Best Surfshark Alternatives in 2026: 7 VPNs Worth Switching To

Surfshark is still a good VPN. It covers unlimited devices, has an independently checked no-logs policy, and often offers a low first-term price. But maybe your renewal bill surprised you. Maybe you want a free plan, a different owner, or one feature Surfshark doesn’t have.

Quick picks:

• Best for privacy and a free plan: Proton VPN.
• Budget plan, free option, and SOCKS5: ZoogVPN.
• No long contract: Windscribe.
• Best long-term price for torrent users: Private Internet Access (PIA).
• Longest refund window: CyberGhost.
• No renewal-price games: Mullvad.
• Familiar features, different app: NordVPN (same group as Surfshark).

Why people look for a Surfshark alternative

The renewal costs more than the deal you saw. Surfshark Starter has been advertised in the US at $2.49 a month on its 24-month offer, with three extra months. You pay $67.23 upfront for 27 months, not $2.49 every month. Gizmodo’s October 2026 price check lists a $79 yearly renewal for Starter after that first term. That’s about $6.58 a month at renewal. See our full Surfshark review and Surfshark’s pricing page.

You care where the VPN is based. Surfshark is based in the Netherlands, part of Nine Eyes, a group of countries that share intelligence. Surfshark has had its no-logs claims checked by Deloitte. Still, you may prefer a VPN based in Switzerland or Sweden. No-logs means the provider says it doesn’t keep records of what you do through its VPN.

You want to try a free plan first. Surfshark has a refund window, but no permanent free tier. Proton VPN, Windscribe, and ZoogVPN offer free accounts with different limits. A refund isn’t the same as free: you usually pay first and request the money back later.

You need a SOCKS5 proxy. This is a way to send one app’s traffic through another server without the encryption a VPN gives you. People sometimes use it in torrent apps. Surfshark doesn’t include its own SOCKS5 service, while ZoogVPN and PIA do.

You want a different owner. Surfshark and NordVPN joined the same corporate group in 2022. They’re separate products, but NordVPN isn’t a switch to a wholly unrelated company.

Surfshark alternatives at a glance

Price note: The offers described below are US-dollar introductory prices unless marked otherwise. Mullvad is priced in euros; we haven’t turned euros into a made-up dollar comparison. Taxes, offers and renewal charges can differ at checkout.

The best Surfshark alternatives

1. Proton VPN: best for privacy and a free plan

If you want a VPN you can use for free without counting every gigabyte, start with Proton VPN. Its free plan has no data cap or ads, although you can connect one device at a time and have fewer location choices than paid users.

Proton is based in Switzerland, and the nonprofit Proton Foundation controls the company. Its apps are open source, so anyone can inspect the code, and Proton publishes outside checks of its no-logs promise: in 2026, Securitum carried out its fifth annual audit.

The paid VPN Plus plan is listed at $3.49/month for the first 24 months, billed at $83.76 upfront on Proton’s public pricing page. It covers 10 devices. That’s less generous than Surfshark’s unlimited connections, and the first-term rate costs more.

Pick Proton if your main goal is a free plan you can keep using, or clearer public evidence behind the privacy promises. See our Proton VPN review and Proton’s plan details.

2. ZoogVPN: best budget choice with a free plan and SOCKS5

ZoogVPN is worth a look if you want a low-cost plan and a free way to try it. Its free tier gives you 10 GB a month. Its paid plan also offers SOCKS5, a separate proxy option for apps that support it, including some torrent tools.

ZoogVPN’s two-year plan is listed at $2.49/month: you pay $59.99 upfront and get 27 months (24 plus three free months), which works out to about $2.22 a month over the whole term. Premium covers up to 10 devices, and there’s a seven-day refund period.

The company is based in Greece, outside the Five Eyes group. We couldn’t find a published independent no-logs audit, which matters if proof of privacy is your top priority.

Pick ZoogVPN if you want a free tier, an affordable upfront purchase, and SOCKS5 in one service. Read our ZoogVPN review and check the current pricing.

3. Windscribe: best if you don’t want a long contract

Windscribe gives you more room to change your mind. Its Build a Plan option starts at $3 a month, with a minimum purchase and your choice of locations.

Windscribe also offers 10 GB of free monthly data when you verify an email address. Without that step, the allowance is 2 GB. The service allows unlimited personal devices, which is handy if your family has phones, laptops, and tablets.

Windscribe is based in Canada, a Five Eyes country (a group of countries that share intelligence). It publishes outside security reviews. The refund rules are another drawback: you have seven days from an initial purchase and must have used less than 10 GB of paid data. Renewals aren’t covered by that same offer.

Pick Windscribe if you want a small monthly bill without a long subscription. See our Windscribe review and Windscribe’s pricing explanation.

4. Private Internet Access: best for long-term value and torrents

Private Internet Access, or PIA, suits someone who is happy to pay upfront for several years. Its US offer shows $2.03/month on a three-year plan with three extra months, which is $79 upfront for the first 39 months according to PIA’s checkout page. Unlike Surfshark’s Starter offer, the page also shows the next charge: $79 every three years under the listed terms.

PIA is also a practical pick for torrenting, which means sharing files with other people using a peer-to-peer network. It supports P2P traffic, SOCKS5, and port forwarding, a setting that can help other peers connect to your torrent app.

It also permits unlimited devices and has a 30-day money-back guarantee for eligible new purchases.

The catch is that PIA is based in the United States, part of Five Eyes. Streaming can also be hit or miss as services block known VPN addresses.

Pick PIA if the long-term bill and torrent tools matter more than having the simplest streaming setup. See our PIA review and PIA’s current offer.

5. CyberGhost: best for streaming servers and a longer refund window

CyberGhost is aimed at people who want an easy way to choose a server for a streaming service. Its apps show servers marked for services such as Netflix.

But a streaming label isn’t a promise. Netflix and other services sometimes block IP addresses used by VPNs. You may need to choose another server, restart the app, or turn the VPN off.

CyberGhost’s biggest difference from Surfshark is its 45-day money-back guarantee on longer plans. The monthly plan has a shorter 14-day window. Our CyberGhost review lists the long-term plan at about $2.19/month (two years plus two months, checked in September 2026). CyberGhost shows prices in your local currency at checkout, so the exact figure can differ.

CyberGhost is based in Romania and belongs to Kape Technologies. It allows seven connected devices, rather than Surfshark’s unlimited number.

Pick CyberGhost if its streaming-focused layout and longer try-it period matter to you. See our CyberGhost review and its official plan terms.

6. Mullvad: best for simple pricing and less account information

Mullvad takes a different approach to price. It charges €5 per month, whether you buy one month or add a year to your account. There’s no big two-year discount to pull you in and no special renewal rate to decode later.

You don’t have to give Mullvad an email address to get started: the service gives you an account number instead. It even accepts cash by mail. And it has published security audits, including a Cure53 infrastructure review.

Mullvad is based in Sweden and allows five devices per account. That’s enough for one person, but could be tight for a family with several phones, computers and TVs.

It has a 14-day money-back guarantee on eligible payments, but cash payments are excluded.

Pick Mullvad if you hate surprise renewal bills and value privacy-friendly signup more than streaming tools. See Mullvad’s official pricing. We don’t yet have an in-house Mullvad review to link.

7. NordVPN: best if you want a similar premium VPN

NordVPN makes sense if you like the idea of Surfshark but prefer NordVPN’s apps and extras. NordVPN also offers tools for blocking risky sites and downloads, depending on your plan.

The big detail is ownership. Nord Security and Surfshark joined the same group in 2022. If you want a VPN outside Nord Security, Proton, Windscribe, Mullvad, or ZoogVPN make more sense.

NordVPN’s public US page currently lists Basic at $3.49/month on a two-year offer with three extra months. That is $94.23 for 27 months upfront, and the page lists a $139.08 yearly renewal.

We can’t promise it’s faster than Surfshark on your connection without comparable tests, and we haven’t run those tests here.

Pick NordVPN if its own app and feature mix appeal to you, not because you expect a different corporate owner. Check NordVPN’s current pricing. We don’t yet have an in-house NordVPN review.

Who owns your VPN? Surfshark, Nord and Kape

Two VPNs can look like rivals and still belong to the same parent group. That isn’t automatically bad. It matters if you’re switching because you don’t trust a company’s ownership, business choices, or privacy approach.

Ownership is only one piece of the story. A country or a company name alone can’t tell you how private a VPN will be.

Which alternative should you pick?

The best choice depends on why you’re leaving Surfshark.

If your family uses a lot of devices and Surfshark works well, staying could be the better deal. Look at the full bill, the next bill, and the features you actually use. You can also compare the cheapest VPNs we’ve reviewed.

How to switch from Surfshark without losing money

A little planning can stop you paying for two VPNs at once. If you bought Surfshark directly from its website, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to your Surfshark account.
2. Click your email address in the top-right corner.
3. Choose Subscription.
4. Open the Payments section.
5. Select Cancel auto-renewal and confirm.
6. Save the confirmation for your records.

These steps come from Surfshark’s September 2026 support guide. Canceling auto-renewal normally doesn’t end access straight away. It stops the next charge, and your existing time runs until its end date. If you subscribed through Apple or Google, cancel through that store instead.

If you only just bought Surfshark, check its 30-day money-back guarantee. Contact support to request a refund while you’re still inside the eligible window.

Before paying for a replacement, check its refund rules. CyberGhost offers 45 days on longer plans, ZoogVPN offers seven days on initial payments, and Windscribe has a seven-day limit plus a data-use condition. Then buy the new plan, install the app, and connect to a server.

Finally, check that your IP address has changed while the new VPN is connected. You should see the VPN server’s public address, not your usual home connection.

How we picked these VPNs

We compared these services by the reason you’d leave Surfshark: renewal price, free access, privacy evidence, torrent tools, streaming options, and ownership. We used our existing provider notes and reviews, then checked vendor pages for pricing and key policy terms on October 27, 2026. See how we test and rate and all VPN reviews.

Prices can change by country or promotion. Some links on this page may be affiliate links. They don’t change our picks; see our affiliate disclosure.

Key points to remember

If Surfshark still suits your household, keep it and set a reminder a few days before it renews. If you want a free plan, choose Proton. For a fixed monthly price, choose Mullvad. For special torrent tools or long-term deals, check ZoogVPN and PIA. Don’t buy based on a tiny “per month” number alone: read the upfront cost, renewal, and refund terms first. Then compare affordable VPNs before you pay.

Frequently asked questions