Founded in 2009, ExpressVPN is a top-rated provider in terms of privacy and security, providing maximum anonymity to its customers. With a highly responsive 24/7 support team, 30-day refund guarantee, multi-platform apps, and remarkable unblocking capabilities, you can feel assured to leverage access to an unfiltered and uncensored internet. For more information, read this comprehensive ExpressVPN Review by best vpn
At the Black Hat Briefing hosted a few days back, a researcher named Ahamed Nafeez unveiled a new vulnerability for VPNs, which allows for the bypassing or hacking of connections. This security risk typically affects all VPN providers who rely on TLS connections that use compression for boosting storage and bandwidth capacity by replacing frequent patterns. Not only did this amaze many at the Hacking Convention, but it also got many interested parties to question the technology.
After all, who would not want a way to bypass the encryption imposed by VPNs, preventing government authorizes, copyright infringement hunters, and anti-piracy firms to find out the identity of a person. Nevertheless, ExpressVPN always manages to impress us, and has already come up with a solution to counterattack Voracle. The VPN disables compression to mitigate all hacking risk and unnecessary disruption of service. For better security, make sure to use HTTPs for end-to-end encryption!
ExpressVPN is a British Virgin Islands (BVI) based provider, which may not be the best choice to set up shop (in the eyes of privacy-concerned individuals). However, since BVI is a British overseas territory, it does not impose any mandatory data retention laws, but rather regulates its own internet affairs. There is still a risk of course that the UK may pressurize BVI government and businesses to reveal certain data.
ExpressVPN’s main pressing point has long been its high subscription prices.
Most VPN providers in the industry continuously push forward with ever more lower prices running in the bracket of $1.5-$4/month, but ExpressVPN has never taken that route. This is perhaps the main reason as to why its pricing plans have been touted to be highly expensive as compared to the rest of the industry.
Currently, ExpressVPN offers three types of pricing plans:
As is evidently clear from these plans, the monthly subscription is extremely exorbitant for most VPN users to consider and is not anywhere near towards being budget friendly.
The 6 monthly plan’s monthly costs are a bit lower at $9.99/month allowing you to consider the deal if you can raise your budget bar a bit higher than what can be considered as budget friendly.
But, the best deal currently offered by ExpressVPN is their 15 month plan, costing the user just $6.67/month! This amazing price is part of very recent change in pricing plans by ExpressVPN as it revamped its original 12 month plan and converted it into a 15 month subscription deal while keeping the total price of the plan same.
This reduced the monthly cost incurred by the user if it opts for this plan, hence the unbelievable discount.
Black Friday is just around the corner and so are other equally important major shopping extravaganzas, so you might want to keep yourself updated about the latest ExpressVPN deals and offers. But as of now, the 15 monthly plan is the best deal offered by ExpressVPN in a very long time!
However, despite the high prices, the value, the robust performance, the unflinching reliability and more combine to make ExpressVPN one of the best VPN services in the industry by a fair margin. So we can safely recommend that the prices are quite justified as compared to the value that this provider is offering to its users.
Our ExpressVPN review unveils that the provider does not offer any free trial to customers currently. There is a dedicated “Free Trial” page, but it misleads customers – as it is actually a 30-day refund guarantee they talk about. Previously, ExpressVPN did offer a trial for mobile users – one day for the Android app and seven days for the iOS, as per Google Play and Apple Store policies.
When it comes to selecting a VPN, users must go a little deeper into their research to make sure they are making the right choice. A lot of it has to do with the money you put in. Since VPNs are not cheap, you need to make sure to get the best value. Gladly for you, ExpressVPN is offering an exclusive 15-months plan for potential customers. This gives you 12-months on unlimited access with three months extra for no extra charges and a 49% discount on the regular monthly pricing!
Registering with ExpressVPN does not require any expert knowledge. The provider has made sure to keep things simple and straightforward. All you have to do is visit the “order” page and select a plan that best suits your needs and requirements. Then, apart from the payment details, you only need to enter a valid email address. You can use a disposable one too if you want to stay anonymous, as Bitcoin is accepted.
Keep in mind though that when you register and pay, ExpressVPN records your real IP Address, but they will never reveal the data to anyone (read more about this in the logging section). The provider even offers compatibility for dark web users, making a .onion Tor Web address available for signing up with the service and downloading the software.
Our ExpressVPN review discovers that the provider offers a very smooth process for cancellation. Simply log in to your account, where you see your expiry date and subscription length. Locate the “Automatic Renewal” section, on the right side of the “My Subscriptions” page. Click on “Manage Settings” and select cancel my service, while turning OFF automatic renewal.
Just like other useful software applications, users are always looking for ways to hack ExpressVPN and use it freely. Sadly, there is no cracked version available for the VPN software. Besides, why go through so much hassle, when you only have to pay $99.95 for 15-months access? Not to mention, most crack files usually contain viruses that can potentially harm sensitive data on your computer or mobile.
According to our ExpressVPN review, the provider supports a huge list of payment options. Among these include credit cards like Diners Club International, Delta, Visa Electron, UCB, Discover, American Express, MasterCard, and Visa, direct payments via PayPal, WebMoney, AliPay, UnionPay, Yandex Money, GiroPay, FanaPay, MINT, and the anonymous Bitcoin.
Once you sign up with ExpressVPN, you can feel assured to leverage maximum security. The provider offers plenty of advanced features, designed to provide complete anonymity and privacy online, allowing you to explore an unfiltered and secure internet. Among these, include:
ExpressVPN’s Kill Switch a.k.a. Network Lock is a feature that protects you, in circumstances, your internet traffic is exposed, due to VPN disconnection. It automatically stops all traffic by shutting off the internet, preventing your traffic from routing back to your local ISP. This saves you from paying hefty copyright infringement fines, especially if you use the VPN for streaming/downloading pirated content.
Only a few providers in the marketplace including ExpressVPN offer split-tunneling features. It typically allows users to route bits of the traffic through the VPN, while other devices/apps maintain direct access to the internet. This prevents your ISPs from finding out about your online activities, especially if you engage in P2P/Torrenting.
This feature from ExpressVPN is one-of-a-kind providing users with unmatched unblocking capabilities. Since the provider runs its own DNS, all your traffic is safe from censorship, phishing, DNS filtering, and other attacks. Since your DNS requests never leave the VPN tunnel, you even leverage quicker response times when exploring the internet.
To meet the demands of every user, our ExpressVPN review unveils the provider supports all popular protocols. These include OpenVPN with TCP/UDP, PPTP, L2TP/IPSec, and SSTP. The best part of all: you have different servers for each protocol, which ensure you leverage nothing but strong connections when connecting to the VPN service.
When it comes to establishing a VPN connection, you may sometimes experience poor speeds and low bandwidth, due to high server load on a certain server. ExpressVPN makes things easier for you by providing a speed test feature in the Windows, Mac, and Android clients to analyze the performance of a particular server. You can then select one that offers the best speeds in your location.
As mentioned earlier, our ExpressVPN review discovers that the provider offers a 30-day money back guarantee for users. This allows you to get a complete test-drive of the VPN service, after paying the subscription costs, and then asking for a refund – if you feel unsatisfied.
According to our ExpressVPN review, the provider offers a huge collection of 1,500+ servers, spread across 94 countries around the world. The speeds were impressive, clocking at 40MBPS average, on our 50MB connection, which is more than reasonable. In addition, there were no signs of WebRTC or IPv6 leaks, which further adds to its reliability.
Our ExpressVPN review discovers that the provider offers a very transparent website. You have all information available regarding the privacy and security you receive in the form of different pages. You even have technical assistance without the support of life chat via guides and troubleshooting articles. For more information about anonymity and security, continue reading below:
In addition to offering protocol support for PPTP, SSTP, L2TP/IPSec, and OpenVPN, the provider makes sure to equip VPN connections with strong encryption. You leverage maximum privacy via AES-256 ciphers that use SHA-512 HMAC for hash authentication and RSA-4096 for handshaking. ExpressVPN even offers “Perfect Forward Secrecy” from the Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) for key exchanges.
When it comes to determining whether ExpressVPN is legal or not, you need to be aware of the general laws surrounding VPNs. Study and read about the use of VPNs in your country. For instance, there are no restrictions on private networks in most countries, but there are still plenty, that imposes restrictions, like Turkey, UAE, Iraq, Belarus, Oman, and China. To learn about the legality of VPNs in your country, consider checking out this page.
Our ExpressVPN review unveils that the provider keeps ZERO logs. Though some account information is recorded, like name, email address, and payment information, the provider does not share these details with anyone else. We can further verify this by a recent case against ExpressVPN, in which Turkish authorities demanded logging information, but the provider denied having it completely!
Nothing beats the convenience of engaging in P2P/Torrenting for downloading your favorite movies/TV shows, music videos, software programs, mobile apps, comics, books, and more. However, since downloading torrents can get users into serious legal hassles, life has become a little difficult over the years. Copyright infringement hunters and anti-piracy agencies are adamant about shutting down all websites/services that may provide certain content for FREE.
In such cases, using a VPN definitely comes in handy, and what better option than to use ExpressVPN. Adding to its exceptional online security and privacy tools/features, the provider offers Split Tunneling and SOCKS5 proxy, which boosts your P2P/Torrenting speeds and overall digital anonymity. Many uTorrent and BitTorrent users also usually configure “IP Binding” to limit their downloads to a single IP address of a secure server, which disconnects immediately if any leak is detected.
However, when you use ExpressVPN, users have the added incentive of the infamous “Network Lock” feature. For those of you who do not know, the Network Lock acts like an automatic kill switch for your internet connection. In the unfortunate circumstances of the connection to a secure server dropping, this feature will disconnect your internet completely. This stops any traffic from leaving your device, hence boosting your privacy by preventing any sort of IP leakage.
One of the best things about ExpressVPN is its strong reliability and support system. The provider built much of its reputation by offering excellent support to customers via 24/7/365 live chat. There is also a ticketed email system if a representative is not available at a certain time.
If you are looking for an instant solution, there is a troubleshooting page available too. Here you can find all information about how to get started with the service, the usage of different features, and frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding the VPN.
If the above options do not prove helpful enough, you can always visit the setup tutorials page. Here you can receive manual guides on how to set the VPN up on different platforms, which include Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and plenty more.
As you can see below, ExpressVPN offers the broadest device compatibility, across all VPN providers. You have dedicated applications for Windows, Android, Mac, iOS, iPad, Linux, Blackberry, DD-WRT Routers, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari browser, and even for Amazon FireTV, AppleTV, Xbox, and PlayStation. What else could you ask for?
ExpressVPN’s browser extensions boast the same exact appearance and design on Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. The menu and configuration options are neatly laid out with attractive fonts and colors, making it incredibly easy-to-use. You have a huge collection of servers available for connection. There is even a WebRTC leak protection feature, which prevents information leakage from your browser.
ExpressVPN offers dedicated apps for almost all platforms. You can download them by visiting the “Products” page or the dedicated browser/device store.
For platforms like Windows, Mac, and Linux, you can easily find compatible versions on the primary website. If you want to use the VPN on iOS or Android, you can download the dedicated software apps from iTunes or Google Play Store.
When it comes to downloading ExpressVPN on browsers: you have two options visit the Mozilla Store or the Chrome Web Store. At the same time, you can visit the ExpressVPN directly and download the file manually. The same goes for Safari browser.
The MediaStreamer DNS service from ExpressVPN is perhaps one its unique selling points. The provider has specially created their own DNS servers, which can be used on devices like the Amazon Firestick, Fire TV, Apple TV, Xbox, and PlayStation for streaming content. For more information on how to setup MediaStreamer DNS, check this link out.
ExpressVPN offers special Stealth Servers, which can definitely bypass censorship in mainland China. This means, you can finally gain access to WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Services, all of which are crucial for daily survival. However, bear in mind that you may sometimes experience downtimes, as China is a powerful country that is actively working to counter VPN technologies!
The provider offers a list of servers designed for unblocking Netflix. By connecting to a VPN server in another country, you can even gain access to content that you would never be able to reach. For instance, the US Netflix has the broadest list of movies/TV shows, as compared to its counterparts in other countries. You can use ExpressVPN to gain access to Netflix’s complete content library.
According to our ExpressVPN review, the provider even offers customized routers, which you can use to establish a secure connection throughout your household. Since the app is built-in, you can also leverage better security, while protecting more devices simultaneously.
For users who are extremely worrisome about their digital privacy, particularly if they engage in P2P/Torrenting or pirated streaming, there is no better option than using a VPN router to boost their overall anonymity. Now, you already know that ExpressVPN offers its own customized routers for you to enjoy, but most may face trouble in setting them up.
Those who are tech-savvy and have little knowledge about routers should know the process is quite easy and just involves downloading the right “Firmware” for your router and pasting the correct activated code when prompted in the router config menu. You can upload the router firmware update and then hit the enter button to complete the configuration. For specific instructions on how to setup ExpressVPN on different routers, check this link out!
| Features | ExpressVPN | NordVPN |
| Pricing (Yearly) | $99.95 | $69 |
| Countries | 94+ | 60+ |
| Servers | 1500+ | 3200+ |
| Protocols | OpenVPN, PPTP, L2TP/IPSec, and SSTP | IKEv2, PPTP, OpenVPN, L2TP, DoubleVPN and SSTP |
| Encryption | AES-256-CBC with a 2048-bit DH key | AES-256-CBC with a 2048-bit DH key |
| Logs | No | No |
| P2P Allowed | Yes | Yes |
| Based In | British Virgin Islands | Panama |
| Proxy Servers | Yes | Yes |
| Simultaneous Users | 3 | 6 |
| Added Features | DNS/IPv6 leak protection, kill switch, and split tunneling | SmartPlay, Onion over VPN, CyberSec, and Automatic Kill Switch |
| Features | ExpressVPN | Private Internet Access (PIA) |
| Pricing (Yearly) | $99.95 | $39.95 |
| Countries | 94 Countries | 33 Countries |
| Servers | 2,000+ | 3382+ |
| Protocols | OpenVPN, SSTP, PPTP, L2TP/IPSec, IKEv2 | PPTP, OpenVPN and L2TP/IPSec |
| Encryption | AES-256-CBC | AES-256-bit Encryption |
| Logs | No | Yes |
| Torrents & P2P Allowed | Yes | Yes |
| Based In | British Virgin Islands | Michigan |
| Proxy Servers | Yes (SOCKS5 Proxy also included) | Yes |
| Simultaneous Users | 3 | 5 devices simultaneously |
| Added Features | NAT Firewall, Split Tunneling, Live Chat, Private DNS | Multiple VPN Gateways, Block ads, trackers, and malware |
Our ExpressVPN review discovers that the provider has a very active presence on Reddit. Though the provider does not have its own profile, you can often find their support staff replying to queries. At the same time, you can find many users reviewing the VPN provider. Below is a screenshot of a Redditor sharing his experience of using different VPNs and finally landing on ExpressVPN.
Read more on why ExpressVPN is ranked as the best Reddit VPN for 2018.
You can use the VPN service to bypass geo-restrictions and unblock sites like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and Amazon Prime in countries where they are not available. At the same time, you can use ExpressVPN for leveraging the utmost level of privacy and security online, especially when using public Wi-Fi networks or engaging in activities like P2P/Torrenting and streaming pirated content.
Boasting quite a remarkable reputation in the marketplace, ExpressVPN ranks among the premium providers you can rely on to maximize your security online. Therefore, it may be a little pricey for many with the monthly plan starts at $11.95. If you want to receive the best value, it is advisable to opt for the 15-months special deal, which totals to $99.95 only.
The process does not require any rocket science. Just open your browser and right click on the ExpressVPN Extension icon on the right. Click on “Manage Extensions” and then hit the uninstall button. However, if you plan to use the extension again, you can always disable/re-enable.
The premium plan of ExpressVPN grants users to establish connections of 3 devices simultaneously. If you want to increase the number of multi-logins, you will have to pay an additional amount. For protecting your entire home, you can buy ExpressVPN customized routers, which easily grant access to 10 devices concurrently.
Our ExpressVPN review establishes that the provider is a perfect choice for the privacy-concerned. Even government authorities cannot force the VPN to reveal personal customer information. Add this to the easy-to-use software, highly responsive customer service, generous 30-day money back guarantee, and you have a remarkable VPN at your disposal.
