Installing the clients is very easy, just download them from the website, follow a few simple steps (you’ll get all the instructions on the website), and you’re good to go. You can even set up a third-party OpenVPN client as ExpressVPN provides .OVPN configuration files.
Once you install them, you’ll notice all the clients have very intuitive, clean, and familiar interfaces. The Windows app allows you to connect to the VPN in just one click on its On/Off button or you can select a specific VPN location by clicking on the Choose Location button. You can also look up servers by countries or via a Search box, as well as create a list of your favourite locations.
A kill switch is there as a safety mechanism that blocks your entire Internet access in the event of a VPN connection breakdown. The split-tunnelling feature lets you decide which of the apps on your system you feel comfortable to bypass the VPN and use your regular Internet connection.
The Android app works pretty much the same. It allows you to connect and disconnect in one tap, as well as generate secure passwords. There’s also a Location Picker where you can choose your own preferred server, a kill switch, split-tunnelling, the auto-connect option, and more. The iOS app also has a Location Picker, list of your Recent Connections, and other useful options. It doesn’t have a kill switch, though, but you can set up your device’s own kill switch.
There are also browser extensions available for Firefox and Chrome, although you need to have the actual client installed to be able to use them. These powerful extensions offer some advanced privacy features themselves, including location spoofing, WebRTC leak blocking, as well as support for HTTPS Everywhere.
Excellent speeds and strong connections, regardless of your location, are guaranteed by the immense network that counts over 3,000 servers in 160 locations across 94 countries.
Plans & pricing
As expected, top quality doesn’t come cheap and ExpressVPN is the real proof. The most expensive option would be to pay on a month-to-month basis, as this would mean a monthly charge of $12.95. Discounts are usually offered as you opt for one of the longer-term contracts, such as the 6-month plan with the monthly price equal to $9.99 (charged once every six months). Switch to the annual subscription, and the price drops to $8.32/month (billed annually). Unfortunately, ExpressVPN doesn’t offer any subscriptions lasting longer than one year, such as 2-year or even 3-year ones offered by some competitors.
The provider accepts payments made via PayPal, Bitcoin, credit cards, Alipay, WebMoney, etc. If you’re reluctant to pay this price for something you haven’t tried yourself, you can test the platform on Android or iOS thanks to a 7-day free trial. Windows and Mac users, on the other hand, have a 30-day money-back guarantee at their disposal, allowing them to ask for a refund if they don’t want to continue using the VPN for any reason.
Privacy & logging
ExpressVPN protects your privacy with a host of top-notch mechanisms that include the standard AES-256 encryption, 4096-bit SHA-512 RSA certificate, Hash Message Authentication Code (HMAC), as well as supporting Perfect Forward Secrecy (which automatically assigns new key with your every connection), DNS (runs its own 256-bit encrypted DNS on every server), IPv6 leak protection, and protocols including OpenVPN (UDP/TCP), L2TP, and IKEv2.
There’s no logging either, at least not of any information that can be traced back to you. While many VPN providers claim they don’t log any of your sensitive data, ExpressVPN goes a step further, by opening its proverbial doors to third-party auditors from PriceWaterhouseCoopers who confirmed you can trust this VPN with your private information.
ExpressVPN tells you precisely what it does and doesn’t log, so you’ll know exactly what you’re getting yourself into. Specifically, it won’t log your IP address, the VPN IP address you were allocated, the time when you logged in, any websites you visited, or your traffic. What is logged, though, are the dates when you connected to the VPN, which server you used, the version number of the client(s) you installed, as well as the total amount of data transferred by you every day. That said, none of this can be used to track you down personally.
Moreover, ExpressVPN is located in the British Virgin Islands, a Mecca of privacy with no laws requiring it to log or share any customer information, nor with membership in any intelligence-sharing alliances, like the ‘14 Eyes’
VOD & torrents
ExpressVPN will unblock whatever geographically restricted content you need access to, wherever in the world you might be. This includes the famous video-on-demand (VOD) services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO, and BBC iPlayer, audio streaming like Spotify, and other online services (Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Instagram, Wikipedia…) that might be censored in some more restrictive countries.
The same goes for sharing of large files via P2P platforms (although this isn’t explicitly advertised by the provider), as every single ExpressVPN server allows you to do so, without any limits on bandwidth, traffic, content, nor with any logging that might get you in trouble.
Support
This VPN vendor is there when you need it, at all times – featuring expert customer support agents available via live chat and email 24/7. There’s also an excellent support site filled with well-written setup tutorials and troubleshooting guides for every possible problem you might encounter while using the platform.
Final verdict
Whatever you want or need of a VPN platform, ExpressVPN has it – a vast network of servers, high quality and fast platform, VOD-unblocking capabilities, P2P support, proven non-logging claims, clients for every device, and a user-friendly interface. Its prices are above average, but that is to be expected from such a powerful VPN service.
