Surfshark is a Netherlands-based VPN provider that has built a reputation for offering a broad feature set at a competitive price point. With an overall score of 87% in our evaluation, it ranks well across categories including speed, security, and usability. This page breaks down what Surfshark charges, how its plans compare, and what you should know before subscribing.
Available Plans
Surfshark structures its pricing around subscription length. Like most VPN providers, it offers monthly, annual, and multi-year billing options. The monthly plan carries the highest per-month cost and is best suited for short-term needs. The one-year plan reduces the effective monthly rate considerably, while the two-year plan (when available) typically offers the lowest per-month cost of any option.
Surfshark also offers tiered product bundles beyond its base VPN plan. The core VPN subscription gives you access to the standard VPN service, including unlimited simultaneous connections, access to servers in numerous countries, and features such as its NoBorders mode and CleanWeb ad-blocking tool. Higher-tier bundles — often labeled along the lines of "One" or "One+" — add services such as antivirus protection, data breach alerts, and identity monitoring. These bundles come at an additional monthly cost and are worth considering only if you have a genuine need for those supplementary tools.
What Is Included at the Base Level
Even at the entry-level subscription, Surfshark includes features that some competitors reserve for premium tiers. Unlimited simultaneous device connections is a notable inclusion, as many VPN providers cap this at five or six devices. The service supports common VPN protocols including WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2. A kill switch, split tunneling, and DNS leak protection are available across supported platforms.
Value Considerations
The value case for Surfshark depends significantly on which plan length you choose. The monthly rate at short-term billing is less competitive when compared with longer commitments. If you commit to a multi-year plan, the effective monthly cost drops substantially and positions Surfshark as one of the more affordable full-featured VPN options available.
However, multi-year commitments carry inherent risk. VPN providers can change ownership, adjust their logging policies, or modify service quality over time. Surfshark has changed hands in the past — it merged with Nord Security — which is a factor some privacy-conscious users consider before locking in a long subscription. Its jurisdiction in the Netherlands means it operates under EU data protection law, which provides some baseline privacy expectations, though the Netherlands is a member of the Nine Eyes intelligence alliance.
The unlimited device connections policy adds genuine value for households or individuals managing multiple devices, effectively reducing the per-device cost to zero beyond the subscription itself.
Renewal Pricing
A common point of confusion with Surfshark — and many VPN providers — is the difference between introductory and renewal pricing. Promotional rates applied at signup typically apply only to the initial subscription term. When a plan renews, it often does so at a higher standard rate. Prospective subscribers should check the renewal pricing disclosed at checkout before committing, rather than assuming the initial rate will persist.
Refund Policy
Surfshark offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on its plans. This applies regardless of which subscription length you choose. The guarantee is reasonably straightforward: if you request a refund within 30 days of purchase, you are eligible for a full refund. Requests made after this window are not covered. It is advisable to initiate any refund request through official support channels and to keep a record of the transaction.