Surfshark vs. Proton VPN: Two of the Best VPNs Compared

Surfshark and Proton VPN are two of the best virtual private networks you should buy. Primarily based on my testing, I can affirm that every one delivers top-notch streaming capabilities, quick speeds and distinctive usability throughout platforms, whereas retaining costs cheaper than a lot of the competitors. You may also rely on both to guard you on-line, however privateness is the place the 2 differ probably the most.

I like to recommend Proton VPN for privacy-critical customers due to its Swiss jurisdiction and stable dedication to privateness and transparency. Proton VPN can also be the one service I like to recommend for anybody searching for a legit free VPN. I like to recommend Surfshark for novices, anybody searching for normal privateness or progressive options like a private element generator. For many every other use case, it’s principally a toss-up between the 2 suppliers. Learn on to learn how these two top-tier VPNs stack up. 

Surfshark vs. Proton VPN in contrast

	Surfshark	Proton VPN
Value	$15.45 per 30 days, $48 for the primary 15 months (then $79 per 12 months) or $54 for the primary 27 months (then $79 per 12 months)	Free, $10 per 30 days, $60 for the primary 12 months (then $80 per 12 months) or $108 for the primary two years (then $80 per 12 months)
Avg. Pace Loss	21%	16%
Server Community	3,200-plus servers in 100 nations	15,100-plus servers in 126 nations
Encryption	AES 256-bit, ChaCha20	AES 256-bit, ChaCha20
VPN Protocols	WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2	WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEV2/IPSec, Stealth
Jurisdiction	Netherlands	Switzerland
Simultaneous Connections	Limitless	10
Compatibility	MacOS, Home windows, Linux (GUI), iOS, Android, Apple TV, Fireplace TV, Android TV, Chromebook, Routers, Browsers	Home windows, MacOS, Linux (with GUI), iOS, Apple TV, Android, Android TV, Fireplace TV, Chromebook, Routers, Browsers

Newest exams No leaks detected, 21% velocity loss in 2025 examsValue $15.45 a month, $48 for the primary 15 months (then $79 a 12 months) or $60 for the primary 27 months (then $79 a 12 months)Jurisdiction NetherlandsCommunity 3,200-plus servers in 100 nations

Surfshark is CNET’s choose for one of the best worth VPN in 2025 largely as a result of it delivers a premium expertise at a worth that’s a lot simpler on the pockets than lots of its opponents. It’s a well-rounded VPN service that’s quick, nice for streaming, simple to make use of throughout platforms and provides a handful of distinctive privateness options. Although Surfshark’s 14-Eyes (Netherlands) jurisdiction is perhaps a dealbreaker for individuals with excessive privateness necessities, Dutch regulation doesn’t require VPN corporations to log consumer exercise and Surfshark’s no-logs coverage is recurrently audited.

Newest exams No leaks detected, 16% velocity loss in 2025 examsCommunity 12,000-plus servers in 117 nationsJurisdiction SwitzerlandValue $10 a month, $60 for the primary 12 months or $108 for the primary two years (one- and two-year plans renew at $80 per 12 months)

Proton VPN is a superb possibility for privacy-critical and informal customers alike, as a result of its hermetic privateness pairs properly with excellent efficiency and value. It’s one of many fastest VPNs we examined, has tons of server places throughout the globe, works nice for streaming and provides superior options that cater to privateness purists. Proton VPN additionally provides the one free VPN we advocate at CNET as a result of its free tier doesn’t compromise on privateness or put limits on bandwidth or utilization, regardless that it limits free customers to eight server places. Proton VPN’s paid subscription plans offer you entry to all server places and its full slate of premium options at a worth that’s almost as budget-friendly as Surfshark. 

Pace winner: Proton VPN has a slight edge over Surfshark

Due to issues like encryption, server load and server location, connecting to a VPN will slow your internet connection to a sure diploma — generally by 50% or extra. When you’re streaming, torrenting or gaming, shedding half of your speeds may cause points in case your base web speeds aren’t quick sufficient to start with. However in case you’re utilizing a quick VPN like Proton VPN or Surfshark, it’s unlikely you’ll discover a distinction in efficiency.

In our 2025 velocity exams, we calculated a mean velocity lack of 16% with Proton VPN and 21% with Surfshark, each of which fall under the 25% threshold at which we take into account a VPN to be “quick.” If you need the quickest doable speeds out of both supplier, select a server close by your bodily location and use the WireGuard protocol, which is light-weight and constructed for velocity and safety. 

When you’re related to a community that’s sluggish or unstable, Proton VPN’s VPN Accelerator function and Surfshark’s FastTrack servers can doubtlessly assist enhance your speeds. Proton VPN says that its VPN Accelerator can enhance your VPN speeds by as much as 400%, whereas Surfshark says that FastTrack servers can improve your speeds by 70%. In my testing, I didn’t discover a serious velocity enhance with both function, however you would possibly discover a extra pronounced distinction in case your web connection is spotty.    

Worth winner: Proton VPN has a legit free plan, however Surfshark’s longer-term paid subscriptions are cheaper than Proton VPN’s

Proton VPN is the one free VPN we advocate at CNET, and even its paid subscription plans are fairly priced and supply a whole lot of value for the budget-conscious VPN user. Nevertheless, regardless that Surfshark doesn’t supply a free plan, it delivers barely higher total worth than Proton VPN in case you select its annual or two-year plan.   

Proton VPN’s free tier contains entry to servers in eight completely different nations (US, Canada, Japan, Romania, Singapore, Norway, Poland and the Netherlands), however routinely assigns you a server once you join and limits you to a single connection at a time. Moreover, free servers don’t embody Safe Core and don’t assist streaming or P2P site visitors. Aside from these few limitations, Proton VPN’s free tier delivers the identical degree of privateness as its paid plans and doesn’t place limits on utilization or bandwidth like many different free VPNs do.  

When you go for Proton VPN’s premium service, you’ll get the complete suite of superior options, entry to greater than 15,000 servers throughout 126 nations, 10 simultaneous connections together with an advert tracker and malware blocker. Proton VPN’s paid plans price $10 per 30 days, $60 for the primary 12 months or $108 for the primary two years, with the yearly and two-year plans each renewing at $80 per 12 months after the preliminary billing interval.

Surfshark’s fundamental tier features a VPN, Various ID private element generator, limitless simultaneous connections, entry to greater than 3,000 servers throughout 100 nations and an advert and cookie popup blocker. It prices $15.45 per 30 days, $48 for the primary 15 months or $54 for the primary 27 months, with the annual and two-year plans renewing at $79 per 12 months following the preliminary billing interval. That makes Surfshark’s long-term plans considerably cheaper on the outset, however almost equivalent to Proton VPN’s annual renewal worth. Nevertheless, in case you intend to go month to month, Proton VPN is a much better worth at $10 per 30 days versus Surfshark’s $15.45.

However not like Proton VPN, Surfshark provides a seven-day free trial of its premium plans for first-time customers, that means you will get full entry to the service for every week earlier than you decide to paying something.    

Each Surfshark and Proton VPN supply bundled subscription plans, however every firm’s bundled offerings are fully completely different. Proton provides a single bundled plan that features a VPN, password manager, encrypted cloud storage, safe electronic mail, Bitcoin pockets and an encrypted calendar (although every particular person service may be bought individually). Surfshark provides three completely different subscription tiers, and its most complete tier features a VPN, private element generator, antivirus, information leak alerts, non-public search and information elimination.     

Privateness and safety winner: Proton VPN is the higher selection for customers with essential privateness wants

Surfshark delivers stable privateness with its post-quantum protections and RAM-only servers, however Proton VPN’s Swiss jurisdiction and radical transparency could also be extra interesting to privateness purists.

Proton VPN has at all times had a robust, privacy-first focus and has at all times charted its personal path. Fairly than fall in step with different VPNs rolling out post-quantum protections and RAM-only server infrastructures, Proton VPN stays extraordinarily deliberate in carving its personal method to privateness. The corporate makes use of full-disk encryption to safe its fleet of servers, and makes a case for why this method achieves basically the identical finish as working servers on risky reminiscence. 

Surfshark makes use of RAM-only servers, which don’t retailer information on a tough drive and are wiped every time a server is rebooted or shut down, making certain no helpful information stays on a server if it’s seized. As an alternative of being wiped, all information on Proton VPN’s arduous drives are totally encrypted when shut down and are inaccessible with out the encryption keys, which the corporate shops off-site. 

Moreover, Surfshark rolled out post-quantum protections this 12 months — a forward-looking privateness measure additionally carried out by others like Mullvad, ExpressVPN and NordVPN that’s designed to assist guard towards potential future threats from quantum computer systems. Proton remains to be engaged on its implementation of post-quantum encryption for its Proton Mail service, however is taking a cautious method, citing dangers related to new cryptography not being battle examined and potential misconfigurations resulting in safety vulnerabilities. 

There may be benefits in yielding to warning, however even when quantum computer systems could also be many years away from breaking fashionable encryption requirements, getting an early bounce on defending customers with quantum-safe encryption now is a crucial step for the business to take.

Each Surfshark and Proton VPN supply essential privateness options like a kill switch, DNS leak safety and audited no-logs policies, together with useful extras like split tunneling and obfuscation. Nevertheless, there are a number of variations between a number of the extra superior privateness options provided by every supplier. 

Each suppliers have double-hop VPN servers, however whereas Surfshark’s Dynamic MultiHop function permits you to route your site visitors by way of any two server places of your selecting, Proton VPN’s Safe Core servers first route your information by way of safe servers positioned in Sweden, Iceland or Switzerland earlier than exiting by way of one other server in your chosen location. Surfshark’s Dynamic Multihop performance might help you obtain sooner, extra secure connections whereas defending your privateness behind an additional layer of encryption, whereas utilizing Proton VPN’s Safe Core would possibly route your site visitors by way of servers housed in an underground bunker or on a former navy base.

When you’re searching for Tor over VPN performance, Proton is the way in which to go. Proton VPN’s Onion over VPN servers (labeled with an onion icon within the app) run your connection by way of the Tor community and allow you to safely entry onion web sites with out the necessity to individually obtain the Tor browser. Notice that utilizing Tor over VPN servers will considerably cut back your connection speeds, so this function ought to be used provided that you want excessive privateness or have to entry onion web sites. For many customers, a regular VPN connection from Proton VPN or Surfshark is sufficient to sufficiently shield your privateness on-line.

When you’re searching for a singular privateness function that could be extra universally helpful, Surfshark’s Various ID is value a glance. With Various ID, you possibly can generate a faux persona full with a full identify, bodily deal with, birthdate and electronic mail deal with that you need to use to fill out kinds on-line the place you don’t need to expose your true private data. Emails despatched to your faux deal with are routinely forwarded to your most popular precise electronic mail deal with that you just present in Surfshark’s settings. An alternate cellphone quantity can also be obtainable for a further $3 per 30 days.

Surfshark’s progressive self-healing EverLink server infrastructure is ready to routinely reconfigure the VPN tunnel with out disconnecting you within the occasion of a server failure or upkeep. This helps be certain that your IP deal with stays protected and web site visitors stays encrypted even when a server drops out for any cause. Even so, I nonetheless advocate retaining the kill swap enabled as an additional layer of safety.   

However when you have essential privateness wants and worth enhanced transparency, it’s possible you’ll be swayed by Proton VPN’s open supply apps and its privacy-friendly Swiss jurisdiction over Surfshark’s Netherlands jurisdiction, which is a member of the 14-Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance. Nevertheless, the Netherlands doesn’t have any obligatory information retention legal guidelines that will compel VPN suppliers based mostly there to log consumer information.       

Usability winner: Each supply slick apps for all main platforms, however Surfshark is barely simpler to make use of, particularly for novices

Surfshark and Proton VPN each supply user-friendly apps for main platforms like Windows, MacOS, Linux (with GUI), Android, iOS, Amazon Fire TV Stick and Apple TV. Each additionally work with routers and supply browser extensions. Nevertheless, in case you’re a newbie, you would possibly favor Surfshark’s simplicity, whereas superior customers would possibly as an alternative recognize the superior settings and extra granular management provided by Proton VPN.

I like how simple Surfshark makes it to entry core settings. With a single click on or faucet from the house display screen, I can shortly entry my not too long ago used places, quickest servers, closest nation, static IP servers and multihop connections. I can even simply toggle on or off settings just like the kill swap, rotating IP and advert blocker with out having to navigate by way of to a separate settings menu. The app additionally shows your present protocol, VPN IP deal with and settings you’ve got enabled with out cluttering the interface. I believe it’s useful that Surfshark permits you to pause your connection as an alternative of disconnecting outright, too, that means you possibly can bounce off the VPN connection briefly with out having to fret about forgetting to reconnect.

Proton VPN’s apps take somewhat extra time to get used to, however are nonetheless manageable, even in case you’ve by no means used a VPN earlier than. When you’re extra of a sophisticated consumer, you’ll most likely like how Proton VPN provides you extra choices to fine-tune your expertise. You possibly can arrange customized profiles inside the app as shortcuts to shortly entry personalized server connections based mostly on issues like location, particular server (together with commonplace, Safe Core, Tor over VPN or P2P optimized servers) and VPN protocol. In Proton VPN’s superior app settings, it’s also possible to toggle features like different routing, which may be useful once you’re experiencing community points, or reasonable NAT, which is perhaps helpful in sure on-line gaming situations. The underside line: Proton VPN is a superb selection in case you favor an app that provides you extra management over your VPN app expertise.   

Each Proton VPN and Surfshark are glorious for streaming. In our exams, we have been capable of reliably entry content material throughout units on varied widespread streaming platforms together with Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu. The one subject I bumped into was with Hulu detecting Surfshark when making an attempt to stream its content material on my Fireplace TV Stick. In any other case, Surfshark was capable of unblock Hulu on all different units I examined. However VPNs and streaming companies stay in a perpetual recreation of cat and mouse, with streaming companies making an attempt to dam VPN entry and VPNs discovering methods to get round these blocks. So the content material your VPN is ready to unblock at present, it won’t tomorrow — and vice versa. Nevertheless, a easy server change or clearing of cookies and cache would possibly show you how to in case you run into points.  

Backside line

In the end, whether or not you determine to go along with Surfshark or Proton VPN, you’re getting top-of-the-line VPNs on the planet. Each are well-rounded companies which might be cheaper than a lot of the competitors whereas delivering stable privateness protections, glorious usability and stable streaming capabilities. Which one you select will most likely rely largely on the extent of privateness you want and what options enchantment to you most.  

Due to its hermetic privateness, open supply apps, Swiss jurisdiction, Safe Core servers and Tor over VPN performance, I like to recommend Proton VPN for customers with essential privateness wants, resembling journalists, activists, attorneys or whistleblowers. When you’re new to VPNs, discover the Various ID function helpful and are snug with its Dutch jurisdiction, Surfshark is a superb selection.