Hey there! If you‘re looking into canceling your Surfshark VPN subscription, you‘ve come to the right place. As an IT security expert with over 15 years of experience in cloud data privacy, I‘ve helped many people figure out whether or not to stick with Surfshark or move to another provider. In this post, I‘ll walk you through everything you need to know about canceling your Surfshark account.
First up, let‘s take a quick look at Surfshark‘s background and why so many people choose them in the first place.
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An Overview of Surfshark VPN
Founded in 2018, Surfshark is one of the newer VPNs on the market. But they‘ve quickly gained popularity thanks to their affordable pricing and focus on robust security features.
Surfshark encrypts all of your internet traffic and hides your IP address so you can browse privately and access blocked content. Some key features include:
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AES-256 encryption – This top military-grade encryption secures your data.
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No-logging policy – Surfshark doesn‘t record or store your browsing history or personal info.
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Kill Switch – If the VPN connection drops, this feature blocks your internet access to prevent data leaks.
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Multihop connections – Your traffic is routed through multiple countries for enhanced privacy.
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Camouflage mode – This masks the fact you‘re using a VPN at all to bypass VPN blocking.
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Whitelister – Lets you whitelist specific apps and websites to bypass the VPN tunnel.
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CleanWeb – Automatically blocks malicious websites and ads for safer browsing.
Surfshark also allows unlimited device connections and has 3200+ servers spread across 65 countries.
According to DataReportal, 26% of internet users worldwide use a VPN regularly. The main reasons are accessing blocked content (51%), protecting personal information (49%), and hiding browsing activity from internet providers (42%).
For many people, Surfshark hits all the right notes by offering robust security at a competitive price point. They‘ve seen impressive growth, gaining 1 million users within 30 months of launch.
How Does Surfshark‘s Subscription Work?
Now that you know the basics about Surfshark, let‘s talk about how their pricing and subscriptions work.
Surfshark offers these core subscription options:
Monthly plan
- $12.95 per month
- Automatically renews every month
- Cancel anytime
For example, if you signed up on January 5th, you‘d be charged $12.95 immediately for your first month of service. Then on February 5th, you‘d be automatically charged another $12.95 for your next month. This repeats monthly until you cancel.
1-year plan
- $59.76 upfront for full year
- Equates to $4.99 per month
- Cancel anytime
If you pay $59.76 on January 5th, you‘d have access to Surfshark until January 4th the following year. Then it would renew annually on January 5th again for another $59.76.
2-year plan
- $95.88 upfront for 2 years
- Equates to $3.99 per month
- Cancel anytime
Paying $95.88 upfront on January 5th would get you Surfshark until January 4th two years later. It renews every 2 years on January 5th for $95.88 again.
The longer 1-year and 2-year plans come with bigger discounts but require full pre-payment. All plans auto-renew by default when their term is up.
There‘s also a 7-day free trial through their mobile apps. It starts charging automatically after 7 days though.
Now let‘s get into how to actually cancel your Surfshark subscription.
Step-by-Step Guide to Canceling Surfshark
The steps to cancel Surfshark depend on how and where you originally subscribed:
If you subscribed directly through Surfshark:
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Log into your Surfshark account and click on your profile picture > Account.
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Choose "Subscription" from the left sidebar menu.
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Click the "Cancel Subscription" button.
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Confirm you want to cancel on the pop-up.
If you subscribed on desktop:
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Open the Google Play Store or App Store on your computer.
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Find the Surfshark subscription in your account.
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Choose to cancel the auto-renew or subscription.
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Follow the on-screen instructions to confirm cancellation.
Either way, your subscription will remain active until the end of your current billing period before being canceled. You can keep using Surfshark until then.
If you have any issues cancelling, Surfshark‘s customer support (available 24/7) can help you out via live chat or email.
Getting a Refund from Surfshark
Want to get your money back if you cancel Surfshark? Here are the policies around refunds:
Within the first 30 days – Surfshark offers a 30-day money back guarantee from when you first subscribe. Cancel and request a refund within 30 days, and you‘ll get your full payment back no questions asked.
For example, if you subscribed on March 15th, you‘d have until April 14th to get a refund by cancelling your account.
After 30 days – Unfortunately, Surfshark‘s standard policy is no refunds after the 30-day mark. But you can still cancel to avoid being charged again at renewal time.
To get a refund within 30 days, contact Surfshark‘s customer support team to explain you‘re canceling under the money back guarantee.
One exception – if you subscribed through the App Store or Google Play, you‘ll need to request the refund directly from them instead.
Changing Your Surfshark Subscription Plan
Instead of fully canceling Surfshark, another option is to change to a different subscription plan.
For instance, you could:
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Switch from monthly to yearly – To lock in long-term savings
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Switch from yearly to monthly – To gain the freedom to cancel anytime
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Upgrade your plan – To add on services like password manager
To change your subscription:
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Reach out to Surfshark‘s customer support via live chat or email.
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Explain which new plan you want to change to.
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The rep will guide you through the plan change process.
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Pay any difference between your old and new plan costs.
Downgrading your plan won‘t qualify you for a refund of any unused portion of your current term though. The new plan will just take effect at your next renewal cycle.
Key Things to Consider Before Cancelling
Before you definitively cancel your Surfshark subscription, here are some important things to think about:
Troubleshoot any issues
Do you have specific problems with performance, speed, etc? It may be fixable with some troubleshooting help from Surfshark‘s customer support team.
Compare the competition
Shop around and compare Surfshark‘s pricing and features to competitors like ExpressVPN, NordVPN, and others. You may or may not find something better.
Wait for a discount
Surfshark often has holiday sales, coupons, loyalty offers, and other deals. Existing users can sometimes score discounts too by staying loyal.
Turn off auto-renew
You can disable the auto-renewal on your account for the time being while you evaluate options. That way it won‘t charge you again when your plan term expires.
Consider a different plan
Could switching subscription plans better suit your needs? For example, the monthly plan adds flexibility to cancel anytime.
Looking at alternatives and potentially sticking with Surfshark is worth considering before formally canceling. But once you‘ve weighed your options, you can follow the steps in this guide to successfully cancel.
Surfshark Pros vs. Cons
To help decide if Surfshark is still the right VPN for you, here‘s a quick rundown of some of the key pros and cons:
Pros
- Affordable pricing, especially for longer terms
- No limit on number of devices
- Good selection of 3200+ servers in 65 countries
- Free trial available through mobile apps
- 30-day money back guarantee
Cons
- Based in the British Virgin Islands (a privacy-friendly jurisdiction, but still subject to legal warrants)
- Mixed reviews of customer support response times
- Fewer server locations than some competitors
- Kill switch and ad blocker only available on certain platforms
- No option for dedicated IPs or port forwarding
Looking at the pros and cons for your usage can help determine if Surfshark still makes sense or if you should switch to an alternative.
Top Surfshark VPN Alternatives
If you do decide to cancel Surfshark, here are some of the best alternative VPN services to consider:
ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is known for its blazing fast connection speeds, watertight security, and reliability. Some standout features include:
- AES 256-bit encryption
- 3,000+ servers in 94 countries
- Apps for every major platform
- No-logging policy
- Unblocks Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer
- Based in the British Virgin Islands
Their pricing starts at $8.32 per month for their yearly plan. You can try them risk-free for 30 days.
NordVPN
NordVPN has 5200+ servers worldwide, uses next-gen encryption, and has a strict no-logging policy. Key features include:
- Headquarters in Panama (outside surveillance alliances)
- CyberSec technology blocks ads and malware
- SmartPlay feature helps unblock streaming sites
- Up to 6 device connections
- Starts at only $3.29 per month for their 2-year plan
They also offer a 30-day money back guarantee.
Private Internet Access (PIA)
PIA VPN focuses on providing a quality experience at budget-friendly price points. Some highlights:
- 35,000+ servers in 77 countries
- Starts at just $2.19 per month
- Owned by Kape Technologies based in London
- WireGuard® supported on all clients
- Allows port forwarding for torrenting
- Also offers a 30-day money back promise
Be sure to dig into reviews and do side-by-side comparisons before choosing a new VPN. Most top services offer free trials or money-back periods so you can test them out.
The Bottom Line
At the end of the day, Surfshark makes it easy to cancel your subscription no matter how you initially signed up. Just follow the steps for your specific scenario.
If it‘s within the first 30 days, you should be able to get a refund too. You also have the option to simply switch your Surfshark plan instead of fully canceling.
Before making any moves, think through alternatives, look for discounts, and troubleshoot any issues. But once you‘ve thought it all through, you can cancel smoothly.
There are quite a few capable VPN services out there beyond Surfshark that may better meet your needs. I hope this guide gave you all the information needed to cancel your Surfshark subscription with confidence. Let me know if any other questions come up!
