--- title: "NordVPN vs Surfshark (2026): Prices, Speed and Which to Buy | OzSavers" description: "NordVPN vs Surfshark on live US pricing verified 6 September 2026. Real renewal costs, why the speed tests disagree, streaming, torrenting, gaming and the downsides of each." lang: json-ld: | { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://ozsavers.com/articles/nordvpn-vs-surfshark#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "OzSavers", "item": "https://ozsavers.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Articles", "item": "https://ozsavers.com/articles" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "NordVPN vs Surfshark" } ] }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://ozsavers.com/#organization", "name": "OzSavers", "url": "https://ozsavers.com/", "description": "US tech and electronics deals, with the true price on everything we track." }, { "@type": "Person", "@id": "https://ozsavers.com/about-ozsavers#ryan", "name": "Ryan", "jobTitle": "Founder and Editor", "worksFor": { "@id": "https://ozsavers.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Article", "@id": "https://ozsavers.com/articles/nordvpn-vs-surfshark#article", "headline": "NordVPN vs Surfshark: which one should you actually buy?", "description": "NordVPN and Surfshark compared on live US pricing verified 6 September 2026, plus speed, streaming, features, downsides and what each costs after the intro rate.", "datePublished": "2026-09-06", "dateModified": "2026-09-06", "image": [ "https://ozsavers.com/assets/vpn-hero.jpg" ], "author": { "@id": "https://ozsavers.com/about-ozsavers#ryan" }, "publisher": { "@id": "https://ozsavers.com/#organization" }, "mainEntityOfPage": "https://ozsavers.com/articles/nordvpn-vs-surfshark", "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Virtual private network" }, { "@type": "Organization", "name": "NordVPN" }, { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Surfshark" } ], "mentions": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Proton VPN" }, { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Mullvad" }, { "@type": "Organization", "name": "ExpressVPN" }, { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Nord Security" } ] }, { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://ozsavers.com/articles/nordvpn-vs-surfshark#list", "name": "NordVPN vs Surfshark", "numberOfItems": 2, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Product", "name": "NordVPN", "brand": { "@type": "Brand", "name": "NordVPN" }, "description": "VPN with 8,096 servers across 149 countries, 10 simultaneous devices, no logs policy audited four times.", "offers": { "@type": "Offer", "price": "94.23", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceValidUntil": "2026-10-01", "url": "https://nordvpn.com/pricing/", "description": "Basic plan, first 27 months. Renews at $139.08 per year." } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Product", "name": "Surfshark", "brand": { "@type": "Brand", "name": "Surfshark" }, "description": "VPN with more than 4,500 servers across 100 countries, unlimited simultaneous devices, no logs policy audited by Deloitte.", "offers": { "@type": "Offer", "price": "67.23", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceValidUntil": "2026-10-01", "url": "https://surfshark.com/pricing", "description": "Starter plan, first 27 months. Renews at $79.00 per year." } } } ] }, { "@type": "FAQPage", "@id": "https://ozsavers.com/articles/nordvpn-vs-surfshark#faq", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "Are NordVPN and Surfshark the same company?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Yes, in the sense that both are owned by Nord Security. The two businesses merged in February 2022. They still run as separate products with their own apps, server infrastructure and development teams, so the products differ in real ways, but the parent company is the same." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Is NordVPN worth it in 2026?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "It is worth it if you stream heavily, travel, or want the most reliable consumer VPN available, and if you are covering fewer than ten devices. At $94.23 for the first 27 months it is not expensive. What to weigh is the renewal at $139.08 a year, which is $60 more than Surfshark charges for the equivalent tier." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Is NordVPN safe?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Yes. It runs a no logs policy that has been independently audited four times, it is based in Panama which sits outside the Five, Nine and Fourteen Eyes intelligence sharing agreements, and it uses NordLynx, its implementation of the WireGuard protocol. No VPN makes you anonymous, but on the measures that can actually be checked NordVPN is among the strongest in the category." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Which is faster, NordVPN or Surfshark?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Both are fast enough that you will not notice on a normal connection, and both run WireGuard based protocols. Independent testing through 2026 has generally put NordVPN ahead on long distance connections and on consistency at peak times, which is where its larger server count does real work. Surfshark is close and the gap is far smaller than it was two years ago." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Which is cheaper over the long run?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Surfshark, by a wide margin. Over the first 27 months Surfshark Starter saves you $27 against NordVPN Basic. Once both renew at their standard annual rates that gap widens to $87.08 by month 39 and $147.16 by month 51. On the mid tier plans it is larger still, at $166.38 by month 39." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "How many devices can I use?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "NordVPN allows 10 simultaneous connections. Surfshark allows unlimited. For one or two people NordVPN's limit is not a problem. For a family with phones, laptops, tablets and a couple of TVs it becomes one quickly, and this is the clearest practical difference between the two." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Do they work with Netflix and other streaming services?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Both unblock the major US streaming services most of the time. Streaming platforms actively block VPN traffic and both providers actively work around it, so the picture changes month to month. NordVPN tends to recover faster after a service tightens its blocks. If streaming is your main reason for buying, use the 30 day guarantee to test your specific services before you commit." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Is using a VPN legal in the United States?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Yes. Using a VPN is legal throughout the United States. What you do while connected is still governed by the same laws as anything else you do online, and using one to break a service's terms of use may cost you the account even where it is not illegal." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "How do I cancel and get a refund?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Both offer a 30 day money back guarantee on new subscriptions. NordVPN refunds are requested through live chat or their support form. Surfshark refunds are requested through their support chat. In both cases you need to ask within 30 days of the original charge, and switching off auto renewal in account settings is a separate step from asking for a refund." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "What is the downside of NordVPN?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "The renewal price, mainly. It goes to $139.08 a year once the introductory term ends, which is $60 more than Surfshark for the equivalent tier. It also caps you at 10 devices with no option to buy more, and its ad and malware blocking is not included on the cheapest Basic plan. In 2018 one rented server was accessed through the datacentre provider's own management tool, disclosed in 2019; no user credentials or activity were taken and the infrastructure was audited afterwards." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "What is the downside of Surfshark?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Performance on the OpenVPN protocol, which independent testing has measured at 70 to 90 Mbps against NordVPN's 200 to 270. On WireGuard the two are close, so this only bites if your router or device cannot run WireGuard. It also has a smaller network, more than 4,500 servers across 100 countries against 8,096 across 149, sits in the Netherlands which is a Nine Eyes member, and has a shorter independent audit history." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Can police track me if I use NordVPN?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "A VPN hides your traffic from your internet provider and hides your home IP address from the sites you visit. It does not make you untraceable. Law enforcement can still identify people through the accounts they log into, payment records, device fingerprinting, and cooperation from the services being used rather than from the VPN. NordVPN operates a no logs policy that has been independently audited four times and is based in Panama, so it holds little to hand over, but treating any VPN as protection from a criminal investigation is a misunderstanding of what the product does." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Should you leave a VPN on all the time?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "On a network you do not control, yes, and both apps have an auto connect setting for exactly that. At home it is a personal call: leaving it on stops your internet provider from seeing and selling your browsing, at the cost of occasionally breaking banking apps, food delivery and anything else that checks your location. The practical answer is to leave it on and put those specific apps in split tunnelling so they bypass it. That is the setting that makes people actually keep a VPN switched on." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Is there anything better than NordVPN?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "For pure privacy, Proton VPN and Mullvad are both stronger choices. Proton is Swiss based, fully open source and independently audited, with a genuinely usable free tier. Mullvad requires no email address to sign up, charges a flat rate with no introductory pricing and no renewal jump, and is rated best overall by RTINGS, which funds itself through memberships rather than affiliate commission. Both are weaker than NordVPN at unblocking streaming services, which is the trade you are making." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Does Netflix recognise and block NordVPN?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Netflix actively blocks IP ranges it identifies as belonging to VPNs, and it catches both of these periodically. Independent testing in 2026 found NordVPN and Surfshark both unblocking Netflix in the US, UK, Germany and Japan, but the picture changes month to month as blocks land and get worked around. NordVPN generally recovers faster. If a specific Netflix library is why you are buying, test it inside the 30 day refund window rather than trusting any comparison." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Which is better for gaming?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Neither will make your connection faster than no VPN at all, and almost every published comparison measures download speed, which is not what matters for gaming. Latency and jitter are what matter. NordVPN's larger network gives you a better chance of a server physically close to you, which is the only thing that reliably helps ping. Use a VPN for DDoS protection or to reach a region's servers, not to improve performance." } } ] } ] } --- [oz savers ](/) shop by brand ▾[about](/about-ozsavers)[articles](/articles)menu ☰ ![](/assets/vpn-hero-DYFBMoYA.jpg) **VPN** · NORDVPN VS SURFSHARK · PRICES CHECKED 6 SEP 2026 # same owner. very different bills. [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-body) and [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-body) are run by the same company. I pulled the live US pricing for both this morning and worked out what each one actually costs once the introductory rate runs out. by **Ryan** 6 September 2026 11 min read Best product **$94.23**first 27 months Basic plan · works out at $3.49 a month Then renews at $139.08 / yr Devices 10 Servers 8,096 · 149 countries No logs audits 4 independent Money back 30 days [Check NordVPN price](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-hero-nord) Fastest, best for streaming Best value **$67.23**first 27 months Starter plan · works out at $2.49 a month Then renews at $79.00 / yr Devices Unlimited Servers 4,500+ · 100 countries No logs audits Deloitte Money back 30 days [Check Surfshark price](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-hero-shark) Cheapest, covers the whole house **How we make money.** OzSavers earns a commission if you buy through a link on this page, at no extra cost to you. Both companies pay us at the same headline rate, 40 percent of the first term, so the order here is not set by who pays more. Every price was read from nordvpn.com/pricing and surfshark.com/pricing on 6 September 2026 and will move, so check the live figure before you buy. ## the short answer. ### Take NordVPN if you want the better product It is faster in independent testing, runs roughly twice the server footprint, and the apps are the ones I would set up for a family member without warning them about anything. Best choice if streaming is the reason you are buying. ### Take Surfshark if you are watching the total Unlimited devices instead of ten, cheaper on day one, and dramatically cheaper once the introductory term ends. For a household with phones, laptops and a couple of TVs, this is the obvious one. Both are owned by Nord Security, which merged the two businesses in February 2022. They still run separate apps, separate server infrastructure and separate roadmaps, so this is a real comparison. But it does explain why they barely overlap on price: they are not really competing, they are covering two ends of the same market. ## what it costs once the intro price ends. Every comparison quotes the monthly headline. Almost none of them run the maths past month 27, which is exactly where the two separate. Total paid over time, entry plans [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-cost) Basic [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-cost) Starter First 27 months $94.23 [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-cost) Basic · $94.23 introductory total $67.23 [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-cost) Starter · $67.23 introductory total Through month 39 · after one renewal $233.31 [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-cost) · $94.23 intro + $139.08 renewal $146.23 [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-cost) · $67.23 intro + $79.00 renewal Through month 51 · after two renewals $372.39 [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-cost) · $94.23 intro + two years at $139.08 $225.23 [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-cost) · $67.23 intro + two years at $79.00 Bars scaled to the largest total, $372.39. Calculated from each provider's published introductory total and its advertised annual recurring charge, read 6 September 2026. Assumes you let it renew, which most people do. The same comparison on the mid tier, where both bundle antivirus Running total NordVPN Complete Surfshark One Difference First 27 months $121.23 $75.33 $45.90 Through month 39 $340.71 $174.33 $166.38 Read that second row again. On the mid tier, three and a bit years of [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-cost) costs **$166 more** than [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-cost) for a broadly comparable bundle. That is not a rounding error, and it is completely invisible if you only look at the monthly figure on the buy button. the intro price is marketing. the renewal price is the product. ## speed, and why the tests disagree. Everyone says [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-speed) is faster. When you actually read the published tests side by side, they contradict each other, and nobody seems to mention it. CyberInsider, WireGuard, download Mbps, 2026 [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-speed) [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-speed) Seattle 903 [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-speed) · 903 Mbps, Seattle 752 [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-speed) · 752 Mbps, Seattle Los Angeles 868 [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-speed) · 868 Mbps, Los Angeles 653 [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-speed) · 653 Mbps, Los Angeles New York 825 [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-speed) · 825 Mbps, New York 637 [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-speed) · 637 Mbps, New York London 658 [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-speed) · 658 Mbps, London 556 [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-speed) · 556 Mbps, London Bars scaled to the fastest result, 903 Mbps. Figures published by CyberInsider in its 2026 head to head, measured on WireGuard based protocols. These are not our numbers and we say so. The same year, a different tester, the opposite conclusion TheBestVPN, 2026 NordVPN Surfshark Local baseline 242 Mbps 242 Mbps US East 228 218 US West 201 206 Europe 234 238 Asia 197 195 Average speed loss 10.68% 9.09% Look at what those two datasets actually claim. CyberInsider has [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-speed) roughly 25 to 33 percent ahead in every city. TheBestVPN, testing in the same year, has **[Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-speed) losing slightly less speed than [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-speed)**. Both are credible sites publishing real numbers. They cannot both be describing the same thing. The explanation is that they are not. A VPN speed test measures one machine, on one connection, to one server, at one moment. CyberInsider's baseline was a gigabit line where the ceiling is the VPN. TheBestVPN's baseline was 242 Mbps, low enough that both providers can saturate it, so the test measures almost nothing except overhead. Neither is wrong. Both are close to useless for predicting what you will get. **What to take from it.** On a connection under about 300 Mbps, you will not be able to tell these two apart. Above that, [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-speed)'s larger network gives it more room at peak times and the gap starts to show. If your line is 100 Mbps, speed is not the reason to choose between them, whatever any comparison tells you. ### The one speed difference that is real If you ever switch to the OpenVPN protocol, which some routers and older setups require, the gap becomes enormous. CyberInsider measured [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-speed) at 70 to 90 Mbps on OpenVPN against [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-speed) at 200 to 270 Mbps. On WireGuard they are close. On OpenVPN they are not the same product. If you are putting this on a router that cannot run WireGuard, that alone decides it. ## streaming, torrenting, gaming. The three jobs people actually buy for, and how the two differ on each. ![A large wall mounted television glowing in a dark living room, seen from behind a sofa](/assets/vpn-streaming-BxlwUKsq.jpg) **Streaming is a tie on results and a difference in recovery.** Both unblocked Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu and BBC iPlayer in 2026 testing. Blocks land every few months and NordVPN tends to get back in first. ### Streaming Effectively a tie on results. Independent testing in 2026 had both unblocking Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu and BBC iPlayer. The difference is recovery speed: platforms block VPN ranges constantly, and [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-streaming) tends to get back in faster after a block lands. If you have one specific service you cannot live without, test it inside the 30 day window rather than trusting any comparison, including this one. ### Torrenting and P2P Different approaches, both workable. [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-streaming) runs dedicated P2P optimised servers and routes you to them automatically, which helps on large files where throughput matters. [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-streaming) allows P2P on its entire network instead, so there is nothing to select. Nord's speed advantage on a fast line matters more here than anywhere else. Both have a kill switch, which is the feature that actually matters for this. ### Gaming The one nobody tests properly, including the sites ranking above this page. What matters for gaming is latency and jitter, not download speed, and almost every published comparison measures only download speed. [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-streaming)'s larger network means a higher chance of a server physically near you, which is the only thing that reliably helps ping. Neither will make you faster than no VPN at all. Use one for DDoS protection or region access, not for performance. ### IPTV and set top boxes This is where the device limit decides it. IPTV usually means a box or stick that stays connected permanently, plus your phones and laptops on top. [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-streaming)'s unlimited connections handle that without you managing a queue. With [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-streaming)'s ten, a household running a couple of streaming sticks alongside everything else will hit the ceiling. Check your device can run WireGuard, because the OpenVPN gap above is brutal on cheap hardware. ## do you actually need one? ### Where it earns its money In the US your internet provider has been legally allowed to sell your browsing history since 2017. A VPN takes that visibility away from them. It also gets you back into services you already pay for when you travel, seals your traffic on hotel and airport wifi, and keeps your home IP address out of every log of everything you do. ### Where it does not A VPN does not make you anonymous. If you are logged into Google, Google knows it is you. It does not stop malware on its own, it will not save you from a phishing email, and it hides nothing from a site you have signed into. Anyone selling one as invisibility is selling something that does not exist. ![A laptop open on a hotel room desk at night, a blurred city skyline through the window behind it](/assets/vpn-wifi-Crb2jPV3.jpg) **Where it earns its keep.** Hotel and airport networks are shared networks you do not control. This is the one situation where turning it on is not a judgement call. Most VPN articles open by telling you the internet is a war zone. It is not, and that pitch has done real damage to how people understand these tools. A VPN encrypts the connection between your device and a server somewhere else, then sends your traffic on from there. That is the entire product. It is genuinely useful for a handful of specific jobs and close to useless for a few others that get sold very hard. ## the six things people really use one for. Ranked by how often they come up, not by how dramatic they sound. ### Watching what you already pay for, elsewhere The number one reason people buy. Your subscription follows your billing address, not your body. Connect to a server back home and the library follows you. Both unblock the major US services; [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-uses) is the more reliable when a platform tightens up, which happens every few months. ### Hotel, airport and cafe wifi Public networks are shared networks. Almost everything is encrypted now so the risk is smaller than the ads suggest, but a hostile network still sees which sites you reach and can interfere with anything unencrypted. On a network you do not control, turn it on. Both apps auto connect for exactly this. ### Keeping your provider out of your browsing Comcast, AT&T and Verizon can legally sell what you look at. A VPN means all they see is an encrypted pipe to one address. You are moving that trust to the VPN company instead, which is why the audits matter and why we list them. ### Covering the router and the TV Smart TVs and streaming sticks are the devices most worth protecting and the most awkward to protect. [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-uses)'s unlimited connections make it painless. [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-uses) caps you at ten, which sounds generous until you count a household's phones, laptops, tablets and TVs. ### Comparing prices across regions Flights, hotels and some software price differently by country. It is not a guaranteed win and the savings are smaller than the internet claims, but on a long haul booking it is worth ten minutes. Use a private window so old cookies do not follow you. ### Split tunnelling, so it stops breaking things The feature nobody mentions and everybody needs. Banking apps, food delivery and local sites tend to break when your traffic exits in another country. Split tunnelling routes those around the VPN while everything else stays inside it. Both have it. Set it up on day one and you will actually leave the thing on. ## why these two and not the other forty. There are north of a hundred consumer VPNs and roughly two dozen companies behind them. Most of the ones you see recommended are recommended because of what they pay, not what they do. So here is our position stated plainly: we are paid by both companies on this page at about the same rate, and we picked them for three reasons that survive that. **Both publish audits and both have passed them.** [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-shortlist)'s no logs policy has been independently audited four times. [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-shortlist)'s has been audited by Deloitte. A no logs claim with no audit behind it is a marketing line, and most of the field is exactly that. **Both have the infrastructure.** [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-shortlist) runs 8,096 servers across 149 countries. [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-shortlist) runs more than 4,500 across 100. Server count is an imperfect proxy for anything, but it is the difference between a working connection at 8pm and a crawling one. **Both publish the renewal price.** On their own pricing pages, where you can check it. Plenty of providers do not, which tells you what they expect to happen in year two. ![A dark server room corridor at night with rows of equipment racks and small blue indicator lights](/assets/vpn-servers-DDQLrPSv.jpg) **8,096 servers against more than 4,500.** Server count is an imperfect proxy for anything, but it is the difference between a working connection at 8pm and a crawling one. ### The thing no other comparison puts up front [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-shortlist) and [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-shortlist) are both owned by Nord Security. They merged in February 2022 and have run as separate products under one parent ever since. It is a genuine comparison, not a fake one, but whichever you choose the money ends up in the same place, and you should know that before you decide rather than after. ## the features that actually differ. Both have a kill switch, split tunnelling, WireGuard and a no logs policy. Ignore those, they are table stakes. These are the ones only one of them has. ### Only on NordVPN **Meshnet.** Links your own devices into a private encrypted network across the internet. Reach your home machine from a hotel, or route a friend's traffic through your connection. Genuinely useful and genuinely unusual. **Double VPN and Onion over VPN.** Routes through two servers, or through the Tor network. Slow, and overkill for almost everyone, but there if your threat model needs it. **Threat Protection Pro.** Blocks ads, trackers and malicious downloads, and works even when you are not connected to a VPN server. Sits on the Plus tier and above, not on Basic. **Nord Whisper.** A protocol built to look like ordinary web traffic, for networks that block VPNs outright. ### Only on Surfshark **Unlimited devices.** The headline difference, and the one most likely to decide it for a household. **Alternative ID.** Generates a whole substitute identity, including a working email address, so you can sign up for things without handing over your real details. Nothing in [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-features) does this. **CleanWeb on every tier.** Ad and tracker blocking on the cheapest plan, where [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-features) gates the equivalent behind an upgrade. **GPS override.** On Android, forces the phone's reported GPS location to match your VPN server. Apps that check location rather than IP get the same answer. ### The honest read on feature lists Almost nobody uses more than three of these. Both companies keep adding them because a longer list wins comparison tables, not because people asked. Pick on device count, price and whether your streaming service works. If Meshnet or Alternative ID happens to solve a real problem for you, that is a genuine tiebreaker, and if it does not then it should not move you at all. ## what is wrong with each of them. Every comparison lists strengths. Here is the other half, which is usually what you actually need to know before spending money. ### Where NordVPN falls down **The renewal.** $139.08 a year after the introductory term, against [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-downsides)'s $79. That is the single biggest mark against it and it arrives quietly, two years after you stopped thinking about it. **Ten device cap.** Fine for a person, tight for a family, and there is no option to pay for more. **Ad blocking is upsold.** Threat Protection Pro is not on the Basic plan, so the cheapest [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-downsides) is missing something the cheapest [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-downsides) includes. **The apps carry a lot.** More features means a busier interface, particularly on mobile, and more prompts to add something else to your subscription. **The 2018 server breach.** A rented Finnish server was accessed through the datacentre provider's own insecure management tool. No user credentials or activity were taken, but [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-downsides) did not disclose it until 2019. It responded with infrastructure audits and colocated servers, and nothing similar has happened since. Worth knowing rather than worth avoiding them over. ### Where Surfshark falls down **OpenVPN performance.** Measured at 70 to 90 Mbps against [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-downsides)'s 200 to 270. If your router or device cannot run WireGuard, this is a serious problem rather than a footnote. **Smaller network.** More than 4,500 servers across 100 countries against 8,096 across 149. Fewer options when a location is congested or blocked. **Netherlands jurisdiction.** A Nine Eyes member, where [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-downsides) sits in Panama outside those agreements. An audited no logs policy matters more in practice, but if jurisdiction is your deciding factor, it favours Nord. **Shorter audit history.** Deloitte has audited the no logs policy, which is real and more than most providers manage. [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-downsides) has been through four independent audits over a longer period. **Renewal is still a jump.** $79 a year is far better than $139.08, but it is more than triple the $2.49 a month that got you in the door. Neither company makes that obvious at checkout. ## is there anything better than either? Depends what you are optimising for, and it is worth saying that neither of these is the right answer for everyone. **Proton VPN** is the one to look at if privacy is the actual reason you are buying rather than streaming or price. Swiss jurisdiction, fully open source apps, independently audited, and a free tier with no data cap, which almost nobody else offers honestly. **Mullvad** goes further. No email address required to sign up, a flat rate with no introductory pricing and no renewal cliff, and you can pay in cash. It is poor at unblocking streaming services, which is the trade. RTINGS, which funds itself through memberships rather than commission, currently rates it the best VPN overall. **ExpressVPN** is the other name you will see constantly. It is simple and fast, but it costs meaningfully more than either of these for no advantage we can identify, and it is owned by Kape Technologies, which also owns several of the review sites that rank it first. Draw your own conclusion. We earn nothing from Mullvad and nothing from Proton's free tier. We are telling you about them anyway, because a comparison that only ever points at the two products paying the writer is not a comparison. ## side by side, everything. Specifications and prices as published by each company, 6 September 2026   NordVPN Surfshark Edge Cheapest entry plan $94.23 27 mo $67.23 27 mo [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-specs) Advertised monthly rate $3.49 $2.49 [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-specs) Renewal, per year $139.08 $79.00 [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-specs) Mid tier with antivirus $121.23 Complete $75.33 One [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-specs) Mid tier renewal $219.48 $99.00 [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-specs) One month, no commitment $14.99 $16.45 [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-specs) Simultaneous devices 10 Unlimited [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-specs) Servers 8,096 4,500+ [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-specs) Countries 149 100 [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-specs) Protocol NordLynx WireGuard based WireGuard Even Jurisdiction Panama Netherlands [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-specs) Independent no logs audits 4 Deloitte [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-specs) Split tunnelling Yes Yes Even Ad and tracker blocking Threat Protection Pro Plus tier and up CleanWeb every tier [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-specs) Money back guarantee 30 days 30 days Even Owned by Nord Security Nord Security Even Two year plans on both sides include three bonus months, hence 27 months. Jurisdiction is scored on Panama sitting outside the Five, Nine and Fourteen Eyes intelligence sharing agreements while the Netherlands is a Nine Eyes member. In practice an audited no logs policy matters more than the flag on the building. ## so which one. ### Buy NordVPN if - Streaming is the reason you are buying - You are covering fewer than ten devices - You want the largest server network - You want the longest audit history - You will set a reminder before it renews [Get NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-verdict-nord) $94.23 for 27 months · 30 day guarantee ### Buy Surfshark if - You are covering a household, not a person - You want unlimited devices - You care about the total, not the monthly - You want ad blocking on the cheapest tier - You would rather spend the difference elsewhere [Get Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-verdict-shark) $67.23 for 27 months · 30 day guarantee **If you want one answer:** most people should take [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-verdict). Unlimited devices covers the household, the total cost is materially lower, and the product gap has narrowed to the point where you are paying a real premium for a modest advantage. Take [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-verdict) when speed and streaming reliability are the reason you are buying, because there you will notice the difference. Whichever you pick, buy the two year term, take the 30 day guarantee seriously and test it properly in the first week, and put a calendar reminder at month 25 so you decide again before it renews at the higher rate. ## questions people ask. Are NordVPN and Surfshark the same company? Yes, in the sense that both are owned by Nord Security. The two businesses merged in February 2022. They still run as separate products with their own apps, server infrastructure and development teams, so the products differ in real ways, but the parent company is the same. Is NordVPN worth it in 2026? It is worth it if you stream heavily, travel, or want the most reliable consumer VPN available, and if you are covering fewer than ten devices. At $94.23 for the first 27 months it is not expensive. What to weigh is the renewal at $139.08 a year, which is $60 more than [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-faq) charges for the equivalent tier. Is NordVPN safe? Yes. It runs a no logs policy that has been independently audited four times, it is based in Panama which sits outside the Five, Nine and Fourteen Eyes intelligence sharing agreements, and it uses NordLynx, its implementation of the WireGuard protocol. No VPN makes you anonymous, but on the measures that can actually be checked [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-faq) is among the strongest in the category. Which is faster, NordVPN or Surfshark? Both are fast enough that you will not notice on a normal connection, and both run WireGuard based protocols. Independent testing through 2026 has generally put [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-faq) ahead on long distance connections and on consistency at peak times, which is where its larger server count does real work. [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-faq) is close and the gap is far smaller than it was two years ago. Which is cheaper over the long run? [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-faq), by a wide margin. Over the first 27 months [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-faq) Starter saves you $27 against [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-faq) Basic. Once both renew at their standard annual rates that gap widens to $87.08 by month 39 and $147.16 by month 51. On the mid tier plans it is larger still, at $166.38 by month 39. How many devices can I use? [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-faq) allows 10 simultaneous connections. [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-faq) allows unlimited. For one or two people [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-faq)'s limit is not a problem. For a family with phones, laptops, tablets and a couple of TVs it becomes one quickly, and this is the clearest practical difference between the two. Do they work with Netflix and other streaming services? Both unblock the major US streaming services most of the time. Streaming platforms actively block VPN traffic and both providers actively work around it, so the picture changes month to month. [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-faq) tends to recover faster after a service tightens its blocks. If streaming is your main reason for buying, use the 30 day guarantee to test your specific services before you commit. Is using a VPN legal in the United States? Yes. Using a VPN is legal throughout the United States. What you do while connected is still governed by the same laws as anything else you do online, and using one to break a service's terms of use may cost you the account even where it is not illegal. How do I cancel and get a refund? Both offer a 30 day money back guarantee on new subscriptions. [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-faq) refunds are requested through live chat or their support form. [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-faq) refunds are requested through their support chat. In both cases you need to ask within 30 days of the original charge, and switching off auto renewal in account settings is a separate step from asking for a refund. What is the downside of NordVPN? The renewal price, mainly. It goes to $139.08 a year once the introductory term ends, which is $60 more than [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-faq) for the equivalent tier. It also caps you at 10 devices with no option to buy more, and its ad and malware blocking is not included on the cheapest Basic plan. In 2018 one rented server was accessed through the datacentre provider's own management tool, disclosed in 2019; no user credentials or activity were taken and the infrastructure was audited afterwards. What is the downside of Surfshark? Performance on the OpenVPN protocol, which independent testing has measured at 70 to 90 Mbps against [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-faq)'s 200 to 270. On WireGuard the two are close, so this only bites if your router or device cannot run WireGuard. It also has a smaller network, more than 4,500 servers across 100 countries against 8,096 across 149, sits in the Netherlands which is a Nine Eyes member, and has a shorter independent audit history. Can police track me if I use NordVPN? A VPN hides your traffic from your internet provider and hides your home IP address from the sites you visit. It does not make you untraceable. Law enforcement can still identify people through the accounts they log into, payment records, device fingerprinting, and cooperation from the services being used rather than from the VPN. [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-faq) operates a no logs policy that has been independently audited four times and is based in Panama, so it holds little to hand over, but treating any VPN as protection from a criminal investigation is a misunderstanding of what the product does. Should you leave a VPN on all the time? On a network you do not control, yes, and both apps have an auto connect setting for exactly that. At home it is a personal call: leaving it on stops your internet provider from seeing and selling your browsing, at the cost of occasionally breaking banking apps, food delivery and anything else that checks your location. The practical answer is to leave it on and put those specific apps in split tunnelling so they bypass it. That is the setting that makes people actually keep a VPN switched on. Is there anything better than NordVPN? For pure privacy, Proton VPN and Mullvad are both stronger choices. Proton is Swiss based, fully open source and independently audited, with a genuinely usable free tier. Mullvad requires no email address to sign up, charges a flat rate with no introductory pricing and no renewal jump, and is rated best overall by RTINGS, which funds itself through memberships rather than affiliate commission. Both are weaker than [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-faq) at unblocking streaming services, which is the trade you are making. Does Netflix recognise and block NordVPN? Netflix actively blocks IP ranges it identifies as belonging to VPNs, and it catches both of these periodically. Independent testing in 2026 found [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-faq) and [Surfshark](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-15438560?sid=vpn-faq) both unblocking Netflix in the US, UK, Germany and Japan, but the picture changes month to month as blocks land and get worked around. [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-faq) generally recovers faster. If a specific Netflix library is why you are buying, test it inside the 30 day refund window rather than trusting any comparison. Which is better for gaming? Neither will make your connection faster than no VPN at all, and almost every published comparison measures download speed, which is not what matters for gaming. Latency and jitter are what matter. [NordVPN](https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101877454-14337619?sid=vpn-faq)'s larger network gives you a better chance of a server physically close to you, which is the only thing that reliably helps ping. Use a VPN for DDoS protection or to reach a region's servers, not to improve performance. ## how this was put together. Every price on this page was read directly from nordvpn.com/pricing and surfshark.com/pricing, US store, on 6 September 2026. Server counts, country counts, device limits and audit claims come from each provider's own published material. Long term cost figures are calculated from each provider's published introductory total and its advertised annual recurring charge, and the working is shown rather than summarised. Prices in this category move constantly and the two year promotional rates are the ones most likely to have changed since publication. ### How we make money OzSavers is an affiliate. If you buy through a link on this page we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We are paid by both NordVPN and Surfshark through Commission Junction at broadly the same headline rate, 40 percent of the first term, which means the ordering on this page is not set by who pays more. We say plainly, above the fold, that both companies share a parent. We do not accept payment for placement or for a particular verdict. ### What this page does not yet include We have not published our own speed test data for these two providers. Until we have run our own measurements and can show the raw numbers with dates against them, we are not going to print a speed table and imply we produced it. The performance statements on this page are attributed to independent testing by others, and this section gets replaced with our own figures once the testing is done. Published 6 September 2026 · Prices verified 6 September 2026 · Written by Ryan · Next price check 1 October 2026 oz savers [privacy](/privacy)[terms](/terms)[disclosure](/disclosure)[hello@ozsavers.com](mailto:hello@ozsavers.com) the true price on US tech · v0.1 · rebuild in progress ◐ theme ozsavers earns commission on some outbound links. [see our full disclosure.](/disclosure) [Edit with ](https://lovable.dev/projects/lovp_6qsn05p49n98mad8xtwr7x35cf?utm_source=lovable-badge)