ExpressVPN review

ExpressVPN is one of the biggest VPN providers around, and regularly places high in the list of best VPN services. It's known for its easy-to-use apps that beginners can quickly get to grips with, and can be installed on just about any device around.

Its also known for offering fast and reliable connections no matter where in the world you might be, thanks to an impressive choice of servers to pick from. That wide range of servers also means it boasts an impressive ability to unblock streaming sites and websites around the world, without worrying about slow connections stopping you from viewing HD and 4K content.

The added features, while not quite class leading, are still a strong offering, with split tunneling, a kill switch, and a bundled password manager as well as ad and website tracker blocking.

However, ExpressVPN has overhauled its pricing and plan structure and these extra features are no longer included as standard.

While its overall offering is a strong one, there’s still a little room for improvement when compared against competitors like the feature-rich NordVPN or the cheaper Surfshark.

Keep reading to see how Express stacks up in terms of speeds, unblocking capabilities, features, ease of use, and overall value for money.

Spec Sheet

For a quick explanation of any VPN-related terminology, check out our VPN glossary.

Recent updates

• Three tier pricing system launched in September 2025
• Support for the WireGuard protocol added in August 2025
• Servers in every US state as of July 2025
• Third no-logs audit published in June 2025
• UI update released in May 2025
• Lightway Turbo protocol launched in March 2025
• Identity Defender introduced in November 2024

ExpressVPN review: features

ExpressVPN brings a lot to the table. It’s built for privacy and security from the ground up, from its fleet of RAM-only servers, which ensure all data is deleted when the servers are powered down, to its own bespoke VPN protocol, Lightway – which is inspired by WireGuard, but offers more flexibility for things like obfuscation.

This focus on user privacy extends to ExpressVPN’s included features. There's a kill switch to protect your data in the event your VPN connection is disrupted, and split tunneling which allows you to choose which apps use the VPN connection.

Premium subscriptions gets you access to ExpressVPN Keys, a password manager, threat protection, data monitoring, and the Identity Defender suite. These features used to be included as standard but are now split across ExpressVPN's three tiers.

ExpressVPN offers everything you need to stay safe online, but doesn't offer the amount of extra features that rivals like NordVPN do.

We ran tests of our own, attempting to open 100 brand new malicious URLs from anti-phishing experts OpenPhish, and the results for ExpressVPN were somewhat disappointing, with it correctly identifying and blocking around 82% of phishing sites, but failing to block any of the malware links at all. In comparison, NordVPN’s Threat Protection Pro blocked a similar amount of phishing sites and adverts, and 79% of malware sites.

Regardless, we’d always recommend that people run a dedicated antivirus solution rather than relying on what comes bundled with a VPN – but it's a nice addition to have.

ExpressVPN has significantly improved its feature offering over the last year and unlike its competitors, it included these at no extra cost. That's no longer the case and its entry-level plan is rather bare bones. It also lacks additional features like multi-hop connections or Tor-over-VPN which are offered by other providers.

Rating: 8/10

ExpressVPN review: Server network

ExpressVPN's network hasn't grown much since 2023 when it increased the number of countries it supported to 105, covered by around 3,000+ individual servers. This is a little less than NordVPN, for example, which has over 8,000 servers, and Proton VPN, which over 15,000 as of September 2025.

However, there's a debate as to whether server count really matters, this doesn't really mean anything. Performance and global spread of servers is what is most important.

We'll get to performance in a moment, but what's worth pointing out is that compared to NordVPN and Surfshark, ExpressVPN offers a fair few more locations in Asia, while still maintaining a very strong spread in the Americas and Europe. It now has a server in every US state – Private Internet Access is the only other leading VPN provider to boast this.

As mentioned above, its servers are RAM-only and utilise its TrustedServer technology.

ExpressVPN says it has servers in every continent with the exception of Antarctica and its combination of both physical and virtual servers ensures that you’ll have access to a fast, reliable connection no matter where in the world you are (as long as you’re not at the South Pole).

Rating: 9.5/10

ExpressVPN review: pricing and plans

In September 2025, ExpressVPN overhauled its pricing structure in what can be described as one of the company's most significant ever changes. Gone is the "one-size-fits-all" $4.99 per month plan, with three new tiers put in its place.

ExpressVPN Basic, ExpressVPN Advanced, and ExpressVPN Pro are the three tiers, each offering an improved selection of features and extras. The entry-level plan now starts at $3.49 per month, making ExpressVPN more affordable and brings it inline with its competitors.

You can read our news coverage of the announcement to understand the differences between the plans in more detail.

ExpressVPN Basic

ExpressVPN Advanced

ExpressVPN Pro

VPN pricing can sometimes be a bit confusing, with multiple tiers with different features as well as the usual 1-month, 1-year and 2-year subscription costs. The general rule of thumb is that signing up to pay month-to-month will always be far more expensive than signing up for 1 or 2 years – but longer plans require a payment upfront.

Looking at ExpressVPN Basic, you can expect to pay $12.99 for one month of cover, which rolls over every month until you cancel.

The 12-month plan is the next-shortest. This costs $4.99 per month, and is paid in a lump sum, which works out at about $90 and includes three extra free months.

The best value option is the 24-month plan, which costs $3.49 per month, totalling approximately $98. This price also includes four free months of VPN protection.

These prices vary between the tiers and you can expect to receive different features with each plan. If you're simply after a safe and secure VPN, ExpressVPN Basic is a good deal and brings the provider's pricing more in line with NordVPN ($3.09 p/m) and Proton VPN ($3.59 p/m).

ExpressVPN Advanced is most similar to the old $4.99 per month plan and comes with Keys, Advanced Protection and most of the Identity Defender suite.

ExpressVPN Pro has everything ExpressVPN offers but the value of this plan hinges on whether you want Dedicated IP and will make full use of Identity Defender.

ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back-guarantee. If you need to cancel, all you have to do is reach out to the customer support team and ask for a refund. This is simple in practice, and we've never had any issues getting our money back.

Rating: 7/10

How easy is ExpressVPN to use?

ExpressVPN’s mobile and desktop apps offer a reassuringly simple interface when you open them up. You’ll see the automatically chosen smart location plus a big ol' on/off button. All you need to do to connect to the VPN is click that button.

If you’re not happy with the current location, then clicking on that location brings up a list of all the different servers as well as a search box to allow you to search for a specific one. The app allows you to bookmark favorite locations for easy access, and displays your three most recent locations at the top of the list.

For the more technically minded, opening up the settings gives you access to more in-depth options. You can choose your VPN protocol, including Lightway, Lightway Turbo (Windows-only), WireGuard, OpenVPN UDP, and OpenVPN TCP, as well as IKEv2. This last option only available in the Mac VPN app – the Windows VPN app has dropped support for this protocol.

The mobile VPN apps are very similar, so there's no learning curve when moving between devices. You get the same one-tap connection, and it's easy to change your location and alter settings.

You can toggle the kill switch from here, configure split tunneling, install browser extensions and more, all laid out simply and clearly so that even a novice will quickly be able to get to grips with them.

This slick, friendly user interface is where ExpressVPN shines compared to competitors like NordVPN, which have busier layouts. If you're a casual user, you could probably use ExpressVPN’s app for the rest of your life without ever needing to press anything but the on/off button.

Rating: 10/10

ExpressVPN review: apps

As well as making its apps simple to use, ExpressVPN has versions available for every major platform and device around. There’s the big ones you would expect from any reputable provider - Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android and Linux.

ExpressVPN is also one of the small number of VPN providers to offer a full GUI client for its Linux VPN, rather than requiring users to be comfortable with using the text-only command line interface.

It doesn’t stop there, though. ExpressVPN also supports a wide range of devices, including Samsung and Android Smart TVs, Amazon’s Fire Stick, games consoles such as the Xbox, Playstation and Switch, and even internet routers like its own Aircove.

The layout and functionality of the app varies slightly from platform to platform, but all versions feature the same basic layout, showing you what server you're currently using, and the simple, friendly power button icon to get online.

The mobile versions of the app also have a nifty little chart showing you “Time Protected”, which is a way of showing how long you’ve been connected to the VPN. It also displays both your ISP-provided IP address, and the VPN-provided one, allowing you a quick way to check if you are leaking your real-world details.

ExpressVPN's mobile apps underwent a design update in May 2025, with a small map now displayed on the home screen. It's not interactive but clearly shows which server you're connected to. A speed test feature was also added.

Dark mode and app icon customization was then added in June 2025.

In terms of features there’s some variation across the different versions. In the Android VPN and iPhone VPN apps, for example, ExpressVPN calls its kill switch 'Network Protection', while on Windows and MacOS it’s called Network Lock. It functions the same, but ExpressVPN claims on Android, it may not provide complete protection when using split tunneling – although we've seen no issues with it during testing.

ExpressVPN’s password manager, Keys, is also baked into the mobile versions of the app by default, while users on other platforms will need to download a browser extension to get access to their passwords. One thing to note is that at the moment the browser extension is only for Chromium-based browsers such as Google’s own Chrome, as well as Brave, Edge, Opera, and Vivaldi.

iOS users also get a feature called parallel connections, which means the app connects almost instantly by trying multiple connection methods at the same time. It’s nothing earth-shattering, but it’s a nice little quality of life improvement for Apple devices. ExpressVPN talked about rolling it out to other platforms, but so far it’s only iOS devices that benefit.

Finally, ExpressVPN's Chrome VPN extension is very good, although it works a little differently to most. Instead of being a browser-based proxy – like Windscribe, for example – ExpressVPN's extension controls the desktop app. This means it's much more powerful and offers full encryption, but doesn't offer the flexibility of a browser-only tool.

Rating: 9.5/10

Streaming and unblocking

If accessing streaming content in other countries is something you’re interested in, then ExpressVPN is a great choice. In our testing it was able to reliably and consistently unblock major streaming sites such as Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+, BBC iPlayer and others.

ExpressVPN did struggle a little with Netflix libraries in Japan and Australia, requiring us to try a couple of different servers before we found one that worked. This provider doesn’t specify that you have to use specific servers for streaming, you can stream from any server location you like, and our testing has confirmed that almost every server they have can be used so you don’t need to spend time hunting around. You can see more details of our testing in the table below.

Of course, a lot of people will want a VPN for more than just streaming, and while ExpressVPN doesn’t go out of its way to make a big noise about it, every VPN server it offers supports torrenting. That means there’s no faffing around trying to find a torrenting server – whichever one you choose will work just fine.

There are no limits on your connection speeds while you’re torrenting, and you’ll never have your connection throttled. Combined with the excellent privacy and security features, ExpressVPN is one of the best torrenting VPNs out there today.

Rating: 9/10

ExpressVPN review: Speed and performance

Speed is one of the biggest things to keep in mind when picking a VPN. There’s no point in signing up to a provider that forces you to browse the internet and download things at a snail’s pace.

Luckily there are no such concerns when using ExpressVPN. It's one of the fastest VPNs out there and in our testing it hit the fastest speeds out of any provider – however, this was only on the Windows-exclusive Lightway Turbo.

But regular Lightway is still more than quick enough for even the most demanding downloads or online gaming sessions where milliseconds matter.

Its OpenVPN speeds – a traditionally slow protocol – were the fastest by some margin, clocking 898 Mbps.

Before we talk about what this table shows, there are a few commonly used terms we need to clear up so that you know just what we’re talking about. The most important ones when choosing a VPN are upload speed, download speed, and latency. Jitter (which is when there’s a delay over your network connection, often caused by network congestion) can be an important factor, but less so than the others.

Upload speed: This is how fast your connection is when you’re uploading something TO the internet, like transferring a big file to Google Drive, or uploading photos or video to your Instagram.

Download speed: This is how fast your connection is when you’re downloading something FROM the internet to your device. This is crucial for viewing websites, playing games, downloading files, streaming movies, music and basically everything you do online. A low download speed means you’ll likely see the “buffering” icon far more often when you’re trying to watch films or TV online.

Latency: Latency is commonly known as your “ping time”, and it’s a crucial aspect of online gaming as it measures the time it takes for data to get from one point on a network to another. For example, if you’re playing an online game like CS:GO, your ping is the time between you clicking the mouse to fire your gun at someone, and that command reaching the game server. A high ping means that command takes much longer to get there, and makes it all the more likely you’ll miss your shot. High latency/ping can make things feel choppy and unresponsive.

Dissapointngly, ExpressVPN's regular Lightway speeds hovered around the 400 Mbps mark. This is surprisingly slower than its OpenVPN speeds and lags behind its competitors.

Historically, we have seen ExpressVPN Lightway hit 900 Mbps and you may experience faster connections. Despite this, these speeds are more than fast enough for gaming, streaming and all over day-to-day online activities.

To help put these figures into context, you only need connection speeds of around 30 Mbps to watch 4K content on Netflix, so even ExpressVPN’s lowest speeds won't leave you struggling with a movie that’s constantly having to reload.

Rating: 9/10

ExpressVPN review: Privacy and security

Quality VPNs have a proven track record when it comes to user security and privacy, and ExpressVPN remains admirably committed to keeping its users safe online.

At its core, ExpressVPN uses the new industry-standard post-quantum encryption. This is the most advanced encryption method currently available, and is designed to resist attacks from quantum computers. ExpressVPN was one of the first major VPN providers to implement post-quantum protection across all its devices.

ExpressVPN also offers obfuscated servers which are essential for any China VPN, or other repressive locations where governments regularly spy on their citizens.

These servers disguise the fact that you’re using a VPN at all, and are important tools for navigation around regional VPN blocks, and can even make it usable in places like universities that may block VPN use.

ExpressVPN’s Android app has been awarded the ioXt certification. This means the design of the app and service has been rigorously investigated by a third party, so users can be sure that the software isn’t doing anything untoward in the background that it shouldn’t be doing.

Furthermore, ExpressVPN has completed over 23 independent audits. These cover the desktop apps, mobile apps, the company’s privacy policy, TrustedServer, the Aircove router, and Keys password manager. This is more comprehensive than any other VPN provider, and demonstrates ExpressVPN's commitment to being seen as a trustworthy and secure provider.

Audits of its no-logs policy and TrustedServer system are frequent. It published results of its third audit in June 2025, which followed on from its second audit in May 2024.

You don’t need to just take our word for it. ExpressVPN allows anyone to access the audit reports so you can read them for yourself by heading to its Trust Center. A list of all the audits can be found at the bottom of the linked page.

Rating: 9.5/10

ExpressVPN review: History and the future

ExpressVPN’s track record isn’t without the occasional blip. It was purchased by Kape Technologies in 2021, a move which worried many users due to Kape’s somewhat chequered past.

In March 2025, Kape announced an undisclosed number of ExpressVPN employees were being laid off. Online reports suggested this included a significant number of support agents.

Sadly, this is not the first round of redundancies Kape Technologies has presided over at ExpressVPN. In July 2023, around 180 staff were let go (~12% of the workforce) and this reportedly included members of the IT and engineering teams.

There was also an issue in 2021 where the company’s now-former CIO, Daniel Gericke, was named as one of the members of Project Raven, a mercenary intelligence unit that helped the UAE spy on its enemies. Gericke was fined $335,000 and had to agree to cooperate with the FBI.

While this was not directly linked to his time at ExpressVPN, his hiring was a point of contention within the industry.

ExpressVPN was embroiled in some controversy when it was discovered that a flaw in its app meant it had been leaking DNS information in a very particular set of circumstances involving split tunneling.

The company moved quickly to squash this issue and while its reputation might have taken a bit of a hit at the time, ExpressVPN has done all the right things to show that they took the issue seriously, and are working to rebuild any damaged trust in its userbase.

A bug which could have potentially exposed the IP address on ExpressVPN's enterprise users was reported in April 2025. The issue was fixed in a matter of days and it appeared as though the number of affected users was very small.

Rating: 8/10

ExpressVPN review: Customer support

It’s never great when something goes wrong, and when it does you need to know that you can get help quickly so you’ll be glad to know that ExpressVPN offers some of the best support on the market.

Your first port of call whenever you’ve got a problem should ExpressVPN’s weighty customer service portal, which has a wide array of articles and setup guides that cover pretty much everything you might need to know about setting up, configuring and troubleshooting your connection.

If you’d rather not try to fix it yourself, then you can hop on the 24/7 live chat. This used to be a real high point for ExpressVPN, with near instant replies from human support agents.

But it looks as though this has been scaled back and an AI chatbot is the first thing to greet you when connecting to live chat. In testing, we found that the AI couldn't understand our query and we had to wait up to 10 minutes to speak to a real person.

As mentioned above, this is likely related to the redundancies and it has had a direct impact on the product. It's something we will be investigating in more detail.

Finally, if you’ve got an issue that’s not massively time-sensitive, or you really don’t like talking to someone face-to-face so to speak, you can reach out for support through email as well.

Rating: 7/10

ExpressVPN review: final verdict

Subscribe if:

✅ Ease of use is your priority. ExpressVPN is, hands-down, the easiest VPN to use that we've tested.
✅ You want to unblock global streaming content. From Netflix and Disney+ to BBC iPlayer and 10 Play, ExpressVPN is very reliable when it comes to streaming.
✅ You want class-leading privacy. With regular independent audits and post-quantum encryption across all platforms, your data is safe with ExpressVPN.

Don't subscribe if:

❌ You're looking for a bargain. ExpressVPN isn't the cheapest VPN option and access to its extra features now requires a premium subscription.
❌ You're a VPN expert. The nature of ExpressVPN's apps and design mean it's not as customizable as other VPNs. If you really want to dig down into technical settings, ExpressVPN isn't for you.

Alternatives to ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN won't be the right fot for everyone, and if there's something you need that it doesn't offer, there are a few other excellent VPN services that might fit the bill.