What is Surfshark? Surfshark is a premium Virtual Private Network (VPN) provider based in the Netherlands. It encrypts your internet traffic, hides your real IP address, and is famous for offering unlimited simultaneous device connections at a highly affordable price.
If you have spent any time in the data hoarding community, you know that privacy is mandatory.
Whether you are using a torrent client to share files or browsing the best Usenet indexers, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is watching. To hide your activity and protect yourself from copyright trolls, you need a strict no-logs VPN.
However, many premium VPNs are incredibly expensive and limit you to only five devices. If you have a home NAS, a smartphone, a laptop, and a tablet, you will hit that limit instantly.
This is where Surfshark comes in. In this Surfshark review, we will test its download speeds, evaluate its privacy audits, and explain why it is the best budget VPN for data hoarders.
Table of Contents
1. Unlimited Simultaneous Connections (The Best Feature)
The absolute biggest selling point of Surfshark is its device policy.
Almost every other premium VPN on the market (including NordVPN and ExpressVPN) restricts you to 5 or 6 simultaneous connections. If you want to protect your entire household, you have to buy multiple subscriptions.
Surfshark allows unlimited simultaneous connections. You can install the Surfshark app on your iPhone, your Mac, your Windows gaming PC, and your Raspberry Pi NAS. You can even give your password to your family members so they can protect their phones. It all runs under a single, cheap subscription.
Verdict: 10/10. An unbeatable value for multi-device households.
2. Download Speeds and WireGuard
If you are learning how to download from Usenet or torrenting massive 4K movies, a slow VPN will ruin your experience.
Older VPNs used the OpenVPN or IKEv2 protocols, which were heavy and often throttled gigabit internet connections. Surfshark uses the modern WireGuard protocol.
WireGuard is incredibly lightweight. During our testing, connecting to a local Surfshark server via WireGuard resulted in almost zero speed loss. If you have a 1Gbps fiber internet connection, Surfshark will easily allow you to download files at 800+ Mbps without bottlenecking your Usenet newsreader.
Verdict: 9/10. Blazing fast speeds for heavy downloaders.
3. Privacy, Logging, and Audits
Because a VPN routes all of your traffic through their servers, you are shifting your trust from your ISP to the VPN company (read our What is a VPN guide for more details).
If a VPN secretly logs your data, it is useless.
Surfshark has a strict no-logs policy. Furthermore, to prove they are not lying, they hired Deloitte (one of the world’s most respected auditing firms) to conduct an independent security audit of their server infrastructure. Deloitte verified that Surfshark does not store any logs of user activity.
Additionally, Surfshark uses RAM-only servers. This means their servers do not have physical hard drives. Every time a server is rebooted, all data is instantly wiped. It is physically impossible for them to store your download history.
Verdict: 10/10. Independently verified, RAM-only privacy.
4. The Catch: Port Forwarding
While Surfshark is an incredible VPN, it does have one major flaw for hardcore data hoarders: It does not support port forwarding.
If you are simply downloading files, browsing the web, or using Stremio and Real-Debrid, you do not need port forwarding. Surfshark will work perfectly.
However, if you are seeding files on exclusive private torrent trackers, or if you are running an automated media server using Sonarr and Radarr that needs to accept incoming connections from other peers, the lack of port forwarding will severely limit your connectivity.
(If you absolutely need port forwarding for your automated server, we recommend reading our best VPN for Usenet guide and choosing ProtonVPN instead).
Final Verdict: Is Surfshark Worth It?
If you are on a strict budget and want to protect every single device in your house with a highly secure, independently audited VPN, Surfshark is the best value on the market.
It is incredibly fast, easy to use, and the unlimited device policy is unmatched.
Want to test it out? Surfshark frequently runs massive discounts (often up to 80% off) and offers a strict 30-day money-back guarantee. If you don’t like it, you can cancel within the first month for a full refund.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Surfshark safe for torrenting?
Yes. Surfshark allows P2P (peer-to-peer) traffic on all of its servers. It includes a built-in “Kill Switch” that automatically cuts your internet connection if the VPN accidentally disconnects, ensuring your real IP address is never leaked to the torrent swarm.
Where is Surfshark located?
Surfshark is officially headquartered in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is generally considered a privacy-friendly jurisdiction with strong consumer data protection laws, making it a safe location for a VPN company.
Does Surfshark work with Plex?
If you run Surfshark on the same computer that hosts your Plex server, it can sometimes interfere with Plex’s remote access feature. The easiest workaround is to use Surfshark’s “Bypasser” (Split Tunneling) feature. This allows you to route your torrent software through the VPN, while letting Plex bypass the VPN and connect directly to the internet.