ExpressVPN Review: Really Fast But Is It Worth the Price？

How can I pick the fastest VPN in the world for your torrenting and gaming, stay anonymous, and secure online? Or unblock global streaming platforms like Netflix? The answer? Yes, ExpressVPN. Is ExpressVPN the fastest out there? Is it worth the price?

Our real testing and unbiased ExpressVPN review will help you realize about features, speed, pros, and cons of ExpressVPN. We aim to help you pick the right premium VPN.

Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links that I receive a small commission for at no cost to you. You can read my full affiliate disclaimer in the footer.

ExpressVPN Reviews Overview

ExpressVPN Key Summary

ExpressVPN Pros & Cons

Pros

• Superior performance
• Proven dedication to privacy
• Strong logging policy, no IP, DNS, or WebRTC leaks
• Unblocks Netflix, BBC iPlayer, HBO, and Hulu
• The highest level of encryption and advanced security features
• Speedy streaming, browsing, and gaming
• 5 Simultaneous-login Option
• 7 days of free trial on Android
• Huge server network across 94 countries
• Amazing customer service and support
• Instant setup and very easy to use
• Risk-free 30-day refund guarantee

Cons

• More expensive monthly plans than other vendors
• No ad blocker

What is ExpressVPN?

ExpressVPN was founded in 2009 and is a VPN(Virtual Private Network) service offered by Express VPN International Ltd, based in the British Virgin Islands. It’s an excellent choice of location for a super privacy-minded VPN company, and its full sovereignty over its data regulations.

The software is a privacy and security tool that encrypts users’ web traffic and protects their IP addresses from leaking. With so many years of development, ExpressVPN has been one of the most trusted leaders in the VPN.

ExpressVPN Logging Policy

Your personal privacy information is the most important asset on the internet. So when you pick software or service, you had better read the products’ privacy policy.

As for ExpressVPN, it doesn’t collect activity logs, connection logs, and other sensitive information when you build a connection to ExpressVPN. Here’s all the data collected by ExpressVPN’s servers:

• Dates when connected to the VPN service
• Choice of VPN server location
• The total amount of data transferred per day

ExpressVPN maintains that this is the minimum amount of information required to collect to keep its servers’ performance as stable as possible.

Maybe you don’t know precisely how long this data retained, but the most important thing of all is that nothing to identify you or what you do online. It’s anonymous and zero-logs.

It’s the fastest VPN?

ExpressVPN is one of the fastest VPN services we’ve tested. It’s swift and reliable.

If you want to get the fastest speeds with ExpressVPN, you can try the Smart Location feature to connect to an optimized server for your location with one click of a button. It’s an intelligent tool that picks a close-by server optimized for high speed and low latency.

It’s remarkably impressive in high censorship countries like China, where most other VPN services can’t connect at all.

From our testing lab in Seattle, USA, we measured ExpressVPN’s seven locations worldwide. These were the results：

ExpressVPN’s low latency and low ping times make it a good VPN for streaming on top of fast download and upload speeds.

Most VPN services struggle with long-distance connections. Some even can’t work at all. As they claimed, ExpressVPN is by far the fastest VPN on long-distance.

ExpressVPN Server Locations

Over many years of development, ExpressVPN runs over 3,000 servers in 160 locations and 94 countries worldwide. No matter where you are, you shouldn’t have trouble finding a VPN server close to you with ExpressVPN’s smart location feature.

As for a VPN service, 3,000 servers are among the most comprehensive ranges of servers we’ve ever seen. Having dozens of servers is very useful if the servers can bypass geo-blocks.

You can also access specific city-level servers in a number of locations:

• US(25)
• UK(5)
• Australia(5)
• Canada(5)
• India(3)
• Singapore(4)
• Netherlands(4)
• Germany(4)
• Japan(4)
• France(3)
• Italy(2)
• Spain(2)
• Switzerland(2)
• HongKong(3)

Apps, Extensions, and Compatibility

Apps for Popular Devices

ExpressVPN supports just about any operating system or device that we usually used out there:

• Microsoft Windows
• macOS
• iOS
• Android
• Linux
• Router

How can I install ExpressVPN on my devices? Don’t worry. You can find how-to setup instructions through ExpressVPN’s help center or client dashboard.

On the one hand, The iOS and Android mobile apps both missed a few essential features, so you had better install it on your mac or windows to get the full functionality of ExpressVPN. On the other hand, you can use ExpressVPN on five different devices simultaneously, and even it’s your mobile or desktop.

If you want to get unlimited simultaneous connections and use the VPN on as many devices as you wish, you can set the VPN on your home router.

The ExpressVPN app is compatible with the following routers:

• Asus RT-AC68U
• Asus RT-AC87U
• Asus RT-AC56(U/R/S)
• Linksys EA6200
• Linksys WRT1200AC
• Linksys WRT1900AC(S or V2)
• Linksys WRT3200ACM
• Netgear R6300v2
• Nighthawk R7000

But, you can also manually set up the VPN on these router manufacturers. You can check the VPN router setup guide for easy step-by-step instructions on ExpressVPN’s help center or client dashboard:

• Other Asus models
• D-Link
• DD-WRT
• Netduma
• Sabai
• Tomato
• TP-Link
• Xiaomi

Apps for Games Consoles & Streaming Devices

To make it easier to use ExpressVPN on Amazon’s Fire TV Stick and other streaming devices, ExpressVPN released an excellent VPN app. Maybe it’s not the best one looking out-dated and lacks some features on Amazon’s Fire TV Stick, but it works well.

ExpressVPN is our favorite VPN for other streaming devices and gaming consoles like Xbox, Kodi, and PlayStation.

• AppleTV
• Amazon Fire TV
• Chromecast
• Kodi
• Nintendo
• PlayStation
• Roku
• Xbox

Extensions for Browser

ExpressVPN offers dedicated browser extensions for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

• Chrome
• Firefox

They are not like most of the VPN browser add-ons that are proxies and not full VPNs. They are extensions of the ExpressVPN app that allows you to control the VPN app from your browser. It means that you can easily switch server locations without the desktop VPN client.

Simultaneously, when you use ExpressVPN’s extensions on your browser, it will all use HTTPS Everywhere, which encrypts communications and requests with websites.

ExpressVPN works with Netflix, BBC iPlayer & torrenting?

Does ExpressVPN unblock Netflix? Of course, ExpressVPN easily lets you access all Netflix libraries like the Australian, Canadian, French, Italian, Japanese, and German Netflix libraries. The following ExpressVPN servers worked for unblocking Netflix:

• USA (New Jersey, Washington DC, San Francisco)
• Canada (Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver)
• UK (Isle of Man, Jersey)

What’s more, plenty of ExpressVPN subscribers enjoy using it to stream:

• Disney+
• BBC iPlayer
• Hulu
• HBO
• Amazon Prime Video
• Sling TV
• Sky
• Now TV
• PlayStation Vue

Torrenting

It’s no doubt that ExpressVPN stands out at torrenting and downloading files like movies, software, and others. It allows all different types of P2P traffic across all its servers, resulting in less server congestion and ultimately faster download and upload speeds.

ExpressVPN’s kill switch feature will also protect your IP or DNS leaking when torrenting, especially about your privacy and security.

ExpressVPN Works in China, UAE & more?

As you know, some countries had built their GFW (the Great Firewall) like China. ExpressVPN can be said to be the fastest and most stable VPN for China after our extended test. ExpressVPN frequently updates the GFW upgrading in sensitive times, and many other VPN services are blocked in China all the time. That’s why it’s our top picks for China.

ExpressVPN offers five network protocols, Automatic, UDP, TCP, IKEv2, and L2TP. If you want to beat aggressive state-level censors in countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Iran., we recommend you switched to Automatic. ExpressVPN’s proprietary obfuscation security protocols are activated.

ExpressVPN Speed Test in China

Where is the best performance location for users to bypass the GFW in China? As ExpressVPN recommends, connect specific servers including Hong Kong – 4, Singapore – Marina Bay, Japan – Tokyo – 3, USA – Los Angeles – 5.

How about ExpressVPN recommended servers? Here are the speed test results from our physical testing lab based in China：

As you can see, HK servers perform very well. Long-distance servers are pretty good, even though the latency time is a little bit higher. Honestly, it’s enough for you in China to surf the internet or watch YouTube and streaming videos.

ExpressVPN Encryption & Security

Protocols

• IKEv2/IPSec
• L2TP/IPSec
• Lightway (TCP/UDP)
• OpenVPN (TCP/UDP)
• PPTP

Encryption

• AES-256

Security

• DNS Leak Blocking
• First-party DNS
• IPV6 Leak Blocking
• VPN Kill Switch
• WebRTC Leak Blocking

Advanced features

• Split Tunneling

Protocols

As a legitimate and extremely secure VPN service, ExpressVPN provides many security standards and VPN protocols to keep your browsing data private and safe.

The default VPN protocol selection is set to ‘Automatic,’ which ExpressVPN recommended. With this option, ExpressVPN will automatically pick the protocol most appropriate for your network. It’s a great feature that very few VPN services have.

ExpressVPN uses a near-unbreakable standard of encryption. It keeps you protected with 256-bit AES encryption, combined with a 4096-bit RSA key and SHA-512 HMAC authentication.

ExpressVPN uses various security protocols and uses the most advanced OpenVPN UDP protocol as it’s primary VPN protocol, although you can change this if you wish.

Kill Switch

ExpressVPN also uses an always-essential VPN kill switch, which it calls Network Lock. This feature keeps your internet connection altogether secure, even if the VPN connection drops. So your real IP address is never exposed.

However, you can’t use this feature on the iOS app. It’s only available on Windows, Mac, Android (called Network Protection), and Linux apps.

With ExpressVPN’s security features, it can protect your IP or DNS from leaking. So you can successfully hide your real IP address with ExpressVPN.

Split Tunneling

Split tunneling is one of ExpressVPN’s standout features. This feature lets you select the apps or devices to put through the VPN connection, and you can browse locally and through your VPN at the same time.
You can easily choose which apps will connect the VPN and click on the plus symbol.

It’s much more than that!

ExpressVPN launched a new feature named TrustedServer, a proprietary technology that removes the need for local storage such as hard disks or solid-state drives.

If you usually use the Tor browser, ExpressVPN also has its website on the Tor network. However, remember that ExpressVPN only supports Tor over VPN.

It’s no doubt that ExpressVPN is leading the pack when it comes to your security and privacy. Because ExpressVPN has passed several security audits in 2018 and 2019 without a hitch.

ExpressVPN Supports Ad Blocker?

As the VPN industry competition becomes fierce, more and more VPN vendors integrate more ad blocker functions. Unfortunately, ExpressVPN doesn’t support the adblocker feature.

However, many websites and companies make a living on display ads. Maybe you will get automatically blocked if you have an ad blocker. Not having an adblocker can help you access a more unrestricted internet.

ExpressVPN Offers Static or Dedicated IP Addresses?

The answer is no. ExpressVPN will rotate its IP addresses regularly to improve your experience and make sure you get the best performance every time.

A static IP address can offer many benefits. You can get your IP when you connect to the VPN server, which is especially useful for some online services that need high-level security. If you use some online services with new IP addresses, you maybe were detected as suspicious activity.

If you want the flexibility of both static and dynamic IP addresses, check out NordVPN instead.

Responsive & friendly live chat

• 24/7 Live chat support
• Email
• Online Resources

A quick response is an important indicator that proves how vital consumer service is. For this reason, ExpressVPN provides helpful 24/7 live chat to help you solve the problem as quickly as possible.

ExpressVPN is one of the most customer-focused VPN services we’ve reviewed, and their support team makes sure to deal with the problem that we meet as soon as possible.

And you can also get in touch with ExpressVPN’s support team via email, with equally responsive, helpful responses. Or you can visit ExpressVPN’s help center website.

Easy to set up and get started

Setting up ExpressVPN is easy, even though it’s on your desktop, device-specific apps, or browser extensions.

We have to say the ExpressVPN desktop client, mobile apps, and browser extensions are incredibly user-friendly. You spend very little time to get started quickly.

To connect the fastest location, you can take advantage of the single-click Smart Location feature and Speed Test feature. The app will automatically detect and select the best security protocol for you.

A little expensive, but well worth it

ExpressVPN Coupon

ExpressVPN is currently providing 3 months free and an extra 49% discount for new users, here is the latest ExpressVPN coupon code for 2020 below.

ExpressVPN Pricing Plan

ExpressVPN provides the same features on all its price plans. As usual, you get what you pay. The longer you subscribe, the cheaper the monthly you cost.

You have three different length subscription plans to choose from with ExpressVPN, each with the same premium features:

Payment & Refund Options

• Credit Card
• PayPal
• Bitcoin
• AliPay
• UnionPay

ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee when you first sign up to ExpressVPN. We’ve tested it, and we get refunds quickly with no more questions asked. We submit a simple request to customer service.

Does ExpressVPN offer a free trial? Yeah, ExpressVPN does have a real 7-day free trial on Android apps.

It also provides a ‘Refer a Friend’ program where you can get a 30-day free ExpressVPN subscription for both you and the friend. As your referral friend signs up, there’s no limit to the number of friends you can refer.

How to Download ExpressVPN?

ExpressVPN is very easy to use. It offers a friendly cross-platform experience. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can Click Here to Get 49% Off.

After that, you can log in to the ExpressVPN client area with your account. ExpressVPN will automatically detect your system and provide the APP client download link. Also, you can download others on your needs. Keep in mind that the activation code is crucial. Please keep it secret.

ExpressVPN FAQs

ExpressVPN Alternatives

ExpressVPN VS NordVPN

It’s no doubt that ExpressVPN is a bit expensive. NordVPN is very competitive with ExpressVPN in almost every aspect, but you will get a much lower price if you subscribe to a multi-year plan. NordVPN is an excellent value for money. Click here to visit NordVPN or Read NordVPN Review.

The Bottom Line

If you have used ExpressVPN, please share your honest review (good or bad).