Cookie Policy

Surfshark · Official agreement

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Surfshark Cookie Policy

Last Update 2026.07.23.

Most sites on the internet, including Surfshark’s, use cookies, pixels, web beacons, and other similar technologies (collectively called “cookies”), as they are pretty convenient to help provide, protect, and improve our Services and Website.

1. What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small string of data that transfers to your device for identification purposes.

Surfshark utilizes cookies for several reasons, all aimed at enhancing your experience and ensuring the security of our services. These small data files help us maintain the efficient and secure functioning of our Website, allowing us to detect and prevent fraud effectively. Cookies also enable us to remember your preferences and recognize you as a returning visitor, tailoring your browsing experience by analyzing your habits and personalizing content. Furthermore, we gather statistical information on Website traffic and usage, and to display customized advertisements that are more relevant to your interests.

2. What categories of cookies does Surfshark collect?

Surfshark uses the following categories of cookies:

By cookie purpose

Necessary cookies These cookies are crucial for the core operations of our Website, and they're automatically placed on your devices to keep things running smoothly — no explicit consent needed.

Analytic cookies These cookies help us to understand your browsing behavior. They track which parts of our Website you find most engaging and flag any areas where you hit an error. They allow us to make improvements to our Website and analyze their performance.

Marketing cookies These cookies are used to track user activity and sessions so that we can deliver a more personalized service. Marketing cookies are set by third parties with whom we execute marketing campaigns and allow us to provide marketing relevant to you.

Affiliate Affiliate cookies allow us to identify the customers referred to our Website by our partners so that we can grant the referrers their commission.

By cookie origin

First-party cookies These are placed directly by our Website on your device.

Third-party cookies These are placed by other services that are integrated into our Website, like analytics or advertising platforms. For example, if you click a partner's link to reach our site, a third-party cookie might be used to track that interaction so that the partner can provide you with relevant offers.

By cookie duration

Session These are temporary and are deleted as soon as you close your browser.

Persistent These stay on your device for a set amount of time, which can range from a few days to several years. They will remain there unless you delete them yourself. You can learn how to do this in the "How to control cookies" section of the Cookie Policy.

There are many great resources to learn about the different types of cookies and how they work. You can check out websites like https://knowcookies.com/ or https://allaboutcookies.org/.

3. What specific cookies Surfshark collects?

We may occasionally test new cookies on our Website, and any that are permanently adopted will be added to the tables below.

Our Website employs the following first-party cookies:

Cookie Expiry Provenance Purpose Category

surfshark-locale 29 days Surfshark Stores selected website language Functional

surfshark-coupon Session Surfshark Stores the applied coupon code Essential

surfshark-on-exit-dialog-shown 1 year Surfshark Stores interactions with exit surveys Functional

surfshark-intent-survey-shown 1 year Surfshark Stores session data related to intent surveys Functional

surfshark-cf-uuid 30 min Surfshark Used to prevent fraud Essential

surfshark-sticky-cta-closed Session Surfshark Captures engagement data for promotional pop-ups Functional

surfshark-uuid 1 year Surfshark Maintains an encrypted session identifier Functional

_ssli 13 months Surfshark Maintains authenticated session settings Functional

_sstk 1 year Surfshark Used for authentication purposes Essential

_ssrtk 1 year Surfshark Used for authentication purposes Essential

_ssexp 2 hours Surfshark Used for authentication purposes Essential

sf-af 30 days Surfshark Stores the parameter of the previous visit Marketing

sf-ap 30 days Surfshark Stores the parameter of the previous visit Marketing

sf-lu 30 days Surfshark Stores the prior page URL Marketing

sf-la 30 days Surfshark Stores the prior page URL Marketing

sf-fi 30 days Surfshark Stores the prior page URL Marketing

sf-rf 30 days Surfshark Stores referral program information Functional

surfshark-consent-state 13 months Surfshark Stores cookie consent Essential

_sp_ses.{{DOMAIN HASH}} 30 minutes Surfshark Determines the current session authentication status Analytic

_sp_id.{{DOMAIN HASH}} 13 months Surfshark Persists attributes across sessions Analytic

surfshark-hide-renewal-off-notification 30 days Surfshark Stores engagement status for auto-renewal notification Functional

surfshark-hide-renewal-not-supported-notification 30 days Surfshark Stores engagement status for auto-renewal notification Functional

surfshark-hide-setup-guide 1 year Surfshark Stores interactions within the setup guide Functional

surfshark-skip-upgrade 14 days Surfshark Stores interactions with upgrade screen Functional

surfshark-app-auto-download-triggered 1 year Surfshark Stores the initiation status of automatic application downloads Functional

surfshark-product Session Surfshark Redirects back to product after additional product purchase Functional

surfshark-expired-url Session Surfshark Stores session errors to facilitate redirection to fallback workflows Functional

surfshark-activate-user-error Session Surfshark Indicates errors to facilitate redirection to fallback workflows Functional

surfshark-purchase-error Session Surfshark Shows purchase-related errors Essential

surfshark-teams-purchase-error Session Surfshark Shows purchase-related errors Essential

surfshark-free-trial-purchase-error Session Surfshark Shows purchase-related errors Essential

surfshark-card-purchase-error Session Surfshark Shows purchase-related errors Essential

surfshark-payment-settings-success Session Surfshark Shows payment update success status Essential

surfshark-payment-settings-processing-error Session Surfshark Shows payment method update errors status Essential

surfshark-hide-manual-setup-startup 1 year Surfshark Stores information about actions on setup screen Functional

surfshark-purchase-survey-showed 1 year Surfshark Stores interaction data for order-related exit survey Functional

surfshark-success-purchase Session Surfshark Displays purchase history Essential

surfshark-ref-checkout-path Session Surfshark Facilitates purchase flow redirection after failed payment Essential

surfshark-onboarding-task Session Surfshark Manages navigation state between onboarding tasks Essential

surfshark-upgrade-initially-skipped Session Surfshark Manages session redirection following an upgrade transaction Functional

surfshark-cancel-deal Session Surfshark Maintains session data regarding applicable promotions Functional

surfshark-chat-session Session Surfshark Maintains support chat continuity during site navigation Functional

shark-check Session Surfshark Checks cookie enablement status Essential

surfshark-purchase-data Session Surfshark Supports payment processing Essential

surfshark-experiments 1 year Surfshark Maintains session data for interface optimization research Functional

surfshark-experiments-exclude Session Surfshark Manages session segmentation for interface optimization Functional

shark-oauth-link Session Surfshark Supports third-party authentication Essential

shark-oauth-verify Session Surfshark Supports third-party authentication Essential

shark-oauth-referrer Session Surfshark Supports third-party authentication Essential

shark-oauth-skip-prompt Session Surfshark Supports third-party authentication Essential

shark-oauth-challenge Session Surfshark Supports third-party authentication Essential

surfshark-onboarding-upgrade-visited 1 year Surfshark Manages session routing following interaction with the upgrade interface Functional

Third-party service providers we currently use include:

Service provider Purpose Privacy policy How to disable

Adyen Essential https://www.adyen.com/privacy-policy Cannot be turned off

Apple Essential https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/ Cannot be turned off

AppsFlyer Analytics, advertising https://www.appsflyer.com/legal/services-privacy-policy/ Opt-out

Cloudflare Essential https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/ Cannot be turned off

GoogleGoogle Analytics, advertising, functionality https://business.safety.google/privacy/ Opt-out

Iterable Analytics, advertising, functionality https://iterable.com/legal/privacy-policy/ Please change your application or browser settings to disable cookies

MetaMeta Analytics, advertising https://www.facebook.com/privacy/center/ Opt-out

MicrosoftMicrosoft Advertising https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement Please change your application or browser settings to disable cookies

PaypalPayPal Essential https://www.paypal.com/us/legalhub/paypal/privacy-full Cannot be turned off

ProcessOut Essential https://www.processout.com/privacy-policy Cannot be turned off

Purchasely Functionality, Analytics https://www.purchasely.com/privacy-policy Please change your application or browser settings to disable cookies

TikTokTikTok Information Technologies Advertising https://www.tiktok.com/legal/page/eea/privacy-policy/en Please change your application or browser settings to disable cookies

TVSquared Analytics, advertising https://www.innovid.com/privacy-policy Opt-out

Typeform Functionality https://admin.typeform.com/to/dwk6gt/ Please change your application or browser settings to disable cookies

Zendesk Functionality https://www.zendesk.co.uk/company/agreements-and-terms/privacy-notice/ Opt-out here

OpenAIOpenAI Advertising https://openai.com/policies/communications-privacy-policy/ Please change your application or browser settings to disable cookies

4. How to control cookies?

You can control the cookies deployed on your devices. You may update your cookie preferences at any time by selecting the 'Cookie Preferences' link in the Website footer. Also, the majority of cookie types can be regulated or eradicated via your web browser's configuration options. Please be aware, however, that when you choose to reject cookies, this choice may limit the functionality of the Website and you may lose access to some of its features.

For detailed instructions on adjusting cookie preferences within various commonly used browsers, please consult the following directional links:

Also, if you would like to disable advertising cookies, please learn more at Network Advertising Initiative’s opt-out page, the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out page, or http://youronlinechoices.eu.

We note that our Website may contain links to external sites that may take you outside of our Website and are beyond our control. Please note that these other sites may send their own cookies to users, collect data, or solicit personal information. We urge you to review the equivalent data protection, privacy, and cookie policies available on their websites. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the data protection or privacy practices of third-party websites and your use of third-party websites is entirely your own responsibility.

5. Does our website respond to do-not-track signals?

Currently, it doesn’t. You can tweak your specific browser settings to achieve very similar results.

At this time, Surfshark does not recognize automated browser signals regarding tracking mechanisms, which may include “do-not-track” instructions. However, you can change your privacy preferences regarding the use of cookies and similar technologies through your browser. You may set your browser to accept all cookies, block certain cookies, require your consent before a cookie is placed in your browser, or block all cookies. Please note that blocking all cookies will affect your online experience and may prevent you from enjoying the full features offered by our Website.

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