Surfshark vs IPVanish (2026)
Head-to-head on price, speed, privacy posture and features - based on our independent reviews of both providers.
Score comparison
| Surfshark | IPVanish | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 8.6 | 7.6 | Surfshark |
| Speed & reliability | 8.8 | 8.3 | Surfshark |
| Privacy & trust | 8.2 | 6.8 | Surfshark |
| Features & coverage | 8.9 | 7.6 | Surfshark |
| Value for money | 9.3 | 8.2 | Surfshark |
| Ease of use | 9.0 | 8.2 | Surfshark |
Side by side
| Surfshark | IPVanish | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $2.49/mo | $2.19/mo |
| Service types | Consumer VPN | Consumer VPN |
| Jurisdiction | Netherlands in the 9 Eyes | United States in the 5 Eyes |
| Logging policy | No-logs, independently audited | No-logs, independently audited |
| Independent audits | Deloitte (2025) Cure53 (2023) | Leviathan Security (2024) |
| Network | 3.2K servers | 2.4K servers |
| Country coverage | 100 | 90 |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 days | 30 days |
| Free tier | - | - |
| Support | chat, email, knowledge-base · 24/7 | chat, phone, email · 24/7 |
| Pay with crypto | ✓ | - |
Which should you pick?
Choose Surfshark if this fits: best value for households and heavy device users. Surfshark gives you most of what NordVPN does for about half the money, with unlimited devices as the headline. The Dutch jurisdiction and the Nord Security ownership are the trade-offs.
Choose IPVanish if this fits: best for unlimited devices with phone support. IPVanish is a competent, cheap, unlimited-device VPN that runs its own hardware, but the 2016 logging incident means its privacy pitch starts from behind, and it has not fully caught up.
Overall, our scores favor Surfshark (8.6 vs 7.6) - but the right choice depends on which trade-offs matter to you. Read the full Surfshark review and IPVanish review.