Testing is conducted with the VPN running in the background and evaluated through a variety of everyday tasks to rate it in terms of convenience. From here, encryption is evaluated alongside meaningful inclusions, such as antimalware and antivirus features, as well as the inclusion of a kill switch and split tunnelling. In terms of all-important security and privacy, a no-log policy is considered essential, and we look favourably on VPN providers that are open to third-party security audits. Most VPNs don’t offer a truly free trial, but we like when they do, and we value a reasonable money-back guarantee. The bigger the number, the better the ranking. After this, we weigh up the numbers: servers, countries, locations, and simultaneous connections for a single account. We compare VPNs on several factors, starting with the price and whether you’re paying in Australian currency. These advanced options add depth to Surfshark VPN’s offering, and we also appreciate that it gets the basics right by passing our tests for DNS and IP leaks without any issues. Speaking of advanced, there are additional settings including ‘Invisible on LAN’ (to keep your device hidden from local network devices) and ‘Rotating IP’, which is in beta but adds extra security and anonymity by automatically rotating your IP address when connected to a single server. Surfshark VPN defaults to automatically selecting the best protocol for speed and stability, but advanced users can manually choose between IKEv2, WireGuard, or OpenVPN (TCP and UDP versions). Upload speeds only have a respectable 5% impact and download speeds took a 16% hit, which is respectable but still behind CyberGhost. If you’re near a Surfshark VPN location, though, the latency impact is negligible for effectively same-speed browsing as when Surfshark is disabled. Surfshark VPN has servers in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth, which covers the majority of Australians, even if it won’t offer ideal latency and download/upload speeds for those in the middle or northern parts of our vast nation. Pricing-wise compared to the standalone VPN, Surfshark One is either a couple of bucks more per month, around $30 more per year, or $50 pricier for two years.īecause Surfshark VPN’s server locations are listed in alphabetical orders, getting to the Australian locations is incredibly easy. Most of the main-screen options in the Windows version are glorified Surfshark One ads: a pricier Norton-like suite released in late 2021 that bundles VPN antivirus no-ad, no-log, no-tracker search and data-leak notifications. For additional options, you can pay extra for a static IP (handy for businesses), or there are multi-hop servers that route your connection through two VPN servers for additional privacy and security. Unfortunately, Surfshark doesn’t automatically keep track of recent locations, but you can add locations to your favourites. Alternatively, Surfshark VPN has a big list of sever locations to scroll through for a one-click connection. Surfshark VPN also has a ‘Nearest country’ option, which will connect you to the nearest New Zealand server in a few seconds if you’re connecting from Australia. Admittedly, we had initial issues with the Windows version, which wouldn’t connect until we uninstalled the CyberGhost VPN Free Proxy from Chrome (even though it wasn’t connected at the time). It defaults to the fastest server and lets you know how many attempts it takes to connect (with an arbitrary percentage). Surfshark VPN foregoes the giant power buttons that other VPNs use and opts for a slimmer (but still relatively easy-to-hit) connect/disconnect button. That said, Surfshark feels a 2048 key is just as secure as 4096. Surfshark’s data encryption is an industry-standard Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256-bit, but its channel encryption is RSA 2048-bit, which is half that offered by NordVPN, ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and ProtonVPN. Like ExpressVPN, Surfshark VPN has a user-friendly kill switch, which only blocks your internet connection during an unexpected VPN disconnection. It also has an included ad, tracker, and malware blocker, which is great, but you have to pay extra for Surfshark Antivirus, though it’s nice to have the option if you want to bundle your device protection. In terms of all-important privacy, Surfshark VPN has a no-logging policy, which is externally auditable. Where Surfshark VPN truly shines, though, is in its offering of unlimited simultaneous connections, which annihilates all of its nearest competitors. The location count, though, is a respectable 111. Like ExpressVPN, Surfshark VPN has a low server count (3,200+) compared to its peers, while the latter’s country count is also on the lowish side (65).
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