Is it worth buying ExpressVPN? We take a look at this popular VPN provider and give our honest opinion
The world of VPN providers is overwhelming - there are so many options and all of them seem to offer pretty much the same thing.
ExpressVPN is probably the biggest VPN provider name out there, and the company runs adverts across various platforms. Consequently, lots of people who want a VPN are wondering if ExpressVPN is worth getting.
So we took the plunge and decided to download ExpressVPN to see if it’s actually useful. We’ll be looking at the desktop app as well as the mobile app. We'll also not be using any affiliate links in this guide, so you can be sure that we're being entirely honest about our opinions.
If you want to know our quick thoughts before we get into the full guide - we think ExpressVPN is worth downloading if your primary purpose for having a VPN is because you want to stream content from different countries because of how quick the speed is in different countries, but you will find cheaper VPN providers which are still really good, such as NordVPN and Surfshark.
Now let's get into the full guide:
Locations
One of the most important things to consider about a VPN is what locations it gives you access to, and one of the great things about ExpressVPN is the number of locations that you get access to.
For example, there are 4 different United Kingdom locations that you can connect to, including East London and Midlands.
You can also change your location to more than 40 European countries, 5 Middle East and Africa countries, 16 countries in the Americas, and 26 Asia Pacific countries.
At the moment, you can choose between 94 different countries with ExpressVPN. This is more than what is offered by some of the major competitors in the VPN space such as NordVPN, but not quite as much as offered by some other competitors such as SurfShark.
Speed
Speed is a major factor to consider when choosing a VPN, especially if you’re planning to use the VPN to stream content. There is no point in being able to watch Netflix in France if the movie isn’t loading properly.
To begin with we tested our normal internet speed when connected to the wifi using the speed test provided by Google, and it came out as the following:
We then connected to a few different ExpressVPN servers in different countries, and here are the speeds we had:
Connected to another United Kingdom server:
Connected to a Mexican server:
What are the third-party reviews like for ExpressVPN?
We always refer to third party review sites for guides like this because it’s really useful to see what other verified customers think of a product or service. We’re delighted to see that ExpressVPN has a verified Trustpilot profile, which means that the customer service team can reply directly to reviews on the profile.
Currently, ExpressVPN is sitting with an ‘Excellent’ rating on Trustpilot from more than 22,000 reviews. We’re impressed by that rating, but we’re also really impressed to see how many reviews a member of the ExpressVPN has replied to. This includes good and bad reviews.
How much does ExpressVPN cost?
The elephant in the room is that ExpressVPN is one of the most expensive VPN providers on the market - it’s quite complicated to pinpoint what the exact price of the service is because the price differs quite a bit depending on what plan you choose, but as an overview:
If you pay for 1 month only of ExpressVPN, you’ll get it for $12.95, which is £10.67. If you pay for 6 months, you’ll get it for $9.99 per month, which is £8.23. If you pay for 12 months, you’ll get it for $8.32 per month, which is £6.85 per month.
Compare this to other VPN providers on the market and you’ll see that it’s quite expensive - NordVPN offers a 1 year plan which you can get for $6.99 per month, which is just £5.76 per month.
How does the 30 days free offer work?
One thing which is promoted heavily by ExpressVPN is that you can use the service free for 30 days. This is true, but we wouldn’t necessarily describe it as a true 30 days free offer, because you do have to pay for the service upfront. You can then get your money back within 30 days if you want to cancel.
This is still a good offer, but there are VPN providers out there which offer a truly free trial which requires no upfront payment. This includes Surfshark, which offers a 7 day free trial without the need to pay.
So, is it worth buying ExpressVPN?
Overall we'd say that if you're looking for a safe VPN provider with a great customer service team and good speeds in various countries across the world, ExpressVPN is an excellent choice. The 30 day money back guarantee is also really useful as you can give it a shot and if you don't like it, you'll get your money back.
However, if you're not too bothered about a slight drop in speed then NordVPN is cheaper and offers the same 30 day money back guarantee that ExpressVPN does, so might be a better choice for people who are money-conscious.
What do you think of ExpressVPN? Let us know in the comments!
Finn H
Finn is the editor of You Well and has been writing about travel, health, and more for over 10 years.