ExpressKeys

ExpressKeys is the password manager built by ExpressVPN’s security team, sold not as a separate product but as a feature of the ExpressVPN subscription - it comes bundled into the Advanced and Express Pro plans, with a direct in-app subscription also available through the iOS and Android apps. It started life in 2022 as a free add-on called ExpressVPN Keys, and was relaunched as a standalone app called ExpressKeys in February 2026 with its own audited codebase, passkey support, and item sharing.

Security

Your vault is encrypted client-side before it ever reaches ExpressVPN’s servers, and the company states it has no technical ability to decrypt it - a zero-knowledge design. Each vault is protected by a symmetric document key, which is itself wrapped by a root key derived from your vault password using PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA512 at 210,000 iterations. Cure53’s March 2026 audit flagged this key derivation as the review’s most significant cryptographic finding: PBKDF2, even at this iteration count, is not memory-hard, so an attacker with GPU or ASIC resources can brute-force a stolen, encrypted vault far more efficiently than against a memory-hard function like Argon2id. The 210,000-iteration count is also on the low end for this category - some competitors run PBKDF2 well into the hundreds of thousands or millions of iterations, and ExpressKeys has no hardware-key option to compensate. ExpressVPN’s fix note describes the issue as mitigated rather than replaced with a different algorithm.

Unlocking the vault itself relies on your master password, with biometric unlock (Face ID, Touch ID, fingerprint) available for convenience once the app is set up - there is no separate account-level secret or hardware-key option layered on top, so the master password is the sole line of defense once the vault key is derived. ExpressKeys does include a built-in TOTP generator for your other accounts’ two-factor codes, and full passkey support (create, store, and sign in with passkeys) was added in July 2026, alongside the FIDO Alliance’s Credential Exchange standard for direct, encrypted imports from other password managers instead of a plaintext export file.

Cure53’s broader audit - a white-box review of the Android and iOS apps and their shared Rust core, five senior testers over sixteen days - found no High or Critical severity issues. The other findings were narrower: a custom URL-scheme deep link vulnerable to hijacking by a malicious app on the same device (mitigated), a brief window where iOS Autofill could surface the entire vault as suggestions inside a domainless context like a srcdoc iframe (fixed), and a storage encryption key that was briefly written to Android’s stdout log, exploitable only with root access (fixed).

Privacy & Trust

The client apps are closed source - there is no public repository to verify the encryption model against shipping code, so the architecture is known only through ExpressVPN’s own documentation and the Cure53 audit. That audit is a genuine positive: a named firm, a scoped white-box methodology with full source access, and a published report with no High or Critical findings - stronger evidence than a certification list or an unpublished pen test.

A separate trust issue surfaced in 2026 and has nothing to do with a technical vulnerability: ExpressVPN quietly changed its Terms of Service between September 2025 and April 2026 to state that users without an active subscription can still view and autofill their existing credentials, but can no longer add new logins or update their vault. Reporting on the change found no prior public announcement of the shift - just an edited clause in the ToS. ExpressVPN confirmed the change directly to the reporting outlet and said legacy users can export their data at any time. This is not a data breach and nothing in the vault was exposed, but it is a real instance of a policy affecting existing users’ access changing with no announcement, which matters for a password manager where switching costs are high.

On ownership, ExpressKeys is a product of ExpressVPN, which has been part of Kape Technologies (LSE-listed, ultimate beneficial owner Teddy Sagi) since September 2021, and is itself registered in the British Virgin Islands. Recovery is zero-knowledge in the strict sense: ExpressVPN cannot reset a forgotten master password, so losing it means losing the vault.

Features

The core set is solid for a bundled tool: unlimited password storage, a password-health check for weak and reused credentials, secure storage for payment cards and notes, and a built-in TOTP generator so you are not juggling a separate authenticator app. Passkey creation and storage (with biometric sign-in) and secure, time-limited or single-view sharing links for individual vault items were both added in the July 2026 update, alongside direct encrypted import via the Credential Exchange standard from other major password managers and browser-based credential stores.

What it does not have is email alias generation - that capability lives in a separate ExpressVPN product (email privacy relay), not inside ExpressKeys itself. There is also no self-hosting option and no desktop-native application; on a computer, ExpressKeys is a browser extension rather than a standalone app.

Usability & Platforms

ExpressKeys runs as native apps on Android and iOS, plus browser extensions for Chrome, Edge, and Brave - there is no native Windows, macOS, or Linux application, so desktop use means installing the extension rather than a dedicated app. Autofill is domain-matched, filling credentials only when the site domain matches what was saved, which is a real anti-phishing measure rather than a marketing line.

Setup is tied to an ExpressVPN account either way - through a bundled Advanced/Express Pro subscription or a direct in-app purchase - so there is no browser-only or fully local way to use it independently of that account system.

Price & Value

ExpressKeys is not sold as its own line item on ExpressVPN’s website. It comes included with the Advanced (USD$119.95/year after the introductory period) and Express Pro (USD$199.95/year after the introductory period) VPN plans - the cheaper Basic plan does not include it at all, per ExpressVPN’s own plan-comparison table. ExpressVPN’s FAQ states a direct in-app subscription is also available through the iOS and Android app stores - but that price is not published on the web and was not verified in this review. There is no free tier: if your ExpressVPN subscription lapses, you keep read-and-autofill access to what is already saved, but you cannot add or update anything until you resubscribe.

Judged purely as a password manager bought on its own, that makes ExpressKeys hard to price against dedicated competitors - you are paying for VPN service first, with the password manager as a bundled extra, not the other way around. It is a reasonable deal if you already want ExpressVPN’s VPN, and a harder case to make if a password manager is the only thing you are shopping for.

Pros

• Zero-knowledge, client-side encryption verified by a scoped, published Cure53 audit with no High or Critical findings
• Full passkey support (create, store, biometric sign-in) plus secure, time-limited or single-view item sharing, added July 2026
• Direct encrypted import from other password managers via the FIDO Alliance’s Credential Exchange standard
• Built-in TOTP generator and password-health checks for weak or reused credentials
• Domain-matched autofill that will not fill credentials on a mismatched site

Cons

• Closed source - the encryption model can be read in documentation but not verified against shipping code
• Vault-unlock key derivation uses PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA512, which Cure53’s own audit flagged as GPU-brute-forceable; no memory-hard KDF has replaced it yet
• No second local factor for vault access beyond the master password and convenience biometrics
• Not sold as a standalone product on the web - bundled into ExpressVPN Advanced/Express Pro, with only an unpublished in-app price for a direct subscription
• No email alias generation, no desktop-native app (browser extension only), no free tier
• Quietly changed its Terms of Service in 2026 to restrict post-subscription users from adding new vault entries, without a public announcement of the change

Our Rating

ExpressKeys is a competent password manager for anyone already paying for ExpressVPN’s higher-tier plans - the encryption is sound in its broad strokes, the July 2026 update brought it up to feature parity with mainstream competitors on passkeys and sharing, and the Cure53 audit is a real, verifiable third-party check rather than a marketing claim. What keeps it out of the top tier is that it is not really built or sold to stand alone: the code is closed, the key-derivation function itself was flagged as weak by the company’s own auditor, and a 2026 policy change that quietly restricted what lapsed subscribers can do with their own vault was disclosed only after a reporter asked about it.