Advertising disclosure: This article has no affiliate links. As of 13 November 2026, Honest VPN Guide is not part of any affiliate program. Full details: Advertising and Affiliate Disclosure.
You are probably already down to two or three names. This page is for that moment: NordVPN, Surfshark, and Proton VPN side by side — by job, not by a fake eternal #1 badge.
We do not invent 9.9 scores. We do not write “I’ve used X for years” stories that never happened. Prices and policy cells below come from the vendors’ own pages, checked on 13 November 2026 (Europe/Amsterdam). Where a speed, leak or streaming cell says “No test data yet”, we have not run that test yet — and we will not fill it with a guess.
For who owns each company, what its logging policy actually says, and which audit it last published, see our live VPN jurisdiction, logging and audit comparison (cells on that page were first checked on 10 November 2026; the official source pages were opened again for this article on 13 November 2026). If you are still deciding whether you need a VPN at all, start with VPN vs no VPN on public Wi‑Fi.
Quick verdict by use case
These are starting points by use case — not final ranks. We will not name an overall winner without current comparative test data and a date.
| Job | Leans toward | Why | Still to confirm |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-round paid network + extras | NordVPN candidate | 10 devices on every plan and a clear Basic vs suite split (Complete / Prime) | Speeds, leaks, how the suite feels in daily use |
| Max devices / aggressive intro price | Surfshark candidate | Official pricing page states unlimited simultaneous connections; the 2-year intro on 13 November 2026 was sharply discounted | Year-2 dollar figure is not stated on the public pricing page; read the terms behind “unlimited” |
| Privacy / Proton account stack | Proton VPN candidate | Swiss operator, a real free tier, and open-source apps as stated by Proton | How the free-tier limits feel in daily use; streaming logs |
| Streaming catalog access | No pick yet | Needs dated pass/fail/flaky logs | No test data yet |
| A privacy reference with no affiliate program | None of these three alone — see the Mullvad note | Mullvad’s own policy page says it has no affiliates and does not pay for links | See the Mullvad note |
If two rows fit you and point to different vendors, that is normal. Pick the job first.
Spec & policy grid
Public product details only. Details that change often were checked against each vendor’s official pages on 13 November 2026.
| NordVPN | Surfshark | Proton VPN | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary angle | Basic is the VPN plan, while Complete and Prime add suite extras (per NordVPN’s pricing page, checked 13 November 2026) | Value and multi-device use; Starter is the VPN plan, One adds antivirus / Alert / scam protection, and One+ adds Incogni (per Surfshark’s plans explainer, dated 22 September 2026, and Surfshark’s pricing page, both checked 13 November 2026) | Privacy-first Proton account world, with a free tier |
| Apps / OS support | Apps or extensions for Windows, macOS, Linux, Chromebook, Android, iOS, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Android TV and Amazon Fire TV Stick, plus router setup (per NordVPN’s multiple-devices page, checked 13 November 2026) | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Android TV, Apple TV and Fire TV, plus Chrome, Firefox and Edge extensions and router / manual setup (per Surfshark’s pricing FAQ, checked 13 November 2026) | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS / iPadOS and Android TV are listed on Proton’s protocol help page (checked 13 November 2026) |
| Protocols marketed | NordLynx (built on WireGuard), NordWhisper, OpenVPN, and IKEv2/IPsec (manual setup) (per NordVPN’s download and WireGuard comparison pages, checked 13 November 2026) | OpenVPN, WireGuard (Windows, iOS, Android and macOS, with an in-app post-quantum layer), IKEv2, and Dausos (currently in the macOS App Store app) (per Surfshark’s protocol support article, updated 13 April 2026, checked 13 November 2026) | WireGuard, OpenVPN (Linux GUI app only), Stealth, IKEv2 (macOS only), and Smart Protocol (per Proton’s protocol help page, checked 13 November 2026) |
| Multi-hop | Double VPN, included in the NordVPN subscription, currently in the Android, macOS, iOS, Linux and Windows apps; NordVPN says it is not available on every protocol (try OpenVPN TCP or UDP if it is missing) (per NordVPN’s Double VPN page, checked 13 November 2026) | Dynamic MultiHop, with a choice of entry and exit locations (per Surfshark’s MultiHop and plans pages, checked 13 November 2026) | Secure Core is available on all paid Proton VPN plans, via entry servers in Iceland, Sweden or Switzerland (per Proton’s Secure Core help page, checked 13 November 2026) |
| Simultaneous connections | 10 devices at once on one account; NordVPN also says you can “protect unlimited devices” by installing it on your router (per NordVPN’s pricing table and multiple-devices page, checked 13 November 2026) | Unlimited simultaneous connections on a paid subscription; a free trial is limited to 3 devices until it ends (per Surfshark’s pricing FAQ, checked 13 November 2026) | Proton VPN Plus: 10 devices at a time. Proton Free: 1 device at a time (per Proton’s pricing page, checked 13 November 2026) |
| HQ / jurisdiction (ops entity) | nordvpn S.A., PH F&F TOWER, 50th Street & 56th Street, Suite #32-D, Floor 32, Panama City, Republic of Panama (per Nord’s General Privacy Policy, last updated 9 August 2026, checked 13 November 2026) | Surfshark B.V., Kabelweg 57, 1014BA Amsterdam, the Netherlands (KvK 81967985), stated on Surfshark’s pricing page footer. Surfshark’s blog post on merging with Nord Security, still published, says “Surfshark and Nord Security are remaining autonomous companies” (both checked 13 November 2026) | Proton AG, Route de la Galaise 32, 1228 Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva, Switzerland; Proton’s about page says the primary shareholder is the non-profit Proton Foundation (checked 13 November 2026) |
| Independent audits | Sixth no-logs assurance engagement: Deloitte Lithuania, ISAE 3000 (Revised), fieldwork 10 November to 12 December 2025, report issued 12 December 2025, covering standard, Double VPN, obfuscated and Onion Over VPN servers. The full report is for Nord Account users (per NordVPN’s audit blog, dated 3 February 2026, checked 13 November 2026) | No-logs: Deloitte, 2025 report, with the full document in the user account (per Surfshark’s Trust Center, checked 13 November 2026). Security: Cure53, 2026, infrastructure and the Dausos protocol (per the Trust Center, checked 13 November 2026) | Fifth consecutive annual no-logs / infrastructure audit by Securitum. The audit page was last updated 16 June 2026 (checked 13 November 2026). Securitum’s finding, as quoted by Proton, is that the examined server infrastructure did not indicate logs of browsing activity, DNS queries, destination services, traffic contents or user-identifiable connection metadata |
| Open-source posture | Partial: NordVPN says the Linux CLI has been open source for several years and that the Linux GUI is now open source too; core VPN infrastructure, authentication and back-end services remain proprietary (per NordVPN’s Linux open-source blog and Trust Center, checked 13 November 2026) | We did not find a current official claim that Surfshark’s main client apps are fully open source. The company documents the use of open protocols (OpenVPN, WireGuard, IKEv2) and an in-house protocol, Dausos (checked 13 November 2026) | Stronger: Proton’s free-vs-paid page states that all of its apps are open source and independently audited (checked 13 November 2026) |
| Money-back window | 30 days from the initial purchase, requested through customer support; auto-renewal can be cancelled in the Nord Account (per NordVPN’s pricing page terms, checked 13 November 2026) | 30-day money-back guarantee (per Surfshark’s pricing page, checked 13 November 2026) | 30-day money-back guarantee on paid plans (per Proton’s pricing and plans pages, checked 13 November 2026) |
| Our affiliate link? | None | None | None |
How to read this grid: marketing copy is a vendor claim. Audits are scoped documents with dates. Neither is a speedtest. The fuller jurisdiction, logging and audit paperwork lives on the jurisdiction and audit table.
Price: intro offer vs renewal (year 2+)
This is where most comparison pages cheat. They lead with the day-one discount and whisper the renewal.
Figures below are USD, as shown on each vendor’s official pricing page on 13 November 2026. Prices vary by currency, VAT and region — Surfshark’s own page, for example, showed a Czech koruna view depending on the connection. We are not converting currencies. We also do not treat a 27-month prepaid intro as the same unit as a 12-month plan.
| Vendor | Example plan name | Intro monthly-equivalent | Renewal / year-2 | Term length | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NordVPN | Basic (VPN plan; not Complete or Prime) | $2.99 / month, $80.73 billed for the first 27 months | Renews at $139.08 / year | 2-year term plus 3 extra months on the intro | 13 November 2026, NordVPN pricing |
| Surfshark | Starter (VPN plan; not One or One+) | $2.49 / month, $67.23 billed for the first 27 months (VAT may apply). The same page also priced One at the same $2.49 / $67.23 intro that day; One+ was $3.99 / month with 3 extra months | Not stated as a dollar figure on the public pricing page. The FAQ says a 2-year plan is billed once up front and then annually at “the applicable renewal price” | 2-year term plus 3 extra months on the intro | 13 November 2026, Surfshark pricing |
| Proton VPN | VPN Plus (paid). Free remains $0.00 / month | $2.99 / month, billed at $35.88 for the first 12 months | Renews at $83.88 every 12 months | 1 year | 13 November 2026, Proton VPN pricing |
NordVPN’s pricing page carried a Black Friday line on 13 November 2026 (“Black Friday: Get NordVPN with a next-gen antivirus”) next to these published prices. Surfshark’s pricing page labelled the 2-year offers that day as a Black Friday deal, including a “Hurry up! Grab our Black Friday deal here” banner. Proton’s pricing page did not use the words “Black Friday” on that check. It did show a separate special offer for VPN Plus at $1.00 for the first month, renewing at $9.99, which is not the annual Plus price in the table above.
Until those cells can be compared on like-for-like terms — including a public Surfshark renewal dollar figure — this page does not name a price winner.
Proton Free, checked on the same pricing page, is $0.00 / month, 1 device at a time, medium VPN speed, and servers in 10 countries randomly selected from a listed set (Netherlands, Japan, Romania, Poland, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore, Mexico, Canada and the United States, per Proton’s plans help page, checked 13 November 2026). Proton’s free VPN page also says the free plan has no data or time limits.
Speed & reliability
Speed without context is fan fiction. When we have logs, the method is: a baseline without a VPN, a nearby server and a distant server; the same protocol family where that is fair; median and spread; date, OS, client and connection noted, with times in Europe/Amsterdam. We will link a fuller method page once it is published; until then, the method lives here.
| Vendor | Nearby median down/up | Distant median | Protocol / region notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| NordVPN | No test data yet | No test data yet | — |
| Surfshark | No test data yet | No test data yet | — |
| Proton VPN | No test data yet | No test data yet | — |
Reliability notes (reconnect after sleep, network switch, kill-switch drop): no test data yet.
No speed winner on this page until the table is real.
Streaming pass/fail logs
Vendors often advertise streaming services by name. Blocks change without press releases.
Rules we will not break:
- Name the service and library region we actually opened.
- Result is pass, fail, or flaky — with a date.
- No “works everywhere.” No eternal claim recycled from 2024 screenshots.
- We describe product behavior; we do not coach illegal geo-circumvention.
| Date (Europe/Amsterdam) | Service / library | NordVPN | Surfshark | Proton VPN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No test data yet | — | — | — | — |
Privacy / audits / “no logs” — what the paperwork actually says
“No logs” is often three claims sold as one: traffic content, connection metadata, and account/payment trail. We read the policy, quote it with a date, and do not paraphrase it into a stronger claim than the document supports.
On 13 November 2026 we re-opened the official audit and policy pages behind our live jurisdiction, logging and audit table. In short:
- NordVPN’s product privacy notice (last updated 19 July 2026) says: “We do not store used bandwidth, traffic logs, IP addresses, or browsing information.” It also says last-session information is deleted within 15 minutes after a session ends, and that NordVPN processes information “on whether a user has used the NordVPN Service within the last 90 days.” The latest no-logs assurance is the Deloitte Lithuania engagement summarised above; the full report is behind a Nord Account login, so we are quoting NordVPN’s own description of it.
- Surfshark’s privacy policy says: “We don’t store any information that could lead us to see your online activities.” The Trust Center points to a 2025 Deloitte no-logs report (full document in the user account) and a 2026 Cure53 review of infrastructure and the Dausos protocol.
- Proton’s privacy policy says: “All Proton VPN servers are encrypted and we do not log VPN session data.” The latest no-logs write-up is the fifth consecutive annual Securitum infrastructure audit, with the page last updated 16 June 2026.
Jurisdiction is the operating entity, not a pin on a server map: Panama for nordvpn S.A., the Netherlands for Surfshark B.V., Switzerland for Proton AG, as cited in the grid.
Proton’s privacy story is tightly tied to the wider Proton account. For some readers that is a plus; for others it means putting more of their digital life with one company. Suite extras are not automatic proof of VPN logging posture. Proton’s Secure Core, available on all paid Proton VPN plans, sends traffic through an entry server in Iceland, Sweden or Switzerland before the exit server (per Proton’s Secure Core help page, checked 13 November 2026).
Features that matter vs marketing extras
Usually worth checking in apps we install:
- Kill-switch that fails closed
- Modern protocol options (WireGuard-class where offered)
- Split tunneling when you need one app outside the tunnel
- Stable desktop + mobile clients
- Clear cancel / refund path
Often louder than they are decisive:
- Countdown “limited time” widgets
- Unverified “military-grade” adjectives without protocol detail
- Kitchen-sink suite bundles that obscure what the VPN plan alone costs. On Surfshark, data removal by Incogni sits on the One+ plan, not on Starter or One (per Surfshark’s plans explainer dated 22 September 2026, checked 13 November 2026). On NordVPN, next-gen antivirus is listed on Complete and Prime, not on Basic (per NordVPN’s pricing page, checked 13 November 2026)
- Feature names that sound like spy novels — check what the vendor’s own docs actually promise
Extras can be useful. They should not hide renewal math.
Who should pick NordVPN / Surfshark / Proton (and who should pick neither)
NordVPN: who it suits
Choose NordVPN as a candidate if you want 10 devices on one account, official apps across desktop, mobile, browsers and TV, and are willing to separate the Basic VPN price from Complete / Prime suite upsells, then look hard at the $139.08 yearly renewal on Basic. There is no final call until we have leak, speed and streaming logs.
Surfshark: who it suits
Choose Surfshark as a candidate if unlimited devices are the job and you will read the terms behind that claim (the public FAQ states it, and limits a free trial to 3 devices). Confirm what the suite actually includes at the price you pay: Starter, One, or One+. The Black Friday intro on 13 November 2026 was aggressive; the year-2 dollar amount is not printed on the public pricing page, so we will not invent one.
Proton VPN: who it suits
Choose Proton VPN as a candidate if you already live in (or want) the Proton account world, or you want a real free tier — 1 device, 10 randomly selected countries — before paying. Paid VPN Plus renews at $83.88 a year after the $35.88 first-year bill, per the pricing page checked on 13 November 2026. Wait for our dated streaming logs before relying on it for a specific catalog.
Who should pick neither
- You needed a password manager more than a VPN.
- Your threat model is “hostile person with my unlocked phone” — fix device access first.
- You specifically want a provider that, by its own published policy, runs no affiliate program and does not pay for links, such as Mullvad (see the next section).
- You expected a VPN to legalize copyright infringement. We will not sell that.
Mullvad note (privacy reference; no affiliate)
Mullvad is not a fourth column in the money table on purpose. Official policy: no affiliates, no paid influencers, no paid links (Mullvad: reviews, advertising and affiliates, checked 13 November 2026).
We may still mention Mullvad when a privacy reference product clarifies the comparison. We will never invent a tracking link, partner code, or disguised referral.
If Mullvad wins a privacy or pricing-honesty category in later tests against these three, it wins. Commission or not.
Leak tests
Results for these three (same method as above: we will only fill a cell with a log we actually ran):
| Vendor | DNS | IPv6 | WebRTC | Kill-switch drop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NordVPN | No test data yet | No test data yet | No test data yet | No test data yet |
| Surfshark | No test data yet | No test data yet | No test data yet | No test data yet |
| Proton VPN | No test data yet | No test data yet | No test data yet | No test data yet |
FAQ
Is there a single winner among Nord, Surfshark, and Proton?
Not as a permanent trophy. There is a best fit per job on a dated slate. Until speed, streaming and like-for-like renewal cells are filled, treat the use-case table as editorial orientation, not a lab result.
Do you rank higher if a brand pays more commission?
No. This article has no affiliate links, and as of 13 November 2026 the site is not part of any affiliate program. If a program is approved later, commissions may help fund the site; they will not reorder rows. We do not use cookie-stuffing or forced-click links. Disclosure: Advertising and Affiliate Disclosure.
Why is Mullvad in a Nord vs Surfshark vs Proton article?
As a privacy reference and a reminder that non-affiliate products stay in the conversation. No Mullvad tracking link — ever.
Will you show renewal prices?
Yes, when the vendor publishes them. Intro-only comparisons are how readers get burned. On 13 November 2026 we had clear renewal figures for NordVPN Basic and Proton VPN Plus. Surfshark’s public FAQ only promises “the applicable renewal price.”
Can I trust streaming claims on vendor homepages?
As marketing, sure. As a test, only with a date and a named library we opened. Our table starts empty on purpose.
When was this tested?
No comparative speed, leak or streaming tests have been run yet. Feature and price rows are dated research notes from 13 November 2026, not lab results.
Who runs this site?
LiBrAi (eenmanszaak / Dutch sole proprietorship, KvK 42049145) operates Honest VPN Guide. Public legal details are on the Legal Notice.
Related reading
- VPN vs No VPN: What Actually Changes on Public Wi‑Fi
- VPN Jurisdiction, Logging and Audit Comparison
- Advertising and Affiliate Disclosure
- Privacy Policy
- Legal Notice
Last updated: 13 November 2026 (Europe/Amsterdam)
Test dates: speeds/leaks: no test data yet · streaming: no test data yet
Prices and spec grid checked: 13 November 2026 (Europe/Amsterdam)
Operator: LiBrAi (eenmanszaak / Dutch sole proprietorship, KvK 42049145) — public brand Honest VPN Guide.