EU sovereignVPNHeadquarters: NL

Surfshark: sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

Surfshark is a VPN service operated by Surfshark B.V. It encrypts internet traffic between a device and the company's servers in many countries. Apps cover Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and TV platforms, plus browser extensions. Features include the WireGuard protocol, a MultiHop option with user-chosen entry and exit servers, ad and tracker blocking, and RAM-only servers.

Surfshark B.V. is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and states that it operates under Dutch jurisdiction. In February 2022 Surfshark and Nord Security, the company behind NordVPN, agreed to merge, with both brands continuing to operate separately. The privacy policy describes a no-logs approach: connection details such as user ID, IP address and timestamps are deleted within 15 minutes after a session ends. It also says data may be processed in any country where the company has facilities or service providers, naming the United States for some third-party services.

See the 8 European alternatives ↓Assess your stack with Surfshark pre-selected

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Sovereignty score

71 / 1000 = high exposure
100 = sovereign

Jurisdiction SOV-2100
Headquartered in the EU: European law applies
Data residency SOV-3100
EU-only hosting
Cryptographic key sovereignty SOV-360
Key management with a European vendor
Freedom from lock-in SOV-640
Closed source: switching requires data migration
Source & runtime sovereignty SOV-4 · SOV-655
Closed source, runtime with the vendor

SOV codes: the matching objective in the European Commission's Cloud Sovereignty Framework. Official source

How the score is calculated

Facts and evidence

Last checked July 2, 2026

Headquarters	NL (EU)Verified by hand
Sovereignty model	Vendor-hosted (EU)Verified by hand
Data hosting	EUVerified by hand
Open-source	NoVerified by hand
GDPR-compliant	YesVendor-stated
Compliance documents	2 published, see belowVendor-stated
Hosting signal	CLOUDFLARENET - Cloudflare, Inc., US (US)Technically measured
Category	VPN
Type	Product
Website	surfshark.com ↗

The hosting signal shows the network that serves the vendor's website, often a CDN, and not necessarily where the service or your data is hosted. How we verify · Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Top EU-based & GDPR-compliant alternatives to Surfshark

The European alternatives to Surfshark come from our knowledge base of over 6,800 vendors. We only list vendors headquartered in the EU or the EEA; fully European-owned vendors rank before vendors with a foreign owner. For each alternative you see the country, the open-source status and a short description.

Score per alternative: 0 = high exposure, 100 = sovereign

21 European VPN vendors are in the catalogue. View the whole category · Submit an alternative · View category on the map

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Why digital sovereignty matters with Surfshark

Surfshark is headquartered in NL and therefore falls under European law: the GDPR, NIS2 and the Data Act. No foreign legislation can compel access to your data.

Data is hosted exclusively in the EU, so Surfshark scores best on data residency.

Surfshark is closed source and hosted by the vendor. The encryption keys and the runtime sit with the vendor and switching requires data migration. Ask about bring-your-own-key, export options and open standards.

What this means for your organisation depends on your whole stack and context. The free assessment weighs Surfshark together with your other vendors and gives a total score, a heatmap and the main risk drivers.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best European alternative to Surfshark?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to Surfshark include AdGuard VPN, AirVPN and Avast SecureLine VPN. On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to Surfshark?

Yes. Open-source EU alternatives to Surfshark include Cryptostorm. These keep your data fully under your own control and let you self-host if you want to.

Is Surfshark GDPR-compliant and where is the data hosted?

Surfshark is headquartered in NL (EU) and hosts data in EU. That makes Surfshark an EU-sovereign choice in its own right; the EU alternatives on this page are comparable European tools.

Details and sources

Verified by handHeadquarters, owner, hosting locations and licence have been checked by us against public sources. Free of charge and for every vendor, not a paid label. Nothing in this knowledge base is taken over automatically. Last checked on July 2, 2026.

Sources

This record was checked via the vendor's website and legal notice during the full audit of June and July 2026. Source links have been recorded per record since 20 September 2026.

Compliance evidence

The links below point to the vendor's own public documents. We only record what we found: a missing link means "not found publicly", not "not compliant".

Data Processing Agreement (DPA): surfshark.com/privacy
Security page / trust center: surfshark.com/security

Provenance of the links above:Vendor-stated

Links checked on September 22, 2026.

Cyber Resilience Act

Public signals that relate to the EU Cyber Resilience Act. They do not count towards the score. A missing line means "not found publicly".

Report a vulnerability: surfshark.com/bounty-policy

For products in scope of the CRA, CE marking is required from 11 December 2027; this cannot be checked yet.

Checked on October 9, 2026. What is the Cyber Resilience Act?

Digital sovereignty in VPN

VPN: Virtual private network — privacy protection, encrypted connection. In this category the choice of vendor determines who has legal access to your data, where that data lives and how easily you can switch later.

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