ProtonVPN vs Surfshark
ProtonVPN or Surfshark? Which one should you choose?
Recommendation
In my professional opinion, Surfshark is a better VPN than ProtonVPN, and is the better choice in most circumstances.
This comparison between ProtonVPN and SurfShark includes test data that was undertaken between 3 September and 3 November 2020.
How is ProtonVPN better than SurfShark?
Surfshark is better than ProtonVPN in all aspects.
How is SurfShark better than ProtonVPN?
Surfshark offers better privacy, browsing and torrenting speeds, customer support, and unblocks Netflix in more countries than ProtonVPN.
Privacy & Anonymity
Which one offers better privacy?
Surfshark is better for privacy since they do not collect any logs. While it is unidentifiable, ProtonVPN collects the last connection timestamp data to restrict the number of simultaneous connections.
Speed & Performance
Which one is faster?
We tested the browsing and downloading speeds of both VPNs multiple times using different protocols. Surfshark’s OpenVPN - UDP protocol was the fastest with an impressive performance. Surfshark’s IKEv2 was marginally better than ProtonVPN’s OpenVPN - UDP, both showing above-average speeds.
Which one is better for downloading torrents?
We downloaded 163MB, 642MB, and 2.42GB files using Surfshark and ProtonVPN. Surfshark was significantly faster than ProtonVPN in all three tests.
Functionality & Application
Which is better for geo-unblocking Netflix?
We tested both VPNs to see if they would let us watch geo-blocked Netflix content in fifteen countries. Surfshark was far better than ProtonVPN, unblocking Netflix Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
ProtonVPN unblocked Netflix France, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Which one has better features?
Surfshark allows unlimited simultaneous connections while ProtonVPN allows only ten.
Reputation & Support
Which one offers better support?
Surfshark offers live chat support while ProtonVPN offers only email support.
Which one is more trustworthy?
Surfshark has maintained a fairly clean reputation, with most users being happy with the service provided.
Proton has a good privacy reputation, being the same company behind the privacy focused email service, ProtonMail. However, there were rumors that ProtonVPN had dealings related to human resources with a firm called Tesonet, known for data-mining.
Price & Value
Which offers better value for money?
Surfshark offers better value for money considering the speeds, torrenting, and streaming compatibility. Their monthly plan is slightly costlier at $11.95 per month compared to ProtonVPN’s $10 per month. However, Surfshark’s one year plan costs only $71.88 while ProtonVPN’s one year plan costs $96.
