ExpressVPN review: The hype is earned

ExpressVPN is more or less the platonic form of a VPN. That doesn't mean it's the best for every situation — the other best VPNs surpass it in a few areas. It just means that if a VPN deviates from the way ExpressVPN does something, it needs to do so for a good reason. ExpressVPN sets the standard.

I commonly see people assuming ExpressVPN is all hype, but just because a company is good at advertising doesn't mean it's compensating for shortfalls elsewhere. My latest round of tests revealed a VPN that secures you against all reasonable risks, keeps download speeds very fast on average and carefully curates its locations and features for maximum utility.

It's also been on a tear lately, launching a suite of new features and cutting prices steeply enough to make me forget I ever complained about it being too expensive. There are still some weak points, especially in its feature set and customizability, but they pale in comparison to ExpressVPN's strengths.

I've spent the last week running ExpressVPN through our 11-step testing process , investigating how it works on the surface and under the hood. You can find all my results below, starting with a summary of what I found.

TLDR: Most important things to know about ExpressVPN

Use this section to help you comparison shop for a VPN. It includes all the most important things I determined about ExpressVPN while putting it through its paces.

• Streaming:ExpressVPN only managed to unblock Netflix in four out of 15 tests, but no comparable VPN did better. It performed far more consistently on other streaming platforms.

• Speed:Taking the average of all my worldwide speed tests, ExpressVPN only reduces browsing speeds by 9.9 percent.

• Pricing:The best available deal for ExpressVPN costs $2.44 per month for 28 months, but renews annually at $8.33 per month.

• Bundles:Part of a suite of apps including a password manager, encrypted email and an identity theft detector.

• Ease of use:App design is a major strength, with controls that beginners will find clear and intuitive.

• Security:I discovered no IP leaks under any circumstances, including in the unique Lightway protocol.

• Privacy:A police investigation found no data saved on seized ExpressVPN servers.

• Locations:ExpressVPN comes with 207 server locations in 108 countries.

• Extras:The best feature is the Aircove router dashboard, though it's an expensive add-on.

• Support:Has one of the better online help centers and responsive live chat, but it's hard to submit help requests via email.

• Background:Owned by Kape Technologies, which also owns CyberGhost and Private Internet Access.

Can ExpressVPN unblock Netflix?

A VPN's most important job is to mask your online identity. If the false identity you get through the VPN is located in another country, websites you visit should think you're in that country for real. On streaming sites, that means they'll show you new content that might not be available in your home country.

The upshot of all that: you can usually learn a lot about a VPN by checking whether it can unblock Netflix and reveal different shows in the library — emphasis on "usually." I ran my tests during an odd time for the relationship between Netflix and VPNs.

The short answer to the question of whether ExpressVPN can unblock Netflix is "no, but neither can anyone else right now." The long answer is that streaming platforms like Netflix are in a constant running battle with VPNs. The streamers try to block servers that are connected with VPNs, while the VPNs race to rotate their IP addresses fast enough that the streamers can't detect them. It's all very Cold War.

At the moment, Netflix seems to be on top. I tested five different ExpressVPN locations three times each, and only unblocked Netflix on four out of 15 runs — once each in Canada, Bulgaria, Ecuador and Nepal, always on the third attempt. Initially, I took this to mean ExpressVPN had lost the plot in its recent haste to put out new features. But then I tried the same (or similar) locations on Proton VPN and CyberGhost, and they couldn't get in either.

After that, rather than charging ExpressVPN with failing as a streaming VPN, I was impressed that it managed any unblocking at all. I also repeated the tests with Amazon Prime Video , which ExpressVPN unblocked easily in five different locations. My verdict is that ExpressVPN is still a great streaming VPN at the baseline, and I predict it will soon regain ground on Netflix and once again be able to serve up your favorite shows reliably.

Speed test

ExpressVPN has always been fast when I've tested it before, but a lot can change about a VPN in a short time, so I refused to take past results for granted. Using Ookla Speedtest , I checked my speed while connected to various ExpressVPN servers, while running an unprotected connection on another computer as control.

I focused on download speed, measured in megabits per second (Mbps), which measures how much of a web page your browser can load at once. If sites take much longer to fill with content than usual, something is probably throttling your download speeds. A VPN that isn't built right can drop them by 50 percent or more. You can find my results in the table.

It's been about a year since I last ran this test on ExpressVPN, but it's hardly flagged in that time. On average, connecting to an ExpressVPN server will reduce your download speeds by almost exactly 10 percent, which puts it in the upper echelons of fast VPNs. If you normally have download speeds of 50 Mbps — and I've got 60 on wi-fi with no special packages — you'll still have the 40 Mbps you need to stream in UHD/4K. Regular browsing activities should be no issue at all.

I also want to note how consistent ExpressVPN's results were. Some VPNs have good averages, but if you dive into the data, you'll see wild swings on the same location, even minutes apart. With ExpressVPN, you can expect very good speeds every time you connect.

How much does ExpressVPN cost?

ExpressVPN has three pricing plans that include different aspects of its application suite. Each of these plans can be had for one month, one year or two years, which means you have a total of nine options, not including a dedicated IP address or an Aircove router. Each of these plans comes with a 30-day refund guarantee.

It's not as complicated as it sounds; let's break it down. The simplest subscription option is Basic, which gets you the complete VPN service, the ability to connect on 10 devices at once, a lightweight version of Threat Manager that blocks ads and malware sites, and an email masking service (ExpressMailGuard) with 10MB monthly data. This costs $12.99 per month, $48.65 for 15 months ($3.24 per month) or $63.52 for 28 months ($2.27 per month).

The long-term plans are great deals, but they're one-time-only offers. Both of them renew at a cost of $99.95 per year ($8.33 per month). That's still a savings over the monthly plan, but slightly less worth it. You may be able to get the better price again if you create a new account with a different email address.

The next level up, Advanced, increases the allowed simultaneous connections to 12 and beefs up Threat Manager so it also blocks trackers and adult sites. You also get unlimited use of ExpressKeys, five types of alert from Identity Defender, 100MB per month of MailGuard and three days of eSIM through holiday.com (see the next section to learn more about what all that means).

An Advanced subscription costs $13.99 per month, $58.40 for 15 months ($3.89 per month) or $81.72 for 28 months ($2.92 per month). Both the longer plans renew at $119.95 per year ($10 per month).

Finally, a Pro subscription can be used on 14 devices, gets you all 11 types of Identity Defender alert, includes a dedicated IP address and removes all the data caps from MailGuard. It'll cost you $19.99 per month, $87.65 for 15 months ($5.84 per month) or $136.32 for 28 months ($4.87 per month). The two longer plans renew at $199.95 per year ($16.66 per month).

ExpressVPN side apps and Bundles

Since expanding into a security suite, ExpressVPN is selling a lot of apps besides the VPN itself. The ExpressKeys password manager might be familiar, as it's been around for a while under the name ExpressVPN Keys. Like before, ExpressKeys can generate passwords, store them along with other sensitive info and fill them in when you need them.

Identity Defender consists of several features designed to protect you from having your identity stolen. Mainly, it looks for different kinds of shady activity — like your social security number appearing on the dark web, or someone filing forms in your name — and alerts you when it sees any. This is paired with ID theft insurance, credit reports and Incogni-style automated data removal.

ExpressMailGuard, which is included with all three subscriptions, gives you a fake email address that you can use to sign up for online accounts. This lets you do a lot more online without compromising any part of your actual identity.

You can also get a dedicated IP address with any Basic or Advanced subscription for an extra cost, starting at $3.49 per month. A dedicated IP is useful if you want to access restricted networks while connected to ExpressVPN; it also makes it less likely that you'll run into CAPTCHAs.

The Aircove router also deserves a mention, as it's one of the biggest unique advantages ExpressVPN offers. Lots of VPNs can be installed on a router, which protects any device using that router's network. ExpressVPN, however, is the only one to make its router interface as user-friendly as its mainstream VPN apps. Through the Aircove dashboard, you can easily change your router VPN location and even connect multiple devices in the house to different places. Yet as great as Aircove is, it's not cheap — it's currently selling for $189, and you'll also need an ExpressVPN account.

Setting up and using ExpressVPN

After you've chosen a subscription and made your ExpressVPN account, your first experience with the service will be downloading and installing all the apps you'll need. These first encounters paint a picture of how streamlined everything about ExpressVPN really is.

Whether on desktop or mobile, the apps almost autonomously set themselves up; you won't have to do anything but grant permissions when you're asked to. When the VPN app is ready to go, enter the activation code you were given when you created your account, and you're ready to get started.

Windows

The Windows design straddles the line between refreshingly simple and uncomfortably bare, usually managing to stay on the former side. The main control panel for the Windows app mostly manages without words. The large button automatically connects to the least-burdened nearby server, or disconnects if you're connected already. Clicking the location opens a second window that lets you choose your server location, and the top-left menu includes everything else.

It doesn't pack in quite as much as Proton VPN's amazingly balanced front pages, relegating a tad too many features to the settings menu. But it's hard not to love its legibility or the way it connects and disconnects like a well-oiled machine. The settings menu is also exceptionally beginner-friendly, with very few operations more complicated than checking or unchecking a box.

macOS

In contrast, ExpressVPN's Mac app has recently gone through a glow-up, and it's not entirely for the better. The main window now includes "time protected" widget from the Android app, which I've always found superfluous, along with an equally superfluous map. You can click locations on the map to connect, but (unless I've missed something) you can't scroll the map manually; your options are whichever servers happen to be near the last one you connected to.

The upside is that it performs just as well as Windows, with quick connections and a search bar that quickly pares down the server list to the ones you need. The only serious difference is in what features are available — macOS users don't get the slightly better speeds of Lightway Turbo, though they can use IKEv2, another protocol option for when the others don't work.

In more good news for longtime ExpressVPN users, split tunneling has finally been added on devices running macOS 11 and above. As it's already on Windows and Android, only iOS users are still out in the cold.

Android

ExpressVPN's Android app follows the same simplistic yet powerful design scheme. It works well on desktop but is even better suited for mobile. It's in dark mode by default and gives you a little more information on the home page, including your last two connections and how much time you've spent using the VPN. It's a little unnecessary, but doesn't seriously get in the way.

The other interesting thing about ExpressVPN's Android app is that some extra security features are built directly into the app. There's a password generator and tools that test for IP address leaks. Nice to have, though not necessarily trustworthy as there's an obvious incentive for biased results.

iOS

On iPhone and iPad, ExpressVPN is a bit less cluttered. Almost everything looks the same as Android, from the main window to the options organized into four different tabs. The only major features missing are split tunneling and shortcuts.

The last version of ExpressVPN I'll mention here is the browser extension, which lets you connect to a server to specifically protect traffic through your browser. If you leave the desktop VPN unconnected, you can use this as a quick-and-dirty form of split tunneling — do everything sensitive in the protected browser and get a second browser to do everything else with better speeds.

One final note: all ExpressVPN clients now have a paint palette icon in one corner of the screen which you can click to switch up the app's appearance. Some platforms have more options than others, but everyone gets at least a light mode and a dark mode.

Security test

ExpressVPN's main job is to give you a new IP address that never leaks and reveals your real one. If it can manage that, nobody you interact with online can see your real identity or location unless you give up the information willingly. If it can't, there's no point in using it at all.

I can't verify that any VPN is 100% secure. Claiming any security measure is impenetrable is the kind of hubris at which the gods laugh. What I can say is that ExpressVPN defeated all my attempts to make it leak my real IP, and showed no signs of any of the common ways VPN security can fail.

One of the most frequent (and most visible) VPN security failures is the use of insecure protocols. VPN protocols are the "language" that your VPN uses to send data over the internet while keeping most of that data invisible. Protocols are connected to certain encryption ciphers — AES-256, the "military-grade encryption" used by the U.S. government, is the most common. A protocol can also be configured to prioritize speed, stability or security.

ExpressVPN chooses its protocols well. OpenVPN, a fast, secure and time-tested option, is supported on every platform. iOS and Mac users also get IKEv2, a protocol technically owned by Cisco and Microsoft but which ExpressVPN took the time to reverse-engineer from the ground up. Finally, there's Lightway, which is unique to ExpressVPN. Normally I'm suspicious of these "proprietary protocols," as they can easily be gimmicks, but Lightway is the real deal: fast enough that I used it to run all my speed tests and secured with a modern encryption mechanism called ML-KEM.

ExpressVPN hasn't been totally leak-proof for its whole 15-year history, so I put the screws to it even more than I otherwise would. Using ipleak.net , I checked real and virtual server locations with all three protocol options, frequently switching locations on a dime. Despite all that, ExpressVPN came through the tests unscathed, as you can see in the screenshot above.

In the second image, you can see the moment when I switched from a location in Japan to one in Austria, then checked to see if the VPN would drop while changing servers. But it didn't break stride at all. After replicating these results several times over, I'm prepared to call ExpressVPN as secure as a VPN can be.

ExpressVPN's privacy policy

ExpressVPN's privacy policy is extremely long. It thankfully includes an executive summary, but the impenetrability of the rest of the document brings it down a notch for me. Still, it's one of the few VPNs to note directly that its privacy policy is a legally enforceable contract which you "sign" by using the service. If ExpressVPN violates the policy, it could be grounds for a lawsuit.

With that in mind, let's see what the contract actually contains. The opening section declares that ExpressVPN won't save any information that could be used to identify you or what you've been doing online. The second section lists eight types of data ExpressVPN is allowed to collect and what it can do with each type. As the heart of the policy, this is important enough to break out into its own table.

All but one of these are fairly standard data sets, required to operate a VPN service, and can be easily anonymized. The only potential issue comes in the sixth row — the engagement data collected for marketing purposes. The policy states that this data is collected "exclusively when using our app" and may include "country code (derived from a hashed IP address), operating system version, device language, app version, device model, and randomized identifiers."

This is somewhat annoying, but it doesn't pose a significant risk. ExpressVPN runs all this data through its own servers before analyzing it to obscure the source. While that may sound like the fox guarding the henhouse, several audits ( the last one in June 2025 ) have confirmed that ExpressVPN's servers are RAM-only — that is, incapable of long-term storage.

Furthermore, the data listed isn't enough to actually identify any individual. Although I'm uneasy with a VPN gathering any more data than is absolutely necessary, ExpressVPN doesn't go overboard in a way that concerns me.

ExpressVPN's server locations

A VPN's server network determines which virtual locations you can get while you're connected to it. It can also play a role in which users get the best performance, as a VPN tends to work better when you're closer to a physical server. However, ExpressVPN's speeds are good enough that this doesn't matter as much as it might with another provider.

ExpressVPN gives you a total of 207 different server options across 108 countries and territories. The table lists which continents have the most, but there are options everywhere, including plenty in South America, Africa and Central Asia (which have historically been VPN deserts).

The catch is that many of these locations are virtual, including a large chunk of the options in the States (nothing like getting excited about a Portland location and learning it's actually in Seattle). ExpressVPN does maintain a list on its website of which server locations are virtual and where they're really located, but it's a little out of date.

Virtual server locations are only a problem if a VPN uses them to bulk out its menu at the expense of actual infrastructure. From my speed tests, this doesn't seem to be the case with ExpressVPN — whether real or virtual, you'll get the same strong performance.

Testing the extra features

With its latest push to become a more complete security app, ExpressVPN has more special features than it used to, but most of them are in other apps. In this section, I'll go through the extra features in the VPN itself. It's a relatively short list, as ExpressVPN focuses on core functionality — to great effect, but also at the frequent expense of customizability.

First, there's the kill switch. This is a standard safety feature that prevents leaks in the event of a malfunctioning VPN server. If you're abruptly cut off from an ExpressVPN server for any reason, the kill switch shuts off your internet until the VPN is back online (or you turn the kill switch off).

The remaining tools worth mentioning are all grouped under the title Advanced Protection. This consists of four switches you can toggle on and off: Block ads, Block malicious sites, Block trackers and Block adult sites. These blockers are only active when you're connected to the VPN, and their blocklists can't be customized, though ExpressVPN built them from reliable sources .

Finally, there's split tunneling, now provided to users on Windows, Mac, Android and even 64-bit Linux (but not iOS). Split tunneling protects some apps within the VPN tunnel while sending others outside it. The unprotected apps get slightly improved speeds, and the protected ones see the advantage too, since the VPN client has less traffic to handle overall.

ExpressVPN only splits tunnels by app, not by URL as some VPNs can. However, on Mac or Windows, you can get a split-by-URL effect by using two different web browsers, one of them equipped with the ExpressVPN extension.

ExpressVPN's customer support

ExpressVPN has some of the best written customer support of any VPN, with an FAQ page designed around user needs at every level. To start with, the organization makes sense. Setup, troubleshooting and account issues each get their own subpage. Each of those pages frontloads the articles about the most common problems the average user encounters.

Click the troubleshooting button and you'll see articles about unexpected disconnections, slow internet and setting up some of the more esoteric features. Each article has a contents page with clear headings, frequently referencing the specific error messages that probably sent the reader there in the first place. It all comes off as carefully planned and curated.

Live chat is always hovering in the bottom-right corner, never more than a click away. It always starts with an AI assistant, but there are human technicians you can chat with if you ask. If the live chat doesn't help, you have the option of sending an email support ticket, which takes longer but is more likely to get real expert attention on your problem.

Background check

ExpressVPN was founded in 2009. Since then, it's been incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, ostensibly to take advantage of that jurisdiction's consumer-friendly legal extradition process (probably also for tax reasons, but the extradition thing is real). In short, to subpoena any BVI-native data to another country, you need permission from the highest court in the territory.

When discussing ExpressVPN's corporate background, it's impossible not to mention Kape Technologies, the UK-based parent company that purchased it in 2021. Years before the acquisition, when Kape was known as Crossrider, it produced an ad-injection web plugin that was easily hijacked to distribute malware. Contrary to popular belief, there's no evidence that Crossrider itself was a malware distributor; the worst thing it's guilty of is negligence.

ExpressVPN has found itself hit with bad publicity two notable times in the last five years. Once was during the brief tenure of CTO Daniel Gericke, who previously worked on a surveillance project in the United Arab Emirates; this is what prompted Edward Snowden to warn people away from ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN released a statement in Gericke's defense, and an ExpressVPN representative told me last year that they still consider that their official perspective. Regardless, Snowden's warning is now moot, as Gericke no longer works for the company.

The other incident worth mentioning occurred in 2024, when a researcher discovered a leak in ExpressVPN's Windows app. Within a month, ExpressVPN had patched the leak sufficiently to satisfy the penetration tester who initially discovered it. This is the kind of incident that makes me trust a VPN more — it's not about never slipping up, but about how you respond when you do.

Final verdict

ExpressVPN can be installed and used directly out of the box. It puts almost no drag on your browsing speeds and supplies a massive network of server locations across the world. It's not always the best choice — it has a poor record of beating the Great Firewall of China due to being so well-known, and lacks certain special features like multi-hop VPNs.

In spite of those slight demerits, though, I'd still happily recommend ExpressVPN as a beginner VPN service. It's more than enough for online privacy, it stays current in the streaming arms race and it's gotten increasingly affordable over the last year. It's not flashy, but it's reliable, and that counts for a lot in cybersecurity.

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