ExpressVPN review.. A good virtual private network (VPN), but is it affordable?

ExpressVPN review.. One popular VPN that is both simple to install and use is ExpressVPN. Curiously, however, it fails to impress. The price, functionality, and features are all average when compared to other VPN services that come highly recommended.

ExpressVPN at a glance

• Locations: 160
• Countries: 94
• Simultaneous connections: 5
• Kill switch: yes
• Logging: no
• Price: $12.95/month, or 12 months for $99.95
• Trial: 30-day refund guarantee
• Supported platforms: iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows, Linux, game consoles, smart TVs, routers

Since other VPN services brag about their server and IP address counts, I looked into ExpressVPN’s figures. I was disappointed to hear nothing more from the firm, even though they were arguably more forthright and honest than their stat-driven rivals:

(I was informed by a corporate representative, “We have 3,000+ VPN servers.”) This information was updated after the publishing. We are among the top in this “metric,” but we don’t think server count matters much for this purpose, and we’ve explained why. It would be wise to click on that link. An intriguing blog article by them delves into VPN infrastructure and competitive stats in some depth. You should read it.

The sheer volume of client implementations is the one area where ExpressVPN really stands out. No matter what kind of computer you have, whether it’s a mobile phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop running any operating system, ExpressVPN has a version that will work with it.

Picking a lightning-fast server

After installing a VPN, I wait a little before clicking the huge “Connect” button in order to test it out. In most cases, I find myself considerably more intrigued by the many configuration choices. With ExpressVPN, I was able to locate an immediate favorite in the “hamburger” section of the menu.

Unlike Fast.com and Speedtest.net, this is not a point-to-point speed test. From your location, this tests all (or some) of ExpressVPN’s servers.

The wait of perhaps five minutes was well worth it. To determine which of their servers had the quickest download speeds and lowest latency, ExpressVPN does a comprehensive scan over all of them. On top of that, it incorporates a speed index that displays the fastest server in aggregate. It came as no surprise to me, being in Oregon, that a server on the West Coast was the quickest overall.

Additionally, you may see the performance of servers located in other countries.

This feature is easy to see and doesn’t need much explanation. It’s surprising that more VPN services don’t supply it.

More connection options

There is a minimal setup screen that comes with ExpressVPN by default. A suggested server will be assigned to you the moment you press the magic button. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, so Seattle seemed like a natural fit.

Picking a spot to hook up is more appealing to a lot of people. Nothing is cluttered or distracting on the ExpressVPN connection interface. As you can see on this screen, there are a few suggested sites from which to choose.

All places may also be browsed.

Alternately, you may use the search box to swiftly choose a server in a certain area.

To make it easier to discover the servers you use most, the app lets you mark them as favorites.

Configuration and customization alternatives

You may also access ExpressVPN’s settings screens from the hamburger menu. You may learn more about ExpressVPN’s features on the General tab.

Although it’s not a very novel feature, you can configure Windows to automatically run the VPN and connect to the last location you used when the software launched. This way, you can connect to a VPN as soon as your computer powers up.

The program also lets you access local devices like printers while connecting to a distant server and has a kill switch feature that you may activate or disable. You can utilize the VPN for certain applications and not others thanks to traffic shaping. You may utilize this feature to your advantage if you want to employ VPN protection or location translation for some connections while leaving others to enjoy your full connection strength and speed.

Lots of choices for protocol nerds are on the page where you configure the protocol. You should generally simply leave it on Automatic unless you’re an expert or have a strong preference.

Selecting the Shortcuts option allows you to easily add many site URLs to the main page. You may manage the connection from a browser extension directly in the Browsers tab. It presently works with Firefox and Chrome. You cannot use Edge.

Lastly, we will examine the Advanced tab. Although it is appropriately off by default, ExpressVPN does enable you to send telemetry back to the provider. Though most people will keep it enabled, you have the option to disable IPv6 detection. Improving Windows networking is a pleasant thing to accomplish. Personally, I’m most intrigued by the opportunity to only use ExpressVPN DNS servers.

It is intriguing that ExpressVPN is securing connections to its servers, given that DNS leaking is a common occurrence. We’ll have to wait and see whether it works.

Evaluation of performance
On a brand new, fully-updated installation of Windows 10, I set up the ExpressVPN app. In order to ensure that the remains of another VPN provider aren’t slowing down the system and potentially impacting the findings, I always do these tests with a clean installation. Because my network has a 1Gb fiber supply, my baseline speed is insanely fast.

Using speedtest.net, I selected a Comcast server in Chicago to measure download speed in order to provide a more accurate comparison of US performance compared to my local fiber broadband provider.

I used three separate connections to each server for the testing. The following figure represents the mean outcome of the three links.

If you look at these data closely, you may be able to see that the VPN speed is much faster than the baseline speed. Having internet via fiber means my connection speed is really fast, thus that’s not the greatest metric to use.

Additionally, you could find that my reviews travel to the same cities at quite different baseline speeds. Please be aware that the results of speed tests are totally dependent on the state of the connections between the two sites, the amount of traffic on those servers, the time of day, and the actual speed of the internet on that particular day.

Among my tests, I usually add a link to Russia. Unfortunately, I couldn’t test ExpressVPN’s performance to Rossiyskaya Federatsiya as the company doesn’t have any servers in Russia.

My testing have yielded the following results:

It is to be expected that performance would degrade while using a VPN service. Remember that you are encapsulating your data in packets by passing them across a man-made network. The two most important metrics to consider are download and ping times. Can you get the job done with them at that height?

Whatever connection you made, ExpressVPN was just mediocre. Even if it wasn’t terrible, it wasn’t great either. However, the connection speeds provided by VPNs were more than enough for the most majority of video types, so it was satisfactory. However, any kind of game that requires responsiveness was impossible due to the very poor ping rates.

Ping speed measures the amount of time it takes for a server to respond to a request made from your machine across a network. That there is a lag here is because of real physics. Time to response is proportional to distance; a package sent across the globe will take more time to arrive than one sent across town.

Security
The security of a virtual private network (VPN) may be compromised in a variety of ways. The most annoying part, however, is when it shows you as someone who may not be trustworthy. My worldwide connections were flagged as potential DNS leaks by DNSLeak.com and dnsleaktest.com. Despite this, none of them—including the one below for Stockholm—showed my actual location in Oregon; instead, they displayed the city to which the VPN was linked.

Another issue, however, arose. It is worth mentioning that my connection was detected as originating from Security Firewall Ltd. by both DNS testing services. Not ExpressVPN at all. However, this is also an option:

If I were in charge of a website and worried about fraud or VPN use, I would definitely prohibit these users. So, I’d say you’re experiencing a security connection failure if your connection seems to be coming from a suspicious collection of IPs. Both my Taiwanese and Swedish connections were found to be using Security Firewall Ltd.

Sites that don’t let you connect or make it hard to use them are likely marking you as a potentially problematic user since you’re connected via Security Firewall Ltd, even if the servers are in Taiwan and Sweden. Special.

This issue didn’t seem to affect everyone. As far as the DNS is concerned, ServersAustralia was the ISP in question while making the connection to Australia. An ISP called Host1Plus was found during the testing of an Indian connection. Both are known for their amiable personalities.

Strange, unless ExpressVPN was unaware of Security Firewall Ltd’s poor Google juice. Given that ExpressVPN handles its own DNS, you’d think it would have removed negative information about providers from its records.

Update: It’s not uncommon for us to encounter resistance when publishing evaluations that are truthful, balanced, and generally positive—like this one—but fall short of the vendor’s ideal outcome. I maintain my position, but I’ve always thought it was fair to give you the vendor’s side of the story when asked. We were informed by an ExpressVPN representative (their response has been uploaded in its entirety):

Certain IPs are affiliated with internet infrastructure businesses like Security Firewall Ltd and Host1Plus, as is common with many VPN providers that lease servers from data centers worldwide. Security Firewall Ltd. received a fraud score of 39 from scamalytics.com, as you can see in the snapshot of your Google search result. While Avast has a score of67, and Tefincom (affiliated with Nord) has a score of46, several VPN companies have far higher fraud ratings. A score of 56 is achieved even by non-VPN services, such as GoDaddy.

There is absolutely no need for concern about Security Firewall Ltd., even if the methodology by which scamalytics.com derives these ratings is not readily apparent.

Plus, I want to make sure you know that our servers in Taiwan and Sweden are completely leak-proof. No DNS leaks exist if the results of your testing do not reveal your actual IP address. (Please be aware that Private Internet Access owns and operates the website dnsleak.com, from which you extracted the screenshot used in your post.)