ExpressVPN and NordVPN are two of the largest names in the VPN industry – but there’s only one I’m recommending in this comparison.In this ExpressVPN vs NordVPN guide, we’ll closely examine and test each service in twelve different categories. As you can see, NordVPN offers the cheapest price with the at $3.49 per month. There is, however, more risk involved in signing up with a VPN for three years, but that is the tradeoff for the lower price.ExpressVPN does not offer any free trial, nor do they offer three-year plans. The does offer some good savings (below the standard price of $8.32/mo without the coupon). Regarding temporary sales, ExpressVPN remains consistent on their pricing, as explained in my guide.Price winner: 11.
Payments options and refunds: NordVPN vs ExpressVPNNow we’ll examine payment options and refunds for both ExpressVPN and NordVPN.ExpressVPN – ExpressVPN supports a wide range of payment options, including all major credit cards, PayPal, Bitcoin, as well as other payment processors. ExpressVPN supports all major payment options, including PayPal and Bitcoin.You only need to enter a valid email address and your payment details with ExpressVPN.NordVPN – NordVPN also supports many payment options, but there is one big difference: no PayPal. For unknown reasons, PayPal has not been an option with NordVPN since January 2019. This is indeed a drawback, since PayPal is very favorable to the buyer if there is a dispute.
With NordVPN, there’s no PayPal option.While NordVPN no longer supports PayPal, all other major payment options are available, including cryptocurrencies.Refunds – Both ExpressVPN and NordVPN offer a 30 day money-back guarantee. But there is a slight difference as you can see with the wording below:. ExpressVPN: “Not satisfied? Get your money back, no questions asked.”. NordVPN: “We seek your full satisfaction with our services. However, we would like to troubleshoot an issue you experience first.“Therefore if you are requesting a refund through NordVPN, there might be a bit of a hassle since they’ll request you to troubleshoot your problems before issuing a refund.Payment options and refunds winner: This one was close, but the tiebreaker goes to since it still supports PayPal payments 12. Is ExpressVPN or NordVPN the best value?Last, but not least, is the question of value.Which VPN offers the best value for your money?And while price is important, it certainly is not the only consideration when weighed against all other factors.
After all, there’s nothing more frustrating than a VPN that doesn’t work right or is too slow, even if it was cheap.While NordVPN is definitely affordable and offers some good features, the performance issues (variable speeds) are somewhat of a drawback.With ExpressVPN, the monthly price is more expensive, but everything works well and the performance is excellent. Additionally, the applications offer a higher level of security, solid encryption, and stable connections.Therefore, considering everything, I would say ExpressVPN still offers a better value, even though it is more expensive than NordVPN. Thanks for the review, cheersgreat comparison, thanks for the researchFYI:The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are fourteen territories under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United Kingdom. They are remnants of the British Empire that have not been granted independence or have voted to remain British territories. These territories do not form part of the United Kingdom and, with the exception of Gibraltar, are not part of the European Union.
Most of the permanently inhabited territories are internally self-governing, with the UK retaining responsibility for defence and foreign relations. Three are inhabited only by a transitory population of military or scientific personnel. They all share the British monarch (Elizabeth II) as head of state. I’m a newbie and only now am considering a VPN purchase but am easily confused by some of the technical jargon.
Regarding speed, I don’t do games or movies. I’m unsure if a new and faster router could improve my download speed OR if it depends on the VPN serviceor perhaps it depends on both?Speed test shows 3.9Mbps. My ISP with their provided router regulates the speed and I can increase the bandwidth/speed at additional cost. Is this speed that is talked about with NordVPN and ExpressVPN related to that download speed of 3.9Mbps that I get? (I’m using speed and bandwidth interchangeably).
Great article Sven.I purchased Express VPN on Friday 5th primarily based on your report, though I had looked into both, as well as some others beforehand and had it narrowed down to these two. Unfortunately Express VPN did not work on either of the two Windows hosts I use at home. Regardless of the options or locations I chose, my torrent speed started off very poor then dropped to zero within a few minutes, whilst my Microsoft Outlook (as well as some other dependant internet software) refused to connect. Browsing became intolerably slow.Their support is all chat window based so you never actually have a phone conversation, but I did get immediate responses whenever I requested chat sessions. I had 3 separate sessions with 3 different tech-support guys to try and solve the problem but none were able to so, I cancelled the service. Even though the guys did know the product very well, there isn’t a lot of configurable options in the software and any meaningful troubleshooting is deferred to the connection log file.As a network engineer myself I was able to decipher the log, and found a troubling entry which read.
” Fri Apr 05 15: OPTIONS IMPORT: adjusting linkmtu to 1628″This is suspect since the default and (generally) maximum size is 1500. Packet overheads would normally cause you to reduce this number rather than expand it, but essentially this means that packet fragmentation will always occur with this entry (very bad). Anyway, I mentioned this to the last tech-support guy and he said this can’t be changed, and the normal recommended size of 1492 (a normal setting for various technical reasons) can only be set when the VPN is used on a router (where such settings are configurable). I was going to Wireshark the connection to see if this really was the cause of the issue but since this setting can’t be configured anyway it would have been a pointless exercise.Anyway, they have submitted my refund request without quibble so I still give them credit for doing what they say they will. Sorry to go “slightly” off-topic but just though I would throw in my two cents. Am about to try Nord VPN, so will make a post when I’ve done the install. I’ve never experienced any issues with connections – speed, latency, or overall bandwidth.
Now, I only have 15mbit to max out with, so maybe Maybe the bandwidth is limited if you have over 15mbit. But after the clear bias in this article on every other point, I really doubt that just that one would be bias-free.I’m not saying expressVPN is bad or worse but in my experience:– expressVPN has split tunneling, NordVPN doesn’t (per app VPNsl– expressVPN has the Netflix/Streaming bit for Windows. But you have to have Windows.– NordVPN was easier to setup on Linux. I don’t know what one commenter was talking about having problems setting it up, it took me five minutes. Easier than express but both were easy.Actually I’m not so sure this comment section isn’t rigged. I guess if I see my own comment sensored I’ll know.End of the day, is ridiculously cheap. NordVPN also has tor-over-VPN and more servers.
I’ll stick to NordVPN for now. This guide is simply based on my tests and experiences, but results may vary since there are many factors affecting VPN performance. By the way, testing speeds on a 15 Mbps connection will not give you a very accurate picture of VPN performance – just sayin’ You claimed “expressVPN has the Netflix/Streaming bit for Windows. But you have to have Windows.”That is wrong. You can unblock Netflix with any device or operating system you are using with ExpressVPN (or NordVPN).
All you need to do is connect to a VPN server that is getting through and stream Netflix as normal. Hi Nevil, you asked, “Chrome extension is the part where I am the most curious. It seems that with it, every single piece of information that goes through my computer will be encrypted or hidden from third parties such as hackers or ISPs. Is that right?”No, that is incorrect. A browser proxy extension is only encrypting traffic within the browser to the proxy server, not your entire operating system. Yes, these browser proxy extensions can come in handy in some situations.
I have used these with as well. You could have the VPN app connected to one server, encrypting everything on your operating system level, and then run the browser proxy extension for only your browser if you want to utilize different locations. I have not tested it with.also offers browser extensions, but they are NOT utilizing proxy servers.
Instead, the ExpressVPN browser extension is merely an extension of the existing VPN client on the operating system, while also implementing. I’ve tried both Nord and Express.
I found Nord would connect quite quickly when it worked but would also have dropouts or not connect at all. Express is always reliable and the router firmware is great, much easier to switch servers than having to type in server settings like with Nord.I also found when using via the router that my AppleTV 3 would get the proxy error for Netflix US. This was the case with all the Nord servers I tried, even though the ios app was working fine while connected to the router. I then tried via the router and the Apple TV with Netflix US worked perfectly. Tried both.Nord VPV would not install on my older Mac / older mac OS. Nords only solution was a series of complex workaround and several different installations, which inevitably would have only led to more problems. I asked for a full refund within 48 hours after I bought it.
Was good about giving me a prompt refund for the full amount.Bought for their best current deal (15 months). ExpressVPN worked immediately, no additional installs – very pleased about that – yes even on my older Mac. Initial-connection time is a bit slow, say as compared to (PIA), which I will be discontinuing if ExpressVPN keeps up its good performance which I have experienced so far. PIA connects very fast, but it is lacking much needed “contemporary features” (which their tech department made clear to me personally that they are not developing and have no interest in doing so) so I am switching to ExpressVPN after being a PIA customer for 5 years. The slow initial-connection speeds of ExpressVPN may have something to do with the protocol settings being on Automatic. Within the first 48 hours I was overseas and used it immediately.
I needed to use their live chat system to get help in small matters fine-tuning it for my needs, and both times someone answered my chat request immediately and gave me good solutions within minutes. For the slow connection speed they suggested manually switching the protocols instead of using the Automatic setting so I have yet to try that out while overseas next time. Overall did exactly what was promised. I would recommend ExpressVPN (and I started a skeptic).
And yes I am a private citizen and do not work in any aspect of the tech industry, and this is a real End User review. Thanks for the review, Sven! I’ve been on for a week now (thanks to their massive discount and good reviews) but it’s been a hassle spending so much time trying to find a reliable server.
I’ll try, and if it works better (I’m sure it will), I’ll get my money back from Nord. Thousands of servers doesn’t mean anything if only a hundred of them work.
The fastest connection I’ve gotten so far with Nord (I’m in the UAE with 50mbps) is with two servers in France and Switzerland with 120-130ms and 20mbps, and sometimes the speed varies. Auto connect always takes me to low-load servers with very, very poor performance. Speeds are usually abysmal and sometimes I can’t even use the internet at all.Totally unacceptable. I have been using both in the US and speeds are very good and also very consistent (less that a 1% difference on average after a 40 day speed test period).
Speeds are all over the board and it appears that Nord’s support team can’t say that the issue is not with me but with their servers. The last straw for me with Nord is when I connected to three different computers with three different ISPs and still got absolutely terrible speeds.
Expressvpn Download
Having 5000+ servers is no good if it means searching for that needle in a haystack. I am out of my trial period with Nord, so I will just have to eat the expense. I suggest that anyone who still has an option go with.
This has to be the best unbiased review I’ve seen about the two leading VPN services in the industry. Believe me I’ve read numerous umpteen reviews from several VPN services leaving me confused.
I’m relatively new to VPN other than using one of the worst VPN services in the industry for a year. Bitdefender Total Security Anti Virus software may be ranked high be its VPN aka Hotspot VPN service literally sucks big time.
I’m subscribing to as a new customer. Thank You Seven for this great review. Its helped me a lot. One thing you don’t mention here is that neither service supports port forwarding, which can cripple P2P clients.
I’ve been a customer for about 4 years years and they provide one dynamic forwarded port which helps with efficient performance with torrent and eDonkey clients. That said, PIA gave up on geohopping several years ago so they are useless for watching foreign NetFlix or BBC iPlayer.
I pay $40/yr for PIA, which is a good deal given the reliability and high speeds, but I have decided geohopping is as important to me as anonymity so I am evaluating alternatives. I think I will be going with, but I may need to keep my PIA account going for P2P purposes. I run a pfSense firewall with an OpenVPN gateway for PIA and apparently setting up ExpressVPN on pfSense should work the same way so I should be good to go. I’m a senior and not overly a technical computer knowledgeable person seemingly like most of the posted commenters. I do like the idea of using VPN for security, banking and other personal reasons. Your article is obviously well informative accepted positively by most readers.
Thank you for that. Is VPN easy or relative easy for one, say like me, to use? To be honest I’m not even sure what a sever is or how to connect to one. Your thoughts or any bodies positive thoughts would be appreciated. I have recently tested nordvpn and torrents were extremely slow 50kb but faster using socks5, they never suggested using a different protocol as Expressvpn did. Nordvpn streamed 3 hrs of sports no buffering perfect.
Expressvpn was taking forever to connect on another computer up to 5 mins Conclusion here is that both don’t offer a decent service. But at $2.75 and 6 connections Nordvpn is betterQuoting speeds is irrelevant as you wouldnt notice any difference in streaming at 50mb or 90mb. A film downloaded in 3 mins or 5 mins, doesn’t really make any odds. In the past years, I’ve been jumping between different providers back and forth, and still can’t decide which one I like the most. Funny thing, Nordvpn wasn’t even in my top three a few years ago. I’m not saying that I didn’t like it at all, but at that point in my life, I wasn’t ready to pay that much money for a service that doesn’t stand out from others that much. I guess times change, because a month ago I tried Nord once again and the overall experience was better than I remember, they improved a lot in these years.
I’m not saying it’s my number one service, but I could see myself using it in the future more. I’ll give them five stars when the iOS version (the one I used) has the Cybersec feature. Hope that’s in their plans. NordVPN has been advertising on TV like crazy recently and have a ton of new customers.
Over the last few months NordVPN has come to a crawl. It is so slow in the USA. We have tried multiple different servers and all are incredibly slow.
Emails to support are unresponsive. It use to be a good service in 2017 but unfortunately has gotten worse and worse in 2018.
We purchased a 3 year plan due to the cheap price in 2017 and we still have 2+ years left. For torrenting in the US NordVPN has become way too slow. The only thing that it is any good for is privacy. If you plan on using it for items that use a lot of bandwidth such as P2P or Streaming 4K Videos, it’s just not going to serve you well.
After trying every technical adjustment and tweak that we could come up with, nothing increased our speeds. We are using a very expensive Netgear R9000 Router which can definitely handle everything that is thrown at it. A simple test was to install other VPN services and compare the speeds.
NordVPN was at the bottom of the list when we compared them solely on speed. I agree with you. Their server are slower ( much slower) and less stable compared to another vpn i tried. (express VPN). I did a simple test. Same source, same resolution, same video (just a 4k demo video, cause is big file). With express VPN no lag no buffering.
Nord VPN: buffering as hell, even with 3% busy server!!!do you experienced my problem too?i mean connection drops, and having switch often by speed decreasing. And on android (with no percentage displayed) is almost a lottery choose the right server. I have tested the top 5 vpn’s online. I tested Expressvpn, Nordvpn(currently using Iwas a year with Cyberghost, had lots of issues. Then I tried IPVanish, very good vpn but located in the u.s.a within the 5 eyes. Next up was TorGuard, if you like to play with settings, then TorGuard may be for you. And last i tested VyprVpn.And 1st place goes to Nord, 2nd place Expressvpn, 3rd place Torguard, 4th place IPVanish, and finishing 5th is VyprVPN.
So there you havwe it folks.Enjoy! A VPN is very necessary now days. Got Nord VPN for more than half a year, but changed to Private Internet Access for better pricing, but after half a first subscribtion month I figured out that them was in fault for my unreachable android phone to getting and making calls, sms, but the SIM and plan was active.
I unistalled theyr app from my phone and sms and calls goes out and comes in to my phone. Going back to post, Nord VPN gave me slower connections and more errors in connecting to its servers than Private Internet Access. Thinking of going back to Express VPN as I checked when comparing to others is quite best in ratio of price and quality. Hey Joe – just a quick tip: the problem is most likely the router, not the VPN service.The Asus RT-AC66U is equipped with a 600 Mhz processor, which is underpowered for VPN use. I’m actually surprised you are getting up to 20 Mbps with that router, simply because it won’t handle OpenVPN encryption very well when compared to some of the higher-powered routers, such as the new Asus RT-AC86U. There’s really nothing you can do about this because it is a limitation with the router’s processor.There are a few newer models with AES-NI acceleration instructions to massively boost VPN speed.
Processing power is really the biggest factor with a VPN router in terms of performance. Check out the guide for more of a discussion on this topic. See the table comparing processing speeds for the different Asus routers. Well written article. And I got your back. I have been using ExpressVPN since 2014 and this is the only VPN that works really well with Netflix USA. Due to high price I really looked for other cheap options such as cyberghost, XVPN, PureVPN they never worked really well and netflix always blocked the connection.
And I have tried NORDVPN in october last year and february (last month) some of the servers give better speed than ExpressVPN but it could not beat ExpressVPN when it comes to Netflix. Every-time I accessed netflix using NORDVPN it took ages to load the movie.
It did work though but waiting is annoying and sometime it wont even load. If you do not believe me please try 30 days program for both. And with ExpressVPN netflix is as smooth as you are accessing netflix from your own country. No lags load up faster. I was really looking forward to keep nordvpn because you can use 6 devices same time on NORDVPN but can only use 3 devices at a time with ExpressVPN.
But as mentioned in the article ExpressVPN is few dollars expensive but you can rely on their services as every single thing works really well Im so proud I have been using it for nearly 4 years now but I really hope they increase the devices to 5 or 6 from 3.and other thing is ROUTER app. Other VPNs are working with router but if you are not a tech person you gonna find it really hard to set up the vpn on the router and mistakes can leave you with DNS leaks but with ExpressVPN app it is really easy. Just flash the firmware and you will be good to go. Select any server you want, choose which devices can connect to vpn and which can be connectec direct to internet without vpn.Oh and apps for mac, windows and ios and android trust me ExpressVPN has the easy to use and best looking apps compared to all other. I will stick to expressvpn no matter what.
Every good thing has a price. 您好，我在北京，想分享使用expressvpn中的问题，目前对expressvpn比较失望，同时也希望您能提供建议：哪个vpn能满足需要。我使用expressvpn时，发现国内的网站好多打不开，换了好几个站点都是如此。于是，我就使用了split tunneling功能，但发现根本不起作用，即没有办法让应用不通过expressvpn。举例来说，我希望firefox不通过expressvpn,以便能专门浏览中国的网站，但实际情况是firefox连baidu都打不开，其他能打开的网站也极其慢。（firefox已通过tunneling设置已经生效）。后来，又测试了其他3个主流浏览器，发现问题依旧如此，split tunneling 根本不起作用。于是，我联系了expressvpn的工作人员，对方给我的回复如下：Thank you for getting back to us. We apologize that the same issue persists. The best thing we can advise is to access local sites using Hong Kong -1 server location as we can’t fully guarantee that split tunneling will work. The DNS queries made through our DNS servers even when using split tunneling.最后，我很无奈，连高大上的expressvpn都解决不了。所以，我就求助您了，希望您能推荐一个能满足我需要的vpn,能让我既可以浏览中国的网站也可以同时浏览国外网站。.
I think they have improved a lot with respect to the access of Chinese domestic websites. Some servers (Los angeles, Tokyo) that they recommend for the connection from China are working very well for surfing both sides.
As a matter of fact, a few other VPN networks might not have this problem at all. You might want to check with VyprVPN, TorguardVPN, VPN.AC, and so on, which are also recommended here on this website.我认为他们在访问中国国内网站方面取得了很大进步。 他们推荐从中国连接的一些服务器（洛杉矶，东京）对双方冲浪都很有效。 事实上，其他一些VPN网络可能根本没有这个问题。 您可能需要查看VyprVPN，TorguardVPN，VPN.AC等，这些也在本网站上推荐。.
Expressvpn Download
Well done Sven!Your in-depth review is exactly what I was looking for. Your efforts are truly appreciated. Continue the good work. Your hard work and efforts are making a huge contribution to the general public (people like me).For some time now, I felt looked like a good option and I had reservations about NordVPN and Express VPN. Now you introduced me to.
You have confirmed my thoughts about these VPNs and I feel more confident in making a selection now.Thank you 🙂Kind RegardsNavish Singh.
Is ExpressVPN really the fastest out there? Is it worth the price,? I ran every test possible to find out.Whether you want to torrent and game, stay anonymous and secure online, or see how effective its kill switch and DNS leak protection is, I’ve got it covered.Or maybe you just want to know if ExpressVPN will unblock Netflix. With ExpressVPN, you have access to all major Netflix libraries, including the UK and US. And, all with unlimited bandwidth and HD quality.I put ExpressVPN through its paces to find out just how good this premium VPN is, and was surprised to find ExpressVPN performed well in almost every area.My rigorous testing and ExpressVPN review will help you decide if ExpressVPN is the right premium VPN for you. It offers exceptional speeds, impeccable security measures, and seriously impressive unblocking capabilities, but it's not quite perfect.
The BasicsExpressVPN is one of the fastest and most impressive VPNs I've tested. And I’ve tested a lot of VPNs.I ran every test possible on ExpressVPN to dig deep into all of its features and see how well it really performs. I looked at everything from server coverage and speeds to privacy, security, and even customer service and pricing.Does ExressVPN work with Netflix? Is it good value for money? Will ExpressVPN keep you secure?
And just how fast is ExpressVPN? Keep reading to find out. You can also. ExpressVPN FeaturesLogging PolicyZero logs (confirmed)Security256-bit AES encryptionServers3,000+Countries90+StreamingNetflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and moreBased inBritish Virgin IslandsFree trialNoPricingFrom $8.32 per monthSupport24/7 live chat, ticketing system, email, FAQs, and troubleshooting guidesMoney-back Guarantee30 daysIn a Rush?
Here's ExpressVPN at a Glance. No ad blocker How to Get the Fastest Speeds With ExpressVPNExpressVPN has a Smart Location feature which allows you to connect to a server with the simple click of a button.It connects you to an optimized server for your location.
Measured by latency, speed, and distance, it makes sure you have the best experience with the VPN. ExpressVPN also shows a list of recommended locations if you need to access servers in other countries, measured using the same algorithm.There's the option to view and connect to all of ExpressVPN’s locations, but the quick connect and recommended servers are ExpressVPN’s way of providing you with a guaranteed fast, reliable connection.ExpressVPN Speed TestsRouting your traffic from another country to your device and back again can, unsurprisingly, cause your speeds to slow down. However, ExpressVPN is known for having the fastest servers around, regardless of where you connect. Is there any truth to the hype?To understand how my speeds were affected, it was important to test my starting speed before I connected to ExpressVPN.I found that my super-quick base speed measured approximately 93 Mbps and the upload speed was 94 Mbps.Having tested my base speed, I connected to ExpressVPN to see how my speeds were affected as I switched between local servers and long-distance ones. If ExpressVPN is as fast as it claims, my speeds should only be affected slightly, right? Local ExpressVPN SpeedsUsing the Quick Connect feature, I connected to a local server nearest to my home. This connected me to an East London server.
My speed was 87 Mbps.My speed only decreased by 6%, which is really impressive. Even when connected to local servers, other VPNs often cause your speed to drop significantly. I was able to browse and stream with the same reliability I’d had before I connected.As I was connected to the smart location ExpressVPN had chosen for me, I wanted to connect to another local server to see if this would have any difference.My speed only dropped by a further 3%. That makes it just a 9% decrease in total, which is easily the best speeds I’ve had with any VPN. Long-Distance ExpressVPN SpeedsI started with a server in the US. I connected to the recommended server on my list in the app. My speed was 82 Mbps, meaning my speeds only slowed down by 11% overall.
With results like these, you can see why ExpressVPN is easily one of the.Then, I headed over to a Hong Kong server. My speeds slowed quite significantly - by 25%, giving me a speed of 69 Mbps. However, this was barely noticeable while I was streaming and gaming.
After all, speeds of 69 Mbps are still pretty fast.Finally, I connected to a server in Australia to really test the distance. My speed was 57 Mbps. From my base speed of 93 Mbps, this means my overall speed decreased by 38%.
I was pleasantly surprised by this, as I expected my speeds to decrease by at least 50% when I connected to a server so far away.Our ExpressVPN Speed FindingsEven when I connected to a server on the other side of the world, my speeds dropped much less than I expected.My speeds only slowed by 38% over the longest distance, and since I had such a quick starting speed, the reduction wasn’t noticeable. I was able to browse and stream hassle-free, as if I wasn’t connected to the VPN. Though if you’re starting at a slower speed, you might feel some lagging.I tested packet loss, too - the amount of data packets that didn’t arrive correctly at the destination. Packet loss of 5% significantly impacts the quality of your session.
So I was pleased that my results varied from 0 to just 2.2%.It’s clear from my tests that the rumors are true. ExpressVPN’s speeds really are lightning-fast. No matter which server you connect to, anywhere in the world, you’ll have quick, reliable connections.Is ExpressVPN Fast Enough for Gaming?We’ve seen just how impressive ExpressVPN’s speeds are.
But the basic speed tests other reviewers rely on only assess how quick a server is with nothing else working in the background - no streaming, no browsing, no gaming.I believe in tougher tests! And gaming is one of the toughest tests for VPNs.Can ExpressVPN maintain its high speeds while playing a resource-heavy MMO like League of Legends? With the ping rate and latency be low enough? With the bandwidth be high enough?
Can I play LoL with ExpressVPN without lag and buffering?I decided to find out.Rather than connecting to the smart location, I decided to connect to a server in the US where my speeds would more likely be affected.Despite being connected to a server thousands of miles away, my gameplay was remarkable. I was expecting some lagging mid-battle, but ExpressVPN managed to keep up with the fast-paced action easily for the whole hour I tested the game.I was able to play in HD with amazing speeds, keeping up with my teammates as quickly as if I was not using the VPN at all.If you're a hardcore gamer, check out our other top recommendations for the. SecurityMany VPNs claim to protect you in the event of a connection failure or guarantee that your IP address always remains hidden. Researching, testing, and confirmation are the only ways to find out if the claims are true.During my review, I was looking for maximum encryption, strong security protocols, and IP leak protection.
I also wanted to thoroughly test out ExpressVPN’s extra security features, like its split tunneling feature.Having run every possible security test on ExpressVPN and troubleshooting all of its features, I can safely say that i ts advanced security can protect you, even with an unreliable connection. EncryptionPut simply, there’s no need to worry about your data ever being decrypted or falling into the wrong hands.ExpressVPN uses the highest standard of encryption. It keeps you protected with 256-bit AES encryption, which combines AES 256-bit cypher with a 4096-bit RSA key and SHA-512 HMAC authentication.But, what does all this jargon mean?AES 256-bit encryption is symmetric, meaning the same key used to encrypt your data must be used to decrypt it. This makes it near-impossible to break. Even the world’s most powerful computer would take billions of years to decrypt just 0.1% of the data it holds.The SHA-512 HMAC authentication ExpressVPN uses is highly secure for data transfers, such as P2P file sharing.
Using a shared secret key, both the sender and receiver of the download have a way of verifying the authenticity of the file.This allows you to establish whether the file sent matches the file received. Should the secret key differ in any way, it's evidence that the file has been intercepted or tampered with.ExpressVPN also uses perfect forward secrecy. This is a highly advanced feature that changes your encryption key every time you log on, so you're assigned a new one at the start of each session. Any data from your previous session is completely unrelated to your current session. Should anyone attempt to intercept your browsing session, anything before or after this is completely secure. ProtocolsExpressVPN uses various security protocols, including the most advanced protocol. It will automatically select the best security protocol for the most reliable connection by default, though you can change this if you wish.I was assigned the OpenVPN UDP protocol, which uses the best combination of speed and security, when using ExpressVPN on my Windows and Android devices.
This is highly secure and means the encryption tunnel that your data passes through is most unlikely to be compromised.ExpressVPN always uses OpenVPN UDP as the default option, unless it's blocked, which is definitely reassuring if you’re security-conscious like me. You're automatically protected to the highest standard, without needing to change a thing.OpenVPN TCP is also available, though the app suggests only using this protocol when UDP is not available, as it’s not as quick. Unlike UDP, TCP uses error correction to check data delivery. While this increases reliability, it also causes lower speeds.You can also configure the app to use other protocols, including PPTP and L2TP/IPsec. But these do not offer the same level of security as the other protocols. Kill SwitchExpressVPN uses a kill switch, which it calls Network Lock. A kill switch is an advanced security feature that keeps your IP address and traffic secure, even if the VPN connection drops.
And here, ExpressVPN has a surprising downside.ExpressVPN’s Network Lock is designed to block traffic if your connection is compromised, keeping your data and IP address hidden. I was pleased to see the kill switch is automatically enabled in the app, rather than requiring manual configuration.ExpressVPN’s kill switch is only available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. I was expecting to see higher compatibility with other devices, but they haven't bought it to Andoird, iOS, or routers yet. At vpnMentor, we keep track of the best VPNs for mobiles,. And ExpressVPN is among the best, so it's a shame this important feature is lacking for iOS and Android.
Split TunnelingSplit tunneling is one of ExpressVPN’s standout features. It lets you encrypt just part of your traffic through certain browsers, but leave everything else untouched.You can browse locally AND through your VPN at the same time.You just need to decide which apps will use the VPN.Adding and removing apps is easy. Just click on the plus symbol.I chose to leave my online banking app and both BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub out of the encryption tunnel so I could still use them. Then I actually put this to the test.I connected to a server in the US, and then revisited the BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub apps to see if I was able to stream the content. I could watch all content across both apps, and I was able to browse while being connected to the US server at the same time.
Editor’s warning: Split tunneling certainly gives you more flexibility. Remember though that any apps you remove from the VPN aren’t secured by encryption, so your local IP address and activity are visible while you’re using them. Leak Tests and Leak ProtectionAlthough your traffic is sent through an encrypted tunnel, sometimes your data leaks. This is known as a DNS leak, and it makes your online activity visible to your ISP.
More worryingly, it means your data is accessible to third parties.A solid VPN protects you against DNS leaks and guarantees you anonymity so you aren’t at risk. I ran leak tests on ExpressVPN’s apps for Android, Windows, and Chrome to see how strong its connections really are.ExpressVPN does offer its own leak test. However, I wanted to make sure my results weren’t deliberately inflated as the leak test is owned by ExpressVPN.ExpressVPN’s leak test is quite basic and didn’t provide me with all the information I needed. I could only see my IP address and location, not browser default or fallback information.
So, I turned to ipleak.net for more comprehensive results.I tested servers in the US, Australia, Canada, and the UK on my Windows device. I had no DNS leaks across any server.I was pleased to see there were no data leaks and my IP address was completely protected throughout my browsing sessions.
IPv6 was also blocked, which is the request from your ISP to your device that provides you with an IP address. This means I was undetectable by my ISP as there was no request sent.
Pretty impressive! Tor Compatibilityas a way of securing its users’ privacy that bit further. If you’re looking to add an extra layer of security to your VPN, you’ll be pleased to know that ExpressVPN does offer compatibility with Tor.In fact, ExpressVPN even has its own Tor onion website in the Tor network. This is the only vendor I’ve seen with an onion service of its own. This means you get even greater privacy and ease of access, which is especially important if you’re in a country with strict censorship controls.I was pleased to see that ExpressVPN only supports Tor over VPN rather than the reverse. This means you benefit from maximum anonymity, as your data and online traffic are invisible to the VPN. If it was the other way around, your VPN would still see everything you pass through the tunnel.To set it up, ExpressVPN requires you to connect to your VPN and then download Tor.
Its guides are helpful and straightforward in explaining how to complete this.To use ExpressVPN for Tor, you have to fire up a browser. While this doesn’t take much effort, other vendors like actually offer optimized Tor servers that you can connect to, removing any extra steps.Like its kill switch, ExpressVPN doesn't offer Tor compatibility on mobile yet. Security AuditsMany VPNs claim to be secure, but then they only rely on internal tests. Seeking independent security audits and publishing the results are strong indicators of just how secure a vendor is.ExpressVPN uses its online leak test as one way of demonstrating its high security to users.
This allows you to test for IP leaks once you're connected to the VPN.It certainly does give you confidence to see that you’re completely invisible and protected online. However, it does make me question whether the tests are ever whitelisted to provide better results.In September 2019, ExpressVPN signed a strategic partnered with HP. The computing giant's trust is evidence for ExpressVPN's abilities.In 2018, ExpressVPN published the results of an of its browser extension. Cure53’s audits are highly robust. They dig deep to test cybersecurity features and look for any kind of security threat. No matter how small, you can guarantee Cure53 will find it.Publishing the results of an independent review is exactly the kind of honesty and transparency that I look for in a premium VPN.The results speak for themselves, too.
ExpressVPN received a highly positive review, with no major security issues for users to worry about.In fact, ExpressVPN is so confident in its security that it’s published the source code of its browser extension so you can run the exact same tests that Cure53 did.ExpressVPN was also independently audited by PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), one of the four largest professional services assurance and advisory companies in the world. They tested a number of things, from ExpressVPN’s code and no-logs policy to its TrustedServer technology. It also interviewed employees.You'll find that from its website, and the results confirm what we already know about ExpressVPN: It’s super secure, and its privacy policy is leak-proof, too.I did speak to one of ExpressVPN’s live agents to see how often they conduct independent security audits. He was unable to give me a definitive answer, explaining that they are randomized.
I would have expected annual or even bi-annual security audits, so this is a little disappointing.But the results from its recent audits give me enough confidence that ExpressVPN provides the secure service it claims to. You can also read all the security reports on its website.Security BreachesReported security breaches either confirm or deny the quality of a vendor’s security measures.
If there are any loopholes in a VPN’s security features, hackers might be able to intercept your traffic and steal your data.These reports can be hugely damaging to a vendor’s reputation. After all, the service is designed to keep you and your data secure.I couldn’t find any reports of security breaches on ExpressVPN’s network. This only confirms to me that its military-grade encryption and top-level security measures really are robust. Even if a hacker wanted to try and intercept your traffic, they wouldn’t be able to get past ExpressVPN’s advanced encryption.PrivacyMany VPNs claim to keep you private online, but a closer look at their privacy policies reveals all kinds of loopholes and woolly language. This means your data is actually stored and might be shared with third parties, including the government.I scrutinized ExpressVPN’s privacy policy to see how invisible and secure I really was online, and I was impressed. Although, I did leave feeling slightly disappointed that there’s no built-in ad blocker. I expected this as a standard feature with a highly-rated VPN like ExpressVPN.
LocationExpressVPN’s headquarters are located discreetly in the British Virgin Islands. The good news is, the British Virgin Islands sit outside of the, meaning it’s a privacy-friendly country.Countries within the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance are required to share any information they hold about their users with the government, if requested. If a VPN stores partial logs, this can raise concerns as your data may be shared, and you’re at a greater risk of being traced.Thankfully, you don’t have anything to worry about with ExpressVPN. In a privacy-friendly country, it isn’t required to share any data. Not that there would be any data to share, as it keeps zero-logs.
More on that, later! Who Owns ExpressVPN?ExpressVPN is owned by ExpressVPN International Limited, a private company based in the British Virgin Islands. Ad BlockerExpressVPN does not have an ad blocker. If you are after an ad blocker, though,.This is certainly a downfall, as it means advertisers may collect data about your online behavior to serve you tailored ads. It can also cause your speeds to slow down as the websites you visit have to load ads on the page.However, some websites will automatically block you if you have an ad blocker turned on as they're paid by displaying ads. Not having an ad blocker may actually help you access a more unrestricted internet.
ExpressVPN Logs PolicyZero-logs Policy ConfirmedExpressVPN’s privacy policy is one of the most transparent and detailed policies I have come across. 3,000+ servers. 90+ locations. Servers in the US, the UK, Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, Canada, and more.Some locations have more servers than others, and the service offers the best coverage in the US, with 20+ servers in over 15 cities. By comparison, PrivateVPN only offers servers in 9 US cities. This means you can specifically select a server nearer to you within a certain country, so you can enjoy better speeds, lower latency, and more reliability.However, not every country has multiple servers. There are only a select few that do, but this does include popular locations like the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the Netherlands, and Hong Kong.ExpressVPN does have servers in China.
It doesn’t have them on the mainland, but it does have servers in Hong Kong. I tested access to Chinese TV, such as PPTV and iQiyi, and was able to watch with ease.
If you want to explore other to read our latest recommendations. Server Security StandardsExpressVPN uses TrustedServer Technology. But what does that really mean?TrustedServer Technology ensures that every server is only run on RAM. This means that all data is entirely wiped with every reboot. RAM is incapable of storing any data, so once it’s turned off and on again, any data from your session is deleted.In fact, literally everything, including the operating system, is loaded fresh with each reboot, from a secure read-only image stored on the hard drive. This makes you less vulnerable to attacks, especially from hackers, as there’s no data for them to access in the first place.Each time a server restarts, it uses the most up-to-date code.
This prevents security loopholes and keeps servers from becoming compromised, which would put you and your data at risk.Using fresh new code for every startup keeps your data secure and means ExpressVPN knows exactly what’s on every server. If there are any threats, it will know and rectify them immediately.ExpressVPN has one other standout server security feature. It runs its own DNS on every server, unlike CyberGhost, which lets a third-party handle its DNS requests. You can’t always be sure that the third party offers the same level of security as the VPN vendor you’ve chosen.By running its own DNS, ExpressVPN keeps all your DNS requests private and stops any accidental leaks. Virtual Server LocationsWhen you connect to one of ExpressVPN’s servers, the server and IP address are usually in the same country. However, the service also offers virtual server locations where your IP address is within your target country, but the physical server is elsewhere.Why does ExpressVPN use virtual locations? It usually translates to better speeds, reliability, and security.If the physical server was actually held in some countries, you would be more likely to have a poor experience with lagging, buffering, and more importantly, low-standard security.By holding a server in a nearby country and routing your traffic from there, ExpressVPN provides a more reliable connection with better speeds.
You still have an IP address in your target country, regardless of the virtual location of the server.While ExpressVPN is transparent about which servers use virtual locations, it’s easy to see how it could damage trust. Not every VPN is 100% truthful about which servers use virtual locations, and some just withhold the information entirely.This is not a great sign when you’re supposed to be trusting them for security and privacy. Thankfully, ExpressVPN is upfront and honest about each of its virtual servers and has a list on its website. Does ExpressVPN Offer Static/Dedicated IP Addresses?In short, no. ExpressVPN told me it doesn’t offer static/dedicated IP addresses. It says it aims to rotate its IP addresses regularly to increase your overall experience and make sure you get the best speeds every time.It changes which IP addresses it connects you to, such as when using the smart location feature, to make sure you’re using the one best available.While that’s all well and good, a static IP address can offer a lot of benefits.
It allows you to reserve your own IP for each time you connect to the VPN, which is especially useful for things like online banking. Banks may treat new IP addresses accessing your account as suspicious activity, when really it’s just you connected to another server.Having your own IP address every time helps you avoid any blocks.
It also means you don’t need to worry about being blacklisted, as no other users are sharing your IP.If you want the flexibility of both static and dynamic IP addresses, check out instead. Apps, Extensions, and CompatibilityExpressVPN offers compatibility across nearly every device.To get the full functionality of ExpressVPN, you should install it on your desktop. The iOS and Android mobile apps both fell short of a few important features, but on Mac and Windows, you have everything you could possibly need from a VPN.Having said th.