Surfshark Review

Streaming, Does Surfshark Work with Netflix?

Yes, Surfshark is one of the few VPN providers capable of unblocking content from Netflix and other streaming services such as HBOMax, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+, and more. 

Something as simple as watching streaming content reserved for certain areas can be a daunting task. Streaming service providers have been fine-tuning their VPN blocklists for years to prevent their “geofence” from being breached. 

Proof of this is Netflix’s recent decision to add residential IP addresses to its VPN blocklists. This extreme measure is just one demonstration of how far entertainment companies are willing to go to maintain control over what content their customers can and cannot view.

You might be thinking that’s what VPNs are for, right? Well, not exactly. Today, not all VPNs have the resources and technology to challenge giants like Netflix, HBOMax, or Disney+. Fortunately, Surfshark is one of them.

To connect to a specific location, all you have to do is click on the Surfshark icon, and the list of servers will appear.

The first image corresponds to the macOS app, while the second to the Windows 10 app. A notable difference between the two is that only on macOS you have a visual aid that tells you which server has the most traffic.

In the example shown above, the Vietnam server is almost at capacity while the others have less traffic. 

One thing the Windows and macOS apps have in common is the small letter “V” on the right side of some countries (like Venezuela in the image above). This letter indicates that the server is “virtual”, that is, it is not physically located in that location, although its IP address does correspond to that country.

Unlike other providers such as NordVPN, with Surfshark, there is no need to select special servers for streaming. Just select a location, and it will automatically connect to that region.

For our tests, we connected from the United States, Germany, and Japan.

During all our tests, we did not encounter any problems or any lag to report. The connection during streaming was stable and fast.

In summary, if you are looking for a VPN that allows you to enjoy your favorite TV shows and movies, then Surfshark is an excellent choice.

P2P, Does Surfshark Allow Torrenting?

Yes, Surfshark gives you the ability to download torrents in complete anonymity.

Possibly second only to streaming, the second most popular use of VPNs is downloading torrents. Both use cases are similar in complexity; however, they require different approaches.

When the server is optimized for streaming, care is taken to ensure that its VPN nature is not detected so that it is not blocked. In order to enjoy the content without lags, a protocol that provides high speed and low latency is used.

In the case of torrents, the most important thing is to maintain anonymity to prevent the ISP from detecting your true identity. Download speed is also important, but always after privacy.

Fortunately, Surfshark gives you all that and more. While Surfshark does not use any tag to designate servers for torrenting, as we will discuss later, Surfshark has protocols and specialty servers suitable for downloading content securely and anonymously.

Surfshark Kill Switch

Nowadays, the VPN you choose must have a Kill Switch. But what is a Kill Switch, and what is it used for?

In simple terms, a Kill Switch is a VPN feature that consists of monitoring your Internet connection. If this connection is interrupted while the VPN is active, access to the network is blocked, thus preventing your IP address from being revealed by accident.

If you are wondering if Surfshark has a Kill Switch, the answer is yes, it does. Both the macOS version and the version for Windows, iOS, and Android have this important feature.

Specialty Servers 

Although Surfshark does not list its servers by type (or at least not all of them), that does not mean that it lacks sophisticated specialty servers. Speciality servers are servers that are finely tuned to fulfill a specific task. An example is the servers that unlock streaming content such as Netflix, HBOMax, or Disney+. These servers are not labeled as such but are, in fact, specialty servers.

There are different types of specialty servers; below, we list the most prominent ones.

• Double VPN Servers
• Onion Over VPN Servers
• Obfuscated Servers
• Torrenting Servers
• Streaming Servers

We have already talked about torrenting and streaming servers in the previous sections. As for the rest, Surfshark has advanced Double VPN Servers (called multi-hop servers in the UI) as well as Obfuscated Servers, which are known as NoBorders and Camouflage mode features in the Surfshark jargon. Additionally, Surfshark offers free of charge Static IP Servers, an advantageous type of server that maintains a fixed IP address.

Obfuscated servers are necessary to access free content in countries with strong restrictions, such as China. In contrast, Double VPN Servers are useful for providing an additional layer of privacy and preventing your IP address from being detected. As for Static IP, servers are convenient if you need to use applications or websites that detect your IP every time you log in and limit you when it changes. An example is crypto exchanges and some banks, which expect you to always connect from the same IP address.

Summarizing the above, Surfshark provides you with a full range of specialty servers, whether you are an advanced user or not.

Does Surfshark Support VPN Split Tunneling?

Yes, Surfshark has Split VPN Tunneling (whitelister) but it’s only available for Windows and Android apps.

While it is unfortunate that Surfshark only offers Split tunneling for its Windows and Android apps, at least its solution is one of the most feature-rich on the market. 

Split tunneling (known as whitelister in Surfshark) is a convenient feature that allows you to use the secure VPN connection for some applications while the rest continue to use your normal connection. This can be very useful for banking applications, some games, and generally bandwidth-intensive applications or websites.

There are several types of split tunneling, from the simplest to the most sophisticated. As can be seen in the image above, Surfshark uses one of the most advanced ones as it allows you to handle this functionality in a granular way, deciding which applications should use the VPN, which should not, and even which specific websites should ignore Surfshark’s secure connection.

If you are looking for a VPN with powerful split tunneling, then Surfshark may be the solution you need.

Supported Protocols 

The ability of a VPN to provide you with a secure and fast connection depends largely on the protocols it employs for this purpose. In Surfshark’s case, it could be said that it provides you with the most advanced VPN protocols available today.

OpenVPN. Despite being launched more than 20 years ago, OpenVPN remains one of the most reliable and stable VPN protocols on the market. Its versatility, speed, and security make it the perfect candidate for any type of task, be it streaming or P2P torrenting. For this reason, it is not surprising that OpenVPN is available in Surfshark’s apps for Android, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Linux. 

IKEv2 (Internet Key Exchange Protocol Version 2). One of the most widely used VPN protocols today is undoubtedly IKEv2. Available on Surfshark apps for macOS, Android, Windows, and iOS applications, IKEv2 is a protocol that offers unique advantages, such as incredible connection stability, top-notch security, and minimal speed drop. Moreover, since IKEv2 was designed for both desktops and mobile devices, it offers the advantage of maintaining a secure connection when switching from WiFi to cellular networks, which is something that other protocols can hardly do. ​​Possibly the only disadvantage of IKEv2 is that it is not yet as mature as OpenVPN, so it is not compatible with as many platforms, so its use is limited to the most popular devices.

WireGuard. When it comes to protocols with a bright future, none is as promising as WireGuard. Simply put, WireGuard combines the best aspects of OpenVPN and IKEv2 to provide a high-performance, secure protocol with an unrivaled level of encryption. The only problem is that WireGuard is still under development, so its use is only recommended for advanced users who are aware of the risks involved.

Shadowsocks. Surfshark is one of the few VPN providers that offer Shadowsocks, although only on the Windows and Android apps. Shadowsocks is a free and open-source encryption protocol that differs from the VPN protocols mentioned above as it uses a secure SOCKS5 proxy to circumvent Internet censorship and other types of restrictions.

You are probably wondering, do I really need so many protocols? The answer to this question is not so simple.  Depending on the activity to be performed (torrenting, streaming, browsing), one protocol may provide more benefits than another. Fortunately, for the vast majority of users, Surfshark’s “automatic” mode takes care of this kind of decision. However, advanced users will certainly appreciate the ability to choose which protocol they want to use manually.

In other words, when it comes to VPN protocols, Surfshark offers you the most modern and secure ones currently available on the market. 

For more information on the available protocol configurations, we suggest you read the Surfshark documentation.

Supported platforms

As important as the VPN features are the availability of native apps for different platforms. In this sense, Surfshark provides support for a large number of operating systems and devices.

• Windows 10, 8.1
• macOS 10+
• Linux 
• Android 
• iOS 
• Fire TV
• Google Chrome, Firefox, and Opera extensions.
• Popular routers (Cisco, Belkin, TRENDnet, Google, and more)

It is worth mentioning that despite not having the same functionality as the Windows app, the native Surfshark app for macOS runs smoothly. We make this comment because some VPN providers list compatibility with Apple’s M1 processors even though their applications are unstable, which can be a huge problem in terms of privacy.

In other words, in terms of cross-platform support, we believe that Surfshark will not disappoint.

Surfshark Servers Locations

One of the highlights of Surfshark is the number of servers it has available. Currently, Surfshark has more than 3200 servers in 65+ countries, which positions it as one of the leaders in the VPN market.

To put it in perspective, ExpressVPN, one of the most prominent providers in the industry, has 3000 servers in 160 locations in 94 countries, while NordVPN has 5223 VPN servers in 60 countries.

The greater the number of locations, the more flexibility a VPN gives you to choose the country or region that suits you best. In that sense, Surfshark gives you exceptional coverage, with servers on every continent and enough bandwidth available to satisfy the most demanding users.

Customer Support

In terms of customer service, Surfshark is undoubtedly among the best VPNs you can hire.

The Surfshark support portal is modern, easy to navigate. It features a wide variety of articles, tutorials, videos, and FAQs that allow you to find answers to almost any question or concern. Additionally, you can also contact the support team via chat or email. If you prefer, you can also use their YouTube channel as a complementary means of help.

Surfshark Price

Price has always been an important aspect of the decision process. In this sense, Surfshark once again scores by providing one of the most affordable services compared to other VPNs.

In order to make comparison easier and give you an overview of the value Surfshark offers, we will compare it to CyberGhost VPN, a similarly priced VPN.

Monthly plan

• Surfshark from $12.95 per month
• CyberGhost VPN from $12.99 per month
• Winner Surfshark

Other plans

• Surfshark, from $2.49/month (2-year plan) billed $59.86 annually, $6.49/month (6-months plan) billed $38.94 every 6 months.
• CyberGhost VPN, from $2.25/month (3-year plan), from $3.49/month (2-year plan), from $3.99/month (1-year plan)
• Winner Surfshark 

Now, it is important to note that CyberGhost’s functionality does not come close to that offered by Surfshark, and even so, its service is more expensive. Our point is, Surfshark really gives you good value for your money. 

In fact, to further support this idea, if you wanted to compare Surfshark with another provider offering similar features, one of them would be NordVPN.

As you can see, Surfshark has a better price-value ratio than NordVPN. In short, if you are looking for a top-notch VPN at a good price, Surfshark will be hard to beat.

Testing Surfshark Security & Privacy

Testing the privacy of a VPN provider is not a simple task. To begin with, there is no standard or “approved” test suite for this purpose. On the other hand, the Internet is full of sites that offer dubious results that favor one provider or another.

With this in mind, we will perform two separate tests to confirm that Surfshark can keep your IP address anonymous.

The first of these tests is a DNS Leak Test. This type of test is useful to determine if your ISP can track the websites you visit. 

In fact, the first thing we will do is to use the tool to check if our ISP is snooping on our online activity.

As you can see, there is a high probability that our ISP can record the web pages we visit. Next, we will use Surfshark to connect to a VPN server using the default settings.

The result is encouraging, as Surfshark was able to contain the DNS leak and protect our privacy.

With the above test information at hand, we will proceed to a second privacy verification using this time a tool known as the WebRTC test. The WebRTC protocol (Web Real-Time Communications) is widely used today for audio and video streaming; however, malicious agents could also use it to discover your IP address.

Similar to how we did before, we will first use our insecure connection.

Now, we will proceed to use Surfshark’s secure connection and repeat the test.

As the image shows, Surfshark has successfully masked our IP address. However, to disable WebRTC for better protection, you must download the appropriate Surfshark VPN Extension for your browser. Once this extension is installed, your browser will be more secure, as shown in the image below.

The combination of the secure protocol used by Surfshark and the browser extension manages to mask the browser’s IP address completely. In summary, if you are looking for a VPN that takes care of your online privacy, Surfshark is an excellent alternative.

Speed & Performance

Reliably measuring the speed of the Internet connection presents similar challenges to those discussed in the previous section. In this case the problem lies not only in the tool used to measure the speed, but in the conditions of the connection itself. Depending on the type of service (fiber, 5G, ADSL, etc) a lot of variables come into play. 

Nevertheless, we have designed a procedure that can give you a clear idea of what to expect from Surfshark in terms of speed.

• We used an ad-free and open-source test to measure the speed of the Internet connection.
• We used a 4G LTE broadband service for all our tests since it is slower and more limited than a wired service.
• Our tests were done from the USA, then in the UK, and finally in Australia.

Let’s start with the base speed, that’s with Surfshark deactivated.

The internet speed shown above (12.84 Mb/s) will serve as our basis for the measurements we will perform next, starting with the connection to the nearest VPN server in the United States.

As you can see, the results are excellent. Even when connected to Surfshark’s VPN server, there is no noticeable drop in speed; in fact, the latency and data retransmission results are even better.

Next, we will connect to a more distant server in London.

Despite being located on another continent, the drop in speed is only 7%, with latency and retransmission still excellent.

Finally, we will connect to the VPN server furthest from our location in Australia.

Although the drop in speed is about 25%, we are still impressed that the connection’s latency is unbeatable.

After analyzing the results obtained, we can only conclude that Surfshark is one of the fastest VPNs on the market. The speed and low latency of the connection will allow you to enjoy online content easily and uninterruptedly.

Privacy, Does Surfshark Log My Data?

No, Surfshark doesn’t track, collect, or share your private information. Furthermore, Surfshark is among the few VPN providers that enforce a strong No Log Policy.

The collection of user logs is a crucial aspect to keep in mind. A VPN provider that does not guarantee the privacy of your data is not trustworthy. In this sense, Surfshark belongs to a select group of VPNs that have a strict No Log Policy.

• Zero-log policy. Surfshark doesn’t collect connection timestamps, session information, bandwidth usage, browsing history, traffic data, or IP addresses.
• Based in The Virgin Islands. Surfshark headquarters are in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). This means that Surfshark has no obligation to share your data with law enforcement agencies.
• Payment methods. Surfshark accepts cryptocurrency payments, so you decide if you want to use your credit/debit card or PayPal or keep your payments private using crypto.

Surfshark review: Verdict

In this review, we have analyzed in depth the pros and cons of Surfshark VPN. On the positive side, Surfshark gives you a high level of privacy, unparalleled speed, a price-value ratio that is hard to beat, and functionality on par with other premium VPNs. The consistency of its UI across platforms leaves a little to be desired with some of the more advanced features only being available in the Windows app, however this is probably not a deal breaker for most.

All in all, our opinion is that Surfshark is an excellent VPN choice.