Surfshark Review | Rating the New Kid on the VPN Block

First launched in 2018, Surfshark VPN jumped into a cut-throat industry full of fierce competition. Surprisingly, they have not only survived their first couple of years, they seem to be making a name for themselves. In this Surfshark review, I want to look at what sets them apart and compare this new kid on the block with the established VPN players.

I rarely review new VPN services. Trust me – I get at least 2-3 emails per week asking me for a review.

But there was something about Surfshark that struck me as different. I can’t explain exactly what it was in the beginning, but now that I’ve had a chance to use the software, I know exactly why.

It’s just a darn good VPN.

In this Surfshark review, we’re going to uncover how they’ve managed to create such a good service. I’ll explain the kind of features they offer and how it runs on various devices. You can use the navigation links here to jump to a specific section, or you can continue scrolling to read more.

• Who is the Company behind SurfShark?
• Review of Surfshark VPN 2020
  • Features List
  • Pros and Cons
  • What Makes Them Different
• Surfshark Setup Tutorial
  • Setup on Desktop
  • Setup on Mobile

I hope that you find this review of Surfshark VPN helpful as you continue to do your research for a service that fits your needs.

Note: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links, which means that at no extra cost to you, I may be compensated if you choose to use one of the services listed. I only recommend what I personally have used, and I appreciate your support!

Who is Running the Surfshark Show?

As our world continues to get more connected, people are becoming more aware of the need for internet privacy.

Commercial VPNs have become a staple of this privacy movement, a tool used to encrypt data as it travels from your devices (laptops, tablets & mobile) through the internet.

The problem is that there are hundreds of companies that sell virtual private network services and a number of them are used by bad actors to steal data.

Where does Surfshark fit into this?

Honestly…

…I have no idea.

Other than the fact that the company is based in the British Virgin Islands (as are many other VPNs because of the privacy laws), I can’t find too much detail about them. LinkedIn shows a few affiliate managers, but no leadership. Here’s what their “About” page looks like:

Is this a good or a bad thing?

It really depends on who you talk to. For me, I like to know who I’m entrusting my data privacy to, and Surfshark doesn’t give me much to go on.

When you compare Surfshark to one like VyprVPN, a company that not only lists their leadership team on the about page but also has a team picture, you can see there’s a major difference.

Surfshark Review for 2020

To start, you can watch my Surfshark review on YouTube:

Make sure to subscribe to the All Things Secured YouTube channel!

As we dive deeper into this Surfshark review, I want to clarify a couple point here.

First, I’ve used over 30 different VPNs over the past ten years, so a lot of how I’m structuring this review of Surfshark VPN is based on how it compares to other popular services on the market today.

Second, since I don’t have the ability to audit their internal security or logging practices, I can only share with you what they themselves market on their website. Take that for what it’s worth (and this is true for pretty much all VPNs).

Now, with that said, I have to admit that Surfshark is quickly becoming my favorite VPN.

It has obviously been designed by someone who has taken all the best features and benefits of other virtual private network apps and packaged them into one, new service.

What kind of features and benefits does it offer?

Allow me to explain as we continue with this Surfshark review.

Surfshark Features | What They Offer

When compared against this list of the most important features in a VPN, Surfshark ticks all the boxes.

These are the features that I consider standard. In other words, every VPN should have these features, and thankfully Surfshark does.

These standard features aren’t what make Surfshark unique, though. This is what you should expect from any service, honestly.

It’s the extra features offered by Surfshark that I find interesting. You won’t find these features in most virtual private network apps, especially not all together.

These extra features include:

• Double-Hop VPN: As an added security feature, Surfshark allows users on all platforms to connect on what’s known as a “double-hop” server. Basically, this means that you’re routing your connection through two VPN servers instead of just one, which increases your security and makes it harder for your location to be traced.

• SmartDNS: Surfshark offers SmartDNS! This is a huge benefit for those users who want to add a VPN to Apple TV which, unlike Amazon Fire TV, doesn’t offer dedicated VPN apps.
• Unlimited Simultaneous Connections: If you’re a family, this is a feature you’re going to love. While most services only allow you to connect 3-6 devices on one account simultaneously, Surfshark removes those restrictions. Now each member of your family can connect their phones, tablets, computers and TVs without any problems.
• Split Tunneling (“Whitelister”): Surfshark is one of the few apps that offers VPN split tunneling, a feature that lets you choose which apps or websites get directed through the encrypted tunnel. Sadly, it’s only available on Windows and Android (Apple doesn’t allow this kind of feature on its devices yet).

• GPS Override: This is a cool feature I haven’t seen in many other apps that overrides your phone’s GPS coordinates. It’ll mess you up if you want to call for an Uber, but if you want to watch YouTube TV, this feature will be your best friend. (only available on Android, unfortunately)

What I love most about these features is that many of them aren’t concealed behind some weird “advanced settings” tab. They’re right in the open, begging for you to use them.

Surfshark Review | VPN Pros and Cons

There’s a lot to love about using the Surfshark apps. They’re designed well so as to be easy to use, even if you don’t consider yourself to be “tech-savvy”.

For the purpose of this Surfshark review, I’m going to quickly list the pros and cons of the service below.

Unfortunately, there a few great features of the VPN that aren’t available to us Mac and iOS users.

In some cases (i.e. no OpenVPN protocol option for Mac), that’s the fault of Surfshark. In other cases (i.e. split tunneling), that has to do with what Apple allows developers to do.

Ultimately, the pros far outweigh the cons, which as you can tell in this Surfshark review, makes it easy for me to review them.

What Makes Surfshark Different?

Before I finish up this formal review of Surfshark, there are a few “add-ons” that set Surfshark apart from the competition.

I don’t consider these “features”, which is why I’m listing them separately.

What makes Surfshark different?

• NoBorder Censorship Bypass: For those users who live in countries like China that heavily censor their internet, Surfshark offers a setting called “NoBorders”. They don’t specify exactly what this setting does other than limit your options to a special list of servers that works best in restrictive regions.

• CleanWeb Ad Blocking: Another valuable add-on to Surfshark is their CleanWeb service. Not only does it end up blocking popups and intrusive ads as you surf the internet, it also prevents you from visiting malicious websites or clicking through email phishing scam links.
• BlindSearch: If you’d rather search the internet without leaving a trail or seeing a whole page-worth of advertisements, BlindSearch gives you the option to make anonymous searches. If you often use “Incognito Mode” in your browser, this is something you might like.

• HackLock: Surfshark is promoting this in beta mode, but I personally don’t find it useful. By providing either your email or password (or both), you can see if it’s been leaked on the so-called “dark web”. Please don’t give out this information to a 3rd-party. Instead, considering using a good password manager app to create better passwords.

With the exception of HackLock, I find each of these to be add-ons that add a lot of value to an already low-cost service.

When you consider that Surfshark is already half the price of most other popular VPN services, but packed with just as many (and in some cases more) features, it’s no wonder they’ve made a name for themselves in such a short time.

Surfshark VPN Setup Tutorial

Ok, I’m now going to transition out of a focused Surfshark review to more of a setup tutorial.

The value here, though, is that you’re going to get a good look at exactly what the apps look like for both desktop and mobile devices.

The app differs slightly for different operating systems (i.e. Mac vs Windows or iPhone vs Android), but I’m not going to get into all the details on the differences.

The hope here is that you can see how they’ve designed the user experience to see if it works for you.

Desktop Setup Tutorial for Surfshark

After you visit the Surfshark website to download and install the Surfshark desktop app, you’ll be prompted to either sign in or sign up for a free 7-day trial.

You can take advantage of the 7-day free trial, but with a 30-day money back guarantee, I’m more than happy to just sign up first and then test out the software.

After you sign in, the primary screen that you’ll work from looks like this:

In the above screenshot, there are couple things that you’ll see:

1. IP Address: Surfshark’s desktop app tells you exactly what your IP address is both when you are connected to the servers and when you aren’t.
2. VPN Kill Switch: It’s easy to toggle the VPN kill switch from within the app at any time.
3. VPN Server Choices: On the upper-left, you’ll see that you have options to connect to physical servers, virtual, P2P and MultiHop servers. This is a convenient way to find exactly what you need and something not many other VPN services do well.

As for preferences and advanced settings on the Surfshark desktop app, here’s what you get:

Most of this is pretty standard for VPNs, but it’s nice that the options are there.

What’s unique about Surfshark VPN’s settings is that you can set specific options based on the network that you connect to, as shown here:

Actions allow you to “Always connect” or “Terminate Connection” when your computer connects to a specific network or an unknown WiFi network.

Now’s let’s take a look at the mobile app for Surfshark.

Mobile Setup Tutorial for Surfshark

The Surfshark VPN app on your mobile device looks incredibly similar to what you’ll find on your desktop app.

After you download and sign in, you can easily tap “Quick Connect” to get connected to the fastest available server.

In the above screenshots, you see what the app looks like before you’re connected (left) and what it looks like when you’re connected (right).

You can allow the app to choose the best server, or you can click on “Locations” on the bottom menu to access the available servers.

As with the desktop app, the mobile app gives you the option to choose from physical servers, virtual servers, P2P and MultiHop options.

Finally, we’ll take a look at the available settings that come with a mobile app.

The settings here give you access to things like the kill switch, WiFi network configurations and protocols (unlike the MacOS version, the iOS version gives you options for different connection protocols).

You also get access to the add-ons I’ve covered in the above Surfshark review, including BlindSearch, HackLock and CleanWeb.

CleanWeb is the only one that is native to the app. The other two are opened in a separate browser.

Overall, the app is very user-friendly and quick to connect.

Final Thoughts: Is Surfshark Worth It?

So the million-dollar question: Is Surfshark worth it?

Hopefully you’ve seen in this review of Surfshark what makes the service unique. It shares many of the same features that you’ll find in other virtual private networks, but it seems to do them better.

On top of that, it gives you access to a number of different features you won’t find with other services. This includes SmartDNS, Whitelister (split tunneling), CleanWeb and many more.

Finally, if you’ve done your research and compared other competitors like NordVPN or ExpressVPN, you know by now that they are significantly cheaper.

So yes…Surfshark offers amazing value and is definitely worth it.

Give them a try and if you don’t agree with me, get your money back within 30 days.