ExpressVPN

Best for: people who want the most independently-audited premium VPN with room for a lot of devices (14 per account) and don’t mind paying more than budget competitors for it — not for anyone shopping strictly on price.

Pros

• 23+ published third-party audits since 2009, including repeated KPMG engagements specifically verifying the RAM-only TrustedServer architecture doesn’t retain logs
• 14 simultaneous device connections per account, a generous device limit
• Lightway, ExpressVPN’s own lightweight protocol, alongside WireGuard and OpenVPN
• Network-wide blocking of domains identified by the Internet Watch Foundation as hosting child sexual abuse material
• British Virgin Islands jurisdiction, with no mandatory data-retention law

Cons

• Premium pricing throughout: the discounted 1-year intro rate is $4.99/mo, and the standard annual renewal ($99.95/yr, ~$8.33/mo) is well above the cheapest options on the market
• The full KPMG audit report isn’t freely public — you have to accept KPMG’s own terms and conditions to view it, not a fully open download
• Owned by Kape Technologies, a company whose earlier incarnation, Crossrider, had a history tied to adware; Kape has since rebuilt itself as a privacy-focused holding company, but the history is worth knowing
• Exact current server count isn’t published as a specific number, only “113 countries”
• No port forwarding through the VPN apps or servers at all — it’s only possible on a handful of compatible routers running ExpressVPN’s own firmware, and even then the forwarded ports sit outside the VPN tunnel entirely

No-Logs Audit

ExpressVPN has published more than 20 independent third-party audits since it started the practice, with its most recent no-logs-specific engagement completed by KPMG LLP as of February 28, 2025 — internally numbered as its 23rd report (a separate partner-facing page rounds this up to “27+ independent privacy audits,” a discrepancy we’re noting rather than resolving in ExpressVPN’s favor). KPMG’s assessment, under the ISAE (UK) 3000 Type 1 standard, specifically examined the TrustedServer system — ExpressVPN’s RAM-only server architecture that rebuilds itself from scratch on every boot — and found no issues with the technical safeguards against activity logging. One limitation: the full report isn’t freely downloadable. You have to agree to KPMG’s own terms and conditions to read it, which is a real gate even if a lighter one than a full account-login requirement.

Pricing

The Basic plan costs $12.99/month with no commitment, dropping to $4.99/month on a 1-year term ($74.85 for 15 months including bonus months) and $2.49/month on a 2-year term with 4 extra months free. After the intro period, both discounted terms renew at the standard annual rate of $99.95/year — about $8.33/month.

Security & Protocols

Lightway is ExpressVPN’s own protocol, built specifically for a lean, fast connection, alongside the more familiar WireGuard and OpenVPN. A kill switch and split tunneling are both included. ExpressVPN also runs network-wide blocking of domains flagged by the Internet Watch Foundation as hosting child sexual abuse material — a security feature that operates independently of what any individual user does.

Servers & Torrenting

ExpressVPN operates servers across 113 countries (the company doesn’t publish an exact total server count), and P2P/torrenting traffic is supported across its network rather than restricted to specific servers. Port forwarding isn’t available through the VPN apps or servers themselves — only through router firmware on a short list of compatible routers, and those forwarded ports run outside the encrypted tunnel.

Jurisdiction & Ownership

ExpressVPN is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, which has no mandatory data-retention law for VPN providers. The company itself has been owned by Kape Technologies, an LSE-listed company ultimately controlled by Teddy Sagi, since a nearly $1 billion acquisition in September 2021.

Our Rating

Rating: 8.2/10