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.”

Outdoors of strong safety, the 2 finest issues ExpressVPN provides 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 shortage 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 dearer than its competitors — however it beats most VPNs in a head-to-head matchup.

For this evaluation, 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 or skip to the sections which are most necessary for you, you must come away with all the data you’ll want to determine whether or not to subscribe.

Editors’ word: We’re within the technique of rebooting all of our VPN critiques from scratch. As soon as we do a recent move on the highest providers, we’ll be updating every evaluation with a ranking and extra comparative info.

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 main platforms the place it is obtainable. 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, look forward to 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 may want your activation code, which yow will discover 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 shopper’s launch panel consists of three buttons and fewer than ten phrases. You’ll be able to change your location or let the app choose a location for you — the “Good Location” is the server with the perfect mixture of being close by and unburdened.

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

To sum up, there’s virtually nothing right here to get in the best way: no delays, no snags, no nested menus to get misplaced in. It might be the world’s most ignorable VPN shopper. That is not a nasty 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. Just a few options are lacking and a pair others have been added. Cut 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 acquire entry to the IKEv2 protocol, together with the choice to show off computerized IPv6 blocking — Home windows customers have to go away it blocked always. Nearly each web site continues to be accessible through IPv4, however it’s helpful in case you do have to entry a particular IPv6 deal with whereas the VPN is energetic.

Android

Android customers can obtain ExpressVPN by 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 info 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 an inventory of places. On this listing, you may both search or scroll and may select particular person places inside a rustic that has multiple. We linked to as many far-flung server places as we might, however not a single one took longer than a couple 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 obtainable on desktop, the perfect of which is the flexibility to robotically connect with your last-used ExpressVPN server each time your cellphone connects to a non-trusted wifi community.

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

iPhone and iPad

You’ll be able to solely set up ExpressVPN’s iOS app by the app retailer. Throughout setup, you might have to 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, however it makes up for that by chopping out a few of the muddle. The tabs and options are related, although break up tunneling and shortcuts are absent. Additionally, each cellular apps make buyer help much more accessible than their desktop counterparts — plus, cellular is the one approach to ship e-mail help tickets.

Browser extension

ExpressVPN additionally consists of 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’ve got a really particular internet browser circulate you want.

ExpressVPN velocity take a look at: Very quick averages

Connecting to a VPN virtually 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 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 gadget and an online server by the VPN. Latency will increase with distance. It is most necessary 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 — corresponding 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 net without delay. It is most necessary for torrenting, because the quantity of knowledge you may seed determines how briskly you may obtain in alternate.

The desk under exhibits 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. Regardless of the place we went on the planet, we by no means misplaced greater than about 7% of our obtain speeds, and add misplaced an astoundingly low common of two%. This means that ExpressVPN deftly distributes its consumer load between servers to eradicate bottlenecks.

The latency numbers look worse, however the rise within the desk is much less sharp than we projected. Ping size relies upon much 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. Protecting the typical under 300 ms, as ExpressVPN does right here, is a powerful displaying.

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 will not be 100% sure, the exams we’ll run by under have led us to imagine that ExpressVPN is presently leak-proof.

Out there VPN protocols

A VPN protocol is sort of a frequent language {that a} VPN server can use to mediate between your gadgets 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 nasty signal.

ExpressVPN offers you a collection of three protocols: IKEv2, OpenVPN and Lightway. The primary two are strong decisions that help the newest encryption algorithms. OpenVPN has been totally open-source for years and is your best option if privateness is your purpose. Whereas IKEv2 began life as a closed venture 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 conserving their codebases slim. Nevertheless, Lightway was not too long ago rewritten in Rust to raised shield the keys saved in its reminiscence.

Finally, you may’t go incorrect with any of ExpressVPN’s protocol choices. 99% of the time, your most suitable option can be to set the controls to Computerized and let the VPN determine which runs finest.

Testing for leaks

ExpressVPN is likely one of the finest providers, however it’s not leak-proof (as you may learn within the Background Examine 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 break 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 fastened the vulnerability.

The truth is, 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 perfect VPNs can do little or no about for now.

The commonest reason for 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 develop area availability. Each are good, however presently non-compulsory, so ExpressVPN robotically blocks each to make sure there is no 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 immediately, outdoors 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: connect with a VPN server, then flip Airplane Mode on and off once more to finish all connections that had been energetic earlier than you linked to the VPN.

Testing encryption

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

That lack of any identifiable info, and even readable info, means encryption is working as meant. We repeated the take a look at 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 monthly. Lengthy-term subscriptions can carry 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 consists of three months free of charge together with your first cost, costing a complete of $6.67 monthly. The bonus disappears for all subsequent years, elevating the month-to-month price to $8.33. You can too 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 cost 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 need to use it, although.

In our opinion, ExpressVPN’s service is strong sufficient that it is value paying further. Maybe not this a lot further, however that is dependent upon 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 may get pleasure from utilizing, that runs quick and unblocks all the pieces you want, that is value a server’s weight in gold.

ExpressVPN facet apps and bundles

ExpressVPN consists of some particular options that work principally 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 obtainable underneath its personal tab on the Android and iOS apps. On desktop, you may have to obtain a separate extension out of your browser’s retailer, then sign up utilizing your account activation code. It is obtainable on all Chromium browsers, however not Firefox.

Beginning in 2025, new subscribers get an eSIM plan by holiday.com, a separate service linked to ExpressVPN. The baseline 1GB vacation eSIM plans final for five days and may apply to international locations, areas, or the complete world (although it isn’t clear whether or not the package deal deal applies to the regional and international plans). Longer-term plans embody 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 connect 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 a lot of its opponents, ExpressVPN would not presently supply antivirus or on-line storage providers, however there’s a complete bundle of ID safety instruments referred to as Id Defender. We’ve not reviewed any of those merchandise intimately, however this is an inventory for reference:

• ID Alerts will inform you if any of your delicate info is leaked or misused on-line. It is free with all plans, however you may must enter your private info in your ExpressVPN account web page or a cellular 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 obtainable to those that subscribed earlier than it launched in October 2024.

• Knowledge Elimination scans to your info in knowledge brokerages and robotically requests that or not it’s deleted. It is also free with one-year and two-year plans.

• Credit score Scanner is just obtainable for United States customers. It screens your exercise on the three credit score bureaus so you may shortly spot any suspicious transactions.

The Id Defender options are presently solely obtainable to new ExpressVPN prospects within the US.

Shut-reading ExpressVPN’s privateness coverage

Though we fear that the consolidation of VPN manufacturers underneath the umbrella of Kape Applied sciences (ExpressVPN’s mum or dad firm) will make the business much less aggressive, we do not imagine it is influencing ExpressVPN to benefit from 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 legal professionals. You can see it for yourself here.

Within the introduction, ExpressVPN states that it doesn’t preserve both exercise logs (corresponding to a consumer’s looking historical past whereas linked 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 looking exercise). It then specifies the seven kinds of knowledge it is legally allowed to gather:

• Knowledge used to enroll in an account, corresponding to names, emails and cost 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 corresponding to crash stories, that are solely shared upon consumer request.

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

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

• Knowledge voluntarily submitted for id theft safety apps.

Of these seven exceptions, the one ones that rely as pink flags are account knowledge and advertising and marketing knowledge. Each classes are extremely private and could possibly be damaging if mishandled. Luckily, 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 non-public 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 gadget fingerprints and site knowledge whenever you join an account on its web site. The privateness coverage additionally claims that is anonymized, as its “methods are engineered to decouple such knowledge from personally identifiable info.” Audits corroborate this, as we’ll see within the subsequent part. So, whereas it might 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 typically 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 may 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 inner controls in place that customers might belief its privateness coverage.

The report is freely available to read. This can be a excellent signal, although we’re looking 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 don’t have any laborious drives for long-term storage and return to a typical disk picture with each reboot. This makes it theoretically unattainable to retailer consumer exercise logs on them, even when ExpressVPN wished to try this.

The KPMG audit, linked above, stories 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, despite its aggravating exception for advertising and marketing.

Can ExpressVPN change your digital location?

Subsequent, we examined whether or not ExpressVPN can truly persuade web sites that you just’re someplace aside from your actual location. Our safety exams have already confirmed it may conceal your IP deal with, however it takes greater than leak-proofing to idiot streaming websites nowadays — Netflix and the others have gotten excellent at combing by metadata to smell out proxy customers.

The method for testing this can be 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 places outdoors the U.S. to see if we a) received into Netflix and b) noticed totally different titles within the library. The outcomes are under.

In fifteen exams, 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 problem.

All the opposite places received 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 places are hermetic.

Investigating ExpressVPN’s server community

ExpressVPN customers can connect 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 consists of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia, spectacular since central Asia often is the area most frequently shafted by VPNs.

Nevertheless, many of those servers have digital places totally different from their actual ones. For these of you selecting a server primarily based 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 large chunk of the listing. A complete of 63 ExpressVPN places are digital, or 38% of its total community.

To scale back the sting, ExpressVPN takes care to find digital servers as near their actual places as potential. Its digital places 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 deal with out of Germany. But it surely helps ExpressVPN carry out higher within the southern hemisphere.

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

Community Lock kill change

“Community Lock” is the identify ExpressVPN offers to its kill change (although it is referred to as “Community Safety” on cellular). A VPN kill change is a security function that retains you from broadcasting outdoors the VPN tunnel. If it ever detects that you just aren’t linked to a professional 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 necessary 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 faux public wi-fi networks by which they redirect you to equally faux VPN servers, which then harvest your private info. It is unlikely, however not unattainable, and a kill change is the easiest way to forestall it — the change at all times triggers until you are linked 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 too toggle whether or not you may nonetheless have the ability to entry native gadgets whereas the kill change is obstructing your web — that is allowed by default.

Menace supervisor, advert blocker and parental controls

ExpressVPN teams three instruments underneath 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 an inventory of internet sites identified 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 in depth and open-source, they depend on after-the-fact reporting and may’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 all the pieces on the listing, uncheck it to permit all the pieces by. In exams, the advert blocker was almost 100% efficient towards 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 linked. As such, it is meant for use along side device-level parental controls that forestall the kid from turning off or uninstalling the VPN shopper.

Cut up tunneling

Typically, you may discover it useful to have your gadget getting on-line by two totally different IP addresses without delay — one to your house providers and one for a location you are attempting to spoof. That is the place break up tunneling is useful: it runs some apps by the VPN whereas leaving others unprotected. This will 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 under). You’ll be able to solely break up by app, not by web site, however it’s nonetheless fairly helpful. For instance, you may 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 typically unexceptional VPN service. Nevertheless, there’s one space by 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.

Normally, putting in a VPN in your router requires tinkering with the router management panel, which turns off all however essentially the most skilled customers — to not point out making it an enormous ache to modify to a brand new server location. Aircove’s dashboard, in contrast, can be immediately acquainted to anybody who already is aware of easy methods to use an ExpressVPN shopper. It even permits totally different gadgets in your house to hook up with totally different places by the router VPN.

Aircove’s greatest disadvantage is its worth. At present retailing at $189 (not together with an ExpressVPN subscription), it is round 3 times dearer than an aftermarket router fitted with free VPN firmware. A few of you may nonetheless discover the comfort definitely worth the one-time cost.

ExpressVPN buyer help choices

ExpressVPN’s written assist pages are a few of the finest available on the market. Its dwell chat is extra of a combined bag, and complicated questions could trigger delays. Nevertheless, it’s no less than staffed with human brokers who intention to answer precisely, moderately than resolve your ticket as shortly as potential.

We approached ExpressVPN’s help 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/help, the written help 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 glorious, together with screenshots and clearly written steps; every one features a video information for many who study 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 common issues, then delves into particular points you may face on every working system. Every article clearly derives from an actual buyer want.

The dwell help 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 dwell chat by clicking the button on the bottom-right of each FAQ web page.

Stay chat begins with an AI assistant, which isn’t too laborious to get previous — simply ask it a query it may’t reply, then click on “Switch to an Agent.” We received 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 particular person: refunds are inside 30 days solely, it doesn’t matter what.

If the dwell chat agent cannot reply your query, you may be redirected to open an e-mail help ticket. Annoyingly, there is no approach to go on to e-mail help by the web site or desktop apps, although cellular customers have the choice to skip immediately 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 report 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 setting for on-line privateness. The BVIs don’t have any regulation requiring companies to retain knowledge on their customers, and the method for extraditing knowledge is famously troublesome, requiring a direct order from the very best courtroom.

In 2021, the BVI implemented the Data Protection Act (DPA) [PDF link], which prevents firms primarily based within the territory from accessing knowledge on their customers anyplace on the planet. It is an awesome privateness regulation in idea, 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 frontrunner or workers.

In different phrases, whereas ExpressVPN will not be 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 is dependent upon whether or not you belief the corporate itself. Let’s have a look at 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 death at an art show. Turkish police suspected somebody had used ExpressVPN to mask their identity whereas they deleted info 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 strategy to privateness. The supplier cannot put together beforehand, faux something, or collude with investigators. The Turkey incident continues to be among the best causes to suggest 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 linked to an ExpressVPN server, their looking exercise was typically going on to their ISP, unmasked.

The bug solely impacted a couple of customers, and to their credit score, ExpressVPN sprang into motion as quickly as they realized about it. The crew 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 towards 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 referred to as Kape Applied sciences purchased a controlling interest in ExpressVPN. Along with ExpressVPN, privately held Kape owns CyberGhost, Non-public Web Entry, and Zenmate (earlier than it merged into CyberGhost). As shown on its website, it additionally owns Webselenese, writer of VPN evaluation web sites WizCase and vpnMentor, which poses an obvious battle of curiosity.

When reached for remark, a consultant for ExpressVPN stated that “ExpressVPN doesn’t immediately have interaction 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 critiques 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 targeted extra his companies within the online gambling and fintech arenas, in addition to his real estate ventures. An ExpressVPN consultant advised 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 day by day operations.

Nearer to the instant day-to-day operations of ExpressVPN was the corporate’s employment of Daniel Gericke as CTO from 2019 by 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 Challenge 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 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 linked to Kape, Sagi, or Gericke.

Ultimately, how a lot ExpressVPN’s historical past issues to you is a private selection. Should you object to any present or previous actions by Kape Applied sciences or Teddy Sagi, there are different premium VPN choices you may desire. Should you want extra info to make up your thoughts, we suggest studying by CNET’s 2022 deep dive on ExpressVPN’s corporate history.

Remaining 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 just about no influence. If something is definitely worth the excessive worth of admission, it is the superb speeds distributed evenly throughout the worldwide server community.

Nevertheless, for sure particular circumstances, ExpressVPN is probably not your best option. There is not any approach to arrange your personal server places, like NordVPN provides, and no double VPN connections, like you may 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 advise going with ExpressVPN for common on-line privateness, for spoofing places in your house nation whereas touring, or in case you frequently have to unblock websites in different international locations. That encompasses 19 of each 20 customers, which is ok by us, as ExpressVPN is a good service. It is simply extra of a dependable previous screwdriver than a multi-tool.