Surfshark vs Hotspot Shield: which wins?

VPNs can be difficult to shop for even if you’re pretty comfortable with technology. This is because VPN marketing tends to focus on how advanced the apps are, and often forgets that most potential customers don’t have a degree in computer networking. Here’s the good news: we’ve performed an in-depth, side-by-side comparison of two extremely popular services, Surfshark and Hotspot Shield to help you out.

Below, you’ll find an exhaustive description of what each VPN has to offer Our team will break down every feature in a simple, easily-understandable way so that you know exactly what you’re paying for.

Editor’s note: Hotspot Shield is owned by Pango, Comparitech’s parent company. This did not impact our review in any way, and all praise we give either service is entirely on their own merit.

Our team conducted an exhaustive investigation into both of these providers. Here’s what we discovered when comparing Surfshark and Hotspot Shield:

Summary: Surfshark vs Hotspot Shield

Pricing and discounts

Hotspot Shield costs $12.99 USD per month, which is towards the higher end of the pricing spectrum. Surfshark, on the other hand, is just $10.99 per month. Additionally, both services offer steep discounts if you’re willing to commit to a medium or long-term plan upfront. For instance, Surfshark’s two-year plan works out at $2.29 per month. Hotspot Shield isn’t far off, averaging $2.99 monthly over a three-year period.

These VPNs each come with a risk-free money-back guarantee. This means you can sign up and use the service as much as you like. If you’re unsatisfied, simply cancel within a set time period to receive a full refund. This guarantee lasts 30 days for Surfshark users and 45 days for Hotspot Shield customers.

Hotspot Shield also has a free tier but this doesn’t really provide a good look at what the service can do since  your speeds are capped and only a handful of servers are available. On the plus side, it no longer has a daily bandwidth cap.

Best Deal for Surfshark:Choose Surfshark’s two-year plan to get an extra two months of coverage and save 81%.

Best Deal for Hotspot Shield:Sign up for a three-year subscription to save more than 75%.

Features

Whichever service you choose, you’ll have access to apps for a wide range of devices. Notably, each is included in the Amazon app store; this saves you the trouble of having to sideload your VPN onto your Firestick. Both VPNs also offer addons for Chrome and Firefox (with Surfshark supporting Microsoft Edge as well), allowing you to change location, disconnect, or tweak settings without opening the app.

The main difference here is that Surfshark doesn’t restrict the number of devices you can connect at once. Hotspot Shield does, but its 10-connection limit is fairly generous and more than what many of its rivals allow. What’s more, Surfshark is able to block ads and malware automatically.

On the other hand, Surfshark does have a few features in the app that you can’t actually use unless you sign up for Surfshark One, its optional paid addon. These include a privacy-focused search engine, an antivirus, a breach alert tool, and an Alternative ID feature that can generate a whole new persona for you.

Streaming and Netflix comparison

So far, these two VPNs have been pretty evenly matched but Surfshark definitely pulls ahead here. Not only did it work with just about every service we tried it with, it allowed us to securely access a couple of additional Netflix libraries too. This makes it an exceptionally attractive option for anyone who likes to stream, particularly as the lack of a connection limit means you can effectively watch anything, anywhere.

To its credit, Hotspot Shield could access some of the most popular streaming platforms, and it even worked with the most in-demand Netflix catalogs. However, it did struggle with a handful of platforms, perhaps because of the large amount of traffic coming from free-tier users.

China

You’re likely already aware that China limits the content its visitors and citizens can access online. It does this using a collection of tools known as the Great Firewall. While you can get around this blocking with a VPN, most of these services are inaccessible in China.

Although the Surfshark and Hotspot Shield websites can’t be reached, the apps themselves work perfectly well. As such, if you install them before arriving in China, you’ll be able to access the web freely. In fact, Hotspot Shield users don’t even have to do anything differently and can continue browsing as normal. Surfshark customers will have to enable NoBorders mode first (go to Settings > Advanced > NoBorders).

Setup and interface

Both VPNs offer sleek, easy-to-use desktop apps. There’s a quick-connection button right there on the main screen and settings are neatly divided up into different tabs so you can more easily find what you’re looking for.

Once connected, Surfshark lets you monitor various metrics like your total bandwidth used, session length, and what your current IP address is. Servers are separated into four categories (Location, Static IP, MultiHop, and Dedicated IP), plus there’s a search bar to save you from scrolling all the way through the list.

Hotspot Shield goes for a more minimal look, with a quick-connect button, daily data usage monitor, and server selection option on the main page, plus a sidebar for accessing other sections of the desktop app. If we had one complaint, it’d be that some of the sidebar icons feel a little unnecessary, but this really isn’t a huge issue. With intuitive server selection and user-friendly settings pages, there’s a lot to like here.

The mobile apps are very similar to the desktop versions and Hotspot Shield is near-identical. Surfshark users even have the option to override their phone’s GPS location without the need for third-party apps.

Servers and performance

Most paid VPNs have around 60 locations to choose from, so both of these providers are ahead of the curve. Hotspot Shield has virtual servers in 80 countries whereas Surfshark’s recent expansion has it now offering servers in 100. It has almost twice as many servers as Hotspot Shield too, which theoretically means it’d be more reliable during busy periods.

There are a couple of interesting things about the results above. First, Hotspot Shield has servers in places many other VPNs don’t, like China and the UAE. Despite this, there’s no need to worry about surveillance or governmental interference, since this VPN uses virtual servers in those locations; in other words, they’re not really in those countries, just pretending to be. Of course, as these services both have no-logging policies, you couldn’t be traced even if they were physically present.

Here’s a complete list of every country where these VPNs have servers:

Surfshark and Hotspot Shield speed comparison

The last time we put these services head-to-head, Surfshark was significantly faster. However, our testing revealed that its speeds have dropped somewhat since then. Now, it delivers average speeds of around 190 Mbps, which still makes it one of the quickest VPNs on the market.

Meanwhile, Hotspot Shield has actually improved its performance. It averaged just under 200 Mbps, giving it a slight edge in this area. Ultimately, whichever of these you choose, you’re unlikely to notice any real difference unless you’re already used to extremely high speeds.

Security

Surfshark used to support Shadowsocks and IKEv2 but has since decided to focus exclusively on OpenVPN and WireGuard. Hotspot Shield has taken a different approach, with IKEv2 and WireGuard support, plus its own custom protocol, Catapult Hydra. This is designed to beat strict online censorship and provide higher speeds, even across long distances.

These VPNs both use effectively uncrackable 256-bit AES encryption and 2048-bit RSA keys. For context, without the correct decryption key, this would take several lifetimes to crack. There’s a kill switch built into each service too; these automatically block your internet access when you lose connection to the VPN so that you never have to browse unprotected.

Each of these services can hide the fact that you’re using a VPN but (perhaps understandably) neither is particularly forthcoming about how their cloaking works. We do know that other services reshape your data, hiding the telltale indicators of VPN traffic that VPN-blocking networks and services look for.

Privacy

When it comes to privacy, Surfshark has a clear advantage. It’s based in the Netherlands, a privacy-friendly country, whereas Hotspot Shield operates out of the US. This is a Five Eyes country, which means that any of the other member countries can request details of your activities and share them with the US.

Of course, this isn’t a huge issue since neither VPN logs data that can personally identify its users. Surfshark only logs diagnostic information, like failed connection attempts, while Hotspot Shield stores only aggregate data, making it impossible to tell who accessed what. Further, Surfshark has undergone multiple third-party audits to prove that it’s telling the truth and we’d like to see Hotspot Shield follow suit.

Surfshark allows its users to sign up anonymously by paying in cryptocurrencies, which gives it an edge over Hotspot Shield. We also liked that it didn’t limit you to just Bitcoin, since other currencies have been increasingly popular of late.

Surfshark has a couple of other tools designed to protect your privacy. First off, there’s a rotating IP address feature that makes it even harder to track your activities across the web. It’s also capable of blocking malware and trackers automatically.

Customer service

Both of these services offer 24/7 support over live chat and email. This means that you’re never more than a few minutes away from an answer to your problems. However, while Surfshark will answer anyone’s questions, Hotspot Shield only provides personalized support to paid subscribers. Otherwise, you’ll have to hope that there’s a relevant article in the knowledge base. Surfshark has a searchable database of questions too, plus an official YouTube channel full of video walkthroughs.

The winner: Surfshark

To be clear, either of these VPNs would make an excellent everyday service. Hotspot Shield is quick and reliable with decent streaming ability, and offers plenty that its rivals don’t. For instance, it boasts an expansive server network, the ability to browse without restriction in China, and an extremely responsive support team.

Surfshark is the better choice for the average user, though. It offers similar speeds while providing a wider range of security tools, and works with a higher number of geo-blocked services. Further, this privacy-first provider keeps no logs, accepts cryptocurrency payments, and lets you connect as many devices as you like. In short, Surfshark is a highly-versatile VPN that’d be a great choice for just about any task.

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See also:

• NordVPN vs Surfshark
• Surfshark vs ExpressVPN
• Best Overall VPN Service

Methodology: How we compared Surfshark and Hotspot Shield

Comparing VPNs is trickier than you might think. To really compare and contrast Surfshark and Hotspot Shield, we focused on the following key areas:

• Server availability: The more servers, the more reliable your connection. However, the locations also matter since this determines what content you’ll be able to access and which country’s laws apply.
• Performance and reliability: We run multiple speed tests at different times of day, using servers in three countries, before averaging out the result to get a single representative speed. Our approach ensures that inconsistent speeds are accounted for, giving you the best idea of what to expect.
• Streaming potential: It’s getting harder to access popular streaming services with a VPN active but deactivating it leaves your data visible to snoopers. That’s why we tested Surfshark and Hotspot Shield against platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Peacock.
• Security: A VPN’s primary goal is to keep your data secure. We looked at these providers’ encryption standards, supported protocols, and any safeguards they offered, such as a kill switch or leak protection.
• Privacy: We evaluated each provider’s logging policy, anonymous payment options, and obfuscation to make sure that your privacy always comes first. We also checked to see if either had been audited so that you don’t have to take their claims at face value.
• Ease of use: A VPN should be simple enough for a complete novice to use. Features that simplify things, like 24/7 support, a lack of connection limits, and task-specific servers are highly sought-after.
• Value for money: We compared each provider’s price to those of similar services, looked for any long-term deals or discounts that were available, and dove into their money-back guarantees and refund policies.

Want to learn more about how we put VPNs through their paces? Read our full testing methodology post.

Surfshark vs Hotspot Shield: FAQs