With the growing number of VPN providers on the market, it is not easy to make the right choice: all claim to be the best VPN. Moreover, this choice is not to be taken lightly given the importance of this tool to guarantee your anonymity and online security.

To help you out, we've tested one of the best-known VPNs – ExpressVPN – extensively and no detail has been left out. Does this supplier offer a quality service? Is it reliable? Are its prices justified? Discover now our opinion on ExpressVPN, after a test over the whole of 2020. You will know our feelings and our impressions after daily use of the software.

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Introducing ExpressVPN VPN

ExpressVPN was created in 2009. Its goal has always been to defend the rights of Internet users and promote freedom on the Internet. With this in mind, he proudly displays his support for various non-profit organizations such as the Internet Defense League and OpenMedia. Not only is it the most popular VPN in 2022, but it is also the best defender of internet freedom.

In 13 years, the company based in the British Virgin Islands has acquired great expertise in cybersecurity. Today, ExpressVPN has a large network of over 3,000 servers in 94 countries and – according to it – a fast and reliable connection. In order to understand why ExpressVPN VPN is one of the biggest players in the field of Virtual Private Networks and to form our own opinion on ExpressVPN, we tested its service.

How to install the VPN?

Start everything with the installation and configuration of ExpressVPN which is very simple and fast. Many video tutorials are also available in the “Support” tab on the official website. Even for a novice like me, it only took me a few minutes to get used to it. It's very simple, everyone will get there without a hitch. Even the most computer novices.

© ExpressVPN

To install ExpressVPN VPN, you will first need to purchase a subscription to create your account. Then, click the link in the welcome email to download the app or go directly to the ExpressVPN website by logging into your account. Then open the downloaded file and let yourself be guided to complete the installation.

Once done, the ExpressVPN app will open automatically after installation is complete. To use it, you will need to configure your VPN by simply entering your activation code received in the email following your subscription. Here, the installation and configuration are complete. As you can see, it does not require technical skills.

Installing the app on iOS or Android is even easier. The only difference is that the app download is from App Store or Google Play, depending on your device. Then, all you have to do is enter your credentials (username and password) and you're done. It's even simpler, our ExpressVPN review is very positive.

© iPhone

We performed our ExpressVPN test on Mac, but installation on other OSes is obviously similar and won't take more than a few minutes. There are, in fact, several applications depending on your operating system: macOS, Windows, iOS, Android and Linux. Note that ExpressVPN is the one that offers the most compatibility on the market – including game consoles or Smart TVs.

How to use the ExpressVPN application?

Once the installation is complete, you will be redirected to the application (mobile or computer). Its interface is very intuitive and leaves no room for doubt about its use. There is therefore an ON / OFF button to connect and a list of 160 locations in the menu. We did the test by connecting to a French server based in Strasbourg. With one click, you can activate ExpressVPN. In terms of simplicity, it doesn't get any simpler. Our ExpressVPN review is still positive here.

© iPhone

By connecting to one of the servers, your IP address will then be immediately masked and you will get a new one in the chosen country. This change of IP address is crucial since it allows you to be completely anonymous on the net. Connecting to ExpressVPN will provide you with foolproof security thanks to the encryption of your data, but we will come back to this later.

In the settings, you have access to some interesting features such as Network Lock and Split Tunneling, parameters that we will come back to later. Several VPN protocols are offered (UDP and TCP OpenVPN, IKEv2 and IPsec), but ExpressVPN offers to choose it for you. Apart from computer experts, it is better to leave this task to him.

The application is updated regularly to correct any bugs and ensure the best possible operation. Like all apps, make sure you have the latest up-to-date version. So far, we are very happy with how easy it is to install and use the tool. Especially since the detailed installation guides in the “Support” section of the site are of great help.

The security imagined by ExpressVPN

Let's continue this ExpressVPN review by focusing on a major point of VPNs: digital security. ExpressVPN is actively committed to defending digital freedoms and strives to ensure the privacy of all of its users. It is therefore mandatory that its privacy policy and its service are up to par and in accordance with its values.

Privacy Policy

ExpressVPN's privacy policy is easily accessible and viewable on its official website. Unlike other competitors, it is above all very clear. We know directly which data are retained and which are not.

ExpressVPN is very transparent and the audit carried out in June 2019 by PwC, which can be viewed on its website, confirms the provider's statements on its privacy policy. It is the only VPN to offer so much transparency on this point. This is a very strong argument that really convinced us in our complete test and opinion on ExpressVPN.

ExpressVPN Screenshot © iPhone

The provider explicitly writes that it does not keep any activity logs or connection logs of its users. Rather than hiding the truth, ExpressVPN even informs us about the information collected, namely: the date of connection to its service, the choice of locations, the number of data (in MB) that is transferred per day and the application version. .

This information is only intended to improve the quality of the service and its efficiency. They do not in any way allow you to trace your identity or know your online activities. In this way, no one will be able to know which site you have visited. Neither your ISP nor ExpressVPN will be able to accurately link any given activity on their server to your name.

The 5 VPN features for effective protection

The application has different features that are supposed to guarantee the anonymity of its users and a secure connection wherever you are. In the rest of this ExpressVPN review, we have identified 5 in particular. They illustrate all the strength and interest of choosing a VPN like this to protect yourself on the web.

Data encryption

Any VPN that respects its users must offer effective data encryption on the internet. This is the case with ExpressVPN, which offers a high level of encryption: this is AES-256 technology. It's so secure that even supercomputers wouldn't have enough universe-wide time to decipher all the possible combinations.

It is one of the strongest encryption standards today. It is used by the US government and international banks to guarantee the utmost confidentiality of exchanges. By activating the ExpressVPN software, you will therefore be entitled to this quality protection which has no flaws. In more than a decade, no flaws have been found.

Whether you are at home or on public Wi-Fi, your online activities will be indecipherable to others (the authorities, your Internet service provider or even hackers). You can watch streaming videos, download and even play on the internet without any risk. All your personal data (passwords, shared files, photos, …) will also remain safe.

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IP Address Hiding

When connecting to a server, ExpressVPN will automatically hide your IP address and assign you a new one. The latter will be in the country of your choice. If you connect to a server in Canada, your IP address will then be Canadian and the sites you visit will indeed locate you in Canada. It's a way to travel virtually to another country, without leaving home.

Note that for a dedicated server, ExpressVPN has thousands of different IP addresses. The provider does not have a dedicated or static IP address. When you connect to the VPN, the best available IP address is randomly chosen for you in the desired location. This multiplicity of IP addresses and this alternation is fundamental to guarantee ultimate anonymity.

ExpressVPN is a good solution to stop revealing your identity and remain anonymous when browsing the internet.

Network Lock (or Kill Switch)

ExpressVPN's Network Lock, also called Kill Switch by other vendors, can be compared to an emergency stop button. Following a Wi-Fi cut, your computer going to sleep or a network signal failure, the VPN connection may be interrupted for a few seconds.

During this disconnection, you are no longer protected and you are vulnerable. Since your IP address is visible, your Internet service provider can trace it back to you. It is to avoid exposing your data that ExpressVPN has adopted the Network Lock. The latter will block all internet traffic upon detection of a VPN failure, even of short duration. As soon as the VPN is reconnected, your internet traffic will resume normally.

ExpressVPN app settings © iPhone

At VPN ExpressVPN, you have the option to enable this feature in the app settings. This feature is useful to ensure that your identity and personal information are protected all the time. This is particularly the case when you do so-called risky activities such as banking transactions. Now let's turn this ExpressVPN review to the famous TrustedServer technology.

TrustedServer technology

The basis of VPNs lies in their servers. That's good, since ExpressVPN has more than 3,000 servers around the world, a pretty impressive number. But are they of high quality, i.e. both private and secure? With its TrustedServer technology, it is clear that yes.

Thanks to this technology, ExpressVPN's servers run on RAM and not on the hard drive. Thus, each time the servers are restarted, all data is erased. This new standard has been audited by PwC, which has certified the reliability of this technological standard.

Finally, to guarantee zero-risk navigation without recording your data, private and memoryless DNS are run on each server. ExpressVPN doesn't just offer a basic level of security. With its TrustedServer standard, it goes beyond and offers an additional level of confidentiality. Again, our opinion is positive on ExpressVPN, as few players have taken the time to implement such technology.

Split Tunneling

To finish on ExpressVPN's handy safe browsing features, we'll talk about the Split Tunneling feature that lets you better manage your VPN connection.

Normally, all applications and connected devices benefit from the VPN connection once it is activated. With Split Tunneling, you will have the ability to target traffic going through your VPN. To do this, you will only have to choose the apps that require VPN protection from the app settings.

ExpressVPN Screenshot © iPhone

It can be Safari and WhatsApp or your messaging app and Google Chrome, it's up to you to choose according to your needs. In order not to impact their connection speed, some Internet users will choose to route VPN traffic only for certain activities (e.g. streaming, downloading), for example. Split Tunneling therefore offers each user a personalized and optimized VPN connection.

With this in mind, ExpressVPN's browser extensions on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are also handy for targeting your VPN traffic only from your browser. They even feature an extra dose of security by protecting you from WebRTC leaks from your source IP.

Bypassing censorship

So far, our opinion of ExpressVPN is very positive when it comes to security. What about its long-term reliability? Can it be used to circumvent internet censorship? This is what we will see in the rest of our ExpressVPN test and review.

In recent years, censorship has become pervasive on the internet. Between governments and ISPs, it becomes difficult to access all the web. In France, this is for example the case of the Sci-Hub platform which is completely blocked by ISPs. A VPN like ExpressVPN will allow you to access all this universe that can only be found from abroad. To continue our review of ExpressVPN, here is an update on government censorship.

Government censorship

In some countries, internet censorship and surveillance is an integral part of people's lives. To remedy this, the VPN is the best solution since it hides your IP address and encrypts your data, so that governments cannot know who you are or what you are doing. The same goes for ISPs, who cannot access your connection history.

Thanks to the secure tunnel provided by your Virtual Private Network, censorship and espionage can no longer apply. Of course, not all VPNs manage to circumvent the censorship in place, some are more efficient than others.

ExpressVPN is one of the few providers that works well in countries with strict digital censorship like China, Tunisia, Turkey and many others. Thanks to numerous VPN protocols and powerful servers, it is able to bypass censorship and users will be able to access sites and applications normally prohibited or restricted in these territories such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or Twitter.

ExpressVPN Screenshot © iPhone

Whether you live abroad or just go on holiday in a territory with internet censorship, with ExpressVPN you will have no problem bypassing the blocks in place. You will also be safe from online spying. This is obviously the very principle of the VPN, but at ExpressVPN, it is just beyond reproach.

Network restrictions

When you connect to certain networks such as those of companies or universities, restrictions may apply to filter the websites visited. Often, these filters prevent access to social networks or e-commerce sites.

The solution to circumvent these restrictions is to activate ExpressVPN. It manages to encrypt all your data and allows you to access your favorite websites in seconds. The stable and secure connection is ideal for bypassing all the bans of the network you are connected to.

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ExpressVPN: what impact on your speed?

VPNs are known to slow down your connection speed. However, remember that quality VPNs will not have such a negative impact on your speed. Now let’s take a look at ExpressVPN with our take on this key point.

Speed ​​Test

ExpressVPN is often called the fastest VPN in the industry. So we ran a thorough and thorough speed test to measure its performance and verify these claims. To carry out this test, we were based in France. We first measured our connection speed from a Speed ​​Test tool without VPN in download (249.12 Mb/s) and upload (210.83 Mb/s).

We then connected to a French ExpressVPN server and then measured these indicators, i.e. 207.05 Mb/s in download and 180.10 Mb/s in upload. You can see right away that the difference is really minimal and that the speed remains really high performance.

We did the same experiment with a server located in the United States this time. Given the geographical distance, we did not expect such results. In download, we obtained 119.07 Mb/s and in upload 95.55 Mb/s. Attractive figures that will allow you to access all your activities without slowing down.

© iPhone

From our tests, we can say that the speeds of the ExpressVPN app are excellent, whether in terms of throughput, download speed or very low latency. One thing is certain, the difference in speed with and without ExpressVPN is quite difficult to notice.

Streaming with ExpressVPN VPN

VPNs are often used for video streaming since they allow access to all content from around the world, provided you have a large network of servers and fast connection speed. This is a strategic element in our ExpressVPN review.

With over 3,000 servers located in 94 countries and unlimited bandwidth on all of its servers, ExpressVPN delivers. In addition, our speed tests confirmed its speed, regardless of the location chosen.

ExpressVPN is all the more interesting for streaming as it manages to access Netflix without problems. And when you know how well the platform manages to detect VPNs and proxies more and more simply, it is an asset in favor of ExpressVPN.

This means that you can continue to watch your series and films from your library even abroad while traveling or on a business trip. From home, it will also be possible to access Netflix catalogs to vary the content a little by selecting the appropriate server. ExpressVPN also unblocks other video platforms like Hulu and BBC iPlayer.

Access to Hulu in France via ExpressVPN © iPhon

The VPN manages to unblock foreign TV channels like RTS and French TV channels when you are outside France. In addition to that, you can also stream sports live by visiting DAZN, beIN Sports, ESPN and all other streaming services. Its state-of-the-art technology manages to bypass geoblocks in one click. Wherever you are, you won't miss any of your favorite programs.

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The effectiveness of its customer support

We continue this opinion of ExpressVPN with customer service, a must-have for all the best VPNs.

Although ExpressVPN is an easy-to-use VPN, no one is immune to technical problems or simple questions. Rather than spending hours solving the problem on your own, ExpressVPN provides live chat available 24/7. This concerns both existing customers and the curious who are still hesitant to take the plunge.

Day or night, you can count on the appropriate advice and solutions from the technical teams. To reach them as soon as possible, go to the supplier's official website and click on the tab at the bottom right. A chat window will then appear and you will be connected with an advisor (not a robot).

If your request is not urgent, you can also email Customer Support at support@expressvpn.zendesk.com

Messaging is not the only way to solve your worries. ExpressVPN has a very comprehensive “help” section with:

ExpressVPN impresses us even more with its efficient customer service and instant responses.

Bugs with ExpressVPN? What to do?

In order to make this ExpressVPN review complete, we want to give you some tips to help you if you ever encounter problems with ExpressVPN. Although it is the best VPN on the market, it is not perfect, and can sometimes encounter some difficulties.

The first “problem” can be, in some cases, long connection times. In such a case, simply change the VPN protocol to get a faster one. The brand new Lightway (already available on Mac) connects in a maximum of 2 seconds, which really changes connection times that can be encountered with other protocols. In addition, it will offer excellent speeds, much more interesting than those of other protocols.

If you find that your browsing, streaming or downloading speed is too affected, consider performing the speed test directly from the application to see which server will give you the best performance.

In case you run into another issue with ExpressVPN, you can always call on their great customer support that we featured above. As we said earlier in the review, they will get back to you in just a few seconds and get your issue with the software sorted out very quickly.

Our opinion on ExpressVPN prices

ExpressVPN has everything you would expect from a VPN in terms of security, reliability and speed. All of these features come at a price and its pricing proves it. Fortunately, a few tips can get you one of the best VPNs at a fair price. That said, it must be recognized that it is not the cheapest on the market. It voluntarily positions itself in the premium niche, and it is therefore understandable.

3 price offers

ExpressVPN offers three subscriptions that vary according to the duration and the price:

It goes without saying, with a -49% reduction on the initial price, the offer which costs $6.67 monthly is the most attractive for your wallet. And even if you wanted to try the application for 1 month, this option is still the best thanks to the “satisfied or refunded” guarantee to which we will come back right after.

The long-term commitment will protect you for a total of 15 months since 3 months free are offered.

© ExpressVPN

There are many ways to pay for your ExpressVPN VPN subscription. ExpressVPN allows credit card, PayPal, and bitcoin payments for enhanced anonymity. The payment methods are so varied that it is also possible to pay via Alipay, UnionPay, Maestro, Mint, etc.

To discover its price list, it’s here:

See the ExpressVPN offer

Like we said, ExpressVPN is not a low-end technology provider. That said, it's also far from the most expensive. Its prices are justified by the maintenance of its vast network, maintenance costs, available customer support, but above all by a superior user experience. In terms of security and confidentiality, you will not be disappointed: it is a step ahead of all the others.

The 30-day money-back guarantee

ExpressVPN is not a free VPN and its prices may put some people off. ExpressVPN's unconditional "satisfied or refunded" statement that applies as soon as you subscribe to the formula should therefore delight its users.

Indeed, for 30 days, ExpressVPN gives its new users the opportunity to test its service and obtain a refund within 30 days of purchase in the event of dissatisfaction. If the VPN is not efficient in your opinion (to be demonstrated…), that you do not like its application or that you simply regret your subscription, you can obtain your refund, subject to respecting the deadline.

In this situation, you can contact ExpressVPN customer support via email or live chat. Notify them of the refund request. They won't ask you any questions or try to change your mind about ExpressVPN. We tested this 30-day money-back guarantee and we can confirm it: it works perfectly. Within a few days, our fees were completely re-credited to our account.

Test ExpressVPN 30 days

In our opinion, this 30-day guarantee at ExpressVPN is essential to discover the application and all the advantages it can offer. This test is the best way to make up your own mind about this security provider, so feel free to take advantage of this risk-free trial version.

5 parallel connections

While the ExpressVPN subscription may seem expensive to you, the provider's 5 simultaneous connections should lower the bill. Indeed, the ExpressVPN application can be used on 5 different electronic devices at the same time thanks to a single account. That's a tiny bit less than its rivals CyberGhost VPN and NordVPN which offer 7 and 6 respectively. For a more detailed comparison between the services, be sure to read our NordVPN vs ExpressVPN duel.

In any case, these simultaneous connections will quickly find their usefulness since we all have several devices or relatives who would also need a VPN. As a bonus, this makes your purchase profitable at the same time. In the end, it will cost you less than one euro per device per month: it's a very good plan.

© ExpressVPN

In addition to these 5 simultaneous connections, your subscription allows you to install ExpressVPN on an unlimited number of devices. You will have no trouble finding the compatible application for a model or for a specific medium since it is available on MacOS, iOS, Windows, Android etc.

Thanks to its unlimited installations, you or those around you can very easily activate it as soon as you need it without wasting time. If the 5 terminals that can be connected to ExpressVPN are not enough for you, you can consider purchasing a second subscription or installing ExpressVPN on your router.

This last trick will allow you to cover all the devices connected to your Wi-Fi network and protect your whole family day and night without even thinking about it. With its specially designed application on the router, ExpressVPN differs from other players who generally only offer a manual configuration that is quite complicated to set up. Thanks to its router compatibility, the VPN software allows you to extend your protection to your connected objects, including the most common Google Home, Amazon Echo and the Ring camera.

Now on to our ExpressVPN review and conclusion.

Verdict: ExpressVPN, one of the best VPNs?

Following our comprehensive test of the ExpressVPN provider, we understand why it is so popular with its tens of millions of users around the world . On our side, whether it's video streaming, downloading or changing location, we were won over by the reliability of its service and its application.

Apart from its prices and only 5 simultaneous connections, it is therefore difficult to find other weak points in this VPN. In our opinion, this is one of the best choices you can make in 2022. If you want maximum privacy with maximum security, this is the best choice to make.

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We hope this ExpressVPN review has been helpful in making your choice. If you're looking for a fast VPN that guarantees complete protection of your online identity and data, ExpressVPN is definitely for you. Finally, remember that for a risk-free purchase, you may be entitled to the 30-day “satisfied or refunded” guarantee.

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Overall Rating