What Is ExpressVPN?
ExpressVPN is a VPN provider currently headquartered in the British Virgin Islands. It was founded in 2009 and later purchased by London-based software developer Kape Technologies in 2021. Since its founding, ExpressVPN has become one of the top names in the VPN space, thanks in no small part to its fast speeds and healthy advertising budget. Among its myriad functions, ExpressVPN boasts split tunneling, servers in over 100 countries and additional features such as a password manager and an ad blocker.
Quick Specs
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Free Trial
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30 days for Windows and Mac; seven days for Android and iOS
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Supported Platforms
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Windows, macOS, Android, Linux and iOS
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Browser Extensions
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Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave and Vivaldi
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Number of Servers
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Unknown
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Number of Countries With Servers
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105 |
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Company Location
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British Virgin Islands
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Protocols Supported
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Lightway and OpenVPN
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Number of Simultaneous Connections
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Eight
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Kill Switch
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Yes
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Split Tunneling
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Yes
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Dedicated IP
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No
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How Does a VPN Work?
A VPN provides a user online privacy and security by masking their IP address and encrypting their internet activity. A VPN will secure an encrypted connection between your device and a remote server, which hides your location and allows you to show that your connection is being directed from nearly anywhere.
There are many uses for a VPN, including keeping your browsing data anonymous. A VPN can also enable you to view country-restricted content regardless of your location. Additionally, some subscription services adjust their prices based on where customers are located. So, setting a VPN to the right location could potentially help you save.
ExpressVPN Core Features
ExpressVPN doesn’t really have standout features, though that’s more the fault of an increasingly homogenized VPN market than any deficiencies on its part. It has all the features you’d expect from a VPN, such as split tunneling, an internet kill switch (called Network Lock) and multifactor authentication. It has a no-logs policy, a large server network and support for most major devices as well.
When I tested the features, I found that they mostly worked. Split tunneling gave me headaches, however. ExpressVPN’s split tunneling has two modes: “Do not allow selected apps to use the VPN” and “Only allow selected apps to use the VPN.”
Using the first setting, I was able to successfully route my connection through ExpressVPN on an app-to-app basis. However, I found that even with the kill switch turned off, connecting to an app routed away from the VPN would often just not work—no connection at all.
The second setting didn’t disconnect me from the internet entirely, but when I checked my IP address using dnsleaktest.com on Firefox (which was allowed to use the VPN) and Chrome (which wasn’t), it turned out to be the same IP address for both browsers.
When I contacted customer support about my issues with split tunneling, I was told that this is a bug the engineering team was already aware of. So hopefully, I’ll be able to delete this section in the near future. As it stands, not having a functional version of such a basic feature like split tunneling is a pretty major red flag for me.
Featured Partners
1
NordVPN
$3.49 per month
6
Yes (add-on)
2
Surfshark
$2.29
Unlimited
Yes
3
Norton
$3.33/ month
1, 5 and 10
No
4
Private Internet Access
$2.03
Unlimited
Yes (add-on)
ExpressVPN Pricing and Plans
ExpressVPN offers three subscription plans: monthly, yearly and six months. There are no differences in features between these plans, only the length of your subscription. ExpressVPN costs $12.95 per month for monthly billing; $8.32 per month for yearly billing and $9.99 per month for six months. As always, I recommend users start with the monthly subscription, as locking into a longer-term contract can lead to paying for a service you lose interest in using after the 30-day money-back guarantee period. I do appreciate the lack of tiered pricing, with different features at each tier, and I wish more VPN providers had a pricing scheme as simple as ExpressVPN.
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Length of Contract
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One month
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Six months
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12 months
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Monthly rate
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$12.95
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$9.99
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$8.32
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Total amount billed
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$12.95
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$59.95
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$99.95
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ExpressVPN Free Trial
ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee for Windows, Linux and macOS users but a seven-day free trial for Android and iOS users. This is pretty standard for VPNs, though I’d still prefer it if more providers extended their free trials for mobile. The money-back guarantee on desktop isn’t technically free since you’ll need to spend money on the subscription first, but it’s a nice safety net for users who try a VPN but don’t like it.
Is ExpressVPN Worth It?
ExpressVPN might be a bit too pricey for many users, especially when compared to its competitors. The base price of $12.95 per month is on the high end for the VPN space, where $9.99 is a more common base price. It’s not the most expensive monthly price out there, but I still think it’s too steep. The annual and six-month subscriptions decrease the month-to-month cost, but that locks you into a longer-term deal, which isn’t always preferable.
Ultimately though, ExpressVPN doesn’t do enough to separate itself from the rest of the VPN market to really justify such a high price point. Over the years, many of the major VPNs have caught up with each other, adopting many of the same features and protocols. Additional features like the password manager or ad blocker are nice, but you’re probably better off using a service that specializes in password management or ad blocking, such as Bitwarden or uBlock Origin. And until ExpressVPN fixes its current split tunneling bug, I really don’t think the service is worth it since a basic feature users want out of a VPN just plain isn’t working right now.
ExpressVPN Servers and Locations
ExpressVPN boasts an unknown number of servers in 105 countries. This gives the company the highest number of different countries with servers of any VPN provider I’ve reviewed. This can be great for users trying to access region-locked content, as well as for avoiding slowed speeds during periods of high traffic. ExpressVPN doesn’t disclose how many servers it actually has, however, and that’s a negative in my eyes. I would appreciate the transparency of providing a more detailed list of servers for the public to see.
ExpressVPN Security and Privacy
ExpressVPN Protocols
ExpressVPN currently supports the following protocols:
- Lightway: This is ExpressVPN’s proprietary protocol. Its core codebase is currently open source on GitHub. The protocol is definitely faster than OpenVPN and about equivalent to the speeds of a VPN using WireGuard. On its website, ExpressVPN claims, “Nine out of ten beta users reported that Lightway got them connected to the VPN faster than before.” I didn’t track any difference in speed when connecting to a server, but my experience is not universal. Lightway comes in Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) variants. TCP is more reliable but slower, while UDP is faster but won’t consistently connect to some networks.
- OpenVPN: OpenVPN is a free and open-source security protocol commonly used by most VPN providers. It is one of the oldest security protocols in the VPN space, being initially released in 2001. Along with Lightway, ExpressVPN’s implementation of OpenVPN comes in TCP and UDP variants.
No-Logs Policy
As with many top VPN providers, ExpressVPN claims a no-logs policy, which was last audited by professional services network KPMG in late 2022. Although the company claims that the full report is publicly available, I was not able to access it without logging into the ExpressVPN website with my account. While only available to customers is technically public, I would prefer if the company made it available for prospective buyers as well. The report is pretty detailed and technical, more so than similar reports I’ve read from some competitors, which I appreciate. I did find it a little odd that the auditors found no potential holes whatsoever in how ExpressVPN operates, which makes the whole thing feel more like a rubber-stamped audit than something conducted with a critical eye for improvement. Still, it’s also possible that there were no holes.
When I looked at ExpressVPN’s privacy policy, I did spot one red flag I’m not happy about. In the section titled “Successful Connections,” I see this: “We collect information about whether you have successfully established a VPN connection on a particular day (but not a specific time of the day), to which VPN location (but not your assigned outgoing IP address), and from which country/ISP (but not your source IP address).” The company goes on to state that this information is to help with technical support for country-specific issues and the like. Users can be tracked with the information collected, as knowing which ISP and country a user connected from can be used to un-privatize previously private traffic. That’s bad enough, but the privacy policy doesn’t state what ExpressVPN does with the information after it’s been collected. I’d prefer to see more transparency on whether that connection data is stored or deleted after a user’s session has ended.
Kape Technologies
In 2021, ExpressVPN was purchased by Kape Technologies, a British-Israeli cybersecurity company. Kape is also the owner of other major VPN names such as Private Internet Access and ZenMate. Kape Technologies, under its former name Crossrider, released a development platform of the same name that helped with developing browser extensions for different browsers at once, which was at the time more difficult to pull off than it is now.
While the platform was used to create legitimate apps as well, its monetization options were leveraged by ad injectors. Essentially, ad injection is the process of putting ads on websites that weren’t supposed to be there. This can be in the form of the ever-annoying pop-up ad or by replacing legitimate ads on the website. This is done through the use of malware.
In a 2015 UC Berkeley paper on the ad injection industry, Crossrider’s place in the market was specifically highlighted: “Crossrider is a mobile, desktop, and extension development platform that enables drop-in monetization via major ad injectors. Crossrider provides its affiliate ID to ad injectors while separately tracking kick-backs to developers.” Crossrider’s heavy use by bad actors eventually led to the platform’s shutdown in 2016 and the company’s rebirth as Kape Technologies in 2017. For more information, I recommend Alex Lekander’s excellent article on the subject for RestorePrivacy.
In statements to us and others, Kape Technologies has repeatedly stood by the integrity of its VPNs, and ExpressVPN, as the newest VPN acquisition by Kape, has nothing to do with the company’s Crossrider past. However, I find it difficult to fully trust any VPN owned by Kape, and if you’re looking for a VPN to better protect your privacy online, I would caution you away from any Kape-owned VPN.
Our Experience Testing ExpressVPN’s Security
When reviewing ExpressVPN’s security for myself, I didn’t encounter too many issues. I did detect one DNS leak when using dnsleaktest.com, but subsequent tests didn’t reproduce that result. Aside from split tunneling not working, I didn’t encounter any major malfunctions in the app’s features either. The platform’s ad and tracker blocking worked fine, though I usually recommend users look for a dedicated ad/tracker-blocking product instead of bundling that sort of thing with a VPN. I didn’t experience any connectivity issues, though there was some lag when trying to connect to a server or switch servers.
How Fast Is ExpressVPN?
Many users find that a VPN can slow down their internet speed. However, the actual speeds you experience when using a VPN will depend on a variety of factors, including your location, internet service provider (ISP), where the servers are located and the distance between the server and your devices and the specific device and VPN protocol you are using.
| Protocol | Average Upload Speed | Average Download Speed | Average Upload Ping | Average Download Ping |
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No VPN
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347.8 Mbps
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323.6 Mbps
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8.8 ms
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10.6 ms
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Lightway UDP
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321.2 Mbps
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346.2 Mbps
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11.8 ms
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16.7 ms
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Lightway TCP
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275.6 Mbps
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271 Mbps
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14.3 ms
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21.1 ms
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OpenVPN UDP
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168.8 Mbps
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186.8 Mbps
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21.1 ms
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20.8 ms
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OpenVPN TCP
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171.6 Mbps
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166.4 Mbps
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23.5 ms
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20.8 ms
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Methodology: Our VPN speed comparison is tested on a Windows 11 machine using Cloudflare’s public speed test. Each protocol was connected to the nearest possible server and tested multiple times before we came up with these averages.
ExpressVPN’s speeds when using its Lightway protocol were on the higher end of VPN providers we’ve tested. Lightway UDP in particular was fast enough that I could barely tell the difference between browsing the internet with it versus without a VPN. Using Lightway TCP made for a slower but more consistent connection, which makes sense. Unless you absolutely need to use OpenVPN for some reason, I would recommend just using the Lightway protocol in most instances.
ExpressVPN Device Compatibility
With support for all major platforms and a bevy of browser extensions, you’re generally guaranteed to be able to use ExpressVPN on any internet-capable device in your home. This includes routers for which the provider has a specific app.
In addition to the most common browser extensions like Chrome and Edge, ExpressVPN offers a couple of extensions for less-popular web browsers Brave and Vivaldi. I wasn’t really impressed with these extensions during testing, but if you like having browser extensions to go with your VPN, I think these are at least harmless.
What Platforms Does ExpressVPN Support?
| Windows | Mac | Linux | Android | iOS | |
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Supported Operating Systems
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Windows 7 or above
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macOS 10.13 or above; |
Ubuntu 20.4 or above; |
Android 5 or above
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iOS 15 or above; |
Our Experience: ExpressVPN on Windows
ExpressVPN worked mostly fine for me on Windows. I didn’t encounter any significant issues outside of the split tunneling problem I detailed above. The split tunneling issue does cause ExpressVPN to lose points in my eyes, as split tunneling is such a basic feature that practically every VPN has implemented by this point, but if you don’t plan to use split tunneling, the rest of the experience was decent enough. It was neither the best nor the worst VPN experience I’ve had on Windows, instead falling squarely in the middle.
Our Experience: ExpressVPN on Mac
My experience with ExpressVPN on a Mac was in line with the user experience on Windows machines. I was able to quickly and easily set up the system on my machine. I had no issues getting connected to a remote server, and things seemed to run just fine when I tried streaming some movies on Netflix. Mac users will be served just fine by ExpressVPN.
Our Experience: ExpressVPN on Android
My time using ExpressVPN on Android largely mirrors my time using it on Windows. It worked fine. I didn’t encounter any significant issues, nor did I experience any pleasant surprises. It sports a competently made UI. It’s not my favorite Android VPN, but it didn’t cause me any significant headaches either.
Our Experience: ExpressVPN on iOS
While ExpressVPN’s iOS app comes with a very basic password manager, this doesn’t really distract from an otherwise bare-bones iOS experience. The app’s UI looks pretty much identical across all platforms, which makes the reduced features on the iOS app a little confusing at first. The app connected fine, and I was able to browse the internet with little issue. However, its lack of features makes it difficult to recommend for iOS users.
Is ExpressVPN Good for Streaming?
| Streaming Platform | Did It Work for Us? |
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Netflix
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No
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Hulu
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Yes
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Disney+
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Yes
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Max
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Yes
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Our Experience: Streaming Netflix With ExpressVPN
I wasn’t able to get ExpressVPN to bypass Netflix’s region lock successfully. Regardless of which server I tried, I’d always end up on the U.S. version of Netflix. The streaming speeds weren’t bad but also nothing to write home about.
Our Experience: Streaming Hulu With ExpressVPN
I encountered no issue using ExpressVPN to access Hulu outside the U.S. I didn’t notice any sudden buffering or drops in stream quality either.
Our Experience: Streaming Disney+ With ExpressVPN
Disney+ worked like a charm for me as well, which is surprising given how difficult Disney+ has been for me to access with other VPNs. However, ExpressVPN gave me easy access to the platform’s region-specific content with minimal drops in streaming performance.
Our Experience: Streaming Max With ExpressVPN
Finally, ExpressVPN worked with Max easily as well. This isn’t terribly surprising, as Max is arguably the easiest streaming service to access through a VPN, in our experience. It worked fine; no notes.
Customer Service and Support
I reached out to ExpressVPN’s live chat support as part of my review and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was live chat with a human from the jump. The agent was quick, responsive, and got my questions answered without much trouble. They weren’t able to resolve my issue, as outlined in the Standout Features section, but I appreciated the responsiveness. Along with its live chat support, ExpressVPN maintains a knowledge base for users to search through that meets the industry standard.
ExpressVPN Alternatives and How They Compare
| ExpressVPN | Surfshark | Proton VPN | IVPN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Rating
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 |
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Starting Price
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$8.32 per month for annual billing or $12.95 per month for monthly billing
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$2.79 per month for annual billing or $15.45 per month for monthly billing
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$4.99 per month for annual billing or $9.99 per month for monthly
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$60 per year for annual billing or $6 per month for monthly billing
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Number of Servers
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Unknown
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Over 3,200
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3,024
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165 |
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Countries Where Servers Are Available
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105 | 100 | 69 | 37 |
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Number of Connected Devices per Subscription
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Eight
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Unlimited
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10 |
Two for Standard; seven for Pro
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Dedicated IP
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No
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Yes
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Yes (contact Proton VPN’s sales team for more information)
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No
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Money-Back Guarantee
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30 days
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30 days
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30 days
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30 days
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Learn More
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Read Reviews
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ExpressVPN vs. Surfshark
ExpressVPN and Surfshark are fairly even in terms of countries with available servers and features. ExpressVPN is a bit cheaper for monthly billing, but Surfshark’s unlimited number of connected devices could make it a more affordable option in certain cases. Surfshark does have Dedicated IP, while ExpressVPN lacks it, which could make Surfshark a better pick for business use. Overall, though, I don’t think one is significantly better than the other and probably wouldn’t recommend you buy either VPN.
ExpressVPN vs. Proton VPN
Proton VPN is cheaper, has a higher number of connected devices, has Dedicated IP and has a stronger privacy track record than ExpressVPN. It’s also not owned by Kape Technologies. While ExpressVPN has more servers for specific countries, this is not nearly enough to put it even with Proton VPN in my eyes.
ExpressVPN vs. IVPN
While IVPN doesn’t have Dedicated IP for business users, it’s otherwise the same story as with Proton VPN. IVPN Pro is cheaper, has a higher connected device count and a much stronger privacy track record than ExpressVPN. The only things IVPN really lacks are name recognition and the number of countries with available servers. ExpressVPN is clearly higher in both categories, but I still think IVPN is a much better VPN product overall.
Featured Partners
1
NordVPN
$3.49 per month
6
Yes (add-on)
2
Surfshark
$2.29
Unlimited
Yes
3
Norton
$3.33/ month
1, 5 and 10
No
4
Private Internet Access
$2.03
Unlimited
Yes (add-on)
Bottom Line: Is ExpressVPN Right for You?
With its myriad features, status as one of the most popular VPNs on the market, and its place on our Best VPN Services list, it would be easy to think I’d recommend ExpressVPN to users. However, I don’t recommend ExpressVPN for business or personal use.
ExpressVPN for Personal Use
ExpressVPN falls short for personal use due to its relatively high pricing and being owned by Kape Technologies. There’s nothing specifically wrong with the ExpressVPN app, aside from a lacking iOS experience, but that doesn’t mean it’s good enough to justify its price or earn my trust. VPNs are largely marketed as a privacy tool, and when reviewing privacy tools, I believe it’s important to ask myself a simple question: “Would I use this product myself?” In ExpressVPN’s case, the answer is “No.” There are plenty of VPNs of equivalent or cheaper cost that are more trustworthy in my eyes.
ExpressVPN for Business Use
I do not recommend ExpressVPN for business use, in large part due to the same reasons I don’t recommend it for personal use. Additionally, the app’s lack of Dedicated IP makes it unideal for businesses looking to integrate a VPN into their cybersecurity strategy. If you’re using a VPN to boost your company’s cybersecurity, a Dedicated IP can be a useful access control tool, letting access to company resources be restricted to specific IP addresses in addition to asking for login credentials and other multifactor authentication tools. Without Dedicated IP and without a strong privacy record, I just don’t think ExpressVPN is worth most businesses’ time or money.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Who owns ExpressVPN?
ExpressVPN was purchased by Kape Technologies in 2021. Kape Technologies also owns popular VPNs Private Internet Access and ZenMate.
Where is ExpressVPN located?
ExpressVPN is registered in the British Virgin Islands, though the company is itself based out of Hong Kong. Checking its 236 listed employees’ location statistics via LinkedIn, I found over 100 employees live in Singapore, while 43 (including ExpressVPN’s Chief Engineering Officer) live in Hong Kong. The rest are mostly scattered across European countries such as the U.K., Romania and Poland. No employees are reported as living in the British Virgin Islands.
Can ExpressVPN be traced?
In short, probably. There are few, if any, truly untraceable VPNs. A VPN can help keep you anonymous while browsing online, but you’ll want to use additional measures like the Tor browser to help ensure full anonymity.
