NordVPN vs Surfshark

These two are compared constantly, and almost always as though they were independent alternatives. They share a parent company, Nord Security, which is the first thing a reader deciding between them should know. NordVPN scores 3 for privacy against Surfshark's 2, and both score 2 for value, so the choice is narrower than the marketing on either side suggests.

Where NordVPN wins

The audit gap is the substantial one. NordVPN passed a sixth independent no-logs assurance engagement announced in February 2026. The most recent audit anyone can locate for Surfshark is Deloitte's, published in January 2023 — three and a half years old, and old enough that this directory records it as such.

NordVPN's kill switch was not found to leak. Surfshark's was: independent testing found it allows unencrypted traffic past the tunnel after a system reboot or a software crash, which is the exact circumstance the feature exists for. That is why Surfshark's kill switch is recorded as absent in the feature table rather than present.

On jurisdiction, NordVPN's contracting entity is Panamanian and Panamanian law governs its terms, placing it outside both intelligence-sharing groupings. Surfshark is a Netherlands company, and the Netherlands is a Fourteen Eyes member.

Where Surfshark wins

Unlimited simultaneous connections against NordVPN's ten, at the lowest advertised rate of any entry in this directory. For a household counting devices rather than counting audits, that is a real advantage and the main reason to choose it.

Surfshark also scores 4 for speed against NordVPN's 3, which is not a throughput difference — both measured 233 Mbps. It is latency: NordVPN added 194 milliseconds to download latency where Surfshark added 126, and the rubric penalises the former.

Which should you choose?

Choose Surfshark if you are covering a household and the device count decides it. Choose NordVPN if you want the current audit and a kill switch that works, and can accept ten devices.

Two things apply to both. Each advertises a headline rate that covers a twenty-seven month commitment and then renews substantially higher — NordVPN at $139.08 a year against an advertised $3.49 a month. And each puts its ad-blocker behind a higher tier. If the shared ownership is what concerns you, Mullvad and Windscribe are independent, and both score higher for privacy than either of these.