Surfshark vs PIA

Neither service makes you count paid-plan devices, so device limits do not decide this matchup. The more interesting question is which kind of transparency and day-to-day tooling matters more to you.

Client openness with practical server guidance

PIA's client apps are open source across the supported platform set. PIA has streaming-focused server tools or labels, so you are not starting every stream with blind server roulette. PIA includes Smart DNS in its current streaming toolkit. That combination is useful if you want source visibility but still expect the VPN to make ordinary streaming setups — including awkward devices — less of a manual experiment.

Audit access is not the same strength

PIA's full no-logs audit is not currently available as an open-access report. Surfshark is the side with open audit access. If your trust workflow starts with opening the report itself, that is where Surfshark answers the question more directly.

Evidence you can reach more directly

Surfshark's current audit report is available without requiring a VPN-account login. Surfshark has a confirmed multi-hop route in the current feature set. Those appeal to two different priorities: checking the audit evidence and having a clearly confirmed extra-hop route. If both are on your shortlist, they form a coherent reason to lean this way.

The app and streaming trade-off

Not all of Surfshark's client apps are open source. Surfshark does not currently offer dedicated streaming-server tools or platform labels. PIA is the open-client side of this comparison. If source visibility or explicit streaming-server guidance matters more than open audit access, the balance shifts toward PIA.