Surfshark vs PIA: $79 a year or every 3 years

Surfshark’s favorite argument — unlimited devices against a capped rival — buys nothing here, because Private Internet Access caps nothing either. That pushes the decision onto three separators. Renewal price: both companies bill $79, but Surfshark Starter bills it every year (about $6.58 a month) while PIA bills it every three years (about $2.19). Reach: Surfshark’s server page lists 100 countries; PIA’s lists 50. Address: Surfshark is a Dutch company whose terms run under British Virgin Islands law; PIA answers to Colorado law in the US, a founding Five Eyes member.

The feature sets split more cleanly than in most matchups: Surfshark stacks identity extras on top of the tunnel, while PIA exposes the controls inside it — port forwarding, granular encryption settings, a command-line interface — a split Surfshark’s own comparison page lays out itself. Prices and specs below come from both vendors’ pricing, server, audit, and legal pages as of 23 Jul 2026; speed, streaming, and torrenting calls are attributed to the outlets that made them. For the wider field, start with our full VPN rankings.

Surfshark vs PIA at a glance

All prices in USD, taken from each provider's own pages on 23 Jul 2026

	Surfshark	Private Internet Access
Cheapest monthly plan	$16.45 (Starter), renews at $16.45	$11.95, renews at $11.95
Best intro rate	$2.49/mo — $67.23 for 27 months	$2.03/mo — about $79 for 39 months
Renewal after the intro term	$79.00/yr (about $6.58/mo)	$79 every 3 years (about $2.19/mo)
Simultaneous devices	Unlimited	Unlimited
Server countries	100	50 on its server list (homepage claims 90)
Servers	4,500+, all on 10 Gbps ports	No headline total on its own pages
Jurisdiction	Netherlands — terms governed by BVI law	United States (Colorado) — a Five Eyes member
Protocols	WireGuard, IKEv2, OpenVPN	WireGuard and OpenVPN, both open source
RAM-only servers	Yes	Yes
Latest no-logs audit	Deloitte, 2025 (its second)	Deloitte Audit Romania, 2025 (its third)
Audit report access	Logged-in customers only	Public PDF download
Money-back window	30 days (initial purchase only)	30 days (new subscribers only)
Free trial	7 days on 12- and 24-month plans, card required	None — refund guarantee instead

What does $79 buy from each?

Month to month, PIA charges $11.95 and renews at $11.95. Surfshark Starter charges $16.45 and renews at $16.45. That $4.50 gap compounds to $54 a year for anyone paying monthly.

The long deals land closer. Surfshark’s 24-month Starter plan plus three free months bills $67.23 for the first 27 months, or $2.49 a month at 85% off. PIA’s “3 Years + 3 Months Extra” plan bills about $79 for 39 months, or $2.03 a month, under an 83% summer promotion running as of 23 Jul 2026. Both are intro rates, and both end at the same sticker: a $79 bill. The difference is what that bill covers.

Cost	Surfshark Starter	PIA 3-year plan
First term	$67.23 for 27 months	about $79 for 39 months
The same 39 months	$146.23 ($67.23 + one $79.00 renewal year)	about $79
Each year after that	$79.00	about $26.33 ($79 every 3 years)

Over an identical 39-month window, Surfshark costs nearly double. From the first renewal on, it costs exactly three times as much per year. Two catches sit in the fine print. What Surfshark shows you at renewal is not fixed — its terms permit per-account price testing, so your $79.00 may read differently; our Surfshark review has the detail. And PIA’s pricing page quotes two different renewal figures for its 1-year plan, $49.99 in one line and $39.95 in another, so confirm that middle plan at checkout.

Devices are a tie — the extras are not

Both services allow unlimited simultaneous connections: Surfshark on every paid plan, with only its free trial capped at three devices, and PIA on one subscription across compatible devices. In every other Surfshark matchup this line settles arguments; here it settles nothing.

The extras do separate them, and Surfshark’s own comparison page is candid about how. It credits itself with identity tools — Alternative ID, Alternative Number, and the Incogni data-removal service in its bigger bundles — and credits PIA with port forwarding, granular encryption controls, a command-line interface, and an open-source architecture. That is two different products: one masks who you are above the tunnel, the other hands you the levers inside it.

Port forwarding is the concrete lever. It matters mostly for torrenting and seeding, and it sits on PIA’s side of the ledger — Gizmodo’s comparison is among the reviews giving PIA the torrenting edge. The best VPNs for torrenting rank that use case across the market.

Who makes the stronger privacy case?

The floors match. Both fleets run entirely in RAM, wiping data on every reboot, and both no-logs setups passed Deloitte-family engagements under the ISAE 3000 standard in 2025 — Surfshark’s second, after a first audit in January 2023, and PIA’s third, by Deloitte Audit Romania after 2022 and 2024, taking in the token system behind dedicated IPs, VPN configurations, and management systems.

Same auditor brand, opposite publishing habits. PIA offers its report as a public PDF anyone can download; Surfshark shows its reports only to paying customers who log in, so you cannot read the findings before buying. For what these engagements can and cannot show, see how no-log VPN audits work.

Geography runs the other way. PIA is a US company — Denver address, Colorado law — inside a founding Five Eyes member, and its counterweight is a court record: the company states subpoenas have produced no user data, a history our Private Internet Access review weighs in full. Surfshark’s registration takes a sentence to state precisely: Surfshark B.V. sits in Amsterdam, but its terms are governed by British Virgin Islands law, so “Dutch VPN” oversimplifies it — our Surfshark review unpacks that, along with its February 2022 merger with Nord Security, which both companies say leaves them running autonomously on separate infrastructure.

Whose network is bigger — and is either faster?

Surfshark’s page lists 4,500-plus servers spanning 100 countries, every one upgraded to 10 Gbps ports. PIA publishes no headline server total; its server list shows exactly 50 countries and territories while its homepage still claims 90 — the list is the number to trust — and some locations are virtual, with India served from Singapore and the UK. If you need an IP in one specific country, Surfshark’s odds are simply better: twice the coverage on paper.

Speed evidence is thinner than either marketing page suggests. No neutral head-to-head appears among this page’s sources. Surfshark’s own comparison describes its WireGuard speeds as roughly double PIA’s — a vendor grading itself — and Security.org’s independent comparison points the same direction. Take the direction as likely and the margin as unmeasured; the only test that settles it runs on your own connection, inside a refund window. Streaming follows the same pattern: AllAboutCookies and 01net both describe Surfshark as the stronger streaming option.

How do the refunds and trials compare?

Both promise 30 days, both with catches. Surfshark refunds the initial purchase only — recurring payments are non-refundable — and excludes purchases through resellers other than Paddle, Google Play, or Cleverbridge, plus prepaid and gift cards, anonymous dedicated IPs, and Alternative Number orders. PIA limits its guarantee to new subscribers, sends app-store purchases back through the store, and rules out accounts opened within three months of a prior refund.

Only Surfshark offers a trial: 7 days, on the 12- and 24-month plans only, capped at three devices, card required, auto-charging the full plan when the week ends. PIA points buyers at the guarantee instead.

Which one should you buy?

Choose Surfshark if

• You need IP addresses in more places: 100 countries against the 50 on PIA’s server list
• A US-based provider is a dealbreaker: a Dutch company with terms under BVI law
• Streaming leads your list: AllAboutCookies and 01net rate it the stronger unblocker
• Identity extras appeal: Alternative ID, Alternative Number, and Incogni ship in its bundles

Check current terms at Surfshark.

Choose PIA if

• Cost decides it: about $79 for 39 months, then $79 every three years — a third of Surfshark’s renewal, month for month
• You torrent or seed: port forwarding, a control Surfshark’s own comparison places on PIA’s side, plus Gizmodo’s nod
• You want the audit in hand before paying: Deloitte’s report is a public PDF download
• You like engine-room control: granular encryption settings and a command-line interface

Check current terms at Private Internet Access.

Frequently asked questions

Is Surfshark better than PIA?

Only if you use what the extra money buys: servers in 100 countries against the 50 on PIA's list, a non-US address, and the streaming edge AllAboutCookies and 01net report. Both allow unlimited devices, so PIA delivers the core job at $79 every three years against Surfshark's $79 every year.

Which is cheaper, Surfshark or PIA?

PIA at every term as of 23 Jul 2026: $11.95 a month against $16.45, $2.03 a month against $2.49 on the long intro deals, and about $26.33 a year at renewal against $79.00. Over an identical 39-month window, PIA costs about $79 while Surfshark costs $146.23.

Does Surfshark or PIA have unlimited devices?

Both do — a rare tie. Surfshark's pricing page promises unlimited simultaneous connections on every paid plan, with only its 7-day trial capped at three devices. PIA's homepage states one subscription covers unlimited connections on compatible devices.

Which is faster, Surfshark or PIA?

No neutral head-to-head appears among this page's sources. Surfshark's own comparison page describes its WireGuard speeds as roughly double PIA's — a vendor grading itself — and Security.org's independent comparison also sides with Surfshark. Treat the direction as likely and the margin as unmeasured, then test on your own connection inside the 30-day refund window.

Which is better for torrenting, Surfshark or PIA?

Reviews that pick a torrenting winner, Gizmodo's comparison among them, lean toward PIA. The concrete reason is port forwarding — a control Surfshark's own comparison page places on PIA's side — along with granular encryption settings and a command-line interface. Both providers run RAM-only networks and allow unlimited devices.

Is PIA more private than Surfshark?

The floors match: RAM-only servers on both sides and current Deloitte no-logs engagements — Surfshark's second (2025) and PIA's third (Deloitte Audit Romania, 2025). They split on geography and disclosure. PIA is a US company inside Five Eyes, but publishes its audit as a public PDF and states subpoenas have produced no user data. Surfshark sits outside the US, but shows its reports only to logged-in customers.