In the rough-and-tumble world of VPNs, it can be hard to stand out, and in some ways, ExpressVPN doesn't.
Its app is fairly pedestrian and its high price isn't dramatically offset by numerous privacy tools.
The company excels, however, with its global server distribution and a notable commitment to privacy that goes all the way down to its server infrastructure.
What Is a VPN?
When you switch on a VPN, it creates an encrypted tunnel between your Mac and a server controlled by the VPN company.
Along that route, your information is protected against snooping spies and your ISP.
A VPN also changes your public IP address—making it harder to track you online—and lets you mask your location by hopping to different servers.
VPNs are powerful privacy tools, but they don't protect against every threat.
I still highly recommend running antivirus software on your machine, enabling two-factor authentication wherever possible, and using a password manager.
Pricing, Features, and Privacy
I closely examine all aspects of ExpressVPN in my review of the Windows client.
I'll summarize the most important points here, but do see my other review for a more nuanced analysis—particularly the efforts individual VPN companies take to protect your privacy.
A subscription with ExpressVPN costs $12.95, tying it with CyberGhost for the most expensive VPN I've tested for macOS.
At $7.99 per month, Norton Secure VPN is the most affordable service I have tested on this platform.
Most VPN services offer a discount for buying longer-term subscriptions.
A one-year plan with ExpressVPN costs $99.95.
That's the most expensive annual plan I've seen for macOS, although you will almost certainly be able to find some discounts.
Private Internet Access, on the other hand, offers an annual plan for $39.95.
Nothing is cheaper than free and there are a few free VPNs that are worth considering.
Foremost among them is ProtonVPN, which places no data restriction on its free subscription.
A subscription with ExpressVPN lets you connect up to five devices simultaneously.
This is the industry average, but one that's rapidly being surpassed.
Private Internet Access, for example, allows up to ten devices and Surfshark places no limit on the number of devices.
ExpressVPN offers some 3,000 VPN servers, which is a strong showing, but just half that of CyberGhost VPN.
More doesn't necessarily mean better, but having more choices can mean more choices when you're connecting.
Where ExpressVPN really shines is its geographic distribution of servers.
It covers 94 countries, far more than most services and just a few more than CyberGhost.
The more server locations, the more options you have for spoofing your location.
It also means you'll have an easier time finding a nearby server when traveling abroad.
Unlike ProtonVPN and NordVPN, ExpressVPN does not offer advanced privacy tools like access to the Tor network or multi-hop VPN.
It does, however, provide split tunneling.
This lets you decide which apps send their data through the VPN tunnel, and which don't.
That's handy if you have some low-security apps that require a lot of bandwidth.
ExpressVPN does use OpenVPN on macOS, which I appreciate.
I'll summarize the high-level points about the privacy with ExpressVPN, but read my main review for more detail.
ExpressVPN keeps no logs of user activity, but also does not log incoming or outgoing IP addresses, nor timestamps.
The company only generates revenue from VPN subscriptions, meaning it does not data mine its customers.
The company contributed to the security community by providing an open-source leak testing tool.
ExpressVPN operates under British Virgin Island law.
A representative of the company says this provides additional hurdles to foreign law enforcement attempting to gain access to the company's information.
However, the company does not appear to publish a transparency report.
ExpressVPN employs several security features on its servers to further protect its users.
Some, like running on RAM only and independent audits of servers, are being adopted by NordVPN in the wake of that company's server breach.
Hands On With ExpressVPN
I tested ExpressVPN on a 2019 Retina-5K 27-inch iMac running macOS Catalina (version 10.15).
This particular machine sports 16GB of RAM, and a 3.6GHz eight-core Intel i9 processor.
When you startup ExpressVPN for the first time, it asks you to enter an activation code instead of the login credentials you use to manage your account.
The activation code can be found in the account section of the ExpressVPN website.
It's an easy way to get online fast, although I can easily imagine people being confused by the process.
The ExpressVPN app does look a bit out of place on macOS.
This may or may not be a problem for you.
Notably, the NordVPN app does an excellent job of presenting its advanced features simply and blending in with macOS Catalina.
TunnelBear, on the other hand, stands out with a striking yellow design and a cadre of friendly bears.
The app itself looks suspiciously like a mobile app ported to macOS, with a long, skinny window that can't be resized.
The upside, however, is a simple, consistent experience across platforms.
A large button connects you to the server ExpressVPN thinks is best.
That's great.
You can browse a general list of VPN server locations, or drill down to see the specific servers themselves.
If you find one that works particularly well for your purposes, you can favorite it for easy access.
A Run Test button will run a series of speed tests on all of the available servers.
It takes several minutes, but once it's done you can sort the list by download speed or latency.
If speed is important to you, that's useful.
The app offers a few customization options.
By default, the app chooses the "best" VPN protocol.
You can configure the app to start up and connect automatically.
A kill switch option stops communications in the event the VPN becomes disconnected.
A rarely seen feature is the option to allow LAN traffic, like communicating with printers, while the kill switch is in effect.
There's a toggle for IPv6 leak protection and ExpressVPN DNS, which you should probably leave alone.
You can also have shortcuts to other apps appear within the ExpressVPN app, although I think this option is of limited utility.
The split tunneling option, described above, lives in the General tab of the Settings pane.
It's easy to overlook, so keep an eye out if you need this feature.
In my testing I found that Netflix did not block me but, curiously, did not load correctly.
I noted that ExpressVPN successfully changed my public IP address.
I tested to see if the server I was using leaked DNS information using the DNS Leak Test tool, and found that it was not.
Note that this was one server test; other servers may not function correctly.
Speed Test Results
Using a VPN tends to increase latency and reduce speeds.
That's just the price of admission.
In my testing, I try to get a sense of how that impact differs between products by running a series of tests using the Ookla Speedtest tool.
You can read all about the limitations of this testing, and how I test VPNs generally, in the aptly named How We Test VPNs feature.
You can see how ExpressVPN compares in the chart below with the top 10 performers among the 14 macOS VPN apps I tested.
ExpressVPN did not distinguish itself in my speed tests for macOS.
Only its latency results were below the overall average.
It did manage to break into the top 10, which is a point in its favor.
However, I caution against using speed as the main criteria for choosing any VPN.
(Editors' Note: Ookla Speedtest, IPVanish, and Encrypt.me are owned by j2 Global, the parent company of Daxdi's publisher, Ziff Davis.)
The overall results in my macOS VPN speed testing were mixed, with no decisive winner across all three categories.
KeepSolid VPN Unlimited had by far the best download speed results, but CyberGhost VPN had the most balanced results, staying well below the average results in all categories.
Notably, Encrypt.me was the fastest VPN among 34 services tested using Windows 10.
See How We Test VPNs
Invisibly Strong
ExpressVPN has some real strengths: its commitment to privacy extends to all of its numerous global server locations, keeping your information safe and giving you lots of connection options.
Split tunneling is a vanishingly rare feature, and seeing it here is most welcome.
The trouble is that those advantages are largely invisible to users.
Its lackluster app, however, is very visible, as is its high price with standard VPN offering.
ExpressVPN is a solid service, but we prefer macOS VPN Editors' Choice winners ProtonVPN and TunnelBear.
Cons
The Bottom Line
ExpressVPN has a widespread service, a focus on securing its infrastructure, and offers the rarely seen split tunneling feature, but it comes at a high price.
