To help reclaim your privacy from so-called surveillance capitalism, you should add a VPN to your toolkit. A VPN protects you by routing all your web traffic through an encrypted connection to a remote server, hiding your identity and shielding your data. ExpressVPN is an excellent example for those who want a lot of server choices and strong speed results, with a massive global footprint and strong privacy practices to protect your information. The app also includes many bonus features, like an ad blocker and an adult content blocker. A visual refresh of ExpressVPN has revitalized its apps, but it's expensive and still not as packed with features as competitors that are similarly priced or even cheaper. Proton VPN is our top overall choice in the category thanks to its well-rounded offering and generous free version.
How Much Does ExpressVPN Cost?
ExpressVPN recently dropped its rates for six-month and one-year subscriptions. Its one-month plan remains at $12.95, a six-month plan costs $59.95, and a one-year plan is $99.95—about a $10 and $17 per year decrease, respectively. This exactly reverses earlier price increases.
The average monthly price of the VPN services we've tested is $10.03, considerably less than ExpressVPN's $12.95. Mullvad VPN requires just 5 euros per month ($5.24 at the time of writing), making it one of the cheapest VPNs available.
You save money picking ExpressVPN's six-month and annual plans over its monthly plan, but the $99.95 annual plan is still well above the $67.42 average price of VPNs we've reviewed. Generally, we advise against starting with an annual or long-term VPN subscription. Instead, use the shortest option—or a free subscription if you can find one—and test the VPN on all your usual sites and services. Note that when it comes to pricing, our reviews place the most weight on monthly fees, not long-term contracts or limited-time deals.
Similar Products
ExpressVPN doesn't offer a free VPN subscription tier. That's not too surprising, as truly free VPN subscriptions are rare. TunnelBear VPN offers a free version and access to its global server network but limits you to 500MB (1.5GB with promotions) of data per month. Proton VPN, on the other hand, places no data restrictions on its free subscription.
The company accepts payment by all major credit cards, PayPal, and other services such as WebMoney. You can also purchase an ExpressVPN subscription with Bitcoin. Notably, IVPN and Mullvad accept cash payments for even more anonymity.
![How a VPN Works](https://assets1.ignimgs.com/thumbs/userUploaded/2018/5/17/maxresdefault-1526584135409.jpg)
What Do You Get for Your Money With ExpressVPN?
ExpressVPN's pricing changes come with some small adjustments to what its six-month and one-year plans offer. With any plan from ExpressVPN, you can now connect up to eight devices simultaneously (up from five as of October 2023), regardless of whether it's a monthly, six-month, or one-year subscription. That's above average among the VPNs we've reviewed, which usually hovers around five.
That's good to see, but even that improvement is not necessarily in line with the industry. Instead of slowly upping that cap, many VPNs are moving away from such restrictions entirely. Atlas VPN, Avira Phantom VPN, IPVanish VPN, Surfshark VPN, and TunnelBear VPN don't even limit the number of simultaneous connections. (Note: IPVanish VPN is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag.com's parent company.)
One way to get more than eight connections is to use the company's own Aircove router. Doing so lets you connect unlimited devices to your ExpressVPN subscription—including smart fridges and other smart devices.
In addition to the extra connections, subscribers with ExpressVPN also get access to the company's password manager, Keys. We haven't evaluated Keys, but we have many recommendations for excellent password managers. There's also the new Threat Manager feature, which claims to block malware and trackers on your machine. However, verifying this feature's strength is beyond the scope of this review.
ExpressVPN provides malware blocking with its VPN. Some VPN companies, like NordVPN and CyberGhost VPN, have expanded to include other branded products like x and secure online storage. In our conversations with ExpressVPN, the company explained that it is focused solely on making the best VPN possible rather than adding more features.
ExpressVPN does provide split tunneling, which lets you designate what traffic should travel through the VPN's encrypted connection and what should travel outside it. Split tunneling is useful for activities like gaming or streaming media, which require a lot of bandwidth but are comparatively low risk. It also offers a kill switch, which it calls Network Lock (more on this below).
That's the end of ExpressVPN's privacy features. The service does not provide push-button access to the Tor anonymization network, which bounces your requests through several volunteer intermediaries for even more privacy. Note that you do not need a VPN to access Tor, though it is a convenient way to do so.
You also cannot use ExpressVPN to create a multi-hop connection. This routes your traffic through two VPN servers. That way, your privacy remains secure even if the second VPN server has been compromised. Only NordVPN and Proton VPN offer access to Tor, multi-hop connections, and split tunneling.
In October 2023, ExpressVPN added an ad blocker and an adult site blocker to its service. In our testing, we found the ad blocker was good at blocking website-based banner ads and ads on game-streaming service Twitch (a significant feat), though YouTube still showed ads. The adult site blocker worked surprisingly well, even blocking lesser-known adult sites that aren't part of the larger networks of porn purveyors.
Although a VPN can improve your online privacy, it's just one tool and cannot protect against every threat. We strongly encourage you to use standalone antivirus software, enable multi-factor authentication wherever it is available, and use a password manager to store complex and unique passwords for each site and service you use.
![What Is Two-Factor Authentication?](https://zmgvideos.mashable.com/cms/2019/5/4e8cd2c5-8eec-cb8a/uploaded_thumbnail.jpg)
What VPN Protocols Does ExpressVPN Use?
VPNs are a mature technology, so there are many ways to create, protect, and sustain a VPN connection. OpenVPN is our long-standing favorite, as it is open source and has been picked over for potential vulnerabilities by anyone interested in doing so. WireGuard is the open-source heir apparent to OpenVPN and is well on its way to being an industry standard.
ExpressVPN does not offer WireGuard and has instead focused on OpenVPN and its own protocol, which is called Lightway. This protocol uses the open-source wolfSSL cryptography library, which is smart because trying to build new cryptographic systems isn't a safe bet. The Lightway protocol has been subjected to a third-party audit, as we explain below, the results of which were quite positive.
Lightway and OpenVPN are supported on ExpressVPN's Android, Linux, Mac, and Windows apps. They are also available for routers configured to use ExpressVPN. Currently, the ExpressVPN iOS app only supports OpenVPN and IKEv1/2. The macOS and Windows apps have legacy support for L2TP, but we advise using this older protocol. The ExpressVPN Windows app also supports IKEv2.
As of October 2023, ExpressVPN has updated to Lightway version 1.3, which it claims has “successfully implemented post-quantum support based on wolfSSL’s integration with the Open Quantum Safe team’s liboqs. We will be utilizing P256_KYBER_LEVEL1 for UDP and P521_KYBER_LEVEL5 for TCP. Kyber was chosen by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as the candidate for general encryption in a bid to tackle cyber attacks posed by the advent of quantum computing.” We were unable to test the security of this added feature ourselves. We're fresh out of quantum decrypters at PCMag Labs, so we’ll just have to take the company at its word for now.
Where Does ExpressVPN Have Servers?
ExpressVPN offers 160 server locations across 105 countries, nearly double the average we've seen across the VPN products we've evaluated. This means there are many options for location spoofing and finding a nearby server wherever you are in the world. ExpressVPN also allows customers to select specific servers, letting them get the most out of the company's far-flung location options.
The company also excels in geographic diversity, with several servers in Africa and excellent coverage across South America—two continents often wholly ignored by VPN companies. ExpressVPN also maintains servers for some countries with repressive internet policies, including Turkey and Vietnam. The company also has servers in Hong Kong and Ukraine.
On the other hand, ExpressVPN does not have the most extensive collection of servers. HMA VPN boasts coverage of 190 countries, PureVPN has them in 140 countries, and Surfshark VPN recently announced it serves 100 countries. However, ExpressVPN has maintained a consistently high-quality collection, as we'll explain.
To support their massive fleets of servers, VPN companies often use virtual servers and virtual locations. Virtual servers are software-defined servers, meaning that one piece of hardware can host multiple virtual servers. Virtual locations are servers configured to appear as if they are in a country other than where that physical hardware is located. Neither is necessarily bad, but we prefer it when companies disclose exactly where customer data is heading.
ExpressVPN is transparent about its use of virtual servers. An explanatory page says that less than 5% of servers are not physically located where they appear to be, and it lists their true location. For example, ExpressVPN's Turkey, Venezuela, and Vietnam servers are all virtual. This sounds reasonable.
To protect its data centers worldwide, ExpressVPN uses RAM-only servers, which do not write any information to disk. ExpressVPN also says it uses a cryptographic key scheme that assigns unique keys for each server and does not store them on disk, making it much harder for an attacker to impersonate an ExpressVPN server. Those servers, ExpressVPN says, are in third-party data centers that limit access to servers.
That said, most people probably do not need many server locations—virtual or otherwise. You probably need as many servers as possible, as near as possible to your home. This cuts into ExpressVPN's overall value proposition. While the company offers an excellent, well-rounded service, its best feature is geared toward the frequent traveler, the businessperson, or someone with very specific needs.
Your Privacy With ExpressVPN
If a VPN company were lacking in morals, it could easily monetize your personal information much the way an ISP can, and that's why it's important to read and understand a VPN's privacy policy. Don't worry; we've read the fine print for you.
To its credit, ExpressVPN's privacy policy is thorough and fairly clear, though it could be easier to read. TunnelBear VPN does an excellent job of being transparent to customers in an understandable way, and more companies should emulate its efforts.
The company says it stores no logs of user activity, originating IP address, the VPN IP you connect with, the session duration, or a connection timestamp. That's what you want to hear from a VPN company. Better still, ExpressVPN makes it clear in its policy (and verified to us) that the company does not sell user data.
The company does, however, collect some information. It gathers the aggregate amount of data transferred by each user. It logs the most recent date—but not the time—a successful connection has been made. The company also notes which VPN location you connect with—but not a specific public-facing IP address. ExpressVPN says this information is insufficient to identify a specific individual since it would be identical to many other users. Still, customers should always be skeptical of anonymized data since it doesn't always stay anonymous.
These policies have been put to the test. The company has trumpeted how Turkish officials couldn't extract information from seized ExpressVPN servers.
ExpressVPN is headquartered in the British Virgin Islands, which has no data retention laws. The company points out that any requests for user information would have to be issued from a local court, and they would only be honored if the crime under investigation would be punishable by at least a year in prison in the British Virgin Islands. The hope is that this would slow down frivolous or intrusive investigations that would infringe on your privacy.
Some VPN companies release the results of third-party audits to validate the security of their services. NordVPN commissioned an audit of its no-log policy, and TunnelBear VPN has committed to releasing annual audits of its entire operation. ExpressVPN released the results of an audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2019, and in October 2022, it released two more audits from KPMG and Cure53. The company released two additional Cure53 penetration testing audits of its mobile apps in December 2022. In early 2023, ExpressVPN released a positive Cure53 audit of its Lightway protocol, completed in November 2022. We're glad to see the company release these results and encourage it to continue doing so in the future.
In 2021, ExpressVPN announced that it had been acquired by Kape Technologies, which also owns CyberGhost VPN and Private Internet Access VPN, among other privacy and security companies. In a previous incarnation, Kape was an adware company called Crossrider. In 2023, concerns arose after news broke of layoffs within Kape's properties, including its VPNs. We have yet to see any consequences of these layoffs, but we have confirmed that each VPN service owned by Kape continues to operate independently, not sharing infrastructure with other Kape companies.
Hands On With ExpressVPN on Windows
We had no trouble downloading and installing the ExpressVPN client on an Intel NUC 11 (NUC11PHKi7C, 'Phantom Canyon') desktop running the latest version of Windows 11. One quirk of ExpressVPN is that you don't log in to the app with a username and password. Instead, you use an activation code found on the ExpressVPN customer portal. This might be confusing for those expecting to be prompted for their usual login credentials, but entering one activation code is a bit easier than putting in a username and a password.
The design of the ExpressVPN app leans on serifs and a softer color palette, giving it a '70s airline vibe, and we mean that as a compliment. It's not as friendly as TunnelBear VPN, but ExpressVPN is now much more approachable than the black-and-green hacker aesthetic found in too many competitors.
The app is built around a large on/off button, which makes it easy to get online and to tell whether you're still connected to the VPN. When disconnected, the top third resembles a purple-orange sunset that blossoms into bold green when connected. On all the successful connections after the first, ExpressVPN lists shortcuts to apps and websites. You can edit this list from the settings or turn it off completely.
An additional window lets you browse and search ExpressVPN's servers, but we wish the app showed more information about each server, such as overall usage. Proton VPN is especially good at letting you find the best server for your needs.
From the Options panel, you can configure the app's settings. When enabled, its kill switch will block internet activity if your VPN connection is lost. You also have the option to enable communications with just your local devices, such as printers, when the VPN isn't running. You can also manually select your preferred VPN protocol, although the app chooses the best by default.
A flexible split tunneling tool gives you two options: segregating specific apps from the VPN connection or requiring selected apps to use the VPN connection. That's useful, but some services also let you choose split tunneling for certain URLs or IP addresses.
If a VPN is configured incorrectly, it can potentially leak your real IP address, your ISP, or your DNS requests. We confirmed that ExpressVPN had hidden our IP address and obscured our ISP. Using the DNS Leak Test, we found that ExpressVPN had hidden our DNS information. Note that we only tested one server. Other servers may be incorrectly configured.
Streaming media is incredibly important for consumers, but streaming services like Netflix sometimes block your access when you use a VPN. This is likely to protect distribution agreements for streaming companies. In our testing, we could stream from Netflix while ExpressVPN was in use. However, you may find yourself blocked since VPNs and Netflix are in an ongoing arms race over access.
In addition to Windows, ExpressVPN offers Android, iOS, and macOS apps and supports Linux users with a command line tool. The company has Fire TV and Kindle Fire apps, and its Apple TV app began rolling out in December 2023. It gives instructions (but not apps) for using the service on PlayStation and Xbox devices, and you can use its MediaStreamer SmartDNS tool to spoof the locations of devices that can't run an ExpressVPN client.
Hands On With ExpressVPN on Android
We tested the company's Android VPN on a Samsung A71 running Android 11. The app looks identical to the iOS version but has more features. The layout has the same cool 70’s vibe found on the Windows and iOS versions, with cool grays, purples, and orange tones.
There is a large connect button in the center of the screen, and below that, you can find a “time protected” bar. This feature tells you how often you use the VPN while connected to the internet. ExpressVPN for Android’s features include split tunneling, a kill switch, and auto-connect settings.
When using a VPN, it’s a good idea to make sure it's protecting your information. We navigated to DNSLeakTest.com and ran an extended test while connected to a server in Toronto. Our real IP address was hidden, and our DNS information was secure.
We then went to YouTube while connected to the Toronto server. We were able to play videos without any interruptions or buffering. We also visited Twitch.tv and loaded up a couple of streams. The video loaded quickly and played at a high resolution without lagging or buffering.
Hands On With ExpressVPN on iPhone
We installed the ExpressVPN iOS app on an iPhone XS running iOS 14.5.1. The app features the pleasing warm autumnal color scheme seen in the Windows version, as well as a large connection button in the middle of the screen.
You can choose a VPN location from a list of countries and cities and, where applicable, a short list of servers within each city. The app doesn’t appear to have as many server options as a competitor like Tunnelbear VPN offers, and the iOS app is missing a lot of the features found on the Windows version of the app. There is no split tunneling feature to be found on the iOS app. You do, however, get an auto-reconnect feature that will restart your VPN when your internet connection restarts and a kill switch.
Every VPN should protect your IP address and not leak your DNS requests—that’s the point of using a service like ExpressVPN. We visited DNSLeakTest.com and performed an extended test while connected to a server in Stockholm, Sweden. Our real IP address and DNS information stayed private while connected to that server.
We visited YouTube Premium while connected to the same server in Stockholm, Sweden. We didn’t experience any interruptions or lag while watching a few videos and didn’t see any ads. We then went to Twitch.tv and watched a couple of streams. Each one took a few seconds to load, but they played without buffering or interruptions.
Hands On With ExpressVPN on macOS
ExpressVPN does not have a MacOS VPN app in the App Store, so we downloaded it from the vendor’s website. We installed the app on a MacBook Air (2020) running Big Sur 11.2.2.
The app’s color scheme looks just like the iOS and Android versions, with its retro appeal and autumnal tones. The app features a large connection button in the middle of the interface, a list of apps and sites you can pin to the dashboard, and a server list. You can choose which server you want to use in the city and country of your choice. Beyond that, the macOS app offers very few features. The ExpressVPN app has a kill switch, but it doesn’t feature the split tunneling found in the Windows version, which is disappointing.
To make sure our IP address wasn’t leaking, we navigated to DNSLeakTest.com and ran an extended test while connected to a server in Hong Kong. The server was not leaking our information.
We remained connected to the Hong Kong-based server and tested the speed and reliability of the VPN by visiting YouTube and watching a few videos. The videos loaded within a few seconds, and we didn’t experience any lag or buffering. We went to Twitch.tv and watched a few streams. Each loaded in an instant with crystal-clear video and sound.
Hands On With ExpressVPN on ChromeOS
We downloaded the ExpressVPN Android app onto a Dell Chrome 3100 with an Intel Celeron Processor. The app's easy-to-use interface makes connecting to a VPN server simple. The app also has a small screen footprint you can expand as needed.
ExpressVPN on ChromeOS has split tunneling and an auto-connect option. Most of the app’s features are in the Privacy and Security menu. There’s also an IP address checker, a DNS leak test, a WebRTC leak test, and a password generator.
ExpressVPN Speed and Performance
To understand the impact a VPN has on your internet experience, we run a series of tests using the Ookla Speedtest tool and find a percent change between Speedtest results with and without the VPN running. You can read the nitty-gritty of our methodologies if you wish. (Note: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag.com's parent company.)
We found in testing that ExpressVPN decreased upload and download Speedtest results by 20.4% and 10.5%, respectively. Both of these are significantly better than the previous round of testing and best the median result in those respective categories. We found that ExpressVPN increased latency by 40.9%, just a hair better than the median result of 41.9%.
PCMag now presents our Speedtest results in a rolling fashion, posting the results for newly tested products throughout the year. The chart below shows all of our latest results:
Remember that network connections are variable, and your experience may differ from ours. These results are more of a snapshot for comparison rather than a final verdict on performance. We believe features and overall value are far more important than speed, and we discourage readers from judging a VPN solely on these results.
An Excellent VPN for Frequent Travelers
ExpressVPN is ideal for road warriors or anyone who must use a server in a specific location. Its minimal reliance on virtual servers and its emphasis on secure hardware set it apart from some VPN services that tout big server distributions. Most importantly, the company shows a strong commitment to customers' privacy and security. We also dig its retro appearance. Despite its achievements, ExpressVPN falls short of an Editors' Choice award. Top competitors simply offer more for less, making them more attractive to the average user.
For an all-around excellent service with a more affordable price, you should consider our overall Editors' Choice winner, Proton VPN. Among our other top-rated services, you might also want to check out Mullvad VPN (our favorite low-cost VPN) and NordVPN (our favorite premium VPN).
Max Eddy contributed to this review.
ExpressVPN's dedication to privacy is impressive, as is its far-flung fleet of servers, though its price is steep for those who don't need worldwide access.
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