Surfshark vs CyberGhost (2024): Which VPN Is Higher?

Surfshark and CyberGhost VPN are two of the strongest digital non-public community purchasers out immediately. Whereas each VPNs supply quick speeds and enormous server networks, there are a number of variations that may sway you from one to the opposite.

SEE: Cloud Safety Coverage (TechRepublic Premium)

On this article, we examine two high quality VPNs to see which one is greatest for you and your group.

• Surfshark: Finest for small groups or companies with tighter budgets, significantly people who want limitless connections to cowl a number of units.
• CyberGhost VPN: Finest for particular person customers who prioritize streaming, torrenting or gaming for his or her VPN use.

Surfshark vs. CyberGhost VPN: Comparability

Surfshark vs. CyberGhost VPN: Pricing

Surfshark pricing

Surfshark divides its VPN choices into three tiers: Starter, One and One+. All three tiers have subscriptions for a one-month, one-year and two-year plan.

SEE: Surfshark vs. NordVPN: Which VPN Is Higher in 2024? (TechRepublic)

Starter is greatest for customers trying to have fundamental VPN performance, with an included advert blocker and masked electronic mail generator. For a number of further options, you possibly can go for One,which provides on an antivirus, webcam safety and Surfshark’s real-time electronic mail breach alerts system.

Surfshark One+,its highest-tier plan, comes with all Surfshark One options whereas additionally together with knowledge elimination from each firm databases and folks search websites.

SEE: Easy methods to Use Surfshark VPN (A Step-by-Step Information) (TechRepublic)

Personally, I really feel like Surfshark may have been the right funds possibility if it additionally supplied a free model together with its paid plans. Nevertheless, it does have a free trial by way of cell and a 30-day money-back assure for all subscriptions, letting customers request for a refund in the event that they discover the VPN isn’t a match.

CyberGhost VPN pricing

In comparison with Surfshark, CyberGhost VPN has a extra simple pricing scheme categorized by contract size. Specifically, clients can go for both a one-month, six-month or two-year contract with CyberGhost. On paper, CyberGhost and Surfshark each supply very reasonably priced subscription plans, and also you’ll discover good worth in each.

I do favor having a one-year contract possibility as a substitute of CyberGhost’s six-month plan, simply to get the month-to-month worth decrease with out committing to that longer-term two-year plan. Nevertheless, this can be a matter of non-public choice and doubtless gained’t have an effect on you adversely.

One clear benefit CyberGhost VPN has over Surfshark is its free trial. Whereas Surfshark provides a seven-day free trial of its cell app, CyberGhost VPN takes it a step additional by offering a 24-hour free trial of its desktop purposes. CyberGhost additionally gives a 14-day or 45-day money-back assure on its subscription, relying on the contract size you select.

For extra on Surfshark and CyberGhost VPN, take a look at our full Surfshark evaluation and full CyberGhost VPN evaluation.

Surfshark vs. CyberGhost VPN: Function comparability

Safety protocols and encryption

Winner: Tie

Surfshark and CyberGhost VPN each supply OpenVPN, WireGuard and IKEv2 VPN protocols. These protocols, for my part, present the very best mixture of safety and reliability (OpenVPN, IKEv2), in addition to velocity (WireGuard).

Each VPNs make the most of the business normal AES-256 encryption algorithm. This can be a nice signal, as AES-256 is well known as essentially the most safe encryption protocol in safety immediately.

VPN server community and areas

Winner: CyberGhost VPN

For server networks, CyberGhost VPN wins out with its bigger general server fleet. Specifically, CyberGhost VPN reportedly has 8,000-11,000 servers unfold throughout 100 international locations and 126 areas.

Whereas the server depend isn’t an express quantity from CyberGhost themselves, many stories corroborate the identical vary. Take into account, nonetheless, {that a} chunk of CyberGhost VPN servers are digital as a substitute of bodily servers.

Alternatively, Surfshark features a very respectable 3,200 servers — an precise quantity from Surfshark — from a diffusion of 100 international locations. Whereas CyberGhost’s fleet of servers is considerably bigger, most customers will discover Surfshark’s community to be fully serviceable for on a regular basis use.

One spotlight of CyberGhost is that it neatly categorizes servers which might be optimized for gaming, streaming or torrenting. I personally discover this characteristic extremely helpful because it helps reduce the seek for essentially the most acceptable server for a given state of affairs.

Each VPNs make the most of RAM-only servers as a substitute of laborious drive-based servers, making certain all person knowledge could be simply wiped and isn’t at risk of being stolen by way of unauthorized entry to a bodily knowledge middle.

Third-party audits and unbiased testing

Winner: Surfshark

By way of unbiased testing, I give Surfshark the benefit for its clear publishing of its audit outcomes. Surfshark’s most up-to-date safety audit was in 2023, whereby Deloitte verified that Surfshark’s “IT techniques and administration” had been all in accordance with its no-logs coverage.

Alternatively, CyberGhost VPN not too long ago shared that it underwent an audit report in 2024, additionally completed by Deloitte. Nevertheless, CyberGhost has opted to not share any excerpts or summaries of the Deloitte audit.

Based on CyberGhost, this was to make sure that “audit outcomes usually are not taken out of context or misunderstood” given the “in depth nature of the audit and the scope of Deloitte companies.” Nonetheless, the complete report could be accessed from an official CyberGhost VPN account.

Whereas I perceive the place CyberGhost is coming from, I discover extra worth in Surfshark nonetheless publicly publishing not less than a abstract of its audit findings. This reveals that, good or dangerous, they’re dedicated to being 100% clear with each finish customers and the general public.

Regardless of this, I commend each suppliers for having their respective VPN purchasers independently audited within the first place.

Efficiency and velocity

Winner: CyberGhost VPN

For VPN speeds, CyberGhost barely edges out Surfshark. In my expertise, each VPNs can present constantly quick and dependable speeds for many common workloads.

I used each VPNs for my every day work, resembling looking the web for analysis, utilizing Google Drive and Google Docs for writing and infrequently streaming 1080p YouTube movies. Each CyberGhost and Surfshark dealt with these duties with out a hitch, irrespective of the server I used.

By way of velocity assessments, that is the place CyberGhost VPN has a slight benefit. Throughout my testing, CyberGhost VPN recorded solely a 7.5% drop in velocity for downloads and a 48.2% drop for uploads.

Comparatively, Surfshark’s obtain velocity lower was truly smaller, at solely 3.3%. Nevertheless, its add velocity was 72% slower than with out the VPN linked.

In fact, many elements can have an effect on a VPN’s velocity check efficiency, resembling your ISP, your location and the server used. However on this situation, CyberGhost was in a position to present a much less excessive drop in velocity in comparison with Surfshark.

Standout security measures

Winner: Surfshark

If you happen to’re searching for further security measures along with your VPN, I like to recommend Surfshark. It comes with its Dynamic MultiHop performance, which helps you to set entry and exit VPN server pairs for added safety; an IP rotator that robotically modifications your IP handle after a time period; and different security measures.

If you happen to go for its mid-tier Surfshark One plan, you additionally get entry to built-in antivirus, webcam safety and real-time electronic mail breach alerts.

CyberGhost isn’t a pushover by any means, nonetheless, because it provides a Sensible Guidelines panel that lets customers automate completely different actions inside the VPN. For instance, you possibly can set CyberGhost to robotically hook up with a safe VPN server when it’s launched or robotically open an app as soon as CyberGhost is on.

CyberGhost additionally provides its NoSpy servers,which give extra safety as they’re totally owned and guarded by CyberGhost and are housed inside the firm’s Romanian headquarters.

For my part, nonetheless, Surfshark gives extra security measures and capabilities in comparison with CyberGhost VPN.

Ease of use

Winner: Tie

For ease of use and in-app expertise, it’s a tie. Each Surfshark and CyberGhost VPN include intuitive desktop purposes which might be nice to make use of and take a look at.

I recognize how Surfshark is ready to arrange all of its options in a neat and arranged method, particularly contemplating what number of further safety companies it carries on its app, like its antivirus and breach scanner.

Alternatively, CyberGhost VPN has a distinguished on/off button for its app that’s user-friendly and makes the app much less intimidating.

I additionally actually like its categorization of servers for streaming, gaming and torrenting. This UI alternative is one thing I do know many customers will recognize because it saves time and makes for a greater person expertise.

General, I believe most individuals could have zero hassle utilizing each Surfshark and CyberGhost VPN when it comes to usability, as each companies supply polished and well-designed purposes.

Simultaneous gadget connections

Winner: Surfshark

For gadget connections, Surfshark beats CyberGhost VPN by permitting limitless simultaneous gadget connections to CyberGhost’s most of seven units.

Personally, I discover this to be an enormous value-add to Surfshark as this implies you possibly can defend a number of units with only one subscription, and also you gained’t want to fret about paying for an additional plan if you should add extra.

Whereas CyberGhost VPN’s seven-maximum simultaneous connections is an honest quantity, Surfshark’s limitless gadget restrict could be vital for small companies or groups that need to take advantage of out of a single VPN subscription.

Surfshark professionals and cons

Execs

• Limitless simultaneous gadget connections.
• Packs a wide range of security measures.
• Publicly obtainable safety audit outcomes.

Cons

• Free trial is cell solely.
• No free model.

CyberGhost VPN professionals and cons

Execs

• Accessible 24-hour desktop free trial.
• Quick VPN velocity and dependable connection.
• Large server community.

Cons

• Connects as much as seven units solely.
• Audit requires further steps to entry.

Ought to your group use Surfshark or CyberGhost VPN?

If I had been to select a single winner for this comparability, my alternative can be Surfshark. It provides quick speeds, a large-enough 100-country server community, a collection of security measures and limitless simultaneous gadget connections.

For me personally, the limitless gadget connections are a deciding issue. This makes their subscriptions much more of a bang-for-buck deal because you gained’t need to pay for an extra plan to guard extra units.

With this, I discover Surfshark to be greatest for small groups or companies that desire a high-quality and value-laden VPN at affordable costs.

That’s to not say that CyberGhost VPN isn’t service — it’s. It has an intensive server community, provides the identical quick — if not higher — speeds and conveniently categorizes optimized VPN servers for streaming, torrenting and gaming.

I think about CyberGhost VPN to be greatest for particular person customers who particularly want a VPN for these actions and don’t essentially want a ton of units to be linked to a VPN service.

Methodology

My comparability of Surfshark and CyberGhost VPN concerned hands-on time with each VPNs and an in depth analysis of every service’s options, value and real-world efficiency.

To evaluate every product, each VPNs had been scored on all the pieces from their pricing to their server networks. Specifically, we took into consideration 5 essential pillars with their corresponding weights:

• Pricing (20%).
• Core VPN options (30%).
• Ease of use (15%).
• Buyer help (30%).
• Skilled evaluation (5%).

I additionally took into consideration real-world person testimonials and respected opinions to complement my evaluation of each merchandise. For velocity and efficiency, I examined each VPNs on my private Home windows pc and ran them by Ookla’s public Speedtest. Lastly, I additionally accounted for a way every VPN may greatest cater to varied sorts of customers, use instances and firms.