About Surfshark
Surfshark is a consumer VPN service that encrypts your connection and hides your traffic from trackers and snoopers. Its main selling point is that a single subscription can protect an unlimited number of devices, which suits households and people who juggle several phones, laptops and tablets.
Alongside the VPN, the company sells additional privacy and security products: an antivirus for devices, an ad-free private search engine, breach monitoring called Alert, and Alternative ID, a tool that generates a fresh online identity with a new email address and phone number. Dedicated IP addresses and a VPN plan for teams are also offered.
Surfshark is proprietary and distributed as a paid subscription through apps for major platforms. It belongs to a wider family of products that includes Incogni, a service for removing personal data from brokers, and Saily, an eSIM data service. The homepage advertises a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Key features
- VPN with unlimited simultaneous devices
- Antivirus add-on for devices
- Data breach alerts
- Private ad-free web search
- Alternative ID for disposable identities
- Dedicated IP option
Good fit for
- →Protecting every device in a household
- →Monitoring personal data for breaches
- Tags
- vpn
- privacy
- security
- consumer
- antivirus
- data-breach-alerts
- dedicated-ip
Surfshark: questions and answers
- What is Surfshark used for?
- Surfshark is a consumer VPN allowing unlimited device connections, bundled with antivirus, data breach alerts, private search and other privacy add-ons. It is a good fit for protecting every device in a household and monitoring personal data for breaches.
- How much does Surfshark cost?
- Surfshark is a paid product with no free plan. Paid subscription with a 30-day money-back guarantee advertised; plans are listed on the vendor's pricing page.
- Is Surfshark open source?
- No. Surfshark is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Surfshark include IPsec VPN Server, OpenVPN and wg-easy.
- What are some alternatives to Surfshark?
- Surfshark competes with ExpressVPN, CyberGhost and Hotspot Shield. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Surfshark alternatives.
Open-source alternatives to Surfshark
See all
IPsec VPN Server
Networking & VPN
Docker image to run an IPsec VPN server, with IPsec/L2TP, Cisco IPsec and IKEv2. Auto-gene
OSSvs ExpressVPN★ 7.1k
OpenVPN
Networking & VPN
OpenVPN is an open source VPN daemon
OSSvs NordLayer★ 15k
wg-easy
Networking & VPN
The easiest way to run WireGuard VPN + Web-based Admin UI.
AGPL-3.0vs NordVPN★ 27kHeadscale
Networking & VPN
An open source, self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale control server
BSD-3-Clausevs Tailscale★ 44k
Nebula
Networking & VPN
A scalable overlay networking tool with a focus on performance, simplicity and security
MITvs Tailscale★ 18k
OpenZiti
Networking & VPN
The parent project for OpenZiti. Here you will find the executables for a fully zero-trust
Apache-2.0vs Twingate★ 4.4k
SaaS alternatives to Surfshark
See all
ExpressVPN
Networking & VPN
Consumer VPN service with apps for desktop, mobile, routers and browsers
SaaS
CyberGhost
Networking & VPN
Consumer VPN service with streaming-optimized servers and a no-logs policy
SaaS
Hotspot Shield
Networking & VPN
Consumer VPN with its own transport protocol and a limited free version
SaaS
Private Internet Access
Networking & VPN
Consumer VPN service with a large server network and configurable privacy settings
SaaS
PureVPN
Networking & VPN
Consumer VPN with a large server network
SaaS
NordVPN
Networking & VPN
Consumer VPN service with threat protection, double VPN and meshnet
SaaS

