Quick speeds and a low studying curve

ExpressVPN is sweet at its job. It is easy 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 assessments confirmed solely a 7% common drop in obtain velocity and a 2% lack of add velocity, worldwide. And whereas the dearth of additional options might 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 — nevertheless it beats most VPNs in a head-to-head matchup.

For this overview, 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 vital for you, you must come away with all the knowledge it’s essential to determine whether or not to subscribe.

Editor’s word (9/25/25): We have overhauled our VPN protection to supply extra detailed, actionable shopping for recommendation. Going ahead, we’ll proceed to replace each our best VPN list 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 test VPNs to be taught extra in regards to the new requirements we’re utilizing.

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, await the set up, then let your pc reboot. Together with the reboot, the entire course of takes 5-10 minutes, most of it idle. To complete, you may want your activation code, which you’ll 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’ll be able to change your location or let the app decide a location for you — the “Good Location” is the server with the most effective mixture of being close by and unburdened.

All the pieces else is crammed into the hamburger menu on the high left. Right here, in seven tabs, you may discover the Community Lock kill change, the 4 sorts of content material blockers, the cut up tunneling menu and the choice to alter your VPN protocol. You can even add shortcuts to numerous web sites, helpful in case you commonly use your VPN for a similar on-line locations.

To sum up, there’s nearly nothing right here to get in the best way: 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 nearly an identical in design to its Home windows app. The method for downloading and setting it up is sort of the identical too. As on Home windows, it may be downloaded from the App Retailer or sideloaded instantly from the expressvpn.com obtain middle. Only some options are lacking and a pair others have been added. Break up tunneling is gone (until 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 go away it blocked always. Nearly each web site remains to be accessible through IPv4, nevertheless it’s helpful in case you do must entry a selected IPv6 deal with whereas the VPN is energetic.

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 have used the VPN this week.

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

The choices menu is organized sensibly, with no choice situated greater than two clicks deep. You will notice a few choices right here that are not out there on desktop, the most effective of which is the power to robotically hook up with your last-used ExpressVPN server each time your telephone connects to a non-trusted wifi community.

There are additionally just a few normal safety instruments: an IP deal with 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. Excluding the latter, we would advocate utilizing third-party testing instruments as an alternative — even a VPN with integrity has an incentive to make its personal app appear to be it is working.

iPhone and iPad

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

The interface just isn’t fairly as pleasing because the dark-mode Android app, nevertheless it makes up for that by slicing out a few of the muddle. The tabs and options are comparable, although cut 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 strategy to ship e mail assist tickets.

Browser extension

ExpressVPN additionally contains browser extensions for Firefox and Chrome. These allow you to join, disconnect and alter server places with out leaving your browser window. It is good, however not important until you may have a really particular net browser movement you want.

ExpressVPN velocity take a look at: Very quick averages

Connecting to a VPN nearly all the time decreases your velocity, however the most effective VPNs mitigate the drop as a lot as attainable. We used Ookla’s velocity testing app to see how a lot of your web velocity ExpressVPN preserves. For this take a look at, we emphasised the places 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 machine and an internet server by way of the VPN. Latency will increase with distance. It is most vital for real-time duties like video chatting and on-line gaming.

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

• Add velocity, additionally measured in Mbps, is the quantity of knowledge your machine can ship to the net directly. It is most vital for torrenting, for the reason that quantity of knowledge you’ll be able to seed determines how briskly you’ll be able to obtain in trade.

The desk under reveals our outcomes. We performed this on Home windows, utilizing the automated protocol setting with the Lightway Turbo function energetic — 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 the earth, 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 consumer 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 count on it to shoot up on servers greater than 1,000 miles from our location. Preserving the common under 300 ms, as ExpressVPN does right here, is a robust exhibiting.

ExpressVPN safety take a look at: Checking for leaks

A VPN’s core mission is to cover your IP deal with and make you untraceable on-line. Our process on this part is to determine if ExpressVPN can perform this mission each time you join. Whereas we won’t be 100% sure, the assessments we’ll run by way of under have led us to consider that ExpressVPN is presently leak-proof.

Accessible VPN protocols

A VPN protocol is sort of a widespread language {that a} VPN server can use to mediate between your units and the net 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 offers you a choice of three protocols: IKEv2, OpenVPN and Lightway. The primary two are strong decisions that assist the newest encryption algorithms. OpenVPN has been totally open-source for years and is your best option if privateness is your aim. Whereas IKEv2 began life as a closed undertaking 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 may solely discover on ExpressVPN, although its source code is available on Github. It is just like WireGuard, in that each attain for sooner speeds and decrease processing calls for by maintaining their codebases slim. Nonetheless, Lightway was not too long ago rewritten in Rust to raised defend the keys saved in its reminiscence.

In the end, you’ll be able to’t go fallacious with any of ExpressVPN’s protocol choices. 99% of the time, your most suitable option shall be to set the controls to Automated and let the VPN determine which runs finest.

Testing for leaks

ExpressVPN is without doubt one of the finest companies, nevertheless it’s not leak-proof (as you’ll be able to learn within the Background Test under). Fortunately, checking for DNS leaks is a straightforward matter of checking your IP deal with earlier than and after connecting to a VPN server. If the brand new deal with matches the VPN server, you are good; if not, your VPN is leaking.

First, we checked the Home windows app with cut up tunneling energetic 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 mounted the vulnerability.

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

The most typical explanation for VPN leaks is using public DNS servers to attach customers to web sites, which might mistakenly ship searching exercise exterior 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 widespread flaws can result in VPN leaks: WebRTC site visitors and IPv6. The previous is a communication protocol utilized in reside streaming and the latter is a brand new IP normal designed to increase area availability. Each are good, however presently non-compulsory, so ExpressVPN robotically blocks each to make sure there isn’t any alternative for leaks to come up.

One word about VPN safety on iOS: it is a known and continuing problem that iOS VPNs don’t forestall many on-line apps from speaking with Apple instantly, exterior the VPN tunnel. This dangers leaking delicate knowledge, even with Lockdown Mode energetic in iOS 16. A blog post by Proton VPN shares a workaround: hook up with a VPN server, then flip Airplane Mode on and off once more to finish all connections that had been energetic earlier than you related to the VPN.

Testing encryption

We completed up our battery of safety assessments by trying out ExpressVPN’s encryption instantly. Utilizing WireShark, a free packet sniffer, we inspected what it appears like when ExpressVPN transmits knowledge from one in all its servers to the web. The screenshot under reveals an information stream encrypted with Lightway UDP.

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

How a lot does ExpressVPN price?

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

A 12-month subscription prices $99.95 and contains three months without cost 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. You can even 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 without cost earlier than making a monetary dedication. Customers on iOS and Android can obtain the ExpressVPN app with out getting 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 utilize it, although.

In our opinion, ExpressVPN’s service is strong sufficient that it is value paying additional. Maybe not this a lot additional, however that relies on what you get out of it. We advocate 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 little thing you want, that is value a server’s weight in gold.

ExpressVPN aspect apps and bundles

ExpressVPN contains 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 contains the ExpressVPN keys password supervisor. That is out there beneath its personal tab on the Android and iOS apps. On desktop, you may 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 holiday.com, a separate service linked to ExpressVPN. The baseline 1GB vacation eSIM plans final for five days and might apply to international locations, areas, or the whole world (although it is not clear whether or not the bundle deal applies to the regional and world plans). Longer-term plans embrace bigger eSIM plans.

You’ll be able to add a devoted IP deal with to your ExpressVPN subscription for an additional cost per month. A devoted IP allows you to use the identical IP deal with each time you hook up with ExpressVPN. You’ll be able to add the deal with 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 lots of its rivals, ExpressVPN would not presently supply antivirus or on-line storage companies, however there’s a complete bundle of ID safety instruments known as Id Defender. We have not reviewed any of those merchandise intimately, however here is a listing 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 may 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 is not but out there to those that subscribed earlier than it launched in October 2024.

• Knowledge 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 simply 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 Id Defender options are presently solely out there to new ExpressVPN prospects within the US.

Shut-reading ExpressVPN’s privateness coverage

Though we fear that the consolidation of VPN manufacturers beneath 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 benefit from its customers’ privateness. To verify, 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 geared toward informal customers as an alternative of attorneys. You can see it for yourself here.

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

• Knowledge used to join an account, similar 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 similar to crash reviews, that are solely shared upon consumer request.

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

• Advertising and marketing knowledge collected instantly from the app — a “restricted quantity” that is saved nameless.

• Knowledge voluntarily submitted for id theft safety apps.

Of these seven exceptions, the one ones that depend as pink flags are account knowledge and advertising and marketing knowledge. Each classes are extremely private and may very well be damaging if mishandled. Fortuitously, complying with subpoenas just isn’t 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 in case you 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, until you are inside 30 days of your preliminary subscription.

As for advertising and marketing knowledge, ExpressVPN collects machine fingerprints and site knowledge whenever you join an account on its web site. The privateness coverage additionally claims that is anonymized, as its “techniques 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 popularity to lie on behalf of a VPN, so their outcomes will be trusted.

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

The report is freely available to read. It is a excellent signal, although we’re searching for a extra up-to-date audit quickly.

TrustedServer

“TrustedServer” is a advertising and marketing time period ExpressVPN makes use of for its RAM-only server infrastructure. RAM-only servers haven’t any laborious drives for long-term storage and return to a typical disk picture with each reboot. This makes it theoretically inconceivable to retailer consumer exercise logs on them, even when ExpressVPN wished to try this.

The KPMG audit, linked above, reviews 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 non-public VPN, regardless of its aggravating exception for advertising and marketing.

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 assessments have already confirmed it will possibly conceal your IP deal with, nevertheless it takes greater than leak-proofing to idiot streaming websites nowadays — Netflix and the others have gotten excellent at combing by way of metadata to smell out proxy customers.

The method for testing this can be a lot like how we dealt with the DNS leak assessments: strive a number of totally different servers and see if we get caught. We checked 5 pattern places exterior the U.S. to see if we a) obtained into Netflix and b) noticed totally different titles within the library. The outcomes are under.

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

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

Investigating ExpressVPN’s server community

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

That is not to say customers within the International 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 contains Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia, spectacular since central Asia could be the area most frequently shafted by VPNs.

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

To cut back the sting, ExpressVPN takes care to find digital servers as near their actual places as attainable. Its digital places in Indonesia and India are bodily based mostly in Singapore. This is not all the time sensible, resulting in some awkwardness like working a Ghana IP deal with out of Germany. However it helps ExpressVPN carry out higher within the southern hemisphere.

Further options of ExpressVPN

In comparison with direct rivals like NordVPN and Surfshark, ExpressVPN would not have many particular options. It is aimed squarely on the informal market and can most likely 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 exterior its VPN servers themselves.

Community Lock kill change

“Community Lock” is the identify ExpressVPN offers to its kill change (although it is known as “Community Safety” on cell). A VPN kill change is a security function that retains you from broadcasting exterior the VPN tunnel. If it ever detects that you simply aren’t related to a official 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 vital 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 inconceivable, and a kill change is the easiest way to forestall it — the change all the time triggers until 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. You can even toggle whether or not you may nonetheless have the ability to entry native units whereas the kill change is obstructing your web — that is allowed by default.

Menace supervisor, advert blocker and parental controls

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

You’ll be able to’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 intensive 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 means: verify a field to dam every little thing on the listing, uncheck it to permit every little thing by way of. In assessments, the advert blocker was almost 100% efficient in opposition to banner adverts, however failed to dam any video adverts on YouTube or Netflix.

The parental management choice blocks a listing of porn websites. It is a simple choice for involved dad and mom, however solely works whereas ExpressVPN is related. As such, it is meant for use at the side of device-level parental controls that forestall the kid from turning off or uninstalling the VPN consumer.

Break up tunneling

Typically, you may discover it useful to have your machine getting on-line by way of two totally different IP addresses directly — one to your residence companies and one for a location you are making an attempt to spoof. That is the place cut up tunneling is useful: it runs some apps by way of the VPN whereas leaving others unprotected. This will additionally enhance your speeds, for the reason that VPN must encrypt much less in whole.

ExpressVPN contains cut up tunneling on Home windows, Android and Mac (although solely on variations 10 and under). You’ll be able to solely cut up by app, not by web site, nevertheless it’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. Nonetheless, there’s one space during which it is a clear business chief: VPN routers. ExpressVPN Aircove is, to our data, 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, shall be immediately acquainted to anybody who already is aware of the right way to use an ExpressVPN consumer. It even permits totally different units in your house to connect with totally different places by way of the router VPN.

Aircove’s largest disadvantage is its value. At the moment 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 would possibly nonetheless discover the comfort well worth the one-time fee.

ExpressVPN buyer assist choices

ExpressVPN’s written assist pages are a few of the finest in the marketplace. Its reside chat is extra of a blended bag, and complicated questions might trigger delays. Nonetheless, it’s a minimum of staffed with human brokers who purpose to answer precisely, fairly than resolve your ticket as shortly as attainable.

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 data on every of ExpressVPN’s merchandise. The setup guides are glorious, together with screenshots and clearly written steps; each features a video information for many who be taught higher that means.

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

The reside assist expertise

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

Reside chat begins with an AI assistant, which isn’t too laborious to get previous — simply ask it a query it will possibly’t reply, then click on “Switch to an Agent.” We obtained 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 reside chat agent cannot reply your query, you may be redirected to open an e mail assist ticket. Annoyingly, there isn’t any strategy to go on to e mail assist by way of the web site or desktop apps, although cell customers have the choice to skip instantly there.

ExpressVPN background verify: 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 document 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 benefit from that territory’s favorable authorized surroundings 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 court docket.

In 2021, the BVI implemented the Data Protection Act (DPA) [PDF link], which prevents firms based mostly within the territory from accessing knowledge on their customers wherever on the earth. It is a fantastic privateness legislation in principle, modeled on best-in-class laws within the EU. Nonetheless, we could not discover any proof that its supervising authority — the Workplace of the Info Commissioner — has a pacesetter or workers.

In different phrases, whereas ExpressVPN just isn’t legally required to log any knowledge on its customers, there’s technically no person stopping them from doing so. Whether or not you belief the jurisdiction relies on whether or not you belief the corporate itself. Let’s have a look at what the opposite proof says.

Safety and privateness incidents

Two important incidents stand out from ExpressVPN’s 16-year historical past. In 2017, when Andrei Karlov, Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, was shot to death at an art show. Turkish police suspected somebody had used ExpressVPN to mask their identity whereas they deleted data from social media accounts belonging to the alleged murderer. To research, they confiscated an ExpressVPN server to comb for proof. They didn’t find anything.

A police seizure is the very best take a look at of a VPN’s method to privateness. The supplier cannot put together beforehand, pretend something, or collude with investigators. The Turkey incident remains to be probably the greatest causes to advocate ExpressVPN, although eight years is a very long time for coverage to alter.

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

The bug solely impacted just a few customers, and to their credit score, ExpressVPN sprang into motion as quickly as they discovered about it. The group 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 seen the bug earlier than they did.

Kape Applied sciences possession and administration questions

In 2021, an Israeli-owned, UK-based agency known as Kape Applied sciences purchased a controlling interest in ExpressVPN. Along with ExpressVPN, privately held Kape owns CyberGhost, Personal Web Entry, and Zenmate (earlier than it merged into CyberGhost). As shown on its website, it additionally owns Webselenese, writer of VPN overview 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 instantly interact with, nor search to affect, the content material on any Webselenese website,” and pointed us to disclosure statements on the web sites in query — here’s one example. Even so, it is a good reminder to not take VPN evaluations at face worth with out realizing 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 prison time in Israel and was mentioned in the Pandora Papers, amongst different issues. Extra not too long ago, headlines in regards to the billionaire have centered extra his companies within the online gambling and fintech arenas, in addition to his real estate 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 instantly 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 known as Mission Raven, which the United Arab Emirates (UAE) used to spy by itself residents.

The revelation prompted a public response from ExpressVPN defending its decision to hire Gericke, arguing that “[t]he finest goalkeepers are those educated by the most effective 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 are able to say that ExpressVPN has not notably modified its public-facing safety and privateness insurance policies through the time it has been related to Kape, Sagi, or Gericke.

Ultimately, how a lot ExpressVPN’s historical past issues to you is a private selection. In the event you object to any present or previous actions by Kape Applied sciences or Teddy Sagi, there are different premium VPN choices you would possibly desire. In the event you want extra data to make up your thoughts, we advocate studying by way of CNET’s 2022 deep dive on ExpressVPN’s corporate history.

Remaining verdict

ExpressVPN is the VPN we most frequently advocate to newcomers. It takes zero coaching to make use of, and persistently will get previous filters on streaming websites. It additionally runs within the background with nearly no influence. If something is well worth the excessive value of admission, it is the superb speeds distributed evenly throughout the worldwide server community.

Nonetheless, for sure particular instances, ExpressVPN is probably not your best option. There isn’t any strategy to arrange your individual server places, 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 would not work in China — it is so well-known that the federal government targets its servers particularly.

We propose going with ExpressVPN for normal on-line privateness, for spoofing places in your house nation whereas touring, or in case you commonly must unblock websites in different international locations. That encompasses 19 of each 20 customers, which is okay by us, as ExpressVPN is a superb service. It is simply extra of a dependable previous screwdriver than a multi-tool.