Is Surfshark worth it? A 4-year verdict, and what I paid

Affiliate disclosure: this post contains a Surfshark referral link. If you use it, both of us get up to 3 free months of Surfshark VPN. It doesn't change the price you pay.

Short answer: yes for most UK households, and the strongest evidence I can offer is that I've paid for it twice. I've been a Surfshark customer since May 2022, and on 1 August 2025 I paid £48.28 for a further 27 months, about £1.79 a month, running to roughly November 2027. It's worth it if you want privacy on other people's Wi-Fi, cover for more devices than you want to count, and access to your own UK accounts and services while you travel. It isn't, if security is the single thing you're buying on: my honest read there is that NordVPN has the edge.

What four years of Surfshark has actually cost me

The receipt is the argument. I switched from ExpressVPN in May 2022, and on 1 August 2025, more than three years in, I paid £48.28 for another 27 months. That works out at about £1.79 a month, and the term runs to roughly 1 November 2027. As of August 2026 I'm in the middle of it, so I'm not currently facing the renewal decision I warn you about further down.

That second payment is the verdict. A first subscription only proves the marketing worked; a second term, three years in and with the speed dip and the renewal jump both already known to me, is the one that costs something to get wrong. Note the rate as well as the fact: £1.79 a month is a campaign price, not the standard renewal rate the section below warns about.

What I paid is a fact about my account, not a quote for yours. Surfshark's live price moves with whatever campaign is running, which is why I don't quote today's exact rate anywhere on this site; the Surfshark UK pricing guide covers the three plan lengths and why the advertised figure changes month to month.

One more thing for context, because it decides how much weight to put on the comparisons below: I've paid for a VPN continuously since 2018, across three providers. NordVPN from 2018, ExpressVPN after that, Surfshark since May 2022. Where I name NordVPN or ExpressVPN below, that's a product I've held and paid for, not one I've read about.

Where it has earned its keep: France, Spain and Albania

I've used Surfshark abroad in France, Spain and Albania, on hotel Wi-Fi, café Wi-Fi and the airport networks in between, and it worked in all three. That is the case I'd actually make for a VPN, and none of it is about opening catalogues that aren't licensed to you:

• Networks you don't control. A hotel or airport network is shared with strangers and run by someone with no obligation to you. Encrypting what crosses it is the plainest use a VPN has.
• Your own accounts. Signing into UK banking and account portals from a UK address rather than whichever one the hotel hands you, which is the reason I turn the VPN on before I open them.
• Your own UK services. The things you already have access to at home, watched from a hotel room in another country.

That third one is where I hit the one setup snag of the last four years, and it's worth more than the rest of this section put together.

The catch: pick a UK server, or your UK services won't load

ITV and BBC iPlayer didn't work for me abroad until I connected to a UK server specifically. Not a server in the country I was in, not whichever one the app offered first: a UK one, chosen from the list.

That's obvious in hindsight and completely opaque at the time, because everything else works fine. Email, banking, browsing, all normal, and then the one thing you wanted to watch on the sofa in a rented flat says no. Picking a UK server is a thirty-second change and it's the entire difference between "the VPN doesn't work" and "the VPN does exactly what I bought it for".

Two honest caveats on this. It's about reaching services you already have at home while you're away from home, not about getting round content licensing. And streaming services actively block known VPN exit addresses, so a UK server that works this month might not next month; if one doesn't work, another usually does.

Who should not buy Surfshark

The strongest argument against Surfshark is one I can make because I've paid for the alternative.

NordVPN has improved. I left Nord around 2020 and the product I left is not the product it is now. If security is the single criterion you're buying on, my honest read as of 2026 is that Nord arguably has the edge. That's my judgement, not a measurement, and it isn't a claim that Surfshark is unaudited: Deloitte verified Surfshark's no-logs policy in 2023 and again in 2025, and Cure53 audited the infrastructure in 2025. The audit detail and the sources are in the reviewer round-up.

What Surfshark clearly wins on is price, ease of use, and portability across devices, in that order. If none of those three is what you're optimising for, buy something else. Specifically, skip it if:

• Raw speed is the point. ExpressVPN and Mullvad win the benchmark tests, and if you're buying on that number, buy the winner.
• You want a provider with no parent company. Surfshark has been part of Nord Security since 2022, so running Surfshark and NordVPN isn't running two independent providers. Mullvad and IVPN are the usual picks for that.
• You need it for a fortnight. The economics only work over a long term. On the monthly plan you'll pay several times the per-month rate and get a smaller referral reward.

The two things that stay annoying

Neither has changed in four years, and neither is a reason not to buy it.

The renewal price. The introductory rate covers your first term, then the plan auto-renews at a higher standard rate. That's industry-wide rather than a Surfshark trick, but it's where people quietly overpay. Set a calendar reminder a few weeks before your term ends so the decision is yours rather than the default. Mine falls around November 2027.

The speed dip. Every VPN costs you some speed, because your traffic takes an extra hop and gets encrypted on the way. On Surfshark it's big enough to see in a speed test and small enough that I've never noticed it in a video call or a stream.

Three questions that decide it

1. How many devices do you want covered? Past ten, Surfshark is the only one of the three that doesn't stop you: ExpressVPN caps at 8 devices and NordVPN at 10, and Surfshark sets no cap at all. Below that it's a price question rather than a cap question.
2. What are you buying it for? Travel, public Wi-Fi, and reaching your own UK accounts and services: that's Surfshark's lane and it's why I'm still on it. Maximum speed, or a provider with no parent company: not Surfshark.
3. How long do you need it for? Months, not weeks. If you genuinely need a VPN for one trip, the monthly plan is the honest answer, and it isn't cheap.

Is Surfshark worth it FAQs

How much have you actually paid for Surfshark?

£48.28 for 27 months, paid on 1 August 2025, which is about £1.79 a month and runs to roughly November 2027. That wasn't my first term: I've been a Surfshark customer since May 2022. That figure is what my account was charged, not a quote for yours: campaign pricing moves, so surfshark.com is the only reliable source for today's rate.

Does Surfshark work abroad for UK services like BBC iPlayer and ITVX?

Yes, from a UK server. In my own use abroad, ITV and BBC iPlayer didn't load until I picked a UK server specifically rather than letting the app choose one for me. Streaming services block known VPN addresses as they find them, so reliability shifts and you may need to try a second UK server. This is for reaching services you already have at home while travelling, not for content that isn't licensed to you.

Which countries have you used Surfshark in?

France, Spain and Albania, across hotel, café and airport networks. It connected and stayed connected in all three, which is most of what I want from a VPN abroad. The UK-server lesson above is the only setup step I'd tell someone about in advance.

Is NordVPN better than Surfshark?

On security, arguably, and that's my opinion rather than a benchmark. NordVPN was my first VPN, from 2018 until around 2020, and it has improved since I left. What Surfshark wins on is price, ease of use and unlimited devices on one subscription. Both have independent audits behind them, so this is a question of what you're optimising for rather than one being credible and the other not.

Is Surfshark worth it if I only want it for one holiday?

Probably not at a sensible price. The deep discounts and the larger referral reward both sit on the 12 and 24-month plans, so a two-week need means the monthly plan, which costs several times as much per month. If you'll use it more than once a year, the long plan is the cheaper decision by a wide margin.

You might also like

• Surfshark referral code: up to 3 free months for both of you
• How much does Surfshark cost in the UK, and how to get it cheapest
• What do reviewers say about Surfshark?

Sources

• My own Surfshark account: customer since May 2022, £48.28 paid on 1 August 2025 for a 27-month term. Figures checked against my payment record on 4 August 2026.
• Surfshark Refer & Earn programme: https://surfshark.com/surfshark-referral (opens in new tab)
• Surfshark Trust Center (Deloitte and Cure53 audit history): https://surfshark.com/trust-center (opens in new tab)
• Surfshark pricing (canonical, live rate): https://surfshark.com/ (opens in new tab)

If you decide it's worth it, signing up through a Surfshark referral code link adds up to 3 free months to your account once you've been subscribed for 31 days, on top of whatever discount Surfshark is running. It costs you nothing and I get the same free months.

Firsthand claims on this page are from my own account and were checked on 4 August 2026. Surfshark's prices change with its campaigns, so confirm today's rate on surfshark.com before you buy.