VPNInfobaseThe three differ less on features than on what sits behind them. NordVPN and Surfshark announced a merger in 2022 and say they run separately; ExpressVPN’s parent is Kape. ExpressVPN lists the most audits, NordVPN’s are assurance reports by large accounting firms, and Surfshark links the most public technical reports. All three raise the price after the first term or do not state it.
The three on the same questions
| Attribute | NordVPN | Surfshark | ExpressVPN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent, as the vendor states | Nord Security (Lithuania); service stated as Panama | Surfshark B.V. (Netherlands); merger with Nord Security announced 2022 | Kape Technologies named as ultimate holding company; operator in the British Virgin Islands |
| No-logs assurance | PwC (2018, 2020) then Deloitte; a fifth report from Deloitte Lithuania in 2024, a sixth per press coverage | Deloitte 2023 and 2025; reports readable only in an account | PwC 2019, KPMG 2022 and 2023, a KPMG engagement announced June 2025 (Type 1, a single date) |
| Technical tests, public | None recorded in the register | SecuRing and Cure53 reports linked | Long list, mostly Cure53, some without links |
| Entry price as read | USD 3.49 a month for 27 months (USD 94.23), read 28 Sep | EUR 2.49 a month for 27 months (EUR 67.23) and USD 2.49 (USD 67.23) on a dollar copy, read 29 Sep | USD 2.99 a month for 28 months (USD 83.72), read 28 Sep; EUR 2.49 (EUR 69.72), read 29 Sep |
| Stated renewal | USD 139.08 a year (register; not readable on the page) | Not stated | USD 99.95 a year; EUR 79.95 in euros |
| 36-month average | about USD 5.52 | Not computable | about USD 4.18 (EUR 3.42) |
| Refund | 30 days, first purchase | 30 days, first purchase | 30 days, new subscribers |
| Incident on the register | 2019 disclosure of a 2018 datacenter access | None | 2021 statement on an executive’s past work (governance, not a breach) |
Sources: the ownership table, audit tracker, renewal price table and incidents timeline, each citing the vendor’s own page. Nord’s pages returned HTTP 403 to our reader, so its column is the 28 September register reading, and its price is confirmed only by third-party price trackers. Each figure carries the currency the page showed on the date given: Surfshark’s page shows the same numerals in euros and dollars, and ExpressVPN’s euro and dollar prices differ. Confirm the currency and total at checkout.
What the table says
Ownership. Nord and Surfshark are the pair that announced a merger; Surfshark’s post says they “continue to operate as autonomous companies” and terms were not disclosed, and we have not checked that independently. ExpressVPN’s Kape also owns CyberGhost. None names an individual owner on the pages we read.
Audit kind. More audits is not the same as better assurance. ExpressVPN’s list is mostly security tests of apps and its protocol, with a smaller set of no-logs reports. NordVPN’s are all no-logs assurance. Surfshark’s no-logs reports are private and its public reports are technical. Read your priority off the row, not the count.
Price. ExpressVPN is cheaper than NordVPN once renewal is counted, on the published figures. Surfshark’s first-term price is lowest but its renewal is unknown from its page.
Pick by need
- Assurance reports from large accounting firms: NordVPN or ExpressVPN; see each review, NordVPN and ExpressVPN.
- Reports you can open without an account: Surfshark’s technical ones; see the Surfshark review.
- A price you can compute in advance: ExpressVPN, on a stated renewal.
- Neither a VPN group nor a merger: none of these three; see Proton VPN vs Mullvad vs IVPN.
We removed the server counts, device limits and streaming claims that stood on this page before, because we could not source them today. Researched from vendor pages and the register; not a measured comparison. NordVPN is the one provider we earn a commission from, as disclosed here.