Quick speeds and a low studying curve

ExpressVPN is sweet at its job. It is simple to be skeptical of any service with a knack for self-promotion, however do not let ExpressVPN’s hype distract you from the truth that it retains its front-page promise of “simply working.”

Exterior of strong safety, the 2 finest issues ExpressVPN affords are quick speeds and a easy interface. Our exams confirmed solely a 7% common drop in obtain velocity and a 2% lack of add velocity, worldwide. And whereas the dearth of additional options could frustrate skilled customers, it makes for a real set-and-forget VPN on any platform.

This is not to say ExpressVPN is with out flaws — it is almost bereft of customization choices and it is notably costlier than its competitors — but it surely beats most VPNs in a head-to-head matchup.

For this assessment, we adopted our rigorous 10-step VPN testing course of, exploring ExpressVPN’s safety, privateness, velocity, interfaces and extra. Whether or not you learn straight by way of or skip to the sections which can be most essential for you, it is best to come away with all the data you have to resolve whether or not to subscribe.

Editor’s notice (9/25/25): We have overhauled our VPN protection to offer extra detailed, actionable shopping for recommendation. Going ahead, we’ll proceed to replace each our finest VPN listing and particular person evaluations (like this one) as circumstances change. Most not too long ago, we added official scores to all of our VPN evaluations. Take a look at how we check VPNs to study extra concerning the new requirements we’re utilizing.

ExpressVPN

Attempt ExpressVPN for your self with a 30-day money-back assure on all plans.

Execs

• Quick obtain and add speeds
• Unblocks Netflix in every single place
• Zero leaks
• Straightforward-to-use apps

Cons

• Few additional options
• Costly plans

From $4.99/month at ExpressVPN

Desk of contents

Findings at a look

Putting in, configuring and utilizing ExpressVPN

This part focuses on the way it feels to make use of ExpressVPN on every of the key platforms the place it is out there. Step one for any setup course of is to make an account on expressvpn.com and purchase a subscription.

Home windows

As soon as subscribed, obtain the Home windows VPN from both expressvpn.com or the Microsoft Retailer, then open the .exe file. Click on “Sure” to let it make modifications, anticipate the set up, then let your laptop reboot. Together with the reboot, the entire course of takes 5-10 minutes, most of it idle. To complete, you will want your activation code, which you could find by going to expressvpn.com and clicking “Setup” within the top-right nook.

Excessive simplicity is the watchword for all ExpressVPN’s designs. The Home windows consumer’s launch panel consists of three buttons and fewer than ten phrases. You possibly can change your location or let the app decide a location for you — the “Good Location” is the server with the perfect mixture of being close by and unburdened.

Every part else is crammed into the hamburger menu on the high left. Right here, in seven tabs, you will discover the Community Lock kill change, the 4 kinds of content material blockers, the break up tunneling menu and the choice to vary your VPN protocol. It’s also possible to add shortcuts to varied web sites, helpful for those who often use your VPN for a similar on-line locations.

To sum up, there’s nearly nothing right here to get in the way in which: no delays, no snags, no nested menus to get misplaced in. It could be the world’s most ignorable VPN consumer. That is not a foul factor in any respect.

Mac

ExpressVPN’s app for macOS is sort of similar in design to its Home windows app. The method for downloading and setting it up is almost the identical too. As on Home windows, it may be downloaded from the App Retailer or sideloaded immediately from the expressvpn.com obtain middle. Only some options are lacking and a pair others have been added. Cut up tunneling is gone (except you are still on a macOS decrease than 11), and you will not see the Lightway Turbo setting.

Mac customers do achieve entry to the IKEv2 protocol, together with the choice to show off automated IPv6 blocking — Home windows customers have to depart it blocked always. Virtually each web site continues to be accessible by way of IPv4, but it surely’s helpful for those who do must entry a particular IPv6 tackle whereas the VPN is lively.

Android

Android customers can obtain ExpressVPN by way of the Google Play Retailer. Open the app, sign up and also you’re able to go. The Android app has a really good dark-colored design, solely barely marred by an pointless data field about how lengthy you’ve got used the VPN this week.

There’s a big button for connecting. Clicking on the server title takes you to an inventory of areas. On this listing, you’ll be able to both search or scroll and might select particular person areas inside a rustic that has a couple of. We related to as many far-flung server areas as we might, however not a single one took longer than a number of seconds.

The choices menu is organized sensibly, with no possibility positioned greater than two clicks deep. You will notice a few choices right here that are not out there on desktop, the perfect of which is the flexibility to robotically connect with your last-used ExpressVPN server at any time when your cellphone connects to a non-trusted wifi community.

There are additionally a number of basic safety instruments: an IP tackle checker, DNS and WebRTC leak testers and a password generator. These are additionally out there on the web site, however right here, they’re constructed into the app. Except for the latter, we might suggest utilizing third-party testing instruments as an alternative — even a VPN with integrity has an incentive to make its personal app appear like it is working.

iPhone and iPad

You possibly can solely set up ExpressVPN’s iOS app by way of the app retailer. Throughout setup, you could must enter your password to permit your cellphone to make use of VPN configurations. In any other case, there aren’t any main variations from the Android course of.

The interface will not be fairly as pleasing because the dark-mode Android app, but it surely makes up for that by chopping out among the muddle. The tabs and options are related, although break up tunneling and shortcuts are absent. Additionally, each cell apps make buyer assist much more accessible than their desktop counterparts — plus, cell is the one solution to ship e-mail assist tickets.

Browser extension

ExpressVPN additionally consists of browser extensions for Firefox and Chrome. These allow you to join, disconnect and alter server areas with out leaving your browser window. It is good, however not important except you have got a really particular net browser move you want.

ExpressVPN velocity check: Very quick averages

Connecting to a VPN nearly at all times decreases your velocity, however the perfect VPNs mitigate the drop as a lot as potential. We used Ookla’s velocity testing app to see how a lot of your web velocity ExpressVPN preserves. For this check, we emphasised the areas ExpressVPN makes use of for many of its digital servers, together with the Netherlands, Brazil, Germany and Singapore.

Some phrases earlier than we begin:

• Latency, measured in milliseconds (ms), is the time it takes one knowledge packet to journey between your gadget and an online server by way of the VPN. Latency will increase with distance. It is most essential for real-time duties like video chatting and on-line gaming.

• Obtain velocity, measured in megabits per second (Mbps), is the quantity of data that may obtain onto your gadget at one time — comparable to when loading an online web page or streaming a video.

• Add velocity, additionally measured in Mbps, is the quantity of data your gadget can ship to the online without delay. It is most essential for torrenting, because the quantity of knowledge you’ll be able to seed determines how briskly you’ll be able to obtain in change.

The desk beneath exhibits our outcomes. We carried out this on Home windows, utilizing the automated protocol setting with the Lightway Turbo function lively — a current ExpressVPN addition that retains velocity extra constant by processing connections in parallel.

These are extraordinarily good outcomes. ExpressVPN is a winner on each obtain and add velocity. Irrespective of the place we went on this planet, we by no means misplaced greater than about 7% of our obtain speeds, and add misplaced an astoundingly low common of two%. This implies that ExpressVPN deftly distributes its person load between servers to remove bottlenecks.

The latency numbers look worse, however the rise within the desk is much less sharp than we projected. Ping size relies upon way more on distance than obtain velocity does, so we anticipate it to shoot up on servers greater than 1,000 miles from our location. Maintaining the common beneath 300 ms, as ExpressVPN does right here, is a robust displaying.

ExpressVPN safety check: Checking for leaks

A VPN’s core mission is to cover your IP tackle and make you untraceable on-line. Our activity on this part is to determine if ExpressVPN can perform this mission each time you join. Whereas we will not be 100% sure, the exams we’ll run by way of beneath have led us to consider that ExpressVPN is at the moment leak-proof.

Obtainable VPN protocols

A VPN protocol is sort of a frequent language {that a} VPN server can use to mediate between your units and the online servers you go to. If a VPN makes use of outdated or insecure protocols, or depends on distinctive protocols with no seen specs or supply code, that is a foul signal.

ExpressVPN provides you a collection of three protocols: IKEv2, OpenVPN and Lightway. The primary two are strong decisions that assist the newest encryption algorithms. OpenVPN has been absolutely open-source for years and is the only option if privateness is your purpose. Whereas IKEv2 began life as a closed challenge by Microsoft and Cisco, ExpressVPN makes use of an open-source reverse-engineering, which is each higher for privateness and fairly quick.

Lightway is the odd one out, a protocol you will solely discover on ExpressVPN, although its supply code is offered on Github. It is much like WireGuard, in that each attain for sooner speeds and decrease processing calls for by holding their codebases slim. Nevertheless, Lightway was not too long ago rewritten in Rust to higher shield the keys saved in its reminiscence.

Finally, you’ll be able to’t go fallacious with any of ExpressVPN’s protocol choices. 99% of the time, your best option will likely be to set the controls to Automated and let the VPN resolve which runs finest.

Testing for leaks

ExpressVPN is likely one of the finest companies, but it surely’s not leak-proof (as you’ll be able to learn within the Background Test beneath). Fortunately, checking for DNS leaks is a straightforward matter of checking your IP tackle earlier than and after connecting to a VPN server. If the brand new tackle matches the VPN server, you are good; if not, your VPN is leaking.

First, we checked the Home windows app with break up tunneling lively to make sure the flaw actually had been patched. We examined a number of servers and did not discover any leaks, which suggests the patch labored, although leaks had been uncommon even earlier than ExpressVPN fastened the vulnerability.

Actually, we did not discover any leaks on any ExpressVPN server we examined on any platform. Although questions stay about iOS, as you will see later on this part, that is an issue on Apple’s finish that even the perfect VPNs can do little or no about for now.

The most typical reason behind VPN leaks is the usage of public DNS servers to attach customers to web sites, which may mistakenly ship looking exercise outdoors the VPN’s encrypted tunnel. ExpressVPN avoids the dangers of the general public system by putting in its personal DNS resolvers on each server. That is the important thing issue behind its clear invoice of well being in our leak testing.

Two different frequent flaws can result in VPN leaks: WebRTC site visitors and IPv6. The previous is a communication protocol utilized in dwell streaming and the latter is a brand new IP customary designed to increase area availability. Each are good, however at the moment optionally available, so ExpressVPN robotically blocks each to make sure there is not any alternative for leaks to come up.

One notice about VPN safety on iOS: it is a identified and persevering with drawback that iOS VPNs don’t stop many on-line apps from speaking with Apple immediately, outdoors the VPN tunnel. This dangers leaking delicate knowledge, even with Lockdown Mode lively in iOS 16. A weblog publish by Proton VPN shares a workaround: connect with a VPN server, then flip Airplane Mode on and off once more to finish all connections that had been lively earlier than you related to the VPN.

Testing encryption

We completed up our battery of safety exams by testing ExpressVPN’s encryption immediately. Utilizing WireShark, a free packet sniffer, we inspected what it appears like when ExpressVPN transmits knowledge from one among its servers to the web. The screenshot beneath exhibits an information stream encrypted with Lightway UDP.

That lack of any identifiable data, and even readable data, means encryption is working as meant. We repeated the check a number of instances, at all times getting the identical end result. This left us glad that ExpressVPN’s core options are working as meant.

How a lot does ExpressVPN price?

ExpressVPN subscriptions price $12.95 per thirty days. Lengthy-term subscriptions can carry the month-to-month price down, however the nice offers they provide are inclined to solely final for the primary billing interval.

A 12-month subscription prices $99.95 and consists of three months free of charge together with your first fee, costing a complete of $6.67 per thirty days. The bonus disappears for all subsequent years, elevating the month-to-month price to $8.33. It’s also possible to join 28 months at a value of $139.72, however that is additionally once-only — ExpressVPN can solely be renewed on the $99.95 per yr degree.

There are two methods to check ExpressVPN free of charge earlier than making a monetary dedication. Customers on iOS and Android can obtain the ExpressVPN app with out coming into any fee particulars and use it free for seven days. On any platform, there is a 30-day money-back assure, which ExpressVPN has traditionally honored with no questions requested. You’ll have to pay earlier than you should use it, although.

In our opinion, ExpressVPN’s service is strong sufficient that it is price paying additional. Maybe not this a lot additional, however that will depend on what you get out of it. We suggest utilizing the 30-day refund interval and seeing how nicely ExpressVPN works for you. If it is a VPN you’ll be able to take pleasure in utilizing, that runs quick and unblocks every part you want, that is price a server’s weight in gold.

ExpressVPN aspect apps and bundles

ExpressVPN consists of some particular options that work largely or wholly separate from its VPN apps. A few of these come free with a subscription, whereas others add an additional price.

Each subscription consists of the ExpressVPN keys password supervisor. That is out there below its personal tab on the Android and iOS apps. On desktop, you will must obtain a separate extension out of your browser’s retailer, then sign up utilizing your account activation code. It is out there on all Chromium browsers, however not Firefox.

Beginning in 2025, new subscribers get an eSIM plan by way of vacation.com, a separate service linked to ExpressVPN. The baseline 1GB vacation eSIM plans final for five days and might apply to nations, areas, or the complete world (although it isn’t clear whether or not the bundle deal applies to the regional and international plans). Longer-term plans embrace bigger eSIM plans.

You possibly can add a devoted IP tackle to your ExpressVPN subscription for an extra price per thirty days. A devoted IP helps you to use the identical IP tackle each time you connect with ExpressVPN. You possibly can add the tackle to whitelists on restricted networks, and also you’re assured to by no means be blocked due to another person’s unhealthy exercise on a shared IP.

In contrast to a lot of its opponents, ExpressVPN does not at the moment provide antivirus or on-line storage companies, however there’s a complete bundle of ID safety instruments referred to as Identification Defender. We have not reviewed any of those merchandise intimately, however here is an inventory for reference:

• ID Alerts will inform you if any of your delicate data is leaked or misused on-line. It is free with all plans, however you will must enter your private data in your ExpressVPN account web page or a cell app.

• ID Theft Insurance coverage grants as much as $1 million in id theft reimbursement and comes free with new ExpressVPN one-year or two-year subscriptions. It isn’t but out there to those that subscribed earlier than it launched in October 2024.

• Information Elimination scans to your data in knowledge brokerages and robotically requests that it’s deleted. It is also free with one-year and two-year plans.

• Credit score Scanner is just out there for United States customers. It displays your exercise on the three credit score bureaus so you’ll be able to shortly spot any suspicious transactions.

The Identification Defender options are at the moment solely out there to new ExpressVPN clients within the US.

Shut-reading ExpressVPN’s privateness coverage

Though we fear that the consolidation of VPN manufacturers below the umbrella of Kape Applied sciences (ExpressVPN’s dad or mum firm) will make the business much less aggressive, we do not consider it is influencing ExpressVPN to make the most of its customers’ privateness. To substantiate, and get a full sense of what kind of privateness ExpressVPN guarantees its customers, we got down to learn ExpressVPN’s privateness coverage intimately. It is lengthy, however fortunately aimed toward informal customers as an alternative of attorneys. You possibly can see it for your self right here.

Within the introduction, ExpressVPN states that it doesn’t hold both exercise logs (comparable to a person’s looking historical past whereas related to the VPN) or connection logs (such because the length of a person’s session and their IP tackle, which can be utilized to extrapolate looking exercise). It then specifies the seven kinds of knowledge it is legally allowed to gather:

• Information used to join an account, comparable to names, emails and fee strategies.

• VPN utilization knowledge which is aggregated and cannot be traced to any particular person.

• Credentials saved within the ExpressVPN Keys password supervisor.

• Diagnostic knowledge comparable to crash experiences, that are solely shared upon person request.

• IP addresses licensed for MediaStreamer, which is just for streaming units that do not in any other case assist VPN apps.

• Advertising knowledge collected immediately from the app — a “restricted quantity” that is stored nameless.

• Information voluntarily submitted for id theft safety apps.

Of these seven exceptions, the one ones that rely as crimson flags are account knowledge and advertising knowledge. Each classes are extremely private and might be damaging if mishandled. Thankfully, complying with subpoenas will not be one of many allowed makes use of listed for both knowledge class, nor does the coverage let ExpressVPN promote the info to different personal events.

The one actually annoying factor right here is that for those who ask ExpressVPN to delete your private knowledge, you will not have the ability to use your account from then on. You are not even eligible for a refund on this case, except you are inside 30 days of your preliminary subscription.

As for advertising knowledge, ExpressVPN collects gadget fingerprints and site knowledge while you join an account on its web site. The privateness coverage additionally claims that is anonymized, as its “programs are engineered to decouple such knowledge from personally identifiable data.” Audits corroborate this, as we’ll see within the subsequent part. So, whereas it could be higher if ExpressVPN did not gather any private knowledge in any respect, its practices do not seem to pose a threat to something you do whereas utilizing the VPN — simply the ExpressVPN web site.

Privateness audits

VPN suppliers usually get third-party accounting corporations to audit their privateness insurance policies. The thought is {that a} well-known agency will not mortgage its fame to lie on behalf of a VPN, so their outcomes might be trusted.

For the final a number of years, ExpressVPN has had KPMG look over its privateness coverage and related infrastructure (see “TrustedServer” beneath). KPMG’s most up-to-date report, accomplished in December 2023 and launched in Could 2024, discovered that ExpressVPN had sufficient inner controls in place that customers might belief its privateness coverage.

The report is freely out there to learn. It is a excellent signal, although we’re looking for a extra up-to-date audit quickly.

TrustedServer

“TrustedServer” is a advertising time period ExpressVPN makes use of for its RAM-only server infrastructure. RAM-only servers haven’t any exhausting drives for long-term storage and return to a regular disk picture with each reboot. This makes it theoretically not possible to retailer person exercise logs on them, even when ExpressVPN needed to do this.

The KPMG audit, linked above, experiences that TrustedServer works as marketed. Between its many clear privateness audits and the Turkish server incident in 2017, we’re ready to say ExpressVPN is a personal VPN, regardless of its aggravating exception for advertising.

Can ExpressVPN change your digital location?

Subsequent, we examined whether or not ExpressVPN can really persuade web sites that you simply’re someplace apart from your actual location. Our safety exams have already confirmed it will possibly conceal your IP tackle, but it surely takes greater than leak-proofing to idiot streaming websites lately — Netflix and the others have gotten excellent at combing by way of metadata to smell out proxy customers.

The method for testing it is a lot like how we dealt with the DNS leak exams: strive a number of totally different servers and see if we get caught. We checked 5 pattern areas outdoors the U.S. to see if we a) acquired into Netflix and b) noticed totally different titles within the library. The outcomes are beneath.

In fifteen exams, ExpressVPN slipped up solely as soon as. Docklands, the UK server it selected because the quickest, wasn’t in a position to entry Netflix. We switched to a server labeled merely “London” and unblocked it with out concern.

All the opposite areas acquired us entry to an alternate Netflix library on the primary strive. We even checked whether or not the India server, which is bodily positioned within the UK, confirmed us totally different movies than the UK servers. It did, which makes us much more assured that ExpressVPN’s digital areas are hermetic.

Investigating ExpressVPN’s server community

ExpressVPN customers can connect with a complete of 164 server areas in 105 nations and territories. These areas are fairly nicely distributed throughout the globe, however as with all VPNs, there is a bias towards the northern hemisphere. There are 24 areas within the U.S. alone and an extra 66 in Europe.

That is not to say customers within the World South get nothing. ExpressVPN has IP addresses from 9 nations in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) and 6 in Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco and South Africa). The community even consists of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia, spectacular since central Asia will be the area most frequently shafted by VPNs.

Nevertheless, many of those servers have digital areas totally different from their actual ones. For these of you selecting a server primarily based on efficiency as an alternative of a specific IP tackle, ExpressVPN’s web site has a useful listing of which servers are digital. The unhealthy information is that it is a large chunk of the listing. A complete of 63 ExpressVPN areas are digital, or 38% of its complete community.

To cut back the sting, ExpressVPN takes care to find digital servers as near their actual areas as potential. Its digital areas in Indonesia and India are bodily primarily based in Singapore. This is not at all times sensible, resulting in some awkwardness like working a Ghana IP tackle out of Germany. But it surely helps ExpressVPN carry out higher within the southern hemisphere.

Additional options of ExpressVPN

In comparison with direct opponents like NordVPN and Surfshark, ExpressVPN does not have many particular options. It is aimed squarely on the informal market and can in all probability disappoint energy customers. Having mentioned that, what they do embrace works nicely. On this part, we’ll run by way of ExpressVPN’s 4 substantial options outdoors its VPN servers themselves.

Community Lock kill change

“Community Lock” is the title ExpressVPN provides to its kill change (although it is referred to as “Community Safety” on cell). A VPN kill change is a security function that retains you from broadcasting outdoors the VPN tunnel. If it ever detects that you simply aren’t related to a reliable ExpressVPN server, it cuts off your web entry. You will not have the ability to get again on-line till you both reconnect to the VPN or disable Community Lock.

That is essential for everybody, not simply customers who want to cover delicate site visitors. The not too long ago found TunnelVision bug theoretically permits hackers to arrange pretend public wi-fi networks by way of which they redirect you to equally pretend VPN servers, which then harvest your private data. It is unlikely, however not not possible, and a kill change is one of the simplest ways to stop it — the change at all times triggers except you are related to an actual server within the VPN’s community.

Like most of ExpressVPN’s options, all you are able to do with Community Lock is flip it on and off. It’s also possible to toggle whether or not you will nonetheless have the ability to entry native units whereas the kill change is obstructing your web — that is allowed by default.

Risk supervisor, advert blocker and parental controls

ExpressVPN teams three instruments below the heading of “superior safety” — Risk Supervisor, an advert blocker and parental controls. Risk Supervisor consists of two checkboxes: one which blocks your browser from speaking with exercise monitoring software program and one which blocks an inventory of internet sites identified for use for malware.

You possibly can’t customise the lists, so that you’re restricted to what ExpressVPN considers worthy of blocking. They share their sources on the web site. Whereas the lists are in depth and open-source, they depend on after-the-fact reporting and might’t detect and block unknown threats like a correct antivirus.

The adblock and parental management choices work the identical method: test a field to dam every part on the listing, uncheck it to permit every part by way of. In exams, the advert blocker was almost 100% efficient in opposition to banner advertisements, however failed to dam any video advertisements on YouTube or Netflix.

The parental management possibility blocks an inventory of porn websites. It is a straightforward possibility for involved mother and father, however solely works whereas ExpressVPN is related. As such, it is meant for use at the side of device-level parental controls that stop the kid from turning off or uninstalling the VPN consumer.

Cut up tunneling

Typically, you will discover it useful to have your gadget getting on-line by way of two totally different IP addresses without delay — one to your residence companies and one for a location you are making an attempt to spoof. That is the place break up tunneling is useful: it runs some apps by way of the VPN whereas leaving others unprotected. This may additionally enhance your speeds, because the VPN must encrypt much less in whole.

ExpressVPN consists of break up tunneling on Home windows, Android and Mac (although solely on variations 10 and beneath). You possibly can solely break up by app, not by web site, but it surely’s nonetheless fairly helpful. For instance, you’ll be able to have BitTorrent dealing with a heavy obtain within the background whilst you use your browser for innocuous actions that do not want defending.

ExpressVPN Aircove router

By now, it must be clear that we discover ExpressVPN to be a extremely dependable however usually unexceptional VPN service. Nevertheless, there’s one space through which it is a clear business chief: VPN routers. ExpressVPN Aircove is, to our information, the one router with a built-in business VPN that comes with its personal dashboard interface.

Often, putting in a VPN in your router requires tinkering with the router management panel, which turns off all however probably the most skilled customers — to not point out making it a large ache to change to a brand new server location. Aircove’s dashboard, against this, will likely be immediately acquainted to anybody who already is aware of learn how to use an ExpressVPN consumer. It even permits totally different units in your house to hook up with totally different areas by way of the router VPN.

Aircove’s greatest disadvantage is its worth. Presently retailing at $189 (not together with an ExpressVPN subscription), it is round thrice costlier than an aftermarket router fitted with free VPN firmware. A few of you may nonetheless discover the comfort definitely worth the one-time fee.

ExpressVPN buyer assist choices

ExpressVPN’s written assist pages are among the finest available on the market. Its dwell chat is extra of a combined bag, and sophisticated questions could trigger delays. Nevertheless, it’s a minimum of staffed with human brokers who purpose to answer precisely, fairly than resolve your ticket as shortly as potential.

We approached ExpressVPN’s assist options with a easy query: “If I requested that ExpressVPN delete all my private knowledge, would I have the ability to get a refund for my unused subscription time?” (Bear in mind from the Privateness Coverage part that submitting a full deletion request additionally cancels your ExpressVPN account.)

Our first cease was expressvpn.com/assist, the written assist middle and FAQ web page. It is divided into setup guides, troubleshooting, account administration and knowledge on every of ExpressVPN’s merchandise. The setup guides are wonderful, together with screenshots and clearly written steps; every one features a video information for individuals who study higher that method.

Troubleshooting is simply pretty much as good — no movies, however the identical requirements of readability and usefulness prevail. The part begins with basic issues, then delves into particular points you may face on every working system. Every article clearly derives from an actual buyer want.

The dwell assist expertise

To get solutions on our refund query, we visited the account administration FAQs. This part said that the refund coverage solely applies inside 30 days of buy. Fairly clear-cut, however we nonetheless needed a solution on our particular case, so we contacted dwell chat by clicking the button on the bottom-right of each FAQ web page.

Dwell chat begins with an AI assistant, which isn’t too exhausting to get previous — simply ask it a query it will possibly’t reply, then click on “Switch to an Agent.” We acquired on-line with (what claimed to be) a human in lower than a minute. Answering the query took longer and concerned an uncomfortable 10-minute silence, however we did get a transparent verdict from an actual individual: refunds are inside 30 days solely, it doesn’t matter what.

If the dwell chat agent cannot reply your query, you will be redirected to open an e-mail assist ticket. Annoyingly, there is not any solution to go on to e-mail assist by way of the web site or desktop apps, although cell customers have the choice to skip immediately there.

ExpressVPN background test: From founding to Kape Applied sciences

ExpressVPN launched in 2009, which makes it one of many oldest client VPNs in continuous operation. In additional than 15 years of operation, it is by no means been caught violating its personal privateness coverage, although its file is not freed from extra minor blemishes.

Headquarters within the British Virgin Islands

Founders Dan Pomerantz and Peter Burchhardt registered the corporate within the British Virgin Islands from the begin to make the most of that territory’s favorable authorized atmosphere for on-line privateness. The BVIs haven’t any legislation requiring companies to retain knowledge on their customers, and the method for extraditing knowledge is famously troublesome, requiring a direct order from the best courtroom.

In 2021, the BVI applied the Information Safety Act (DPA) [PDF link], which prevents corporations primarily based within the territory from accessing knowledge on their customers anyplace on this planet. It is an awesome privateness legislation in concept, modeled on best-in-class laws within the EU. Nevertheless, we could not discover any proof that its supervising authority — the Workplace of the Data Commissioner — has a pacesetter or employees.

In different phrases, whereas ExpressVPN will not be legally required to log any knowledge on its customers, there’s technically no one stopping them from doing so. Whether or not you belief the jurisdiction will depend on whether or not you belief the corporate itself. Let’s examine what the opposite proof says.

Safety and privateness incidents

Two vital incidents stand out from ExpressVPN’s 16-year historical past. In 2017, when Andrei Karlov, Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, was shot to loss of life at an artwork present. Turkish police suspected somebody had used ExpressVPN to masks their id whereas they deleted data from social media accounts belonging to the alleged murderer. To analyze, they confiscated an ExpressVPN server to comb for proof. They did not discover something.

A police seizure is the absolute best check of a VPN’s method to privateness. The supplier cannot put together beforehand, pretend something, or collude with investigators. The Turkey incident continues to be probably the greatest causes to suggest ExpressVPN, although eight years is a very long time for coverage to vary.

The second incident started in March 2024, when a researcher at CNET knowledgeable ExpressVPN that its model 12 for Home windows often leaked DNS requests when customers enabled the break up tunneling function. Whereas these customers remained related to an ExpressVPN server, their looking exercise was usually going on to their ISP, unmasked.

The bug solely impacted a number of customers, and to their credit score, ExpressVPN sprang into motion as quickly as they realized about it. The workforce had it patched by April, as confirmed by the researcher who initially found the vulnerability. However whereas their fast and efficient response deserves reward, it is nonetheless a mark in opposition to them {that a} journalist observed the bug earlier than they did.

Kape Applied sciences possession and administration questions

In 2021, an Israeli-owned, UK-based agency referred to as Kape Applied sciences bought a controlling curiosity in ExpressVPN. Along with ExpressVPN, privately held Kape owns CyberGhost, Personal Web Entry, and Zenmate (earlier than it merged into CyberGhost). As proven on its web site, it additionally owns Webselenese, writer of VPN assessment web sites WizCase and vpnMentor, which poses an obvious battle of curiosity.

When reached for remark, a consultant for ExpressVPN mentioned that “ExpressVPN doesn’t immediately interact with, nor search to affect, the content material on any Webselenese web site,” and pointed us to disclosure statements on the web sites in query — here is one instance. Even so, it is a good reminder to not take VPN evaluations at face worth with out figuring out who’s behind them (Engadget is owned by Yahoo, which doesn’t personal any VPNs).

Diving deeper into the background of Kape’s possession will lead you to proprietor Teddy Sagi. Return far sufficient, and you may see he did jail time in Israel and was talked about within the Pandora Papers, amongst different issues. Extra not too long ago, headlines concerning the billionaire have centered extra his companies within the on-line playing and fintech arenas, in addition to his actual property ventures. An ExpressVPN consultant informed us that “Kape’s manufacturers proceed to function independently,” and our investigation bore that out — we could not discover any proof that Kape or Sagi have immediately tried to affect ExpressVPN’s software program or every day operations.

Nearer to the speedy day-to-day operations of ExpressVPN was the corporate’s employment of Daniel Gericke as CTO from 2019 by way of 2023. Throughout that point, the US Justice Division introduced it had fined Gericke and two others for his or her earlier employment on a surveillance operation referred to as Venture Raven, which the United Arab Emirates (UAE) used to spy by itself residents.

The revelation prompted a public response from ExpressVPN defending its resolution to rent Gericke, arguing that “[t]he finest goalkeepers are those skilled by the perfect strikers.” ExpressVPN’s consultant confirmed that the corporate nonetheless stands by that linked assertion.

Gericke parted methods with ExpressVPN in October 2023, per his LinkedIn profile. Whereas we do not know what we do not know, we will say that ExpressVPN has not notably modified its public-facing safety and privateness insurance policies throughout the time it has been related to Kape, Sagi, or Gericke.

In the long run, how a lot ExpressVPN’s historical past issues to you is a private alternative. When you object to any present or previous actions by Kape Applied sciences or Teddy Sagi, there are different premium VPN choices you may choose. When you want extra data to make up your thoughts, we suggest studying by way of CNET’s 2022 deep dive on ExpressVPN’s company historical past.

Last verdict

ExpressVPN is the VPN we most frequently suggest to learners. It takes zero coaching to make use of, and constantly will get previous filters on streaming websites. It additionally runs within the background with nearly no affect. If something is definitely worth the excessive worth of admission, it is the wonderful speeds distributed evenly throughout the worldwide server community.

Nevertheless, for sure particular circumstances, ExpressVPN is probably not the only option. There isn’t any solution to arrange your individual server areas, like NordVPN affords, and no double VPN connections, like you’ll be able to construct for your self on Surfshark. Its company background is extra suspect than the entities backing Proton VPN, and in contrast to Mullvad, ExpressVPN does not work in China — it is so well-known that the federal government targets its servers particularly.

We recommend going with ExpressVPN for basic on-line privateness, for spoofing areas in your house nation whereas touring, or for those who often must unblock websites in different nations. That encompasses 19 of each 20 customers, which is ok by us, as ExpressVPN is a superb service. It is simply extra of a dependable outdated screwdriver than a multi-tool.