Total VPN vs Surfshark: Which VPN is best in 2026?

The best VPNs all have a few things in common. You’ll find servers in countries worldwide, enjoy fast and unthrottled connections, and secure your data with a high level of encryption. Yet their server locations, speeds, and extra security features can all vary, as can the usability of their apps and quality of customer support.

We put Total VPN and Surfshark side-by-side and stack up everything from the performance to their protection. In this VPN comparison, we break down areas of interest into easy-to-digest sections so you can read the whole thing or simply dip in for what you need to know. We’ll then choose a winner to help make your decision more straightforward.

Total VPN vs Surfshark highlights

Total VPN vs Surfshark pricing

One big difference between Total VPN and Surfshark is that the latter offers much more choice in subscription plans. Not only can you choose between one-month, one-year, and two-year plans, but you also have the option of three different tiers: Surfshark Starter, Surfshark One, and Surfshark One+.

With Total VPN, you only have the option of Ultimate VPN for one year. Although that keeps things simple, it’s nice to have at least some flexibility. One-month subscriptions tend to be more expensive per month, but don’t require you to pay as much money upfront, and you’ll have the added flexibility to cancel at short notice. In contrast, one and two-year plans tend to have bigger discounts, so you can save more long-term. Having multiple tiers means you only need to pay for the features you need.

Surfshark’s one-month plans are on the expensive side at $15.45/month (Surfshark Starter), $17.95 (Surfshark One), and $20.85 (Surfshark One+). You’ll start to see discounts with the one-year plans, with plans priced at $3.19 (Starter), $3.39 (One), and $6.09 (One+). All of these plans include three extra months free. You’ll need to pay the full price for 15 months upfront, which works out at $47.85 (Starter), $50.85 (One), or $91.35 (One+).

One year of Total VPN’s Ultimate plan typically costs $99. That’s more than any of Surfshark’s one year subscriptions and, as such, is arguably too expensive for what’s on offer. However, the current promotion brings the cost down to just $29 (the equivalent of $2.41/month) which is excellent value for money in comparison – and far cheaper than Surfshark.

Surfshark’s two year subscriptions cost as little as $1.99, $2.49, or $3.99 a month, requiring you to pay $53.73, $67.23, or $107.73 upfront, bringing prices much more in line with TotalVPN. Again, you get three extra months with all Surfshark two year plans.

Both Total VPN and Surfshark offer 30-day money-back guarantees, providing you with a risk-free way to test them out. You can take advantage of free trials in the Google Play Store. Only Surfshark has a free trial for iOS, available via the Apple App Store. Just remember to cancel before the free trial period ends if you want to avoid being charged.

Surfshark’s one and two year subscriptions also make reference to a 7-day free trial, regardless of platform. You’ll have to submit a payment method beforehand but, if you cancel before the free trial is up, then you won’t pay a penny.

Best Deal for Total VPN:Get 70% off a Total VPN one year subscription and pay just $29 – just $2.41 a month.

Best Deal for Surfshark:Pay just $2.49 a month and get three extra months with the Surfshark One two year plan.

Surfshark and Total VPN features

Surfshark is one of the more feature-packed VPNs on the market, offering far more features than Total VPN. One particular advantage of Surfshark is its unlimited simultaneous connection allowance, compared to Total VPN’s five-connection limit.

A feature shared by both VPNs is split tunneling, which lets you choose which traffic can bypass the VPN connection. Total VPN offers split tunneling on Windows, Android, and iOS, whereas Surfshark’s split tunneling, referred to as Bypasser, is on all of these platforms as well as on Mac.

The two VPNs also include ad blockers, both of which make our list of the best ad blockers. Total VPN’s Total Adblock and Surfshark’s CleanWeb are capable of blocking both ads and trackers. The security of both VPNs is further bolstered with the presence of an antivirus. Total VPN comes with TotalAV, the best antivirus we’ve reviewed, while Surfshark One and One+ plans include Surfshark Antivirus which also makes our list of the best antivirus programs.

That’s about the extent of Total VPN’s feature offering however, whereas Surfshark also has MultiHop servers that routes your internet traffic through two servers instead of one, providing an extra layer of security for your data. Surfshark also has a data breach scanner, an ad-free search engine and, included with Surfshark One+ plans, access to Surfshark’s data removal service, Incogni.

What’s particularly impressive about Surfshark’s feature lineup is that all plans include Alternative ID. This privacy tool generates a new online identity including a fake name and separate email address so you can sign up for websites and services without revealing your real personal information.

Neither VPN offers port forwarding, a feature often sought by torrenters for its capacity to improve download speeds. If you do want a VPN with port forwarding, you may want to take a look at Proton VPN or Private Internet Access.

Neither VPN comes bundled with a password manager. Although the company behind Total VPN does offer a password manager (Total Password) and cloud storage (Total Drive), these products are sold separately. ExpressVPN and NordVPN are two of the best VPNs with password managers.

Apps and ease of use

As with most VPNs, you’ll be able to expect apps for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. Although Total VPN also offers an app for tvOS for use with Apple TV, that’s the extent of its app offering.

Surfshark offers a little more flexibility. On top of having all these apps, it also makes apps for Linux (GUI) and Amazon Fire TV, as well as browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. Having the GUI app for Linux makes Surfshark a lot more convenient to use on the operating system. Likewise, the browser extensions are a lightweight way to secure browser traffic when you don’t need to secure the traffic of any apps.

Another notable difference is that Total VPN doesn’t offer router support. That’s a shame because using a router to secure devices saves you from having to install apps on each. It also means you can secure devices that don’t support VPN apps natively. It would also be a way to get around Total VPN’s restrictive simultaneous connection allowance of just five devices.

Surfshark can be manually installed on a VPN-compatible router, but if that sounds a bit too complicated, then there’s the option of purchasing a router pre-configured with Surfshark’s software. This lets you secure all sorts of devices including game consoles like PS5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch.

Either way, Total VPN and Surfshark are very easy to install with an automatic setup wizard taking you through the necessary steps within the space of a minute or two. Of the two VPNs’ desktop apps, Total VPN is the more beginner-friendly. Its simple, uncluttered interface makes it easier to navigate.

On the right of Total VPN’s desktop home view is a big quick-connect button and on the left a list of servers with the option to scroll through or use a search bar. It’s nice to have the option to favorite specific server locations too, with these automatically placed at the top of the list for faster future access. A “Fastest Connection” button is handy when you just want to be automatically assigned to the fastest available server based on your physical location.

A vertical left-hand menu takes you to extra features (such as Total AV and Total Adblock), information related to your account, as well as the settings page. There’s really not much in the way of settings, save for being able to switch VPN protocols. Total VPN provides a short explanation of each protocol, highlighting its benefits and use cases which is handy, particularly for first-time VPN users.

Surfshark’s desktop app is a lot busier, albeit without being too overwhelming. On the right is the connection window with a quick-connect button and information about your connection including your currently selected protocol, connection time, and IP address. On the left side of the home view is the server list. As with Total VPN, there’s a search bar and you can save your preferred locations which then show up near the top under a “Favorites” list.

Like Total VPN, Surfshark has a fastest location button, but also has one for the next nearest country. Once you’ve connected to a few servers, a “Recently used” section will appear but you can clear it if you don’t want them showing. Finally, there’s the option to filter servers by Static IP, MultiHop, and Dedicated IP.

Hovering the cursor over the left-hand menu expands it, bringing up feature options like Antivirus and Alternative ID, as well as the settings. Surfshark’s level of customization is on another level to that of Total VPN. That’s in big part due to offering far more features, the majority of which can be toggled on and off as desired.

Surfshark Antivirus has its own section within settings, allowing you to toggle real-time protection, schedule scans, and create exclusion lists. Another advantage of the Surfshark app is a “Get help” section, providing a convenient way to access the many setup and troubleshooting guides.

As for the mobile apps, it’s a similar story with Total VPN’s offering a more simple user interface but Surfshark providing for more settings to play around with. The big quick-connect button dominates Total VPN’s interface. Below this are buttons for connecting to the fastest location or bringing up the full list of servers. The footer menu takes you to the extra features and to the very light settings page which includes protocol options and split tunneling.

Again, Surfshark’s mobile app has more squeezed into the home view, including a quick-connect button that hovers over the bottom of the screen. Some people won’t mind that but I found it slightly annoying as it blocks the lower part of the screen when browsing server locations. The footer menu makes accessing Alternative ID and Surfshark One features such as Alert and Search straightforward.

Surfshark’s settings page is well laid out and most settings can be toggled. The features are well explained, making it easy to understand what you’re activating or turning off. Overall, the apps of Total VPN and Surfshark are user-friendly. Total VPN is perhaps slightly better suited to beginners for its simplicity. Yet Surfshark’s higher level of customization better caters to the average user.

Total VPN vs Surfshark performance

If you plan on using your VPN for more than just basic browsing, it helps to have one that doesn’t slow your connection too much. Surfshark has long ranked among the fastest VPNs we’ve tested, making it one of the best VPNs for streaming. Indeed, high-speed connections and unlimited bandwidth can help make VPNs suitable for other data-heavy activities such as online gaming and torrenting.

To understand the kind of speeds Total VPN and Surfshark are offering, I ran speed tests while connected to their servers. This was done at three different times of day: morning, afternoon, and evening. That way, I experienced their servers during peak usage times as well as during periods of less activity. Each VPN was tested in three server locations: Barcelona, New York, and Tokyo, to create a more accurate and comprehensive picture of network speeds.

All tests were run on a 1 Gbps wifi connection. I ran the same tests via both VPNs desktop (MacOS) and mobile (iOS) apps to see how performance varied, if at all. Before each test, I measured my base internet connection. Generally, the faster this is, the faster the speeds can be expected from the VPN.

Surfshark proved to be the much faster VPN of the two, averaging 383 Mbps – just 15% slower than my base connection of 447 Mbps. In contrast, Total VPN averaged 169 Mbps, a 90% drop in speeds.

As expected, the fastest speeds from both VPNs came from the nearest servers to me in Barcelona, Spain. Surfshark averaged 405 Mbps whereas Total VPN averaged 323 Mbps, 22.5% slower. The gap between the two VPNs’ speeds was even greater when connecting to their New York, US servers where Surfshark averaged 403 Mbps and Total VPN 144 Mbps.

It was via their Tokyo, Japan servers that I recorded the biggest gulf in speed with Surfshark managing a hugely impressive 342 Mbps. Total VPN managed just 39 Mbps in comparison. Fortunately for me, my base connection speed was fast enough that even with some not insignificant reductions in speed, particularly with Total VPN, I still usually had speeds that were fast enough for streaming.

If you do have a slower base connection, you may want to stick with Surfshark to ensure minimal slowdown. Between Surfshark speeds of 383 Mbps and Total VPN speeds of 169 Mbps, these are two VPNs that are more than capable of streaming 4K content. If you need to stream content from back home while traveling, you’re more likely to encounter issues with Total VPN, particularly if the servers are far away.

Server locations

Total VPN doesn’t disclose just how many servers are in its network but what we do know is that its servers cover 84 countries and 116 locations, both of which are respectable numbers. It’s still less than Surfshark however which has 4,500 servers in 100 countries and 135 locations.

Both VPNs have servers in the most commonly sought-after locations such as the US, Canada, and the UK. In fact, Total VPN and Surfshark have servers in multiple cities in these countries. Notably, both VPNs have servers in two dozen US cities. If you’re in the US and want a faster server close to your location, then you’ll have a good chance of finding one. Likewise, if you’re traveling abroad and want to access US streaming services like Hulu, you’ll be well placed to do so.

If you regularly travel to different countries or live in a region in which many VPNs don’t offer servers, Surfshark’s more expansive server network is your best bet of the two. Unlike Total VPN, it has servers in countries such as Bolivia, Greenland, and Nigeria. If you want a server in a region such as Africa, Asia, South America, or the Middle East, Surfshark has more options for you to choose from.

Having said that, Total VPN is the only one of the two VPNs to have servers in Belarus, China, and Russia. While this is great for users in these regions who want a faster connection, and for users who simply want to access region-locked content in these countries, many major VPNs like Surfshark avoid these countries due to legal requirements forcing compliance with data monitoring.

Of course, Total VPN’s servers in these countries could well be virtual servers, but it doesn’t specify which, if any, of its servers are virtual and which are physical. Surfshark is better in this respect, clearly tagging its virtual servers within the server list of its app.

Country list

Streaming and torrenting

These are two of the best VPNs for streaming, making our shortlist of the best VPNs for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, and more. Their speeds are such that you’ll be able to stream content in 1080p HD and even 4K resolution without having to contend with lag or buffering.

Still, speed isn’t always enough with many VPNs struggling to access popular streaming services such as Netflix. Neither VPN had trouble in this respect, easily accessing all of the streaming platforms we tested them with. They were able to do this at the first time of asking in most cases and, when an IP address didn’t work, switching servers to change our IP address and clearing our browser’s cache and cookies usually did the trick.

The only real trouble we had was with DAZN, a notoriously difficult-to-unblock sports streaming service. Surfshark had success with multiple libraries including Canada, Germany, Japan, and Spain but Total VPN didn’t work with any of those tested.

Total VPN and Surfshark rank among the best VPNs for torrenting, and for good reason. Both proved highly consistent with speeds hardly fluctuating. Furthermore, they allow torrenting on all of their servers and speeds allow for fast downloading of large files.

Split tunneling lets you secure P2P traffic while routing other traffic outside the VPN tunnel when you want the fastest possible speeds. However, the lack of port forwarding is a shame,as this improves seeding and performance. Yet Total VPN and Surfshark each offer the essential security features to keep you safe including a kill switch.

Total VPN vs Surfshark security and privacy

With Total VPN and Surfshark, you have some choice as to which VPN protocol you connect to. Both offer WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2, which are among the most popular protocols available and commonly used amongst the best VPN services.

WireGuard is your best bet if you’re looking for the fastest possible speeds thanks to its lightweight codebase. OpenVPN has strong, proven security and wide compatibility across devices and platforms. IKEv2’s excellent stability and ability to quickly reconnect makes it particularly suitable for mobile devices that frequently change networks.

As such, which encryption protocol secures your internet traffic depends on the VPN protocol you use. WireGuard uses ChaCha20 for encryption whereas OpenVPN and IKEv2 most commonly use 256-bit AES encryption. Either way, your data is in safe hands because these protocols and the encryption they use are considered highly secure and effectively uncrackable.

Total VPN offers the Hydra protocol. This offers good speeds as well as the ability to obfuscate VPN traffic by disguising it as regular HTTPS traffic – useful if you’re trying to sidestep geographic restrictions or bypass online censorship. Again, this uses 256-bit AES encryption so your data receives the strongest security.

Total VPN’s obfuscation comes through its use of the Hydra protocol. As for Surfshark, it offers two obfuscation features in the form of Camouflage Mode and NoBorders mode. Like Hydra, Camouflage mode makes VPN traffic appear like a regular internet connection. All you need to do is use the OpenVPN protocol and connect to a Surfshark server. As for NoBorders mode, you can toggle this via Surfshark’s settings but it activates automatically whenever it detects network restrictions, helping you bypass them.

Whether you use a Total VPN or Surfshark Windows, Mac, Android, iOS app (or Linux in the case of Surfshark), you’ll benefit from a kill switch. In the event that the VPN connection drops, the kill switch steps in and cuts your internet traffic, ensuring your IP address and browsing activity isn’t leaked to local networks or your ISP.

You can also expect protection against DNS and IPv6 leaks with both VPNs. We verified this by running leak tests while connected to their servers. The results confirmed that neither our original IP address or location was revealed.

Strong encryption and leak protection is all well and good but equally important is that a VPN operates a no-logs policy. That way, you can be sure that information such as your IP address and browsing activity won’t be logged and therefore can’t be shared with authorities or otherwise sold to third parties.

For its part, Surfshark operates a strict no-logs policy that’s been independently audited on multiple occasions, including by Cure53 and Deloitte, most recently in June,2025. The fact that Surfshark is headquartered in the Netherlands is another plus because it’s a country that doesn’t require VPN providers to keep logs. There is some temporary logging of connection timestamps and user IDs but this is automatically deleted within 15 minutes of a session ending.

Total VPN does keep logs, some of which are identifying which is concerning if you’re looking for a VPN service that’s truly privacy-friendly. Total VPN’s privacy policy states that it automatically collects IP addresses, browsing activity, and connection logs. The fact that Total VPN operates out of the UK is another thing that may put off privacy enthusiasts. That’s because the UK is a Five Eyes member and may share data internationally.

Anonymous signup isn’t possible with either Total VPN or Surfshark. If you are looking for a VPN that allows this, Mullvad is probably your best bet because, unlike these VPNs, it doesn’t require you to provide an email address. It also accepts anonymous cash payments as well as Monero, a private cryptocurrency. Total VPN doesn’t accept any anonymous payment methods.

Although Surfshark accepts some cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple), these don’t protect your anonymity. Furthermore, payments are processed through CoinGate so it’s not possible to be fully anonymous.

Customer service

With a Total VPN or Surfshark subscription, you’ll have multiple customer support options. Indeed, you’ll have access to live chat and email support, as well as the option to search through their respective knowledge bases. Better still, their customer support is available 24/7, allowing you to get help any time you need it.

The trouble with the live chat support of Total VPN is that it’s not always easy to find and you may need to end up submitting a ticket instead. However, one area in which it does stand out over Surfshark is with phone support, which isn’t something many VPNs offer.

Generally, I found Surfshark’s customer support to be a little faster to reply to queries. However, both were certainly responsive enough on live chat and email. Of course, you’ll want to use live chat if you want the fastest possible replies. Email is more suited to less time-sensitive issues or more technical problems that require more extensive troubleshooting.

Both VPN providers have dedicated support/help sections on their websites. Surfshark’s is more comprehensive, providing more resources and deeper documentation than Total VPN. There’s a variety of content there for beginners and advanced users alike. Total VPN’s support documentation is a little bit more limited and generic and lacks more advanced guides.

In both cases, you’ll find setup step-by-step guides with annotated screenshots, making it easier to get set up or resolve a problem. Surfshark has its own YouTube channel with hundreds of videos including setup guides, feature-explainers, security and privacy advice, and service updates and announcements.

Which is better overall: Total VPN or Surfshark?

Total VPN is a great option for first-time VPN users looking for a VPN with beginner-friendly apps and that doesn’t overwhelm with an abundance of extras. It’s a streamlined all-rounder, capable of securing your connection, unblocking streaming platforms, and letting you stream and play games without having to contend with performance issues.

Yet it’s Surfshark that comes out ahead in this VPN comparison, largely thanks to its much larger server network, faster server speeds, and more generous feature offering, all despite being similarly easy to use.

Total VPN stands out for including TotalAV, the best antivirus we’ve tested. But Surfshark includes not only an antivirus, but its unique Alternative ID feature.

Both VPNs include 30-day money-back guarantees, so you can test them out risk-free before deciding.

VPN testing methodology

When the best VPNs all offer good speeds, strong security, and ease of use, it’s important for us to look at them more closely, running tests to separate them in key areas. For example, we’ll measure their server speeds, check for DNS and IP leaks, stress-test their kill switches, and even contact their customer support.

Our VPN testing methodology below explains how we went about testing Total VPN and Surfshark.

• Connection speed: We measured Total VPN and Surfshark server speeds over multiple locations and at different times of day. This helped generate a more reliable average. Still, it’s important to remember that VPN speeds vary according to factors like your base connection speeds and the distance between the VPN server and your location
• Server network: As part of our VPN testing, we compared the server networks of Total VPN and Surfshark. We want to see a healthy presence in sought-after countries such as the US and UK. There’s bonus points for VPNs offering servers in under-represented locations as this can aid with unblocking and finding fast local servers.
• Security features: There are some things that are deal breakers, particularly when it comes to security. The best VPNs all offer high-end encryption to keep data secure and a kill switch to help prevent data leakage. We stress-tested the kill switches of Surfshark and Total VPN to check no data was exposed, and ran DNS and IP leak tests.
• Privacy policy: A VPN provider claiming to be a no-logs VPN isn’t enough. We read the privacy policies of Total VPN and Surfshark so we understood what’s being logged and what isn’t. Beyond this, we check whether there have been any audits of these no-logs policies, how recent these were, and whether the audits corroborated the claims.
• Unblocking ability: VPNs are often used to access geo-restricted content. This is especially common with streaming services like Peacock and Stan. We connected to Total VPN and Surfshark servers and attempted to access a variety of streaming platforms, recording and comparing the unblocking results.

These are just some of the tests we run when we’re analyzing VPNs like Total VPN and Surfshark. If you’d like to know even more about this process, you might want to take a look at our VPN testing methodology which covers all of this in more detail.

Total VPN vs Surfshark FAQs

Other comparisons:

• Total VPN vs NordVPN
• Total VPN vs CyberGhost
• Surfshark vs Proton VPN