ExpressVPN Review 2023 | Fastest & Most Secure

ExpressVPN is the best VPN service we’ve tested and it is located in the British Virgin Islands.

ExpressVPN isn’t the fastest virtual private network service we’ve tested, but it might actually speed up some of your downloads and it protects your sensitive information online and gain access to services unavailable in your region through a virtual private network (VPN).

ExpressVPN has great service. The speeds are phenomenal, the device support is off the charts, and the country locations and a number of servers are vast.

There is no question in my mind that you get more than enough value for your money. ExpressVPN has been our best VPN pick.

In this Express VPN review, We have checked all those claims if ExpressVPN can truly unblock websites, stream the American version of Netflix, access other streaming platforms, and if it really brings such amazing speeds and security-related features, as advertised.

Pricing and Plans

ExpressVPN offers three different service plan options. You can purchase a 1-month plan for $12.95, billed monthly; a 6-month plan for $9.99 per month, billed as $59.95 every 6 months; or a 12-month plan.

ExpressVPN’s most popular option, at $8.32 per month, is billed as $99.95 annually.

Payment Methods

All plans come with the 30-day money-back guarantee.

As far as payment options are concerned, ExpressVPN accepts payment by all major credit cards, PayPal, Paymentwall, and other services such as Alipay and WebMoney.

ExpressVPN subscriptions can also be purchased with Bitcoin. There is no free trial, but there is a “no-hassle” 30-day money-back guarantee that guarantees you will get a full refund regardless of the reason for the discontinuation.

ExpressVPN Features

1. Use ExpressVPN on Multiple devices

In our ExpressVPN Review, a single subscription lets you connect as many as five devices at the same time! Install ExpressVPN on as many devices as you wish, and connect up to five simultaneously.

Keep in mind that you are free to install ExpressVPN on every device you own, no matter how many you have. The only limit is on how many may be actively connected at the same time.

Other platforms for ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN offers apps for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows. I highly recommend that people use an app with a VPN since it is easier to use, requires no manual configuration, and grants access to additional features. It also supports Linux users with a command-line tool.

It also has plug-ins available for browsers, including Safari, Firefox, and Chrome.

It also provides a Fire TV and Kindle Fire app, and instructions for using the service on Apple TV, PlayStation, and Xbox devices.

2. VPN Split tunneling

VPN split tunneling lets you route some of your device or app traffic through the encrypted VPN tunnel while other devices or apps access the internet directly.

Using split-tunneling you can protect the traffic you choose, without losing access to local network devices. 

3. Network Lock

Network Lock is the ExpressVPN kill switch. It keeps your data safe even if your VPN connection drops, blocking all internet traffic until protection is restored.

With Network Lock, the ironclad privacy and security defenses of ExpressVPN are always in your corner, even when the power flickers, you change Wi-Fi networks, or your computer goes to sleep. It’s standard on the ExpressVPN apps

4. Run on Startup

In our ExpressVPN review, we find that it connects to a system startup. This means you’ll be protected as soon as you turn on your device. ExpressVPN offers this feature for any and all devices.

5. Public Wi-Fi safety

ExpressVPN is essential when using public Wi-Fi. Protect against rogue Wi-Fi networks, man-in-the-middle attacks, and more.

It prevents any kind of Wi-Fi hacking by creating an encrypted tunnel between your device and a secure VPN server.

With ExpressVPN, however, the encrypted tunnel prevents hackers from reading, injecting, or altering any data.

6. Router Support

VPNs can help secure your home connection. Luckily, ExpressVPN provides support for a variety of router brands and models. (This is the only way to achieve more than three simultaneous connections through it.)

7. Bypass ISP throttling

Throttling is when an internet service provider (ISP) intentionally slows down your internet based on what you’re trying to watch.

With the rise of streaming video services like Netflix and HBO Go that demand high bandwidth, ISPs have begun inspecting your data and restricting your download speed if they detect packets from those services.

In our ExpressVPN review, we find that it encrypts your internet traffic, hiding it from your service provider. It won’t be able to inspect the data packets, so it won’t be able to throttle that traffic based on what service you’re using. 

8. Virtual Servers

ExpressVPN uses a number of virtual servers. These may not be as safe as physical ones. Whatever your opinion, ExpressVPN provides a list of servers.

9. Unlimited bandwidth

Download as much as you want, without your ISP or VPN capping certain kinds of traffic. ExpressVPN gives you unlimited bandwidth.

In our ExpressVPN review, we find that it should give you the freedom to use the internet as it was meant to be without limits or walls. ExpressVPN enables you to download and access whatever you want, whenever you want it.

Privacy and Security

1. No-logs policy

ExpressVPN has a very strict no-logging policy. They lay out the details of their privacy policy using clear and easy-to-understand language. That being said, In our ExpressVPN review, we found that it does store some of your information.

For example, they store the version of the app you’re using, crash reports, the email address you use when you sign up for the service when you are able to connect successfully, and the country of origin of your ISP.

To be clear, they’re not storing your IP address. They also store the location you connect to and the amount of data you use on their VPN.

ExpressVPN does require you to use a name and an email address when subscribing to the service. However, both of them can be fake if that’s what you want.

In our ExpressVPN review, we find that by paying through Bitcoin you can purchase ExpressVPN in a completely anonymous way. This is not a privacy feature that is offered on many high-end VPN services.

2. Past Data Leaks

ExpressVPN came under the spotlight in January 2017, when its Turkey-based servers were seized. This was an opportunity for the company to truly prove its claims that it doesn’t collect any data.

As it turned out, these claims were true. The authorities were not able to extract any information from the seized servers. This has also proven the fact that ExpressVPN doesn’t have any backdoors built into their applications.

In December 2017, ExpressVPN launched a project called ‘Privacy Research Lab’. The main goal of this action was to provide online tools for checking data leaks.

3. Hide your IP

In our ExpressVPN review, we find that it Protects your privacy by hiding your IP and masking your location online that can be connected to your digital identity. Your IP can reveal a lot about you: your location, torrent downloads, and even comments online.

When you pay with Bitcoin via BitPay, the only information you need to provide is an email address, so you never need to reveal your identity. You can also use a wide range of other payment methods.

By using this ExpressVPN feature you can hide your IP, hide your real location, Secure your digital privacy, Stay anonymous online, Protect your online activity and safeguard your privacy.

4. Private DNS

ExpressVPN is a VPN service with its own private DNS. Unlike other VPN services, whenever you’re connected through ExpressVPN.

Your DNS activity is protected by the same encryption and tunneling protocol that covers the rest of your internet traffic because ExpressVPN runs its own DNS on every VPN server.

ExpressVPN’s built-in DNS is zero-knowledge, meaning your personally identifiable data is never stored on any server.

ExpressVPN’s DNS requests are encrypted and signed, making them safe from censorship, DNS filtering, phishing, and other manipulation. You’ll even get quicker response times because your DNS requests never leave the VPN tunnel.

5. DNS Leak Test

In our ExpressVPN review, We have tested for DNS leaks. This test is the best way to show if this provider can truly safeguard your real identity online. So, let’s take a look at the results.

As you can see, our real identity remains hidden. ExpressVPN doesn’t allow websites to see our real IP and address, as it instead shows our virtual IP and a fake address (based on the server we’re connected to).

With this said, we can conclude that ExpressVPN is airtight when it comes to keeping private data from leaking in any form.

ExpressVPN Speed

Another important aspect of ExpressVPN that makes them easy to like is their speed. ExpressVPN is the fastest VPN we have tested. It topped the list in our latest round of speed testing, and by a wide margin at that.

While connected to most servers, I had plenty of bandwidth to stream 4K video or video chat in high definition.

There was good news all around. We had no connection failures, connection times were fractionally faster than average, and all servers returned IP addresses for their advertised locations.

Average speeds for servers in each region:

New York: Ping: 35ms	Download: 170.05 Mbps	Upload: 42.23 Mbps
Europe: Ping: 170ms	Download: 201.22 Mbps	Upload: 40.44 Mbps
Chennai: ping: 411ms	Download: 100.18 Mbps	Upload: 12.42 Mbps

Server Locations

ExpressVPN offers 160 server locations across 94 countries. Among my top-rated VPNs, ExpressVPN offers the most choices for server locations.

 It also excels in geographic diversity, with four of its locations in Africa and excellent coverage across South America—two continents often underserved or completely ignored by other VPN companies.

In our ExpressVPN review, it also maintains servers for some countries with repressive internet policies, including Russia, Turkey, and Vietnam.

ExpressVPN has over 3,000 servers at its disposal, placing it among the largest collection of servers we’ve seen.

It is very transparent about its use of virtual servers. An explanatory page says that less than three percent of servers are not physically located where they appear to be and lists their true location.

Customer support

The support section has troubleshooting guides, instruction manuals for setting up the service, as well as providing you with other options for getting assistance.

These include sending an email and opening a support ticket. Needless to say, a live chat option is available on the website and allows you to reach a helpful customer support agent within seconds. Support is available 24/7

ExpressVPN also excels in the support for both its customers and those still window-shopping. The website has a blog where you can find out all the information and updates relating to the provider and the VPN industry in general.

Streaming

ExpressVPN is our pick for the best VPN for streaming, so it’s no surprise that it performed well in this section.

Netflix and BBC iPlayer went off without a hitch, which is why ExpressVPN took down the competition in our best VPN for Netflix and the best VPN for BBC iPlayer guides. Across multiple locations in multiple regions, it accessed both platforms.

ExpressVPN has earned an excellent reputation for its ability to unblock streaming content, providing access to Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube, Hulu, HBO Now, and many other streaming services in the U.S.

It also provides access to numerous other countries’ Netflix streams, as well as BBC iPlayer and other U.K. streaming providers.

I tested numerous server locations with Netflix and other providers and found that the provider reliably unblocks streaming content, achieving an excellent batting average when it comes to opening access to geo-blocked content.

While there were servers that failed to unblock content occasionally, selecting another server in the same area generally proved to be successful.

Torrenting

ExpressVPN is a popular VPN for torrenting for a number of reasons. It has unlimited bandwidth and data caps for completely unrestricted torrenting. But it also allows torrenting and P2P sharing across any of its servers.

Since ExpressVPN keeps no logs and is headquartered in a privacy-friendly location, your torrenting activity or history cannot be shared or leaked to anyone. It’s safe to use with uTorrent or any other BitTorrent client, with guaranteed anonymity.

DNS protection through ExpressVPN’s own DNS on every server further protects you from leaks and revealing your torrenting activity. It’s a solid choice for torrenting and P2P sharing, not just for security, but for its speed and performance.

In our ExpressVPN review, We like it for torrenting so much that it came first in our review of the best VPNs for torrenting (based on performance, not because of some special pricing trick).

Protocols & Encryption

ExpressVPN gives you the ability to select which VPN protocols you want to use directly in the apps. Here you can see the available VPN protocols in the Windows client.

With “Automatic” enabled, ExpressVPN will select the best VPN protocol based on your network settings. For the vast majority of cases, this will be the OpenVPN UDP protocol, which offers the best combination of speed and security.

If you are experiencing connection problems on your network, OpenVPN TCP may be a better option (but not as fast as UDP). The IKEv2 protocol is also secure and fast.

For encryption, ExpressVPN uses an AES 256-bit cipher with a 4096-bit RSA key and SHA-512 HMAC authentication. This is the highest level of encryption and is currently considered unbreakable, while also offering a good performance.

Additionally, It supports Perfect Forward Secrecy negotiated through a Diffie-Hellman key exchange.

Does ExpressVPN Work in China?

Working in China is the ultimate test for a VPN. The Chinese government heavily restricts website access in the country, including sites like Google, Facebook, and YouTube.

This is known as the Great Firewall of China, and most VPNs simply aren’t powerful enough to get around it. However, ExpressVPN can.

In fact, when the Chinese government cracked down on VPN use a few years ago, ExpressVPN was one of the only VPNs that still worked.

ExpressVPN has servers in Hong Kong, which allow you to access Chinese TV and websites while outside of China.

In our ExpressVPN review, we find that it allows you to unblock Facebook, Google, WhatsApp, Netflix, and more from inside China. However, you need to install the VPN outside of Chinese borders first, otherwise, it will be blocked regardless.

Final verdict

This is a top-quality VPN that exceeded our expectations in everything from platform support and privacy, to ease of use, unblocking abilities, and excellent support.

It’s more expensive than most, but you can see why: this is a polished, powerful, and professional service.