Whichever VPN service you prefer, you can’t deny ExpressVPN’s greatness. Despite this claim, we still performed a comprehensive test of ExpressVPN. It has been around for a while, with a rich history of impeccable privacy and high performance. ExpressVPN’s apps may look simple, but it packs a V8 engine under the hood.
It offers not only a VPN service but also a capable password manager, Advanced Protection, and even an in-house VPN protocol for added security. If you read any ExpressVPN review online, you’ll see nothing but praises. However, is this provider as perfect as many say? Is it so good that it deserves the title of the King of VPNs?
We’ll answer these questions in the following in-depth review of ExpressVPN. We’ve been using this provider from its inception. We know every nook and cranny of ExpressVPN, as we’ve been with it during all of the improvement phases. This test is based solely on our experience with ExpressVPN.
You’ll see unique speed test results and our first-hand analysis of this service.
ExpressVPN
Our general experience with ExpressVPN was phenomenal. ExpressVPN excels in all use cases (streaming, bypassing blocks, etc.), offering a user-friendly app and excellent performance. Its only drawback is the lack of some advanced security features.
Pros
- Fast Lightway Turbo VPN protocol
- Over twenty independent third-party audits
- Reliable for streaming, gaming, and P2P
- Servers in more than 160 locations (105 countries)
- Works in China thanks to obfuscation
- Easy to use for beginners
- Built-in ad and tracker blocker
Cons
- It doesn't have MultiHop servers
- Higher renewal prices
ExpressVPN Pricing: How Much Does It Cost?
We’ll start this analysis with the price. If you’re a veteran in the VPN world, you know what a top-tier provider like this offers. In that case, the only thing left to find out is how much you’ll pay for it. ExpressVPN’s pricing structure couldn’t be simpler. The Advanced plan in the middle is an obvious attention catcher.
It’s a special 74% discount thanks to four free months for 24 months. As you can see, the monthly price is then $3.50. But you can go lower than that by picking the Basic plan at $2.79 per month, and 78% off. ExpressVPN’s cost for the Basic plan never goes above $3.49 per month, so it’s always affordable.
Meanwhile, ExpressVPN’s Pro plan is the most expensive. It costs $5.99 monthly as a result of a 70% discount and four free months, offering 14 simultaneous connections. The Pro plan costs $7.99 per month outside of specific promotions, so it’s really not for everyone. On top of these, ExpressVPN has annual plans:
ExpressVPN offers annual and monthly variants of these plans. Annual versions offer savings and three free months. Meanwhile, monthly variants are the most expensive and go up to $19.99 for the Pro plan, while the Advanced plan is $13.99 monthly, which makes value for money questionable.
If you’re shopping for ExpressVPN, for most, the Basic and Advanced plans are sufficient and provide ample features and performance for daily tasks. We also performed our review with the Advanced plan. To take advantage of the best rates, check out our article featuring the current promotions at ExpressVPN.
Money-Back Guarantee and Free Trial
We love that the provider is still generous and flexible. A 30-day money-back guarantee covers all plans. This is handy if you want to test the service, see if you like it, and decide whether you want to keep paying or get a refund. To do this, contact the support team, and they’ll fix you up momentarily.
Unlike Proton VPN, ExpressVPN doesn’t have a free plan, but it has a three-day free trial on iOS and Android. This is one of the best free VPN trials of 2026. After trying out this setup, many users continued using ExpressVPN for its numerous advantages. We’ll discuss them after we review ExpressVPN’s payment methods.
Payment Methods
ExpressVPN used to offer crypto payments, and its support pages still claim that. But when we tried to buy it, we noticed that there are only three payment vendors, all of which are displayed in the screenshot below.
You can buy ExpressVPN with a credit card, Google Pay, or PayPal. To make sure our IP wasn’t the issue, we tried a few countries, but we’d always see the same three vendors. Either way, we all have at least a credit card, so it’s easy for everyone to buy ExpressVPN. If you want to pay with crypto, we’re sorry to disappoint you.
Ease of Use & Compatibility
Our experience with ExpressVPN has been great. A part of it is due to how simple it is. Its apps look identical on all platforms. The following screenshot shows you the Windows VPN app. This large connection button can be used to connect to a server in seconds, but even if you want, you can access the server list quickly.
The same applies to your phone, where the service will work equally as well. Below, you can see that it looks identical to the desktop counterpart. It’s just as smooth and reliable, which explains why ExpressVPN is so highly rated by many. One thing we like about ExpressVPN is the overwhelming device compatibility.
We’ll list the most notable supported devices, systems, and browsers:
- Windows, Linux, and macOS computers and laptops
- Android and iOS phones and tablets
- Smart TVs and streaming systems/devices (Apple TV, Fire TV Stick, Nvidia Shield, Kodi, Chromecast, and others)
- Routers (Asus, Linksys, Netgear, D-Link, DD-WRT, Tomato, …) & gaming consoles (PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch)
- Browser extensions for Firefox, Brave, Edge, and Chrome
In addition to supported devices, ExpressVPN has an interesting addition of Aircove routers. These are Wi-Fi 6 routers for superb connectivity with a built-in VPN for additional privacy and security. You can buy one from the provider’s site with exclusive discounts, depending on the chosen plan.
In terms of simultaneous connections, ExpressVPN offers 10 to 14, again, depending on the plan. During our ExpressVPN review and general use, we found this to be more than enough. However, if you still need more, consider Surfshark or Private Internet Access with unlimited simultaneous connections.
Security Features of ExpressVPN: Is It Safe to Use?
The pillar of our in-depth ExpressVPN review is the security and privacy analysis. As one of the most dependable services, it surely won’t disappoint anyone. Our team already tested many of ExpressVPN’s security features with exquisite results.
Basic VPN Features
We’d first like to go over its basic features and see what the provider offers. These features are available in every service of this caliber and are, more or less, familiar.
- 256-bit GCM Encryption: As you likely know, this is the strongest, most dependable encryption standard in the world. Impenetrable and potent, this bank-grade encryption is the backbone of every ExpressVPN connection, resulting in a staggering level of security.
- Network Lock: It’s the company’s name for a kill switch. It protects you against IP address leaks by shutting off the internet connection when the VPN connection drops. Our experience was more than stable, and after deliberately disconnecting from the VPN, its kill switch immediately reacted 10/10 times.
- Split Tunneling: It lets you choose which apps you want to route through the VPN tunnel. Like NordVPN, the provider relies on App Split Tunneling. We’d like to see the Domain Split Tunneling from CyberGhost as well.
- Perfect Forward Secrecy: This technology assigns unique encryption keys to each connection. As soon as you disconnect, the encryption key is lost to oblivion and never assigned again. This allows the provider to prevent data breaches and bolster your privacy.
Advanced Security Features
While ExpressVPN is not as packed as NordVPN or Surfshark, it still offers some advanced features that make it special. It’s vital to go through them in this ExpressVPN review and describe our experience with each.
Advanced Protection
For years, our team mourned the lack of an ad blocker or anything that would diversify ExpressVPN further. Well, we received Advanced Protection. So, what does Advanced Protection offer? In short, it can block trackers, malicious sites, and ads. Bog-standard stuff, we can say.
However, in our extensive test of ExpressVPN, Advanced Protection turned out to be much more effective than CyberGhost’s basic ad blocker, for example. Another point for this VPN is Parental Control. If you don’t want your children to watch porn (no one wants to), you can block adult sites with a click of a mouse.
After you connect to a VPN, trying out Pornhub will result in an error message (look at the screenshot below). Parental Control passed our test with flying colors. We just wish that ExpressVPN listed blocked ads, trackers, and malicious sites anywhere so that we could see how effective it was.
NordVPN’s Threat Protection Pro does that, which is why we prefer it for protection outside VPN confinements. At least ExpressVPN’s advanced protection works wonderfully well, so displaying blocked threats is really a nitpick.
Proprietary Lightway (Turbo) Protocol
The Lightway protocol’s release marked an important moment in ExpressVPN’s history. This was a massive improvement compared to OpenVPN, whose connection times were longer. Lightway made the provider more responsive and snappy. Ligtway uses AES-256-GCM and ChaCha20/Poly1305 ciphers.
The protocol became so popular that it’s the default, capable of delivering great performance, overcoming censorship, unblocking streaming sites, and much more. You’ll see our speed test results with Lightway later on, proving that ExpressVPN is in the top three fastest VPN services of 2026.
Lightway has UDP and TCP variants. UDP favors speed and reliability, which includes post-quantum encryption for protection against quantum computers. When using UDP, users can switch from the two aforementioned ciphers or let ExpressVPN decide—the latter is always our preferred choice.
The TCP variant is slower but works in more harsh conditions, such as censorship and firewall restrictions. Recently, ExpressVPN introduced Lightway Turbo with multi-lane support, which endorses faster speeds and better connection stability. As said, you’ll see the speed test results later on, using this very protocol.
We also tested OpenVPN TCP and UDP, and must report that ExpressVPN’s performance with this protocol is better than before. Unfortunately, OpenVPN can’t compete with Lightway Turbo for the most part.
Identity Defender
ExpressVPN offers Identity Defender, which enables ID theft protection. It’s a toolkit for controlling your information and its distribution in the United States. Data Removal removes your data from brokers. ID Alerts inform you of account breaches and information exposure on the dark web.
In turn, it lets you react quickly and modify your credentials. Identity Defender also contains ID Theft Insurance, which reimburses you if your identity is fraudulently used by another person. Finally, there’s Credit Scanner, which monitors your credit card activity and reports if it’s stolen or used by someone else.
TrustedServer Technology
TrustedServer is the provider’s vision of RAM-only servers, which we must cover in this review of ExpressVPN for 2026. The company relies on Random Access Memory to host its servers. RAM is a volatile type of memory, which loses data with every power loss. When it restarts the server or shuts it down, it loses all data.
This means no unnecessary information lingers on the server, preventing other entities from accessing it. TrustedServer Technology works according to ExpressVPN’s highest security standards. The required software is reinstalled on every startup for easier maintenance and updates for optimal server operation.
Private DNS Servers
In our years-long experience with this VPN, we haven’t been met with any suspicions of our privacy breach. We can thank Private DNS servers for that. ExpressVPN relies on its own DNS servers to handle your DNS requests and prevent third parties from accessing them. Many low-cost VPNs use free or third-party DNS services.
They’re notorious for spying on your DNS queries. However, a company like this would never allow for such abominable activities. Later in our review of ExpressVPN, we’ll discuss its no-logs policy, paramount to overall privacy. Its Private DNS servers adhere to the same policy, which makes them so trustworthy.
ExpressVPN Keys
No matter the subscription plan you pick, you’ll get a password manager. Is it any good? After trying out ExpressVPN Keys, we can say it’s pretty good, but it’s not yet up to the level of the best password managers. It does what it’s supposed to: generating secure passwords and signing in to websites with a mouse click.
ExpressVPN is a browser extension on a PC, but you can also use it on other devices, such as iOS or Android tablets and phones. In this case, it will be in the app. The mobile version of this VPN also includes features like WebRTC Leak Test, DNS Leak Test, and IP Checker that you won’t find in the desktop app.
IP and DNS Leak Test: Incredible Performance
After we review ExpressVPN’s features, it’s time to see how they all work in practice. There’s no better way of checking whether the VPN works than testing it for IP and DNS leaks. We first used ipleak.net—the results are below:
After our connection to a US server, we noticed amazing results. Our IP and DNS addresses are fully concealed. Bear in mind, we were in Europe at the time of this in-depth ExpressVPN review. Yet, there’s no trace of our whereabouts here.
Another website we used is browserleaks.com, which also tests for IP address and DNS leaks thoroughly. Again, the results are expectedly great. We tested pretty much all 105 countries and many city-level servers as well. We’ll repeat what we said: ExpressVPN does not leak your IP and DNS under any circumstances.
Does ExpressVPN Keep Logs?
ExpressVPN is one of the most reputable VPN companies. It’s stationed in the British Virgin Islands. We’re looking at a privacy-friendly offshore country with stringent privacy laws. By that, we mean the lack of data collection. Government agencies in this country won’t spy on users or require VPN companies to hand out sensitive data.
In our ExpressVPN analysis, we should mention its parent company, Kape Technologies. Its Crossrider days (ex-name of the company) weren’t so gracious. However, Kape is another company these days and owns some top-tier VPN providers. Some are Private Internet Access (read our review here) and CyberGhost.
Interestingly, both have at least one third-party security audit. Private Internet Access, in particular, is especially revered in the United States, the largest VPN market. But does ExpressVPN store logs? You can anticipate the answer. No, it doesn’t. Our privacy policy analysis will tell you more about it.
ExpressVPN’s Privacy Policy Review
You don’t need to read the entire policy to know what the deal is. At the start, ExpressVPN is open about its logging practices or the lack of them. In short, the provider doesn’t store information that includes:
- IP addresses (originating and VPN-given IPs)
- DNS requests (queries)
- Browsing history
- Traffic destination
- Data content
- Connection logs
- Connection timestamps
- Session duration
The privacy policy is one of the best. The provider keeps it clean by never storing a bit of sensitive information on its RAM-only servers. Does it store anything? Sure. But everything is in an anonymized form. For instance, some technical data for troubleshooting. The provider also must use your email to provide the service.
Since it offers up to 14 simultaneous connections, it knows how many devices are connected at a time to enforce the limit. Neither of this information can be traced back to you—that’s the point. Another thing we like about ExpressVPN is its non-invasive logging for its Keys password manager.
Namely, all data within the app is secured with zero-knowledge encryption, so no staff can access or retrieve your passwords and other data.
Proof of No Logs
After the tragic assassination of Andrei Karlov, a Russian ambassador to Turkey, ExpressVPN’s popularity was briefly boosted, but not in a good light. Namely, the investigation brought the Turkish authorities to one of ExpressVPN’s servers used to delete crucial information from the assassin’s social media accounts.
The Turkish investigators seized the server and, upon inspection, couldn’t find any logs or information to aid their investigation. This was proof that the VPN didn’t store anything on its servers, even before the first audit of the no-log policy a few years later. However, it’s sad that the proof was found in such a bizarre situation.
Third-Party Audits
VyprVPN was the first provider to get a third-party security audit from Leviathan Security. However, ExpressVPN is the most audited service, important to mention in this review. In total, the provider has 20+ audits. If you want to compare the two services in more detail, read the VyprVPN vs ExpressVPN showdown.
The first one was back in 2018 by Cure53. This audit was performed on ExpressVPN’s browser extension. Quickly after, in 2019, PwC audited TrustedServer technology. The latest audit was from Cure53, again, in 2024, and this time, Aircove routers were the subject of inspection. We know we sped through many ExpressVPN audits.
However, discussing them would take hours. For your convenience, the list of the entire audit history from ExpressVPN’s site is above, so take a look if you’re interested. We can see companies like Cure53, KPMG, F-Secure, and PwC. Time and time again, they had no problems verifying the company’s claims.
ExpressVPN Server Location Analysis
Numbers-wise, ExpressVPN won’t beat NordVPN, Private Internet Access, or CyberGhost. Compared to them, it offers just over 3,000 servers. This number isn’t small by any means. ExpressVPN’s server fleet is scattered across 105 countries and at least 160 locations (city-level servers), with exceptional quality.
Its US servers are amazing, for instance, and are available in 20+ locations. It’s no wonder this is among the most appreciated VPNs in America. The provider offers many locations in Canada, the UK, Australia, Japan, and even India. Speaking of India, virtual servers are used in this country for privacy purposes.
The majority of the network is based on physical RAM servers. ExpressVPN even offers dedicated IP addresses in 25+ locations, which you’ll also find in NordVPN or Private Internet Access, two of the best VPNs with dedicated IP addresses. ExpressVPN prices its dedicated IPs at $3.99 per month per IP.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t include specialty servers, like Double VPN or MultiHop, which would have been really nice. Many times when we wanted to use this feature, we had to switch to NordVPN or Surfshark for additional privacy edge. At least Lightway Turbo is supported on all servers, paramount to preserving speed.
Speed Tests: ExpressVPN’s Performance Evaluation
Our experience showed that ExpressVPN is the fastest service after NordVPN. Before we divulge our speed test results in this review, let’s present to you our native internet speeds. At the time of writing, we were in Belgrade.
Our ExpressVPN test was simple but time-consuming for the highest accuracy. We tested the VPN using three locations in Europe, the US, and Asia. For Europe, we selected the UK, and for Asia, we went with Japan as the most popular location. Each test was repeated for three days in a row, three times a day.
The following results display the best performance you’ll get with ExpressVPN. Since the protocol selection was set to Automatic, we enabled Lightway Turbo to give ExpressVPN the space to use it if it deems fit.
UK Speed Test Results:
US Speed Test Results:
Japan Speed Test Results:
The speed test results show us that ExpressVPN performs exceptionally well. Compared to NordVPN’s NordLynx protocol, Lightway (Turbo) lags a bit — a gap we detail in our ExpressVPN vs NordVPN comparison. However, having in mind how far Japan and the US are from Belgrade (thousands of kilometers), the performance is more than respectable.
| UK Server | US Server | Japan Server | |
| DL Speed Loss ⬇️ | 18.6% | 34.4% | 42.7% |
| UL Speed Loss ⬆️ | 5.8% | 6.6% | 14.8% |
The same applies to upload speeds, which didn’t see a massive decrease. This is encouraging if you’re a content creator and need stable upload performance to push out videos, photos, or anything else across different social networks.
Streaming & Torrenting With ExpressVPN
We’ll review streaming and P2P performance in our in-depth ExpressVPN test. As said a while ago, the provider has no specialty servers like NordVPN or CyberGhost. Drawing from our experience, this isn’t a big deal because all servers are capable enough.. Our tests showed that it works with Netflix, for example.
We tested numerous libraries from Europe, Asia, and the US. So far, ExpressVPN unblocked those from the US, Australia, the UK, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, and a few others. In total, we unblocked 10-15 highly popular catalogs, making it an excellent choice for a change of region on Netflix.
Enhance Your Online Experience With ExpressVPN
The service also works with BBC iPlayer, Max, and Hotstar thanks to a myriad of high-speed servers. Torrenting is another perk that you’ll gladly take advantage of. It has no dynamic port forwarding, dedicated P2P servers, and other tidbits. All servers are optimized for torrenting, and yours is just the selection.
We recommend using the closest server possible to preserve the performance. As you see, using uTorrent with ExpressVPN was a breeze. With our IP address hidden and our IP identity protected, we were ready to download. However, to avoid copyright infringements, we tested it by downloading Linux Mint.
ExpressVPN for Bypassing Censorship: Is it Efficient?
ExpressVPN uses a built-in obfuscation that applies to each connection. As a result, the VPN quickly becomes suitable for bypassing firewalls and deep packet inspection. The burning question is whether ExpressVPN works in China in 2026. According to our first-hand tests, it does, and does so pretty reliably.
ExpressVPN’s reliability is at the highest level, and you can expect stable connections in this country. China isn’t the only one. We tested the provider in the UAE, Russia, Turkey, and other similar locations with great success. On rare occasions, we experienced connection problems in China.
We solved them by using OpenVPN TCP or Lightway TCP. UDP isn’t built for such demands. The overall performance in censored countries is satisfying. For lighter firewalls, the VPN will work 10/10 times, while in China, we’d say it’s 7/10 times, more than good in 2026, with the Great Firewall at its strength peak.
If you need a VPN for school or the workplace to get around the network administrator’s internet confinement, this is a fine pick. But also, if you travel a lot and end up in a censored region, ExpressVPN will come to your aid.
Bypass Censorship With ExpressVPN
Customer Support
Before the end of our comprehensive ExpressVPN review, let’s discuss customer support. We’ve been using this service for years with a friendly relationship with the support team. We love the easy-to-notice live chat widget on the site. Click on it, type in your message, and the provider’s staff will respond promptly.
It’s very intuitive. The support team responds in 5-15 seconds, making it blazing-quick. We also appreciate its email support, surprisingly fast as well. Insightfulness and helpfulness are the two words we use to describe this company. If we factor in hundreds of guides and FAQs on the site, the level of support is staggering.
ExpressVPN even has a YouTube channel for added transparency. It’s also present on social media, where you can get in touch. Its state-of-the-art customer service will put to shame many rivals who still need crucial improvements in this field.
ExpressVPN Review: Conclusion for 2026
ExpressVPN is an extraordinary VPN if you want non-negotiable security and privacy. Years ago, we’d say it’s expensive, but in 2026, its low-cost plans make it an even stronger contender. While NordVPN, its fierce rival, is faster, cheaper, and better, ExpressVPN is very close, so it’s pretty much a matter of preference.
This provider exemplifies simplicity and power at the same time, which not many providers achieve. It also brings to the table advanced technologies and over twenty third-party audits. All this, combined with reliable streaming and P2P, the ability to work in China, and 24/7 customer service, makes this service a joy to use.
We must point out a few flaws that we’d love to see rectified. ExpressVPN could benefit from MultiHop, malware protection, and a few more advanced features, such as port forwarding or dedicated streaming servers. This would make the VPN much more enriched and exciting. Even in this state, it’s nearly perfect. Not entirely convinced? Our ExpressVPN alternatives guide covers the top options worth comparing.