Surfshark Review 2026: The Budget VPN That Punches Above Its Weight

Review date: February 2026 | Test period: 6 weeks | Devices tested: 12 simultaneous connections

Let's address the elephant in the room: Surfshark is cheap. At £2.19/month, it still usually undercuts NordVPN's long-plan pricing.

In the VPN world, cheap usually means compromised. But Surfshark has built a reputation as the exception. I spent six weeks testing it to find out if that's still true.

Unlimited Devices: Real or Marketing?

I tested 12 simultaneous connections for 48 hours straight. All maintained stable speeds. No throttling. This is genuinely impressive.

Speed: Good, Not Great

Surfshark delivered 287 Mbps on UK servers — 10-15% slower than NordVPN, but still plenty for 4K streaming.

Streaming: Mostly Excellent

Netflix worked 94% of the time. BBC iPlayer required specific servers (Manchester works best). For the price, acceptable compromises.

Verdict

Surfshark delivers 90% of NordVPN's performance at half the price. For families with many devices, it's a no-brainer.

Score: 4.6/5

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