hello everyone taylor here from consumer buddy and welcome to my review today of expressvpn
now express is known as one of the oldest and best vpns in the industry so today i wanted to do an
extensive review of how i felt it actually works and performs for activities such as torrenting
unblocking streaming services like netflix and ultimately keeping you safe and protected online
now even though i found express to surpass most vpns in several areas it still won't be the
perfect choice for everyone so i'll also discuss any situation where you might want to go with
something else and just a reminder you'll find links in the description to any special deals or
discounts not available on their website so feel free to take advantage of those if you like so
i'll start off by taking a look at their privacy policy which is one of the main determining
factors for whether to use a particular vpn or not now in terms of their privacy policy
and promises of absolute anonymity express does continue to deliver in this regard not only are
they completely transparent about their privacy policy in terms of what they log and what they
don't but due to criminal investigation it was actually proven that expressvpn doesn't track any
relevant information about you on their servers because due to the assassination of a russian
ambassador the turkish authorities seized one of expressvpn servers as part of their investigation
they believe someone had used expressvpn while deleting relevant information from the assassin's
gmail and facebook accounts however the turkish authorities were unable to find any logs or
information to help with their investigation and this is huge because with most vpns you're
ultimately just trusting and hoping they're doing what their privacy policy states but
with express you can actually have that absolute assurance and confidence that this is the case
while it's unfortunate that security tools like vpns can be abused for illicit purposes express
is basically so secure that any activity even criminal activity won't be exposed by expressvpn
express even goes so far as to say that they will continue to oppose any efforts by governments
to install things like back doors on their servers that could undermine or expose your privacy
now something else worth noting is that express is also based in the british virgin islands
which has full sovereignty over its own data regulations and so this means they don't have
to answer to any foreign governments however if there is a case where a high-profile criminal is
involved they will probably cooperate but even in such cases there won't be any incriminating
information to share since expressvpn doesn't keep any logs of their online activities also each
year express has continued to allow audits from independent companies like pricewaterhousecoopers
and qr53 and each year express passes these audits without a problem so from a privacy standpoint
express is as good as it gets when it comes to keeping your online activities completely private
now in terms of speed express has always been known as being one of the fastest if not the
fastest vpn you can get however something to note is that your internet speed will always decrease
by some amount when using a vpn because they are basically adding an additional server for you
to connect to but what's unique about express is they've managed to make this reduction in speed to
be pretty insignificant especially when compared to a lot of other vpns for example after running
several different tests for express in over 30 different countries using a dozen different
servers the average decrease in speed was only about three to seven percent for local servers
and anywhere from about five to twenty percent for international servers which is truly exceptional
for a vbn even good vpns will see an average decrease in speed of 10 to 20 percent or more just
for local servers and around 30 to 50 percent for international servers and while i'm not surprised
by express doing so well given how it's performed in the past it seems like the new investments
they've made into their servers is really paying off and continuing to push the envelope for how
fast a vpn can be now something to keep in mind is that there are a few situations in some european
countries where nordvpn will sometimes outperform express such as in italy also when connecting
to servers in new zealand i found nord would sometimes beat express at times here as well
so even though expressvpn is still the fastest vpn overall depending on where you're located
in the world there are a few locations where at times you may find nord will be slightly faster
now when it comes to unblocking geo restrictions for different streaming media providers such as
netflix this continues to be an area that gives a lot of vpns a hard time but i found
express as in the past continues to be reliable at unblocking a large variety of streaming platforms
such as netflix amazon prime espn disney plus bbc iplayer hulu and many others especially when
using their newer lightweight protocol in fact i found their lightweight protocol to be more
reliable than openvpn when it came to unblocking geo-restrictions on netflix so ultimately out of
all the vpns i've tested expressvpn continues to be the easiest and most effective to use when it
comes to unblocking geo-restricted content and then regarding the topic of torrenting this is
another area that some vpns either avoid or tend to penalize their users if they torent too much
but with express there are no torrenting restrictions and no bandwidth limitations
whatsoever you also don't have to worry about making sure that you're using a special server
for torrenting as all of their servers are optimized for peer-to-peer activity
basically this means that you can select whichever server will give you the best results
and not have to worry about getting into any trouble for it and because of all the safety
measures expressvpn has such as a kill switch you can be totally confident that no one will know
what you're torrenting except you now as you may have gathered from the privacy policy earlier on
express is basically as secure as it gets express uses aes 256-bit encryption in combination with
openvpn protocol basically they use the same high level of encryption used by banks and governments
and then a newer security feature express launched recently is called trusted server
this is a technology that ensures your data is never written to a server's physical hard drive
and it wipes all data with every reboot this just further ensures that none of your data is stored
or is even capable of being stored anywhere on their servers protocol wise express provides
a decent selection to choose from it's a good balance between giving those with some experience
a few different options to work with but for those newer to vpns you won't have to worry
about getting confused or overwhelmed for example if you don't have any idea about what protocol you
should use expressvpn will automatically pick the best one for you without having to worry about it
another cool security feature is that express runs its own private zero knowledge dns servers
which means that the websites you visit are all encrypted by expressvpn not your isp or a third
party ultimately this prevents any ip address dns or web rtc leakage as a result express is able to
provide you with government level privacy and security now express does support tor
over vpn so if you're a tor user you can use expressvpn in combination with the tor network
also during my testing there were no data leaks which can be a problem with other vpns
now features wise express has most of the features you would expect including some premium features
that aren't common with other vpns as an example one of the unique features express provides is
split tunneling and this feature basically lets you decide which apps are protected by expressvpn
and which apps won't be affected by it for example you may only want to have expressvpn active when
you're torrenting or conversely you may want expressvpn to be on at all times except when
you're using google maps either way this split tunneling feature allows you to have a better user
experience as you can customize which applications are affected or not affected by expressvpn now a
couple of features express doesn't currently have is a dedicated ip address or custom dns
while the average user won't probably need or want to use these if either of these features are
critical for you to have you may want to consider something else but one of the most important
features for any vpn is to have a kill switch and unfortunately this is something that a lot of vpns
lack however express does provide this which when turned on prevents any information from being sent
over the internet if your vpn were to unexpectedly shut down now if you're an ios user just keep in
mind that the kill switch is automatically enabled whereas pc users will need to manually turn
this feature on and if you're looking for a vpn that can get around the great firewall of china
expressvpn is one of the only vpns that still works in china despite the country's ability to
block most vpns while using expressvpn you'll be able to access chinese tv or other websites
and your data will look like any normal browsing data through expressvpn's proprietary obfuscation
meaning that the great firewall of china won't be able to identify that you're using a vpn you also
don't need to worry if you're living in countries where there's heavy restrictions and censorship
if you're in this situation all you need to do is have the protocol selection switched
to automatic which then activates expressvpn's proprietary obfuscation technology by default
this means that you'll be able to beat aggressive online censorship in places like china
and other restricted countries like turkey and the uae but if you're already inside
china you may find the standard url to access expressvpn is blocked so if this is the case
just download the tor browser and use the link i'll provide for you in the description
now regarding usability expressvpn has one of the largest selection of servers to choose from
you can get access to over 3000 servers spread across 160 different locations in 94 countries
as a result this makes it very easy to connect to a nearby server no matter where you are in the
world the benefit of having a server close to you to use is that you'll typically get better speed
and performance and then when it comes to device compatibility i have yet to find another vpn
that works so well on such a variety of devices express allows you to connect up to five devices
simultaneously this includes devices such as pcs and macs mobile devices apple tv amazon fire tv
chromecast nintendo playstation xbox and roku which makes express an ideal choice for media
streamers console owners or gamers wanting to enjoy the benefits of using a vpn as well because
one of the problems i've encountered with other vpns is either a lack of apps to use on different
devices or the interface of these apps are just more difficult to use as an example a lot of vpns
don't include a router app but express not only includes one but they've made their app easy for
a beginner to use as a result this means you'll be able to protect your devices on your network such
as smart devices like fridges that can't normally run software of their own and expressvpn's apps
are so well designed that they've actually won awards for their user interface and how easy
they are to use so expressvpn is definitely an ideal choice for anyone who's never used a vpn
before and support wise expressvpn continues to provide some of the best support i've experienced
in this industry while not all vpns provide live chat support express makes this available
to you 24 7. in addition their support reps are friendly helpful and can actually handle
technical questions in case you run into any difficulty now when it comes to pricing there
are currently three plans to choose from all plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee
and they're great about honoring this should you decide you're not happy with their service
basically you get a better deal the more months you pay for up front you can end up saving quite
a bit more this way so i'd certainly recommend that option if that works within your budget also
i was able to get you guys a couple of extra free months so if you're thinking of trying expressvpn
i've included this coupon in the link below so feel free to take advantage of that if you
like now as great as expressvpn is there are a few reasons it may not be the best choice for someone
first if you're a more advanced user who wants to be able to customize things such as your protocol
and encryption settings then you may want a vpn that offers you more granular level control while
i consider this one of the strengths of express and why it's so easy for even complete newbies
to use the simple interface might be a problem for some also if you need or want to be able to
connect to more than five devices simultaneously then you may want to consider a vpn that offers a
larger number of device connections because unless you're open to purchasing a second subscription
you may want to consider something else but otherwise is expressvpn worth the money absolutely
because what sets express apart is the combination of speed performance support security and features
it provides so it's going to be the ideal vpn no matter what you may need a vpn for whether
you're looking to torrent stream game or just want to stay safe online and whereas most vpns
typically fall short in some way express performs exceptionally well in each of these different
areas and that's what makes it a well-rounded vpn to use in addition express continues to not only
be the fastest vpn i've tested but the easiest to use as well also what's unique about express
is they're one of the few vpns that's been proven not to store any of your online activities so
ultimately if you're looking for the overall best vpn currently available for beginners and
advanced users alike express would definitely be the one to get so hopefully you found this
review helpful if so please leave a thumbs up as i always appreciate that and just a reminder if
you want to try expressvpn i'll include a link in the description for some additional free months
so feel free to take advantage of that if you like also if you have any questions please don't
hesitate to let me know down in the comments as i love getting to answer as many of those as i can
but otherwise thanks so much for watching and i'll look forward to seeing you in the next video