Surfshark

Picture this: a household with four people, two laptops, three phones, two tablets, a smart TV, and a gaming console — 12 devices that should probably be on a VPN. With NordVPN, that’s two subscriptions. With ExpressVPN, two subscriptions. With ProtonVPN Plus, two subscriptions. With Surfshark, it’s one. (affiliate link) But that single difference — unlimited simultaneous connections at $2.49/month on the long-term plan — is Surfshark’s headline advantage. But a VPN isn’t worth any price if speed, privacy, or streaming reliability fall short. So we put it through a 10-server speed benchmark, a 5-platform streaming test, and a full privacy stack check to see whether the unlimited-device pitch holds up in practice. ...

Disclosure: Some links below are affiliate links. If you sign up through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. NordVPN — starts at $3.49/mo (2-year plan) Surfshark — starts at $2.39/mo (2-year plan) DigitalOcean — $200 credit for new users Your ISP sees every site you visit. Streaming platforms block entire countries. And somewhere in a data center, a server logs the fact that you connected at 2:14 AM. ...

So you’re in a CS2 match, peeking mid on Dust II. And your crosshair is locked on the enemy’s head. You click. Nothing. Half a second later, you’re back in the spawn screen. Your ping counter reads 180ms, and the kill cam confirms what you already know — your ISP routed you through three congested hops that added 100ms of unnecessary latency. Still, a VPN could have fixed that routing. But which one actually works without making things worse? ...

Two VPNs dominate the conversation in 2026. One is the speed benchmark — the service reviewers reach for when they need to prove a connection can sustain near-native throughput. The other built its reputation on a single, aggressive promise: unlimited devices for less than the price of a single NordVPN subscription. NordVPN vs Surfshark isn’t about which is “better.” It’s about which fits your specific setup. Our benchmark team ran 40+ speed tests across five server locations, tested streaming access on four platforms, verified DNS/IPv6/WebRTC leakage, and stacked feature tables end to end. Here’s what the data says. ...

ProtonVPN’s Swiss jurisdiction has been audited three times for no-log compliance since 2020 — zero violations found. And Surfshark runs 4,500+ servers across 100 countries and doesn’t cap device count. And one prioritizes verifiable privacy at the architecture level. The other prioritizes feature breadth and unlimited connectivity. But these are two different philosophies competing for the same user. And depending on what you actually need, the wrong pick costs you either more than you should pay or more privacy than you intended to give up. ...