🏆Winner: Surfshark
In this Surfshark vs NordVPN comparison, we put to test two of the most iconic VPN providers in the market through extensive testing on 12 different performance criteria and found Surfshark to be the winner. Surfshark offers unlimited simultaneous connection, unblocks 30+ Netflix libraries, and is available at a cheap price of $2.21/mo .
There are hundreds of VPN services out there, but only some can be trusted. Undoubtedly, every VPN service promises to deliver security and privacy, but not all of them stay true to their words. At VPNRanks, we have tested hundreds of VPNs to find the right VPN provider for your needs.
Based on extensive testing that we did for our NordVPN vs Surfshark comparison, we can confidently say that NordVPN and Surfshark are great VPNs for anyone who wants to secure their online privacy and security.
A Quick Comparison of NordVPN and Surfshark
This table covers a quick summary of almost 9 important factors to help you choose the most appropriate VPN according to your requirement.
 |  | |
| Jurisdiction | British Virgin Islands | Panama |
| Security | AES 256 Bit | AES 256 Bit |
| Leaks | No IP, DNS & WebRTC | No IP, DNS & WebRTC |
| Servers | 3,200+ in 65 Countries | 5,200+ in 59 Countries |
| Speed | 24.9 Mbps average | 93.5 Mbps average |
| Streaming | Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and More | Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and More |
| Torrenting | ✔ | ✔ |
| Compatibility | Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, routers | Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, routers |
| Customer Support | Live chat, tutorials, knowledgebase | Live chat, tutorials, knowledgebase |
| Pricing | $2.49/month | $3.71/month |
| Trustpilot | 4.3 ★★★★ – Reviews 9,718 | 4.0 ★★★★ – Reviews 6,127 |
| More Info | ExpressVPN Review | NordVPN Review |
| Visit Site | Visit Site |
Winner: 🏆 Surfshark
Quick Overview: NordVPN vs Surfshark
Before we go into details, here is a brief overview of 11 different categories on which both NordVPN and Surfshark have been tested in this article:
- Pricing Plans – We evaluated various subscription plans offered by both these providers along with their refund policies to see which one of them offers budget-friendly and economical subscriptions.
- Payment Methods – We also looked at the various payment methods offered by NordVPN and Surfshark to determine which provider had more diversity when it comes to payment methods.
- Speed Test – We conducted multiple speed tests on both VPN providers to find out the fastest VPN provider between the two.
- Security features – We closely inspected the numerous security features offered by NordVPN and Surfshark to see which one of them takes the lead over the other concerning security features for an additional layer of online security, privacy, and data protection.
- Privacy and Logging – We looked at the privacy policy of both providers to determine which provider is the safest regarding online privacy and the secrecy of user’s VPN connection logs and personal data.
- Netflix Streaming and Torrenting – We tested both of the VPN providers for their ability to bypass Netflix’s geo-restriction and allow unlimited, unrestricted, and uninterrupted torrenting.
- Customer Support – To determine which provider offers better customer supports to their users, we carefully looked at their live chat, email, and knowledge base support.
- Server Locations – We looked at their server network to determine which provider offers the largest, more diverse, and optimized server network for various purposes such as torrenting, streaming, and online gaming.
- Device compatibility – To see which provider offers official support for many devices, platforms, and operating systems.
- VPN Setup – Evaluate which VPN is easier to install and offers the most user-friendly experience on the majority of the devices.
- Jurisdiction – To see where both the VPNs are located in terms of national security and privacy laws.
Surfshark vs NordVPN 2021 – Detailed Comparison
To determine the better VPN out of the two, I performed a detailed comparison between Surfshark and NordVPN. In this comparison, I analyzed the attributes of both providers and compared their relative strengths and weakness.
Following is the detailed comparison of both providers:
1. Pricing Plans
Result: Surfshark is cheaper than NordVPN
| | |
| 1-month plan | $12.95/mo | $11.95/mo |
| 6-month plan | $6.49/month | No |
| 1-year plan | No | $4.92/mo |
| 2-year plan | $2.21/mo | $3.29/mo (Save 72% on 2-year-plan Holiday Season Offer) |
| Payment methods | Credit cards, PayPal & Bitcoin | Credit cards, Alipay, Bitcoin |
Surfshark Price: Surfshark’s primary USP is a considerably budget-friendly service, priced at $2.21/mo . Surfshark’s 2-year plan is the cheapest one.
NordVPN Price: NordVPN is slightly expensive than Surfshark. However, NordVPN is a reasonably priced VPN costing $3.29/mo (Save 72% on 2-year-plan Holiday Season Offer) if you subscribe to the 2-year plan.
Winner:🏆Surfshark
Both NordVPN and Surfshark are quite affordable, but Surfshark is cheaper than NordVPN. Therefore, it is a winner in the price category.
View our VPN comparison chart for 2021 to check out other budget-friendly VPNs. Other budget-friendly VPN options are PureVPN and IPVanish.
Payment Methods
| Payment Methods | | |
|---|---|---|
| Credit Cards | ✔ | ✔ |
| PayPal | ✔ | ❌ |
| Cryptocurrency | ✔ | ✔ |
| Amazon Pay | ✔ | ✔ |
| Google Pay | ✔ | ✔ |
NordVPN Payment: NordVPN currently accepts credit card payments through Credit Cards (Visa, Master Card, and Discover), Google Pay, Amazon Pay, Union Pay, and ACH Transfer. As for cryptocurrencies, it is accepting Ethereum and Ripple at the time of writing this comparison.
Surfshark Payment: Surfshark offers various credit card payment options, including Master Card, Visa, PayPal, and Discover. Like NordVPN, it also supports Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and 3 cryptocurrencies, i.e., Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple.
Refund policy
Finally, both providers also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. Thus, Surfshark and NordVPN are very similar as far as payment, pricing, and refunds are considered. However, Surfshark has a slight edge courtesy of its lower price.
The provider you decide to go with must have a clear refund policy. There are providers such as TunnelBear that offer refunds on a case-by-case basis, and you wouldn’t want to be stuck with them regarding your funds. However, your refund request may get disapproved by TunnelBear if you decide not to continue with the subscription.
Therefore, always make sure to check the refund policy yourself before committing to any VPN provider. Although the TunnelBear refund policy may seem dodgy, it is still one of the best VPN providers in the industry and can go toe-to-toe with top-tier VPN providers.
Recently, we compared it with NordVPN, and you can check out this blog to decide which one will be your next provider: TunnelBear or NordVPN.
Winner:🏆Surfshark
NordVPN and Surfshark offer multiple payment options, including cryptocurrency, which is excellent for making yourself more anonymous. However, Surfshark is the real winner here as it offers more budget-friendly, economical, and low-cost subscription plans than NordVPN.
2. NordVPN vs Surfshark: Speed Test
Both NordVPN and Surfshark offer good connection speeds. Because both support WireGuard, as it tends to be faster than OpenVPN. We tested both VPNs in our local testing lab with a base speed of 100 Mbps connection. Here are the results:
| Speed | | |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple connections (Local) | 94.5 Mbps | 25.87 Mbps |
| Single connection (Local) | 21.23 Mbps | 95.75 Mbps |
| Distant server speed (US) | 93.5 Mbps | 23.09 Mbps |
| Average Speed | 93.5 Mbps | 23.09 Mbps |
| Average time to initiate server connection | 3 sec | 8 sec |
Let’s see how these two provider performs when tested with different server locations one by one.
Test #1: Surfshark vs NordVPN – US server location
| US Server | | |
|---|---|---|
| Speed Results | 93.5 Mbps | 24.09 Mbps |
NordVPN is one of the fastest VPN services and offers consistent speed across its server network. For example, on a US server, it delivered a speed of 93.5 Mbps.
Surfshark is no slouch itself when it comes to speed. However, on a US server, it clocked at a speed of 24.09 Mbps. That is very slow compared to NordVPN.
Test #2: Surfshark vs NordVPN – Australia server location
| Australia Server | | |
|---|---|---|
| Speed Results | 91 Mbps | 25 Mbps |
NordVPN on its Perth, Australia server offered amazing speeds. It did not disappoint.
Surfshark’s server in Australia, Perth, again offered very low download speeds and high upload speeds.
Slow Speeds with OpenVPN: Surfshark vs NordVPN
It was much slower as compared to connection speeds without the OpenVPN protocol.
In contrast, NordVPN’s OpenVPN speeds were a little better than Surfshark. In addition, the NordVPN DoubleVPN feature also provides fast connection speeds compared to Surfshark’s OpenVPN speeds. Here is the speed test result:
Therefore, NordVPN was faster than Surfshark while using WireGuard as well as OpenVPN protocol. The same was the case in comparing NordVPN vs. TorGuard, where NordVPN offered faster connection speeds on OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols.
Winner:🏆NordVPN
NordVPN is faster than Surfshark. To see how it performs in the speed category against the industry’s other top providers, check out NordVPN vs ExpressVPN and NordVPN vs. PureVPN comparison.
3. Security Test
Result: Both providers possess strong security features
| Security Features | | |
|---|---|---|
| Protocols | OpenVPN, Shadowsocks, WireGuard, IKEv2 | OpenVPN, IKEv2, NordLynx |
| Encryption | AES-256-Bit encryption | AES-256-Bit encryption |
| Control Channel Encryption | 2048-bit RSA keys | 4096-bit RSA key |
| DNS Security | Private DNS | Private DNS |
| Cloaking Technology | NoBorder Obfuscation | Obsproxy |
These providers rely on using OpenVPN and IKEv2 protocols, but Surfshark also supports Shadowsocks (an open-source proxy) and WireGuard, the newest major player in the industry. This feature is known for being easier to audit and faster over long-distance connections.
In fact, NordVPN actually bases its own exclusive protocol, NordLynx, on WireGuard, citing its “lean architecture” as a major selling point.
As for the encryption mechanism, both of these providers use AES-256-Bit encryption. This encryption technique scrambles your traffic using a secret key, meaning anyone looking in can only see meaningless data.
In addition, NordVPN utilizes a 4096-bit RSA key to let your device communicate with the VPN privately. In contrast, Surfshark uses 2048-bit RSA keys, which are still secure but slightly less so.
Winner:🏆It’s a Tie
Since each VPN consists of quite valuable proprietary features of its own, this round is a tie.
4. NordVPN vs Surfshark: Privacy & Logging Policy
| Logging Policy | | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | The British Virgin Islands | Panama |
| Connection Logs | None | None |
| Activity Logs | None | None |
| User deatils for sign up | Email address | Email address |
| Anonymous Payment Option | Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple | Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple |
Surfshark follows a strict zero-logging policy. Similarly, NordVPN guarantees against any form of user information or activity logging.
NordVPNs Privacy Policy:
NordVPN does not keep any user data. It only logs some technical information like usernames, server load information to recommend the most suitable server, and email address when creating an account.
Surfshark’s Privacy Policy:
Surfshark does not log any user information. It also doesn’t log the personal information that users provide when creating an account.
Winner:🏆Its a Tie
Both NordVPN and Surfshark underwent an audit in 2018, and it shows that they don’t keep any traffic logs, connection logs, or IP addresses. In fact, both of these providers are two of the most trustworthy VPNs in the industry as far as logging policy is concerned. Both VPNs are secure.
5. Special features
When talking about special or advanced features, both VPN providers have some unique and common features available. For example, both vendors offer an internet kill switch, but Surfshark offers a Multi-Hop feature equivalent to the NordVPNs Double VPN feature.
NordVPN has a few interesting features that are not available with Surfshark. Onion Over VPN, which allows you to use both the Onion anonymizer and Nord’s VPN together. NordVPN also allows you to buy a dedicated IP address, which can help if you wish to remotely access few devices or protect yourself from DDOS attacks during online games.
Both providers offer malware and adware filtering, although Surfshark’s AdBlock VPN feature appears to be more inclusive. Surfshark also offers Camouflage Mode, which can prevent your local ISP from knowing you’re surfing using a VPN.
While NordVPN has a blog post on whitelisting, they don’t appear to have whitelisting as an actual client feature. By contrast, Suftshark uses its split-tunneling feature as a whitelister.
To know what feature is available with which provider, you can check out our table below:
| Features | | |
|---|---|---|
| Kill Switch | ✔ | ✔ |
| Double VPN | ✔ (Multi-Hop) | ✔ |
| Ad blocker | ✔ (CleanWeb) | ✔ (CyberSec) |
| Onion Over VPN | ❌ | ✔ |
| Split Tunneling | ✔ (WhiteLister) | ✔ |
| Simultaneous Connections | Unlimited | 6 |
Winner: 🏆It’s a Tie
Since both VPN providers possess almost the same features, with the only exclusions being Whitelister and Onion Over VPN, it is safe to say that this round is a tie.
6. NordVPN vs Surfshark: Netflix Streaming and Torrenting
Surfshark guarantees access to 15 various Netflix libraries. This ability to overcome 15 Netflix libraries’ geo-restriction has worked as a great selling point and a reason to keep the service up.
NordVPN did pretty well in our testing as well. It easily circumvents every Netflix library restriction we tried. However, other streaming services sometimes required few tries.
Both NordVPN and Surfshark had amazing results as they unblocked all of the geo-restricted streaming platforms in the table below. In addition, both the VPNs also unblocked various Netflix libraries, and we never had to encounter Netflix proxy error.
| Streaming | | |
|---|---|---|
| Netflix | US, UK, Canada, Germany, Australia, South Korea, Japan, and more. | US, UK, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Spain, and more. |
| Hulu | US, Japan (Multi-Hop) | US, Japan |
| Amazon Prime Video | ✔ | ✔ |
| BBC iPlayer | ✔ | ✔ |
| Disney+ | ✔ | ✔ |
| HBO Max | ✔ | ✔ |
| HBO NOW | ✔ | ✔ |
| HBO GO | ✔ | ✔ |
| Vudu | ✔ | ✔ |
| SHOWTIME | ✔ | ✔ |
| Sky TV | ✔ | ✔ |
| ESPN | ✔ | ✔ |
| DAZN | ✔ | ✔ |
Winner:🏆It’s a Tie
As shown in the table above, both NordVPN and Surfshark come with excellent unblocking capabilities and work with all the major streaming platforms. For this reason, the result is a tie.
7. Surfshark vs NordVPN: Torrenting
To find out the best VPN for torrenting among NordVPN and Surfshark, we carried out extensive torrenting using uTorrent and BitTorrent software and a base internet connection of 100 Mbps.
During our testing, both of these providers delivered almost similar torrenting speeds. However, with a speed of 84.35 Mbps, NordVPN did manage to take a very minimal lead from Surfshark, which ended up delivering 82.67 Mbps speed.
In a nutshell, you can choose either NordVPN or Surfshark to download your favourite torrents securely and anonymously. Interestingly, both VPN services operate from user-friendly countries and have plenty of P2P-supported servers in their VPN infrastructure.
The AES-256-Bit encryption and zero-logging policies ensure that you can safely download torrents without worrying about getting tracked down by authorities. In addition, Surfshark and NordVPN don’t have data limits, so you can download as many torrents as you want.
Learn more regarding the NordVPN torrenting guide.
Winner:🏆It’s a Tie
Both providers offer military-grade AES-256-Bit encryption and a no-log network for safe and secure torrenting.
8. Customer Support
It’s a bit of a twisted journey to get to NordVPN’s knowledge base of guides and articles, but once you’ve found your way there, the content is great. NordVPN resolves customer queries primarily through live chat, which is available round the clock every day of the week. Tutorials and knowledgebases for setups and other technical problems are also available on the NordVPN official website.
I contacted NordVPN’s live chat support, and while the live chat agent “Peyton” was effective, he seems to be taking about 10-15 seconds to respond to my questions. However, apart from the slow response time, I felt that their live chat support was incredible.
Surfshark’s bank of guides is very similar, with excellent articles that should cover most issues. It also provides 24/7 live chat support, and the customer support representatives are capable of answering your complaints or queries without wasting your time. I contacted their support, and support agent “Scarlett” was very quick, reliable, and polite. She responded to my every question within 5-8 seconds and seemed quite knowledgeable.
However, for most users, live chat will be your first and only port of call. Thankfully, both providers have operators available 24/7 who are knowledgeable and seem to be able to sort the majority of problems.
| Customer Support | | |
|---|---|---|
| Live Chat Agent | ✔ | ✔ |
| FAQs | ✔ | ✔ |
| Setup Tutorials | ✔ | ✔ |
| Knowledge Base | ✔ | ✔ |
| Live Chat Bot | ✔ | ✔ |
Winner:🏆Its a Tie
Both providers have reliable, efficient, and 24/7 excellent customer support in place.
9. Surfshark vs NordVPN: Server locations
In terms of server count, Surfshark would take years to beat NordVPN. The Panama-based provider has a network of over 5100+ servers in 60 countries. In contrast, Surfshark has 3200+ servers in 65 countries.
| Server Network | | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Servers | 5100 | 3200 |
| Server Locations | 60 | 65 |
Winner:🏆NordVPN
Based on the above comparison, NordVPN turns out to be the winner.
Surfshark vs NordVPN: Chinese Restrictions
China imposes severe internet restrictions and censorship in the country. However, both NordVPN and Surfshark are premium VPNs that can easily bypass the Great Firewall of China. Both NordVPN and Surfshark offer features that enable Chinese users to bypass restrictions and use the internet freely.
NordVPN offers Obfuscated servers, and Surfshark offers No Border servers for Chinese users.
How to turn on NordVPNs Obfuscated servers
- Go to Settings (click the gear icon)
- Select Advanced
- Turn on Obfuscated servers
How to enable Surfshark’s No Border servers
- Go to Settings
- Select Advanced
- Turn on No Borders
Winner:🏆It’s a Tie
NordVPN is the winner in terms of the server network, as it has more servers than Surfshark. But, Surfshark has more server coverage as it has servers in 65+ countries. Both VPNs can help you bypass geo-restrictions in China or anywhere in the world.
10. NordVPN vs Surfshark: Device Compatibility
While both, NordVPN and Surfshark are compatible with different platforms and devices. Surfshark’s ability to support unlimited simultaneous connections compared to NordVPN’s 6 simultaneous connections gives the former VPN provider a clear advantage when it comes to supporting Windows, Mac, Android, Linux, Android, iOS, routers, etc simultaneously.
In addition, Surfshark’s 7-day free rial often makes it an ideal VPN provider to test out device compatibility. This same feature also helped this provider be listed among the best free VPN for PC.
| Device Compatibility | | |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | ✔ | ✔ |
| macOS | ✔ | ✔ |
| Android | ✔ | ✔ |
| iOS | ✔ | ✔ |
| Linux | ✔ | ✔ |
| Firefox | ✔ | ✔ |
| Safari | ❌ | ❌ |
| Opera | ✔ | ❌ |
| Samsung Smart TV | ✔ | ❌ |
| Fire TV | ✔ | ✔ |
| Android Smart TV | ✔ | ✔ |
| LG Smart TV | ✔ | ❌ |
| PlayStation | ✔ | ❌ |
| Xbox One | ✔ | ✔ |
| Nintendo Switch | ✔ | ✔ |
| Roku | ❌ | ❌ |
| Kodi | ✔ | ❌ |
| Router | ✔ | ✔ |
NordVPN might not offer dedicated apps for these platforms, but you can configure it on your router and protect all your devices.
Winner:🏆Surfshark
Both NordVPN and Surfshark performed well on all these devices. However, as you can see that Surfshark is the clear winner as it supports more platforms than NordVPN, including Opera, Samsung Smart TV, LG Smart TV, PlayStation, and Kodi.
11. Surfshark vs NordVPN: VPN Setup
As you can see from the above table that both NordVPN and Surfshark offer VPN apps for various devices, including Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, browsers, and more.
Use NordVPN and Surfshark on Desktop
| NordVPN | Surfshark |
|---|---|
1. Go to NordVPNs official website 2. Click on VPN Apps 3. your device’s App device (macOS, Windows, Android, etc.) > Click download. 4. Install the app on your device 5. Open the App > Sign in using your credentials. | 1. Go to Surfshark’s official website 2. Click on Apps from the landing page 3. Under the section Desktops & Laptops > select your device. 4. Click Download > Install the app. 5. Open the App > Sign in using your username and password. |
Use NordVPN or Surfshark on Mobile (Android & iPhone)
You can find most VPN apps on Play Store (Android) or App Store (iOS), but we don’t recommend downloading VPN apps from app stores. If you don’t buy VPN apps directly from the vendor, you might not be entitled to a refund. Just follow these simple steps to get NordVPN or Surfshark on your mobile phones:
| NordVPN on Mobile Devices | Surfshark on Mobile Devices |
|---|---|
1. Go to NordVPNs official website and sign up. 2. Click on VPN Apps and download the app on your mobile phone. 3. Open the App > Sign in using your credentials. | 1. Go to Surfshark’s official website and Sign up. 2. Click on Apps from the landing page and download it on your mobile phone. 3. Open the App once downloaded > Sign in using your username and password. |
Setup for Other Devices
Apart from desktops and mobile phones, you can also get these VPNs for other devices.
- Set up NordVPN on Smart TVs
- Set up NordVPN on PS4
- Set up NordVPN on Roku
- Set up Surfshark on Amazon Fire TV
- Set up Surfshark on Router
- Set up Surfshark on Kodi
Winner:🏆Its a Tie
Both VPNs offer easy setup and installation for various devices. If you are having issues, you can always find installation guides on their official websites.
12. Surfshark vs NordVPN: Jurisdiction
| | |
| Jurisdiction | The British Virgin Islands | Panama |
NordVPN Jurisdiction
NordVPN is located in Panama, which is a country with privacy-friendly laws. With no mandatory data retention laws in the country, NordVPN is under no obligation to store logs of your activity, IP address, or other personally identifiable information.
Surfshark Jurisdiction
Surfshark, for its part, is located in the British Virgin Islands, which is another country without any mandatory data retention laws. BVI is also not a part of any surveillance alliances like 5-eyes, and it is legally independent of the UK with its own privacy laws.
Jurisdiction is essential when you are deciding on a VPN for yourself. For example, you wouldn’t want to purchase PIA because it operates from the US, as your online privacy and data will always remain at risk.
Even though PIA is a competitive VPN provider on many levels with a top-tier VPN provider like ExpressVPN, it is not a favourite due to its jurisdiction. Check out how it performs against top-tier VPN in our separate ExpressVPN vs. Private Internet Access comparison.
Winner:🏆It’s a Tie
Surfshark is based in The British Virgin Islands, and NordVPN is based in Panama. Therefore, both providers are in safe jurisdictions.
Overall Ratings: NordVPN and Surfshark
Result: Surfsharkhas outdone NordVPN based on the different factors mentioned above. Hence, I declare Surfshark a winner.
| Overall Rating | | |
|---|---|---|
| Anonymity | 9.5/10 | 9/10 |
| Reliability | 9/10 | 8.5/10 |
| Features | 9/10 | 9.5/10 |
| Performance | 9/10 | 8.5/10 |
| Support | 9.5/10 | 9.5/10 |
| Value for Money | 9.5/10 | 9/10 |
When I reviewed Surfshark and NordVPN in detail, I was able to rate them based on different factors such as performance, anonymity, compatibility, features, and so on.
TrustScore: Surfshark vs NordVPN
Trustpilot is a top-notch customer review site that delivers updated and unbiased reviews about different products and services. You can explore the resource to find relevant feedback about Surfshark and NordVPN hassle-free.
As per the viewpoint of one Surfshark user, you could trust its impressive customer support that solves your problems timely.
Surprisingly, NordVPN users have given mixed reviews about the VPN provider. For example, some users did not like its confusing payment methods. But, few subscribers appreciated the brand overall.
Surfshark vs NordVPN: Reddit review
Reddit is one of the most sought platforms to explore unbiased reviews about different VPNs. Here is a guide that discusses the best VPNs for Reddit users. One Reddit follower recommended Surfshark to other users.
FAQs
Yes, Surfshark is better than NordVPN. While these two providers managed to draw most of the comparisons, Surfshark easily defeated NordVPN in the subscription price and device compatibility factors making it easier for the former provider to beat the latter.
No, Surfshark isn’t faster than NordVPN. During our testing, NordVPN delivered an average speed of 93.5 Mbps on a 100 Mbps internet connection. In contrast, Surfshark only delivered an average speed of 24.09 Mbps on a 100 Mbps internet connection.
Surfshark is the best VPN to use for Android phones in 2021, with a Google Play Store rating of 4.1/5.0. The provider offers best-in-class security, privacy, data protection, and unblocking capabilities at a very budget-friendly subscription price on Android 11, 10, Pie, Oreo, Nougat, Marshmallow, and Lollipop.
Final Verdict: Surfshark is the Winner
Based on better pricing, a privacy-focused logging policy, faster download speeds, and overall strong performance, Surfshark comes out as the winner of the Surfshark vs NordVPN comparison.
However, NordVPN is not a lesser VPN and is one of the leading brands in the whole industry. So you can’t go wrong with either choice. Just make sure you know what you’re in for before you purchase one.
To know more about these services, you can check out our detailed NordVPN review and Surfshark review. You can also check our comprehensive VPN comparison chart that we have prepared for a general comparison of multiple top VPN providers in the industry.
![ExpressVPN vs NordVPN – Which Provider is the Best? [Updated December 2021]](http://144839-418331-2-raikfcquaxqncofqfm.stackpathdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/expressvpn-vs-nordvpn-300x300.jpg)
Being using Surfshark for two years, it was good at the start but is has deteriorated considerably, probably because they could not handle the number of the new clients after the aggressive advertising. Before that I was using a very cheap VPN, considered crap by some reviewers, and yet it was a lot better than the now Surfshark
Hmm, strange, in our testing, Surfshark works great. In fact, it is the second VPN on our list of best VPNs.
“Final Decision:
NordVPN has outdone Surfshark based on different factors mentioned above. Hence, I declare NordVPN a winner.”
Seriously bro?! Your score shows totally different with what you conclude. Bias?
Hello Adam,
Thank you for pointing this out. It was a mistake on our end. The score columns were wrongly interchanged during the write-up. It has been corrected now.
Thanks again!
This still doesn’t look like it makes sense. Surfshark is faster, cheaper, and has equivalent security features. The only argument made for Nordvpn is that Netflix use may cause buffering on surfshark, and Nordvpn has more servers (but more users, and this more traffic, so more servers doesn’t mean a better service….and these servers are in fewer countries than surfshark). Somehow your ratings are still skewed towards Nordvpn. Your “unbiased” conclusion still contradicts the majority of the information you provide in your write-up, causing me to doubt the review in its entirety. I now need to search for other comparisons and reviews to feel confident in a decision.
Hi Evan,
I cannot thank you enough for pointing this out. You are absolutely correct. Mistakes were made on our part. We have a lot of comparisons and reviews that require constant updating in light of recent test results and other factors. Surfshark has greatly improved since the past few months and while we have been updating information in all Surfshark-related articles accordingly including this one, the ratings columns were regretfully not properly updated here. Since it is the ratings alone (which needed updating) that decided the winner here, the conclusion was not adding up to the rest of the information provided. We are not biased towards any particular VPN in these comparisons and decide winners based on their comparative strengths alone.
The ratings have now been fixed and Surfshark is indeed the rightful winner in this contest, as you correctly pointed out. Thank you once again.
Hi I have the opportunity to test both Nord and surfshark VPN and I am puzzled as to how you can say that surfshark is winner. First of all surfshark download speed is a mare fraction of Nordvpn. I have 100 meg download speed and when I am using surfshark I am only getting 39 meg compare 93 meg from Nordvpn. Nordvpn might be more expensive than surfshark but you can get a cheaper deal if you go for a longer plan. My only issue with Nordvpn is that they have gotten rid of the PayPal payment option.