Surfshark shows a different price on different visits: what 53 page loads showed

Load Surfshark’s pricing page twice and you may get two different prices for the same plan. We noticed it in our nightly price readings, so we measured it on purpose: for a week we loaded the page from Belgium six times a day, in a fresh browser each time, and wrote down every price.

What we measured

• Period: 12 to 19 October 2026.
• Loads: 45 extra loads, after the first one at fixed times (01:52, 06:52, 10:52, 14:52, 18:52 and 22:52 UTC), plus our 8 regular nightly readings: 53 in total.
• How: each load used a new browser without cookies or earlier visits, through an IP address in Belgium, on surfshark.com/pricing. We read the amounts the page showed for all three plans (Surfshark Starter, Surfshark One, Surfshark One+) and all three terms (1, 12 and 24 months). We did not go to checkout.
• Prices are in euro, as the page showed them in Belgium. For 12 and 24 months the amount is the total billed up front.

Three sets of prices

Every one of the 45 extra loads showed one of three complete sets. We call them A, B and C; the letters are ours.

Seven of the 8 nightly readings fell into the same sets. The first one, on 12 October before our extra loads started, still showed an older price for Surfshark One (€49.35 for 12 months, €75.33 for 24 months); from the next load on, Surfshark One cost the same as Surfshark Starter in every set.

What the counts show

• The sets come in roughly equal shares. 16, 15 and 14 of 45 loads: close to a third each.
• The time of day does not decide it. All three sets appeared at night, in the morning and in the evening. On every full day we saw at least two of them, on five of the seven days all three.
• No set is cheapest across the board. Set C has the lowest monthly prices but the highest 12-month prices. Set B has the lowest price for Surfshark One+ over 24 months.
• The gaps are not small. Surfshark Starter for 12 months: €44.85 or €50.85, a difference of €6.00 (13 %). Surfshark One+ for 24 months: €107.73 or €121.23, a difference of €13.50. Surfshark Starter for 1 month: anywhere from €16.45 to €18.95.
• The headline 2-year price stayed put during our measurement (12-19 October). Surfshark Starter and Surfshark One for 24 months cost €67.23 in every load after the price change of 12 October.
• The renewal amounts move by cents. The amount the page gave for renewal of Surfshark Starter after 12 or 24 months ranged from €70.28 to €70.73 between loads; read from the United States, Surfshark gives the same renewal as $79.00. For the 1-month plans the renewal amount was the same in every load (Starter €16.45, One €18.95, One+ €21.85).

Why this happens

The pricing page does not explain it. Showing visitors different prices for the same product, in groups of about equal size, is how a price test usually works: a company compares which price sells better. That fits what we saw, but Surfshark does not say so and we cannot confirm it. We have not tested whether a returning visitor keeps the same set, because each of our loads started without cookies.

What it means if you buy

• The price at checkout is the one that counts. Check the amount on the order page before you pay.
• Another visit can show another price, in our readings about two times out of three. We have not tested whether a cheaper set is still offered at checkout.
• Compare like with like. If you compare Surfshark with another provider, use the same term. The 24-month price of Starter and One was the stable one in our data.

How we show Surfshark prices on this site

Showing a single amount would make our pages jump from day to day and be wrong for most visitors. On our Surfshark page and in our comparisons we show the range we saw in the last 7 days for a term with more than one price, and we calculate costs over time with the highest amount, so the site never promises you too little. The full list of plans and prices is on the Surfshark page; how we read prices in general is in the methodology.

For the price after the first term, see VPN renewal prices. How the same plan differs between countries is on VPN prices by country. Our price readings can be downloaded as open data.