Review of Surfshark VPN – An Alternative for China

Created in 2018, Surfshark is definitely one of the most promising VPNs at the moment. Despite not having been around for a long time, Surfshark has a broad network of physical servers across the globe, excellent security and privacy services and a broad offering of extra options, all at a very competitive price. Without a doubt, Surfshark is a premium VPN at the price of a budget one.

For users in China, Surfshark offers excellent connectivity, with services that are similar to those of the most popular VPNs currently used in the country. Without a doubt, Surfshark is an excellent alternative to large VPN providers, especially when you consider that it’s one of the few VPNs that includes the possibility of using Shadowsocks.

Features

Encryption protocols: IKEv2, OpenVPN, Shadowsocks, WireGuard®.

Simultaneous connections: Unlimited.

Number of servers and location: Surfshark offers more than 3200 servers in 65 different countries.

Applications: Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Android, iOS, FireTV, Apple TV, Xbox, Playstation, TrustDNS..

Trial period or guaranteed money back: It offers a free trial period of 7 days and 30 days guaranteed money back.

After-sale service: It has a 24/7 seven customer service system via live chat or email.

Extras: CleanWeb (ads and malware blocker), Whitelister (allows certain applications or websites to ignore the VPN), Kill switch, Multihop (connect to multiple countries at the same time), Camouflage Mode (avoid VPN conection to be detected), NoBorders (avoid geografic restrictions).

What we like the most about Surfshark VPN

Quality/price ratio: Surfshark offers a high-quality VPN at one of the lowest prices on the market (if you choose an annual or biannual subscription).

Easy to use: Its software is easy to use both for beginners and more advanced users. However, its advanced options aren’t very flexible.

Extra options: Surfshark offers the majority of the extra options of a premium VPN, such as split tunneling, a kill switch, an ad blocker or an anti-malware system.

Connectivity: The VPN tends to connect very quickly and is quite stable once connected, even in countries like China.

Shadowsocks: Surfshark is one of the few VPN providers that offers the possibility of using Shadowsocks. This is one of the most effective systems for getting around the restrictions imposed by the Great Firewall of China. However, we only recommend using this system in special cases that involve privacy risks.

WireGuard: Surfshark also offers the new WireGuard encryption protocol, one of the VPN protocols that works the best in China.

Simultaneous connections: Surfshark theoretically offers unlimited simultaneous connections (we haven’t tested this). While on certain occasions this can be very useful, in the majority of cases, the 5 connections offered by the majority of providers tend to be more than enough for personal use.

What we like the least about Surfshark VPN

It’s difficult to find drawbacks of Surfshark, but for users in China, below you can find the elements that in our opinion could be improved:

Streaming in China: The ideal configuration for connecting the VPN in China doesn’t usually allow access to the most popular streaming platforms. While the VPN can be adjusted to allow access to these platforms, its speed and/or connectivity tend to be problematic.

Speed in China: Even though it offers good connectivity and a good speed in China, sometimes is not as good as the speed offered by other popular providers in the country.

Private IP addresses: It is unfortunate that Surfshark doesn’t offer the possibility of purchasing exclusive IP addresses. If it offered them, it would definitely be one of the most complete VPNs on the market.

How much does it cost and which option should I choose?

Currently, Surfshark offers three types of plans:

Monthly plan: 12.95 USD per month.

6 month plan: 38.94 USD (6.49 USD per month).

Biannual plan: 59.76 USD (2,49 USD per month).

The biannual plan is the only one that makes sense. The monthly and 6-month plans do not save you any money compared to large VPN providers.

Recommended uses of Surfshark

Surfshark is a VPN with high-quality services at a very low price and is a good option for people looking for the best quality/price ratio.

Given that over the past years, restrictions on VPN use in China have intensified greatly, having multiple quality VPNs has become essential for maintaining unrestricted access to the Internet.

Using Surfshark combined with a large VPN provider (such as ExpressVPN or NordVPN) is without a doubt one of the best options for China, especially if you’re going to spend a long time in the country.