Surfshark now lets you block specific websites — but you'll need a Windows PC

• Surfshark has added an allowed websites list to its web content blocker
• The feature is currently limited to Windows only
• Web content blocker is a Surfshark One and One+ exclusive feature

Surfshark has rolled out a useful upgrade to one of its household safety tools. The web content blocker can now keep an entire category of sites blocked while still letting through the specific pages you actually need, thanks to a new allowed websites list.

The catch is that this new list is only available on Windows for now. Anyone hoping to use the allow list on their phone or Mac will have to wait for the rollout to widen.

Surfshark's web Content blocker first arrived on Android and iOS back in October 2025 and has since expanded to desktop, so it's fitting that a PC-first feature is the next piece of the puzzle.

In a way, it's only a small change, but it addresses one of the most common annoyances with category-based filtering. Until now, blocking a category was an all-or-nothing affair, and if a legitimate site got swept up in a broad filter, your only option was to disable the whole thing.

This is exactly the kind of quality-of-life refinement that helps keep Surfshark near the top of our best VPN rankings, where it currently sits as our pick for the best cheap VPN.

Surfshark – the best cheap VPN
Surfshark is a fast, easy-to-use VPN that seriously beats the competition when it comes to subscription pricing. Its two-year Starter plan works out at $2.49 a month (plus tax), but we think Surfshark One is the best value plan as it adds a web content blocker, antivirus, data breach monitor, and alternative ID tool starting from the equivalent of $2.79 a month.

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A quick refresher: what is web content blocker?

Web content blocker is Surfshark's category-based filtering feature, available to subscribers on its Surfshark One and One+ plans.

The tool automatically blocks access to whole categories of websites you would rather keep off your devices, and you don't need to keep the VPN turned on for it to work. The feature currently lets you filter seven categories of content, including those related to pornography, gambling, weapons, drugs, and malware.

Crucially, Surfshark built the feature to safeguard people without surveilling them. As Justas Pukys, a Senior Product Manager at Surfshark, has explained, the blocker "helps users protect their family members from seeing malicious content or websites" without monitoring the sites they visit.

That means no screen time limits, no app blocking, and no activity logs, which is consistent with the company's independently audited no-logs stance.

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How to use the allowed websites list

If you are running Surfshark's web content blocker on Windows, adding a trusted site to your allow list is straightforward:

1. Open your Surfshark app.
2. Click the Settings cogwheel icon in the left navigation menu.
3. Navigate to Web content blocker.
4. Scroll down and click on Allowed websites.
5. Press Add.
6. Enter the specific website URLs you want to allow.

Any site you add stays reachable while the rest of its category remains filtered, and you can toggle the web content blocker on or off whenever you like.

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