Surfshark vs Proton VPN: which to pick?

Three differences decide this matchup, and none of them is the advertised price. Audit access: Proton VPN publishes all five of its Securitum no-logs reports in full — 2022 through 2026 — and open-sources every app, while Surfshark’s two Deloitte engagements are readable only after you log in to a paid account. Network scale: Proton VPN’s live server page listed 20,677 servers in 148 countries on 23 Jul 2026, against Surfshark’s 4,500+ in 100. Device limits: here Surfshark hits back, allowing unlimited simultaneous connections where Proton VPN caps you at 10.

Weigh all three and Proton VPN takes it for most people — its $9.99 monthly plan also undercuts Surfshark’s $16.45, and its free plan lets you start without paying at all. Surfshark’s case rests on households: one subscription covers every device you own, at a two-year rate and a renewal that both come in slightly under Proton VPN’s. To see both against the other six providers we track, start with our full VPN rankings.

Surfshark vs Proton VPN at a glance

Figures come from the two vendors’ own pages, as of 23 Jul 2026.

Surfshark vs Proton VPN, as of 23 Jul 2026

	Surfshark	Proton VPN
Monthly price	$16.45 (Starter)	$9.99 (VPN Plus)
Best intro rate	$2.49/mo — $67.23 for 27 months	$2.99/mo — $71.76 for 24 months
Renewal after intro term	$79.00/yr (about $6.58/mo)	$83.88/yr ($6.99/mo)
Simultaneous devices	Unlimited	10
Server countries	100	148
Server count	4,500+	20,677
Protocols	WireGuard, IKEv2, OpenVPN	WireGuard, OpenVPN, Stealth
RAM-only servers	Yes — the whole fleet	No — encrypted disks by design
Latest no-logs audit	Deloitte, 2025 (2nd)	Securitum, 2026 (5th)
Audit report public	No — logged-in customers only	Yes — all five published
Free plan	No	Yes — 1 device, no data cap
Registered in	Netherlands (terms under BVI law)	Switzerland

The one clean tie: both back paid plans with a 30-day money-back guarantee. For the single-service teardowns, see our Surfshark review and Proton VPN review.

Which costs less?

It depends entirely on how you pay. Month to month, Proton VPN wins by a distance: $9.99 against $16.45, which over a year of rolling monthly bills is $119.88 against $197.40. Commit for two years and the order flips, narrowly:

Term	Surfshark Starter	Proton VPN Plus
1 month	$16.45, renews at $16.45/mo	$9.99, renews at $9.99/mo
2-year deal, billed upfront	$67.23 for 27 months ($2.49/mo)	$71.76 for 24 months ($2.99/mo)
Renewal after the intro term	$79.00 a year (about $6.58/mo)	$83.88 a year ($6.99/mo)

Surfshark’s 27-month intro term costs $4.53 less than Proton VPN’s 24-month term while covering three extra months, and its renewal stays $4.88 a year cheaper. Real, but not a landslide.

Both advertised long-term rates are intro pricing. Surfshark Starter renews at $79.00 a year — about 2.6 times the advertised $2.49 a month — and Proton VPN Plus renews at $83.88, more than double its advertised $2.99. Two Surfshark footnotes before you commit: renewal pricing is A/B-tested under its terms — what your account is offered may not match the published schedule, per our Surfshark review — and it also sells pricier One and One+ tiers that bundle non-VPN extras — One+ includes Incogni’s data-removal service, per The Independent’s comparison. The prices above are the VPN-only Starter tier.

Refund terms match on the headline and differ in the fine print. Surfshark’s 30 days apply only to the first charge — nothing recurring is refundable — and exclude prepaid and gift cards, anything bought through a reseller other than Paddle, Google Play, or Cleverbridge, and add-ons such as the anonymous dedicated IP. Proton VPN’s pricing FAQ states a full refund on request within the first 30 days.

Who proves its no-logs policy better?

Proton VPN, by the width of its published paper trail. Its 2026 Securitum audit is the fifth consecutive annual check of its no-logs infrastructure, and every report from 2022 onward is downloadable in full before you spend anything. All of its apps are open source. Proton also states the policy has held through more than 400 legal cases without logs to hand over.

Surfshark’s paperwork is current but gated. Deloitte’s ISAE 3000 assurance engagement — announced 16 Jun 2025 and updated 26 Nov 2025 — is its second, after a January 2023 audit, and the detailed reports are available only to logged-in Surfshark customers. You have to pay before you can inspect the evidence.

Jurisdiction and ownership add texture. Proton AG operates from Geneva, where — on its own reading — the present Swiss framework asks no logging of it. Surfshark is Surfshark B.V. of Amsterdam, with terms of service governed by British Virgin Islands law — its own terms describe that as unchanged from before the move to the Netherlands. Surfshark also merged with Nord Security, NordVPN’s parent, in February 2022; it says the two run as autonomous companies on separate infrastructure.

Server hardware splits on philosophy rather than evidence. Surfshark runs a fully RAM-only fleet that erases itself on every reboot. Proton VPN skips RAM-only on purpose, arguing the design buys nothing real, and full-disk-encrypts its bare metal with LUKS AES-256, the keys kept off-site. Those are two different answers to the same server-seizure threat; the audit record above is the better basis for judging either. For how to weigh engagements like these, see how no-log VPN audits work.

Which is faster?

The published record contradicts itself. Surfshark’s own comparison page calls Surfshark faster overall, while Gizmodo and Security.org both give the speed edge to Proton VPN. When the vendor and independent reviewers disagree, treat the question as open — VPN speed shifts with distance, server load, and time of day.

The protocol stacks predict no big gap either way. Both services run WireGuard, the protocol that matters most for throughput. Surfshark adds IKEv2 and OpenVPN and says its entire network now runs on 10Gbps ports; Proton VPN adds OpenVPN plus Stealth, its own obfuscation protocol for networks that block standard VPN traffic. The 30-day refund window on either service is a better speed test than any of the conflicting write-ups.

How many devices can one plan cover?

Surfshark: as many as you own. Every paid plan allows unlimited simultaneous connections; only the 7-day trial caps you at 3 devices. Proton VPN Plus secures 10 devices at a time, and its free plan just 1. For one or two people, 10 is room to spare. For a household putting phones, laptops, TVs, and consoles on a single subscription, unlimited is the difference that decides the purchase.

What does the free plan change?

It changes who can even enter the comparison. Proton VPN’s free plan is permanent: 1 device, servers in 10 randomly selected countries, no ads, no data or bandwidth caps, at medium speed. Surfshark has no free tier — its 7-day trial exists only on the 12- and 24-month plans, needs a payment method up front, and auto-charges the full plan price when the week ends. If price is the whole decision, see where Proton VPN’s free tier lands in our best free VPN picks.

Choose Surfshark if

• one subscription must cover a whole household — every paid plan allows unlimited simultaneous connections
• you want the lowest committed rate: $67.23 for the first 27 months, then $79.00 a year, both slightly under Proton VPN’s equivalents
• RAM-only servers are your bar for server security — the whole fleet wipes on every reboot

Try Surfshark — 30 days to refund the initial purchase.

Choose Proton VPN if

• you want to read the audit evidence before paying — five Securitum reports published in full, plus open-source apps
• you pay month to month, where $9.99 beats $16.45
• you need coverage in more countries: 148 against 100, from a fleet of 20,677 servers
• you want to start free — the free plan has no data cap, so the trial never expires
• your network blocks standard VPN protocols — Stealth exists for exactly that

Try Proton VPN — the 30-day money-back guarantee applies to its paid plans too.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

Is Surfshark better than Proton VPN?

For most people, no. Proton VPN publishes its audit reports in full, open-sources its apps, runs servers in 148 countries against Surfshark's 100, charges $9.99 a month against $16.45, and includes a permanent free tier. Surfshark is the better pick for households: unlimited simultaneous connections against Proton VPN's 10, with a slightly lower two-year rate.

Which is cheaper, Surfshark or Proton VPN?

Month to month, Proton VPN: $9.99 against Surfshark's $16.45. On two-year terms, Surfshark: $67.23 for the first 27 months ($2.49/mo) against Proton VPN's $71.76 for 24 months ($2.99/mo), renewing at $79.00 versus $83.88 a year — per both vendors' pages, as of 23 Jul 2026.

Which is faster, Surfshark or Proton VPN?

Published comparisons disagree: Surfshark's own comparison page says Surfshark, while Gizmodo and Security.org report Proton VPN as faster. Both run WireGuard, so everyday browsing is quick on either. Testing your own connection inside the 30-day refund window settles it better than any write-up.

Does Surfshark or Proton VPN allow more devices?

Surfshark — every paid plan allows unlimited simultaneous connections, while Proton VPN Plus covers 10 devices at a time and its free plan covers 1. The exception is Surfshark's 7-day trial, which is capped at 3 devices until the trial ends.

Which is better for privacy, Surfshark or Proton VPN?

Both hold recent independent no-logs engagements — Deloitte 2025 for Surfshark, Securitum 2026 for Proton VPN. The difference is access: Proton VPN publishes all five of its reports and open-sources its apps, while Surfshark's reports are visible only to logged-in customers. Proton AG is Swiss; Surfshark B.V. is Dutch, with terms governed by BVI law.

Does Proton VPN have a free plan, and does Surfshark?

Proton VPN's free plan is permanent: 1 device, no data cap, no ads, servers in 10 randomly selected countries. Surfshark has no free plan — its 7-day trial runs only on 12- and 24-month plans, requires a payment method, and auto-charges the full plan price when it ends.

Which is better for streaming, Surfshark or Proton VPN?

Comparison roundups — Security.org, Cybernews, and CyberInsider among them — more often rank Surfshark ahead for streaming. Neither provider publishes reproducible unblocking results, so treat that as reviewer consensus and check the services you use during the refund window.