Are you thinking about signing up with Surfshark as a VPN provider? In this Surfshark review, we’ll test out this company’s VPN services to find out if Surf shark VPN is right for you.

Even though Surfshark is still pretty new, it’s been getting a lot of attention lately. Since it came out in 2018, it is one of the least expensive premium VPNs on the market right now. It’s been giving some of the best companies in the industry a run for their money.

Surfshark doesn’t make grand promises. It just says that it gives you privacy and safety. It does talk about speed and being able to get to sites that are blocked in your area. But will it live up to expectations?

Surfshark VPN Review

Like with every other VPN we review, we’ll start with the basics and see what their value is. We looked at the security measures they had in place, how fast it was from different places, and what other important features they had. In simple terms, “everything that matters” has been taken into account.

What is a VPN?

To start this review, let’s talk about what a VPN is. Virtual Private Network is what VPN stands for. It protects a user’s privacy online by hiding their IP address, encrypting their data, and hiding what they do online.

A VPN encrypts your device’s internet traffic and reroutes it through its own server. In the process, it gives your connection a brand-new IP address that has nothing to do with your ISP’s IP address. This makes sure that your connection is safe and private.

Who owns Surfshark?

A company in the British Virgin Islands owns Surfshark. The 14 Eyes Jurisdiction does not include the Virgin Islands. This means that they are not required to share any of the information they get from their users. This makes sure that everything you do online while using SurfShark VPN is completely private.

Who owns Surfshark?

  • Unlimited connections at the same time
  • CleanWeb doesn’t let trackers, ads, phishing attempts, or malware through.
  • Whitelister: This lets certain apps and websites get around the VPN.
  • Kill switch: If the VPN connection drops, this feature cuts off access to the internet.
  • The private DNS and protection from leaks
  • Camouflage Mode hides the fact that you are using VPN so that even your ISP doesn’t know.
  • NoBorders Mode gets around censorship and geographical limits.
  • Multihop lets traffic jump from one monitor to another before leaving to hide footprints.
  • No-log policy
  • Secure protocol – OpenVPN/IPsec/IKEv2
  • AES256 is the best encryption in the business.

Jurisdiction: Where Is Surfshark VPN Located?

The headquarters of Surfshark is in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. The BVI, which is what most people call them, is listed as a territory of the UK that has its own government. Even though they have their own government, the UK is responsible for its military defense.

The UK is one of the 14 Eyes Alliance’s members. In the 1500s, countries made a deal to share information about encrypted messages sent by spies. This is how the alliance came to be. At first, there were only 5 countries in the pact. Now, there are 14. Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States are among the 14 countries.

Any VPN company that is based in one of the 14 Eyes Alliance countries could be forced to share information about what their customers do online. But all they can do is give up the information they have. So, if the VPN doesn’t keep any logs, it won’t be able to tell you anything.

How we test a VPN

When picking a VPN, there are a few things you need to check.

Among these are:

  • If it really hides your IP address or not
  • Whether or not there are leaks in the Domain Name System (DNS).
  • Internet speed whilst using a VPN

Does Surfshark Hide Your IP?

I have done these tests and also tests to see how fast and easy it will be for you to get to and watch Netflix.

Why would you want to hide your IP?

One of the main things a VPN does is hide your IP address. This gives you more privacy and safety online. So, making sure that your VPN does this is key to having a good time online.

IP address without VPN:

IP address WITH VPN:

What Is DNS Leaking and Why Is It Important to Hide It?

DNS leaking prevention is a way for VPN providers to make sure that their users are safe and secure online.

What is DNS leaking?

Domain Name Systems (DNS) turn domain names into IP addresses that are made up of numbers. This is what your device needs to get to the sites and URLs you’ve asked for. This does make it easy to keep track of what you do online, though.

When your VPN connection has a DNS leak, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) can see your DNS requests, even though they are supposed to be hidden.

Why is it important to hide your DNS?

A DNS leak has a direct effect on how anonymous you are on the internet. It lets ISPs keep track of what you do online. It puts you at risk for hacking and doxxing attacks, just like not hiding your IP does.

Also, marketers can get access to your information, which lets them advertise products or services that are similar to what you’ve been looking for.

When you have a VPN service running, your DNS goes through an anonymity server that your VPN provider gives to your device. This protects your online privacy and makes you less likely to be attacked.

Does Surfshark hide your DNS?

Our different tests showed that Surfshark hides DNS quite well and always works. There were no DNS leaks that we found. Look at the results of one of our tests to see how it works.

The following results are from dnsleaktest.com. They are used in this review. It is one of the most reliable and trusted sites for testing DNS leaks.

DNS without Surfshark:

DNS with Surfshark:

The simple test above shows that Surfshark does hide the DNS of its users and that there are no DNS leaks. My DNS information moves from one place to a whole new one.

I ran six queries, and each one showed that Surfshark does not leak any DNS. This means that its users can use the Internet safely and privately.

How does Surfshark ensure that there are no DNS leaks?

Surfshark changes your IP address by using both IPv4 and IPv6 IP implementations. This means that they have a lot of tools to hide your IP address. Because there are so many possible combinations, it is much harder to steal or copy the IP. Since these two IP formats don’t work together, using both means that your device can connect to the VPN server no matter which IP format is used.

Surfshark has taken the necessary precautions to make sure that its users can use the internet privately. proving that it is a useful tool for people who care about their online privacy and safety.

VPN Speed

When people use a VPN, they often have to give up some of their internet speed. But many people would rather this wasn’t the case. It’s true that your speed slows down a little bit when you use a VPN. Because your Internet traffic has to go through more security layers.

The real question is how much it will fall. And if the VPN speed is fast enough for the kinds of things I want to do online (such as streaming, torrenting, or just simple web surfing).

Internet speed and why it gets influenced by a VPN

In the world we live in now, everyone is trying to get the fastest upload and download speeds with the lowest ping times. When we want to connect to the internet, we don’t want to have to wait for a page to load.

When it comes to internet speed, a lot of progress has been made. We can now reach speeds of up to 44.2 terabits per second on the internet. So why does a VPN slow down your connection?

The answer is that your request is sent to your VPN anonymity server instead of directly to the server. This hides your IP address and DNS and encrypts your data. Before you can get to the page you want, you have to decrypt this new information.

Most VPNs try to keep this from happening as much as possible, but it happens most often with paid VPN services.

What is tested by a speed test?

Most speed tests will check three things about how fast your internet is:

  • Download speed is how fast you can get files onto your device. Most ISPs make sure that your download speed is much faster than your upload speed since most internet activity is done when you are downloading something.
  • Upload speed is how fast you can send data from your device to another device or to a server on the internet.
  • Ping: This shows how quickly you get a response when you ask a server to connect. The better it is if your ping is low.

How is your speed affected on Surfshark?

No matter what you need it for, Surfshark always gives you fast connections (including streaming and torrenting). Most servers in London and the United States are the fastest. But a lot depends on the distance between where you are and where the server is.

But we found that Surfshark’s speeds are fast enough for HD/4K video streaming and torrenting even on servers that are far away. The VPN doesn’t have a limit on how much bandwidth you can use, so it’s great for streaming.

From the tests, it seems like the speeds are pretty much the same everywhere. During the tests, there was no trouble with the connection. The connection speed is just a little bit faster than the industry average, and the servers gave the IP addresses for the locations they said they were in.

We began with a download speed of 42.67 Mbps and an upload speed of 27.42 Mbps.

Internet speed before the use of Surfshark VPN:

We tried out different servers. With the Quick Connection option, you’ll be connected to the server in your area that gives you the fastest speeds. We chose to start with this feature and got download speeds of 30.11Mbps and upload speeds of 13.29Mbps from a server in Nuernberg, Germany, which is in Germany. This means that download speeds have slowed by 29.4% and upload speeds have slowed by 51.5%.

Internet speed when using the closest SurfShark servers

We did a test for the New York server location. Here are the results:

Internet speeds for the New York option

We did a test of Boston servers and found the following:

Internet speeds for the Boston option

The following is what we found when we tested a server in Chicago:

Internet speeds for the Chicago option

Even though some servers were a little slower, the speeds were good enough for HD/4K streaming, online gaming, and torrenting.

We looked at servers in London. The average speed for downloading was 31.73Mbps, and the average speed for uploading was 6.92Mbps. We were able to download the most quickly in London.

Internet speeds for the London option

The server in Mumbai gave us a speed of 15.15Mbps down and 7.13Mbps up.

Internet speeds for the Mumbai option

The bottom line is that Surfshark consistently gives pretty good speeds. Your speeds will depend on where you are and which servers you choose to use. Even though the speeds will vary, no matter what you get, it will be fast enough for all kinds of online activities, like streaming video (even in 4K), downloading torrents, browsing, etc.

HD/4K Streaming and P2P File Sharing

The Surfshark network has servers that are set up to work well with torrents. All P2P traffic is automatically sent to these servers by the network. So, in general, you can torrent as much as you want from any server on the VPN’s network.

Surfshark lets you watch Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, and HBO GO. The high-speed servers make it possible for any server on the network to stream HD/4K video. Also, since there are no limits on bandwidth, you can watch as many videos as you want.

You can turn on CleanWeb if you want to stream videos, like from YouTube. It gets rid of ads, malware, and trackers. It makes streaming videos easier by getting rid of those annoying ads that play in the middle of the video.

Netflix

Streaming has become a big thing on the internet. With so many streaming services, like Amazon Prime, Showmax, and Netflix, you want your VPN to work well on all of them without slowing down your download speed and making you wait when you want to watch your favorite show.

Netflix has a service called fast.com that lets you test how fast your device connects to the Netflix server closest to you. As useful as this is for the average user, it is also a good way to find out if the VPN you are using is slowing down your streaming download speed.

We already knew from our speed tests that Surfshark’s server speeds are fast enough for HD/4K streaming. Because of this, it works well with Netflix.

Netflix has found and blocked the VPN servers of many service providers, but most Surfshark servers still let you watch Netflix without any restrictions. It lets you get Netflix from any country or region where it’s blocked.

Geo-Restriction and Censorship

The NoBorder feature built into Windows apps lets them get around geo-restrictions and censorship. All other platforms, like iOS, Mac OS, and Android, need to be set up in a certain way to access sites that aren’t allowed in China. The Great Firewall of China is one of the hardest things for any VPN that claims to be able to get around geo-restrictions.

Most people who use Surfshark say that it does work in China. But it’s important to remember that China is always improving its anti-VPN technology. Because of this, VPNs have to work harder to keep working there against censorship and geo-restrictions.

How Does Surfshark Help You Manage Unwanted Ads?

We see ads for millions of products and services online every day in the online world we live in now. But these ads aren’t always what people want. An ad blocker is often one of the services that a VPN service provider offers. This keeps ads that you don’t want from filling up your screen.

This is already built into Surfshark. Promising to block ads, trackers, and malware that aren’t wanted. This promise is well kept by Surfshark.

Location, Location, Location

When looking for a VPN, you want one that lets you connect from as many places as possible. This lets you have IP addresses in many different places, making it easier to find out about prices, products, and other things in those places. The more regions a VPN service lets you connect to, the easier it will be to hide your IP address and protect your privacy online.

Over 1700 servers in 63 countries are part of Surfshark VPN. Customers can choose a server location in any of the 63 countries offered by the vendor. In some parts of the world, you can choose the city where your IP address will show up.

If you want to hide your IP address but don’t want to slow down your internet speed, Surfshark gives you the option to choose either the fastest server near you or the country that is closest to you.

This makes it easy to protect your privacy without slowing down your internet. It also lets you take advantage of many of the other benefits that come with using a foreign IP.

Is Surfshark User-friendly?

Any interface you use should be easy to understand and use. It should be easy enough for anyone to use. Surfshark is one of the VPNs that are easy to use. Even if you have never used a VPN before, Surfshark is easy to use and will get you up and running quickly.

This makes it easy for you to turn your VPN on and off whenever you want. This makes it easy to turn on your VPN when you think your privacy online is at risk.

A quick switch between regions

This lets you switch between different countries by clicking on the flag of the one you want. Making it easy to compare prices and products in different countries.

Easily accessible setting changes

This lets you choose which features of Surfshark VPN you want to use. For example, you could block ads.

This makes it easy to sign in and out of your account, change your password, extend your chosen plan, change your app’s language and mode, and change how you want to use it. (light or dark)

It’s also easy to install the Surfshark VPN app on your device. Once you’ve made an account, put in your password and username, and chosen a payment plan, all you have to do is click the “Download” button on the website. This will add it to your downloads so you can put it on the device you chose.

Most people would find it easy to use Surfshark because it is not hard to understand and is easy to change to fit their needs.

How much would it cost to use Surfshark?

If you’re interested in a VPN, you’ll want to know how much it will cost and if it’s worth the price. Surfshark’s prices aren’t too bad, especially when you think about how many features and good deals it offers. The pricing plans are available in Australian, Canadian, and US dollars, the British pound, the Euro, and the Chinese yuan.

If you use this VPN provider’s service, you can choose from three different payment plans. These things are:

  • Plan for each month: This plan costs the most per month, but it’s good for people who aren’t sure if they want to use a VPN or not.
  • A plan for one year is much cheaper than a plan for one month, and it’s best for people who use VPNs often.
  • A plan for two years is cheaper than both a plan for one month and one for one year. Perfect for people who always use Surfshark VPN services.

This vendor offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, which is a great sign that it has a lot of faith in its VPN servers.

Compared to other VPN services, Surfshark is one of those that gives you the most for your money.

Additional Surfshark Features

In addition to Surfshark’s main features, the company goes even further to protect its customers’ privacy. Some of the most notable ones are:

The kill switch

There is a kill switch for Surfshark. This is an automatic button to turn something off. It makes sure that your private information stays safe, even if you suddenly lose your connection to the VPN server.

Camouflage mode

Surfshark also has this feature that keeps your service provider from seeing what you do on the internet. Making sure there are no DNS leaks and that privacy is completely protected.

Chat support

Surfshark also has this online service you can use if you have any questions or problems with the VPN service they offer. This makes customer service enjoyable and easy.

In Conclusion

Surfshark is one of the best VPNs you can use right now. It costs a reasonable amount of money and has a lot of features that may not be common in the industry yet.

It has an unlimited number of connections at the same time and an unlimited amount of bandwidth. Surfshark has become one of the best VPNs for streaming videos and playing games online because all of its servers are fast.

The VPN solutions from Surfshark are made to give you the most privacy and security possible. Your online activities will be private and safe thanks to the no-log policy, multihop, private DNS, and kill switch. It has some of the best protocols and encryptions in the business.

Even people who have never used a VPN before will find it easy to use. You can see at a glance what information there is about the VPN or your account. When you log in, you get an overview of the status of your connection and your account information. Surfshark is one of the safest and most private VPNs out there right now.

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