You might have already been affected by the hype around ExpressVPN and to be honest we are curious too.
But I am just wondering is it that good and are what they say they claimed to be?
Are their Speed fast, private and secure as they claimed?
Is it allowed to use it for torrenting/P2P and maybe even stream Netflix?
Does all of their servers come with the industry standard OpenVPN tunneling protocol and the AES 256-bit encryption?
Ready? Then, Let’s get started…
ExpressVPN Overview
| Overall rank: | #1 out of 74 VPNs |
|---|---|
| User-Friendliness: | Very Easy, Supports All Devices |
| Server Locations: | 94 countries, 2000+ servers |
| Customer Service: | 24/7 Live Chat |
| Log files: | No Logging Policy |
| Speed, Privacy and Security: | Excellent |
| Torrenting: | P2P & Torrenting Allowed |
| Encryption: | OpenVPN, IPSec & IKEv2 |
| Official Website: | www.ExpressVPN.com |
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Although nothing is perfect Express comes pretty close with its insane speeds high security and easy-to-use interface. It also gets you into Netflix and every other streaming service without too many problems.
So as a whole it’s quite simply the real deal.
Continue reading as we discuss and go through the pros and cons of this great service a
Let’s talk a little bit about what makes ExpressVPN great.
There is more than one thing of course but let’s first talk a little about Security
Encryption
ExpressVPN offers 256 bit AES encryption as standard which is a type of encryption that according to mathematicians will take the most advanced supercomputers over a billion years to crack it.
The 256-bit AES encryption also Known as Advanced Encryption Standard is capable of eliminating all the possibility of a brute force attack and also other common attacks for that matter.
Just to make it simply clear, even the CIA and the FBI use the 256 bit AES encryption to transfer sensitive data.
If somehow that isn’t enough ExpressVPN gives you the option to tinker with it’s like the open VPN connection files if you’re into that sort of thing and like to spend a little more extra time and extra work on these configurations.
But basically what I’m saying is that if you use Express VPN you really don’t need to worry about your connection being cracked.
We recommend it for the use in China for a reason if you’re willing to mess with it a bit
There is actually no chance the secret police will be able to track your connection now.
If you are even in the outside and using public Wi-Fi, ExpressVPN will protect your data.
Privacy
ExpressVPN does offer great privacy and one of them being the Strict “No Logging” Policy
Strict “No Logging” Policy
According to this Policy, the service is strictly no logs meaning that it doesn’t track your browsing in any way and they do not track or store your personal data whenever you are using their services.
They also don’t store your other log files like DNS queries, IP addresses or metadata.
Your information is encrypted and hidden from agencies, hackers and even from ExpressVPN themselves, the second that you log onto your ExpressVPN server.
However, it does keep some records mainly so it can diagnose any connection problems and actually check how many devices are connected.
But these are anonymized and destroyed at the end of each session
Some of the data they do collect are:
- Apps and app versions successfully activated.
- They collect the Dates (and not the times) when connected to their server (VPN service).
- The Choice of your VPN server location
- The Total amount (in MB) of data usage or transferred per day
This is how it is stated on their Website:
More Info on: https://www.expressvpn.com/what-is-vpn/policy-towards-logs
All in all, ExpressVPN isn’t that suspicious at all…
Speed
Besides being private and secure ExpressVPN offers great speeds, all VPNs will slow down your connection a bit and that’s the price of using them and being secure on the internet and ExpressVPN manages to only slow you down about 10 to 20 percent on short-range connections.
However and even crossing the Atlantic, it only took about 50 percent off of the speeds.
Not even our second fastest VPN private Internet access doesn’t get that kind of performance nor does Nord VPN.
Table of five locations we tested for this review using speedtest.net.
| Location: | Ping (ms) | Download (Mbps) | Upload (Mbps) |
|---|---|---|---|
| EU Server (Amsterdam) | 40ms | 83.15 Mbps | 51.81Mbps |
| US Server (New York) | 110ms | 60.04 Mbps | 30.41 Mbps |
| Asia Server (Hong Kong) | 292ms | 30.26 Mbps | 12.46 Mbps |
| Unprotected | 9ms | 161.83 Mbps | 10.22 Mbps |
There are many things that come into play in determining the speed such as your physical location, your Internet connection, your Computer specs etc.
Support
If you for some reason do run into a problem ExpressVPN support staff can be reached via both chat and email and respond fairly quickly.
They have 24/7 Live Customer Support system and it is one of their biggest selling points.
They usually had a response within 10 or 50 minutes for the easy stuff in an hour to for the crazy like tech problems and we assumed this is because engineers are like busy people of course. But although it may take a little while, they did get back to you now for your problems.
Now that we’ve spent a few minutes singing the praises of Express, let’s talk about a few things that we feel could use a little bit of improvement
Works on Multiple Devices
ExpressVPN is not only confined to one type of devices. It can be accessed on multiple devices types.
Some of them are:
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Different Browsers
- Chrome Extension, Firefox Extension, and Safari Extension
- Ipad and iPhone.
- Apple, Fire and Smart TV
- Play Station and XBox
- Android TV Box
- Routers
* Manual configuration required
There might be other device types that we forgot to mention too if you know it. Let us know in the comments below and we will add it to the list.
Additional Features
So between speed and security, we pretty much have all we really wanted a VPN but ExpressVPN offers even more.
1) Netflix compatibility
For one, it’s the only service that consistently gets into all streaming services period.
No matter if it’s a Netflix, BBC iPlayer or Amazon video you’ll be able to watch whichever countries of content from you want anywhere.
Occasionally you may need to switch service or something but that’s about the worst of it.
For Netflix Washington DC 2 – or New Jersey gets the most of the time into these services according to our test. It’s also pretty easy to use.
ExpressVPN not only supports Netflix USA but also works with Netflix UK, Canada, and Japan.
*If BBC iPlayer and Hulu don’t work. Simply contact support and they will find a way to make it work because ExpressVPN always has a server that can bypass their firewalls.
2) Simple User-Interface
The interface looks basically just like a smartphone app, even at a desktop and it’s just one giant button you used to connect and there is a button below that it lets you pick the server you’ll be using.
3) Choose from any of the 94 countries
As it was last checked on 1st of January, 2019, they have a wide option to choose from (94 countries)
As for the service you have your pick of IP addresses around the world. The more exotic locations include Algiers and the ancien but there’s plenty in like more regular locations as well like the United States obviously and pretty much all European countries that you might need.
4) Anonymous IP
ExpressVPN has a wide selection of servers to choose from, so you can easily hide or change your IP addresses.
If you want any particular server to choose, they might have it. If you want, you can check their server locations in real-time.
5) TOR Compatibility
Tor or Onion Router is free software for enabling anonymous communication and to increase your security.
Tor Browser transfer your data encrypted across multiple servers and that your data is relayed, in that way it will be hard to track your actual true location.
What better way to hide what’s being anonymous to make completely sure that you are safe and not tracked or anything of that sort.
Combining ExpressVPN with TOR networks will eliminate vulnerabilities in your data’s security and gives you absolute privacy and difficult (borderline impossible) to crack.
6) Torrenting and File Sharing
Many other big VPN companies including TunnelBear have officially stated that will not entertain any torrenting acts.
Yes, there is no official statement from ExpressVPN that clearly states their allowance about torrenting but at the very least they are not against it.
From their admirable download times and unlimited bandwidth to their military-grade encryption, it’s safe to say they do lowkey encourage and allow it (kinda).
7) No DNS or IP leaks found
We couldn’t find any multiple IP leaks, DNS, WebRTC on our ExpressVPN test.
We tested on 4 sites :
- Perfect-Privacy.com for the DNS & IP leak test
- IPLeak.net
- IPC.ax
- Browserleaks.com for the WebRTC leaks
Before you choose a VPN, I recommend you make sure that they had a DNS leak protection to ensure your total privacy. In this way, when your connection drops, it will stop your identity from being revealed.
But luckily for you, ExpressVPN has that feature by default switched on.
Needed Improvement
As we have said at the start, nobody is perfect.
1)ExpressVPN Pricing, Plans & Facts
The biggest problem with Express is that it’s expensive, as with most things you get the VPN you pay for and express costs $100 per year making the most expensive service of any top-tier service.
ExpressVPN Subscription plans break down:
Month-to-Month Plan: $12.95 per month
6 Months Plan: $9.99/month (billed $59.95 every six months)
12-Months Plan: $8.32/Month (Billed $99.95 every 12 months)
If you sign up with our special link you’ll get it for $6.67 per month but Nord and cyber ghosts are still a bit cheaper in that regard.
2) Automatic Server Switching
Other shortcomings we ran into is that ExpressVPN doesn’t offer automatic server switching for a desktop.
Even though it works fine on the mobile app, this isn’t a huge deal but thanks to this Advanced Encryption Express takes a while to connect to a server like about 10 seconds or so.
This means that if you want to switch service you’ll be waiting for about 30 to 60 seconds all in all.
It’s not a huge deal but kind of annoying if you just want to watch a Netflix show you’ve got queued up and just waiting for the next episode.
3) Only 3 Devices Can be Connected Simultaneously
Our last niggle is that you can only connect up to three devices at any one time.
Nord VPN, in contrast, it allows up to six while most other service is about five. Again it’s not a deal breaker but does make it harder to offset the cost of the service.
Do I Recommend ExpressVPN?
Yes, I do recommend ExpressVPN.
But if you’re in a budget you have another reason like not to use it.
Of course, you can just use Express VPN on a router and connect more devices, actually to an unlimited device but this requires a bit more technical expertise.
You need to log into the router and set everything up, so yeah it’s more for the technical minded.
However, all that said ExpressVPN is still a great value considering how fast it is and how easily it gets you into Netflix and add to that it’s great privacy and security policies give a VPN that will keep you browsing free of worry.
We recommend it for pretty much any user most of the time.
*P.S. If you’ve used ExpressVPN before, what are your experiences with ExpressVPN, please let us know in the comments below. It doesn’t matter If your experience matched with ours, that’s fine too! If it did, that’s better too.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| User-friendly and reliable apps | Little bit Pricey |
| Excellent support | Limited number of device connectability |
| 30 day money-back guarantee | Doesn’t offer automatic server switching for a desktop |
| Works with Netflix and other streaming services | |
| Transparent, clear no-logging policy |
