ExpressVPN review 2025: Fast speeds and a low learning curve
ExpressVPN is good at its job. It's easy to be skeptical of any service with a knack for self-promotion, but don't let ExpressVPN's hype distract you from the fact that it keeps its front-page promise of "just working."
Outside of solid security, the two best things ExpressVPN offers are fast speeds and a simple interface. Our tests showed only a 7% average drop in download speed and a 2% loss of upload speed, worldwide. And while the lack of extra features may frustrate experienced users, it makes for a true set-and-forget VPN on any platform.
This isn't to say ExpressVPN is without flaws — it's nearly bereft of customization options and it's notably more expensive than its competition — but it beats most VPNs in a head-to-head matchup.
For this review, we followed our rigorous 10-step VPN testing process, exploring ExpressVPN's security, privacy, speed, interfaces and more. Whether you read straight through or skip to the sections that are most important for you, you should come away with all the information you need to decide whether to subscribe.
Editors' note: We're in the process of rebooting all of our VPN reviews from scratch. Once we do a fresh pass on the top services, we'll be updating each review with a rating and additional comparative information.
Table of contents
Findings at a glance
Installing, configuring and using ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN speed test: Very fast averages
ExpressVPN security test: Checking for leaks
How much does ExpressVPN cost?
ExpressVPN side apps and bundles
Close-reading ExpressVPN's privacy policy
Can ExpressVPN change your virtual location?
Investigating ExpressVPN's server network
Extra features of ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN customer support options
ExpressVPN background check: From founding to Kape Technologies
Final verdict
Findings at a glance
Category
Notes
Installation and UI
All interfaces are clean and minimalist, with no glitches and not enough depth to get lost in Windows and Mac clients are similar in both setup and general user experience Android and iOS are likewise almost identical, but Android has a nice-looking dark mode
Speed
Retains a worldwide average of 93% of starting download speeds Upload speeds average 98% of starting speeds Latency rises with distance, but global average stayed under 300 ms in tests
Security
OpenVPN, IKEv2 and Lightway VPN protocols all use secure ciphers Packet-sniffing test showed working encryption We detected no IP leaks Blocks IPv6 and WebRTC by default to prevent leaks
Pricing
Base price: per month or per year Lowest prepaid rate: per month Can save money by paying for 28 months in advance, but only once per account 30-day money-back guarantee
Bundles
ExpressVPN Keys password manager and ID alerts included on all plans Dedicated IP addresses come at an extra price ID theft insurance, data removal and credit scanning available to new one-year and two-year subscribers for free 1GB eSIM deal included through holiday.com
Privacy policy
No storage of connection logs or device logs permitted The only risky exceptions are personal account dataand marketing dataAn independent audit found that ExpressVPN's RAM-only server infrastructure makes it impossible to keep logs
Virtual location change
Successfully unblocked five international Netflix libraries, succeeding on 14 out of 15 attempts
Server network
164 server locations in 105 countries 38% of servers are virtual, though most virtual locations are accessed through physical servers within 1,000 miles A large number of locations in South America, Africa and central Asia
Features
Simple but effective kill switch Can block ads, trackers, adult sites and/or malware sites but blocklists can't be customized Split tunneling is convenient but unavailable on iOS and modern Macs Aircove is the best VPN router, albeit expensive
Customer support
Setup and troubleshooting guides are organized and useful, with lots of screenshots and videos Live chat starts with a bot but you can get to a person within a couple minutes Email tickets are only accessible from the mobile apps or after live chat has failed
Background check
Founded in 2009; based in the British Virgin Islands Has never been caught selling or mishandling user data Turkish police seized servers in 2017 but couldn't find any logs of user activity Owned by Kape Technologies, which also owns CyberGhost and Private Internet Access A previous CIO formerly worked on surveillance in the United Arab Emirates; no evidence of shady behavior during his time at ExpressVPN Windows Version 12 leaked some DNS requests when Split Tunneling was active
Installing, configuring and using ExpressVPN
This section focuses on how it feels to use ExpressVPN on each of the major platforms where it's available. The first step for any setup process is to make an account on expressvpn.com and buy a subscription.
Windows
Once subscribed, download the Windows VPN from either expressvpn.com or the Microsoft Store, then open the .exe file. Click "Yes" to let it make changes, wait for the install, then let your computer reboot. Including the reboot, the whole process takes 5-10 minutes, most of it idle. To finish, you'll need your activation code, which you can find by going to expressvpn.com and clicking "Setup" in the top-right corner.
You can install ExpressVPN's Windows app from the Microsoft store, but we found the website more convenient.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
Extreme simplicity is the watchword for all ExpressVPN's designs. The Windows client's launch panel consists of three buttons and less than ten words. You can change your location or let the app pick a location for you — the "Smart Location" is the server with the best combination of being nearby and unburdened.
Everything else is crammed into the hamburger menu at the top left. Here, in seven tabs, you'll find the Network Lock kill switch, the four types of content blockers, the split tunneling menu and the option to change your VPN protocol. You can also add shortcuts to various websites, useful if you regularly use your VPN for the same online destinations.
To sum up, there's almost nothing here to get in the way: no delays, no snags, no nested menus to get lost in. It may be the world's most ignorable VPN client. That's not a bad thing at all.
Mac
ExpressVPN's app for macOS is almost identical in design to its Windows app. The process for downloading and setting it up is nearly the same too. As on Windows, it can be downloaded from the App Store or sideloaded directly from the expressvpn.com download center. Only a few features are missing and a couple others have been added. Split tunneling is gone, and you won't see the Lightway Turbo setting.
ExpressVPN recommends some servers, but it's easy to search the whole list.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
Mac users do gain access to the IKEv2 protocol, along with the option to turn off automatic IPv6 blocking — Windows users have to leave it blocked at all times. Almost every website is still accessible via IPv4, but it's useful if you do need to access a specific IPv6 address while the VPN is active.
Android
Android users can download ExpressVPN through the Google Play Store. Open the app, sign in and you're ready to go. The Android app has a very nice dark-colored design, only slightly marred by an unnecessary information box about how long you've used the VPN this week.
ExpressVPN's Android app puts a little more information on the screen than it needs to, but still runs well.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
There's a large button for connecting. Clicking on the server name takes you to a list of locations. On this list, you can either search or scroll and can choose individual locations within a country that has more than one. We connected to as many far-flung server locations as we could, but not a single one took longer than a few seconds.
The options menu is organized sensibly, with no option located more than two clicks deep. You will see a couple of options here that aren't available on desktop, the best of which is the ability to automatically connect to your last-used ExpressVPN server whenever your phone connects to a non-trusted wifi network.
There are also a few general security tools: an IP address checker, DNS and WebRTC leak testers and a password generator. These are also available on the website, but here, they're built into the app. With the exception of the latter, we'd recommend using third-party testing tools instead — even a VPN with integrity has an incentive to make its own app look like it's working.
iPhone and iPad
You can only install ExpressVPN's iOS app through the app store. During setup, you may need to enter your password to allow your phone to use VPN configurations. Otherwise, there are no major differences from the Android process.
ExpressVPN looks good on iPhone and iPad.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
The interface is not quite as pleasing as the dark-mode Android app, but it makes up for that by cutting out some of the clutter. The tabs and features are similar, though split tunneling and shortcuts are absent. Also, both mobile apps make customer support a lot more accessible than their desktop counterparts — plus, mobile is the only way to send email support tickets.
Browser extension
ExpressVPN also includes browser extensions for Firefox and Chrome. These let you connect, disconnect and change server locations without leaving your browser window. It's nice, but not essential unless you have a very specific web browser flow you like.
ExpressVPN speed test: Very fast averages
Connecting to a VPN almost always decreases your speed, but the best VPNs mitigate the drop as much as possible. We used Ookla's speed testing app to see how much of your internet speed ExpressVPN preserves. For this test, we emphasized the locations ExpressVPN uses for most of its virtual servers, including the Netherlands, Brazil, Germany and Singapore.
Some terms before we start:
Latency, measured in milliseconds, is the time it takes one data packet to travel between your device and a web server through the VPN. Latency increases with distance. It's most important for real-time tasks like video chatting and online gaming.
Download speed, measured in megabits per second, is the amount of information that can download onto your device at one time — such as when loading a web page or streaming a video.
Upload speed, also measured in Mbps, is the amount of information your device can send to the web at once. It's most important for torrenting, since the amount of data you can seed determines how fast you can download in exchange.
The table below shows our results. We conducted this on Windows, using the automatic protocol setting with the Lightway Turbo feature active — a recent ExpressVPN addition that keeps speed more consistent by processing connections in parallel.
Server location
LatencyIncrease factor
Download speedPercentage dropoff
Upload speedPercentage dropoff
Portland, Oregon, USA18
--
58.77
--
5.70
--
Seattle, Washington, USA26
1.4x
54.86
6.7%
5.52
3.2%
New York, NY, USA
156
8.7x
57.25
2.6%
5.57
2.3%
Amsterdam, Netherlands
306
17x
53.83
8.4%
5.58
2.1%
São Paulo, Brazil
371
20.6x
53.82
8.4%
5.65
0.9%
Frankfurt, Germany
404
22.4x
55.71
5.2%
5.67
0.5%
Singapore, Singapore
381
21.2x
52.76
10.2%
5.64
1.0%
Average
274
15.2x
54.71
6.9%
5.61
1.6%
These are extremely good results. ExpressVPN is a winner on both download and upload speed. No matter where we went in the world, we never lost more than about 7% of our download speeds, and upload lost an astoundingly low average of 2%. This suggests that ExpressVPN deftly distributes its user load between servers to eliminate bottlenecks.
This Ookla speedtest shows you can still get fast internet while connected to ExpressVPN -- our unprotected speeds are around 58 Mbps.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
The latency numbers look worse, but the rise in the table is less sharp than we projected. Ping length depends far more on distance than download speed does, so we expect it to shoot up on servers more than 1,000 miles from our location. Keeping the average below 300 ms, as ExpressVPN does here, is a strong showing.
ExpressVPN security test: Checking for leaks
A VPN's core mission is to hide your IP address and make you untraceable online. Our task in this section is to figure out if ExpressVPN can carry out this mission every time you connect. While we can't be 100% certain, the tests we'll run through below have led us to believe that ExpressVPN is currently leak-proof.
Available VPN protocols
A VPN protocol is like a common language that a VPN server can use to mediate between your devices and the web servers you visit. If a VPN uses outdated or insecure protocols, or relies on unique protocols with no visible specs or source code, that's a bad sign.
Not all protocols are available on all apps, but Mac has the full range.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
ExpressVPN gives you a selection of three protocols: IKEv2, OpenVPN and Lightway. The first two are solid choices that support the latest encryption algorithms. OpenVPN has been fully open-source for years and is the best choice if privacy is your goal. While IKEv2 started life as a closed project by Microsoft and Cisco, ExpressVPN uses an open-source reverse-engineering, which is both better for privacy and quite fast.
Lightway is the odd one out, a protocol you'll only find on ExpressVPN, though its source code is available on Github. It's similar to WireGuard, in that both reach for faster speeds and lower processing demands by keeping their codebases slim. However, Lightway was recently rewritten in Rust to better protect the keys stored in its memory.
Ultimately, you can't go wrong with any of ExpressVPN's protocol options. 99% of the time, your best choice will be to set the controls to Automatic and let the VPN decide which runs best.
Testing for leaks
ExpressVPN is one of the best services, but it's not leak-proof. Luckily, checking for DNS leaks is a simple matter of checking your IP address before and after connecting to a VPN server. If the new address matches the VPN server, you're good; if not, your VPN is leaking.
First, we checked the Windows app with split tunneling active to ensure the flaw really had been patched. We tested several servers and didn't find any leaks, which suggests the patch worked, though leaks were rare even before ExpressVPN fixed the vulnerability.
We checked our IP while connected to the virtual India location, which is run from a physical server in Singapore. Don't worry -- it still looks like India to streaming services.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
In fact, we didn't find any leaks on any ExpressVPN server we tested on any platform. Though questions remain about iOS, as you'll see later in this section, that's a problem on Apple's end that even the best VPNs can do very little about for now.
The most common cause of VPN leaks is the use of public DNS servers to connect users to websites, which can mistakenly send browsing activity outside the VPN's encrypted tunnel. ExpressVPN avoids the risks of the public system by installing its own DNS resolvers on every server. This is the key factor behind its clean bill of health in our leak testing.
Two other common flaws can lead to VPN leaks: WebRTC traffic and IPv6. The former is a communication protocol used in live streaming and the latter is a new IP standard designed to expand domain availability. Both are nice, but currently optional, so ExpressVPN automatically blocks both to ensure there's no opportunity for leaks to arise.
One note about VPN security on iOS: it's a known and continuing problem that iOS VPNs do not prevent many online apps from communicating with Apple directly, outside the VPN tunnel. This risks leaking sensitive data, even with Lockdown Mode active in iOS 16. A blog post by Proton VPN shares a workaround: connect to a VPN server, then turn Airplane Mode on and off again to end all connections that were active before you connected to the VPN.
Testing encryption
We finished up our battery of security tests by checking out ExpressVPN's encryption directly. Using WireShark, a free packet sniffer, we inspected what it looks like when ExpressVPN transmits data from one of its servers to the internet. The screenshot below shows a data stream encrypted with Lightway UDP.
After connecting to ExpressVPN, HTTP packets were rendered unreadable while in transit.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
That lack of any identifiable information, or even readable information, means encryption is working as intended. We repeated the test several times, always getting the same result. This left us satisfied that ExpressVPN's core features are working as intended.
How much does ExpressVPN cost?
ExpressVPN subscriptions cost per month. Long-term subscriptions can bring the monthly cost down, but the great deals they offer tend to only last for the first billing period.
A 12-month subscription costs and includes three months for free with your first payment, costing a total of per month. The bonus disappears for all subsequent years, raising the monthly cost to You can also sign up for 28 months at a cost of but this is also once-only — ExpressVPN can only be renewed at the per year level.
There are two ways to test ExpressVPN for free before making a financial commitment. Users on iOS and Android can download the ExpressVPN app without entering any payment details and use it free for seven days. On any platform, there's a 30-day money-back guarantee, which ExpressVPN has historically honored with no questions asked. You will have to pay before you can use it, though.
In our opinion, ExpressVPN's service is solid enough that it's worth paying extra. Perhaps not this much extra, but that depends on what you get out of it. We recommend using the 30-day refund period and seeing how well ExpressVPN works for you. If it's a VPN you can enjoy using, that runs fast and unblocks everything you need, that's worth a server's weight in gold.
ExpressVPN side apps and bundles
ExpressVPN includes some special features that work mostly or wholly separate from its VPN apps. Some of these come free with a subscription, while others add an extra cost.
Every subscription includes the ExpressVPN keys password manager. This is available under its own tab on the Android and iOS apps. On desktop, you'll need to download a separate extension from your browser's store, then sign in using your account activation code. It's available on all Chromium browsers, but not Firefox.
Starting in 2025, new subscribers get an eSIM plan through holiday.com, a separate service linked to ExpressVPN. The baseline 1GB holiday eSIM plans last for 5 days and can apply to countries, regions, or the entire world. Longer-term plans include larger eSIM plans.
You can add a dedicated IP address to your ExpressVPN subscription for an additional cost per month. A dedicated IP lets you use the same IP address every time you connect to ExpressVPN. You can add the address to whitelists on restricted networks, and you're assured to never be blocked because of someone else's bad activity on a shared IP.
Unlike many of its competitors, ExpressVPN doesn't currently offer antivirus or online storage services, but there is a comprehensive bundle of ID protection tools called Identity Defender. We haven't reviewed any of these products in detail, but here's a list for reference:
ID Alerts will inform you if any of your sensitive information is leaked or misused online. It's free with all plans, but you'll have to enter your personal information on your ExpressVPN account page or a mobile app.
ID Theft Insurance grants up to million in identity theft reimbursement and comes free with new ExpressVPN one-year or two-year subscriptions. It's not yet available to those who subscribed before it launched in October 2024.
Data Removal scans for your information in data brokerages and automatically requests that it be deleted. It's also free with one-year and two-year plans.
Credit Scanner is only available for United States users. It monitors your activity on the three credit bureaus so you can quickly spot any suspicious transactions.
The Identity Defender features are currently only available to new ExpressVPN customers in the US.
Close-reading ExpressVPN's privacy policy
Although we worry that the consolidation of VPN brands under the umbrella of Kape Technologieswill make the industry less competitive, we don't believe it's influencing ExpressVPN to take advantage of its users' privacy. To confirm, and get a full sense of what sort of privacy ExpressVPN promises its users, we set out to read ExpressVPN's privacy policy in detail. It's long, but thankfully aimed at casual users instead of lawyers. You can see it for yourself here.
In the introduction, ExpressVPN states that it does not keep either activity logsor connection logs. It then specifies the seven types of data it's legally allowed to collect:
Data used to sign up for an account, such as names, emails and payment methods.
VPN usage data which is aggregated and can't be traced to any individual.
Credentials stored in the ExpressVPN Keys password manager.
Diagnostic data such as crash reports, which are only shared upon user request.
IP addresses authorized for MediaStreamer, which is only for streaming devices that don't otherwise support VPN apps.
Marketing data collected directly from the app — a "limited amount" that's kept anonymous.
Data voluntarily submitted for identity theft protection apps.
Of those seven exceptions, the only ones that count as red flags are account data and marketing data. Both categories are highly personal and could be damaging if mishandled. Fortunately, complying with subpoenas is not one of the allowed uses listed for either data category, nor does the policy let ExpressVPN sell the data to other private parties.
The only really annoying thing here is that if you ask ExpressVPN to delete your personal data, you won't be able to use your account from then on. You aren't even eligible for a refund in this case, unless you're within 30 days of your initial subscription.
As for marketing data, ExpressVPN collects device fingerprints and location data when you sign up for an account on its website. The privacy policy also claims this is anonymized, as its "systems are engineered to decouple such data from personally identifiable information." Audits corroborate this, as we'll see in the next section. So, while it would be better if ExpressVPN didn't collect any personal data at all, its practices don't appear to pose a risk to anything you do while using the VPN — just the ExpressVPN website.
Privacy audits
VPN providers often get third-party accounting firms to audit their privacy policies. The idea is that a well-known firm won't mortgage its reputation to lie on behalf of a VPN, so their results can be trusted.
For the last several years, ExpressVPN has had KPMG look over its privacy policy and relevant infrastructure. KPMG's most recent report, completed in December 2023 and released in May 2024, found that ExpressVPN had enough internal controls in place that users could trust its privacy policy.
The report is freely available to read. This is a very good sign, though we're looking out for a more up-to-date audit soon.
TrustedServer
"TrustedServer" is a marketing term ExpressVPN uses for its RAM-only server infrastructure. RAM-only servers have no hard drives for long-term storage and return to a standard disk image with every reboot. This makes it theoretically impossible to store user activity logs on them, even if ExpressVPN wanted to do that.
The KPMG audit, linked above, reports that TrustedServer works as advertised. Between its many clean privacy audits and the Turkish server incident in 2017, we're prepared to say ExpressVPN is a private VPN, in spite of its aggravating exception for marketing.
Can ExpressVPN change your virtual location?
Next, we tested whether ExpressVPN can actually convince websites that you're somewhere other than your real location. Our security tests have already proven it can hide your IP address, but it takes more than leak-proofing to fool streaming sites these days — Netflix and the others have gotten very good at combing through metadata to sniff out proxy users.
The process for testing this is a lot like how we handled the DNS leak tests: try several different servers and see if we get caught. We checked five sample locations outside the U.S. to see if we a) got into Netflix and b) saw different titles in the library. The results are below.
Server Location
Unblocked Netflix?
Library changed?
Canada
Y
Y
United Kingdom
YY
Slovakia
Y
Y
India
Y
YAustralia
Y
Y
In fifteen tests, ExpressVPN slipped up only once. Docklands, the UK server it chose as the fastest, wasn't able to access Netflix. We switched to a server labeled simply "London" and unblocked it without issue.
ExpressVPN can change your virtual location so you can explore the wonderful world of K-drama.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
All the other locations got us access to an alternate Netflix library on the first try. We even checked whether the India server, which is physically located in the UK, showed us different videos than the UK servers. It did, which makes us even more confident that ExpressVPN's virtual locations are airtight.
Investigating ExpressVPN's server network
ExpressVPN users can connect to a total of 164 server locations in 105 countries and territories. These locations are reasonably well distributed across the globe, but as with all VPNs, there's a bias toward the northern hemisphere. There are 24 locations in the U.S. alone and a further 66 in Europe.
That isn't to say users in the Global South get nothing. ExpressVPN has IP addresses from nine nations in South Americaand six in Africa. The network even includes Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia, impressive since central Asia may be the region most often shafted by VPNs.
However, many of these servers have virtual locations different from their real ones. For those of you choosing a server based on performance instead of a particular IP address, ExpressVPN's website has a helpful list of which servers are virtual. The bad news is that it's a big chunk of the list. A total of 63 ExpressVPN locations are virtual, or 38% of its entire network.
To reduce the sting, ExpressVPN takes care to locate virtual servers as close to their real locations as possible. Its virtual locations in Indonesia and India are physically based in Singapore. This isn't always practical, leading to some awkwardness like operating a Ghana IP address out of Germany. But it helps ExpressVPN perform better in the southern hemisphere.
Extra features of ExpressVPN
Compared to direct competitors like NordVPN and Surfshark, ExpressVPN doesn't have many special features. It's aimed squarely at the casual market and will probably disappoint power users. Having said that, what they do include works well. In this section, we'll run through ExpressVPN's four substantial features outside its VPN servers themselves.
Network Lock kill switch
"Network Lock" is the name ExpressVPN gives to its kill switch. A VPN kill switch is a safety feature that keeps you from broadcasting outside the VPN tunnel. If it ever detects that you aren't connected to a legitimate ExpressVPN server, it cuts off your internet access. You won't be able to get back online until you either reconnect to the VPN or disable Network Lock.
ExpressVPN's kill switch is called Network Lock on desktop, and Network Protection on mobileSam Chapman for Engadget
This is important for everyone, not just users who need to hide sensitive traffic. The recently discovered TunnelVision bug theoretically allows hackers to set up fake public wi-fi networks through which they redirect you to equally fake VPN servers, which then harvest your personal information. It's unlikely, but not impossible, and a kill switch is the best way to prevent it — the switch always triggers unless you're connected to a real server in the VPN's network.
Like most of ExpressVPN's features, all you can do with Network Lock is turn it on and off. You can also toggle whether you'll still be able to access local devices while the kill switch is blocking your internet — this is allowed by default.
Threat manager, ad blocker and parental controls
ExpressVPN groups three tools under the heading of "advanced protection" — Threat Manager, an ad blocker and parental controls. Threat Manager consists of two checkboxes: one that blocks your browser from communicating with activity tracking software and one that blocks a list of websites known to be used for malware.
Check any of these boxes to use the pre-set blocklists whenever you're connected to ExpressVPN.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
You can't customize the lists, so you're limited to what ExpressVPN considers worthy of blocking. They share their sources on the website. While the lists are extensive and open-source, they rely on after-the-fact reporting and can't detect and block unknown threats like a proper antivirus.
The adblock and parental control options work the same way: check a box to block everything on the list, uncheck it to allow everything through. In tests, the ad blocker was nearly 100% effective against banner ads, but failed to block any video ads on YouTube or Netflix.
The parental control option blocks a list of porn sites. It's an easy option for concerned parents, but only works while ExpressVPN is connected. As such, it's meant to be used in conjunction with device-level parental controls that prevent the child from turning off or uninstalling the VPN client.
Split tunneling
Sometimes, you'll find it helpful to have your device getting online through two different IP addresses at once — one for your home services and one for a location you're trying to spoof. That's where split tunneling is helpful: it runs some apps through the VPN while leaving others unprotected. This can also improve your speeds, since the VPN needs to encrypt less in total.
You can configure split tunneling through either a blocklist or an allowlist.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
ExpressVPN includes split tunneling on Windows, Android and Mac. You can only split by app, not by website, but it's still pretty useful. For example, you can have BitTorrent handling a heavy download in the background while you use your browser for innocuous activities that don't need protecting.
ExpressVPN Aircove router
By now, it should be clear that we find ExpressVPN to be a highly reliable but often unexceptional VPN service. However, there's one area in which it's a clear industry leader: VPN routers. ExpressVPN Aircove is, to our knowledge, the only router with a built-in commercial VPN that comes with its own dashboard interface.
Usually, installing a VPN on your router requires tinkering with the router control panel, which turns off all but the most experienced users — not to mention making it a massive pain to switch to a new server location. Aircove's dashboard, by contrast, will be instantly familiar to anyone who already knows how to use an ExpressVPN client. It even allows different devices in your home to connect to different locations through the router VPN.
Aircove's biggest drawback is its price. Currently retailing at, it's around three times more expensive than an aftermarket router fitted with free VPN firmware. Some of you might still find the convenience worth the one-time payment.
ExpressVPN customer support options
ExpressVPN's written help pages are some of the best on the market. Its live chat is more of a mixed bag, and complex questions may cause delays. However, it is at least staffed with human agents who aim to reply accurately, rather than resolve your ticket as quickly as possible.
You can directly access both live chat and email from ExpressVPN's mobile apps.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
We approached ExpressVPN's support features with a simple question: "If I requested that ExpressVPN delete all my personal data, would I be able to get a refund for my unused subscription time?"Our first stop was expressvpn.com/support, the written support center and FAQ page. It's divided into setup guides, troubleshooting, account management and information on each of ExpressVPN's products. The setup guides are excellent, including screenshots and clearly written steps; each one includes a video guide for those who learn better that way.
Troubleshooting is just as good — no videos, but the same standards of clarity and usefulness prevail. The section starts with general problems, then delves into specific issues you might face on each operating system. Each article clearly derives from a real customer need.
The live support experience
To get answers on our refund question, we visited the account management FAQs. This section stated that the refund policy only applies within 30 days of purchase. Pretty clear-cut, but we still wanted an answer on our special case, so we contacted live chat by clicking the button at the bottom-right of every FAQ page.
Live chat is in the bottom-right corner of every page of expressvpn.com.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
Live chat starts with an AI assistant, which is not too hard to get past — just ask it a question it can't answer, then click "Transfer to an Agent." We got online witha human in less than a minute. Answering the question took longer and involved an uncomfortable 10-minute silence, but we did get a clear verdict from a real person: refunds are within 30 days only, no matter what.
If the live chat agent can't answer your question, you'll be redirected to open an email support ticket. Annoyingly, there's no way to go directly to email support through the website or desktop apps, though mobile users have the option to skip directly there.
ExpressVPN background check: From founding to Kape Technologies
ExpressVPN launched in 2009, which makes it one of the oldest consumer VPNs in continual operation. In more than 15 years of operation, it's never been caught violating its own privacy policy, though its record isn't free of more minor blemishes.
Headquarters in the British Virgin Islands
Founders Dan Pomerantz and Peter Burchhardt registered the company in the British Virgin Islands from the start to take advantage of that territory's favorable legal environment for online privacy. The BVIs have no law requiring businesses to retain data on their users, and the process for extraditing data is famously difficult, requiring a direct order from the highest court.
In 2021, the BVI implemented the Data Protection Act, which prevents companies based in the territory from accessing data on their users anywhere in the world. It's a great privacy law in theory, modeled on best-in-class legislation in the EU. However, we couldn't find any evidence that its supervising authority — the Office of the Information Commissioner — has a leader or staff.
In other words, while ExpressVPN is not legally required to log any data on its users, there's technically nobody stopping them from doing so. Whether you trust the jurisdiction depends on whether you trust the company itself. Let's see what the other evidence says.
Security and privacy incidents
Two significant incidents stand out from ExpressVPN's 16-year history. In 2017, when Andrei Karlov, Russia's ambassador to Turkey, was shot to death at an art show. Turkish police suspected someone had used ExpressVPN to mask their identity while they deleted information from social media accounts belonging to the alleged assassin. To investigate, they confiscated an ExpressVPN server to comb for evidence. They didn't find anything.
A police seizure is the best possible test of a VPN's approach to privacy. The provider can't prepare beforehand, fake anything, or collude with investigators. The Turkey incident is still one of the best reasons to recommend ExpressVPN, though eight years is a long time for policy to change.
The second incident began in March 2024, when a researcher at CNET informed ExpressVPN that its version 12 for Windows occasionally leaked DNS requests when users enabled the split tunneling feature. While these users remained connected to an ExpressVPN server, their browsing activity was often going directly to their ISP, unmasked.
The bug only impacted a few users, and to their credit, ExpressVPN sprang into action as soon as they learned about it. The team had it patched by April, as confirmed by the researcher who initially discovered the vulnerability. But while their quick and effective response deserves praise, it's still a mark against them that a journalist noticed the bug before they did.
Kape Technologies ownership and management questions
In 2021, an Israeli-owned, UK-based firm called Kape Technologies purchased a controlling interest in ExpressVPN. In addition to ExpressVPN, privately held Kape owns CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, and Zenmate. As shown on its website, it also owns Webselenese, publisher of VPN review websites WizCase and vpnMentor, which poses an apparent conflict of interest.
When reached for comment, a representative for ExpressVPN said that "ExpressVPN does not directly engage with, nor seek to influence, the content on any Webselenese site," and pointed us to disclosure statements on the websites in question — here's one example. Even so, it's a good reminder not to take VPN reviews at face value without knowing who's behind them.
Diving deeper into the background of Kape's ownership will lead you to owner Teddy Sagi. Go back far enough, and you'll see he did prison time in Israel and was mentioned in the Pandora Papers, among other things. More recently, headlines about the billionaire have focused more his businesses in the online gambling and fintech arenas, as well as his real estate ventures. An ExpressVPN representative told us that "Kape's brands continue to operate independently," and our investigation bore that out — we couldn't find any proof that Kape or Sagi have directly attempted to influence ExpressVPN's software or daily operations.
Closer to the immediate day-to-day operations of ExpressVPN was the company's employment of Daniel Gericke as CTO from 2019 through 2023. During that time, the US Justice Department announced it had fined Gericke and two others for their previous employment on a surveillance operation called Project Raven, which the United Arab Emiratesused to spy on its own citizens.
The revelation prompted a public response from ExpressVPN defending its decision to hire Gericke, arguing that "he best goalkeepers are the ones trained by the best strikers." ExpressVPN's representative confirmed that the company still stands by that linked statement.
Gericke parted ways with ExpressVPN in October 2023, per his LinkedIn profile. While we don't know what we don't know, we can say that ExpressVPN has not notably changed its public-facing security and privacy policies during the time it's been connected to Kape, Sagi, or Gericke.
In the end, how much ExpressVPN's history matters to you is a personal choice. If you object to any current or past actions by Kape Technologies or Teddy Sagi, there are other premium VPN options you might prefer. If you need more information to make up your mind, we recommend reading through CNET's 2022 deep dive on ExpressVPN's corporate history.
Final verdict
ExpressVPN is the VPN we most often recommend to beginners. It takes zero training to use, and consistently gets past filters on streaming sites. It also runs in the background with virtually no impact. If anything is worth the high price of admission, it's the excellent speeds distributed evenly across the worldwide server network.
However, for certain specific cases, ExpressVPN may not be the best choice. There's no way to set up your own server locations, like NordVPN offers, and no double VPN connections, like you can build for yourself on Surfshark. Its corporate background is more suspect than the entities backing Proton VPN, and unlike Mullvad, ExpressVPN doesn't work in China — it's so well-known that the government targets its servers specifically.
We suggest going with ExpressVPN for general online privacy, for spoofing locations in your home country while traveling, or if you regularly need to unblock sites in other countries. That encompasses 19 of every 20 users, which is fine by us, as ExpressVPN is a great service. It's just more of a reliable old screwdriver than a multi-tool.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at
#expressvpn #review #fast #speeds #lowExpressVPN review 2025: Fast speeds and a low learning curve
ExpressVPN is good at its job. It's easy to be skeptical of any service with a knack for self-promotion, but don't let ExpressVPN's hype distract you from the fact that it keeps its front-page promise of "just working."
Outside of solid security, the two best things ExpressVPN offers are fast speeds and a simple interface. Our tests showed only a 7% average drop in download speed and a 2% loss of upload speed, worldwide. And while the lack of extra features may frustrate experienced users, it makes for a true set-and-forget VPN on any platform.
This isn't to say ExpressVPN is without flaws — it's nearly bereft of customization options and it's notably more expensive than its competition — but it beats most VPNs in a head-to-head matchup.
For this review, we followed our rigorous 10-step VPN testing process, exploring ExpressVPN's security, privacy, speed, interfaces and more. Whether you read straight through or skip to the sections that are most important for you, you should come away with all the information you need to decide whether to subscribe.
Editors' note: We're in the process of rebooting all of our VPN reviews from scratch. Once we do a fresh pass on the top services, we'll be updating each review with a rating and additional comparative information.
Table of contents
Findings at a glance
Installing, configuring and using ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN speed test: Very fast averages
ExpressVPN security test: Checking for leaks
How much does ExpressVPN cost?
ExpressVPN side apps and bundles
Close-reading ExpressVPN's privacy policy
Can ExpressVPN change your virtual location?
Investigating ExpressVPN's server network
Extra features of ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN customer support options
ExpressVPN background check: From founding to Kape Technologies
Final verdict
Findings at a glance
Category
Notes
Installation and UI
All interfaces are clean and minimalist, with no glitches and not enough depth to get lost in Windows and Mac clients are similar in both setup and general user experience Android and iOS are likewise almost identical, but Android has a nice-looking dark mode
Speed
Retains a worldwide average of 93% of starting download speeds Upload speeds average 98% of starting speeds Latency rises with distance, but global average stayed under 300 ms in tests
Security
OpenVPN, IKEv2 and Lightway VPN protocols all use secure ciphers Packet-sniffing test showed working encryption We detected no IP leaks Blocks IPv6 and WebRTC by default to prevent leaks
Pricing
Base price: per month or per year Lowest prepaid rate: per month Can save money by paying for 28 months in advance, but only once per account 30-day money-back guarantee
Bundles
ExpressVPN Keys password manager and ID alerts included on all plans Dedicated IP addresses come at an extra price ID theft insurance, data removal and credit scanning available to new one-year and two-year subscribers for free 1GB eSIM deal included through holiday.com
Privacy policy
No storage of connection logs or device logs permitted The only risky exceptions are personal account dataand marketing dataAn independent audit found that ExpressVPN's RAM-only server infrastructure makes it impossible to keep logs
Virtual location change
Successfully unblocked five international Netflix libraries, succeeding on 14 out of 15 attempts
Server network
164 server locations in 105 countries 38% of servers are virtual, though most virtual locations are accessed through physical servers within 1,000 miles A large number of locations in South America, Africa and central Asia
Features
Simple but effective kill switch Can block ads, trackers, adult sites and/or malware sites but blocklists can't be customized Split tunneling is convenient but unavailable on iOS and modern Macs Aircove is the best VPN router, albeit expensive
Customer support
Setup and troubleshooting guides are organized and useful, with lots of screenshots and videos Live chat starts with a bot but you can get to a person within a couple minutes Email tickets are only accessible from the mobile apps or after live chat has failed
Background check
Founded in 2009; based in the British Virgin Islands Has never been caught selling or mishandling user data Turkish police seized servers in 2017 but couldn't find any logs of user activity Owned by Kape Technologies, which also owns CyberGhost and Private Internet Access A previous CIO formerly worked on surveillance in the United Arab Emirates; no evidence of shady behavior during his time at ExpressVPN Windows Version 12 leaked some DNS requests when Split Tunneling was active
Installing, configuring and using ExpressVPN
This section focuses on how it feels to use ExpressVPN on each of the major platforms where it's available. The first step for any setup process is to make an account on expressvpn.com and buy a subscription.
Windows
Once subscribed, download the Windows VPN from either expressvpn.com or the Microsoft Store, then open the .exe file. Click "Yes" to let it make changes, wait for the install, then let your computer reboot. Including the reboot, the whole process takes 5-10 minutes, most of it idle. To finish, you'll need your activation code, which you can find by going to expressvpn.com and clicking "Setup" in the top-right corner.
You can install ExpressVPN's Windows app from the Microsoft store, but we found the website more convenient.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
Extreme simplicity is the watchword for all ExpressVPN's designs. The Windows client's launch panel consists of three buttons and less than ten words. You can change your location or let the app pick a location for you — the "Smart Location" is the server with the best combination of being nearby and unburdened.
Everything else is crammed into the hamburger menu at the top left. Here, in seven tabs, you'll find the Network Lock kill switch, the four types of content blockers, the split tunneling menu and the option to change your VPN protocol. You can also add shortcuts to various websites, useful if you regularly use your VPN for the same online destinations.
To sum up, there's almost nothing here to get in the way: no delays, no snags, no nested menus to get lost in. It may be the world's most ignorable VPN client. That's not a bad thing at all.
Mac
ExpressVPN's app for macOS is almost identical in design to its Windows app. The process for downloading and setting it up is nearly the same too. As on Windows, it can be downloaded from the App Store or sideloaded directly from the expressvpn.com download center. Only a few features are missing and a couple others have been added. Split tunneling is gone, and you won't see the Lightway Turbo setting.
ExpressVPN recommends some servers, but it's easy to search the whole list.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
Mac users do gain access to the IKEv2 protocol, along with the option to turn off automatic IPv6 blocking — Windows users have to leave it blocked at all times. Almost every website is still accessible via IPv4, but it's useful if you do need to access a specific IPv6 address while the VPN is active.
Android
Android users can download ExpressVPN through the Google Play Store. Open the app, sign in and you're ready to go. The Android app has a very nice dark-colored design, only slightly marred by an unnecessary information box about how long you've used the VPN this week.
ExpressVPN's Android app puts a little more information on the screen than it needs to, but still runs well.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
There's a large button for connecting. Clicking on the server name takes you to a list of locations. On this list, you can either search or scroll and can choose individual locations within a country that has more than one. We connected to as many far-flung server locations as we could, but not a single one took longer than a few seconds.
The options menu is organized sensibly, with no option located more than two clicks deep. You will see a couple of options here that aren't available on desktop, the best of which is the ability to automatically connect to your last-used ExpressVPN server whenever your phone connects to a non-trusted wifi network.
There are also a few general security tools: an IP address checker, DNS and WebRTC leak testers and a password generator. These are also available on the website, but here, they're built into the app. With the exception of the latter, we'd recommend using third-party testing tools instead — even a VPN with integrity has an incentive to make its own app look like it's working.
iPhone and iPad
You can only install ExpressVPN's iOS app through the app store. During setup, you may need to enter your password to allow your phone to use VPN configurations. Otherwise, there are no major differences from the Android process.
ExpressVPN looks good on iPhone and iPad.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
The interface is not quite as pleasing as the dark-mode Android app, but it makes up for that by cutting out some of the clutter. The tabs and features are similar, though split tunneling and shortcuts are absent. Also, both mobile apps make customer support a lot more accessible than their desktop counterparts — plus, mobile is the only way to send email support tickets.
Browser extension
ExpressVPN also includes browser extensions for Firefox and Chrome. These let you connect, disconnect and change server locations without leaving your browser window. It's nice, but not essential unless you have a very specific web browser flow you like.
ExpressVPN speed test: Very fast averages
Connecting to a VPN almost always decreases your speed, but the best VPNs mitigate the drop as much as possible. We used Ookla's speed testing app to see how much of your internet speed ExpressVPN preserves. For this test, we emphasized the locations ExpressVPN uses for most of its virtual servers, including the Netherlands, Brazil, Germany and Singapore.
Some terms before we start:
Latency, measured in milliseconds, is the time it takes one data packet to travel between your device and a web server through the VPN. Latency increases with distance. It's most important for real-time tasks like video chatting and online gaming.
Download speed, measured in megabits per second, is the amount of information that can download onto your device at one time — such as when loading a web page or streaming a video.
Upload speed, also measured in Mbps, is the amount of information your device can send to the web at once. It's most important for torrenting, since the amount of data you can seed determines how fast you can download in exchange.
The table below shows our results. We conducted this on Windows, using the automatic protocol setting with the Lightway Turbo feature active — a recent ExpressVPN addition that keeps speed more consistent by processing connections in parallel.
Server location
LatencyIncrease factor
Download speedPercentage dropoff
Upload speedPercentage dropoff
Portland, Oregon, USA18
--
58.77
--
5.70
--
Seattle, Washington, USA26
1.4x
54.86
6.7%
5.52
3.2%
New York, NY, USA
156
8.7x
57.25
2.6%
5.57
2.3%
Amsterdam, Netherlands
306
17x
53.83
8.4%
5.58
2.1%
São Paulo, Brazil
371
20.6x
53.82
8.4%
5.65
0.9%
Frankfurt, Germany
404
22.4x
55.71
5.2%
5.67
0.5%
Singapore, Singapore
381
21.2x
52.76
10.2%
5.64
1.0%
Average
274
15.2x
54.71
6.9%
5.61
1.6%
These are extremely good results. ExpressVPN is a winner on both download and upload speed. No matter where we went in the world, we never lost more than about 7% of our download speeds, and upload lost an astoundingly low average of 2%. This suggests that ExpressVPN deftly distributes its user load between servers to eliminate bottlenecks.
This Ookla speedtest shows you can still get fast internet while connected to ExpressVPN -- our unprotected speeds are around 58 Mbps.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
The latency numbers look worse, but the rise in the table is less sharp than we projected. Ping length depends far more on distance than download speed does, so we expect it to shoot up on servers more than 1,000 miles from our location. Keeping the average below 300 ms, as ExpressVPN does here, is a strong showing.
ExpressVPN security test: Checking for leaks
A VPN's core mission is to hide your IP address and make you untraceable online. Our task in this section is to figure out if ExpressVPN can carry out this mission every time you connect. While we can't be 100% certain, the tests we'll run through below have led us to believe that ExpressVPN is currently leak-proof.
Available VPN protocols
A VPN protocol is like a common language that a VPN server can use to mediate between your devices and the web servers you visit. If a VPN uses outdated or insecure protocols, or relies on unique protocols with no visible specs or source code, that's a bad sign.
Not all protocols are available on all apps, but Mac has the full range.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
ExpressVPN gives you a selection of three protocols: IKEv2, OpenVPN and Lightway. The first two are solid choices that support the latest encryption algorithms. OpenVPN has been fully open-source for years and is the best choice if privacy is your goal. While IKEv2 started life as a closed project by Microsoft and Cisco, ExpressVPN uses an open-source reverse-engineering, which is both better for privacy and quite fast.
Lightway is the odd one out, a protocol you'll only find on ExpressVPN, though its source code is available on Github. It's similar to WireGuard, in that both reach for faster speeds and lower processing demands by keeping their codebases slim. However, Lightway was recently rewritten in Rust to better protect the keys stored in its memory.
Ultimately, you can't go wrong with any of ExpressVPN's protocol options. 99% of the time, your best choice will be to set the controls to Automatic and let the VPN decide which runs best.
Testing for leaks
ExpressVPN is one of the best services, but it's not leak-proof. Luckily, checking for DNS leaks is a simple matter of checking your IP address before and after connecting to a VPN server. If the new address matches the VPN server, you're good; if not, your VPN is leaking.
First, we checked the Windows app with split tunneling active to ensure the flaw really had been patched. We tested several servers and didn't find any leaks, which suggests the patch worked, though leaks were rare even before ExpressVPN fixed the vulnerability.
We checked our IP while connected to the virtual India location, which is run from a physical server in Singapore. Don't worry -- it still looks like India to streaming services.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
In fact, we didn't find any leaks on any ExpressVPN server we tested on any platform. Though questions remain about iOS, as you'll see later in this section, that's a problem on Apple's end that even the best VPNs can do very little about for now.
The most common cause of VPN leaks is the use of public DNS servers to connect users to websites, which can mistakenly send browsing activity outside the VPN's encrypted tunnel. ExpressVPN avoids the risks of the public system by installing its own DNS resolvers on every server. This is the key factor behind its clean bill of health in our leak testing.
Two other common flaws can lead to VPN leaks: WebRTC traffic and IPv6. The former is a communication protocol used in live streaming and the latter is a new IP standard designed to expand domain availability. Both are nice, but currently optional, so ExpressVPN automatically blocks both to ensure there's no opportunity for leaks to arise.
One note about VPN security on iOS: it's a known and continuing problem that iOS VPNs do not prevent many online apps from communicating with Apple directly, outside the VPN tunnel. This risks leaking sensitive data, even with Lockdown Mode active in iOS 16. A blog post by Proton VPN shares a workaround: connect to a VPN server, then turn Airplane Mode on and off again to end all connections that were active before you connected to the VPN.
Testing encryption
We finished up our battery of security tests by checking out ExpressVPN's encryption directly. Using WireShark, a free packet sniffer, we inspected what it looks like when ExpressVPN transmits data from one of its servers to the internet. The screenshot below shows a data stream encrypted with Lightway UDP.
After connecting to ExpressVPN, HTTP packets were rendered unreadable while in transit.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
That lack of any identifiable information, or even readable information, means encryption is working as intended. We repeated the test several times, always getting the same result. This left us satisfied that ExpressVPN's core features are working as intended.
How much does ExpressVPN cost?
ExpressVPN subscriptions cost per month. Long-term subscriptions can bring the monthly cost down, but the great deals they offer tend to only last for the first billing period.
A 12-month subscription costs and includes three months for free with your first payment, costing a total of per month. The bonus disappears for all subsequent years, raising the monthly cost to You can also sign up for 28 months at a cost of but this is also once-only — ExpressVPN can only be renewed at the per year level.
There are two ways to test ExpressVPN for free before making a financial commitment. Users on iOS and Android can download the ExpressVPN app without entering any payment details and use it free for seven days. On any platform, there's a 30-day money-back guarantee, which ExpressVPN has historically honored with no questions asked. You will have to pay before you can use it, though.
In our opinion, ExpressVPN's service is solid enough that it's worth paying extra. Perhaps not this much extra, but that depends on what you get out of it. We recommend using the 30-day refund period and seeing how well ExpressVPN works for you. If it's a VPN you can enjoy using, that runs fast and unblocks everything you need, that's worth a server's weight in gold.
ExpressVPN side apps and bundles
ExpressVPN includes some special features that work mostly or wholly separate from its VPN apps. Some of these come free with a subscription, while others add an extra cost.
Every subscription includes the ExpressVPN keys password manager. This is available under its own tab on the Android and iOS apps. On desktop, you'll need to download a separate extension from your browser's store, then sign in using your account activation code. It's available on all Chromium browsers, but not Firefox.
Starting in 2025, new subscribers get an eSIM plan through holiday.com, a separate service linked to ExpressVPN. The baseline 1GB holiday eSIM plans last for 5 days and can apply to countries, regions, or the entire world. Longer-term plans include larger eSIM plans.
You can add a dedicated IP address to your ExpressVPN subscription for an additional cost per month. A dedicated IP lets you use the same IP address every time you connect to ExpressVPN. You can add the address to whitelists on restricted networks, and you're assured to never be blocked because of someone else's bad activity on a shared IP.
Unlike many of its competitors, ExpressVPN doesn't currently offer antivirus or online storage services, but there is a comprehensive bundle of ID protection tools called Identity Defender. We haven't reviewed any of these products in detail, but here's a list for reference:
ID Alerts will inform you if any of your sensitive information is leaked or misused online. It's free with all plans, but you'll have to enter your personal information on your ExpressVPN account page or a mobile app.
ID Theft Insurance grants up to million in identity theft reimbursement and comes free with new ExpressVPN one-year or two-year subscriptions. It's not yet available to those who subscribed before it launched in October 2024.
Data Removal scans for your information in data brokerages and automatically requests that it be deleted. It's also free with one-year and two-year plans.
Credit Scanner is only available for United States users. It monitors your activity on the three credit bureaus so you can quickly spot any suspicious transactions.
The Identity Defender features are currently only available to new ExpressVPN customers in the US.
Close-reading ExpressVPN's privacy policy
Although we worry that the consolidation of VPN brands under the umbrella of Kape Technologieswill make the industry less competitive, we don't believe it's influencing ExpressVPN to take advantage of its users' privacy. To confirm, and get a full sense of what sort of privacy ExpressVPN promises its users, we set out to read ExpressVPN's privacy policy in detail. It's long, but thankfully aimed at casual users instead of lawyers. You can see it for yourself here.
In the introduction, ExpressVPN states that it does not keep either activity logsor connection logs. It then specifies the seven types of data it's legally allowed to collect:
Data used to sign up for an account, such as names, emails and payment methods.
VPN usage data which is aggregated and can't be traced to any individual.
Credentials stored in the ExpressVPN Keys password manager.
Diagnostic data such as crash reports, which are only shared upon user request.
IP addresses authorized for MediaStreamer, which is only for streaming devices that don't otherwise support VPN apps.
Marketing data collected directly from the app — a "limited amount" that's kept anonymous.
Data voluntarily submitted for identity theft protection apps.
Of those seven exceptions, the only ones that count as red flags are account data and marketing data. Both categories are highly personal and could be damaging if mishandled. Fortunately, complying with subpoenas is not one of the allowed uses listed for either data category, nor does the policy let ExpressVPN sell the data to other private parties.
The only really annoying thing here is that if you ask ExpressVPN to delete your personal data, you won't be able to use your account from then on. You aren't even eligible for a refund in this case, unless you're within 30 days of your initial subscription.
As for marketing data, ExpressVPN collects device fingerprints and location data when you sign up for an account on its website. The privacy policy also claims this is anonymized, as its "systems are engineered to decouple such data from personally identifiable information." Audits corroborate this, as we'll see in the next section. So, while it would be better if ExpressVPN didn't collect any personal data at all, its practices don't appear to pose a risk to anything you do while using the VPN — just the ExpressVPN website.
Privacy audits
VPN providers often get third-party accounting firms to audit their privacy policies. The idea is that a well-known firm won't mortgage its reputation to lie on behalf of a VPN, so their results can be trusted.
For the last several years, ExpressVPN has had KPMG look over its privacy policy and relevant infrastructure. KPMG's most recent report, completed in December 2023 and released in May 2024, found that ExpressVPN had enough internal controls in place that users could trust its privacy policy.
The report is freely available to read. This is a very good sign, though we're looking out for a more up-to-date audit soon.
TrustedServer
"TrustedServer" is a marketing term ExpressVPN uses for its RAM-only server infrastructure. RAM-only servers have no hard drives for long-term storage and return to a standard disk image with every reboot. This makes it theoretically impossible to store user activity logs on them, even if ExpressVPN wanted to do that.
The KPMG audit, linked above, reports that TrustedServer works as advertised. Between its many clean privacy audits and the Turkish server incident in 2017, we're prepared to say ExpressVPN is a private VPN, in spite of its aggravating exception for marketing.
Can ExpressVPN change your virtual location?
Next, we tested whether ExpressVPN can actually convince websites that you're somewhere other than your real location. Our security tests have already proven it can hide your IP address, but it takes more than leak-proofing to fool streaming sites these days — Netflix and the others have gotten very good at combing through metadata to sniff out proxy users.
The process for testing this is a lot like how we handled the DNS leak tests: try several different servers and see if we get caught. We checked five sample locations outside the U.S. to see if we a) got into Netflix and b) saw different titles in the library. The results are below.
Server Location
Unblocked Netflix?
Library changed?
Canada
Y
Y
United Kingdom
YY
Slovakia
Y
Y
India
Y
YAustralia
Y
Y
In fifteen tests, ExpressVPN slipped up only once. Docklands, the UK server it chose as the fastest, wasn't able to access Netflix. We switched to a server labeled simply "London" and unblocked it without issue.
ExpressVPN can change your virtual location so you can explore the wonderful world of K-drama.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
All the other locations got us access to an alternate Netflix library on the first try. We even checked whether the India server, which is physically located in the UK, showed us different videos than the UK servers. It did, which makes us even more confident that ExpressVPN's virtual locations are airtight.
Investigating ExpressVPN's server network
ExpressVPN users can connect to a total of 164 server locations in 105 countries and territories. These locations are reasonably well distributed across the globe, but as with all VPNs, there's a bias toward the northern hemisphere. There are 24 locations in the U.S. alone and a further 66 in Europe.
That isn't to say users in the Global South get nothing. ExpressVPN has IP addresses from nine nations in South Americaand six in Africa. The network even includes Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia, impressive since central Asia may be the region most often shafted by VPNs.
However, many of these servers have virtual locations different from their real ones. For those of you choosing a server based on performance instead of a particular IP address, ExpressVPN's website has a helpful list of which servers are virtual. The bad news is that it's a big chunk of the list. A total of 63 ExpressVPN locations are virtual, or 38% of its entire network.
To reduce the sting, ExpressVPN takes care to locate virtual servers as close to their real locations as possible. Its virtual locations in Indonesia and India are physically based in Singapore. This isn't always practical, leading to some awkwardness like operating a Ghana IP address out of Germany. But it helps ExpressVPN perform better in the southern hemisphere.
Extra features of ExpressVPN
Compared to direct competitors like NordVPN and Surfshark, ExpressVPN doesn't have many special features. It's aimed squarely at the casual market and will probably disappoint power users. Having said that, what they do include works well. In this section, we'll run through ExpressVPN's four substantial features outside its VPN servers themselves.
Network Lock kill switch
"Network Lock" is the name ExpressVPN gives to its kill switch. A VPN kill switch is a safety feature that keeps you from broadcasting outside the VPN tunnel. If it ever detects that you aren't connected to a legitimate ExpressVPN server, it cuts off your internet access. You won't be able to get back online until you either reconnect to the VPN or disable Network Lock.
ExpressVPN's kill switch is called Network Lock on desktop, and Network Protection on mobileSam Chapman for Engadget
This is important for everyone, not just users who need to hide sensitive traffic. The recently discovered TunnelVision bug theoretically allows hackers to set up fake public wi-fi networks through which they redirect you to equally fake VPN servers, which then harvest your personal information. It's unlikely, but not impossible, and a kill switch is the best way to prevent it — the switch always triggers unless you're connected to a real server in the VPN's network.
Like most of ExpressVPN's features, all you can do with Network Lock is turn it on and off. You can also toggle whether you'll still be able to access local devices while the kill switch is blocking your internet — this is allowed by default.
Threat manager, ad blocker and parental controls
ExpressVPN groups three tools under the heading of "advanced protection" — Threat Manager, an ad blocker and parental controls. Threat Manager consists of two checkboxes: one that blocks your browser from communicating with activity tracking software and one that blocks a list of websites known to be used for malware.
Check any of these boxes to use the pre-set blocklists whenever you're connected to ExpressVPN.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
You can't customize the lists, so you're limited to what ExpressVPN considers worthy of blocking. They share their sources on the website. While the lists are extensive and open-source, they rely on after-the-fact reporting and can't detect and block unknown threats like a proper antivirus.
The adblock and parental control options work the same way: check a box to block everything on the list, uncheck it to allow everything through. In tests, the ad blocker was nearly 100% effective against banner ads, but failed to block any video ads on YouTube or Netflix.
The parental control option blocks a list of porn sites. It's an easy option for concerned parents, but only works while ExpressVPN is connected. As such, it's meant to be used in conjunction with device-level parental controls that prevent the child from turning off or uninstalling the VPN client.
Split tunneling
Sometimes, you'll find it helpful to have your device getting online through two different IP addresses at once — one for your home services and one for a location you're trying to spoof. That's where split tunneling is helpful: it runs some apps through the VPN while leaving others unprotected. This can also improve your speeds, since the VPN needs to encrypt less in total.
You can configure split tunneling through either a blocklist or an allowlist.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
ExpressVPN includes split tunneling on Windows, Android and Mac. You can only split by app, not by website, but it's still pretty useful. For example, you can have BitTorrent handling a heavy download in the background while you use your browser for innocuous activities that don't need protecting.
ExpressVPN Aircove router
By now, it should be clear that we find ExpressVPN to be a highly reliable but often unexceptional VPN service. However, there's one area in which it's a clear industry leader: VPN routers. ExpressVPN Aircove is, to our knowledge, the only router with a built-in commercial VPN that comes with its own dashboard interface.
Usually, installing a VPN on your router requires tinkering with the router control panel, which turns off all but the most experienced users — not to mention making it a massive pain to switch to a new server location. Aircove's dashboard, by contrast, will be instantly familiar to anyone who already knows how to use an ExpressVPN client. It even allows different devices in your home to connect to different locations through the router VPN.
Aircove's biggest drawback is its price. Currently retailing at, it's around three times more expensive than an aftermarket router fitted with free VPN firmware. Some of you might still find the convenience worth the one-time payment.
ExpressVPN customer support options
ExpressVPN's written help pages are some of the best on the market. Its live chat is more of a mixed bag, and complex questions may cause delays. However, it is at least staffed with human agents who aim to reply accurately, rather than resolve your ticket as quickly as possible.
You can directly access both live chat and email from ExpressVPN's mobile apps.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
We approached ExpressVPN's support features with a simple question: "If I requested that ExpressVPN delete all my personal data, would I be able to get a refund for my unused subscription time?"Our first stop was expressvpn.com/support, the written support center and FAQ page. It's divided into setup guides, troubleshooting, account management and information on each of ExpressVPN's products. The setup guides are excellent, including screenshots and clearly written steps; each one includes a video guide for those who learn better that way.
Troubleshooting is just as good — no videos, but the same standards of clarity and usefulness prevail. The section starts with general problems, then delves into specific issues you might face on each operating system. Each article clearly derives from a real customer need.
The live support experience
To get answers on our refund question, we visited the account management FAQs. This section stated that the refund policy only applies within 30 days of purchase. Pretty clear-cut, but we still wanted an answer on our special case, so we contacted live chat by clicking the button at the bottom-right of every FAQ page.
Live chat is in the bottom-right corner of every page of expressvpn.com.
Sam Chapman for Engadget
Live chat starts with an AI assistant, which is not too hard to get past — just ask it a question it can't answer, then click "Transfer to an Agent." We got online witha human in less than a minute. Answering the question took longer and involved an uncomfortable 10-minute silence, but we did get a clear verdict from a real person: refunds are within 30 days only, no matter what.
If the live chat agent can't answer your question, you'll be redirected to open an email support ticket. Annoyingly, there's no way to go directly to email support through the website or desktop apps, though mobile users have the option to skip directly there.
ExpressVPN background check: From founding to Kape Technologies
ExpressVPN launched in 2009, which makes it one of the oldest consumer VPNs in continual operation. In more than 15 years of operation, it's never been caught violating its own privacy policy, though its record isn't free of more minor blemishes.
Headquarters in the British Virgin Islands
Founders Dan Pomerantz and Peter Burchhardt registered the company in the British Virgin Islands from the start to take advantage of that territory's favorable legal environment for online privacy. The BVIs have no law requiring businesses to retain data on their users, and the process for extraditing data is famously difficult, requiring a direct order from the highest court.
In 2021, the BVI implemented the Data Protection Act, which prevents companies based in the territory from accessing data on their users anywhere in the world. It's a great privacy law in theory, modeled on best-in-class legislation in the EU. However, we couldn't find any evidence that its supervising authority — the Office of the Information Commissioner — has a leader or staff.
In other words, while ExpressVPN is not legally required to log any data on its users, there's technically nobody stopping them from doing so. Whether you trust the jurisdiction depends on whether you trust the company itself. Let's see what the other evidence says.
Security and privacy incidents
Two significant incidents stand out from ExpressVPN's 16-year history. In 2017, when Andrei Karlov, Russia's ambassador to Turkey, was shot to death at an art show. Turkish police suspected someone had used ExpressVPN to mask their identity while they deleted information from social media accounts belonging to the alleged assassin. To investigate, they confiscated an ExpressVPN server to comb for evidence. They didn't find anything.
A police seizure is the best possible test of a VPN's approach to privacy. The provider can't prepare beforehand, fake anything, or collude with investigators. The Turkey incident is still one of the best reasons to recommend ExpressVPN, though eight years is a long time for policy to change.
The second incident began in March 2024, when a researcher at CNET informed ExpressVPN that its version 12 for Windows occasionally leaked DNS requests when users enabled the split tunneling feature. While these users remained connected to an ExpressVPN server, their browsing activity was often going directly to their ISP, unmasked.
The bug only impacted a few users, and to their credit, ExpressVPN sprang into action as soon as they learned about it. The team had it patched by April, as confirmed by the researcher who initially discovered the vulnerability. But while their quick and effective response deserves praise, it's still a mark against them that a journalist noticed the bug before they did.
Kape Technologies ownership and management questions
In 2021, an Israeli-owned, UK-based firm called Kape Technologies purchased a controlling interest in ExpressVPN. In addition to ExpressVPN, privately held Kape owns CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, and Zenmate. As shown on its website, it also owns Webselenese, publisher of VPN review websites WizCase and vpnMentor, which poses an apparent conflict of interest.
When reached for comment, a representative for ExpressVPN said that "ExpressVPN does not directly engage with, nor seek to influence, the content on any Webselenese site," and pointed us to disclosure statements on the websites in question — here's one example. Even so, it's a good reminder not to take VPN reviews at face value without knowing who's behind them.
Diving deeper into the background of Kape's ownership will lead you to owner Teddy Sagi. Go back far enough, and you'll see he did prison time in Israel and was mentioned in the Pandora Papers, among other things. More recently, headlines about the billionaire have focused more his businesses in the online gambling and fintech arenas, as well as his real estate ventures. An ExpressVPN representative told us that "Kape's brands continue to operate independently," and our investigation bore that out — we couldn't find any proof that Kape or Sagi have directly attempted to influence ExpressVPN's software or daily operations.
Closer to the immediate day-to-day operations of ExpressVPN was the company's employment of Daniel Gericke as CTO from 2019 through 2023. During that time, the US Justice Department announced it had fined Gericke and two others for their previous employment on a surveillance operation called Project Raven, which the United Arab Emiratesused to spy on its own citizens.
The revelation prompted a public response from ExpressVPN defending its decision to hire Gericke, arguing that "he best goalkeepers are the ones trained by the best strikers." ExpressVPN's representative confirmed that the company still stands by that linked statement.
Gericke parted ways with ExpressVPN in October 2023, per his LinkedIn profile. While we don't know what we don't know, we can say that ExpressVPN has not notably changed its public-facing security and privacy policies during the time it's been connected to Kape, Sagi, or Gericke.
In the end, how much ExpressVPN's history matters to you is a personal choice. If you object to any current or past actions by Kape Technologies or Teddy Sagi, there are other premium VPN options you might prefer. If you need more information to make up your mind, we recommend reading through CNET's 2022 deep dive on ExpressVPN's corporate history.
Final verdict
ExpressVPN is the VPN we most often recommend to beginners. It takes zero training to use, and consistently gets past filters on streaming sites. It also runs in the background with virtually no impact. If anything is worth the high price of admission, it's the excellent speeds distributed evenly across the worldwide server network.
However, for certain specific cases, ExpressVPN may not be the best choice. There's no way to set up your own server locations, like NordVPN offers, and no double VPN connections, like you can build for yourself on Surfshark. Its corporate background is more suspect than the entities backing Proton VPN, and unlike Mullvad, ExpressVPN doesn't work in China — it's so well-known that the government targets its servers specifically.
We suggest going with ExpressVPN for general online privacy, for spoofing locations in your home country while traveling, or if you regularly need to unblock sites in other countries. That encompasses 19 of every 20 users, which is fine by us, as ExpressVPN is a great service. It's just more of a reliable old screwdriver than a multi-tool.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at
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