Both VPNs, tested the same way, on the same WireGuard protocol, continuously. Live head-to-head across 21 directly-compared locations (of 24 locations measured here) — real measured speeds, not marketing claims.
Faster average download across 21 directly-compared locations. 199392 total tests and counting.
As of 21 October 2026, across 21 directly-compared locations tested identically on WireGuard, Surfshark recorded the faster average download in 9 and NordVPN in 12 for United States — from 199392 independent, continuously-updated speed tests measured by VPNSpeedTest (vpnspeeddata.com). These are datacentre/server-side conditions showing each VPN's speed ceiling, not a home-broadband guarantee; their value is the like-for-like comparison. How we test → Why our numbers differ from other reviews →
Tested by the VPNSpeedTest team · automated, vendor-independent measurement · data as of 21 October 2026 · about us
| Location | Surfshark | NordVPN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Down | Up | Ping | Down | Up | Ping | |
| United States - Ashburn | 1471.9 | 991.6 | 85.0 | 1233.4 | 882.2 | 82.2 |
| United States - Atlanta | 1527.6 | 902.7 | 96.0 | 1288.1 | 894.4 | 95.9 |
| United States - Bend | 1295.4 | 621.8 | 142.3 | — | — | — |
| United States - Boston | 1499.5 | 1021.0 | 86.8 | 1481.0 | 1025.3 | 83.2 |
| United States - Buffalo | 1472.3 | 823.6 | 97.8 | 1568.1 | 942.0 | 107.6 |
| United States - Charlotte | 1489.2 | 706.4 | 109.8 | 1603.2 | 871.0 | 101.8 |
| United States - Chicago | 1418.4 | 842.3 | 105.3 | 1266.3 | 903.4 | 94.3 |
| United States - Dallas | 1445.6 | 733.9 | 117.8 | 1258.9 | 700.1 | 119.5 |
| United States - Denver | 1353.3 | 616.2 | 117.7 | 1477.9 | 742.7 | 117.7 |
| United States - Detroit | 1497.5 | 453.7 | 99.4 | 1262.1 | 907.3 | 100.4 |
| United States - Houston | 1350.9 | 777.2 | 113.5 | 1570.9 | 659.0 | 109.1 |
| United States - Kansas City | 1295.4 | 722.3 | 104.8 | 1607.9 | 834.9 | 102.6 |
| United States - Las Vegas | 1239.8 | 600.4 | 154.6 | 1109.4 | 581.7 | 155.1 |
| United States - Latham | 1455.8 | 1053.7 | 82.2 | — | — | — |
| United States - Los Angeles | 1229.9 | 578.2 | 149.8 | 1123.2 | 584.5 | 149.4 |
| United States - Miami | 1468.7 | 807.3 | 108.5 | 1573.2 | 810.7 | 107.9 |
| United States - Nashville | 1504.1 | 821.8 | 119.3 | 1607.6 | 830.1 | 114.0 |
| United States - New York | 1540.3 | 1054.6 | 90.9 | 1235.2 | 1090.1 | 76.9 |
| United States - Omaha | 1500.5 | 812.3 | 109.4 | 1555.7 | 812.1 | 107.6 |
| United States - Phoenix | 1320.3 | 605.6 | 139.8 | 1322.2 | 566.2 | 144.2 |
| United States - Salt Lake City | 1390.8 | 707.0 | 129.8 | 1474.6 | 708.4 | 127.1 |
| United States - San Francisco | 1197.6 | 608.7 | 147.8 | 1370.1 | 569.4 | 142.9 |
| United States - San Jose | 1286.1 | 584.0 | 144.6 | — | — | — |
| United States - Seattle | 1284.3 | 637.4 | 139.3 | 1352.7 | 613.1 | 140.0 |
Down/Up in Mbps, Ping in ms. "—" means we don't yet have data for that provider in this location. NordVPN serves the lowest-load server per city, so its exact server varies between tests.
Affiliate links — we may earn a commission at no cost to you. Speed data is never influenced by partnerships.
We run identical, automated speed tests against both Surfshark and NordVPN using the WireGuard protocol (NordLynx on Nord's side), connecting to the recommended server in each city and measuring download, upload, ping, and jitter. Because both providers are tested the same way at the same cadence, the numbers above are directly comparable — unlike one-off screenshots taken under different conditions.
Speed isn't the only thing that matters when choosing a VPN, but it's the one most review sites fake. Use the live scoreboard above to see which provider currently wins more locations on download speed, then dig into the per-location table to find the best option for the regions you actually connect to.
Want the deep dive on each? Read our Surfshark review and NordVPN review, both backed by the same continuous data.