ExpressVPN Reviews | The comparison

ExpressVPN Reviews | The comparison The VPN market is tough enough with a lot of competition, but ExpressVPN knows exactly how to stand out from the crowd: it includes the pro features and offers more than anyone. Top-notch platform support includes apps for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Linux, and other operating systems, not to mention firmware tailored for many routers, as well as setup guides. Detailed manual for Apple TV, Fire TV, PS, Chromebooks, Kindle Fire and more. A robust set of core features gives you multiple layers of protection. ExpressVPN protects your Internet traffic through the use of its DNS servers, for example. High-end encryption technologies prevent even the most advanced attackers from spying on your activities. Even if the VPN goes down, no problem - a high-quality kill switch kicks in immediately to block your internet connection and keep you safe. Editor's Note: ExpressVPN was bought on September 1 by KAPE Technologies PLC for nearly €XNUMX billion. KAPE has other VPN brands like Private Internet Access and Zenmate.

There are also plenty of valuable extras, ranging from Lightway (ExpressVPN's own super-fast and secure VPN protocol) to browser extensions that include WebRTC leak blocking, location spoofing, and HTTPS support. The company offers an extensive network of more than 000 servers in XNUMX cities in XNUMX countries. Europe and the US have the best coverage, but ExpressVPN also has many locations in Asia and multiple countries that rarely appear elsewhere. There are only twenty-seven countries in Asia-Pacific, for example: TunnelBear only has thirty-four countries in its network. A clear and simple privacy policy explains that ExpressVPN does not keep any confidential information. And unlike most of the competition, this isn't a generic marketing promise: The site specifies precisely what the service does and doesn't do. In addition to this, ExpressVPN recently audited its servers to confirm that the company adheres to its privacy policy. However, the most notable feature might be the support, where ExpressVPN has live chat agents free XNUMX/XNUMX. This isn't the very basic, outsourced front-line support you'll often get with other services; They are specialists who can help you solve almost any technical problem. If you run into any issues, you won't be waiting a day (or potentially longer) for a response from support. In our experience, there is always someone free on ExpressVPN's live chat, and you could get quality help in a matter of minutes.

ExpressVPN

The new Lightway protocol is fast and lightweight (Image credit: ExpressVPN)

What's new

There is good news from our last review as the ExpressVPN Android app has been certified by the ioXt Alliance, a group of leading technology companies including Amazon, Google, Facebook, Comcast and more. The Alliance's primary focus is setting standards for IoT security, but now it is also focused on VPN applications. And in more detail, with the certification taking into account factors such as cryptography, network security, software update and even if there is a vulnerability reporting program. We're going to look at this a bit more in the Privacy section now. App enhancements include a new Android look, with additional features including a protection summary to show how long you've been using ExpressVPN over the past week. Updating the router's firmware can be a very technical process, which we think many users will do as little as possible. If this sounds like you, good news: ExpressVPN's router app can now check for and install any and all updates on its own, completely automatically. But if value is high on your priority list, we've saved the best for last: sign up for ExpressVPN's annual plan here and you'll now get a free year of unlimited backup to the Backblaze cloud (which costs $XNUMX). directly from Backblaze's place).

ExpressVPN fees

ExpressVPN reduces your monthly cost when you subscribe to a longer plan (Image credit: ExpressVPN)

ExpressVPN plans and fees

As explained in our dedicated ExpressVPN offers and costs guide, the reseller has a very simple cost structure with just 3 plans, and these start with one product billed monthly for € twelve.95. It's not affordable, but CyberGhost, Hotspot Shield, and VyprVPN charge around € thirteen for their monthly plans, and not far from the € XNUMX-XNUMX that most major VPNs charge. Sign up for the six-month ExpressVPN plan and the cost will drop to €99 per month. That's a reasonable discount, and it also gives you more flexibility than you'll get with some contenders, who don't offer a six-month plan in the slightest. The annual plan further reduces your costs to a monthly equivalent of €XNUMX, a whopping XNUMX% discount on the monthly subscription. But it's still more than a share of the competition (Private Internet Access charges $33 on its annual plan, Windscribe is $XNUMX), especially if you're willing to sign up for long periods. Speedify's 3-year plan costs just $XNUMX a month, for example, while Ivacy currently charges just $XNUMX a month on its two-year plan, less than a third of that. ExpressVPN's annual fee. However, when pricing titles, be sure to check the fine print, as ExpressVPN is closer to many contenders than you might think. For example, many sellers have low costs that then increase. IPVanish seems affordable at $75 a month for the first year, but doubles on renewal to $50. NordVPN starts at €92, renews at €XNUMX. Norton Secure VPN's ten-device plan starts at $XNUMX a month, then renews at $XNUMX and for a service with many, many, many fewer features. A VPN is not just about cost, of course. Anyone can offer low rates; it also offers an acceptable service, that's the hard part. There are also ways to save money. Signing up for our exclusive offer adds 3 months free to your ExpressVPN annual subscription, giving you fifteen months of service for an effective €67 per month. If you decide to sign up, you will discover an extensive range of payment methods including cards, Paypal, Bitcoin, and countless other players (AliPay, Yandex Money, WebMoney, and more). If you're not totally convinced, installing the Android or iOS app gives you a XNUMX-day trial. And even after you've given your money back, ExpressVPN's XNUMX-day money-back guarantee lets you safely check out the service yourself. If you decide to cancel, it's very simple too. There is no small print to surprise you and you should not justify your resolution to the company. You can use the service, in its entirety, for thirty days, and if you're not satisfied, or just change your mind, tell ExpressVPN and we'll refund your money.

ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN runs your DNS to bypass leaks (Image credit: ExpressVPN)

Privacy

Every VPN claims to offer complete privacy, but dig into the details, and often there is very little substance to support that. ExpressVPN is pleasantly different, in that the company not only tells you how amazing it is, but also has an incredible list of features to help justify every word. Let's take encryption, for example. Most services can mention that they support OpenVPN or add a reference to AES-XNUMX, but ExpressVPN goes a lot further. The company explains that it uses an RSA SHA-XNUMX four thousand ninety-six-bit certificate, for example, with AES-XNUMX-CBC to encrypt its control channel and HMAC (hash message authentication code). that guards against regular data changes in real time. To confirm this, we looked at the ExpressVPN configuration files for OpenVPN, and the details were precisely as described by the company. Support for Perfect Forward Secrecy adds another layer of protection by automatically assigning you a new secret key each time you log in and then replacing it every sixty minutes while you are logged in. Even if an attacker has managed to compromise your system somehow, he will still get sixty minutes of data at most.

ExpressVPN

We didn't find any DNS leaks in our tests (Image credit: ExpressVPN) DNS support is another strong point. ExpressVPN not only offers DNS leak protection to prevent data about your online activities from escaping the VPN tunnel, it also runs your private DNS XNUMX-bit encrypted and zero-knowledge on each of them, their servers. This is a huge advantage over certain smaller resellers, who in the worst case might redirect your DNS traffic to OpenDNS or some other third-party service. As well as the danger of connecting to the DNS server, using unencrypted DNS gives attackers the ability to stop your queries, filter them, block them, or even tamper with them, all of which is largely eliminated thanks to the ExpressVPN method. We didn't test the DNS server thoroughly, but sites like IPLeak, DNS Leak Test, and Browser Leaks have confirmed that ExpressVPN's servers use the IP address for their DNS requests, and none of them did. Had DNS or traffic leaks . ExpressVPN's new ioXt Alliance certification adds even more security to privacy and is interesting for multiple reasons. The certification process rates the company on multiple low-level technical design details including cryptography, network security, the software creation process, automatic updates, and more. As an example, check that the application stores its private keys in the secure operational keystore rather than using its own custom scheme, an indicator of a secure design and something that would require considerable time and thought. same. Even if you don't have the basic knowledge to interpret these details (okay, we're dealing with some of them too), it's reassuring to see the company expose itself to this kind of technical review. Private Internet Access and NordVPN are also certified, and we expect more to join these distributors soon.

ExpressVPN

Browse the website anonymously with ExpressVPN (Image credit: ExpressVPN)

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