
• App performance: Surfshark updates its apps regularly. As a result, it has one of the best VPN apps today. It doesn’t only do major upgrades either; it does small improvements every now then that enhance the overall user experience. If you use a VPN, you’re going to interact with the app a lot, which is why we appreciate that Surfshark does those updates.

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+.

In addition to the VPN, a Surfshark One subscription gives you access to Surfshark Antivirus, Alert, and Search, as well as other privacy features.

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: Alternative ID helps you protect your identity by generating an alternative online profile complete with a name, birthday, home address, and email address. You can use that alternative identity to sign up for websites, so that in case the website gets hacked or suffers a data breach, your real personal information won’t be compromised.
• 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

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.

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.

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

>> 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.