- Unlimited simultaneous connections
- Extensive device compatibility
- A great choice for streaming
- Responsive customer support
- Excellent security and privacy
- Very reliable server speeds
- Extensive server network
- Allows torrenting
Which Is Better NordVPN or Surfshark?
Surfshark is cheaper than NordVPN and costs only $2.49/mo, where NordVPN you can get for $3.71/mo.
NordVPN is premium VPN and offers a better 4096-bit RSA key. In contrast, Surfshark uses 2048-bit RSA keys, which are still secure, but slightly less so.
I work in the digital space, so I take privacy very seriously.
A VPN service is a must for my work, otherwise, mine and my clients’ files are at risk.
There are so many VPNs available on the market. It was hard for me, as I’m sure it is for you, to choose the best one.
Finally, I narrowed it down to two – Surfshark vs NordVPN.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Privacy & Jurisdiction
Both NordVPN and Surfshark are headquartered in privacy-friendly jurisdictions – Panama and British Virgin Islands, respectively. Neither country is signatory to the Five Eyes or 14-eyes agreements.
This means that the companies aren’t obliged to provide any government with access to customers’ data, thus ensuring your privacy.
The no-logging policy of NordVPN is clearly outlined in its privacy policy.
It doesn’t monitor, log, record, store, or transfer your activities, such as traffic logs and IP addresses.
Surfshark’s privacy policy specifies that the company doesn’t collect IP addresses or browsing history, except for how frequently you use the service, which can’t be used to identify you.
That’s the essence of an effective no-logging policy.
However, it does specify that Surfshark may update the policy at its discretion, and continued usage signifies agreement.
For me, this was an issue since I don’t have time to conduct periodic checks of privacy policies, unless I’m notified. I see this as a drawback.
Privacy Winner: NordVPN
Security & Encryption
NordVPN uses IKEv2, NordLynx and IPsec.
The ciphers used to generate Phase1 keys are AES-256-GCM for encryption, coupled with SHA2-384 to ensure integrity, combined with PFS (Perfect Forward Secrecy) using 3072-bit Diffie Hellmann keys.NordVPN and Surfshark both can unblock the US Netflix and offer a kill switch.
I ran two DNS Leak tests (through IPv6leak.com and DNSLeak) on both VPNs to check whether there were possibilities of an IP leak. Fortunately, neither NordVPN or Surfshark were leaking.
NordVPN allows you to automatically connect whenever you’re using an unsecured wifi network. Meanwhile, Surfshark has a split tunneling feature (known as Whitelister) which lets you specify apps and websites that can bypass the VPN.
NordVPN has a kill-switch enabled which you can customize manually, across all platforms.
Countries & Servers
If a VPN service has a wide server coverage, it provides you with more chances to access country-specific content and set up your speed to your liking.
The closer a server to your actual location, the better speed you have.
With Surfshark, you have a choice of over 1700 servers in 63+ countries.
For a VPN that’s only been on the market for a year, that’s very impressive.
NordVPN, on the other hand, has over 5400 servers in 59 countries.
That means a very wide server coverage in specific countries.
This can be particularly handy for users in large countries like Russia or China.
Dedicated IP
A dedicated IP address is helpful when you consistently need to access the same server.
It doesn’t change over time. NordVPN subscription includes Dedicated IP service for addresses in the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and France.
This feature is great for those of you that need to consistently access files on the same server.
Surfshark doesn’t offer dedicated IP support at this time.
Affordability
Since Surfshark is quite new to the industry, it’s understandable that it wants to stay competitive by offering lower prices than other providers, to compensate for the lack of goodwill assets.
Its most expensive plan is $59.76, valid for 24 months. Compared to NordVPN’s $119.76 at the same time, Surfshark’s rates are much more competitive.
Surfshark also allows for PayPal payments, which NordVPN discontinued.
NordVPN Subscribtion Plans
Surfshark VPN Subscription Plans
Speed & Performance
NordVPN Speed Results
Surfshark Speed Results
Speed-wise, NordVPN has shown significantly better results across the board.
From what I’ve seen in TorGuard vs NordVPN comparison too, the European servers were working as well as I could expect, with only marginal speed reductions. With Surfshark, the speed reduction was significantly higher.
Media Streaming
If you’re someone who frequently streams video content but has limited access to streaming service, a VPN is the answer.
Netflix and Hulu are the most popular services, but I also like BBC iPlayer, so it was important for me to find a VPN that could stream all three.
Both NordVPN and Surfshark do exactly that.
However, not all servers work with streaming platforms.
With Surfshark, Hulu was available on every server I tested, just as promised by their FAQs.
Surfshark provides instructions on how to connect to a specific server to stream country-specific Netflix content.
I found that to be quite helpful and happy to report that their instructions worked, albeit not without speed loss.
NordVPN also performed very well when I tried to access Netflix, Hulu and iPlayer.
For the latter, you need to connect to a U.K. server for both Surfshark and NordVPN.
Same for accessing ITV.
Torrenting (P2P)
NordVPN’s package includes specialized servers for P2P sharing – torrenting.
These specialty servers are meant to keep your file sharing secure.
This USP is a major draw for NordVPN as a favorite for torrenting.
After testing a couple of P2P servers, I have to agree.
Surfshark also allows torrenting. The company claims that their product is “torrent-friendly” in its entirety.
And since it allows for unlimited simultaneous connections, you can stream on your laptop and torrent on another device at the same time.
However, when you compare NordVPN vs Surfshark, it’s clear that Surfshark doesn’t have as many servers as NordVPN, and therefore, there’s a bigger danger of overcrowding. The speed was also slower than NordVPN’s.
Multi-Platform Compatibility
When using Surfshark, I could connect to an unlimited number of devices at the same time within the subscription. I could use my iPhone, my Android tablet and my Windows-enabled laptop at the same time with no problem.
Surfshark also works on Linux and there’re plug-ins for Chrome and Firefox browsers.
For Fire TV and Apple TV, the website provides very straightforward instructions.
For me, this USP was a strong argument in favor of Surfshark.
NordVPN allows connections on up to six devices at a time. Those gadgets can be Windows, iOS, macOS, Android and Linux. Like with Surfshark, browser extensions are available.
I found that all my devices connected to NordVPN were working perfectly at the same time.
If you want to connect more devices and use Apple TV with a VPN, NordVPN recommends special VPN-enabled routers at a discount.
Customer Support
Both NordVPN and Surfshark have a Live Chat feature to help you solve any issues or answer your questions 24/7.
I found the support team of both services ready to answer my queries instantly – they were about kill-switch on various devices that support the VPN services.
However, I felt that the answers I received from Surfshark’s customer support was more comprehensive.
The manager took the time to explain the issue with the kill switch, rather than link me to a blog entry which is what’s happened with NordVPN.
While the blog entry was interesting, I would’ve preferred an immediate response.
FAQ
Is Surfshark a Good VPN?
Which VPN Provider Is Faster?
Which VPN Provider Is Cheaper?
Which VPN is Best for Streaming?
The Overall Winner
The most important thing in a VPN is the privacy and security of your online activities.
In this comparison review, both VPN providers scored very high on that front.
However, the clear winner is NordVPN, thanks to its additional security features and wide server coverage that Surfshark currently doesn’t have.
The Surfshark is ahead of NordVPN, however, in terms of pricing and customer support.
Test both services for yourself and decide which one YOU prefer!
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