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How to Get a Surfshark Free Trial

Updated Jul 10, 2024

Callum Tennent oversees how we test and review VPN services. He's a member of the IAPP, and his VPN advice has featured in Forbes and the Internet Society.

Additional Research by David Hughes

Our Verdict

You can get a genuine seven-day Surfshark free trial on iOS, Android and macOS. You can then use the service’s 30-day money-back guarantee twice, for a total of 67 days of free use.

While Surfshark is one of the cheapest VPNs you can find on the market, it’s certainly not free.

That said, the VPN service offers a seven-day 100% free trial so you can test the VPN for a limited time period without paying. It’s one of the best VPN free trials we’ve tested.

The free trial is only available via the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and Mac App Store. However, once you’ve signed up you can use your account on all other devices, including PC and Fire TV Stick.

Quick Guide: How to Get a Surfshark 7-day Free Trial

Download and install the Surfshark app on either your macOS, iOS or Android device.
Once installed, open the app and tap ‘Sign Up.’
Accept the on-screen prompt to enroll in the seven-day free trial.
Once you accept, you can use Surfshark for free for seven days on any device (using the same account details).
Cancel the trial within seven days to avoid being billed.

Read our detailed instructions in the dedicated section below.

Why Trust Us?

We’re fully independent and have been reviewing VPNs since 2016. Our advice is based on our own testing results and is unaffected by financial incentives. Learn who we are and how we test VPNs.

To trial Surfshark for more than seven days, we recommend taking advantage of its 30-day money-back guarantee. We’ve never had any issues getting our money back, but remember to request a refund within the 30-day window.

Uniquely, you can make use of Surfshark’s refund policy twice, which no other VPN service offers. This lets you try Surfshark for free for a total of 67 days.

How to Get a 7-day Surfshark Free Trial

Surfshark’s seven-day free trial is only available if you sign up via the App Store for iOS, Google Play Store for Android, and the Mac App Store for macOS (or by downloading the macOS VPN app directly from Surfshark).

Once this is done, you can use the same account details to download and login to Surfshark’s free trial on any device.

This includes Windows, Fire TV Stick, and Linux devices. Surfshark doesn’t have a device limit, so you can test the service on as many devices as you like.

How to Get Surfshark for Free on iOS

Follow the steps below to sign up to Surfshark’s seven-day free trial on iOS devices:

Search for Surfshark in the Apple App Store and scroll down until you see the option for Free Trial under Subscription. It looks like this.

Surfshark iOS Free Trial App Store Listing

The Surfshark free trial is found under ‘VPN Subscription’ within the App Store.

Tap Free Trial. Do not tap the accompanying image, which will take you to the normal Surfshark download. Once selected, you will be taken to a window advertising a Subscription Offer. It looks like this:

Surfshark advertises its free trial as part of a special subscription offer.

Tap Install & Subscribe. Surfshark will then begin installing on your device and then take you automatically to the downloaded app.

Surfshark will automatically install on your iOS.

Select Create account, enter your email address and create a password. These will be the same account details you use to login to all other Surfshark apps.

You need to insert an email and generate a password to create an account.

Once you’ve inserted your email address and password you’ll be asked to choose your subscription plan. You will have to select the 12-month deal to qualify for the free trial. Select this and tap Subscribe.

You have to select the 12 month plan to access Surfshark’s free trial.

The Surfshark app will now be available to use on your iOS device. You can use the Surfshark account you created on iOS to login to the Surfshark website and download all of its other apps.

Surfshark automatically takes payment once the free trial period ends.

After seven days, your subscription payment will be taken and charged to your iTunes account. To avoid paying once the trial period is over, make sure you cancel auto-renew six days into the trial – 24 hours before payment is taken.

Better yet, cancel the free trial immediately. If you do not, Surfshark will take payment. This is explained under the Subscribe button:

Cancel auto-renew via your iOS settings to avoid being charged.

How to Get Surfshark for Free On Android

Search for Surfshark in the Google Play Store. Tap Install. It looks like this:

Surfshark Free Trial Android Play Store Listing

Surfshark is listed as Secure VPN Surfshark in the Google Play Store.

The app will then automatically install on your Android device. Tap Open.
You will be taken to the home screen below. Select Start Free Trial and create an email and password to generate an account.

You have to create an account with Surfshark to access the free trial

As with iOS, in order to qualify for the seven-day free trial you need to select the one-year deal. Tap Start under the 12-month listing plan.

You have to choose the one year plan to get the Surfshark free trial.

Select your payment method and tap Subscribe. You will then be automatically directed to the Surfshark app where you can begin your free trial.

You will be automatically directed to the Surfshark app after you subscribe.

Surfshark will take payment from your Google Play account in seven days. As with iOS, you need to cancel auto-renewal at least one day before the trial ends if you want to avoid payment.

This is laid out under Auto-renewal info when choosing the Surfshark plan, which you can see below:

Surfshark Free Trial Android Auto-Renewal Notice

Automatic payment information is detailed in the auto-renewal notice.

How to Cancel a Surfshark Free Trial

If you sign up for a free trial on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, your subscription will be set to auto-renew after seven days.

If you don’t cancel your subscription and disable auto-renew, your account will be charged automatically when the free trial period ends.

You’ll need to cancel your subscription at least one day before the end of the free trial period if you want to avoid payment.

In this section, we’ll explain how you can easily cancel your Surfshark free trial on iOS and Android devices.

How to Cancel a 7-Day Surfshark Free Trial on iOS

To cancel your Surfshark free trial on iOS, follow these instructions:

Go to your iOS Settings.
Tap your Apple ID account name at the top of the page > select Subscriptions. It looks like this:

You will find an active Surfshark subscription in your iOS settings.

Tap Surfshark VPN from your list of subscriptions and scroll down to Cancel Free Trial.

Surfshark iOS Free Trial Cancel Free Trial

You need to cancel your annual Surfshark plan.

Tap Cancel Free Trial. This will not stop you from being able to use Surfshark. This will only happen after the free trial period ends. Doing this will only prevent you being charged once the trial period ends.

You can still use Surfshark until the trial period ends after you cancel your subscription.

How to Cancel a 7-Day Surfshark Free Trial on Android

To cancel your Surfshark free trial on Android, follow these instructions:

Go to the Google Play Store and select your account in the top right corner.
Tap Payments and subscriptions and then, in the next window, Subscriptions.

Surfshark Android Free Trial Play Store Account Subscriptions

You can find your Surfshark subscription in your Google Play Store account.

Find your Surfshark VPN subscription within the list of Active subscriptions and select it.

You can your active Surfshark subscription in your list of Play Store subscriptions.

Scroll to the bottom and select Cancel subscription. You will then be informed that the subscription will end when the free trial period ends.

You can still use Surfshark VPN after you cancel your subscription,

Your Surfshark subscription will now be listed as Canceled. You’ll still be able to use Surfshark for the duration of the free trial but now you can rest assured that you’re not going to be accidentally charged.

Surfshark Android Free Trial Cancelled Notification

You’ll see a notification that your Surfshark subscription has been canceled.

How to Use Surfshark’s Money-Back Guarantee

You can trial Surfshark for longer than seven days by purchasing a subscription and getting a refund within 30 days.

In fact, Surfshark runs a no questions asked refund policy, so you don’t even need to provide a reason to cancel.

To cancel your Surfshark subscription, you simply need to get in touch with customer support and ask for a refund within the 30-day window.

You can do this by emailing support@surfshark.com or by selecting the ‘Support’ icon in the bottom-right corner of the Surfshark website and talking to a support agent.

You can get a refund from Surfshark by chatting to its customer support.

You can actually get a full refund twice from Surfshark as long as “the period between both cancellations for which you claim refund is not less than 6 months.”

However, Surfshark’s terms of service states that the 30-day refund guarantee only applies for purchases via the Google Play Store or the Surfshark website.

In other words, if you signed up via iTunes/App Store/Amazon, via a reseller, or with a prepaid card/gift card, you’re not covered by the refund policy.

EXPERT ADVICE: If you sign up for the Surfshark free trial via the Apple App Store and then roll into a full subscription, the money-back guarantee does not apply. You have to cancel through Apple.

Why We Recommend Surfshark's Free Trial

Our review found Surfshark is one of the best VPNs for speed, security, and additional features.

Below is a table outlining Surfshark’s pros and cons as a VPN service:

PROS	CONS
Affordable subscription: $2.29 per month on a two-year plan Unblocks 9 Netflix regions Advanced features: rotating IP, split tunneling and more 3,200 diskless servers in 100 countries Independently audited logging policy Unlimited device allowance	International connection speeds could be faster Kill switch not enabled by default and suffers leaks on macOS Based in the Netherlands (subject to EU data laws) NoBorders mode doesn’t work in high-censorship countries

Surfshark’s VPN applications are simple and well-designed, ideal for VPN beginners to use them quickly and easily.

While simple to use, the VPN also comes with advanced features like RAM-only servers, multi-hop, split tunneling, a kill switch, a GPS spoofing function on Android, and a cookie pop-up blocker.

Surfshark uses secure protocols like WireGuard and OpenVPN, and it successfully encrypts connections using AES-256 encryption.

Moreover, its unlimited device policy lets you install and run Surfshark on as many devices as you want. Very few VPNs allow this.

The VPN is also a very good for streaming: Surfshark unblocks 9 Netflix libraries, it’s the best Disney+ VPN we’ve tested, and a good VPN for HBO Max, too.

Using Surfshark with Netflix on macOS

Beware that Surfshark currently does not bypass Hulu’s VPN blocks.

The one area where Surfshark lags behind its main rivals is speed. Connecting to other countries, speeds slowed down by 17%, compared to ExpressVPN’s 15% and NordVPN’s 14% reductions.

How Does Surfshark Compare to Other VPN Free Trials?

As of writing, Surfshark positions itself very highly in our overall VPN free trial rankings, behind CyberGhost and ahead of ExpressVPN and NordVPN.

CyberGhost offers a free trial with no registration for 24 hours on PC and Mac, three days on Android, and seven days on iOS.

Unlike CyberGhost’s, Surfshark’s free trial requires you to submit a payment method to access it. CyberGhost’s 45 day money-back guarantee is also much longer than Surfshark’s.

However, being able to use Surfshark’s money-back guarantee twice means you can actually use it for free much longer than all the other VPNs.

And although you have to sign up to it on mobile, Surfshark’s free trial is valid for all devices, including macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and more.

Similarly, ExpressVPN’s free trial and NordVPN’s free trial let you test the VPNs on all devices, via mobile sign-up.

Use the table below to easily compare Surfshark’s free trial features to other VPNs:

How Much Does Surfshark Usually Cost?

Surfshark represents great value. It only costs $2.29 per month on a two-year plan, which is less than the average monthly price of a VPN.

You will have to pay for the subscription cost of $59.76 upfront, though.

You can also pay for shorter subscription periods, including a 12-month deal for $3.99 per month (billed $47.88 the first year), and a $12.95 month-to-month plan.

The two-year plan offers the biggest discount and the greatest value for your money. Be aware that it renews at the higher cost of $3.99 per month.

Use the table below to compare Surfshark’s two-year plan to the best monthly prices offered by rival VPNs:

FAQs

Does the Surfshark Free Trial Require Credit Card Details?

Yes, you need to insert payment details in order to access the seven-day Surfshark free trial.

You won’t be able to install Surfshark VPN without first using a payment method attached to your Google Play Store or App Store account. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a credit card; you can also use PayPal.

We prefer trials that don’t require payment information upfront, for convenience and to avoid the risk of accidentally spending money. But it is common practice for a VPN to require credit card details before granting access to free trials.

Does Any VPN Have a 30-Day Free Trial?

Most VPN services come with no-questions-asked 30-day money-back guarantees. This policy lets you trial the VPN for a month and get all your money back if you cancel the subscription.

These are not free trials in the true sense, as you will be charged on sign-up. If you do not cancel, you will often be charged.

Typically, the longest 100% free trial length is seven days.

Should I Use a Completely Free VPN?

You can use a free VPN just as long as it’s trusted and secure. The problem is many free VPNs are designed to log, collect and sell your internet activity data.

A paid VPN is always the best option, although we’ve identified a number of free VPNs that are safe to use:

Remember, even safe free VPNs have limitations such as data usage caps, slower speeds, limited server locations, and inability to bypass many geo-restrictions.