VPN deals and guides

The VPN Bro: NordVPN vs Surfshark Black Friday Deals 2026

Two VPN deals matter this Black Friday, and they are $27 apart. NordVPN Basic costs $94.23 for 27 months. Surfshark One costs $67.23 for the same 27 months. Everything else on this site exists to answer one question: which of those two fits the way you actually use a VPN?

Both deals run on the same shape. You pay for 24 months and get 3 extra months free, so the first term covers 27 months. You pay the whole amount upfront, before tax. And both come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, which is the part that makes buying early low-risk. If it does not work on your Wi-Fi or with the shows you watch, you can get your money back inside that window. Read the refund terms on the provider’s own page before you buy, because the guarantee is theirs, not ours.

Check the price at checkout. Every price on this page is a Black Friday introductory price for the first term. Taxes, the exact total in pounds, and the renewal price are the ones shown on the provider’s own checkout page. If a number here and a number there disagree, the checkout page wins. That sounds obvious, but it is the single most common surprise with VPN deals: the monthly figure looks small because it is spread over 27 months, and the renewal figure is much bigger.

The two Black Friday deals, side by side

Surfshark is cheaper, now and at renewal. NordVPN costs $27 more upfront and $40.08 more a year when it renews. That gap is the whole decision, really. If you need the strongest streaming record and the longest run of independent no-logs audits, you pay the extra $27. If you need to cover a whole household, or you just want the lowest bill, Surfshark wins on price and never asks how many devices you have.

There is one timing trick worth knowing. NordVPN Basic drops to $2.99 a month from 24 November to 1 December, which works out at $80.73 for 27 months instead of $94.23. That is a $13.50 saving for waiting a few days. It is a US price, though. We could not verify a matching UK pound price for that week, so if you are buying in pounds, check the checkout page during that week rather than assuming the same drop. Surfshark’s price does not have a second drop like that. Its $2.49 a month is live now and runs through 1 December.

Use the calculator before you buy

The monthly figure is the least useful number on a VPN deal page, because nobody pays monthly. You pay upfront, and then you renew at a yearly rate that is much higher. The calculator below does the honest maths: what you pay now, what the same 27 months would cost at the renewal yearly rate, and what you save by buying in the sale. Try it in dollars and in pounds. The pound totals are £72.63 for NordVPN Basic and £48.33 for Surfshark One, and the gap between them is £24.30.

Not sure which one? Use the picker

Most people do not need a 15-provider comparison table. They need to know whether their main use is streaming, privacy on public Wi-Fi, or covering a lot of devices on a tight budget. Answer three questions and the picker will tell you which of the two fits, and why. It does not collect anything you type.

Check the NordVPN Black Friday price Check the Surfshark Black Friday price

Affiliate disclosure: we may earn a commission if you buy through a link above, at no extra cost to you. The price you pay is the price on the provider’s checkout page.

Why only two VPNs?

Honestly, most Black Friday VPN pages list ten or fifteen providers, and that helps nobody who is buying their first VPN. The lists exist because the site earns a commission on all of them. This site earns a commission too, and we say so plainly on every page. The difference is that we only list two. NordVPN is the pick for streaming and for the strongest audit record. Surfshark is the pick for price and for unlimited devices. If neither of those fits you, this site is not the right place to shop, and we would rather say that than pretend a third option is here.

That narrow focus is also why the guides on this site go deeper than a deal list. The NordVPN page walks through Basic versus Complete, because Complete costs only $13.50 more over 27 months and adds antivirus and a password manager. The Surfshark page explains why One costs the same as Starter in this sale, and why that matters at renewal. The comparison page puts the two side by side on speed, streaming, devices, audits, and renewal prices. And the Netflix page is blunt about the part most deal pages skip: a VPN that unblocks a library today can lose it next month, so you need to know what to do when a server stops working.

What to do next

If you already know which one you want, go to its deal page and check the price at checkout. If you are buying for Netflix, read the Netflix guide first, because the cheapest plan is not always the best streaming plan. If you are shopping on Black Friday itself, read the shopping safety guide too. A VPN helps on public Wi-Fi, but it does not make a fake deal site real, and that is the scam most people actually meet in November. And if you are still torn between the two, run the calculator, then the picker. Between them they answer the question in about a minute.

NordVPN Black Friday 2026: Basic $3.49, $2.99 in Black Friday Week

NordVPN’s Black Friday deal is live now, and the part most people miss is that it has two prices. Basic costs $3.49 a month today, which is $94.23 for 27 months. From 24 November to 1 December it drops to $2.99 a month, which is $80.73 for the same 27 months. Same plan, same 27 months, $13.50 less for waiting a few days.

That is the first decision on this page, and it is a timing decision, not a product decision. If you buy today, you pay $94.23. If you buy in Black Friday week, you pay $80.73. If you buy after 1 December, the price goes back to $3.49 a month until the sale ends on 9 December. None of that is a secret, but it is buried in most deal pages under a headline discount percentage. The percentage, for the record, is up to 78% off on the two-year plans, with the biggest cut on Complete. Basic itself is 69% off in the US and 77% off in the UK, because the headline percentage is measured against a list price nobody pays.

Check the price at checkout. All prices here are introductory Black Friday prices for the first term, before tax. The renewal price is higher, and the checkout page shows the final total in your currency. If the checkout total differs from this page, the checkout page is right.

What you actually pay

In the UK, Basic is £2.69 a month, which is £72.63 for 27 months, renewing at £104.28 a year. Complete is £2.99 a month, £80.73 upfront, renewing at £163.08 a year. The $2.99 Black Friday week price is a US price. We could not verify a matching UK pound price for that week, so if you are buying in pounds, check the checkout page between 24 November and 1 December rather than assuming the same drop.

The renewal number is the one to stare at. Basic renews at $139.08 a year. Over 27 months at that rate you would pay $312.93, so buying in the sale saves you $218.70 against the renewal rate. At the Black Friday week price the saving is $232.20. That is a real saving, but it only lasts for the first term. After 27 months, you pay the renewal rate, and that is when a lot of people get a surprise bill they did not expect. Set a reminder for a month before renewal, and decide then whether to keep it, switch, or look for the next sale.

Basic vs Complete: is Complete worth $13.50 more?

Complete costs $107.73 for 27 months, which is $13.50 more than Basic at $94.23. For that you get the VPN plus antivirus, an ad and tracker blocker, and a password manager. Basic is the VPN on its own, with the same speed, the same servers, and the same 10-device limit.

Here is how we would think about it. If you already pay for antivirus or a password manager, Basic is the right buy, because you would be paying twice for the same tools. If you do not have either, Complete is genuinely good value, because $13.50 over 27 months is 50 cents a month for tools that cost far more on their own. The catch is the renewal price. Complete renews at $219.48 a year, which is $80.40 a year more than Basic. So the cheap upgrade is only cheap for the first term. If you buy Complete, decide at renewal time whether you still want the bundle, or whether Basic on its own is enough.

There is also a top plan, Prime, which adds identity protection. Most people do not need it, and this page does not push it. If you know what identity protection is and you want it, you already know enough to judge the price yourself.

Why people pick NordVPN

Speed is the first reason. Independent tests in 2026 put NordVPN among the fastest VPNs, with one test measuring only 7.8% speed loss on average, and another measuring 755 Mbps on a US server. That matters for 4K streaming, because a slow VPN is the difference between a show playing and a show buffering. It matters less for email and browsing, where almost any decent VPN is fast enough.

Streaming is the second reason. In one 2026 test of 14 streaming services, NordVPN unblocked all 14, including Netflix in the US, Canada, and Japan, plus BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and Prime Video. That is the strongest streaming record of any VPN we cover. It does not mean it works every time. Netflix and the other services block VPN servers regularly, and a server that works today can stop working next month. NordVPN’s size helps here, because it has thousands of servers to switch between, and switching servers is usually the fix when one stops working.

The third reason is the audit record. NordVPN’s no-logs policy has been checked by independent auditors six times, most recently by Deloitte, with the sixth audit reported in February 2026. A no-logs policy is a promise that the provider does not record what you do online. An audit is someone outside the company checking that promise. Six audits does not make a VPN perfect, but it is a longer record than most providers have, and it is the reason privacy-minded buyers keep coming back to NordVPN.

What to know before you buy

Ten devices at once is the limit. That covers a phone, a laptop, a tablet, and a TV for most people, and a family of four with two devices each. If you have more than ten devices, or a big household where everyone is online at once, Surfshark covers unlimited devices for less money, and that is a real reason to pick it instead. Do not buy NordVPN and then discover the eleventh device cannot connect.

Setup takes about five minutes. You create an account, download the app, sign in, and pick a server. The app picks the fastest server for you by default, and you only need to pick a country yourself when you want a specific library, like Netflix UK. The kill switch is worth turning on. It cuts your internet if the VPN drops, so your real location and traffic are not exposed for a few seconds while it reconnects. It is off by default on some devices, which is an odd choice, but it takes ten seconds to turn on.

Finally, the 30-day money-back guarantee. It exists, and it works, but you have to claim it through NordVPN, and you should read the refund terms before you buy. Do not treat the guarantee as a free trial you can use for a month and cancel without reading anything. It is a safety net, not a loophole.

Check the NordVPN Black Friday price Compare with Surfshark first

Affiliate disclosure: we may earn a commission if you buy through the link above, at no extra cost to you. The price you pay is the price on NordVPN’s checkout page.

Surfshark Black Friday 2026: One $2.49 a Month, Unlimited Devices

Surfshark’s Black Friday deal is the simplest one on this site. Surfshark One costs $2.49 a month, which is $67.23 for 27 months. That is the whole deal. No second price drop to wait for, no timing trick, and no choice between three plans that all look the same.

There is one twist, and it is a good one. Surfshark One normally costs more than Surfshark Starter, because One adds antivirus, breach alerts, and scam protection on top of the VPN. In this sale, One costs exactly the same as Starter: $2.49 a month for both. So you get the extras for free for the first term. That is why this page recommends One, not Starter. Buying Starter in this sale would mean paying the same price for less.

Check the price at checkout. All prices here are introductory Black Friday prices for the first term, before tax. The renewal price is higher, and the checkout page shows the final total in your currency. If the checkout total differs from this page, the checkout page is right.

What you actually pay

In the UK, Starter and One are both £1.79 a month, which is £48.33 for 27 months. One renews at £73.94 a year and Starter renews at £59 a year. One+ is £2.89 a month, or £78.03 for 27 months.

Read that renewal row twice, because it is where the One-versus-Starter choice actually matters. One and Starter cost the same now, but One renews at $99 a year and Starter renews at $79 a year. So One costs $20 a year more after the first term. If you plan to keep the VPN for years, that $20 a year adds up. If you only care about the first 27 months, One is free extra value, and you should take it. And if you buy One and decide at renewal that you do not use the antivirus or the breach alerts, you can drop to Starter then. You are not locked into One forever.

The saving against the renewal rate is $155.52 over 27 months. At the renewal rate of $99 a year, the same 27 months would cost $222.75. You pay $67.23. That is a real saving, but it is a first-term saving. After 27 months, you pay the renewal rate, so set a reminder for a month before renewal and decide then.

Unlimited devices is the real feature

Surfshark covers unlimited devices at once on one account. Every other big VPN puts a number on it. NordVPN allows 10. That number sounds generous until you count properly. Two adults with a phone and a laptop each is four devices. Add two kids with a tablet each and you are at six. Add a smart TV, a work laptop, and a tablet for the kitchen and you are at nine. One more device and NordVPN stops you. Surfshark never does.

That is why Surfshark is the pick for families, flatmates, and anyone whose house has a lot of screens. It is also why it is the pick for people who run a VPN on a router, where every device in the house counts as one connection through the router but still needs to work. If you live alone with a phone and a laptop, unlimited devices does not matter to you at all, and you should pick on price and streaming instead. But if the words “how many devices” made you count on your fingers just now, Surfshark is probably your answer.

What Surfshark One actually includes

One is three things in one subscription. The VPN itself, with servers in 100 countries. Antivirus for Windows, macOS, and Android, which scans downloads and blocks malware. And Alert, which watches for your email address or passwords appearing in data breaches, plus a private search tool and scam protection. In normal times those extras cost more than the VPN on its own. In this sale they cost nothing extra for the first term, because One is priced the same as Starter.

One+ adds one more thing: Incogni, a data removal service that asks data brokers to delete your personal information. It costs $107.73 for 27 months, which is $40.50 more than One. It is mainly worth it if you live in the US, where both parts of the service work. In the UK, Canada, and the EU, only the data removal part works, so you are paying $40.50 for half a service. Most people should skip One+ and buy One. If data brokers are a specific worry for you, read what Incogni actually removes before you pay for it, because it does not remove everything.

Speed and streaming

Surfshark is fast enough for 4K, and that is the only speed claim that matters for most people. In one 2026 test, its UK server was the fastest result recorded, and its average speed loss was 9.6%, against 7.8% for NordVPN. That gap is real but small. On a normal home connection you will not feel it. On a slow hotel connection, both will feel slow, and the VPN is not the bottleneck.

For streaming, Surfshark unblocked 13 of 14 services in one 2026 test, including Netflix in the US, Canada, and Japan, plus Hulu and BBC iPlayer. The one it missed was ITVX. NordVPN unblocked all 14. So if ITVX is the one service you watch every night, NordVPN is the better pick. For everything else, Surfshark works, and the difference between 13 and 14 is not worth $27 to most people.

Streaming services block VPN servers regularly, and Surfshark is not immune to that. If Netflix shows you the proxy error, switch to another server in the same country and try again. If it still does not work, clear your browser cookies and try once more. That fixes it more often than people expect, because Netflix sometimes remembers the last server you used.

What to know before you buy

Surfshark offers a 7-day free trial for first-time customers on 12-month and 24-month plans, but not on the monthly plan. The trial is a good way to test it on your own Wi-Fi before you commit to 27 months. The 30-day money-back guarantee also applies, and you should read the refund terms on Surfshark’s own page before you buy. Do not treat the guarantee as a free month. It is a safety net.

Setup takes about five minutes. Create an account, download the app, sign in, and connect. The app picks the fastest server for you. You only need to pick a country yourself when you want a specific library. The kill switch is worth turning on, so your traffic is not exposed if the VPN drops for a few seconds.

Check the Surfshark Black Friday price Compare with NordVPN first

Affiliate disclosure: we may earn a commission if you buy through the link above, at no extra cost to you. The price you pay is the price on Surfshark’s checkout page.

NordVPN vs Surfshark Black Friday 2026: Which Is Worth $27 More?

NordVPN Basic costs $94.23 for 27 months. Surfshark One costs $67.23 for the same 27 months. The difference is $27, and this whole page is about whether that $27 buys you anything you will actually notice.

Short answer first, then the detail. Pick NordVPN if you mainly stream and you want the strongest streaming record and the longest audit history. Pick Surfshark if you want the lowest price, or if you have more than 10 devices. If neither of those sentences describes you, run the picker below and let it decide. It takes thirty seconds.

Check the price at checkout. All prices here are introductory Black Friday prices for the first term, before tax. The renewal price is higher, and the checkout page shows the final total in your currency.

The numbers, side by side

Run the numbers yourself with the calculator, because the monthly figure hides the real gap. Over 27 months, NordVPN costs $27 more. Over the next year after that, it costs $40.08 more. Over three years in total, the gap is more than $100. That is not a small difference. It is the price of a decent dinner, every year, for the same VPN job. So the question is not whether NordVPN is better. It is whether it is $27 better now and $40 better every year after that, for you.

Speed: NordVPN is faster, and it barely matters

NordVPN is the faster of the two in independent tests. One 2026 test measured an average speed loss of 7.8% for NordVPN and 9.6% for Surfshark. Another measured 755 Mbps for NordVPN on a US server. Surfshark’s fastest UK server result was actually the best single result in one test, which tells you how close this is. On a normal home connection, both are fast enough for 4K. You will not feel a 2% difference while watching a show. You might feel it while downloading a very large file, and even then only if your connection is fast enough for the VPN to be the bottleneck. For most people, speed is not the reason to pay $27 more.

Streaming: NordVPN wins, by one service

In one 2026 test of 14 streaming services, NordVPN unblocked all 14. Surfshark unblocked 13 of 14. The one Surfshark missed was ITVX. Both unblocked Netflix in the US, Canada, and Japan, plus Hulu and BBC iPlayer. In another ranking, NordVPN was the top pick for streaming reliability, and Surfshark was the budget pick.

What does that mean in practice? If you watch ITVX every night, buy NordVPN. If you watch Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, or BBC iPlayer, both work, and Surfshark saves you $27. And remember that streaming services block VPN servers all the time. A VPN that works today can stop working next month, on either provider. The fix is the same on both: switch to another server in the same country, clear your browser cookies, and try again. NordVPN’s bigger server network gives you more servers to switch between, which is a real advantage, but it is not worth $27 on its own unless streaming is the whole reason you are buying.

Devices: Surfshark wins, and it is not close

This is the clearest difference on the page. Surfshark covers unlimited devices. NordVPN covers 10. Ten sounds like a lot until you count. Two adults with a phone and a laptop each is four. Two kids with tablets is six. A smart TV, a work laptop, and a tablet in the kitchen is nine. One more device and you are done. Surfshark never stops you. If you have 11 or more devices, the comparison is over, and Surfshark wins. If you have 3 devices, this difference means nothing, and you should decide on price and streaming instead.

Privacy and audits: NordVPN wins, on paper

NordVPN’s no-logs policy has been checked by independent auditors six times, most recently by Deloitte, with the sixth audit reported in February 2026. Surfshark’s no-logs policy has been checked by Deloitte in 2023 and 2025, plus other auditors in 2025 and 2026. Both have real audits, and both are far better than a VPN with no audit at all. NordVPN’s record is longer, and that matters if audits are your top priority. For most people, though, the practical privacy difference between the two is small. Both use strong encryption, both have a kill switch, and both are based outside the countries that share intelligence most freely. If you are choosing on privacy alone, NordVPN is the pick. If you are choosing on privacy plus price, Surfshark is close enough that the $27 matters more.

What you get besides the VPN

On the plans compared here, NordVPN Basic is the VPN on its own. Surfshark One is the VPN plus antivirus, breach alerts, private search, and scam protection, all for the same price as Surfshark Starter in this sale. So Surfshark One actually gives you more for less money, at least for the first term. NordVPN Complete is the fair comparison to Surfshark One, because Complete adds antivirus and a password manager. Complete costs $107.73 for 27 months, which is $40.50 more than Surfshark One, and it renews at $219.48 a year. If you want the bundle, Surfshark One is the cheaper bundle. If you want NordVPN’s streaming and audits plus a bundle, you pay for it.

So, which one?

Buy NordVPN if you stream a lot, especially ITVX, and you want the strongest streaming record and the longest audit history, and you have 10 devices or fewer. Buy it in Black Friday week if you can wait, because $80.73 is better than $94.23 for the same thing.

Buy Surfshark if you want the lowest price, or you have more than 10 devices, or you want the antivirus and breach alerts included at no extra cost for the first term. It is $27 cheaper now, $40 cheaper every year after that, and it covers every device you own.

And if you are still not sure after all that, buy Surfshark. That sounds like a cop-out, but it is honest. When two products are this close, the cheaper one is the right default, and the more expensive one is the right pick only when you have a specific reason for it. If you have that reason, you already know it.

Check the NordVPN Black Friday price Check the Surfshark Black Friday price

Affiliate disclosure: we may earn a commission if you buy through a link above, at no extra cost to you. The price you pay is the price on the provider’s checkout page.

Best VPN for Netflix in the USA and UK 2026: NordVPN vs Surfshark

The best VPN for Netflix in 2026 is NordVPN, and it is not a close call on streaming alone. In one test of 14 streaming services, NordVPN unblocked all 14. Surfshark unblocked 13 of 14. Both unblocked Netflix in the US, the UK, and Canada. The difference is one service, and the price difference is $27 over 27 months. This page explains when that $27 is worth paying, and what to do when Netflix stops working, because it will, on either VPN.

First, a blunt fact that most VPN pages skip. Netflix licenses shows by country, so the catalogue you see in the US is not the catalogue you see in the UK. A VPN lets you watch the library of the country your server is in. Netflix knows this, and it blocks VPN servers all the time. A VPN that unblocks a library today can lose it next month when Netflix updates its blocklist. That is not a fault in your VPN. It is the game. The best VPN for Netflix is the one that keeps up with that game, and that means having a lot of servers to switch between, and fixing blocked servers quickly.

Check the price at checkout. All prices here are introductory Black Friday prices for the first term, before tax. NordVPN Basic is $3.49 a month, $94.23 for 27 months, dropping to $2.99 a month from 24 November to 1 December. Surfshark One is $2.49 a month, $67.23 for 27 months. Both offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.

What the independent tests actually found

Three sets of 2026 tests are worth knowing about, because they tested the same thing in different ways. TechRadar, which tests VPNs with Netflix regularly, ranks NordVPN first for Netflix and Surfshark second, as the best cheap Netflix VPN. It tested NordVPN at over 1,250 Mbps, and Surfshark at over 1,000 Mbps, both far faster than 4K needs. It also found both worked with Netflix in the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia, while Surfshark also worked in Japan and NordVPN did not in that particular test.

Gizmodo tested 14 streaming services with cookies and cache cleared, so the test was fair. NordVPN unblocked all 14, including Netflix in the US, Canada, and Japan, Prime Video, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, ITVX, and JioHotstar. Surfshark unblocked 13 of 14, missing only ITVX. Its UK server was the fastest single result in the test, and its average speed loss was 9.6%, against 7.8% for NordVPN. So Surfshark is fast, and NordVPN is slightly faster and slightly more reliable.

A third ranking, from CyberInsider’s 2026 testing, named NordVPN the top pick for unblocking, reporting it worked across the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, and India Netflix libraries, plus Disney+ and BBC iPlayer, at 755 Mbps on a Seattle server. Surfshark was its budget pick, with unblocking reported for at least 20 Netflix libraries, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, and Japan.

Put together, the picture is consistent. NordVPN is the most reliable Netflix VPN. Surfshark is close behind, cheaper, and better for a household. If you watch one service all the time and that service is ITVX, buy NordVPN. If you watch Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, or BBC iPlayer, both work, and Surfshark saves you $27.

Speed: how fast is fast enough for Netflix?

Netflix needs about 25 Mbps for 4K. Both VPNs are far faster than that on a decent home connection. NordVPN’s average speed loss in one test was 7.8%. Surfshark’s was 9.6%. On a 200 Mbps connection, that is the difference between about 184 Mbps and about 181 Mbps, which you will never notice while watching a show. On a slow hotel connection, both will feel slow, and the VPN is not the problem. The hotel Wi-Fi is.

What matters more than raw speed is consistency. A VPN that is fast on Monday and slow on Friday is worse than a VPN that is steady all week. That is where server choice matters. Both VPNs let you pick a server, and both pick the fastest one for you by default. If a show buffers, try another server in the same country before you blame the VPN. A busy server is the most common cause of slow streaming, and switching takes ten seconds.

US Netflix vs UK Netflix: what changes?

The US library is the biggest, by a wide margin. The UK library is smaller but has British dramas, films, and classics that the US library does not. Canada has its own mix, and Japan has shows and films that are hard to find anywhere else. A VPN lets you switch between those libraries by changing your server country. That is the whole point for most people reading this page.

There is one catch. Netflix’s own help pages say that if you use a VPN, you may only see titles that Netflix licenses globally, and you may see a proxy error when Netflix detects VPN traffic. That error, code m7111-5059, is the grey screen that tells you Netflix thinks you are using a proxy. It does not mean your account is in trouble. It means that specific server is blocked, and you need to switch servers. Do not panic, and do not cancel your VPN because of one error. Switch servers, clear your cookies, and try again.

What to do when Netflix stops working

This is the section most deal pages do not write, and it is the one you will actually need. Netflix blocks VPN servers regularly, so a server that worked last week can stop working this week. Here is what to do, in order.

First, switch to another server in the same country. Both apps make this easy. Pick a different city if you can, because a different city usually means a different set of IP addresses, and Netflix may not have blocked those yet.

Second, clear your browser cookies and cache, then try again. Netflix sometimes remembers the last server you used, even after you switch. Clearing cookies fixes that more often than people expect.

Third, try a different device or a different browser. If Netflix works on your phone but not on your laptop, the problem is the laptop’s browser, not the VPN.

Fourth, check whether the show is actually available in that country’s library. Sometimes the show has moved, or the library has changed, and no VPN will bring it back. A quick search for the show plus the country name will tell you.

If none of that works, wait a day and try again. VPN providers fix blocked servers constantly, and a server that is blocked today is often working again tomorrow. If it still does not work after a few days, use the 30-day money-back guarantee and try the other VPN. That is what the guarantee is for.

Which one should you buy for Netflix?

Buy NordVPN if Netflix is the main reason you are buying a VPN, and you want the most reliable unblocking, the fastest speeds, and the biggest server network to switch between. Buy it in Black Friday week if you can wait, because $80.73 is better than $94.23 for the same 27 months. Buy Surfshark if you watch Netflix on a lot of devices, or you want the lowest price, and you are happy with 13 out of 14 services instead of 14 out of 14. For most households, Surfshark is the right answer, and the $27 you save buys a month of Netflix itself.

Check the NordVPN Black Friday price Check the Surfshark Black Friday price

Affiliate disclosure: we may earn a commission if you buy through a link above, at no extra cost to you. The price you pay is the price on the provider’s checkout page.

Best VPN for Black Friday Shopping Safely in 2026

Black Friday is the best week of the year to buy a VPN, and also the worst week of the year to shop without one. The deals are real, the fake deal sites are real too, and the public Wi-Fi in a crowded mall or airport is the least safe place to type a card number. A VPN helps with one of those three problems. This page explains which one, what it does not do, and which VPN to pick for shopping.

First, the honest limit. A VPN does not make a fake website real. It does not check whether a deal is genuine. It does not stop you entering your card number on a site that looks like a shop and is actually a scam. What a VPN does is encrypt your connection on public Wi-Fi, hide your traffic from the network you are on, and hide your location from the sites you visit. That matters a lot on public Wi-Fi, and it matters not at all on your home Wi-Fi, where your connection is already private. Keep that in mind while you read this page, because a lot of VPN marketing pretends the VPN does everything.

Check the price at checkout. All prices here are introductory Black Friday prices for the first term, before tax. NordVPN Basic is $3.49 a month, $94.23 for 27 months, dropping to $2.99 a month from 24 November to 1 December. Surfshark One is $2.49 a month, $67.23 for 27 months. Both offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.

The three Black Friday risks, and what a VPN does about each one

1. Public Wi-Fi

This is the risk a VPN actually fixes. On public Wi-Fi, in a mall, a cafe, an airport, or a hotel, your traffic can be watched by anyone else on the same network, or by the network itself. A VPN encrypts your traffic, so the person watching sees scrambled data instead of the site you are visiting and the details you are typing. That is a real protection, and it is worth having if you shop on your phone while you are out.

It is not a magic shield, though. A VPN does not protect you if you connect to a fake Wi-Fi network with a name like “Free_Mall_WiFi” that is run by a scammer. It does not protect you if you ignore a browser warning about a site’s security certificate. And it does not help at all if you are shopping on your home Wi-Fi, where the connection is already yours. So use a VPN on public Wi-Fi, and turn it on before you open the shop, not after you have already typed your card number.

2. Fake deal sites

This is the risk most people actually meet on Black Friday, and a VPN does not fix it. A fake deal site looks like a real shop, with a familiar logo, a countdown timer, and a price that is too good to be true. It is too good to be true. The site takes your card number and your address, and you never get the product. Sometimes it also installs malware.

Here is how to spot one. Check the web address carefully. A real shop’s address is the one you know. A fake one has an extra word, a different ending, or a misspelling, like a shop name with an extra letter. Check whether the site has a real contact page, a real returns policy, and real reviews that are not all five stars and all written on the same day. Check whether the deal appears on the shop’s real social media pages. And if a deal arrives by text message or email from a sender you do not know, do not click the link. Go to the shop’s website yourself, by typing the address.

Both NordVPN and Surfshark include tools that help here, and they are worth turning on. NordVPN’s Threat Protection blocks known malicious sites, trackers, and malware downloads. Surfshark One includes CleanWeb, which blocks ads and trackers, plus scam protection and breach alerts. Neither tool catches every fake site, because new fake sites appear every day, but they catch the known ones, and that is better than nothing. Turn them on before you start shopping, not after you have already clicked a bad link.

3. Card fraud and account theft

This is the risk that costs people real money. A card number stolen on Black Friday can be used within hours, often for small purchases that are easy to miss. A VPN does not stop card fraud. What stops it is checking your card, using a credit card instead of a debit card where you can, and turning on transaction alerts so you see every purchase the moment it happens.

Use a credit card for Black Friday shopping if you have one, because credit cards have stronger fraud protection than debit cards in the USA, the UK, and Canada. If a purchase is fraudulent, you can dispute it with the card company, and the money is not taken from your bank account while the dispute is sorted out. With a debit card, the money leaves your account straight away, and getting it back takes longer.

Turn on two-factor authentication on every shopping account that offers it, especially Amazon, your email, and your bank. A password on its own is not enough anymore. And use a different password for each shopping site, or a password manager. NordVPN Complete includes a password manager. Surfshark One does not, but it includes breach alerts that tell you if your email address appears in a data breach, so you can change that password before someone uses it.

Which VPN is better for shopping?

For shopping on public Wi-Fi, both work, and the difference is small. NordVPN is faster, and it has the longer audit record, which matters if you care about who can see your traffic. Surfshark is cheaper, covers unlimited devices, and One includes scam protection and breach alerts at no extra cost in this sale. If you shop on a lot of devices, or you share the VPN with your family, Surfshark is the better pick, because everyone can use it at once. If you mainly shop on one phone and one laptop, and you want the fastest connection and the strongest audit record, NordVPN is the better pick.

One feature matters more than the others for shopping: the kill switch. It cuts your internet if the VPN drops, so your traffic is not exposed for a few seconds while it reconnects. Both VPNs have one. Turn it on. It is off by default on some devices, and that is the single most common mistake people make with a VPN. A VPN that drops without a kill switch is worse than no VPN at all, because you think you are protected when you are not.

A Black Friday shopping checklist

Here is the checklist, in the order you should do it. Buy the VPN before Black Friday, not on the day, so it is set up and working before you need it. Turn on the kill switch and the threat protection or scam protection. Turn on two-factor authentication on your shopping accounts and your email. Set up transaction alerts on your card, so you see every purchase. Shop on the real website, by typing the address yourself, not by clicking a link in a text or an email. Use a credit card, not a debit card, where you can. And check your card statement the next day, not next month, because a fraudulent purchase is easiest to stop in the first few hours.

None of that is exciting, and none of it needs a VPN on its own. But together, it is the difference between a Black Friday bargain and a Black Friday fraud report. The VPN is one piece of it, and it is the piece that protects you on public Wi-Fi. The rest is habits, and habits are free.

Check the NordVPN Black Friday price Check the Surfshark Black Friday price

Affiliate disclosure: we may earn a commission if you buy through a link above, at no extra cost to you. The price you pay is the price on the provider’s checkout page.

About The VPN Bro: Independent VPN Deals, USA UK Canada

The VPN Bro is an independent deals guide. It covers two VPNs, NordVPN and Surfshark, and it covers them for people in the USA, the UK, and Canada who want to buy in the Black Friday sale without reading a fifteen-provider comparison table first.

The site exists because most VPN deal pages try to do too much. They list every provider, they rank them, and they bury the two numbers that actually matter: what you pay upfront, and what you pay when it renews. This site does the opposite. It covers two providers, it shows both numbers, and it says plainly when it does not know something, like the UK price for a US-only Black Friday week drop.

We have not lab-tested either VPN ourselves. Speed and streaming claims on this site are reported from independent 2026 tests, and they are described as such. Audit claims are reported from the auditors’ published work. If a claim matters to you, check the source before you buy, because tests go out of date fast, and streaming services change their rules constantly.

We may earn a commission if you buy through a link on this site, at no extra cost to you. That is how the site is funded. It does not change our picks. We only recommend NordVPN and Surfshark here, and we say on every page which one is cheaper, which one is faster for streaming, and which one covers more devices. If a provider paid us to say something different, we would not take the money.

This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by NordVPN or Surfshark. It is not their customer support, and it cannot help with an account, a payment, or a refund. For those, use the provider’s own support page. This site never asks for your VPN password, your email password, or your payment details. If a page claiming to be this site asks for them, it is not us.

Prices on this site are introductory Black Friday prices for the first term, before tax. They can change at checkout, and the renewal price is higher. Always check the final price, the renewal price, and the refund terms on the provider’s own checkout page before you pay.

Contact The VPN Bro

This page is short on purpose, because there is no support team here and no phone number to invent.

The VPN Bro is a small independent deals guide. It does not run a helpdesk, and it cannot help with a NordVPN or Surfshark account, a payment, a refund, or a forgotten password. For those, use the provider’s own support page. NordVPN and Surfshark both have live chat support, and they are the only people who can see your account.

If you spot a wrong price, a broken link, or a fact on this site that has gone out of date, the most useful thing you can do is check the provider’s own checkout page first, because prices change at checkout and this site says so on every page. This site is updated for the Black Friday sale, and prices are checked against the providers’ own pages, but a price can change between our check and your visit.

No contact email is published on this page yet, because publishing an email address that nobody reads would be worse than publishing none at all. When a real contact address is set up for this site, it will be added here.

Privacy Policy: The VPN Bro

This privacy policy explains what The VPN Bro collects, what it does not collect, and what happens when you click a link to NordVPN or Surfshark.

What this site collects

This site does not ask you for your name, your email address, your VPN password, or your payment details. It has no account system, no login form, and no checkout. The calculator and the picker on this site run entirely in your browser. The numbers you type into them are not sent to us, stored by us, or shared with anyone.

Like most websites, this site may use basic server logs, which record the page you visited and the time you visited it, for security and for fixing broken pages. Those logs do not include your name or your payment details.

Cookies and analytics

This site does not set advertising cookies itself. If analytics are added later, this policy will be updated to say so, and to say what is collected and why. Your browser may store cookies from the VPN providers’ own sites if you click through to them, and those cookies are governed by their privacy policies, not this one.

Affiliate links

Links to NordVPN and Surfshark on this site are affiliate links. If you buy through one of them, this site may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. The affiliate network may set a cookie when you click the link, so that the purchase can be credited to this site. That cookie is set by the affiliate network and the provider, not by this site, and it is governed by their privacy policies.

The affiliate disclosure is also shown in the footer of every page on this site, because it should not be hidden in a policy page that nobody reads.

Links to other sites

This site links to NordVPN and Surfshark, and to independent testers whose work is quoted in the guides. Those sites have their own privacy policies, and this policy does not cover them. Read their policies before you create an account or pay for anything.

Your rights

If you are in the UK or the EU, you have rights over your personal data, including the right to ask what data is held about you and to ask for it to be deleted. This site holds no account data about you, so there is nothing to delete. If you are in the USA or Canada, the same applies: this site does not hold your personal data, because it never asks for it.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the change will be shown here, with the date it was made. The current version was written on 7 November 2026, for the Black Friday sale. If a contact email or an analytics tool is added to this site later, this policy will be updated at the same time.