RiseupVPN vs Surfshark

RiseupVPN is a free personal VPN for traffic encryption, location anonymization and censorship circumvention. Clients are available for Android, Linux, macOS and Windows, and torrent support is listed. The software is designed to install and run without account registration or configuration. It routes internet traffic through an encrypted connection to riseup.net before reaching the public internet. Riseup describes protection against ISP surveillance, blocking most tracking companies and bypassing government censorship where internet access remains available. Its stated logs exclude IP addresses, DNS requests, traffic flows, browser fingerprints and identifying information; minimal logs are encrypted and rotated within five days. Riseup warns that traffic can face man-in-the-middle attacks after leaving the VPN gateway, so HTTPS remains important. The service is funded by donations and estimates its cost at approximately $60 USD per person per year. Android installation is documented through F-Droid, Google Play or an LEAP APK. Riseup says clients use open-source Bitmask software. Windows lacks a kill switch, and the Linux Snap package is out of support.

Surfshark has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.