![]() ![]() The provider also recently bumped its simultaneous connection allowance up to eight, which is slightly more generous than NordVPN’s six simultaneous connections, but considerably less than the unlimited simultaneous connections allowed by others like Surfshark, PIA and IPVanish. If you want the best for streaming, ExpressVPN is a good bet because it effortlessly unblocks all sorts of streaming content, including Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video. We like how the app always connects in a snap, which isn’t always the case with other VPNs - like Surfshark - which often struggle to connect immediately on the first attempt. The app settings are easy to navigate and finding a server location is straightforward. Its minimalist interface is simple to use, whether you’re an advanced VPN user or if you’ve never used one before. In addition to offering excellent privacy protections, ExpressVPN delivers the most consistent and streamlined VPN app experiences across platforms. And ExpressVPN’s TrustedServer technology elevates the protections of the traditional RAM-only server architecture by reinstalling the entire software stack with every reboot. The provider recently upgraded its proprietary open-source Lightway VPN protocol with Quantum Protection to help guard against future threats from quantum computers, along with encryption enhancements to better protect against threats like eavesdropping and man-in-the-middle attacks. In addition to its transparency efforts, ExpressVPN’s privacy protections are top-notch and forward-thinking. ExpressVPN says it collects no logs, a claim bolstered by a 2022 no-logs audit by KPMG. The company’s latest independent audit is slated to be published soon, building on its industry leading audit count. The DNS leaks were concerning, but the decisive response from ExpressVPN was illustrative of the company’s commitment to transparency and user privacy. During our tests with the updated app, we detected no leaks with or without split tunneling enabled. Shortly thereafter, ExpressVPN was able to roll out a fix to its Windows app that resolved the DNS issue and reinstated the split tunneling feature. We were impressed with the transparency with which the company acknowledged the situation, promptly publishing a blog post and a comprehensive troubleshooting guide. We notified ExpressVPN, who immediately disabled split tunneling from its Windows app as a temporary solution while engineers got to work on a permanent fix. This meant that our true IP address, general location and the websites we visited were exposed. When we most recently evaluated ExpressVPN for privacy and security, we uncovered an alarming bug in its Windows app that sent our DNS requests to our ISP instead of to ExpressVPN’s dedicated DNS servers when we had the split tunneling feature enabled. Either way, ExpressVPN’s speeds were still plenty fast enough for general browsing as well as for more data-intensive activities like streaming, gaming and videoconferencing - especially if you use Lightway. Overall, speeds were generally faster with relatively close server locations like New York and the UK, and slower to distant locations like Australia and Singapore. On the other end of the spectrum, the slowest speeds we measured were through OpenVPN on Windows, at a 48% speed loss. ![]() Overall, we registered the fastest speeds through ExpressVPN’s proprietary Lightway protocol on MacOS (7% speed loss). Still, ExpressVPN’s speeds were largely consistent and aligned with our expectations across protocols and server locations. However, we saw substantially better speeds from NordVPN (11% speed loss) and Surfshark (17% speed loss). This is still fast, considering that many VPNs can slash your internet speeds by 50% or more. In 2024, we measured a 24.875% average speed loss with ExpressVPN. Though fast enough for most any online activity, ExpressVPN’s speeds are not quite as fast as some of its competitors, based on our latest speed tests. NordVPN is more in line with ExpressVPN on price at $13 a month or $100 annually (after a promotional $60 price for the first year). The service costs $13 a month, $60 every six months or $100 a year, which is considerably more expensive than the $11 a month or $60 a year that Surfshark charges. But for the best, you’ll need to pay a premium - ExpressVPN is one of the most expensive VPN providers currently on the market. It’s also excellent for streaming and the easiest VPN app to use on any platform. It’s a veteran VPN provider that consistently demonstrates a strong commitment to privacy and transparency. ExpressVPN is currently CNET’s pick for the best VPN overall, scoring an 8.8/10 on our VPN rating scale. ![]()
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