ExpressVPN vs Surfshark

ExpressVPN's no-logs commitment for VPN traffic is genuine and KPMG-audited, anonymous payment is available, and its BVI jurisdiction keeps legal requests demanding, but the service is ultimately owned by Kape Technologies PLC (a UK company with a controversial history) — and while the policy explicitly firewalls your data from Kape, an aggressive marketing cookie stack including Facebook Pixel, DoubleClick Ad, and Microsoft Advertising runs on the website, essential cookies including Google Analytics cannot be disabled, and transactional data is retained for ten years.

Surfshark is notably transparent — it publishes specific data retention windows for every processing activity, a warrant canary, and a transparency report — but it temporarily stores your IP address during VPN sessions (deleted within 15 minutes of disconnection), is incorporated in the Netherlands (Nine Eyes jurisdiction), shares data with Nord Security group companies including US entities, stores data in Google BigQuery, and its Alternative Number feature sends call and SMS content to Telnyx in the United States.