ExpressVPN Review: The best VPN services encrypt your internet traffic on free public WiFi, conceal your IP address, and bypass internet geo-blocks at high speeds. We evaluated the best VPN services based on speed, privacy, security, Netflix access in the United States, pricing, and more.
ExpressVPN Review:
Express VPN is to use before reading our complete ExpressVPN review: Skip to our Platforms & Devices and Ease of Use sections to see all of ExpressVPN’s apps, browser extensions, and tools, as well as watch additional video walkthroughs.
ExpressVPN continues to provide a high-quality VPN service. Its 3,000 private servers are geared for anonymous torrenting and are speedy. Advanced security protections are included in the VPN’s user-friendly tools, which allow you to access Netflix, HBO, and a variety of other video platforms with ease. It’s the best VPN in 2022, therefore the higher membership fee is justified.
Features & Security
ExpressVPN is a highly secure VPN service that employs the most advanced VPN connection protocols and encryption available. Audits by reputable companies such as F-Secure and Cure53 have confirmed the VPN’s security. Overall, ExpressVPN is one of the safest VPN services on the market.
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ExpressVPN Pros & Cons
Pros
- High security standards and a zero-logs policy that has been audited
- VPN speeds that are fast and dependable all over the world
- Netflix, Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, and other services are unblocked.
- Torrenting traffic is unrestricted on all servers.
- Apps that are easy to use, a Smart DNS utility, and a router app
- Extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge
Cons
- Other premium VPNs are more pricey.
- On macOS or iOS, split tunnelling isn’t possible.
- There is no universal user interface for Linux (GUI)
With over 3 million users worldwide, ExpressVPN is one of the most popular VPN services. It is, however, one of the more costly options available.
As part of our review, we tested all of ExpressVPN’s VPN applications to determine if they are as fast and safe as their competitors. Despite its flaws, Express VPN remains our top VPN pick for 2022. Fast worldwide speeds, solid security, and excellent usability are all features of the service. ExpressVPN is notable for its ability to circumvent geo-blocking restrictions. It unblocks US Netflix, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime Video with ease, plus it’s one of the few VPNs that works in China.
ExpressVPN’s Monthly Subscription Prices
Your internet traffic is encrypted with AES-256 using secure VPN technologies like Lightway and OpenVPN. The VPN never revealed our DNS or IP address in our security testing, and its VPN kill switch always protected our genuine IP address after extremely uncommon connection failures. In the table below, scroll down to get the main details about the VPN service. Later in this review, you may compare ExpressVPN to its main competitors, side by side.
ExpressVPN provides three different subscription options, each with the same set of features. The monthly cost is lower the longer you subscribe, albeit you must pay the entire subscription charge up front. The monthly plan is $12.95 per month, and the six-month plan is $9.99 per month.
A 15-month membership plan saves you 49% on the monthly price, bringing it down to $6.67. These costs are all above average for a VPN service and higher than those of other rivals, such as Surfshark and PrivateVPN. However, for the best all-around VPN service available, it’s still a decent deal.
It costs money to run a big VPN server network, and it costs considerably more to optimise that network for streaming and torrenting. That implies there may be cheaper VPNs out there, but they’ll almost certainly be less effective than ExpressVPN in the long run.
Options for Payment and Refund
New Android and iOS clients may get a seven-day free trial from ExpressVPN. All subscriptions come with a 30-day, no-questions-asked money-back guarantee. Simply contact customer service within 30 days of signing up for a complete refund. Within five to ten business days, you’ll receive your money back.
ExpressVPN Streams 10 Netflix Regions
ExpressVPN allows you to watch Netflix in ten different countries. In our most recent tests, practically all of Express VPN’s US VPN servers were able to view the Netflix collection in the United States. The only server that didn’t function was New York. Express VPN provided us with access to ten different Netflix regions in countries such as Canada, Australia, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
While Windscribe, PrivateVPN, NordVPN, and Surfshark all operate with additional Netflix locations, ExpressVPN is the most trustworthy VPN for watching Netflix in the United States. If you’re having trouble with Netflix, check out our detailed tutorial on how to fix ExpressVPN not working with Netflix.
Express VPN is compatible with HBO Max, Prime Video, DAZN, and other streaming services. While Express VPN does not have specialised streaming servers like CyberGhost, our testing shows that the majority of its servers are compatible with practically all streaming platforms. Express VPN is not just our preferred Netflix VPN, but it is also the best VPN for HBO Max and DAZN.
The Strong Encryption of ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN uses AES-256-CBC encryption and secure VPN protocols. Your internet data can’t be tampered with in real time thanks to a 4096-bit RSA key and SHA-512 HMAC (Hash Message Authentication Code) authentication. Express VPN employs the same degree of encryption that governments and banks recommend. ExpressVPN has its own private DNS servers with zero-knowledge DNS.
In other words, ExpressVPN, not a third party, processes and encrypts your DNS queries (the websites you visit). These servers are only found at select VPN providers. The VPN service employs Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) by default. Every 60 minutes, PFS generates a new encryption key for each VPN session. Even if your connection was intercepted and encrypted, the most data they could collect is 60 minutes.
ExpressVPN and BBC iPlayer Streaming Issues
Although ExpressVPN has difficulty with watching BBC iPlayer, it generally works. It’s not simple to get over the BBC iPlayer’s VPN ban, and it may take a few tries for Express VPN to function. ExpressVPN’s browser extensions are the best way to connect to the London or Wembley servers for BBC iPlayer.
As long as you’re not in the UK, this strategy works fine. If ExpressVPN isn’t working with BBC iPlayer, try connecting to a different UK server or switching connection protocols. Its ‘MediaStreamer’ Smart DNS solution also works nicely with iPlayer. ExpressVPN is not the best VPN for BBC iPlayer because of the degree of “tweaking” necessary. If that’s what you’re looking for, have a look at our Crazzy Egg review to see why we think it’s a better option.
Expressvpn locations
ExpressVPN has a large number of city-level servers. You may connect to 51 city-level Express VPN servers in the following locations:
- Australia (4 )
- Brazil (2)
- Canada (3)
- France (2)
- Germany (2)
- Hong Kong (2)
- India (2)
- Italy (2)
- Japan (3)
- Netherlands (3)
- Spain (3)
- Singapore (2)
- Swiss Republic (3)
- United Kingdom (4)
- United States of America (14)
Another uncommon trait among top VPNs is a large number of city-level servers. It allows you to be more particular in your server selection for the best potential speeds. In the United States, there are 14 city-level server sites, and four in Australia. Because we have servers on both sides of these large nations, you can get fast VPN speeds no matter where you are.
ExpressVPN’s TrustedServer Technology
TrustedServer is an ExpressVPN technology that makes sure that your browsing data is never written to a VPN server’s hard drive.
The following are the security advantages of TrustedServer:
- Because VPN servers are diskless and function solely on RAM, each reboot wipes all data.
- Servers never write to the hard disc, reducing the danger of data loss even further.
- At startup, every server’s whole software stack is reinstalled.
This allows ExpressVPN to keep track of what’s going on on each server, ensuring that there are no discrepancies.
What Makes Express VPN Stand Out Among Other Streaming VPNs?
In terms of download speed, streaming access, Smart DNS features, and more, the chart below compares Express VPN to other top streaming VPNs.