Is a consumer VPN the same as my company's VPN?
No. A corporate VPN, whether Cisco AnyConnect, GlobalProtect, FortiClient or a zero-trust tool such as Cloudflare or Zscaler, puts your laptop inside your employer's network so you can reach file servers, internal apps and the intranet. Your IT team runs it and decides what it logs. A consumer VPN, the kind on this page, encrypts your connection to a server the provider runs and gives you an IP address in a country you choose. It cannot get you into the company network.
If your employer supplies a VPN, use it for work on the work laptop and follow IT's rules; many policies prohibit installing other VPN software on managed devices. The consumer VPN belongs on your own phone and laptop, for everything outside the corporate tunnel: client calls on a cafe network, your accounting, your bank, and the coworking Wi-Fi you share with 40 strangers. For freelancers with no IT department it is the only VPN you have, and client confidentiality is reason enough to run it on any network you do not control.
Expect friction with security tooling. Microsoft Entra ID flags sign-ins from anonymous VPN ranges as risky and watches for atypical travel between two logins, so appearing in London at 9am and Bangkok at 9.15am can trigger a re-authentication or a lock-out. The fix is to pick one server location for work logins and stay on it. When something does break, 24/7 live chat from NordVPN or Surfshark is faster than most corporate helpdesks.
What a VPN does and does not do for remote work
A consumer VPN encrypts the link between your device and the VPN server, so the coworking space, the hotel and the cafe see only scrambled traffic to one address. That covers client documents, video calls and logins on any network. It also fixes location: a UK server keeps your bank, HMRC login and UK software licences working from abroad, and gives your clients' systems one consistent country.
It does not change where you are for tax or employment purposes. HMRC's statutory residence test counts the days you are physically in the UK, your home and your work pattern; an IP address plays no part in it, and hiding your location from an employer who has not agreed to you working abroad is a contractual problem, not a technical one. It will not improve a poor coworking connection or replace your employer's VPN. Both picks carry a 30-day money-back guarantee, so test them on your real working set-up: NordVPN for a solo worker, Surfshark if you need to cover a household of devices.
Recommended VPNs for Remote Work
NordVPN, best for short trips and month-by-month plans
It is the one for you if you are covering yourself, or you and a partner, and want something simple to run and easy to forget about. One plan covers 10 devices, and the apps are quick to install and easy to switch off and on as you need. Plans run by the month, the year or over two years, all with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Surfshark, best for long stays and unlimited devices
It is the one for you if one subscription needs to cover everyone. Connections are unlimited, so every phone, laptop and tablet you travel with, and anyone you share a place with, runs on the same plan at once. That suits a stay that stretches to months rather than weeks. It sells the same three terms and adds bonus months on the longer two, with the same 30-day money-back guarantee.
Server networks, split tunnelling and speeds
Both providers run physical servers in well over 60 countries and virtual locations in many more, so there is nearly always a server in or next to the country you are working from for low-latency calls, plus a large UK fleet for home services. For video calls, use the nearest server; routing a Zoom call from Mexico City through London adds latency you will notice. Switch to a UK server only for the services that need it.
Split tunnelling solves the running-both-at-once problem. NordVPN offers it on Windows, Android, Android TV and its browser extensions; Surfshark calls it Bypasser and offers it on Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. Either lets you send your bank and browser through the VPN while your employer's VPN client, Teams or a local printer go direct. On a decent coworking connection, the WireGuard-based protocols in both apps cost very little speed.
How to choose between them
The differences that matter fit in one table, and the last two rows are there to name two promises you should not believe from anyone, us included.
| Feature | NordVPN | Surfshark |
|---|
| 1 month | $14.99 | $16.45 |
| 1 year plan, total upfront | $65.88 (12 months billed) | $50.85 (15 months billed) |
| 2 year plan, total upfront | $94.23 (27 months billed) | $67.23 (27 months billed) |
| Devices per plan | 10 | Unlimited |
| Kill switch and auto-connect | Yes | Yes |
| Independently audited no-log policy | Yes (2025) | Yes (2025) |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 days | 30 days |
| Guarantees access to any blocked site, anywhere | No | No |
| Makes slow Wi-Fi faster | No | No |
On a single month NordVPN is cheaper. Over a year or two Surfshark is. On everything else the choice is about shape rather than money: 10 devices and a simple setup on one side, unlimited devices on the other.
Setting up before you travel
Do the setup at home, on Wi-Fi you trust, before the airport. Install NordVPN or Surfshark on each device, sign in, and connect once to confirm everything works. Then turn on two settings both apps include: the kill switch, which stops your traffic travelling unprotected if the VPN drops, and auto-connect, which brings the VPN back up when your connection returns.
Set up on your own devices before you travel, and leave managed work laptops to your IT policy. Turn on the kill switch and auto-connect for untrusted Wi-Fi, choose one fixed server location for work logins so security tools do not see you hopping between countries, and use split tunnelling to keep your employer's VPN, Teams and Slack outside the consumer tunnel if they object to it. Save a UK server as a favourite for banking and HMRC. If you use one coworking space regularly, ask for a wired desk; a VPN over Ethernet is the most stable set-up.
Final recommendation
For a solo freelancer or an employee working a few weeks a year from abroad, NordVPN is our pick. NordLynx is quick enough for all-day video calls, split tunnelling on Windows and Android keeps your corporate VPN and collaboration tools outside the tunnel, and ten device connections cover a laptop, phone, tablet and a partner's kit.
For a fully remote household, a couple who both work from the road, or anyone who needs the VPN on every device including Apple ones, Surfshark is the better value. Unlimited devices covers everything on one account, and Bypasser works on macOS and iOS as well as Windows and Android, which matters if your work kit is a MacBook and an iPhone.
