Surfshark VPN Review 2019: The new challenger in the market

Surfshark VPN Prices Review

The prices for subscriptions offered by Surfshark are failry decent. It offered three pricing plans depending upon your needs. The pricing plans are

1 month: $11.95/Month

1 year: $5.99/Month i.e. $71.88 for the yearly subscription

2 years: $1.99/Month i.e. $47.76 for the two years subscription

Out of all these pricing the two year subscription happens to be the most favorable, the other two plans do put the brand in an awkward position considering it is new in the market. But still, the new entrant has attracted eyeballs from numerous and gained significant popularity. In addition to this, Surfshark accepts payments through credit cards, PayPal and various crypto currencies. This covers almost all the popular currencies which users may wish to use, including the anonymous payment methods.

Introduction

The provider that we will review in this piece is Surfshark VPN. The new contender in the market is based in British Virgin Islands (BVI), and since its inception it has remained successful in attracting a lot of VPN users in the market. Being new to the industry we can’t really what level of services the provider has to offer for the users.

In our Surfshakr VPN review the provider will put through similar tests to have a clear picture of their standings. We ensure that every aspect of the provider is examined through comprehensive test criteria to have clearer understanding of the level of the service. The provider’s quality, security, performance, logging policy will be evaluated to know the quality of the service of the new brand.

Surfshark VPN Review Summary

Our detailed Surfshark VPN review, tested the security offered by the provider. The brand offers AES 256 GCM and SHA 512 encryption, which are considered to be strong encryption protocols and pretty much the industry standard.  Moreover, the service also has its own DNS network accompanied by apps with WebRTC, IPv6 leak protection and built in DNS. And the cherry on the top, the provider has no logging policy to ensure maximum user security and privacy.

Internet kill switch is something that is offered by nearly all top service providers in the market, and something which is not unique. But, for a new provider who tends to provide this feature is worth commending. Their support service works round the clock, and is quite effective. For now, the service has 1040+ servers in 61+ different countries around the world. However, the level of speed provided by the provider is something that need to be improved extensively, and the pace at which they are making progress, achieving this milestone wouldn’t be a challenge for them.

Our Surfshark VPN Review Score

Features: 3.8

Apps: 3.9

Security: 4

Speed: 4

Overall: 3.9

Surfshark VPN Review in Points

Surfshark VPN Logging Policy

The privacy policy is not complex and explicitly states that the company does not store any sort of information of any sorts about the users. The policy states that ““Surfshark respects your privacy, therefore we are committed to not process any data related to the online activity of our users. Surfshark is based in British Virgin Islands, which does not require data storage or reporting. We do not collect IP addresses, browsing history, session information, used bandwidth, connection time stamps, network traffic and other similar data.”

This is something impressive for a new entrant in the market, and a plus point for the brand as well. The policy clarifies that Surfshark has no interest in tracking or keeping any activity logs and connections logs of its users. The logging policy of the company is heavily influenced by the region where its headquarters are based, as the provider is based in British Virgin Island, which does not require the provider to track and keep activity logs. Moreover, the provider also happens to have no association with five or fourteen eyes countries, which is an added advantage for the users. 

Surfshark VPN Features Review

There is no doubt about the fact that, Surfshark has gotten insanely popular in very short span of time, due to the quality of service and the pace at which they are progressing. Our Surfshark VPN review, will cover every feature that is being offered by provider, which have contributed to its success and popularity. Let’s have a look at the features that it offers;

Multihop

Surfshark is among those handful of VPN provider that offers multi hop VPN connections. Double hop and multi hop are the same features, which provides with an extra layer of security and protect you from being breached. A multi hop feature encrypts your connection across more than two servers. The traffic is routed through two or more servers in separate jurisdictions giving your digital identity enhanced and higher level of security and privacy. When a multi hop is being deployed the user’ get to the required destination through multiple VPN servers and then to final destination. Additionally, the data gets re-encrypted every time a new server transmit the data packets. 

Kill Switch

There is doubt about the fact that Kill Switch feature is something that has long existed in the market, and something not new. This is something which is offered nearly all the providers in the market, but how does it function matters a lot. Most of the kill switch that are at the disposal of the users are not efficient and effective. We tested the kill switch by Surfshark and it work most of the time, and we did not observe any traffic routing when the connection was dropped deliberately. However, they are continuously improving the service, so we can hope it will get better soon.

Clean Web

Till date Surfshark is the sole provider that provides CleanWeb feature, and this happens to be their trademark. The feature integrates three tools namely ad blocker, trackers blocker, and malware blocker. Combing these three in feature and you get CleanWeb TM, which kills trackers, ads and also stop ads from malicious websites. CleanWeb ensures that your experience is not deteriorated by wanted ads and popups. When these three work together simultaneously, you stay secure as trackers are being blocked, similarly you are also not being exposed to malicious ads that could be risky.

24/7 Customer Support

As mentioned earlier the customer support of the Surfshark works 24/7 and round the clock. So, if the user comes across any problem and need assistance, they can easily get assistance from their skilled agents. The customer support of Surfshark is quite responsive and very effective in troubleshooting the problems of any sort, be it setting up a VPN on any device or configuring your VPN on the existing device.

Whitelister

Whitelister, is a split tunneling feature that allows you specify app or website that you wish to be connected to a VPN. This feature works great when you want to secure certain apps and websites, while you are streaming on the website which you think is not safe and could be a hub to potential malicious ads. The features work two ways, i.e. you can add and similarly exclude the apps and website that you want to secured via VPN.

Unlimited VPN Connections

Almost next to zero VPN providers in the market offers unlimited connections on a single paid account. An unlimited connection account means that you can one account simultaneously on as many devices as you want. This means that you won’t need to buy separate accounts for your home and/or office. One paid account is sufficient enough to take care of all your needs.

No doubt the features provided by the service helps it stand out in the market, but price also plays a crucial role in making the purchases decision. Now let’s look the pricing that Surfshark offers.

Surfshark VPN Protocols Review

Talking about the protocols we were quite impressed by the level of security that service offers for the privacy of it users. Currently Surfshark offers two protocols which are IKEv2 and our very favorite OpenVPN. We always recommend users to opt for OpenVPN under all circumstances, because it is the best out there, both in terms of speed and security. Surfshark offer the best VPN protocol with IKEv2 for mobile. However, when it comes to OpenVPN they need to work on the support for OpenVPN for mobile devices.

Surfshark VPN Servers & Locations Review

When Surfshark started they had 500 online VPN servers in 50 countries, but now they happen to have 1040+ servers in 61+ countries, impressive for a rookie right?

We can really say that it is the best out there, but we can surely say that very impressive considering it is a relatively new service in the industry. The provider certainly does not own big network of servers, but the count they managed to accumulate till date is commendable. They countries they have their servers in covers major cities that a user seeks for to connect to. The brand has not stopped working spreading the network of its server and is working continuously to improve the count cities.

In terms of performance and speed, the service is not bad at all. It is on the right path to offer a great, stable and fast service. Currently, the users might face minor connection stability issues and slow speeds on some servers, due to network congestion or server overload.

Surfshark VPN for Mac Review

Bad news for Mac user Surfshark does offer for app for Mac OS. The brand offer their services for Mac OS users via IKEv2 certificate. However, the manual OpenVPN setup is available to the users, which they can setup with assistance from Surfshark VPN customer support.

Surfshark VPN for iPhone Review

Ironically, Surfshark VPN for iPhone and iPad is available and can be downloaded from App store. The app comes with a seven days free trial. The app however, is not fully optimized for the use considering it was recently launched. But, we found no glitches and crashes in the functions of the app. There is still room for improvement when it comes to app for iOS.

Surfshark VPN for Windows Review

Surfshark VPN for Windows offer features which includes, kill switch for protecting your sensitive data being compromised such as P2P downloads. You’ll be able to surf internet camouflage mode, so that your activities stay hidden from your ISP. The app also give the CleanWeb tool, so that your experience is not hampered by unwanted ads and popups. The UI of the app is quite simple and easy to use.

Surfshark VPN for Android Review

Surfshark for Android app is easily available on the Google Play Store. The app is quite similar to the counterpart for Apple mobile devices. The only difference that we were able to point out was design requirements that are required by the Android platform. In terms of performance and speed the results are good and getting better. But again, you won’t come across any advanced features and option in the app like you would from other top players in the market, since it is new. 

Surfshark VPN for Router Review

Surfshark VPN is easily supported on DDWRT routers and others, which support OpenVPN in the firmware. The brand does not offer any applet for the routers, but the guides are comprehensive enough that you won’t have to struggle much to get things done. Don’t forget that it is always a good idea to use a VPN on a router, so that your network be in the office or home is encrypted and the user who are connected to it stays safe. 

Final Words  

To sum up, Surfshark VPN is relatively new in the market but has managed to grab the attention of many, due to the features and pricing its offers. The provider happens to have decent network of server, and the quality of their service is also improving with time. However, one major aspect that they need to work on are the app, though they have a very sleek and unique design, but still they fall short on industry standards. In order to stand on equal footings with the top tier VPN providers in the market, Surfshark needs to increase the count of server they have significantly and most importantly, they need to have a dedicated server for China.

If you ask us Surfshark has our vote for one of the best VPN service provider in 2019, with fast speeds with barely any speed drops and exceptional streaming on Netflix.

Summary

Reviewer

Saad Qureshi

Review Date

2019-11-01

Reviewed Item

Surfshark VPN

Author Rating

4