ExpressVPN vs Surfshark: the cheapest way in, in five different currencies
How to read this page: every number below was read from the vendor’s own public pricing page on the date shown, and the pages are re-checked daily. Currencies differ because that is what each vendor showed an EU visitor. Some links on this page are affiliate links — if you subscribe through one we earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Per our method, that never changes a number or a verdict. Source links always point to the vendor’s plain page.
Prices as this vendor showed them to a visitor in the United States — USD. A reader elsewhere may be quoted a different figure — we publish what we were served, never a conversion.
Plan
Price
What the page says
Basic
$2.99/mo
US read 2026-09-06: '$2.99 /mo'. EU read 2026-09-07: '€2.49 /mo Save 80%' on a '2 Years + 4 Months' plan — 'Billed €363.72 €69.72 for first 28 Months. Then autorenews at €79.95 annually.'
Advanced
$4.49/mo
US read 2026-09-06: '$4.49 /mo'. EU read 2026-09-07: '€3.99 /mo Save 73%' — 'Billed €419.72 €111.72 for first 28 Months. Then autorenews at €109.95 annually.'
Express Pro
$7.49/mo
US read 2026-09-06: '$7.49 /mo'. EU read 2026-09-07: '€6.49 /mo Save 67%' — 'Billed €559.72 €181.72 for first 28 Months. Then autorenews at €179.95 annually.'
Source: https://www.expressvpn.com/order · read 2026-10-13 (UTC) · ⭐ THE DISCOUNT BASIS IS NOW READ (2026-09-07, EU egress). Every headline rate is a first-term rate on a 28-month plan, and the page prints all four numbers it takes to understand it: the list total, the discounted first-term total, the monthly equivalent and the yearly renewal. The Price column holds the US read of 2026-09-06; the basis below was read in euros.
What this vendor quotes in each market, as its own page printed it — not one price converted three ways.
Prices as this vendor showed them to a visitor in the United States — USD. A reader elsewhere may be quoted a different figure — we publish what we were served, never a conversion.
Plan
Price
Surfshark Starter
$2.49/mo
Surfshark One
$2.49/mo
Surfshark One+
$4.49/mo
Source: https://surfshark.com/pricing · read 2026-10-13 (UTC) · Prices are shown in euros to an EU visitor — confirmed on the date shown above both in a browser and by our own cookie-free server fetch, so this is what a first-time European visitor sees rather than a stored preference. An earlier capture recorded these same figures against a dollar sign; the figures were right and the currency label was wrong, and that is corrected here. 24-month plan view as shown (+3 extra months = 27 months covered). Intro prices for the first term; the pricing page does not state renewal prices.
What this vendor quotes in each market, as its own page printed it — not one price converted three ways.
Plan
United States USD · 2026-10-13
United Kingdom GBP · 2026-10-13
EU EUR · 2026-10-13
Surfshark Starter
$2.49
£1.79
€2.49
Surfshark One
$2.49
£1.79
€2.49
Surfshark One+
$4.49
£3.29
€4.49
What the record says
The useful comparison in this pair is the cheapest way in, because that is the rung most subscriptions are actually bought at. ExpressVPN Basic reads $2.99 in this edition's market; Surfshark's cheapest paid plan reads $2.49. Twelve months of each comes to $99.95 and $29.88.
That subtraction is allowed because both vendors set a price per country and answer in that country's currency — dollars to a reader in the United States, pounds in the United Kingdom, euros in Germany, France and Spain. Neither exports a single figure to the whole world, which is common enough in this category to be worth noting when it does not happen.
Above the entry tier the ladders stop being parallel. ExpressVPN sells three tiers under stable names: Basic at $2.99, Advanced at $4.49 and Express Pro at $7.49, and those names came back unchanged from every country we read. Surfshark's upper tiers are where our record is less certain, so this page quotes the one it can pin: in the United States reading, its middle tier was $2.49.
That figure is labelled as the American reading on purpose. We hold Surfshark's upper tiers under slightly different plan names in different markets, and until that is resolved we are not going to present a figure from one country as though it were the reader's. Pinning it says exactly what it is: this is what the page showed a visitor in the United States on the date beside the table. Its highest tier we leave unpriced here rather than quote a figure we cannot address consistently across markets.
Neither vendor's ladder in our reading carries a plan priced at zero, and neither reading captures what happens when an introductory term ends. In a category built on multi-year intro pricing, that second gap is the one worth taking to the vendor's own page before you commit — a headline monthly figure on a two-year plan is not the figure you pay in year three, and nothing in our record tells you what is.
Beyond the price tag
The entry rung
ExpressVPN Basic $2.99 against Surfshark's cheapest paid plan $2.49 — $99.95 against $29.88 across a year, a difference of $70.07.
Both price per country
Every market we read returned that market's own currency from both vendors. That is why the comparison above is a subtraction of two figures in one money, and why this page reads the same way in its American, British and European editions.
ExpressVPN's ladder, named consistently
Basic $2.99, Advanced $4.49, Express Pro $7.49 — the same three names returned from all five countries. A recommendation naming one of these describes the same plan wherever it is read.
Surfshark's upper tiers, pinned
From the United States reading, Surfshark's middle tier was $2.49. Quoted as the American figure rather than as yours, because our record holds Surfshark's upper plan names inconsistently across markets and we will not pass one country's figure off as another's. The tier above it is left unpriced for the same reason.
What neither page tells you
Neither reading holds a renewal rate. VPN pricing in this bracket is usually an introductory term, so the monthly figure above is what you pay to start rather than what you pay to stay. That is the number to check at the vendor before subscribing, and we do not hold it.
Questions people actually search
Which is cheaper to start, ExpressVPN or Surfshark?
Surfshark, at the entry rung, in this edition's market: $2.49 against $2.99, or $70.07 less across a year. Both vendors quote local currency, so that holds outside the United States as well.
What do the higher tiers cost?
ExpressVPN's are $4.49 and $7.49 in this edition's market. For Surfshark we quote only the United States reading of its middle tier, $2.49, because our record holds its upper plan names inconsistently between markets — presenting an American figure as a local one would be worse than labelling it, and quoting a tier we cannot address consistently would be worse still.
Will I keep paying this after the first term?
Our reading does not say, for either vendor. Both figures are what the pricing page advertised on the date beside the table, and neither capture includes a renewal rate. In this category that is the single most important thing to confirm on the vendor's own page.
Is there a free plan on either?
Not in our readings — neither ladder carries a row priced at zero. That describes what we captured from the two pricing pages rather than everything either vendor offers.
THE VERDICT, ONE MORE TIME
Our pick at the entry rung: Surfshark at $2.49 against ExpressVPN's $2.99 — $70.07 less across a year.
Both vendors quoted the local currency in every market we read, so the entry tiers subtract cleanly rather than needing a rate: $2.49 against $2.99, or $29.88 against $99.95 over twelve months. That is the rung most people actually buy, and Surfshark is ahead of it in this edition's market.
Both ladders come from the vendors' own pricing pages, read from five countries in turn, each table carrying the date of its reading. Figures marked as the United States reading are pinned to that market and stay the same in every edition of this page. Differences are computed from two figures in one currency, never across two, and no figure here is converted. The method →
Found a price that no longer matches the vendor’s page? Tell us — corrections are dated and stay on the page.