ExpressVPN and Surfshark are two VPN heavyweights and sit comfortably among CNET’s top VPNs thanks to their exceptional all-around performance and privacy protections. I put both ExpressVPN and Surfshark through the same rigorous testing methodology and use both VPNs regularly. Each is excellent, but they do things very differently. That can make it easier to decide between the two based on your specific needs. In a perfect world, I’d recommend you get both for a mix of unique features, but if you’re only looking for one VPN, I’ll help you find the right fit. 

Overall, I’d go with ExpressVPN for heightened privacy and streaming capabilities, and Surfshark for budget-conscious casual users who want a premium VPN experience at a cheaper price.  

ExpressVPN vs. Surfshark compared

Speed winner: ExpressVPN edges out Surfshark in a tight race

ExpressVPN and Surfshark are two of the fastest VPNs based on our latest speed tests. We measured an 18% average speed loss with ExpressVPN and 21% with Surfshark. All VPNs will slow your connection to a certain degree, but we consider a VPN that cuts your speeds by less than 25% “fast” — and both ExpressVPN and Surfshark make that cut.

If you want the fastest speeds possible with both providers, use Lightway with ExpressVPN and WireGuard with Surfshark. They’re both lightweight VPN protocols built for speed, so you likely won’t notice a difference in performance whether you’re just browsing the internet or streaming movies in 4K.

Earlier this year, ExpressVPN introduced Lightway Turbo (which can boost speeds by running traffic through multiple tunnels simultaneously), which helped significantly improve its speed performance.  

Surfshark’s new FastTrack feature is also designed to boost your VPN speeds by leveraging Surfshark’s Nexus Network to optimize the route your traffic takes to the VPN server. The feature is currently only available on the MacOS app and through Surfshark’s Vancouver, Seattle and Sydney server locations. While FastTrack performance didn’t factor into our official 2025 speed testing results because it wasn’t available at the time, the feature was able to boost my VPN speeds by about 20% during some ad hoc testing I did after its release in August. Although my results didn’t come close to the 70% increase cited by Surfshark, users with slower or less stable internet connections may experience a more pronounced bump in VPN speeds using FastTrack.

Value winner: Surfshark delivers a ton of value, despite increased renewal prices

ExpressVPN is one of the most expensive VPNs available but still a solid option it is for both casual and critical use cases, even at those prices. Surfshark is much easier on the wallet and includes some unique privacy features not offered by ExpressVPN, but it lags a little in a few key areas like streaming as well as privacy and transparency. 

At the beginning of September, ExpressVPN followed the lead of several of its competitors and introduced a tiered subscription model with three different subscription plans: Basic, Advanced and Pro. ExpressVPN’s Basic tier includes only the VPN and a stripped-down version of its Advanced Protection suite and costs $13 a month, $75 for the first 15 months (then $100 a year) or $98 for the first 28 months (then $100 a year) — which is expensive for just a VPN, no matter how good it is.

If you want to bundle additional services with your ExpressVPN subscription, you can spring for the Advanced or Pro plans. The Advanced plan delivers a little more value for the price than the Basic plan, including a password manager, full suite of Advanced Protection tools and most Identity Defender features. Advanced costs $14 a month, $90 for the first 15 months (then $120 a year) or $126 for the first 28 months (then $120 a year). The Pro plan includes everything in the Advanced plan, plus the full suite of Identity Defender tools and a dedicated IP for $20 a month, $135 for the first 15 months (then $200 a year) or $210 for the first 28 months (then $200 a year). That’s a steep jump in cost compared to the features it adds over the Advanced plan. For most people, ExpressVPN’s Advanced plan offers the best value.

Surfshark, on the other hand, delivers a lot of value for casual users on long-term subscription plans. Surfshark’s monthly plan costs $15.45, which is unnecessarily expensive and not something I’d recommend purchasing under any circumstances — unless you plan on using it for less than a month and asking for a refund within the first 30 days of purchase. Otherwise, if you only need a VPN for a month, you’re much better off with ExpressVPN at $13, Proton VPN at $10 or even Mullvad at 5 euro (about $6). Surfshark’s yearly and two-year Starter plans offer tremendous value, though. The yearly plan costs $48 for the first 15 months and renews at $79 annually and the two-year plan costs $54 for the first 27 months and $79 annually thereafter. At that price, you’ll get Surfshark’s Alternative ID personal detail generator alongside a VPN.

Surfshark doesn’t offer a password manager like ExpressVPN does, but it does offer bundled subscription plans that include additional privacy and security tools. The Surfshark One plan includes everything in Starter, plus antivirus, data leak alerts and private search and costs $18 a month, $51 for the first 15 months (then $99 a year) or $67 for the first 27 months (then $99 a year). The One-plus plan adds on data removal services and costs $20.65 per month, $91 for the first 15 months (then $119 a year) or $108 for the first 27 months (then $119 a year). So if you find those extra services useful and already have a password manager, you may find Surfshark a better value overall regardless of which subscription tier you choose.            

Privacy and security winner: ExpressVPN’s privacy and transparency are nearly unmatched, though unique Surfshark features make a compelling case

If you’re a journalist, whistleblower, activist or anyone else with critical online privacy needs, I recommend choosing ExpressVPN over Surfshark because of its forward-thinking privacy initiatives. ExpressVPN has long been a standard bearer in the industry when it comes to privacy and transparency, while Surfshark (although still solid) is still playing catch-up in a few ways when it comes to things like independent audits. But if you’re just looking for general privacy protections or want access to unique features, Surfshark is still an excellent choice.

ExpressVPN consistently demonstrates that it’s willing to push the boundaries and go above and beyond what most other VPNs deliver. ExpressVPN’s TrustedServer technology takes privacy a step further by reinstalling the entire software stack upon reboot in addition to wiping the server clean. This helps ensure no data is left on a hard disk while minimizing the risk of misconfiguration when a server is rebooted. ExpressVPN was also one of the first providers, alongside Mullvad, to implement post-quantum encryption to protect against future decryption threats from quantum computers, and it keeps up with the latest standards. As part of its post-quantum WireGuard rollout, ExpressVPN even published a white paper detailing its process to serve as a blueprint for other VPNs to follow. Surfshark also rolled out its post-quantum layer this year, which is now available on Windows, MacOS, iOS and Android when using the WireGuard protocol.

Surfshark published its latest independent audit in June, its fourth overall and first since 2022. Deloitte’s audit report found that Surfshark does not keep logs of user activity and is accessible to Surfshark users online through their user account portal. By comparison, ExpressVPN has published 23 independent audits since 2018, far outpacing Surfshark and the rest of the competition. I also like how ExpressVPN makes its full audit reports accessible to the general public through its extensive Trust Center, rather than only to paying users who’ve submitted personal data for the privilege. It’s emblematic of ExpressVPN’s commitment to extreme transparency. Although independent audits don’t paint a full picture, they’re still important trust signals, and when done at such a steady clip, can be even more compelling.

ExpressVPN is headquartered in the British Virgin Islands, a privacy-friendly jurisdiction outside of the Five, Nine and 14-Eyes data-sharing alliances. Surfshark is based in the Netherlands, which is part of the alliance and may therefore pose an issue for users with critical privacy needs because countries with intelligence-sharing agreements may comply with international requests for user information.

ExpressVPN and Surfshark employ secure AES 256-bit and ChaCha20 encryption standards, along with critical privacy protections like a kill switch and DNS leak protection. Both VPNs also offer features that automatically change your IP address during your connection, making it more difficult for an adversary to track you online, though each provider’s feature operates slightly differently.

Surfshark delivers a few extra privacy features that ExpressVPN doesn’t. Surfshark’s Dynamic MultiHop feature lets you select any two server locations from its network to tunnel through, encrypting your traffic twice instead of just once and adding an extra layer of privacy. And with Alternative ID, you can generate a whole fake persona, complete with full name, email address, physical address and birthdate to use on websites where you don’t want to share your personal information. 

A brand-new feature called Everlink, which Surfshark calls a “self-healing server infrastructure,” also helps the provider stand out from the pack. Essentially, Everlink works to automatically and seamlessly reconfigure the VPN tunnel in the event of a server failure or server maintenance. While Everlink could theoretically eliminate the need for a traditional kill switch, I’d recommend having Surfshark’s kill switch employed at all times, regardless, for an extra layer of privacy.

Ultimately, these are useful features from Surfshark, but they don’t totally make up for how far ahead ExpressVPN is on forward-thinking features and overall transparency

Usability winner: ExpressVPN is the easiest VPN to use across platforms

ExpressVPN’s apps are the simplest to use on virtually any platform, making the service an excellent choice for beginners. Express delivers a consistent, easy-to-use experience across most platforms — although its Apple TV app is laid out a bit differently. Either way, none of ExpressVPN’s apps require any learning curve whatsoever, so even if you’ve never used a VPN before, you’ll have no trouble getting started. 

Surfshark is also incredibly easy to use across platforms, but its apps require just a little more getting used to than ExpressVPN’s because of its busier interface. That said, I like how you can easily access your recently used locations, fastest servers, closest country, static IP servers and multihop connections, right from the home screen. I also like how Surfshark allows you to pause your connection instead of disconnecting outright. This lets you temporarily jump off the VPN connection without the risk of forgetting to reconnect later on.

ExpressVPN and Surfshark each offer apps for Windows, MacOS, Linux, Chromebook, Android, iOS, Fire TV, Android TV and Apple TV. I particularly like ExpressVPN’s updated iOS and Android apps, which include a few helpful upgrades that allow you to customize the look of the app and more easily navigate to recommended server locations and toggle settings like protocol selection and advanced protection features from the home screen. 

Both VPNs also work on routers, but ExpressVPN offers an unbeatable router app that makes it super easy to use the service on its own Aircove or other compatible router for whole network coverage or use on devices like Roku streaming devices that don’t natively support VPN apps. 

Both providers are also excellent choices for streaming geographically restricted content from around the world. However, ExpressVPN has an edge due to its flawless unblocking performance and its intuitive router app. During my latest streaming tests, ExpressVPN was able to unblock everything I tried on popular streaming services like Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video — across all platforms I tested. Surfshark also performed admirably, but Hulu detected the VPN and blocked access to its content when I tried to stream on my Fire TV Stick — although Surfshark did unblock Hulu on other platforms. 

ExpressVPN’s vast global network of 11,500-plus servers across 105 countries eclipses Surfshark’s 3,200-plus servers across 100 countries. However, with Surfshark, you can connect an unlimited number of devices simultaneously, while ExpressVPN limits you to 10 simultaneous connections on its Basic plan, making Surfshark a better choice for large households or people with many devices.    

Bottom line

If you’re still undecided, know that ExpressVPN or Surfshark are two of the best VPNs available. Both are excellent all-around services that deliver strong privacy, fast speeds and top-notch usability. Which one you ultimately go with may come down to your budget, your privacy needs or your streaming requirements.

For users with critical privacy needs, I recommend ExpressVPN because of its forward-thinking privacy protections, extreme transparency and privacy-friendly jurisdiction. I also recommend ExpressVPN for people who like to stream tons of international content because of the extensive reach of its server network paired with its outstanding unblocking capabilities. If you’re on a budget, I recommend Surfshark because the pricing on its long-term plans is much easier on the wallet than ExpressVPN’s prices — and you still get a solid, premium VPN experience even though you’re paying considerably less. Surfshark is also an excellent choice if you want the specific benefits of features like Alternative ID or Dynamic MultiHop.