The British Virgin Islands are home to ExpressVPN, a VPN service. It has been in business since 2009 and is one of the most well-known and best VPN services on the market. Customers like it because they can use it for just about anything. It does a good job of protecting your privacy and making you anonymous, but the speed claim is what everyone notices when they go to ExpressVPN’s website. The words “the fastest VPN on Earth” stand out and get a lot of attention. Even though many VPNs say the same thing, we looked into ExpressVPN to see if it really is the fastest VPN.

ExpressVPN Review

In this in-depth ExpressVPN review, we’ll talk about all of the service’s features, such as its servers, prices, speeds, platforms it works with, prices, and more. Let’s start with what’s good and bad about it.

Pros

  • 94 Countries Have VPN Servers
  • Very fast speed, great for streaming
  • Strong no logging policy
  • 256-bit encryption is very safe.
  • There are no limits on streaming.
  • No Limits on Bandwidth
  • Lock the network (Killswitch)
  • Netflix and BBC iPlayer are not blocked.
  • It is safe to use P2P and torrents.
  • There are apps for each device and it’s easy to set up.
  • 5 simultaneous connections
  • Excellent 24/7 Live chat/email support
  • Bitcoin accepted
  • 30-day money-back guarantee

Cons

  • No free test run

Servers for ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN has more than 3000 servers in over 160 locations in more than 94 countries. Even though there are a few VPNs with this many servers, it’s a pretty small group. These servers have shared static IPs and are in all of the most important places in the world. You’re always close to an ExpressVPN server. This makes the already fast connection speeds even faster and makes sure that the server is never overloaded, which means the connection drops less often. It also has Stealth servers for places like China and the United Arab Emirates that use things like deep packet inspection to find VPN users and block them. Now that VPNs are illegal in UAE, you need a VPN that hides the fact that you are using one.

With ExpressVPN, there were no DNS, IPv4, or WebRTC leaks. It keeps you safe at all times, and the results for DNS, IPv4, and WebRTC showed how well the VPN protects your privacy and identity.

ExpressVPN for Netflix

Netflix is cracking down hard on VPN users as it tries to keep its service geo-restricted and stop people from other countries from accessing Netflix USA. It makes sense that you would want to unblock Netflix USA since it has the best content. But ExpressVPN works where most VPNs don’t. It has a few servers that can help you unblock Netflix USA. All of these servers are in the United States, but there’s no way to tell which ones can help you. This is pretty smart because if that information gets out there, Netflix will block those servers. If you want to use ExpressVPN to get into Netflix USA, just ask their customer service which servers can help you. You can also do this with their SmartDNS service (more on this later). You can also look at the Netflix page for ExpressVPN.

ExpressVPN for Kodi

You can watch all of your favorite movies and TV shows for free with Kodi. It is a great device for streaming media, but it can’t guarantee some of the free links it gives you. You don’t know who is running those links, and whoever is could be spying on you. So, the best thing to do for Kodi is to also use ExpressVPN. It’s easy to set up ExpressVPN on Kodi, and they have a setup guide on their website.

ExpressVPN for Torrents

These days, torrent sites are an important part of how everyone uses the internet. They give you access to movies, TV shows, games, software, music, and anything else you might want. Using a client to download torrents is pretty easy, but if you don’t use a VPN, anyone can see what you’re doing. Any bad user in the pool can spy on you, or anyone on the same public network who wants to see what you’re doing can. Also, ISPs can and often do limit the amount of bandwidth you can use when you download torrents.

Use ExpressVPN to keep prying eyes away and download torrents without restrictions. It will hide your torrent activity from everyone, and its high-speed servers will make sure that your download speed doesn’t change at all. Not all ExpressVPN servers support peer-to-peer, but you can always ask customer service for help.

ExpressVPN Pricing

If you want a VPN service that is easy on your wallet, ExpressVPN is not for you. It’s just too expensive for people on a tight budget at $12.95 per month. Due to the longer subscription, the annual package is much cheaper ($6.67/month), and there are occasional discounts, but it is still one of the most expensive VPN services.

But you can use their 30-day guarantee to get your money back with no questions asked. If ExpressVPN isn’t what you were hoping for and the service isn’t good enough in some ways, you can get your money back in full within a month. ExpressVPN has a 30-day money-back guarantee, while most other VPNs only have a 7-day guarantee. How’s that for having faith?

There is no free trial option for desktop users. iOS users can try it for free for 7 days, and Android users can try it for free for one day. Even though one day isn’t enough time to test the service, it meets Google Play’s rules, so there’s not much that can be done. You can pay with credit cards, PayPal, Bitcoin, and a number of other third-party merchants.

ExpressVPN Speed

Due to the extra work that comes with encryption, VPNs do tend to slow down your browsing speed a little. But the difference between the best and the rest is how quickly the speed drops. The better VPNs make sure that the speed drop isn’t too big, and the best VPNs make sure that the speed drop is so small that you can’t even tell it’s happening. Since ExpressVPN is one of the best VPNs, it’s not surprising that the connection speed doesn’t change much. Testing a VPN’s speed through different servers at different times gives a good idea of how fast it is, and ExpressVPN did well in these tests.

It has one of the fastest speeds for downloading of any VPN. Using ExpressVPN, you can stream videos in 1080p resolution and play online multiplayer games without any trouble. When you download regular files or torrents, you’ll notice that the connection speeds are the same as when you don’t use a VPN. Depending on the server you choose, you might even find that the speeds are better. The only problem you might have is that your connection might drop once or twice every few days.

Protocols and Encryption

Even though there are a lot of reasons to use a VPN service, privacy and security are at the top of everyone’s list. Inside the client, ExpressVPN gives you as many options as you want. PPTP, L2TP, OpenVPN, and SSTP are the options. Modern standard AES 256-bit is used for encryption, and SHA-512 is used for authentication, which is very good. Both of these give you a service that keeps people from looking at what you do online and makes sure that no one else can see what you do. It also lets you send sensitive information over the Internet without worrying about a “man-in-the-middle” attack intercepting it.

Clients and compatibility

ExpressVPN has apps for Android, iOS, and the Amazon Fire TV Stick. It also has clients for Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can also set up ExpressVPN on your Smart TV, Roku, gaming console, Chromebook, and Routers by following the instructions on the website. You can also order a router that is already set up to protect your whole home network with ExpressVPN.

The best part about doing this is that your router only counts as one device, and you can protect as many devices as you want to connect to that router. Check to see if ExpressVPN will work with your router before you set it up. If that’s not the case, but you still want a VPN on your router, choose one of their pre-configured routers.

The VPN clients are easy to use and have a lot of features. For security reasons, you can’t change the type of encryption from inside the VPN. However, you can freely switch VPN protocols and servers. By default, it is set to OpenVPN over UDP, which is a good option. The client will automatically pick the best server for you based on where you are and how you use it, but you can change that and pick a different server. When setting up for the first time, you have to enter an activation code for each device you want to connect. This lets you connect to the VPN as soon as the client starts up in the future.

You can use all of the features, such as “Network Lock,” which works like an auto-kill switch. Network lock keeps you safe from DNS and IP leaks and keeps you safe if your connection goes down. This is especially helpful when you use a VPN to download anything, but especially torrent files.

It’s not a good idea to download torrents without a VPN because anyone in the pool can see what you’re doing, and you could get in trouble with the law or have your ISP slow down your bandwidth. Since ExpressVPN lets you use P2P, you can use ExpressVPN to download torrents and feel free to leave your computer because Network Lock will protect you.

The Mac client is different from the others because it also has a feature called “Split Tunneling,” which lets you choose which apps’ traffic goes through the VPN servers. Make sure you know what you’re doing before you do this. If you don’t, you’ll end up weakening your own defense. ExpressVPN can be used on up to five devices at the same time. Before, you could only use one of each type of device. But ExpressVPN changed that feature so that you could choose the devices you want to use.

You can use it on two laptops and one phone, or any other combination you want. The only problem you might have is that you have to manually disconnect one of the other five devices before you can connect the sixth one. Turning off the device won’t help your situation. It’s not a big deal, but you’d expect ExpressVPN to take care of it.

ExpressVPN Logs Policy

A VPN that hides you from everyone but keeps track of everything you do is worse and more dangerous than not using a VPN at all. This is why it’s important to use a VPN that doesn’t keep logs. This is where ExpressVPN fits in. Also, because it is based in the British Virgin Islands, it doesn’t have to give user logs to the NSA, GCHQ, or anyone else. You should look for a VPN that doesn’t keep logs and doesn’t have to worry about laws that keep your data.

ExpressVPN only keeps track of the time you connected, the server you connected to, and how much bandwidth you used while you were connected. No one keeps track of your IP address, and this information is never given to anyone else. Even though this bothers some people, there is a way around it. If you sign up for ExpressVPN with their new.onion extension, a Tor proxy, or someone else’s system and pay with Bitcoin, ExpressVPN won’t be able to find out who you are.

Customer support

ExpressVPN has customer service that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through live chat, email, and a ticket system. All three of these systems work perfectly. You don’t have to wait even a minute to get a response from a customer service rep via live chat, and the replies are not only polite but also helpful and full of information. Their email and ticket systems should work the same way. Most general questions can be answered by the knowledge base. The customer service at ExpressVPN is one of the best we’ve seen so far.

Extra Features in ExpressVPN

Stealth Servers

People in China can get help from ExpressVPN’s stealth servers. People have been using VPNs for years to get some freedom online, but the government is making things harder. They are now looking for VPN users and giving VPN users very harsh legal punishments. Deep packet inspection is one method that the Chinese government uses to find VPN traffic and users. But you can get out with ExpressVPN. It uses servers in Hong Kong to get around the internet restrictions put in place by the Chinese government. We don’t know much about how these servers work and help you stay under the radar, but what matters is that they do help you get around government censorship if you live on or visit the Chinese mainland.

Smart DNS

You can get around geo-restrictions on content with a VPN, but there’s another way, especially for streaming services. With SmartDNS, you can access streaming services that are only available in certain places. Even though they work like VPNs, there are a few differences. SmartDNS changes your DNS settings and makes sure that DNS requests for services that are only available in certain parts of the world are handled by their own servers. This lets you get around geographical restrictions. Since there is no encryption, the speeds are much faster than with VPNs. However, you should be aware that this comes at the cost of not having the security that VPNs provide.

ExpressVPN has a service called SmartDNS that is easy to use and can help you get around restrictions on popular streaming services like Netflix USA and the BBC iPlayer. Setting it up is pretty easy, and you can do it by going to the website.

Browser Extensions

ExpressVPN lets users of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox add-ons to their browsers. It’s a little different from other VPN browser add-ons in that it won’t work unless the VPN client is also installed on the system. With the browser extension, you have more control over your system’s VPN client. It doesn’t change the experience, but it does make it easier to use the service on your system.

Conclusion

If you want a VPN service that gives you everything you want, then ExpressVPN is the best option. It has more than 3,000 servers spread out over 160 cities in 94 countries. You can get some of the fastest connection speeds from these servers. Even though the website says it’s the fastest VPN on Earth, we’re not sure if that’s true. However, it’s not too far off. When you use ExpressVPN, you don’t have to worry about your privacy or security because the clients use OpenVPN over UDP by default and strong encryption and authentication algorithms. ExpressVPN is one of the best VPNs, and it’s not hard to see why. It has 5 connections at once, a great Smart DNS service to unblock geo-restricted content, P2P support, features like Network Lock and Stealth Servers, and arguably the best customer support service in the whole industry. The only bad thing about it is that it costs a lot. But with a 30-day money-back guarantee and a 7-day free trial for iOS users, you have plenty of time to try out the service fully.

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