Surfshark vs. Avast Secureline – At a Glance
Surfshark
Surfshark is a budget-friendly VPN provider that is not only easy on your pocketbook but also provides reliable online security and enhancement.
The provider boasts a large server network, provides top-notch device support, and comprehensive online security and privacy protections.
Avast Secureline
Avast Secureline is based in privacy-friendly Panama, and offers above-average online security and privacy protections.
While Avast performs well in the privacy and security protection categories, its connection speeds and global server network could use a boost.
How to Choose a VPN
Before subscribing to any VPN provider, always research and carefully consider what each provider offers.
In this article, I’ll be taking a look at two popular VPN providers, Surfshark and Avast Secureline. I’ll take a look at both VPNs’ offerings in each service category, and then declare a winner for that feature. At the end of the article, I’ll tally up the overall scores and declare a winner.
By the time you finish reading this article, you’ll have enough information to make an informed decision about which VPN is the best provider.
Surfshark vs. Avast Secureline – Features
In this section, I’ll take a look at the features you should consider when deciding on a VPN.
Connection Speeds
No matter what activities you enjoy online, a fast connection is an asset. This is especially true if you’re a streamer, play games online, or share files.
I run VPN connection speed tests on a regular basis, performing the tests with the Speedtest.net app. The tests are run as follows:
- I use a Windows server that uses a gigabit Ethernet connection based in North America.
- Both providers are tested by connecting to VPN servers in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Hong Kong, at three different times a day over the course of three days.
- The Windows version of the providers’ apps are used for testing, and the app is configured to connect using the OpenVPN protocol over UDP when available.
- The Speedtest app is run after connecting to each VPN server location, shutting down the Speedtest app following each test.
During my connection speed testing, I saw one provider perform much better than its competitor.
Avast Secureline delivered average download speeds of 32.6 Mbps. While that speed can handle most online activities, you may see some extended buffering before viewing high-definition videos.
Meanwhile, Surfshark’s download speeds were close to 10 times faster, averaging in at 323.6 Mbps. This is more than fast enough for buffering-free 4K videos, online gaming, and any other online activity that comes to mind.
It should be noted that you’ll likely see different connection speeds than I did, as your speeds will depend on your usual ISP-provided connection speeds, your geographic location, and the VPN server you connect to.
Average Connection Speed Winner: Surfshark
| Provider | Avg. Connection Speed | Link |
| Surfshark | 323.6 Mbps | Visit Site |
| Avast Secureline VPN | 73.8 Mbps | Visit Site
Read Review |
Pricing
I don’t know about you, but I’m paying a lot more for everything I buy. Inflation, it’s real. This means that many of us are looking to save money when we can. However, you should never base your VPN buying decision solely on its price.
Bargain basement VPNs may deliver slow connections, lack important privacy and security features, or not offer support for popular devices. This means you should always carefully compare a provider’s performance and features to its price.
Surfshark is a budget-priced provider, charging about the price of a good cup of coffee per month.
Avast Secureline is similarly-priced, coming in at 60 cents more than Surfshark per month.
Both Surfshark and VyprVPN offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.
You won’t find exact pricing listed in my articles. This is because VPNs change their pricing and offer special deals on a regular basis. Visit a VPN provider’s website for their most current pricing.
Pricing Winner: Surfshark
| Provider | Money-Back Guarantee Period | Link |
| Surfshark | 30 Days | Visit Site |
| Avast Secureline VPN | 30 Days | Visit Site
Read Review |
Privacy
If you’re online without using a VPN, you can be certain that you’ve left evidence of your travels behind. And believe me, there are plenty of folks that would like to take a look at that evidence. This means that a VPN’s privacy protection is an important consideration.
The following should be considered when researching a VPN’s privacy protections:
- Is the provider based in a privacy-respecting country?
- Does the provider save any type of user activity logs?
- Does the provider accept privacy-protecting forms of payment?
Surfshark is located in the British Virgin Islands. The provider takes full advantage of that country’s privacy-respecting laws, not saving any user activity logs. Surfshark also accepts cryptocurrency to keep your payment privacy undercover, especially when you use a disposable email address to sign up.
Surfshark operates all of its servers 100% from RAM, with no data ever being saved to a physical hard drive or SSD. This means that all data is completely wiped when any of the provider’s servers are rebooted, shut down, or even unplugged.
Unfortunately, Surfshark introduces a privacy concern by using a third-party provider for its customer support chat feature. I’ll discuss that later.
Avast Secureline VPN is based inside the privacy-copacetic borders of the Czech Republic. The VPN service doesn’t keep any logs of its users’ internet activities. However, they do record their users’ real IP address, the IP address they’re assigned for their VPN session, the start and stop times of a VPN session, and the amount of data used during the session.
Avast Secureline VPN also does not accept Bitcoin or other privacy-protecting payment types.
Privacy Winner: It’s a tie.
| Provider | Privacy Ranking | Site |
| Surfshark | 4.5 | Visit Site |
| Avast Secureline VPN | 4.5 | Visit Site
Read Review |
Security
As we established in the Privacy section, there are plenty of folks that would love to be able to see what you do online. Some of these nosy folks will even try to follow you around in real-time. This makes a VPN provider’s connection protections an important consideration.
Surfshark uses banking-grade encryption and kill switch protection to hide your online activities. OpenVPN, WireGuard, and IPSec/IKEv2 connection protocols are available, while “Camouflage Mode” disguises your VPN usage, making it appear to be normal browser traffic.
Avast Secureline uses government-level encryption and uses OpenSSL libraries on IPSec and OpenVPN with UDP. Kill switch protection, as well as DNS leak and IPv6 leak protections, are also available.
Security Winner: It’s a tie.
| Provider | Overall Security Score | Link |
| Surfshark | 5.0 | Visit Site |
| Avast Secureline VPN | 5.0 | Visit Site
Read Review |
Simultaneous Connections
I’d say that most of us use multiple connected devices on a daily basis. I myself use tablets, smartphones, computers, streaming, and gaming devices every day. This is why a VPN provider’s concurrent connections allowance is an important consideration.
Surfshark puts no limit on the number of devices that can be simultaneously connected to its servers.
Avast Secureline limits users to 10 connections at a time.
Simultaneous Connections Winner: Surfshark
| Provider | Simultaneous Connections Allowed | Link |
| Surfshark | Unlimited | Visit Site |
| Avast Secureline VPN | 10 | Visit Site
Read Review |
Streaming Support
Which streaming services do you subscribe to? No matter which streamers you subscribe to, you’re not getting all you could out of your subscriptions. This is because many popular streaming services are either available only in certain countries or limit the availability of some of their content to certain areas of the globe.
Luckily, there is a way to access this geo-fenced content. You see, a VPN has the ability to temporarily assign a new IP address to your connected device, making it appear as if you are connecting to the internet from another geographical region. This provides access to streaming content that might normally be unavailable in your country.
Surfshark delivers access to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, ITV Hub, All 4, Hotstar, HBO, Sky, and multiple other streaming services.
Avast Secureline has servers located in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany that are designated for streaming. They worked well unblocking Netflix in those three countries. Unfortunately, servers in other countries didn’t work with Netflix. The provider did not offer access to the other streaming services I tried.
Streaming Support Winner: Surfshark
| Provider | # of U.S. Streaming Services VPN Unblocks | # of International Services VPN Unblocks | Link |
| Surfshark | 10+ | 8+ | Visit Site |
| Avast Secureline VPN | 1 | 2 | Visit Site
Read Review |
BitTorrent Support
BitTorrent makes it easy to share files and documents with other users. File sharing is legal, with several organizations using the technology to share files and documents. However, it is illegal to share copyrighted materials, such as movies and music.
The entertainment industry has put pressure on ISPs to prevent BitTorrent sharing, leading ISPs to throttle or block your internet connection if they detect that you’re engaging in file sharing activity, whether the files you’re sharing are legal or not.
That’s where a VPN becomes helpful. A VPN encrypts your internet connection and temporarily assigns a new IP address to your connected device. This means no one can tell that you’re sharing files nor see your real IP address.
Surfshark allows P2P file sharing on its entire server network.
Avast Secureline allows P2P action on eight servers in six countries designated as “P2P” servers.
BitTorrenting Winner: Surfshark
| Provider | # of Countries Where VPN Allows BitTorrents | Link |
| Surfshark | All of them | Visit Site |
| Avast Secureline VPN | 6 countries | Visit Site
Read Review |
Global Server Coverage
The larger a VPN’s server network, the better access you’ll have to content in other parts of the world. If a provider has multiple servers located in a single country, that’s even better, as it helps prevent any single server from being overloaded with too many users.
Surfshark has 3,200+ servers stationed in 100+ countries worldwide.
Avast Secureline VPN has servers stationed in 55+ cities in 35+ countries. The provider does not share their actual server numbers.
Global Server Coverage Winner: Surfshark
| Provider | Server Count | Countries | Link |
| Surfshark | 3,200+ | 100 | Visit Site |
| Avast Secureline VPN | Unknown | 35 | Visit Site
Read Review |
Multi-Platform Support
Since many of my readers use more than one connected device, a VPN provider’s app selection is an important thing to keep in mind.
Surfshark offers comprehensive native app support, with offerings for iOS, macOS (with native M1/M2 app support), Android, Android TV, Windows, Linux, and Amazon Fire TV device platforms. Chrome, Edge, and Firefox browser extensions are also available. The provider offers comprehensive router support, including pre-configured routers through Flashrouters.com.
Avast Secureline offers support for macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android devices. They also offer browser extensions for the Chrome and Firefox platforms. No support for Linux or routers.
Multi-Platform Support Winner: Surfshark
| Provider | Platforms Supported | Browser Extensions? | Router Support? |
Link |
| Surfshark | 7 | Yes (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) | Yes – Manual setup. Flashrouter options available. | Visit Site |
| Avast Secureline VPN | 4 | Yes (Chrome, Firefox) | Nope | Visit Site
Read Review |
Customer Support
While both of these VPN services are easy to use, you may still have an occasional feature or billing question.
Surfshark’s 24/7 support, includes live chat, email support, and a searchable support library. Unfortunately, Surfshark uses a third-party contractor (Zendesk) to facilitate its live agent chat feature. Any time a third party is included in the mix, there is an increased privacy risk.
Avast Secureline offers (paying customer only) email support, a searchable support library and a user forum. Avast Secureline offers a “Total Care” phone support number. This is unusual in the VPN industry.
Customer Support Winner: It’s a tie
| Provider | Customer Support Rating | Link |
| Surfshark | 4.5 | Visit Site |
| Avast Secureline VPN | 4.5 | Visit Site
Read Review |
And The Winner Is…
It’s time to name an overall winner.
Surfshark is the overall winner this time around, thanks to its performance in the connection speed, pricing, multi-platform support, simultaneous connections, streaming, BitTorrent, and global server coverage service arenas.
Avast Secureline did not outright win any feature comparison, but it did score a tie in the privacy, security, and customer support columns.
For more information or to purchase a subscription, visit Surfshark.
