Examined Sep 18, 2026 Brand-new subscribers only Trial converts after day 7 Surfshark gives a referred friend up to 3 free months and gives anyone a 7-day free trial, but the trial turns into a 12 or 24-month charge after day 7, and only the first payment is ever refundable.
There is also a public offer that needs no link: a 7-day free trial for $0.00, open to first-time users on any 12-month or 24-month plan. You give an email address and payment details (credit card, PayPal or Apple Pay) to confirm you are a first-time user. The trial covers three devices.
What pays what
| New subscriber, 12-month or 24-month plan, through a subscriber's link | 3 free months |
|---|---|
| New subscriber, 1-month plan, through a subscriber's link | 1 free month |
| Anyone who is a first-time user, no link needed | 7-day free trial for $0.00 |
| A friend who is not a brand-new Surfshark subscriber | Nothing |
Do this, in this order
- Decide which offer you are using. The trial needs no link. The free months need the unique link of a current subscriber, who finds it in the Refer & earn tab of their account or app. No page we read says whether the two can be combined.
- Price the plan before the reward. The pricing page we read lists 2-year Starter at $2.49 a month and then says: “sale price $67.23 for the first 27 months (VAT may apply).” That is 24 months plus 3 extra months, sold to everyone, and $67.23 divided by 27 is $2.49. Its billing answer reads: “The 2-year plan is billed once at the beginning of your subscription and then annually after it expires.”
- If you are only testing, cancel inside the 7 days. Surfshark says you can cancel at any point during the trial and will not be charged. In your account, select the profile icon, choose Subscription and disable auto-renewal.
- Buy from Surfshark itself. The refund article lists the conditions, the first being: “The subscription was purchased directly from Surfshark or through an eligible reseller (Paddle, Google Play, or Cleverbridge)”. Apple purchases must be refunded by Apple and Amazon purchases by Amazon. Payments made with prepaid cards or gift cards are not refunded.
- Write down day 30. The refund request must be made within 30 days of the initial purchase. After a trial, Surfshark says the guarantee starts when the trial ends, for 37 days in total.
The refund covers the first payment only
Our 30-day money-back guarantee is designed to let you try the Service risk-free. Accordingly, it applies only to your initial purchase and is limited to one refund per Service.
Renewals are final. The same section says that for all subscription plans, all recurring payments are non-refundable, and the refund article lists “The subscription has already renewed” among its exceptions. Surfshark says it emails ahead of a renewal when the plan is longer than one month.
Other limits in the terms. The anonymous Dedicated IP option and Alternative ID purchases such as the Alternative Number feature are non-refundable. Surfshark may withhold or delay a refund until it has verified your account information. Users must be 18 or older.
What Surfshark does not publish
The referral rules are not where the help pages say. Both help articles send readers to the Terms of Service for regional eligibility. The Terms of Service we read, last updated July 13, 2026, never mention the referral program. The landing page points to separate Refer & Earn terms and conditions; that document is not among the pages we read. No end date is stated.
The renewal price. The pricing page says only: “Upon renewal, you will be charged the applicable renewal price.” No figure appears in the text we read, and the terms let Surfshark change recurring fees with advance notice.
Whether the months stack, and when they arrive. The public 2-year price already includes 3 extra months. Nothing we read says whether your 3 referral months come on top of those, or when they are added.
Is it worth your time?
If you had already chosen Surfshark, a subscriber's link costs you nothing and buying without one earns no months. At the $2.49 a month shown for 2-year Starter, 3 months is worth about $7.47, or 3 times $2.49. That is too small to choose a VPN by.
If you only want to try it, use the 7-day trial and treat day 7 as a deadline. Miss it and you have bought a year or two, with 30 days to ask for the money back and no refund on any payment after that.
If you are the one referring
A subscriber who shares a link earns 20% of the friend's initial purchase, excluding tax, paid to PayPal only once “Your wallet balance must reach $25”, or can take the reward as free months instead. The choice between money and months is irreversible.
