Comparison — from the record, 2026-08-28
NordVPN vs Surfshark: one prices by country, and one of them renames its top tier
OUR PICK
Our pick: Surfshark — it undercuts NordVPN at entry in every market we read, at £1.79 against £2.59, and it allows unlimited devices on one account.
Surfshark's entry tier is £1.79 a month against NordVPN's £2.59, and that ordering holds in the United States, the United Kingdom and the eurozone alike. Surfshark also places no limit on simultaneous connections, which removes the question of how many devices a household has.
The other way: NordVPN is the better answer if the renewal price matters more than the intro price — it prints the renewal beside the intro on its own pricing page, which is rare candour in this category and means you can plan past year one without hunting.
How to read this page: every number below was read from the vendor’s own public pricing page on the date shown, and the pages are re-checked daily. Currencies differ because that is what each vendor showed an EU visitor. Some links on this page are affiliate links — if you subscribe through one we earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Per
our method, that never changes a number or a verdict. Source links always point to the vendor’s plain page.
The two pricing pages, side by side
NordVPN — USD, read 2026-08-28
Prices as this vendor showed them to a visitor in the United States — USD. A reader elsewhere may be quoted a different figure — we publish what we were served, never a conversion.
| Plan | Price | Contacts | What the page says |
|---|
| Basic | $3.49/mo | | |
| Complete | $4.49/mo | | |
| Prime | $7.49/mo | | |
Source: https://nordvpn.com/pricing/ · read 2026-08-28 (UTC) · Prices as shown to an EU visitor. Intro prices apply to the first term only; every plan renews at the standard yearly rate, which the page states beside each price. No monthly-billing plan appeared in the term selector we drove.
What this vendor quotes in each market, as its own page printed it — not one price converted three ways.
| Plan | United States
USD · 2026-08-28 | United Kingdom
GBP · 2026-08-28 | EU
EUR · 2026-08-28 |
|---|
| Basic | $3.49 | £2.59 | €3.49 |
| Complete | $4.49 | £3.39 | €4.49 |
| Prime | $7.49 | — | — |
| Ultimate Max | — | £6.29 | €8.49 |
Surfshark — USD, read 2026-08-31
Prices as this vendor showed them to a visitor in the United States — USD. A reader elsewhere may be quoted a different figure — we publish what we were served, never a conversion.
| Plan | Price | Contacts | What the page says |
|---|
| Surfshark Starter | $2.49/mo | | |
| Surfshark One | $2.49/mo | | |
| Surfshark One+ | $4.49/mo | | |
Source: https://surfshark.com/pricing · read 2026-08-31 (UTC) · Prices are shown in euros to an EU visitor — confirmed on the date shown above both in a browser and by our own cookie-free server fetch, so this is what a first-time European visitor sees rather than a stored preference. An earlier capture recorded these same figures against a dollar sign; the figures were right and the currency label was wrong, and that is corrected here. 24-month plan view as shown (+3 extra months = 27 months covered). Intro prices for the first term; the pricing page does not state renewal prices.
What this vendor quotes in each market, as its own page printed it — not one price converted three ways.
| Plan | United States
USD · 2026-08-31 | United Kingdom
GBP · 2026-08-31 | EU
EUR · 2026-08-30 |
|---|
| Surfshark Starter | $2.49 | £1.79 | €2.49 |
| Surfshark One | $2.49 | £1.79 | €2.49 |
| Surfshark One+ | $4.49 | £3.29 | €4.49 |
What the record says
Everything about VPN pricing is a term game: the figure on the banner is an introductory rate for a long commitment, and the figure you live with is the renewal. Both of these vendors play it. Only NordVPN prints the renewal next to the intro on its own page, and that single editorial decision is worth more than most feature comparisons.
On the intro figures, Surfshark is cheaper at entry in every market we read: $2.49 against $3.49 in the United States, £1.79 against £2.59 in the United Kingdom, and €2.49 against €3.49 in the eurozone. The ordering does not flip; only the size of the gap does.
Both re-price by country, which is unusual enough to state plainly. A UK reader is quoted pounds by both vendors and a eurozone reader euros, and those are separate prices rather than a conversion of the American one. It also means any comparison written for one country is simply wrong in another, which is why this page carries the figures for the market you are reading it in.
One oddity the record turned up: NordVPN does not use the same tier names everywhere. Its top tier reads Prime to a US visitor and Ultimate Max in the UK and the eurozone. The ladder beneath it — Basic, then Complete — is consistent. If you are comparing a review written abroad against the page in front of you, that is where the confusion will come from.
Beyond the price tag
Entry price, market by market
Surfshark: $2.49 · £1.79 · €2.49. NordVPN: $3.49 · £2.59 · €3.49. All read on the same day from each country.
The middle tier
NordVPN Complete is £3.39; Surfshark One is £1.79. Both bundle extras beyond the tunnel — storage and a password manager for NordVPN, antivirus and identity monitoring for Surfshark.
Devices
Surfshark places no limit on simultaneous connections. NordVPN does. For one person that is noise; for a household with phones, laptops, a television and a router, it is the whole comparison.
The renewal, which neither banner shows
NordVPN prints its renewal price beside the intro price on its own pricing page. Surfshark does not. Neither figure above is a renewal — they are the advertised monthly equivalents of a long term, and the second term costs more at both vendors.
Questions people actually search
Which is cheaper, NordVPN or Surfshark?
Surfshark, at entry, in every market we read: £1.79 against £2.59 in this one. That is the advertised monthly equivalent of a long commitment, not a renewal rate.
Do these prices renew at the same rate?
No, and that is the most important sentence on this page. Both quote an introductory rate for a multi-year term. NordVPN publishes the renewal beside it; Surfshark does not, so you will need to check at purchase.
Does either have a free plan?
Neither. Both offer a refund window, which is a return policy rather than a free tier. Proton VPN is the one vendor in this category we track that publishes a genuinely free plan.
Why does NordVPN's top tier have two different names?
Because it does. Our same-day reads returned Prime in the United States and Ultimate Max in the United Kingdom and the eurozone. The Basic and Complete tiers below it are named consistently.
THE VERDICT, ONE MORE TIME
Our pick: Surfshark — it undercuts NordVPN at entry in every market we read, at £1.79 against £2.59, and it allows unlimited devices on one account.
Surfshark's entry tier is £1.79 a month against NordVPN's £2.59, and that ordering holds in the United States, the United Kingdom and the eurozone alike. Surfshark also places no limit on simultaneous connections, which removes the question of how many devices a household has.
Both ladders were read from NordVPN's and Surfshark's own pricing pages in the market this edition covers, on the dates shown beside each table. Figures marked for another country were read from that country the same day. Nothing is converted. All figures are advertised monthly equivalents of a longer term. The method →
Found a price that no longer matches the vendor’s page?
Tell us — corrections are dated and stay on the page.