VPNLISTIFY team · November 6, 2026 · 19 min read

Surfshark vs ExpressVPN 2026: Which VPN Should You Buy?

Surfshark suits households with many devices; ExpressVPN is worth considering for its router options and specific app features. We compare the full first payment, renewal, device limits, privacy evidence and external speed measurements so you can choose for the way you actually use a VPN.

Surfshark vs ExpressVPN: comparing cost, connected devices and router options

At Listify, we do not choose a VPN by the largest discount badge. We look at the full bill, the next year of service and whether the apps meet your actual device requirements. This comparison answers the direct choice between Surfshark and ExpressVPN.

Our research uses official pricing, help pages, privacy policies and published audits checked November 6, 2026. We did not test the apps or hardware ourselves. External measurements are labelled with their source, period and limitations rather than presented as our own tests.

Some links in this article are affiliate links. If you buy a subscription through them, we may earn a commission. We checked the offers on November 6, 2026; confirm the price, availability, applicable taxes and renewal terms with the provider before ordering.

01The quick verdict: lots of devices or a VPN router?

We would start with Surfshark for a household with many phones and computers. We would consider ExpressVPN when you specifically want its router setup, or when its apps and traffic-routing controls fit your devices better. Compare the full subscription and the renewal bill before deciding. A large discount percentage does not answer either question.

What matters	Surfshark	ExpressVPN
Simultaneous devices on paid VPN plans	No fixed limit	Basic 10, Advanced 12, Express Pro 14
Home router	Manual configuration on supported routers	Integrated interface on supported routers; Fortify
TV without a VPN app	VPN router or external player	VPN router, player or unencrypted MediaStreamer
Privacy evidence	Deloitte, RAM-only servers, Netherlands-based operator	KPMG/PwC, TrustedServer, BVI-based operator
Main checks before buying	Renewal terms and the September 2026 incident report	Device cap, renewal terms and features in your tier

Our selection of practical differences from official documentation checked November 6, 2026. Details and linked evidence follow.

Surfshark makes adding devices straightforward. Its discontinued SmartDNS feature and disclosed security incident also belong in the decision. ExpressVPN offers an integrated route to protecting a home network, but a router adds a hardware cost and its app connection allowance depends on the plan. Paying for a higher tier does not, by itself, prove that the VPN connection is safer.

02Price: the full first payment and the renewal bill

Surfshark Starter was cheaper in the offer we recorded on November 6, 2026, both initially and at the published renewal rate. It covered 27 months, compared with 28 for ExpressVPN Basic. Neither advertised monthly equivalent was a monthly payment: the subscription covered the whole introductory term.

Pricing is regional. Our Surfshark page displayed Czech crowns and our ExpressVPN page displayed US dollars. The table retains those original amounts and adds our dollar conversion so you can compare this specific offer. It is not a US price list or a promise that another country will receive the same offer.

Entry-level plan	First term, before tax	Monthly equivalent, before tax	Annual renewal, before tax
Surfshark Starter	27 months: CZK 1,593, approximately US$73.06	Approximately US$2.71	CZK 1,714.91, approximately US$78.65
ExpressVPN Basic	28 months: US$83.72	US$2.99	US$99.95

Surfshark dollar amounts are our conversions, not displayed USD offers. Czech National Bank rate on November 6, 2026: US$1 = CZK 21.804. Local tax and payment-provider conversion may change the bill.

In the Surfshark offer, Starter cost CZK 1,593 before tax for 24 months plus 3 extra months. The checkout with Czechia selected added 21% VAT and showed CZK 1,927.53 after a seven-day trial. The trial was offered to first-time customers paying by card, Apple Pay or PayPal; the other displayed payment methods did not include it. We did not enter payment details or complete an order.

The ExpressVPN pricing page we viewed listed Basic at US$83.72 for 24 plus 4 months. Its checkout with the Czech Republic selected showed US$101.30 including 21% VAT. These are observed checkout totals for that tax country, not universal tax-inclusive prices. For comparison, changing the tax country to Slovakia produced CZK 1,959.39 for Surfshark and US$102.98 for ExpressVPN, with 23% VAT. That did not test a Slovak IP address or a local euro offer.

Renewal deserves equal attention. Surfshark’s published renewal table showed Starter at CZK 1,714.91 before tax for another 12 months, equivalent to about US$78.65 at the November 6 Czech National Bank rate. ExpressVPN quoted US$99.95 before tax per year. Those correspond to about US$6.55 and US$8.33 per month, before tax. Both providers may change renewal prices before your long introductory term ends.

Surfshark One had the same introductory price as Starter but a higher renewal base, CZK 2,149.07 a year before tax. ExpressVPN Advanced was US$117.32 and Pro US$201.32 for 28 months before tax. A free initial upgrade can therefore create a more expensive renewal. Choose the bundle because you need its extra service, not because the first bill happens to match.

Also distinguish display currency from charge currency. Surfshark’s payment policy says the transaction currency depends on the payment provider and information such as the card’s issuing country; it lists EUR for the EEA. ExpressVPN offers local eurozone pricing. Do not treat our converted amounts as a substitute for your own final order summary.

Our price conclusion is specific: Surfshark Starter had the lower entry cost in this comparison. If you choose ExpressVPN, identify the router option or app feature that makes the difference worthwhile. Include hardware and the renewal bill in that calculation.

Checked November 6, 2026. The displayed Starter and One offer is CZK 1,593 before tax for 27 months, charged after a 7-day trial. The trial is for new customers using eligible payment methods; cancel before it ends to avoid the charge. Check your final regional price, billing currency and renewal at checkout. The website trial allows up to 3 devices.

Surfshark: 3 extra months with a 2-year plan

Checked November 6, 2026. Basic: 2 years + 4 months, billed US$83.72 before tax upfront for 28 months, then automatically renewed at US$99.95 a year before tax. The advertised saving uses the current monthly price of the same tier as its baseline. A 30-day money-back guarantee applies to eligible new users; this is not a no-payment trial.

ExpressVPN Basic: 80% off + 4 extra months

03Which subscription tier do you actually need?

Start by comparing Surfshark Starter with ExpressVPN Basic for the VPN itself. Move to a higher tier only when you can name an extra service you will use. A long row of icons does not mean you need another antivirus, password manager or data-removal subscription.

ExpressVPN has a relevant recent change. Its official tier guide, updated October 30, 2026, includes ad, tracker and malicious-site blocking in Basic, along with limited ExpressMailGuard and ExpressAI access. We therefore do not repeat older comparison tables that put tracker blocking exclusively in Advanced. ExpressKeys comes with the higher tiers, while Identity Defender is for US customers.

Surfshark offers CleanWeb for blocking ads and malicious domains. A domain filter is not a full antivirus: it does not cover every route by which a harmful file can reach your computer. The antivirus device allowance is also separate from the VPN’s unlimited simultaneous connections.

Our buying rule is to write down the feature that justifies the upgrade, then check its availability on your operating system and in your country. If you cannot name it, begin with the entry tier. If a higher bundle costs the same today, check its separate renewal rate before accepting it.

04Device limits: count simultaneous use

Surfshark confirms unlimited simultaneous VPN connections on its paid Starter, One and One+ plans. It also reserves the right to act against misuse, including unauthorized account resale. The practical benefit is covering your own household, not running a separate VPN business from one subscription.

The unlimited allowance applies to paid VPN subscriptions. During Surfshark’s current seven-day website trial, the limit is three devices. Unlimited connections start after the trial, when the paid subscription begins. A twelve-device household therefore cannot test every device simultaneously during the trial.

ExpressVPN allows 10, 12 or 14 simultaneous connections depending on the tier. Installing an app is different from having that device connected to the VPN. A switched-off laptop should therefore be counted differently from a phone that keeps its VPN active.

A household example

Imagine four people, each with a phone and laptop, plus two tablets and two TVs. That makes 12 devices. If each uses its own app and all need VPN access at once, the Basic allowance of 10 is insufficient, while Advanced’s 12 is enough. Surfshark has no fixed paid-plan cap. This is an illustrative count, not a Listify customer case study.

If the two TVs and two tablets use a single VPN router, they share the router connection. ExpressVPN counts devices behind the router under one VPN connection. Phones away from the home Wi-Fi still need their own apps and occupy separate connections. A home router does not automatically protect a phone using mobile data.

List the devices active at your household’s busiest time. The difference between ten connections and no fixed cap can be decisive for a large family. For one person with two devices, it may be worth nothing. Avoid buying a higher tier for devices that will never need the VPN simultaneously.

Simultaneous devices on paid VPN plans: Surfshark allows unlimited VPN connections, ExpressVPN Basic 10, Advanced 12 and Pro 14 — Paid VPN subscriptions, checked November 6, 2026. Surfshark’s seven-day website trial allows up to 3 devices. Antivirus limits are separate.

05Routers and TVs: a meaningful difference

Both providers cover mainstream computers and phones, with apps for Android TV, Fire TV and Apple TV. Check the operating system and supported version on your particular model. The phrase smart TV is not enough to establish compatibility. Surfshark’s device guide; ExpressVPN’s platform and router guide.

ExpressVPN offers Fortify, developed with GL.iNet, with an integrated VPN interface. An active subscription is required to use its ExpressVPN functionality. The attraction for a less technical household is centralized management, not a guarantee that every router will have identical performance. Before buying hardware, check shipping, its separate cost and how the included subscription applies to existing customers.

Surfshark can be configured manually on a compatible router. Its AsusWRT guide distinguishes the traditional VPN Client interface from newer VPN Fusion and directs readers to the appropriate OpenVPN or WireGuard procedure. A box that merely says VPN is not enough. You need an outbound VPN client for connecting to the provider; a VPN server for remote access to your home does a different job.

MediaStreamer is not an encrypted VPN

ExpressVPN MediaStreamer is a DNS service without traffic encryption or VPN location selection. It may help with a device that cannot run an app, but it is not a replacement for connection protection. Surfshark retired SmartDNS on February 2, 2026. Older comparisons that still list SmartDNS for both providers are out of date on this point.

For encrypted traffic from a TV or console, choose an app or a VPN router. If you only need a particular DNS function, define that purpose first. Neither approach guarantees access to every programme or changes the rules of the service you are using.

A VPN app protects its device, a VPN router protects routed devices, and MediaStreamer is DNS without encryption — ExpressVPN MediaStreamer is not a VPN. Surfshark discontinued SmartDNS on February 2, 2026, according to its official documentation.

06Privacy: audit scope matters more than the count

Surfshark B.V. is based in the Netherlands; Express Technologies Ltd. is based in the British Virgin Islands. The country alone does not decide the winner. Look at the information each provider describes collecting, the system design and what an independent assessment actually covered.

Surfshark’s privacy policy says it does not retain visited websites. To operate connections, it temporarily holds a user ID and/or IP address and connection timestamps, deleting them within 15 minutes after the session ends. ExpressVPN’s policy excludes browsing history, source IP addresses and exact connection timestamps, but describes the day of a successful connection, location, country/ISP and aggregate data transferred. No logs does not mean no account information.

Surfshark’s Trust Center links to Deloitte no-logs assessments from 2023 and 2025. ExpressVPN’s KPMG announcement covers TrustedServer and privacy claims as of February 28, 2025, under ISAE 3000 Type 1. A point-in-time assessment is not continuous verification of every subsequent release.

Both describe running VPN servers in RAM. That limits persistent storage on the VPN server itself, but does not rule out an app defect or an issue elsewhere in the infrastructure. ExpressVPN’s audit list also includes assessments of extra products such as its password manager. We do not compare that total with a competitor’s no-logs assessment count as if they were identical scores.

Security incidents need context

In its September 2026 incident report, Surfshark described unauthorized access to a misconfigured internal test server. According to its investigation, customer data and VPN services were unaffected. It announced an additional infrastructure audit. The public March 2026 Cure53 summary concerns Dausos and its architecture; it cannot be presented as the promised assessment after the September incident.

ExpressVPN disclosed a Windows split-tunneling DNS issue in 2024 and subsequent verification of its fix by Nettitude. For a purchasing decision, look at the disclosed scope, response and evidence that the fix works. We would not describe either provider as having never experienced a problem.

If the more recent incident makes you want additional evidence, ask Surfshark for the specific follow-up report and its scope. If jurisdiction is your deciding factor, read the privacy policies as well. A paid VPN does not make you anonymous in every situation: logging into a website or sending it personal details still identifies you.

When reading a VPN audit, check its scope, date and the specific categories of collected information — Our guide to reading published assessments and privacy policies, not a security audit conducted by Listify.

07Speed: what comparable measurements show

We did not measure speeds ourselves. The figures below come from the same April round in TechRadar’s published speed table. Its methodology describes Windows, a 10Gbps connection, several measurement services and repeated runs throughout the day. These are historical April 2026 results that we checked again in November, not our own November benchmark.

Provider and protocol	Nearest server	USA / UK
Surfshark, WireGuard	1,021 Mbps	935 Mbps
ExpressVPN, WireGuard	967 Mbps	699 Mbps
ExpressVPN, Lightway Turbo	1,177 Mbps	1,117 Mbps

TechRadar, April 2026. Higher throughput is better. Same source and period; different protocols are identified explicitly.

The protocol changes the result. Surfshark leads in this round when both use WireGuard; ExpressVPN leads with Lightway Turbo. Turbo is a Windows app feature, and the official setup guide says it cannot be used with split tunneling. The highest number is therefore not a universal result for your Mac, iPhone or router.

For your own decision, compare the same device, network and server region. Try an ordinary evening, a video call, a large upload and waking the laptop from sleep. Pay attention to latency variation and reliability, not only peak download speed. A protocol that breaks an important app is not your winner just because it produces an impressive chart.

08Everyday controls: exceptions for apps and websites

Split tunneling lets selected traffic bypass the VPN. This can help with a service that rejects shared VPN addresses. Before turning off the VPN for an entire device because of one website, check whether you can create a narrow exception.

Surfshark calls the feature Bypasser. Its documentation covers Windows, Android, macOS and iOS. On Mac, it supports apps and websites, but macOS Big Sur is excluded. On iPhone, it supports website exceptions, not arbitrary app exclusions.

ExpressVPN’s current documentation includes split tunneling on macOS 11 and later and supported Linux systems. For iOS, it describes website exceptions using single IPv4 addresses. The old blanket claim that ExpressVPN has no split tunneling on Mac or iPhone is therefore no longer accurate. Check the available controls for your platform.

Write down the actual requirement. “Send this banking website directly while the rest uses the VPN” is a usable test; “I need split tunneling” is too vague. Excluding a web address is not the same as excluding an entire iPhone app. Once configured, test ordinary use and reconnection.

Our VPN setup guide for Windows and Mac covers installation and connection checks. For this buying decision, a working combination on your device is more valuable than a long feature list you will never use.

09Trying the service, refunds and automatic renewal

Paying upfront with a money-back guarantee is different from a trial without an initial subscription payment. Read the rules for your purchasing channel. Turning off the next renewal is also different from requesting a refund of the current payment.

Where you buy	Surfshark	ExpressVPN
Direct website purchase	30 days from the initial purchase, subject to terms	30 days from the initial purchase for new subscribers
Google Play	Terms allow Surfshark to facilitate a refund	ExpressVPN guarantee excluded; Google decides
Apple App Store	Refund handled through the seller	Refund handled by Apple
Renewal payment	The standard 30-day guarantee does not restart	The standard 30-day guarantee does not restart

Summary of terms checked November 6, 2026. Further exclusions apply, including some add-ons, gift cards and prior refunds.

Sources: Surfshark’s terms and ExpressVPN’s terms. We do not promise every refund request will be approved. Choose a channel whose price and rules you understand, and test your essential use cases before the relevant deadline.

Keep the order confirmation, full payment amount, introductory expiry date and next-payment terms. If you do not want automatic renewal, disable it with the seller that bills you. Uninstalling an app does not cancel a subscription. We explain the second provider in more detail in how to cancel ExpressVPN and request a refund.

10Which one would we choose?

Surfshark for a household with many devices

Surfshark fits a household that wants separate apps on many devices without tracking a simultaneous paid-plan cap. Check the final payment and renewal of your chosen bundle, and consider the disclosed incident and any further remediation evidence you need. Our Surfshark review explores the product in depth.

ExpressVPN for a specific router setup

We would choose ExpressVPN when its supported router and centralized home management justify the total cost, including hardware. It may also suit a particular split-tunneling requirement you have confirmed on your system. Do not dismiss Basic simply because it includes fewer extra products. Our ExpressVPN review covers the wider service.

When neither meets the main requirement

You do not have to force a choice between these two. For other pairings, see Proton VPN vs Surfshark and ExpressVPN vs NordVPN. If you refuse an upfront payment, look for a genuine free tier rather than a paid money-back offer.

List the devices that connect at the same time and their operating systems.
Start with the entry-level plan and add only extras you need.
Compare the full first payment and renewal in the same currency.
Confirm router support, traffic exceptions and important apps.
Keep the order confirmation and set a reminder before the next charge.

Security also matters on the website you run for customers. A consumer VPN does not fix admin permissions, leaking form data or insecure system integrations. At Listify, we design and build custom websites. If you are planning a website or customer portal, we can discuss its functionality and how it handles personal information.

Surfshark: 3 extra months with a 2-year plan

ExpressVPN Basic: 80% off + 4 extra months

11Frequently asked questions

Is Surfshark or ExpressVPN better?

Surfshark has a clear advantage for a large household: unlimited simultaneous connections on paid VPN plans. ExpressVPN may fit a specific router setup better. Compare the final cost, renewal and features on your own devices.

Does ExpressVPN still have an eight-device limit?

No. Current plans allow 10 simultaneous connections on Basic, 12 on Advanced and 14 on Express Pro.

Does Surfshark’s unlimited allowance include antivirus?

No. Unlimited simultaneous connections refer to the paid VPN service. Check the limits for extra products separately. The seven-day website trial has a three-device limit.

Does Surfshark still offer SmartDNS?

Surfshark discontinued it on February 2, 2026. For a device without a VPN app, consider a supported router or external player.

Does ExpressVPN MediaStreamer encrypt traffic?

No. MediaStreamer is a DNS service. It does not replace an encrypted VPN tunnel or provide the same privacy protection.

Which VPN is faster?

It depends on your device, protocol and network. In the cited April TechRadar round, Surfshark led with WireGuard, while ExpressVPN achieved a higher maximum with Lightway Turbo. That does not guarantee speeds on your connection.

Can I always get a refund after automatic renewal?

No. The standard 30-day guarantees apply to eligible initial purchases. Renewals and app-store purchases have different rules.

Will a VPN secure my entire business website?

A VPN protects the relevant network connection. It does not replace application security, access controls, updates or safe handling of customer data.

12Sources and methodology

We checked official documentation on November 6, 2026. The pricing chapter explains the precise scope of the checkout observations. We did not test the apps, routers or refund process ourselves. Speeds are explicitly attributed to TechRadar’s April 2026 measurements. The recommendation is our editorial assessment of this evidence.

LISTIFY teamWebsites, apps and marketing from Prague since 2008

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