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

Surfshark and Proton VPN are two of the best virtual private networks you can buy. Based on my testing, I can confirm that each one delivers top-notch streaming capabilities, fast speeds and exceptional usability across platforms, while keeping prices cheaper than much of the competition. You can also count on either to protect you online, but privacy is where the two differ the most.

I recommend Proton VPN for privacy-critical users because of its Swiss jurisdiction and solid commitment to privacy and transparency. Proton VPN is also the only service I recommend for anyone looking for a legitimate free VPN. I recommend Surfshark for beginners, anyone looking for general privacy or innovative features like a personal detail generator. For most any other use case, it’s basically a toss-up between the two providers. Read on to find out how these two top-tier VPNs stack up. 

Surfshark vs. Proton VPN compared

	Surfshark	Proton VPN
Price	$15.45 per month, $48 for the first 15 months (then $79 per year) or $54 for the first 27 months (then $79 per year)	Free, $10 per month, $60 for the first year (then $80 per year) or $108 for the first two years (then $80 per year)
Avg. Speed Loss	21%	16%
Server Network	3,200-plus servers in 100 countries	15,100-plus servers in 126 countries
Encryption	AES 256-bit, ChaCha20	AES 256-bit, ChaCha20
VPN Protocols	WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2	WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEV2/IPSec, Stealth
Jurisdiction	Netherlands	Switzerland
Simultaneous Connections	Unlimited	10
Compatibility	MacOS, Windows, Linux (GUI), iOS, Android, Apple TV, Fire TV, Android TV, Chromebook, Routers, Browsers	Windows, MacOS, Linux (with GUI), iOS, Apple TV, Android, Android TV, Fire TV, Chromebook, Routers, Browsers

Latest tests No leaks detected, 21% speed loss in 2025 testsPrice $15.45 a month, $48 for the first 15 months (then $79 a year) or $60 for the first 27 months (then $79 a year)Jurisdiction NetherlandsNetwork 3,200-plus servers in 100 countries

Surfshark is CNET’s pick for the best value VPN in 2025 in large part because it delivers a premium experience at a price that’s much easier on the wallet than many of its competitors. It’s a well-rounded VPN service that’s fast, great for streaming, easy to use across platforms and offers a handful of unique privacy features. Though Surfshark’s 14-Eyes (Netherlands) jurisdiction might be a dealbreaker for people with extreme privacy requirements, Dutch law doesn’t require VPN companies to log user activity and Surfshark’s no-logs policy is regularly audited.

Latest tests No leaks detected, 16% speed loss in 2025 testsNetwork 12,000-plus servers in 117 countriesJurisdiction SwitzerlandPrice $10 a month, $60 for the first year or $108 for the first two years (one- and two-year plans renew at $80 per year)

Proton VPN is an excellent option for privacy-critical and casual users alike, because its airtight privacy pairs nicely with outstanding performance and usability. It’s one of the fastest VPNs we tested, has tons of server locations across the globe, works great for streaming and offers advanced features that cater to privacy purists. Proton VPN also offers the only free VPN we recommend at CNET because its free tier doesn’t compromise on privacy or put limits on bandwidth or usage, even though it limits free users to eight server locations. Proton VPN’s paid subscription plans give you access to all server locations and its full slate of premium features at a price that’s nearly as budget-friendly as Surfshark. 

Speed winner: Proton VPN has a slight edge over Surfshark

Because of things like encryption, server load and server location, connecting to a VPN will slow your internet connection to a certain degree — sometimes by 50% or more. If you’re streaming, torrenting or gaming, losing half of your speeds can cause issues if your base internet speeds aren’t fast enough to begin with. But if you’re using a fast VPN like Proton VPN or Surfshark, it’s unlikely you’ll notice a difference in performance.

In our 2025 speed tests, we calculated an average speed loss of 16% with Proton VPN and 21% with Surfshark, both of which fall below the 25% threshold at which we consider a VPN to be “fast.” If you want the fastest possible speeds out of either provider, choose a server nearby your physical location and use the WireGuard protocol, which is lightweight and built for speed and security. 

If you’re connected to a network that’s slow or unstable, Proton VPN’s VPN Accelerator feature and Surfshark’s FastTrack servers can potentially help boost your speeds. Proton VPN says that its VPN Accelerator can boost your VPN speeds by up to 400%, while Surfshark says that FastTrack servers can increase your speeds by 70%. In my testing, I didn’t notice a major speed boost with either feature, but you might notice a more pronounced difference if your internet connection is spotty.    

Value winner: Proton VPN has a legitimate free plan, but Surfshark’s longer-term paid subscriptions are cheaper than Proton VPN’s

Proton VPN is the only free VPN we recommend at CNET, and even its paid subscription plans are reasonably priced and offer a lot of value for the budget-conscious VPN user. However, even though Surfshark doesn’t offer a free plan, it delivers slightly better overall value than Proton VPN if you choose its annual or two-year plan.   

Proton VPN’s free tier includes access to servers in eight different countries (US, Canada, Japan, Romania, Singapore, Norway, Poland and the Netherlands), but automatically assigns you a server when you connect and limits you to a single connection at a time. Additionally, free servers don’t include Secure Core and don’t support streaming or P2P traffic. Other than those few limitations, Proton VPN’s free tier delivers the same level of privacy as its paid plans and doesn’t place limits on usage or bandwidth like many other free VPNs do.  

If you opt for Proton VPN’s premium service, you’ll get the full suite of advanced features, access to more than 15,000 servers across 126 countries, 10 simultaneous connections along with an ad tracker and malware blocker. Proton VPN’s paid plans cost $10 per month, $60 for the first year or $108 for the first two years, with the yearly and two-year plans both renewing at $80 per year after the initial billing period.

Surfshark’s basic tier includes a VPN, Alternative ID personal detail generator, unlimited simultaneous connections, access to more than 3,000 servers across 100 countries and an ad and cookie popup blocker. It costs $15.45 per month, $48 for the first 15 months or $54 for the first 27 months, with the annual and two-year plans renewing at $79 per year following the initial billing period. That makes Surfshark’s long-term plans significantly cheaper at the outset, but nearly identical to Proton VPN’s annual renewal price. However, if you intend to go month to month, Proton VPN is a far better value at $10 per month as opposed to Surfshark’s $15.45.

But unlike Proton VPN, Surfshark offers a seven-day free trial of its premium plans for first-time users, meaning you can get full access to the service for a week before you commit to paying anything.    

Both Surfshark and Proton VPN offer bundled subscription plans, but each company’s bundled offerings are completely different. Proton offers a single bundled plan that includes a VPN, password manager, encrypted cloud storage, secure email, Bitcoin wallet and an encrypted calendar (though each individual service can be purchased separately). Surfshark offers three different subscription tiers, and its most comprehensive tier includes a VPN, personal detail generator, antivirus, data leak alerts, private search and data removal.     

Privacy and security winner: Proton VPN is the better choice for users with critical privacy needs

Surfshark delivers solid privacy with its post-quantum protections and RAM-only servers, but Proton VPN’s Swiss jurisdiction and radical transparency may be more appealing to privacy purists.

Proton VPN has always had a strong, privacy-first focus and has always charted its own path. Rather than fall in line with other VPNs rolling out post-quantum protections and RAM-only server infrastructures, Proton VPN remains extremely deliberate in carving its own approach to privacy. The company uses full-disk encryption to secure its fleet of servers, and makes a case for why this approach achieves essentially the same end as running servers on volatile memory. 

Surfshark uses RAM-only servers, which don’t store data on a hard drive and are wiped whenever a server is rebooted or shut down, ensuring no useful data remains on a server if it’s seized. Instead of being wiped, all data on Proton VPN’s hard drives are fully encrypted when shut down and are inaccessible without the encryption keys, which the company stores off-site. 

Additionally, Surfshark rolled out post-quantum protections this year — a forward-looking privacy measure also implemented by others like Mullvad, ExpressVPN and NordVPN that’s designed to help guard against potential future threats from quantum computers. Proton is still working on its implementation of post-quantum encryption for its Proton Mail service, but is taking a cautious approach, citing risks associated with new cryptography not being battle tested and potential misconfigurations leading to security vulnerabilities. 

There can be advantages in yielding to caution, but even if quantum computers may be decades away from breaking modern encryption standards, getting an early jump on protecting users with quantum-safe encryption now is an important step for the industry to take.

Both Surfshark and Proton VPN offer crucial privacy features like a kill switch, DNS leak protection and audited no-logs policies, along with helpful extras like split tunneling and obfuscation. However, there are a few differences between some of the more advanced privacy features offered by each provider. 

Both providers have double-hop VPN servers, but while Surfshark’s Dynamic MultiHop feature allows you to route your traffic through any two server locations of your choosing, Proton VPN’s Secure Core servers first route your data through secure servers located in Sweden, Iceland or Switzerland before exiting through another server in your chosen location. Surfshark’s Dynamic Multihop functionality can help you achieve faster, more stable connections while protecting your privacy behind an extra layer of encryption, whereas using Proton VPN’s Secure Core might route your traffic through servers housed in an underground bunker or on a former military base.

If you’re looking for Tor over VPN functionality, Proton is the way to go. Proton VPN’s Onion over VPN servers (labeled with an onion icon in the app) run your connection through the Tor network and let you safely access onion websites without the need to separately download the Tor browser. Note that using Tor over VPN servers will substantially reduce your connection speeds, so this feature should be used only if you need extreme privacy or need to access onion websites. For most users, a standard VPN connection from Proton VPN or Surfshark is enough to sufficiently protect your privacy online.

If you’re looking for a unique privacy feature that may be more universally beneficial, Surfshark’s Alternative ID is worth a look. With Alternative ID, you can generate a fake persona complete with a full name, physical address, birthdate and email address that you can use to fill out forms online where you don’t want to divulge your true personal information. Emails sent to your fake address are automatically forwarded to your preferred actual email address that you provide in Surfshark’s settings. An alternative phone number is also available for an additional $3 per month.

Surfshark’s innovative self-healing EverLink server infrastructure is able to automatically reconfigure the VPN tunnel without disconnecting you in the event of a server failure or maintenance. This helps ensure that your IP address stays protected and internet traffic remains encrypted even if a server drops out for any reason. Even so, I still recommend keeping the kill switch enabled as an extra layer of protection.   

But if you have critical privacy needs and value enhanced transparency, you may be swayed by Proton VPN’s open source apps and its privacy-friendly Swiss jurisdiction over Surfshark’s Netherlands jurisdiction, which is a member of the 14-Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance. However, the Netherlands doesn’t have any mandatory data retention laws that would compel VPN providers based there to log user data.       

Usability winner: Both offer slick apps for all major platforms, but Surfshark is slightly easier to use, especially for beginners

Surfshark and Proton VPN both offer user-friendly apps for major platforms like Windows, MacOS, Linux (with GUI), Android, iOS, Amazon Fire TV Stick and Apple TV. Both also work with routers and offer browser extensions. However, if you’re a beginner, you might prefer Surfshark’s simplicity, while advanced users might instead appreciate the advanced settings and more granular control offered by Proton VPN.

I like how easy Surfshark makes it to access core settings. With a single click or tap from the home screen, I can quickly access my recently used locations, fastest servers, closest country, static IP servers and multihop connections. I can also easily toggle on or off settings like the kill switch, rotating IP and ad blocker without having to navigate through to a separate settings menu. The app also displays your current protocol, VPN IP address and settings you’ve enabled without cluttering the interface. I think it’s helpful that Surfshark allows you to pause your connection instead of disconnecting outright, too, meaning you can jump off the VPN connection temporarily without having to worry about forgetting to reconnect.

Proton VPN’s apps take a little more time to get used to, but are still manageable, even if you’ve never used a VPN before. If you’re more of an advanced user, you’ll probably like how Proton VPN gives you more options to fine-tune your experience. You can set up custom profiles within the app as shortcuts to quickly access customized server connections based on things like location, specific server (including standard, Secure Core, Tor over VPN or P2P optimized servers) and VPN protocol. In Proton VPN’s advanced app settings, you can also toggle aspects like alternative routing, which can be helpful when you’re experiencing network issues, or moderate NAT, which might be beneficial in certain online gaming scenarios. The bottom line: Proton VPN is a great choice if you prefer an app that gives you more control over your VPN app experience.   

Both Proton VPN and Surfshark are excellent for streaming. In our tests, we were able to reliably access content across devices on various popular streaming platforms including Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu. The only issue I ran into was with Hulu detecting Surfshark when trying to stream its content on my Fire TV Stick. Otherwise, Surfshark was able to unblock Hulu on all other devices I tested. But VPNs and streaming services remain in a perpetual game of cat and mouse, with streaming services attempting to block VPN access and VPNs finding ways to get around those blocks. So the content your VPN is able to unblock today, it might not tomorrow — and vice versa. However, a simple server change or clearing of cookies and cache might help you if you run into issues.  

Bottom line

Ultimately, whether you decide to go with Surfshark or Proton VPN, you’re getting one of the best VPNs on the planet. Both are well-rounded services that are cheaper than much of the competition while delivering solid privacy protections, excellent usability and solid streaming capabilities. Which one you choose will probably depend largely on the level of privacy you need and what features appeal to you most.  

Because of its airtight privacy, open source apps, Swiss jurisdiction, Secure Core servers and Tor over VPN functionality, I recommend Proton VPN for users with critical privacy needs, such as journalists, activists, attorneys or whistleblowers. If you’re new to VPNs, find the Alternative ID feature useful and are comfortable with its Dutch jurisdiction, Surfshark is an excellent choice.