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NordVPN vs ExpressVPN: Which One is More Worth Buying?

We reviewed ExpressVPN and compared it to its biggest competitor, NordVPN, so you can find out which VPN is truly worth your money.

ExpressVPN and NordVPN are two of the best VPNs on the market today, but ExpressVPN’s high price often turns people away, especially when compared to the more affordable NordVPN. So, is ExpressVPN really worth the extra cost?

We tested both VPNs and reviewed real user discussions on Reddit to help you make an informed decision.

NordVPN vs ExpressVPN: Which one is Better?

1, Privacy & Security – NordVPN is better, while ExpressVPN Raises Concerns for Some Users

When it comes to privacy and logging, both NordVPN and ExpressVPN are solid choices. Both VPNs claim not to log any identifiable data, and their privacy policies have been independently audited for verification.

However, ExpressVPN received criticism after being acquired by known malware distributor Kape Technologies in 2021. Kape previously made money through ad platforms. You can see a lot of criticism on Reddit with many people giving up using ExpressVPN because of this!

User discussion on Reddit

Even more concerning issue is that Kape, the parent company of ExpressVPN, seems to be facing operational challenges. Just a few months ago, the company laid off a significant portion of its global workforce. Even Dan Gericke, ExpressVPN’s Chief Privacy Officer, announced his departure on LinkedIn.

This raises concerns that ExpressVPN (or other Kape-owned VPNs like CyberGhost and PIA) could suffer a noticeable drop in quality, especially with heavy hits to the engineering and QA teams. That said, all we can do now is wait and see.

With all of this in mind, if privacy is a major concern for you or you’re considering a long-term plan, it’s important to carefully evaluate ExpressVPN and other Kape-owned VPNs.

Find Out How NordVPN’s No-Logs Policy Protect You >>

2, Speed: ExpressVPN is the faster VPN on nearby servers, but NordVPN is faster on far-away servers

(Click The Title To See Details)

ExpressVPN is Faster than NordVPN on Nearby Servers

To test NordVPN and ExpressVPN local speeds, we used the app’s automatic server selection feature. In NordVPN, this is called ‘Quick Connect’. In ExpressVPN, it’s named ‘Smart Location’.

The table below shows a comparison of NordVPN and ExpressVPN’s speed performance.

NordVPNExpressVPN
Local Download Speed95Mbps97Mbps
Average International Download Speed86Mbps85Mbps
Local Upload Speed94Mbps91Mbps
Ping8ms 8ms
Time to Connect3.6 seconds1.5 seconds
Fastest VPN ProtocolWireGuard (NordLynx)Lightway

We found that ExpressVPN’s speeds are slightly faster on local connections. When using it, our download speeds dropped by just 3% to 97Mbps. NordVPN caused our speeds to slow to 95Mbps, an 5% drop. The speed difference is minimal, and both are sufficient for almost all web activities.

NordVPN is Faster for Long-Distance Connections

To stream geo-blocked video content in HD and 4K, a VPN needs to have fast download speeds on international connections.

We recorded ExpressVPN and NordVPN’s download speeds while connected to servers in four different continents from our test location in the US. Here’s a table showing our results:

Server LocationNordVPNExpressVPN
UK90Mbps93Mbps
Germany92Mbps87Mbps
Japan89Mbps83Mbps
Australia84Mbps83Mbps

Our findings show that NordVPN generally outperforms ExpressVPN on international servers. Although the speed differences are not that stark, NordVPN consistently delivered faster content loading times, and we encountered no buffering issues.

Identical Ping Speed for Gaming

ExpressVPN and NordVPN are two of the best gaming VPNs we’ve tested. Both services increased our ping time to just 8ms, which was unnoticeable in use.

We played a variety of fast-paced PC games, including CS:GO and PUBG. In every case, the added latency wasn’t noticeable. We didn’t experience any input lag and all games loaded quickly.

Online games were lag-free when using both VPN services.

3, NordVPN has More Features than ExpressVPN

The features category is a big distinction between NordVPN and ExpressVPN.

First, we will look at NordVPN’s specialty servers, which are servers for different use cases. Unlike NordVPN, ExpressVPN does not offer any of these specialty servers. Here’s what you get with NordVPN:

  • Double-VPN servers encrypt traffic over two separate hops. This adds an additional layer of encryption and security, without sacrificing on speed.
  • Tor-over-VPN servers encrypt traffic with the Tor Network, in addition to the VPN server. While there is a performance tradeoff here due to the Tor network, this is another useful feature.
  • P2P servers are optimized for torrenting traffic, with excellent speeds.
  • Dedicated IP servers for times when you need to have a fixed IP address while still getting the protection of a VPN.
  • Obfuscated servers conceal VPN traffic to look like regular HTTPS encryption. This is a great feature to use if you need a VPN for China, the UAE and Dubai, Russia, or any other restricted network situation where VPNs may be blocked.
NordVPN provides a wide range of double-VPN servers.

I found these servers to perform well in my testing. The P2P servers also worked great with fast speeds and no internet connection issues.

4, NordVPN offers More servers and More server locations

NordVPNExpressVPN
Countries111105
Specialty ServersYesNo
Servers6,3283,000

NordVPN clearly has ExpressVPN beat in the server category. In comparison to ExpressVPN, NordVPN offers:

  • More servers
  • More server locations
  • Many specialty servers

In terms of the geographic server locations, NordVPN has a slight edge with 111 country locations, while ExpressVPN has locations in 105 countries.

5, Torrenting: Is ExpressVPN or NordVPN better?

NordVPNExpressVPN
Torrenting SupportAll serversAll servers
Dedicated P2P ServersYesNo
Plans that Support TorrentingAll plansAll plans
Download SpeedsVery FastFast

Once again, both ExpressVPN and NordVPN are good options for torrenting. But again there is a difference in this category.

When looking for the best VPN for torrenting there are two things to consider:

  1. Speeds: NordVPN was the big winner in all of our speed tests. It offers the fastest speeds for torrenting over ExpressVPN.
  2. Leak protection: ExpressVPN and NordVPN both offer great leak protection. Each incorporates a kill switch into the VPN apps to protect your traffic. This will keep your IP address and location secure when torrenting files. If the connection to the VPN drops, you will still be protected if you have the kill switch activated.

While both ExpressVPN and NordVPN offer secure VPN apps with built-in leak protection, the big difference is in speeds, where NordVPN comes out on top. If you want to torrent with your VPN, NordVPN’s speeds will give you an edge over ExpressVPN.

NordVPN also offers dedicated P2P servers, which are optimized for fast torrenting speeds. I tested this out for this comparison and NordVPN’s P2P servers performed well. ExpressVPN does not offer any P2P servers.

Given the faster speeds and dedicated P2P servers, NordVPN wins this category as well.

Learn More about NordVPN and Torrenting >>

6, NordVPN Has More Satisfied Customers

Although priced at about half of ExpressVPN, NordVPN has higher overall customer satisfaction.

NordVPN on Trustpilot
ExpressVPN on Trustpilot

On Trustpilot, NordVPN has received 33,386 reviews with an overall rating of 4.6, the highest in the VPN industry. In contrast, ExpressVPN has received 24,031 reviews with an overall rating of 4.2.

Clearly, NordVPN has many more satisfied users.

ExpressVPN vs NordVPNNordVPN Is the Better Buy

The results of our testing and research are clear. While ExpressVPN is an excellent product, we must conclude that NordVPN is better than ExpressVPN. While both offer competitive speeds, NordVPN stands out with more practical features, higher customer satisfaction, and a reputation as a more trustworthy company. And the best part? It comes at nearly half the price of ExpressVPN!

If you are really still on the fence, keep in mind that ExpressVPN and NordVPN both offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. Therefore you could purchase both VPNs, test each service for a few weeks, and then cancel the one you don’t want for a full refund.

Right now, NordVPN’s Fall Sale is live—purchase today and you can Save Up to 73% and get 3 extra months for free. This is a great opportunity to try NordVPN!

Try risk-free: 30-day Money-Back Guarantee!

Right now, 49% off is the best deal you can get on ExpressVPN. Even with the discount, ExpressVPN is still much more expensive than NordVPN — about double the price.

Try risk-free: 30-day Money-Back Guarantee!

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