NordVPN vs Surfshark: Which One is Best in 2024

There is no doubt that NordVPN & Surfshark are the premium VPNs in the market. But which one offers the best (speed, security, torrenting, bypassing geoblocks)? Well to find out the best VPN among these two & figure out the winner. This guide is for you to compare both VPNs in detail at every department right from security to torrenting.

You might have a 🤐lot of choices for choosing a VPN, we have our best VPNs for every specific device. But, when we narrow down the choices as we 🤗did now for NordVPN & Surfshark VPN, we have compared them from every perspective & concluded a winner without any bias.

Quick Glance at both VPNs

VPN Company Background

VPNs are used to 👽hide your identity & online tracking. Have you ever thought about what will happen if a VPN is based in some surveillance country? The government will force them to leak their user details (loss of your privacy). So, we are looking at their headquarters location first.

	NordVPN	Surfshark
Headquarters Base	Panama	The British Virgin Islands
Connection Logs	NA	For Diagnostic purpose
Activity Logs	NA	NA
Signup details	Email	Email

Both VPN countries are free from any kind of data retention laws. Neither NordVPN nor Surfshark VPN does not store any logs on the activities you do on the internet. Though Surfshark VPN stores some information for diagnostic purposes (it’s completely safe) and keeps your privacy anonymous.

So, the clear winner is NordVPN🥳

Speed Test

During our test with (multiple speed tests), the results quite amazed me. However, the speed of the VPN will depend on multiple factors though like the location, internet speed, the protocol you are connected to, etc.

NordLynx/WideGuard	NordVPN	Surfshark
Download Speed	273 Mbps	241 Mbps
Upload Speed	162 Mbps	157 Mbps

Both VPNs have wireGuard protocol. Thanks to the NordLynx protocol boosting the speed to the next level where you will find the speeds are dropped by only 9% (upload 45%). While Surfshark manages to take a second stand with a 19% drop (upload 48%).

IKEv2	NordVPN	Surfshark
Download Speed	220 Mbps	215 Mbps
Upload Speed	50.6 Mbps	40 Mbps

IKEv2 is the mobile favorite protocol that makes these two VPNs even show similar speeds (almost). Where the speeds of NordVPN dropped to 26% (upload 83%) and for Surfshark the speeds dropped to 28% (upload 86%).

OpenVPN UDP	NordVPN	Surfshark
Download Speed	200 Mbps	145 Mbps
Upload Speed	70.8 Mbps	136 Mbps

While using OpenVPN UDP downloading speeds are tremendous on NordVPN but upload speeds are average with an almost 87% dropped. Surfshark manages to have a good performance on both download & upload speeds on OpenVPN.

OpenVPN TCP	NordVPN	Surfshark
Download Speed	60 Mbps	36.9 Mbps
Upload Speed	29.7 Mbps	30 Mbps

In OpenVPN TCP mode, the performance is not that great but it’s ok to manage the streaming services (high quality) or browsing. While the drop in NordVPN is almost 84% (upload 91%). Surfshark is also nearer on upload speeds (91% drop). Also, check your internet speed.

Considering download speed (upload speeds are similar in most cases). The clear winner is NordVPN.

NordVPN is the winner🥳

Features Overview

	NordVPN	Surfshark
VPN Protocol	OpenVPN, IKEv2/IPSec	IKEv2, OpenVPN, Shadowsocks
Encryption	AES-256 bit	AES-256 bit
Leak Protection	DNS & IP leak	DNS & IP leak
Malware blocker	Yes	Yes
Split Tunneling	Yes	Yes
Server Chaining	Double VPN	MultiHop
Tor Servers	Yes	Yes

NordVPN & Surfshark are the fastest and most secure VPNs, which means no matter what protocol you choose (you will be secure). But a core feature of a VPN is to hide your IP Address, both VPNs have DNS & IP leak protection (to protect your privacy).

Both VPNs (NordVPN, Surfshark) support server chaining allowing you to connect to two VPN servers at once. NordVPN offers 70 double VPN connections, compared to Surfshark 13.

Those who want additional privacy “Onion over VPN” support, in this way your traffic will be routed through NordVPN encrypted server and then through Tor network. Tor is the most secure browser available (routing through different servers).

Both VPNs have integrated kill switches for all your device (This will cut off your internet connection) this is the core security functionality. NordVPN servers (large selection of double VPN) give a slight advantage to NordVPN.

Logging Policy

NordVPN & Surfshark both claim to keep no logs about the user data (as they are free from 14 eye surveillance groups). It’s also proven that NordVPN during audit tests on the 2018 PWC verified that (There are no IP Addresses, traffic logs, connection logs, etc).

Surfshark also went through an audit in 2018 but it was only for chrome & firefox extensions. There is nothing Surfshark is storing about users. But they should have gone through this for the application rather than extensions.

Both VPNs are safe to use internationally. NordVPN has a fully independent audit, So the winner will be NordVPN in this round.

NordVPN is the winner🥳

Device Compatibility

NordVPN	iOS, Windows, Android, macOS, FireTV, Windows Phone, Chrome, Firefox, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android TV, Routers.
Surfshark	iOS, Windows, Android, macOS, FireTV, Kodi, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, PS4, All Smart TVs, and Routers.

Both services support a wide variety of device platforms. But, Surfshark supports more than NordVPN and its unlimited device connection with a single account makes it a clear winner of this round.

Surfshark is the Winner🥳

Interface

Both VPNs have appealing interfaces but NordVPN has a pleasant server list of the countries on its windows app where you can pick your own choice (preferable over Surfshark to find the best server & connect to it).

Either of the VPNs has some great settings to tweak within a few clicks. But Surfshark splits its settings across 3 menus which is mind-boggling. Whereas the NordVPN menu is well organized to dig into every feature.

But for mobile both VPNs comes with almost similar interface Quick Connect option and disconnect option. NordVPNs server map interface will make it more pleasing. So the winner will be NordVPN.

The user Interface Winner is NordVPN🥳

Setup

Both VPNs are quick & easy to set up for their respective versions on any of your devices. We have dedicated installation guides for Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS. While there were no issues either after installation or during installation.

It’s also simple to install on mobile devices, you can claim their refund by taking the 30-day money-back guarantee program. Also, the setup wizards are available for other devices (for quick installation) or you can visit their website for tutorials.

So it’s a tie🙌

Streaming

While coming to streaming both NordVPN and Surfshark are giving tough competition unblocking almost all the streaming services (except some). Here is the list of streaming services unblocked by these VPNs.

	NordVPN	Surfshark
Netflix	All Servers	All Servers
Amazon Prime	US, UK, Japan	US
BBC iPlayer	All Servers	All Servers
Hulu	Japan, US	US, Japan
Disney+	unblocked	unblocked
Vudu	unblocked	blocked
HBO Now	unblocked	unblocked
ESPN	unblocked	unblocked
DAZN	unblocked	unblocked

It seems that Surfshark struggles to unblock some streaming services or website content. It did not take more than 10 seconds to start streaming right after connecting to the US server for Netflix unblocking for NordVPN.

During our test on multiple streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime, ESPN, HBO Now, Hulu, and Disney+ both VPNs did perform very well in unblocking them. But for the platforms like Vudu, Sky, and BBC iPlayer Surfshark couldn’t make it.

For this reason, the clear winner of the round will be NordVPN🥳.

Torrenting

When we look at the number of servers that these VPNs offer.

	NordVPN	Surfshark
P2P Servers	5500+	3200+
Average Speed	150 Mbps	160 Mbps

Both Surfshark & NordVPN have dedicated P2P torrenting servers– but NordVPN has more servers compared to Surfshark. Since we can’t judge the winner just by server numbers so we ran a simple test in downloading some torrent files on the browser.

To download the same file, NordVPN took 4 minutes while Surfshark finished the download in just 3 minutes roughly. Even though we are amazed at the speed results (while for streaming NordVPN outperforms Surfshark) it’s the reverse for torrenting.

But NordVPN is an excellent server choice (every server is capable of unblocking geoblocks & torrent sites).

Here it’s tie🙌

Gaming

Coming to Gaming latency (sometimes referred to as ping) matters a lot for a smooth experience for online games. It registers your actions on the servers and reverts the results to your devices. So if you are in an intense battle (the person whose latency is low will be a winner generally).

VPNs aren’t used generally for gaming, but they don’t have a bad reputation either. Some games like PUBG (during the ban), and others need a VPN to work. I was quite surprised by the results.

	NordVPN	Surfshark
PUBG	20ms	40ms
Apex Legends	60ms	50ms
Call of Duty Warzone	40ms	25ms

It’s quite surprising that NordVPN gives a low ping for PUBG but for the rest of the games, it’s high. Sometimes VPN will maintain consistent ping compared to base ping (without using a VPN) because it routers nearer than your ISP server.

If in any case, you need a VPN for gaming (I recommend connecting to a nearby VPN server) for less latency.

In this round, 🥳Surfshark is the clear winner.

Working in China

Both VPNs fail to connect with China sometimes, despite both claims to overcome internet restrictions in different countries. For NordVPN these are obfuscated servers, while Surfshark calls them “NoBorders” servers.

During my test, both VPNs fails to connect. This is due to the Chinese government identifying & block the servers you connect to. China will impose several internet restrictions.

It’s a tie🙌

Customer Support

NordVPN	Surfshark
24/7 Live customer chat support	24/7 Live customer chat Support
FAQ section covering common issues	FAQ Section covering common issues
Tutorials Available	Tutorials Available

Also, you can connect the customer care in case of any other queries regarding unblocking, torrenting, setup, etc. Both of the VPN customer care is quick in response (if you don’t find a solution for your issues in guides or tutorials).

NordVPN’s live chat is a great feature connecting to humans within seconds, even I found it more convenient to describe my issue to a person rather than choosing options provided by a bot.

Whenever I contact customer support a representative attended to it quickly and provides a solution to my issues (very expert). Since both VPNs’ customer cares are responsive it’s a tie.

It’s a tie 🙌

Pricing & Refund Policies

	NordVPN	Surfshark
Best Deal	$3.67/Month –>2 Years	$2.49/Month –>2 Years

Both VPNs offer different subscription plan options, but you can get some amazing deals if you sign up earlier (for a long-term plan). Here are the hidden discount links reducing the prices further (grab them before they expire). As the refund policies are also interrelated to the subscription. We are going to deal with them here.

It might seem the prices are costlier but if you take the subscription for one duration (this won’t bother you much). Also, they provide 3 months free (for 2 years plan). Thanks to NordVPN they are offering a 30-day money-back guarantee program (risk-free) to test their services. If you don’t like the service claim your refund from here.

You will find the prices of Surfshark are more likely half that of NordVPN. So if you wish to go for a VPN (cheaper), Surfshark will be a great choice. Also, they do offer a 20-day money-back guarantee program and so you can claim your refund if you don’t like the services as well.

Surfshark is the winner🥳

Conclusion

The Winner is…..🎉NordVPN

After testing each & individual department of the VPNs. 💪NordVPN is the clear winner (this doesn’t mean Surfshark isn’t worth it). If you are looking for a fast VPN with the best streaming & torrenting capabilities, and running independent audits (completely trusted & secure) I recommend going with NordVPN.

If price is your major concern rather than privacy, Surfshark is a great value-for-money VPN. Alternatively, you can look at the best No Log VPNs in 2024. Similarly, check other comparisons as well.

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