Proton VPN vs. Surfshark: best fast, full-featured VPN

Proton VPN and Surfshark are among the best VPNs on the market, both fast and full-featured solutions. If you’re looking for more privacy or want to access content that’s geo-blocked, you need to know which is the best.

I’ve spent days testing both virtual private networks (VPNs) and can help identify the strengths and weaknesses of Proton VPN and Surfshark so you can make an informed choice.

Specs

Tiers and pricing

Proton VPN Plus cost $10 for a monthly subscription. You can save quite a bit by subscribing for longer. An annual plan normally costs $60, and a two-year plan offers the more value at $108. While you pay in advance, the equivalent monthly cost is $5 and $4.50.

Proton sale prices can cut the annual fee much lower. For Black Friday 2024, Proton VPN Plus costs just $36 for a year of service. Renewal fees revert to the standard prices. We keep a watch on sales, so it’s always a good idea to check out our list of the best VPN deals once you’ve decided which is the best option.

When you renew a long-term Proton VPN Plus subscription, your rate increases to $80 annually. Even the two-year plan switches to this more expensive annual plan, and the average monthly cost climbs to $6.67.

With Surfshark, a long-term subscription is essential. The monthly plan costs $15, which is the most expensive I’ve seen. A one- or two-year subscription is the way to go. Both come with a four-month bonus for new subscribers.

Surfshark starts at $48 for 16 months and $56 for a two-year plan. That makes the average monthly costs $3 and $2 respectively. Note that the price goes up to $60 annually ($5/mo.) when it’s time to renew.

Proton also offers a free version that’s uncapped and has no speed restrictions. The biggest drawback is a limited list of 136 servers in just three countries: the U.S., the Netherlands, and Japan. Still, it’s one of the best free VPNs available.

Features

Proton VPN Plus and Surfshark are well-designed, have plenty of options to fine-tune your connection, and offer great reliability across thousands of servers in over a hundred countries. Both services are fast and compete well with popular services like ExpressVPN and NordVPN.

While my Ethernet connection normally provides 900Mbps, congested VPN servers can strangle throughput, making download speeds plummet. Fortunately, that’s not a problem with either of these VPNs.

The slowest download speeds a measured for Proton VPN Plus was 255Mbps when connected to a server in Australia, and SpeedTest.net reported as fast as 504Mbps for a closer server.

As speedy as Proton VPN Plus was, Surfshark outpaced it. I measured 728Mbps for a nearby server and 579Mbps or more on European servers. When I tried an Australian server on the other side of the planet, speed finally dropped a bit to 306Mbps.

I tested each VPN’s speeds at various times over several days, but your results could be different. Overall, you should get great performance from either service.

Proton VPN Plus and Surfshark include browser extensions, apps for all your devices, stealth modes, kill switches, split-tunneling, and ad blocking. The feature sets are very robust.

Support

Setup and use of Proton VPN Plus was simple, but I reached out to customer service to test the responsiveness. Live chat is available 15 hours daily. It’s a Swiss company so the hours might seem odd for U.S. residents: midnight to 3 p.m. PT or 3 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET.

Still, I found Proton support to be quick and helpful. The help center also has articles and troubleshooting guides if you need help when chat is unavailable.

Surfshark has 24/7 live chat so you can get support anytime. I initially got a surprisingly effective chatbot. Just ask for a human if you want more personal assistance. In my test, I was immediately connected to live support for quick, friendly answers.

Privacy and security

While every paid VPN promises to protect your privacy and hide your location, some might log your activity, leaving unwanted traces. Proton VPN and Surfshark have strict no-log policies that have been verified by independent security experts.

All data is end-to-end encrypted so uploads and downloads should be unreadable even if they were tapped somewhere along the way. Both accept cryptocurrency so you can keep your financial data private also. Mullvad is the only VPN that’s more anonymous.

Neither company has a record of a security breach, so a Proton or Surfshark account should be very secure.

Which VPN is right for you?

It’s hard to go wrong with either VPN, but Surfshark has lower prices for the first year or two of service. In my tests, it was also the fastest, making it one of the best choices for a streaming VPN.

In a price comparison, Proton Free has the advantage, but its limited server choices could become frustrating. The best service requires a subscription.

Proton includes a malware blocker with its VPN Plus subscription. You can add similar protection to any Surfshark VPN for less than a dollar each month. While both services use website reputation lists to block content, Surfshark One also includes a virus scanner and real-time protection.

For families, Surfshark allows an unlimited number of simultaneous VPN connections. That could be a critical factor for families since Proton VPN Plus has a 10-device limit.

Proton VPN Plus is an excellent solution for privacy protection, but it can’t match Surfshark’s outstanding worldwide speeds, unlimited device allowance, and low-cost malware protection. Unless you’re only needing a free solution, most people should go with Surfshark.