ExpressVPN Review

VPN
1

I had used IPVanish, they were great a year ago, but around the time they updated their Windows 10 client I have had nothing but issues with connection speed. Additionally to get client installs working required me to disabling some security features in Windows. So…time to look around. I had locked my choice of VPN down to a IVPN and ExpressVPN. The lack of a native Android client (yet) on IVPN made the choice easy. I have done the OpenVPN setup, I just don’t like the lack of a user friendly client so opted to stay away from that setup with IVPN for now.

The client is uniform across every device I have used (Windows, Android, and Amazon FireOS). I would like to say I was quite happy that ExpressVPN is one of the few VPNs (that seem trustworthy) that actually had a client in the Amazon App Store for the Fire tablets. No more need for sideloading, manual updates, or sketchy OpenVPN clone clients. At first the speeds weren’t the greatest on the “Smart Location” server (New York). These speeds capped at about 12Mbps down and 10Mbps up. I have 150Mbps/15Mbps service. After hunting for other servers I found a few that provide roughly 60Mbps/15Mbps service throughout the US and Canada. DNS Leak tests were successful in that I am not leaking.

As of now, I am very happy with the service. I would still love to see them up the speed of their connections.

2

I’m very interested in ExpressVPN. How about DNS leaks in windows? Are they handled via the app or do you need to tinker with the connection settings? I use NordVPN currently but they seem to be having issue with resolving DNS requests recently. It’s unfortunate because the speed of their servers - providing you connect to one with a reduced server load - is stellar. I have a 100 Mbit connection and i can often reach that speed through their servers. However, bad DNS resolution means that loading a page often takes too long.

So basically my question is: have you had any (similar) DNS issues with ExpressVPN?

3

Agreed. I’ve been using them for about a month on Mac, PC and Android.

I had a few issues initially on a Win10 machine, but their support is amazing. I had answers and possible fixes within an hour. Then a no questions refund.

In the end, the issue wasn’t even with ExpressVPN, but with my Kaspersky anti-virus. Once I had removed Kaspersky, everything ran perfectly.

4

60Mbps only? Care to update after a few more days of use? Because I’ve heard Express VPN is pretty much the fastest VPN out there and I routinely am able to saturate my 100mbps connection on PIA. I’d expect Express to get more.

5

ExpressVPN is one of the few VPNs (that seem trustworthy)

Not sure about that. They claim to be a “no log” or “logless” or “zero log” VPN, but it’s all BS - ExpressVPN review
Edit: They are also using [fake server locations] (VPNs are Using Fake Server Locations | Restore Privacy)

6

I started on PIA but had issues. They only had a 7 day money back guarantee. I was waiting 3 to 4 days for responses to my issues. I am somewhat technical, so I had tried all configurations the recommended and some on my own. My issues were frequent disconnects and false indications that the VPN was working. They did refund me because I was working with them to fix the issue. At day 10 I requested the extend the money back to 30 days and the said no and refunded my credit card and canceled my service. So, here I am on ExpressVPN and glad they have a 30 day money back guarantee. I have a ticket open because the best I can get from all the protocol choices is a 50% reduction from my non VPN connected speeds. Will see how it goes.

7

Doesn’t ExpressVPN hand over logs if they request?

Im sure i heard somewhere around the internet about ExpressVPN not really doing anything against big guys.

I want at least a VPN that tries to stand against big guys, ExpressVPN giving right away up is not what i really would like to.

8

I am about to renew after my first year with them and have had zero issues. Speed is consistent and when I switch to a different continent there is minimal lag. I do leak tests sporadically and have not found one. They aren’t the cheapest, but in my book they are among the best.

9

I no longer use ExpressVPN and now use ProtonVPN. I can’t recommend them enough.

10

Everyone please report this copy-paste commission spam!

https://www.reddit.com/search/?q="Here%20is%20a%20consensus%20based"&type=comment

11

DNS leaks are handled by the app without any tweaking, although the settings are sparse. I have run several leak tests without any DNS leaks.

As for resolution, no problems at all. I haven’t had any problems with any site I have visited.

One random issue I have found on Android 7.1.1 on a Nexus 6P. The client tells me I have reached max connections for the account and need to either disconnect another device or buy an additional account. This happens with no devices connected randomly. If I swipe the app closed and reopen it goes away. This hasn’t happened on Windows nor on my Fire Tablet. My phone updated to Android 7.1.2 today and I haven’t seen the issue since. I will keep watching but to me is a minor annoyance.

12

It wouldn’t surprise me that they might be faster. I don’t run my VPN as always on so this is less of a concern to me. I use it only at certain times, usually for torrents, public hot spots, or if I don’t want my browsing tracked. I haven’t gotten around to reaching out to support to see if there is something up with their end points. I get roughly the same results on mobile that I do in Windows 10.

They have a speed test built into the client that tests all of their end points if you want to run it. I usually don’t because they have a ton of end points and it takes some time to complete. I wish that test allowed me to localize to say North America.

My wife actually uses Private Internet Access, signing up on her own before mentioning she wanted a VPN, and is quite happy. In the past I used PIA and had some speed issues. The other problem I ran into is that PIA leaked DNS addresses, even with DNS leak protection on. PIA actually strongly advised against turning on DNS Leak Protection because it made some OS changes. Whenever I looked at enabling that feature, it made me a little nervous. It may have gotten better since I left a year ago, but I can’t speak to any changes.

When I narrowed down my VPN options, I first looked at TorrentFreak’s annual privacy review Which VPN Providers Take Privacy Seriously in 2024? * TorrentFreak and then used the comparison chart on the website https://thatoneprivacysite.net/ maintained by /u/thatoneprivacyguy. Finally, I used any legit reviews I could find (and there aren’t many).

The way I see things is that no one VPN provider seems have it all. They usually have some mix of sketchy practices, outdated encryption, five eyes country locations, lack of clients, speed issues, and sometimes high-levels of paranoia. I tried to find a balance I was comfortable with. Speed is important to me, but it wasn’t my only reason for my options. I am honestly very happy at the times I do use the VPN. I feel a certain comfort level and my speeds aren’t racing a snail for last place.

Hope that helps, I went on a rant :-).

EDIT: For readability

13

Very interesting. Makes me a bit nervous. Curious how this will work out. Luckily I am not doing anything illegal. But still, this is worrying. Thanks for the link!

14

Please let us know what they say. I get between 40-50% of my Internet speed while on the VPN max. It will be interesting to hear if they have fixes of any time.

15

I heard some of that in my research but none of it proved out with sources. I recommend looking at https://thatoneprivacysite.net for their comparison chart and filtering for ExpressVPN. According to TorrentFreak below is feedback from the VPN provider (I left out the non-security related questions, see the link for full info). Does this help? I spent weeks agonizing before I made a decision on who to use.

  1. Do you keep ANY logs which would allow you to match an IP-address and a time stamp to a user/users of your service? If so, what information do you hold and for how long?

ExpressVPN is an anonymous, offshore, zero-log VPN service provider. We are in the business of keeping our customers private and secure. We do not possess information that would enable us to identify a user by an IP and timestamp produced as part of an investigation. ExpressVPN IPs are shared among customers, and we don’t have the ability to match a customer to an IP address. We designed our network to maximize privacy protection for our customers.

  1. Do you use any external visitor tracking, email providers or support tools that hold information about your users/visitors?

We use 3rd party website analytics tools such as Google Analytics. We use Zendesk for support tickets and Snapengage for live chat. We believe that these are secure platforms. Information about how you use the VPN itself (such as browsing history, traffic data or DNS queries) is never revealed to 3rd parties and is never logged or stored by ExpressVPN.

  1. In the event you receive a takedown notice (DMCA or other), how are these handled?

As we are a network service provider rather than a content host, there is nothing to take down. We also do not attempt to identify an ExpressVPN user in this case, report the user, or otherwise restrict service. Our customers should rest assured that their anonymity is protected.

  1. What steps are taken when a valid court order or subpoena requires your company to identify an active user of your service? Has this ever happened?

VPN companies receive subpoenas and other legal requests as a matter of regular occurrence. This is one of the most significant advantages of our BVI jurisdiction. A court order would need to take place in the BVI for it to be legally valid. If we receive a request from another jurisdiction, we let them know that we don’t maintain logs that would enable us to match an IP address to an ExpressVPN user.

  1. What is the most secure VPN connection and encryption algorithm you would recommend to your users?

In most cases we recommend (and default to) OpenVPN UDP. Our apps use a 4096-bit CA, AES-256-CBC encryption, TLSv1.2, and SHA512 signatures to authenticate our servers.

  1. How do you currently handle IPv6 connections and potential IPv6 leaks? Do you provide DNS leak protection and tools such as “kill switches” if a connection drops?

Yes, we call this leak protection feature “Network Lock”, and it is turned on by default. Network Lock prevents all types of traffic including IPv4, IPv6, and DNS from leaking outside of the VPN, such as when your Internet connection drops or in various additional scenarios where other VPNs might leak.

  1. Do you have physical control over your VPN servers and network or are they hosted by/accessible to a third party? Do you use your own DNS servers?

Our VPN servers are hosted by trusted data centers with strong security practices. The data center employees do not have server credentials, and the server disks are fully encrypted to mitigate any risks from physical seizure. We run our own zero-knowledge DNS on every server (no 3rd party DNS).

16

I haven’t used ZoneAlarm so I can’t speak to it.

17

No that’s very useful. I’m a PIA user myself so it’s good to see someone else talk about PIA and even offer some perspective on Express. I’ve always thought about switching, but Express is so $$$$

18

I got a quick response to test each protocol and to test different servers and to return their logs. I had that data already so, I retested again. And sent the data.

My Non-VPN speeds were also lower than normal, so I decided to reboot my Synology AC1900 Router. I found I need to reboot it about once a month otherwise my speeds tend to deteriorate. So after my reboot, all my speeds are back over 50 MB - include using AutoProtocol on ExpressVPN.

HTH

19

Cost is another issue. Always go for what’s in your means. As long as you are happy with the service, I would keep it. I would go to ipleak.net however to test for DNS and IP Leaks. If you are good, awesome. If not, contact support for help.