With its support for unlimited devices, high-speed VPN, rotating IP, masked email generator, personal details generator, ads, and cookie pop-up blocker, Surfshark Starter has a Slight Edge over NordVPN Basic.
Surfshark Starter is also more affordable. Its 2-year plan costs $2.19 monthly, while the 2-year plan of NordVPN Basic costs $3.39 monthly.
The only advantage NordVPN Basic has over it is that it offers a global free eSIM data.
I have used Surfshark and NordVPN, and I started with their Starter and Basic plans before upgrading to higher plans, such as Surfshark One, Surfshark One Plus, NordVPN Plus, and NordVPN Complete.
So in this Surfshark Starter vs NordVPN Basic, I shared my findings and experience using them to help you decide which of the plans is better for you.
Surfshark Starter vs NordVPN Basic at a Glance
| Surfshark Starter | NordVPN Basic | |
| Number of devices they protect | Unlimited device protection | Protects a maximum of 10 devices |
| Rotating IP | Yes | No |
| Masked email generator | Yes | No |
| Fast and secure VPN | Yes | Yes |
| Ad blocker and cookie pop-up blocker | Yes | Yes |
| Streaming on Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime, Hulu | Yes | Yes |
| Number of servers | 4200 servers in 100+ locations | 3200 servers in 100 locations |
| Customer support | Yes, via email and live chat | Yes, via email and live chat |
| Price | Costs $2.19 monthly per 2-year plan | Costs $3.39 monthly for a 2-year plan |
Try Surfshark Starter and get up to 87% discount
Try NordVPN Basic and get up to a 70% discount
What are the differences between Surfshark Starter and NordVPN Basic?
While protecting my devices and digital assets on each of the plans, I noticed a few differences, which I shared below.
Number of devices they protect
Surfshark Starter protects unlimited devices. This is why many families prefer it. You have all your devices connected and still enjoy faster VPN when streaming, torrenting, browsing, and gaming. NordVPN Basic protects a maximum of 10 devices at once. This makes it unsuitable for families or individuals with more than 10 devices to protect.
Rotating IP
Rotating IP makes it harder for scammers, hackers, or even malicious advertisers to track your activities online. Your IP will always change whenever you connect your device to a VPN to browse, stream, download, or torrent. With this, it becomes harder for phishing eyes to keep tabs on your movement online. Surfshark Starter offers this feature, while NordVPN Basic doesn’t.
Number of Servers In Locations
NordVPN Basic has over 4200 servers in 150 countries, while Surfshark Starter has 3200 servers in about 100 countries. So, if you want more VPN servers in various locations, NordVPN Basic is better.
Masked Email Generator
On Surfshark Starter, you have a masked email generator that creates an alternative or temporary email address, which you can use to fill out online forms or access content online. All emails from the alternative emails are forwarded to your real email address. The goal is to protect your main email addresses from spam, phishing, and data breach. NordVPN Basic unfortunately doesn’t have this feature.
Ad and cookie pop Blocker
On Surfshark Starter, you can browse the web without seeing annoying and unsolicited ads. Also, the cookie pop-ups on websites meant to collect your data and serve you personalized ads are blocked. This creates a great user experience, allowing you to consume content on websites without ads distracting you. NordVPN Basic doesn’t have this feature.
Personal Details Generator
Personal Details Generator creates temporary personal details like name, phone number, email address, and home address, which you can use for registration when trying to access gated content or services online. The aim is to save you from entering your original personal details, which isn’t safe, as many of the websites and online services you access are created by scammers and hackers just to steal your personal information.
Surfshark Starter vs NordVPN Basic: Differences in Prices Explained
Surfshark Starter costs $15.45 monthly, $3.19 monthly for a 12-month subscription, and $2.19 monthly for a 24-month subscription.
NordVPN Basic costs $12.99 monthly, $4.99 monthly for a 1-year plan, and $3.39 monthly for a 2-year plan.
Looking at them, you can see that Surfshark Starter 1-month subscription is a bit expensive compared to NordVPN Basic 1-month subscription. Then, talking about the 12 and 24-month subscription, you can see that Surfshark Starter is cheaper compared to NordVPN Basic.
And the interesting thing here is that both offer massive discounts.
For example, Surfshark Starter offers 79% and 87% discount for 12-month and 24-month subscription respectively, while NordVPN Basic offers 56% and 70% discount for 1-year and 2-year subscription,s respectively.
Both offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. Within 30 days of subscribing to any of them, you can ask for a refund if you didn’t find them valuable. Reach out to their sales team, and they will happily refund your money. No questions asked.
Similarities Between Surfshark Starter and NordVPN Basic
There are a lot of similarities between Surfshark Starter and NordVPN Basic. I shared with them what you said below.
Device Compatibility
Surfshark Starter and NordVPN Basic are compatible with multiple devices. They work seamlessly on Android, macOS, Windows, iOS, Chrome, Linux, Edge, Apple TV, and Fire TV.
For example, I installed Surfshark on my Windows 10 HP computer, and it works perfectly. I also tried NordVPN on my Samsung Galaxy phone and even connected my cousin’s iPhone 15, and it worked seamlessly.
Fast and Secure VPN
While on Surfshark Starter and NordVPN Basic, I enjoyed fast streaming on Netflix. I also streamed games online without buffering or lagging, plus none of my sensitive details were hacked or stolen as a result of browsing web pages and accessing content online.
Kill Switch
Both have kill switch features that automatically shutdown your internet connection once your VPN connection drops.
This is to protect your device and personal details from being exposed to phishing eyes especially when using public WiFi.
Money-back Guarantee
Surfshark Starter and NordVPN Basic offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. After subscribing to their services and within 30 days, you think it isn’t worth it, you are entitled to a refund. You get your full payment back within a few days of contacting the sales team.
Massive Discounts
Surfshark Starter offers a discount of up to 87% for a 2-year plan subscription. NordVPN Basic offers a discount of up to 70% for a 2-year plan subscription. Keep in mind that these discounts apply only to the first year or a 2-year subscription. You will renew your subscription at the regular rate, which is usually higher.
Customer Support
On Surfshark Starter, a customer support agent is happy to assist you in resolving all issues you face. You can contact them via email and live chat. Same is true of NordVPN Basic. I once had issues connecting an Android device to my NordVPN Basic subscription. I contacted a customer support agent via email, and within 3 hours, they guided me to resolve the issue.
Surfshark Starter Review
This is the basic and lowest plan Surfshark, as a VPN service offers. It’s suitable for individuals and families who want only VPN and Alternative ID features. It was the plan I first subscribed to when I tried Surfshark VPN before I upgraded to the Surfshark One and later Surfshark One Plus, which are advanced plans.
It costs $15.45 per month, $3.19 per month for a 12-month plan, and $2.19 per month for a 24-month plan. And offers up to 87% discount, and there is also a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Key Features of Surfshark Starter
Has a fast and secure VPN. Browse the web, stream content, torrent, download, and share files anonymously.
Enjoy super-fast streaming on Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. Surfshark unblocks all those streaming services, allowing you access to Netflix content with your account irrespective of your location.
Supports unlimited devices. You can connect as many devices as you want to your Surfshark Starter account. This is why I often call it “ Family VPN”. I once connected 15 devices at once to my Surfshark VPN just to test if that would impact performance.
To my greatest surprise, it didn’t. My friends and I were still able to browse, stream, and download files at a higher speed without lagging or buffering.
Has an ad blocker and cookie pop-up blocker that blocks you from seeing annoying ads, and third-party advertisers from stealing your personal details, which they use to serve you targeted ads.
Rotating IP that ensures hackers and scammers can’t track your activities online. Anytime you login to your VPN and connect your device, a new IP is assigned to you. This makes it harder to track your digital footprints.
Dynamic multihop that allows you to customize your VPN connection by routing traffic through two different servers. This creates a double VPN or multihop configuration. I see this as an extra layer of security and privacy, which encrypts your data twice, thereby making it hard to crack.
Bypasser that allows you to decide which of your apps are connected to a VPN. This ensures that you still use services that flag VPN traffic. Bypasser is Surfshark’s version of split tunneling, like what you have on NordVPN, ProtonVPN, and ExpressVPN.
Masked email generator that offers you a temporary email address, which you use to fill online forms and access online services. This forwards all communication to your original email while protecting it from data breach, spa,m and phishing eyes.
Pros of Surfshark Starter
- Offers a 30-day money-back guarantee
- You enjoy discount of up to 87%
- Supports connection of unlimited devices
- Fast and responsive customer support
- User interface is beginner-friendly
Cons of Surfshark Starter
- Lacks advanced antivirus, incogni, alert, and search features
- You pay more when you want to renew your subscription
NordVPN Basic Review
This is the lowest plan NordVPN offers. It’s suitable for individuals and families and offers advanced VPN features and free eSIM data, which you can use globally.
In 2023, when I tested many VPN services, including NordVPN, I started with NordVPN Basic before I upgraded to NordVPN Plus and later NordVPN Complete plans.
It costs $12.99 monthly, $4.99 monthly for a 1-year plan, and $3.39 monthly for a 2-year plan. You enjoy up to a 70% discount, and there is a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Read this article where I compared NordVPN subscription plans.
Key Features of NordVPN Basic
Secure and high-speed VPN for browsing, torrenting, streaming, downloading, and gaming.
Kill Switch feature that shuts down your internet, to protect your personal data whenever your VPN connection drops
Threat protection that filters your online traffic through NordVPN’s DNS servers. The aim is to block ads and malicious domains.
Secures up to 10 devices simultaneously. This is good for individuals or families that have a lot of devices to protect in their household.
Compatibility with multiple operating systems. Be it Android, Windows, macOS, iOS, NordVPN supports devices that run on these operating systems.
Fast and seamless streaming on platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, etc.
Pros of NordVPN Basic
- Offers a 30-day money-back guarantee
- You enjoy a discount of up to 70%
- User interface is beginner-friendly
- Customer support is fast and responsive
Cons of NordVPN Basic
- Doesn’t support unlimited devices like Surfshark Starter
- You renew your subscription at a regular rate. This means you will pay higher since the discount you enjoyed in the first year won’t apply again.
Surfshark Starter vs NordVPN Basic: Are There Higher Plans They Offer?
Surfshark Starter is the least expensive plan Surfshark VPN offers. There are Surfshark One and Surfshark One Plus.
These higher plans are more expensive than Surfshark Starter and offer advanced features like Antivirus, where you have webcam protection, real-time protection, and scheduled scans, and Alert, where you have personal data leak alert, credit card leaks alert, ID leaks alert, and personal data security report. There are also features like Incogni and Search. All these advanced features are missing on the Surfshark Starter.
Also, NordVPN Basic is the least expensive plan NordVPN offers. There are NordVPN Plus and NordVPN Complete. They have advanced security features that are missing on NordVPN Basic.
For example, Cross-platform password manager, data breach scanner, anti-malware protection, advanced browsing protection, and secured cloud storage are some of the advanced features NordVPN Plus and NordVPN Complete have, which are missing on NordVPN Basic.
Surfshark Starter vs NordVPN Basic: What do Reddit Users Say?
I jumped on Reddit to get a feel of what other users say about Surfshark Starter and NordVPN Basic. From over 10 comments I read, it appears many users prefer Surfshark Starter because it supports unlimited devices. A few that subscribed to NordVPN Basic say they prefer it because of the threat protection features.
A web developer who uses NordVPN Basic says he likes the threat protection feature, even though he wishes it could protect more than 10 devices.
A mother who works remotely likes Surfshark Starter just because it protects unlimited devices simultaneously. According to her, there are over 10 devices in her home, and they are all connected and protected on Surfshark.
Should I use Surfshark or NordVPN?
Both are good VPNs, and making a choice depends on what you want. For example, if you have plenty of devices, Surfshark will be a good option because it protects unlimited devices, while NordVPN protects a maximum of 10 devices at a go.
In terms of streaming, both have a super-fast speed. I didn’t experience lagging or buffering while using streaming content on them. Both have advanced threat protection features. But when it comes to servers, NordVPN has more. It has over 4200 servers in 100+ locations, while Surfshark has 3200 in 100 locations.
Is Surfshark Starter a good option?
Yes, it is a good option. You enjoy unlimited device connection, fast and secure VPN and multiple servers in different locations, and advanced threat protection features.
What do you get on Surfshark Starter?
You get unlimited device protection, alternative email and personal ID, fast and secure streaming on platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer, plus you enjoy a massive discount of up to 87% when you subscribe to the 12 or 24-month plan.
Is NordVPN Basic a good option?
NordVPN Basic is a good option. It’s a fast and secure VPN you can rely on for streaming and torrenting. Although it protects a maximum of 10 devices, it has advanced threat protection features, including a DNS server that filters your traffic to block malicious ads and domains.
Is Surfshark good for streaming?
Yes, I use it to stream content on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and BBC iPlayer seamlessly. I rarely experience buffering and lagging.
Final thoughts on Surfshark Starter vs NordVPN Basic
Both Surfshark Starter and NordVPN Basic are trusted and reliable VPN plans. I have tested them and trust me, you can’t go wrong with any of them.
Here is my recommendation: Go for Surfshark Starter if you want unlimited device protection, an alternative ID that protects your personal details, fast and secure VPN, and seamless streaming.
NordVPN is your best bet if you want advanced threat protection features, eSim data, secure and fast VPN, plus seamless streaming.
