ExpressVPN Review: Excellent But Expensive

Value When Reviewed

From $6.67 monthly

Greatest Costs As we speak: ExpressVPN

With so many VPN providers to decide on between, it helps when you’ve got a widely known model so you’ll be able to stand out from the group. ExpressVPN actually has that, and it has subjected itself to a wide range of third-party audits which present that its apps and servers are safe, and that it sticks by its no-logs coverage.

ExpressVPN – as with all shopper VPN providers – grants an additional layer of privateness on-line, further safety on public Wi-Fi networks (equivalent to in cafes and accommodations) and the flexibility to unblock region-locked content material, equivalent to movies and web sites.

Once you use a VPN, you’re routing all of your exercise by means of its servers, so it’s essential that you could belief it with all of your web visitors.

That is additionally why components such because the historical past of ExpressVPN’s present proprietor – Kape Applied sciences – and the new water its CIO discovered himself in again in 2021 don’t matter very a lot. This can be a VPN service we really feel greater than comfy utilizing.

ExpressVPN positions itself as a premium VPN service, which is why it prices greater than loads of its rivals. You received’t see any loopy offers providing 80% off: there’s solely ever one deal: join 12 months and also you’ll pay nearly half what you’d pay for those who subscribed on a one-month rolling foundation. And, on the finish of the primary 12 months, you get three further months tacked on free of charge.

The large query, in fact, is whether or not or not ExpressVPN price it when you may get a two-, three- and even five-year subscription to a rival VPN service for a similar cash? Preserve studying to search out out.

Options

• 3000+ servers in 94 international locations
• 5 simultaneous connections
• Permits torrenting
• Unblocks 200+ streaming providers

Though some VPNs have extra servers than ExpressVPN, few cowl as many international locations. What’s vital, although, is whether or not it has servers close to you, and within the international locations the place you wish to get round regional blocks.

It affords 24 places within the US, 4 within the UK (three in London and one within the Midlands). There’s a selection of seven places in Australia, however solely 5 international locations masking the entire of Africa and the Center East.

It’s price mentioning that ExpressVPN permits P2P and torrenting, which some VPN providers particularly forbid.

Though ExpressVPN rents its servers – versus proudly owning them and having unique entry to them – it makes use of what it calls TrustedServer know-how. That is the place the software program runs completely in RAM and doesn’t save any information to the exhausting drive. Though servers nonetheless have exhausting drives, these are read-only and comprise solely the working system picture wanted in addition up the servers.

Put merely, it means anybody seizing a server (equivalent to native authorities) wouldn’t have the ability to retrieve any person information from it.

It’s a commendable setup, however the place it used to have this benefit over rivals, some have now caught up and successfully use the identical setup. It nonetheless isn’t fairly as safe as a completely owned and operated community the place there isn’t an underlying working system that – probably – datacentre workers may entry. However not many VPN suppliers run their very own servers.

Unblocking streaming providers is one in all ExpressVPN’s greatest strengths. It claims to reliably unblock over 200 streaming service and likewise offers you a backup possibility – the MediaStreamer proxy service – for those who discover that the VPN isn’t unblocking DAZN, say, on the precise second you wish to watch a reside sports activities occasion.

ExpressVPN additionally has its personal encryption protocol, Lightway. This affords very quick connection occasions and good speeds. That is vital when you’ve got a quick web connection and don’t desire a VPN to sluggish it down.

In case you have any issues, reside chat is accessible around the clock, too.

One other characteristic is Risk Supervisor. This blocks visitors from web sites identified to be malicious, defending your gadgets from malware, scammers and trackers. It really works solely when the VPN is related, however isn’t current within the Home windows or Android apps. ExpressVPN says it’s rolling out on these “quickly”.

Apps

• Home windows
• Android
• iPhone, Mac
• Router
• Linux (command line)

Certainly one of ExpressVPN’s different strengths is the vary of apps it affords: Home windows, macOS, iPhone, Android, iPad, Linux and Amazon Fireplace TV. But it surely doesn’t cease there. There are browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge.

And in contrast to all different VPN providers, whose extensions are merely proxies masquerading as VPNs, ExpressVPN’s extensions are extra akin to a distant management for the primary VPN app, so once you use them, you’re getting the total safety of a VPN reasonably than merely altering your IP handle.

Though ExpressVPN doesn’t provide a GUI for Linux, a workaround is to put in a browser extension and use that to connect with a server.

The apps are usually straightforward to make use of. They’ve a easy residence display screen with an enormous button to attach. You don’t even want to choose a location: it’ll do this for you.

You solely want to decide on a location when you’ve got a particular want, equivalent to unblocking movies abroad. Within the Home windows app, the nation record isn’t significantly apparent, and throughout all apps defaults to an inventory of advisable places. You’d be forgiven for lacking this truth and questioning why there have been so few places accessible within the US.

Nevertheless, these are minor gripes, and we like that well-liked international locations are listed on the high, reasonably than the standard alphabetical order that places the US and UK close to the underside.

Current servers keep on the house display screen, however you too can favorite them to shortly reconnect at a later date.

One characteristic you received’t discover is ‘double hop’, which routes your connection through two servers for even higher privateness. It’s additionally a disgrace that the few digital servers (equivalent to India and Indonesia) aren’t marked up as being digital within the apps.

All apps have the identical appear and feel and work in the identical method. The desktop apps can get a bit messy as a result of the record of places and settings open as separate home windows. It isn’t a dealbreaker, in fact.

A pleasant characteristic is that you could shortly connect with latest servers from the taskbar menu on each macOS and Home windows.

Jim Martin / Foundry

Android and iPhone homeowners will respect the helpful widget that makes it straightforward to connect with a server with out even launching the app. One other considerate contact is that, within the app itself, there are shortcuts to launch apps after you’ve related to a server, and you’ll decide your favorite apps for the record.

In order for you a VPN primarily to unblock video and you’ve got an Apple TV or one other machine for which there’s no VPN app, then ExpressVPN is an effective selection. That’s as a result of you’ll be able to configure suitable routers to make use of ExpressVPN. Meaning each machine connecting to the web through the router makes use of the VPN connection, and this additionally will get across the five-device restrict that ExpressVPN imposes for simultaneous VPN connections: a router counts as just one machine.

Ordinarily, working a VPN connection on a router could be uninteresting to most individuals, however as router apps go, ExpressVPN’s is the most effective we’ve seen.

It’s surprisingly straightforward to make use of. You’ll be able to change server pretty simply, and it doesn’t pressure your whole computer systems and Wi-Fi devices to make use of the VPN: you’ll be able to select which gadgets do or don’t. In actual fact, you’ll be able to even create machine teams, so all of your good TVs may connect with a US server, whereas your IoT gadgets may join through your nearest server. You too can specify gadgets that don’t use the VPN in any respect.

You’ll be able to’t set up ExpressVPN on any outdated router – you’ll want a suitable Asus, Linksys or Netgear – otherwise you’ll have to purchase a router with ExpressVPN already put in from an organization equivalent to FlashRouters.com.

ExpressVPN has even launched its personal Wi-Fi 6 router with the identical software program. You should purchase the AirCove from Amazon (within the US) for $189.99 or from FlashRouters which is able to ship to different international locations.

Privateness

The TrustedServer tech that ExpressVPN makes use of is barely a part of the general privateness story. The corporate is registered within the British Virgin Islands, a self-governing territory that isn’t topic to British legal guidelines. This affords further peace of thoughts as a result of, though ExpressVPN (identical to nearly each different VPN) operates a no-logs coverage, even when some person information did in some way get saved, the native legal guidelines imply they’ll’t be requested handy over information to authorities.

Most VPN providers have the same enterprise setup, particularly in the event that they’re primarily based in a rustic with unfavourable privateness legal guidelines such because the US, UK and others which share intelligence with one another.

ExpressVPN’s privateness coverage states clearly (on the high of the web page) that “We don’t gather logs of your exercise, together with no logging of shopping historical past, visitors vacation spot, information content material, or DNS queries. We additionally by no means retailer connection logs, that means no logs of your IP handle, your outgoing VPN IP handle, connection timestamp, or session period.”.

ExpressVPN additionally runs its personal DNS servers, that are additionally a part of its MediaStreamer characteristic. This removes the chance that every one the web sites and providers you utilize may very well be leaked and recorded by third-party DNS servers (and even your ISP’s DNS servers).

One other good safety characteristic is the kill change (known as Community lock) which is accessible within the Home windows, macOS, Linux and Android apps. This stops any information being despatched or acquired if the VPN connection unexpectedly drops, preserving you protected.

You too can set Community lock to permit native gadgets (on your house community) to proceed working whereas stopping all distant visitors. When the VPN connection is reestablished, the web connection to every other app that requires it will likely be restored.

Cut up tunnelling

Cut up tunnelling is accessible within the Home windows, Android and macOS apps (in addition to the router model). What this does is allow you to select which apps use the VPN connection and which don’t. The benefit is that you could nonetheless entry native web sites or gadgets – equivalent to wi-fi printers – with none issues whereas concurrently accessing abroad websites through the VPN.

Simply observe that break up tunnelling nonetheless isn’t accessible on macOS Massive Sur or later.

Another choice for those who don’t need all apps utilizing the VPN connection is to put in and use one of many net browser extensions to restrict the VPN’s scope to solely web sites you’re visiting in that browser.

Efficiency & ease of use

Relatively than do what others have performed, ExpressVPN determined to not use WireGuard however to as an alternative develop its personal protocol known as Lightway.

It’s fairly quick, too, and pretty constant. We examined utilizing a gigabit connection (for each add and obtain speeds) in San Francisco. The outcomes beneath are good, though not the quickest we’ve seen. Surfshark and NordVPN’s obtain speeds had been faster, however ExpressVPN did properly on add speeds total.

Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry

As in earlier years, ExpressVPN didn’t leak our actual IP handle or DNS in any of our exams, the latter due to utilizing its personal DNS servers. It doesn’t assist IPv6, so merely blocks any IPv6 requests.

Unblocking

• Unblocks HBO Max, Disney+, Netflix, BBC iPlayer

ExpressVPN has a superb monitor file for unblocking, and it was no totally different after we examined the service in February 2023. We had been capable of watch exclusives on Netflix’s US library from the UK, in addition to HBO Max and Disney+. We additionally tried the Australian streaming service 9Now and located ExpressVPN allowed us to stream in HD with no points for hours on finish.

It additionally unblocks Netflix Japan, Australia and France, and BBC iPlayer within the UK.

In case you do have any points, ExpressVPN additionally affords its MediaStreamer DNS servers. You’ll discover directions for find out how to apply it to the corporate’s web site for numerous gadgets, from laptops and PCs to good TVs. Basically, you’ll lose the encryption from the VPN however will have the ability to unblock the content material you need.

Assist

Not all VPN suppliers have 24/7 reside chat however ExpressVPN does, and brokers reply shortly and are educated. There’s now a hyperlink to the assist centre from the cellular apps, however after we examined this on an iPhone, it merely confirmed us a clean white web page.

Value & plans

At £11.07 / US$12.95 for one month’s use, ExpressVPN is roughly the identical worth as rivals. Nevertheless, nearly no-one pays for a VPN month by month. Usually, suppliers provide big reductions for subscribing for a 12 months or two.

ExpressVPN doesn’t actually do these affords: its longest subscription is 12 months, though with a particular deal for the primary 12 months provides you with 15 months for the value of 12. This prices

After this, the annual subscription renews at $99.95 / £85.47 per 12 months after the preliminary deal. That’s $8.33 / £7.12 monthly (inc VAT). That’s nearly thrice the price of most VPNs.

One mitigating issue is that ExpressVPN now features a password supervisor within the subscription. That often prices further with different VPN providers, however Keys is presently in beta.

It’s vital to know that almost all VPNs cost you the next worth once you subscription renews, one thing ExpressVPN doesn’t do. Nevertheless, there’s nothing stopping you from cancelling your subscription with a rival and renewing on a brand new two-year deal. ExpressVPN is just costly on a regular basis.

We’ve talked about it already, however ExpressVPN is a bit stingy with the variety of gadgets you’ll be able to join on the similar time. The place Surfshark permits you to use its subscription on an infinite variety of gadgets, ExpressVPN restricts you to 5 (until you utilize the router app).

There’s a 30-day a reimbursement assure for those who’re not pleased with the service for any motive. You’ll be able to pay by bank cards, PayPal, Bitcoin, and a variety of different choices together with GiroPay. So if you wish to pay anonymously, you are able to do so.

Verdict

Total, we’re impressed with ExpressVPN. It’s fast and nice at unblocking streaming providers – going past the same old US Netflix, Disney+ and different US-based providers.

The apps work properly, there’s a large selection of nations and servers, stable assist and loads of step-by-step guides for set up on gadgets the place apps aren’t accessible and first rate security measures to make sure your exercise stays non-public.

Given the value, although, there are a couple of options lacking that you just get with different, cheaper providers. NordVPN and Surfshark, for instance, each provide double hop, however ExpressVPN doesn’t. It additionally doesn’t assist Tor-over-VPN. Lastly, it doesn’t provide devoted or static IP addresses. Not many individuals want a type of, however the possibility isn’t there for those who do.

Value stays the most important disadvantage. Except you wish to run a VPN on a router – which ExpressVPN does higher than anybody else – then it’s exhausting to justify that worth when rivals equivalent to Surfshark and NordVPN provide comparable safety, unblock well-liked streaming providers and provide even higher speeds.