Surfshark

Another relatively new addition to the VPN space. Surfshark is a VPN provider officially based in the British Virgin Islands with most of its workforce living across Europe.

Surfshark is good or very good in most things. Yet one thing we can say is that, if you are looking for good streaming capability, then this is definitely one you should take a closer look at.

Usability

Super easy

Log Files

Strict no-logs policy

Locations

61 countries, 1040 servers

Support

No live support

Torrenting

Yes

Netflix

Works with Netflix in 11 countries, 15 libraries

Encryption/Protocol

AES-256-GCM encryption

Official Website

surfshark.com

Pros

Built-in ad blocker, and malware and phishing blocking
Unlimited devices
Solid connection speeds
Works with Netflix, BBC iPlayer and others
User-friendly apps, easy setup
Strictly no-logs policy

Cons

Not as many servers as larger providers
Not as fast as some competitors

Security & Technology

The VPN protocols supported by Surfshark are IKEv2 and OpenVPN. While Data encryption uses AES-256-CBC and AES-256-GCM. Data authentication is handled through HMAC-SHA256-128/SHA-512 with Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman 384 used for the handshake. This means that you get very strong protection against those pesky government monitors if you live in a censored state. Plus a nice healthy no-log policy makes the VPN near and dear to our hearts.

Speed and Latency

You will not be breaking any speed records with Surfshark and your mileage may vary based on your particular location and ISP. There are no significant speed drops when using the service but certain locations are slower than others. Latency is also not great but not bad either yet if you are planning to use any of those new cloud gaming services. As an added twist, we did find connecting to some servers made out connection faster, go figure.

Support and Logging

The great thing about a relatively new VPN company is that they are always trying to be nice to their customers. And it shows. Like other VPN, Surfshark says it does not log any of your online activity, such as browsing history, session information, bandwidth used, connection time stamps, network traffic, or IP addresses. Zero log policy doesn’t hurt either. They do however need you to supply an email address when registering. There is no live-support unfortunately.

Streaming and Geo Restriction

Yes, US Netflix works. They do a very good job of letting you easily connect to Netflix and other US-only content. With good speeds and high video quality. As for geo-restrictions, there is more good news here. The CleanWeb feature prevents you from being tracked, malware, and phishing attempts. There is also a Camouflage Mode. It uses specialized obfuscated servers which can easily bypass network firewalls and other internet restrictions. It’s perfect for use in countries with restricted internet access

Pricing

Regardless of what plan you get, all offer the same services and features with the difference being only the length of your subscription. At the time of writing, you could get 3 months free on the 25-month plan at $1.91/month or $11.95 on a single month and finally $5.99/month if paying for 12 months.

So is it worth it?

They had us at the unlimited devices. When it comes to value for money this is a great choice. You get strong security and decent speeds on as many devices as you own. Plus it works in censored states. Very good VPN it is.