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 presents are quick speeds and a easy interface. Our checks confirmed solely a 7% common drop in obtain velocity and a 2% lack of add velocity, worldwide. And whereas the dearth 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 practically bereft of customization choices and it is notably dearer than its competitors — but it surely beats most VPNs in a head-to-head matchup.

For this overview, we adopted our rigorous 10-step VPN testing course of, exploring ExpressVPN’s safety, privateness, velocity, interfaces and extra. Whether or not you learn straight by means of or skip to the sections which can be most essential for you, it is best to come away with all the knowledge it is advisable determine whether or not to subscribe.

Editors’ notice: We’re within the means of rebooting all of our VPN critiques from scratch. As soon as we do a recent cross on the highest companies, we’ll be updating every overview with a score 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, anticipate the set up, then let your pc reboot. Together with the reboot, the entire course of takes 5-10 minutes, most of it idle. To complete, you may want your activation code, which you’ll find by going to expressvpn.com and clicking “Setup” within the top-right nook.

Excessive simplicity is the watchword for all ExpressVPN’s designs. The Home windows 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 “Sensible Location” is the server with the very best mixture of being close by and unburdened.

The whole lot else is crammed into the hamburger menu on the prime left. Right here, in seven tabs, you may discover the Community Lock kill swap, the 4 forms of content material blockers, the break up tunneling menu and the choice to alter your VPN protocol. You too can add shortcuts to varied web sites, helpful in the event you often use your VPN for a similar on-line locations.

To sum up, there’s virtually nothing right here to get in the way in which: 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 nearly equivalent 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 straight from the expressvpn.com obtain middle. Just a few options are lacking and a pair others have been added. Break up tunneling is gone (except 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 automated IPv6 blocking — Home windows customers have to go away it blocked always. Nearly each web site remains to be accessible through IPv4, but it surely’s helpful in the event you do have to entry a particular IPv6 deal with whereas the VPN is lively.

Android

Android customers can obtain ExpressVPN by means of the Google Play Retailer. Open the app, sign up and also you’re able to go. The Android app has a really good dark-colored design, solely barely marred by an pointless 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 areas. On this checklist, you’ll be able to both search or scroll and might select particular person areas inside a rustic that has a couple of. We related to as many far-flung server areas as we may, however not a single one took longer than just a few seconds.

The choices menu is organized sensibly, with no possibility positioned greater than two clicks deep. You will note a few choices right here that are not obtainable on desktop, the very best of which is the power to routinely hook up with your last-used ExpressVPN server every time your telephone connects to a non-trusted wifi community.

There are additionally just a few normal safety instruments: an IP deal with checker, DNS and WebRTC leak testers and a password generator. These are additionally obtainable on the web site, however right here, they’re constructed into the app. Aside from the latter, we would suggest utilizing third-party testing instruments as a substitute — 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 means of the app retailer. Throughout setup, it’s possible you’ll have to enter your password to permit your telephone to make use of VPN configurations. In any other case, there are not any main variations from the Android course of.

The interface isn’t fairly as pleasing because the dark-mode Android app, but it surely makes up for that by slicing out among the muddle. The tabs and options are comparable, 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 solution to ship electronic mail help tickets.

Browser extension

ExpressVPN additionally contains browser extensions for Firefox and Chrome. These allow you to join, disconnect and alter server areas with out leaving your browser window. It is good, however not important except you have got a really particular internet browser move you want.

ExpressVPN velocity take a look at: Very quick averages

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

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

• Add velocity, additionally measured in Mbps, is the quantity of knowledge your gadget can ship to the net directly. It is most essential for torrenting, because the quantity of knowledge you’ll be able to seed determines how briskly you’ll be able to 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 lively — a current ExpressVPN addition that retains velocity extra constant by processing connections in parallel.

These are extraordinarily good outcomes. ExpressVPN is a winner on each obtain and add velocity. Irrespective of the place we went on the planet, we by no means misplaced greater than about 7% of our obtain speeds, and add misplaced an astoundingly low common of two%. This implies that ExpressVPN deftly distributes its person load between servers to remove bottlenecks.

The latency numbers look worse, however the rise within the desk is much less sharp than we projected. Ping size relies upon much more on distance than obtain velocity does, so we anticipate it to shoot up on servers greater than 1,000 miles from our location. Conserving 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 job on this part is to determine if ExpressVPN can perform this mission each time you join. Whereas we will not be 100% sure, the checks we’ll run by means of under have led us to imagine that ExpressVPN is at present leak-proof.

Obtainable VPN protocols

A VPN protocol is sort of a frequent language {that a} VPN server can use to mediate between your units and the net servers you go to. If a VPN makes use of outdated or insecure protocols, or depends on distinctive protocols with no seen specs or supply code, that is a nasty signal.

ExpressVPN provides you a number of three protocols: IKEv2, OpenVPN and Lightway. The primary two are strong selections that help the newest encryption algorithms. OpenVPN has been absolutely open-source for years and is your best option if privateness is your objective. Whereas IKEv2 began life as a closed challenge 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 much like WireGuard, in that each attain for sooner speeds and decrease processing calls for by maintaining their codebases slim. Nevertheless, Lightway was just lately rewritten in Rust to raised shield the keys saved in its reminiscence.

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

Testing for leaks

ExpressVPN is among the finest companies, but it surely’s not leak-proof (as you’ll be able to learn within the Background Examine under). Fortunately, checking for DNS leaks is an easy 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 lively 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.

In reality, 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 very best VPNs can do little or no about for now.

The most typical reason behind VPN leaks is using public DNS servers to attach customers to web sites, which may mistakenly ship searching 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 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 at present optionally available, so ExpressVPN routinely blocks each to make sure there is no alternative for leaks to come up.

One notice 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 straight, outdoors the VPN tunnel. This dangers leaking delicate knowledge, even with Lockdown Mode lively in iOS 16. A blog post by Proton VPN shares a workaround: hook up with a VPN server, then flip Airplane Mode on and off once more to finish all connections that had been lively earlier than you related to the VPN.

Testing encryption

We completed up our battery of safety checks by testing ExpressVPN’s encryption straight. Utilizing WireShark, a free packet sniffer, we inspected what it appears like when ExpressVPN transmits knowledge from certainly one of its servers to the web. The screenshot under exhibits a knowledge 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, all the time getting the identical end result. This left us glad that ExpressVPN’s core options are working as meant.

How a lot does ExpressVPN value?

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

A 12-month subscription prices $99.95 and contains three months at no cost along with your first fee, costing a complete of $6.67 per thirty days. The bonus disappears for all subsequent years, elevating the month-to-month value to $8.33. You too can 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 at no cost earlier than making a monetary dedication. Customers on iOS and Android can obtain the ExpressVPN app with out coming into any fee particulars and use it free for seven days. On any platform, there is a 30-day money-back assure, which ExpressVPN has traditionally honored with no questions requested. You’ll have to pay earlier than you need to use it, although.

In our opinion, ExpressVPN’s service is strong sufficient that it is price paying further. Maybe not this a lot further, however that depends upon what you get out of it. We suggest utilizing the 30-day refund interval and seeing how properly ExpressVPN works for you. If it is a VPN you’ll be able to take pleasure in utilizing, that runs quick and unblocks the whole lot you want, that is price a server’s weight in gold.

ExpressVPN facet apps and bundles

ExpressVPN contains some particular options that work largely or wholly separate from its VPN apps. A few of these come free with a subscription, whereas others add an additional value.

Each subscription contains the ExpressVPN keys password supervisor. That is obtainable beneath 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 means of holiday.com, a separate service linked to ExpressVPN. The baseline 1GB vacation eSIM plans final for five days and might apply to nations, areas, or your complete world (although it is not clear whether or not the package deal deal applies to the regional and world 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 helps you to use the identical IP deal with each time you hook up with ExpressVPN. You’ll be able to add the deal with to whitelists on restricted networks, and also you’re assured to by no means be blocked due to another person’s dangerous exercise on a shared IP.

Not like lots of its rivals, ExpressVPN does not at present provide antivirus or on-line storage companies, however there’s a complete bundle of ID safety instruments referred to as Identification Defender. We have not reviewed any of those merchandise intimately, however here 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 need to 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 identification 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.

• Information Removing scans on your info in knowledge brokerages and routinely 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’ll be able to rapidly spot any suspicious transactions.

The Identification Defender options are at present solely obtainable to new ExpressVPN clients within the US.

Shut-reading ExpressVPN’s privateness coverage

Though we fear that the consolidation of VPN manufacturers beneath the umbrella of Kape Applied sciences (ExpressVPN’s guardian firm) will make the business much less aggressive, we do not imagine it is influencing ExpressVPN to make the most of its customers’ privateness. To verify, and get a full sense of what kind of privateness ExpressVPN guarantees its customers, we got down to learn ExpressVPN’s privateness coverage intimately. It is lengthy, however fortunately aimed toward informal customers as a substitute of legal professionals. You can see it for yourself here.

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

• Information used to join an account, reminiscent of names, emails and fee strategies.

• VPN utilization knowledge which is aggregated and cannot be traced to any particular person.

• Credentials saved within the ExpressVPN Keys password supervisor.

• Diagnostic knowledge reminiscent of crash stories, that are solely shared upon person request.

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

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

• Information voluntarily submitted for identification theft safety apps.

Of these seven exceptions, the one ones that depend as pink flags are account knowledge and advertising knowledge. Each classes are extremely private and could possibly be damaging if mishandled. Thankfully, complying with subpoenas isn’t one of many allowed makes use of listed for both knowledge class, nor does the coverage let ExpressVPN promote the information to different non-public events.

The one actually annoying factor right here is that in the event you ask ExpressVPN to delete your private knowledge, you will not be capable of use your account from then on. You are not even eligible for a refund on this case, except you are inside 30 days of your preliminary subscription.

As for advertising knowledge, ExpressVPN collects gadget fingerprints and site knowledge while 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 acquire 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 companies to audit their privateness insurance policies. The concept is {that a} well-known agency will not mortgage its status to lie on behalf of a VPN, so their outcomes could 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 Might 2024, discovered that ExpressVPN had sufficient inner controls in place that customers may belief its privateness coverage.

The report is freely available to read. This can be a superb signal, although we’re looking for a extra up-to-date audit quickly.

TrustedServer

“TrustedServer” is a advertising time period ExpressVPN makes use of for its RAM-only server infrastructure. RAM-only servers don’t have any arduous drives for long-term storage and return to a regular disk picture with each reboot. This makes it theoretically unimaginable to retailer person 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 personal VPN, despite its aggravating exception for advertising.

Can ExpressVPN change your digital location?

Subsequent, we examined whether or not ExpressVPN can really persuade web sites that you simply’re someplace apart from your actual location. Our safety checks have already confirmed it might disguise your IP deal with, but it surely takes greater than leak-proofing to idiot streaming websites lately — Netflix and the others have gotten superb at combing by means of metadata to smell out proxy customers.

The method for testing it is a lot like how we dealt with the DNS leak checks: strive a number of totally different servers and see if we get caught. We checked 5 pattern areas 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 checks, ExpressVPN slipped up solely as soon as. Docklands, the UK server it selected because the quickest, wasn’t in a position to entry Netflix. We switched to a server labeled merely “London” and unblocked it with out situation.

All the opposite areas 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 areas are hermetic.

Investigating ExpressVPN’s server community

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

That is not to say customers within the World South get nothing. ExpressVPN has IP addresses from 9 nations in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) and 6 in Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco and South Africa). The community even contains Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia, spectacular since central Asia often is the area most frequently shafted by VPNs.

Nevertheless, many of those servers have digital areas totally different from their actual ones. For these of you selecting a server based mostly on efficiency as a substitute of a specific IP deal with, ExpressVPN’s web site has a useful checklist of which servers are digital. The dangerous information is that it is a massive chunk of the checklist. A complete of 63 ExpressVPN areas are digital, or 38% of its total community.

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

In comparison with direct rivals like NordVPN and Surfshark, ExpressVPN does not have many particular options. It is aimed squarely on the informal market and can most likely disappoint energy customers. Having mentioned that, what they do embody works properly. On this part, we’ll run by means of ExpressVPN’s 4 substantial options outdoors its VPN servers themselves.

Community Lock kill swap

“Community Lock” is the identify ExpressVPN provides to its kill swap (although it is referred to as “Community Safety” on cellular). A VPN kill swap is a security function that retains you from broadcasting outdoors the VPN tunnel. If it ever detects that you simply aren’t related to a authentic ExpressVPN server, it cuts off your web entry. You will not be capable of get again on-line till you both reconnect to the VPN or disable Community Lock.

That is essential for everybody, not simply customers who want to cover delicate visitors. The just lately found TunnelVision bug theoretically permits hackers to arrange faux public wi-fi networks by means of which they redirect you to equally faux VPN servers, which then harvest your private info. It is unlikely, however not unimaginable, and a kill swap is one of the best ways to forestall it — the swap all the time triggers except you are related to an actual server within the VPN’s community.

Like most of ExpressVPN’s options, all you are able to do with Community Lock is flip it on and off. You too can toggle whether or not you may nonetheless be capable of entry native units whereas the kill swap is obstructing your web — that is allowed by default.

Risk supervisor, advert blocker and parental controls

ExpressVPN teams three instruments beneath the heading of “superior safety” — Risk Supervisor, an advert blocker and parental controls. Risk 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 recognized for use for malware.

You’ll be able to’t customise the lists, so that you’re restricted to what ExpressVPN considers worthy of blocking. They share their sources on the web site. Whereas the lists are intensive and open-source, they depend on after-the-fact reporting and might’t detect and block unknown threats like a correct antivirus.

The adblock and parental management choices work the identical approach: verify a field to dam the whole lot on the checklist, uncheck it to permit the whole lot by means of. In checks, the advert blocker was practically 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 simple possibility for involved dad and mom, however solely works whereas ExpressVPN is related. 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.

Break up tunneling

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

ExpressVPN contains 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, but it surely’s nonetheless fairly helpful. For instance, you’ll be able to have BitTorrent dealing with a heavy obtain within the background whilst you use your browser for innocuous actions that do not want defending.

ExpressVPN Aircove router

By now, it ought to 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.

Often, putting in a VPN in your router requires tinkering with the router management panel, which turns off all however probably the most skilled customers — to not point out making it a large ache to change to a brand new server location. Aircove’s dashboard, against this, can be immediately acquainted to anybody who already is aware of the way to use an ExpressVPN shopper. It even permits totally different units in your house to connect with totally different areas by means of the router VPN.

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

ExpressVPN buyer help choices

ExpressVPN’s written assist pages are among the finest in the marketplace. Its dwell chat is extra of a combined bag, and complicated questions could trigger delays. Nevertheless, it’s a minimum of staffed with human brokers who intention to answer precisely, moderately than resolve your ticket as rapidly as attainable.

We approached ExpressVPN’s help options with a easy query: “If I requested that ExpressVPN delete all my private knowledge, would I be capable of 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 data on every of ExpressVPN’s merchandise. The setup guides are glorious, together with screenshots and clearly written steps; each features a video information for many who be taught higher that approach.

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

The 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.

Dwell chat begins with an AI assistant, which isn’t too arduous to get previous — simply ask it a query it might’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 electronic mail help ticket. Annoyingly, there is no solution to go on to electronic mail help by means of the web site or desktop apps, although cellular customers have the choice to skip straight there.

ExpressVPN background verify: From founding to Kape Applied sciences

ExpressVPN launched in 2009, which makes it one of many oldest shopper 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 make the most of that territory’s favorable authorized setting for on-line privateness. The BVIs don’t have any legislation requiring companies to retain knowledge on their customers, and the method for extraditing knowledge is famously tough, requiring a direct order from the very best court docket.

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

In different phrases, whereas ExpressVPN isn’t legally required to log any knowledge on its customers, there’s technically no one stopping them from doing so. Whether or not you belief the jurisdiction depends upon whether or not you belief the corporate itself. Let’s examine 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 analyze, they confiscated an ExpressVPN server to comb for proof. They didn’t find anything.

A police seizure is the absolute best take a look at of a VPN’s method to privateness. The supplier cannot put together beforehand, faux something, or collude with investigators. The Turkey incident remains to be the most effective 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 related to an ExpressVPN server, their searching exercise was typically going on to their ISP, unmasked.

The bug solely impacted just a few customers, and to their credit score, ExpressVPN sprang into motion as quickly as they discovered about it. The group had it patched by April, as confirmed by the researcher who initially found the vulnerability. However whereas their fast and efficient response deserves reward, it is nonetheless a mark 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, Personal Web Entry, and Zenmate (earlier than it merged into CyberGhost). As shown on its website, it additionally owns Webselenese, writer of VPN overview web sites WizCase and vpnMentor, which poses an obvious battle of curiosity.

When reached for remark, a consultant for ExpressVPN mentioned that “ExpressVPN doesn’t straight have interaction with, nor search to affect, the content material on any Webselenese web site,” 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 understanding 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 just lately, 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 instructed 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 straight tried to affect ExpressVPN’s software program or every day operations.

Nearer to the speedy day-to-day operations of ExpressVPN was the corporate’s employment of Daniel Gericke as CTO from 2019 by means of 2023. Throughout that point, the US Justice Division introduced it had fined Gericke and two others for his or her earlier employment on a surveillance operation referred to as Undertaking 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 skilled by the very best strikers.” ExpressVPN’s consultant confirmed that the corporate nonetheless stands by that linked assertion.

Gericke parted methods with ExpressVPN in October 2023, per his LinkedIn profile. Whereas we do not know what we do not know, we are able to say that ExpressVPN has not notably modified its public-facing safety and privateness insurance policies in the course of the time it has been related to Kape, Sagi, or Gericke.

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

Ultimate verdict

ExpressVPN is the VPN we most frequently suggest to freshmen. 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 affect. If something is well worth the excessive value of admission, it is the superb speeds distributed evenly throughout the worldwide server community.

Nevertheless, for sure particular instances, ExpressVPN is probably not your best option. There is no solution to arrange your individual server areas, like NordVPN presents, and no double VPN connections, like you’ll be able to construct for your self on Surfshark. Its company background is extra suspect than the entities backing Proton VPN, and in contrast to Mullvad, ExpressVPN does not work in China — it is so well-known that the federal government targets its servers particularly.

We propose going with ExpressVPN for normal on-line privateness, for spoofing areas in your house nation whereas touring, or in the event you often have to unblock websites in different nations. That encompasses 19 of each 20 customers, which is ok by us, as ExpressVPN is a superb service. It is simply extra of a dependable outdated screwdriver than a multi-tool.