ExpressVPN Features and Speeds 2022

Overall
4.8
  • Speed
    (4.9)
  • Security
    (4.9)
  • Stability
    (5)
  • Streaming
    (4.5)
  • Downloading
    (4.6)
  • Brand
    (5)
  • Design
    (4.9)
Comments Rating 5 (2 reviews)

Summary

ExpressVPN is a little more expensive than others but it certainly delivers – it has a huge network, it’s very fast, and secure, unblocks Netflix and just about everything else, supports torrents, is confirmed by an audit to not hold any logs, offers apps for all platforms, and is easy to use. In short, it’s a quality VPN which delivers in just about every area and has the features most VPN users like to see.

Pros

+Lots of locations, more than most providers.
+Split Tunneling Supported
+Can Bypass tough restrictions
+Great Speeds
+Easy to use top-quality apps for almost everything
+Excellent customer support

Cons

-Slightly Expensive
-Browser extensions not independent of the desktop app

ExpressVPN is a well-known and well-marketed brand. It’s reportedly the fastest VPN, with over 3K servers in 94 countries. ExpressVPN offers a custom protocol named “Lightway”. It’s designed to get you by the toughest of restrictions, even in China or a strict work environment. We have heard it’s faster than Wireguard. The website and the apps look great. Is it the best?

ExpressVPN Features:

Features:
Lowest Price:£6.19 p/m with 1 year upfront
Money Back Guarantee30 Days
Does this VPN Keep logs?NO, proven by Audit.
Number of servers3000+ Reportedly
Countries94
Number of devices per license5
Kill switchYes
Dedicated IP?No
DNS, WebRTC Leak Protection?Yes
Obfuscation?No
Based in countryVirgin Islands (British)
SupportLive Chat, KB, Email
Supports Streaming?Yes
Supports Torrents?Yes - Any Location
Supports Tor In-App?No
Audited?Yes
RAM Disks?Yes (Reportedly)
Port SpeedsA mixture of 1 and 10Gbps port speeds.
Warrant Canary?No
Port Forwarding?No
Protocols Supported?OpenVPN TCP/UDP, Lightway TCP/UDP, IKEv2

Network and Speeds:

ExpressVPN claims to be “blazing-fast” with over 3k servers in 98 different countries, albeit some being “virtual” and routed from the nearest location. We will soon find out.

At the moment, ExpressVPN doesn’t support Wireguard, and it claim’s its Lightway protocol is faster. By default, the app is set to “Automatic (recommended)”. We select “Lightway – UDP” to be sure we are testing using the fastest option available.

ExpressVPN Desktop Interface

Each location was tested 12 times over three different protocols, servers, and providers in the same region. Each test is an average based on those. We test over a 1Gbit line from within the UK on a reasonably powerful system.

Tested using a 1 Gbps line:

Location:DownloadUploadLatencyProtocolISP
USA - NY530Mbps45.9Mbps112msLightway - UDPIPXO LIMITED
USA - Chicago387Mbps46.2Mbps133msLightway - UDPGigeNET
USA - FL504Mbps38.7Mbps127msLightway - UDPIPXO LIMITED
USA - LA515Mbps34.3Mbps168msLightway - UDPLatitude.sh
Canada - Toronto531Mbps23.3Mbps122msLightway - UDPIPXO LIMITED
Canada - Vancouver381Mbps13.2Mbps179msLightway - UDPeSecureData
Argentina - (Virtual)423Mbps28.6Mbps252msLightway - UDPLatitude.sh LTDA
Mexico351Mbps39.1Mbps174msLightway - UDPLatitude.sh LTDA
Brazil443Mbps35.6Mbps218msLightway - UDPLatitude.sh LTDA
United Kingdom587Mbps49.1Mbps33msLightway - UDPClouvider Limited
Germany585Mbps49.1Mbps42msLightway - UDPIPXO LIMITED
Netherlands535Mbps49.0Mbps31msLightway - UDPClouvider Limited
France542Mbps48.9Mbps34msLightway - UDPIPXO LIMITED
Sweden585Mbps48.9Mbps59msLightway - UDPM247
Italy523Mbps49.1Mbps47msLightway - UDPIPXO LIMITED
AU - Sydney520Mbps27.9Mbps283msLightway - UDPGSL Networks Pty
AU - Melbourne447Mbps31.2Mbps353msLightway - UDPGSL Networks Pty
AU - Brisbane532Mbps30.4Mbps291msLightway - UDPGSL Networks Pty
Hong Kong474Mbps14.4Mbps311msLightway - UDPIPXO LIMITED
Japan503Mbps9.64Mbps276msLightway - UDPIPXO LIMITED
South Korea371Mbps25.4Mbps315msLightway - UDPPsychz Networks
South Africa529Mbps13.8Mbps179msLightway - UDPHeficed
Israel577Mbps44.9Mbps84msLightway - UDPIPXO LIMITED

Lightway is indeed very fast and connects almost instantaneously – I think the longest it took to connect was around 4 seconds, but 99% of the time, it was near instant, which is very impressive.

Browsing and streaming were snappy; Argentina’s speeds were very impressive, but the difference here is that Argentina is routed via Brazil, which is why it’s classed as “Virtual”.

Top 3 Fastest VPNs:

Provider:Speed:StabilityPurchase:
9/10 - Very Fast9/10 - Very StableBuy Now
9/10 - Very Fast9/10 - Very StableBuy Now
9/10 - Very Fast9/10 - Very StableBuy Now

2 Comments

  1. Seth April 17, 2023
  2. VPNMagic May 30, 2023

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