Founded in 2009 and headquartered in the British Virgin Islands, ExpressVPN is an industry leader in the
VPN segment. A reputed and innovative VPN provider, does it still live up to its reputation after 10 years
in the business? Our team set out to explore and came back with the following review.
ExpressVPN Speed
We tested the ExpressVPN server speed across multiple geographical locations and theirs is one of the
fastest we have ever seen in the VPN segment. The tests were run using a 50Mbps wired connection
using 256-bit OpenVPN. The speed results from servers nearer to our locations were excellent, and the
speed maintained its range as the distance grew between locations. Reduction in speed from long-
distance locations was minimal, barely noticeable.
If you want the best speed from their fastest servers, select the “recommended server” feature from the
Dashboard. The system will automatically recommend the best speed servers based on your location.
ExpressVPN Security
ExpressVPN server speed is excellent but what about security? Presently, ExpressVPN uses SHA-512
HMAC authentication with 4096-bit RSA key and AES 256-bit encryption – the unbreakable industry
standard without compromising good performance. They also follow the Perfect Forward Secrecy
protocol received through the Diffie-Hellman key exchange.
There are four VPN protocols available in the ExpressVPN app – OpenVPN UDP, OpenVPN TCP, PPTP,
and IPsec/L2TP. But you can use the “Automatic” mode for the ExpressVPN system to select the ideal
VPN protocol based on your network settings.
Next, they have a “Network Lock” kill switch feature which helps to keep your data secure that will block
all the incoming traffic in a situation where the VPN connection drops. This helps to ensure data
encryption. The feature is available in Linux, macOS, Windows, and Routers. Our team checked this
feature and it worked smoothly!
ExpressVPN Privacy
British Virgin Islands (BVI) is a self-governing and independent entity that follows strict business and
individual privacy protection laws. Due to this, it is not mandatory for them to store and retain user data
for law enforcement purposes as it is required for US or UK headquartered VPN companies. BVI has
strong data secrecy policies. Being an ExpressVPN user, your data falls under privacy jurisdiction BVI is
not a part of the 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes, and 14 Eyes surveillance.
As such, ExpressVPN follows the “no data logs” policy – we verified it! They never log IP addresses,
browsing history, DNS queries, metadata, and traffic destination. This is also proven from the 2017 news
when the Turkish police seized one of the ExpressVPN servers to retrieve data in the Andrey Karlov,
Russian Ambassador to Turkey, murder case. ExpressVPN officials gave the statement that they are not
bound by Turkish law and therefore, they have no data to provide.
ExpressVPN Servers
ExpressVPN has a wide and authoritative network of servers. It has around 3,000 servers spread over 94
countries and 160 locations. Best server coverage is available in North America and Europe, followed by
Asia Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, and South America. On their server page, you can see the VPN
protocols of each server and their online availability status.
The servers are run in RAM disk mode, which means that nothing will be stored on any hard drive. Any
time the RAM is powered off, all the data in the server gets wiped off and starts afresh. It is referred to
as the TrustedServer feature in the industry. According to us, it is the perfect way to follow the “no log,
no data” feature.
Do remember that there are no dedicated IP server options available yet. It has browser extensions for
Safari, Firefox, and Chrome. The ExpressVPN Android and iOS apps are excellent.
Netflix Streaming
ExpressVPN streams Netflix perfectly. It is currently the highest recommended VPN to stream Netflix
due to its 24×7 access to Netflix and excellent speed. If you face any network-wide blocks, contact their
Support system and they will tell guide you towards the best server.
Dedicated VPN Router
If you want unlimited connections, you have to choose their dedicated VPN router app with which all
the connected devices will have location anonymity, new IP address, and encrypted traffic. You can
easily switch between VPN servers, access kill switch, and also have the split tunneling feature.
In conclusion, ExpressVPN is a robust, military-grade, and secure VPN service provider.