Surfshark review 2026: cheap, but is it good?

On surfshark.com, the 2-year plan with three extra months costs $2.49 (Starter), $2.49 (One) and $3.99 (One+) per month as of 22 October 2026. The full amount is paid upfront: $67.23, $67.23 and $107.73 for 27 months. No code is needed for this.

Surfshark labels the One plan a «Black Friday deal» but gives neither a period nor an end date (as of 22 October 2026). Before the promotion, One cost $2.79 ($75.33 in total) and One+ $4.49 ($121.23 in total) per month (as of 12 October 2026); Starter is unchanged.

For 12 months, Surfshark quotes $3.39 (Starter, $40.68 in total), $3.59 (One) and $7.49 (One+) per month; a single month costs $16.45, $18.95 and $21.85 (Surfshark's plan overview, prices according to the provider as of 30 July 2026, page last changed on 22 September 2026; as of 12 October 2026, not re-checked on 22 October 2026). So the monthly plan is only worthwhile for trying the service out.

The amounts are taken from the US dollar view. Surfshark only adds VAT at checkout and shows a different currency depending on your country – the amount in your basket is what counts. We have not checked prices in other currencies.

The catch is renewal. According to Surfshark, the 2-year plan is paid once upfront and then renewed annually at the renewal price valid at that time; we did not find an amount on the pricing page on 12 October 2026. TechRadar writes that auto-renewal of the 12-month plan costs roughly double (6 October 2026); Tom's Guide speaks of more than three times the price for some plans (10 April 2026). Switch off auto-renewal in your account if you do not want that.

To try it out: a 30-day money-back guarantee applies to all plans. A free seven-day trial is only available when buying through the App Store or Google Play.

For comparison: NordVPN charges $3.49 per month for its cheapest 2-year plan (as of 22 October 2026) and states its renewal prices openly on the pricing page: (→ NordVPN review 2026: is the market leader still worth it?).

Starter includes the VPN with no device limit, the ad and cookie-banner blocker CleanWeb, Dynamic MultiHop (a connection via two servers), the Bypasser (split tunnelling) and Alternative ID – a tool that generates disposable email addresses and substitute personal details for sign-ups.

One adds the antivirus Surfshark Antivirus, the data-leak alert Surfshark Alert and protection against scam messages. In the AV-Test review of June 2025, the antivirus received 6 out of 6 points for protection and 4.5 out of 6 for performance (figures quoted by Surfshark).

One+ additionally brings data removal with Incogni. The identity-theft insurance that is also advertised applies only to customers in the USA.

Our take: for the VPN alone, Starter is enough. On the 2-year plan, One currently costs the same as Starter ($2.49 per month, labelled a «Black Friday deal» with no stated end date, as of 22 October 2026) and is worth it if you do not have an antivirus yet. The extra for One+ is for those who would book Incogni anyway.

TechRadar measured an average of 2,005 Mbit/s with WireGuard on a 10 Gbit line – almost twice as much as in the previous test (1,021 Mbit/s). With OpenVPN it was 625 Mbit/s (review last updated on 6 October 2026). Higher latency than other top VPNs is a point of criticism.

Tom's Guide recorded 1,012 Mbit/s within the USA and 935 Mbit/s between the USA and the UK (as of 10 April 2026).

For streaming, video calls and downloads that is far more than you need. On a typical home connection, your own line is the bottleneck rather than the VPN.

Surfshark quotes over 4,500 servers in 100 countries, all without hard drives (RAM-only) and connected at a minimum of 10 Gbit/s; according to Surfshark, the first 100 Gbit servers are in Amsterdam (provider's figures, accessed on 12 October 2026).

This is where Surfshark is weaker than the advertising suggests. At TechRadar, Netflix worked in Canada and Japan, in the USA only after several attempts, and not at all in the UK and Australia. Prime Video only worked in the UK; Disney+ and YouTube from the USA did not work at all. BBC iPlayer and Channel 4 worked (6 October 2026).

In April 2026, Tom's Guide came to a friendlier picture: Netflix in the USA, Canada and Japan, Disney+ in four out of five countries, plus BBC iPlayer, ITV and Channel 4 without problems – there was trouble with Netflix in the UK and Australia and with Prime Video outside the UK.

Neither test checked DAZN or national broadcasters' catch-up services. Streaming services change their blocks all the time; there is no guarantee for any particular service. If streaming is your main reason for a VPN, try it within the 30-day window – or go for NordVPN, which unblocked more services in the same tests.

One subscription, any number of devices at once: according to Surfshark, this applies to all three plans; only the antivirus is excluded. For comparison: NordVPN allows 10 devices, CyberGhost 7.

In a household with laptops, tablets, smartphones and smart TVs, this is the biggest advantage over the competition. When travelling, too, laptop, smartphones and tablet are covered by a single subscription.

It is not a free pass for reselling: in its help pages Surfshark warns against abuse, for example by resellers, and TechRadar points to a fair-use clause – 10 to 15 devices are said to be no problem.

The contracting party is Surfshark B.V. in Amsterdam. The Netherlands belong to the «Nine Eyes» intelligence alliance, which bothers some users. What matters is whether any data exists at all: Deloitte has audited the no-logs promise twice (report of January 2023 and again in June 2025), each time without objections (TechRadar, 6 October 2026).

On top of that come audits of the technology: SecuRing examined the apps in 2025 and the infrastructure up to December 2025, Cure53 examined the infrastructure and the new Dausos protocol in 2026 (Surfshark Trust Center, accessed on 12 October 2026). TechRadar would like to see annual no-logs audits.

Since February 2022, Surfshark has belonged to the same corporate group as NordVPN (Nord Security). According to Surfshark, both brands operate independently, with separate infrastructure and development. Our analysis of NordVPN: (→ NordVPN review 2026: is the market leader still worth it?).

TechRadar found a weakness in protection against phishing sites: in its test Surfshark blocked 48% of the sites, NordVPN 92% and Proton VPN 88%. If you are looking for a Swiss-based provider with open-source apps, have a look at Proton VPN. Whether you need a VPN at all: (→ Do you really need a VPN in 2026? The honest guide).

On 9 September 2026, Surfshark disclosed an incident: an internal test server used by its developers had been reachable from the internet because of a configuration error. The first signs were noticed on 31 August 2026; the server was taken offline on 2 September.

According to Surfshark, unauthorised parties obtained limited internal development material – parts of program files and configurations – and gained access to a single, isolated proxy server. In addition, some credentials for the build process had ended up in the code history in the past; they were revoked or replaced.

According to Surfshark, user data, the VPN servers and traffic were not affected; apps and browser extensions are said not to have been altered. Users do not need to do anything.

For context: this account comes from Surfshark itself. BleepingComputer notes that the provider did not specify exactly which files and credentials were exposed (10 September 2026). Surfshark admits that it initially rated the first warning as low risk and has announced an additional independent audit of its infrastructure – no result was available on 12 October 2026.

Our view: on current knowledge the incident is no reason to panic, but it is a blemish – openly reachable test servers and credentials in code are avoidable mistakes. The quick and detailed disclosure is a plus.

On Trustpilot, Surfshark stands at 4.3 out of 5 from 31,433 reviews (as of 12 October 2026): 75% give five stars, 9% only one. Praise goes mainly to the support and the ease of use. The negative reviews are about refused refunds, inaccurate information from support and removed features – in the Android TV app, MultiHop and the static IP address were dropped, according to Surfshark because of low usage.

TechRadar (85 out of 100 points) criticises the high renewal prices, the streaming performance, the lack of port forwarding and the fact that encryption against future quantum computers is still missing on Windows and iPhone.

Tom's Guide (89 out of 100 points, as of 10 April 2026 – so before the September incident) likewise names the price jumps on renewal and the lack of port forwarding.

Prices and plan contents: surfshark.com/pricing (2-year prices accessed on 22 October 2026, other prices on 12 October 2026, US dollar view) and the plan overview on the Surfshark blog (last changed on 22 September 2026).

Audit reports, company seat and device rule: Surfshark's Trust Center and help pages, accessed on 12 October 2026.

Incident: Surfshark's report of 9 September 2026 and BleepingComputer of 10 September 2026.

Measurements and criticism: TechRadar (review last updated on 6 October 2026) and Tom's Guide (as of 10 April 2026). Ratings: Trustpilot, accessed on 12 October 2026.