ExpressVPN vs. NordVPN: Conflict of the heavyweight titans

It’s a heavyweight matchup between the 2 VPN giants: ExpressVPN vs. NordVPN. They’re the Godzilla vs. Kong, Gates vs. Jobs, or Packers vs. Bears of the VPN world. Each provide a few of the quickest, most safe, feature-rich companies available on the market. So which must you select? 

NordVPN is likely to be cheaper within the long-term and it gives extra servers, however ExpressVPN has a greater privateness report and extra constant entry to streaming companies. Whereas each are neck and neck, I like to recommend NordVPN for most folk. It’s our choose for finest VPN total because of its unmatched characteristic set, blazing-fast speeds, and glorious streaming assist. That’s to not take something away from ExpressVPN which can be an exemplary alternative. The variations are nuanced so let’s break all of it down in additional element under that can assist you select the very best VPN on your personal wants.

ExpressVPN vs. NordVPN: Options in contrast

Greatest for pace: NordVPN

In my testing, each NordVPN and ExpressVPN ranked with stellar pace scores. Together with Hotspot Protect, they’re the quickest VPNs obtainable. Whereas all VPNs will decelerate your web speeds to some extent, these two sluggish it down the least. 

In my newest exams, ExpressVPN resulted in a mean of 71 % of the bottom web pace for downloads and 80 % of the bottom for uploads. NordVPN nosed it out although, with 75 % of the bottom obtain speeds and 81 % of the bottom add speeds. These are fairly shut margins and also you seemingly received’t see a lot of a distinction in your on a regular basis utilization. For what it’s price, nevertheless, NordVPN has persistently had the quickest speeds of any VPN for just a few years working now.

Whichever you select, you may anticipate to deal with bandwidth-heavy duties, reminiscent of gaming and 4K streaming, with ease. Nevertheless, the winner for pace—by the slimmest of margins—is NordVPN.

Greatest for price: NordVPN

ExpressVPN solely has one subscription tier, which can set you again $12.95 month-to-month, $99.95 for the primary yr, or $139.72 for the primary two years. NordVPN however gives 4 subscription tiers: Primary, Plus, Full, and Prime. To make an equal comparability for companies supplied I’ll give attention to simply NordVPN’s Plus plan, which runs $13.99 month-to-month, $71.88 for the primary yr, or $107.73 for the primary two years.

Whereas ultimately, each companies cost you related costs for his or her month-to-month subscriptions, NordVPN gives far more inexpensive long-term pricing. Certain, it can save you a bit when you select ExpressVPN over NordVPN month-to-month, however when you plan to make use of a VPN for some time then the worth that Nord’s one- or two-year plans provide is much and away the higher choice. The simple win right here goes to NordVPN.

Greatest for privateness and safety: ExpressVPN

Each ExpressVPN and NordVPN are the trend-setters within the trade on the subject of complete and progressive safety features. Taking VPNs past simply anonymizing your web connection, these two corporations have expanded to offer customers with a complete suite of safety add-ons reminiscent of ad- and tracker-blocking, password managers, and extra.

If it got here down to only whole options, NordVPN would win. It gives Double VPN (multi-hop), and Onion Over VPN—each of that are presently missing in ExpressVPN. As well as, NordVPN additionally provides its Plus subscription customers entry to Meshnet file sharing and strong malware safety.

Nevertheless, many would argue that the primary level of a VPN is to maximise privateness and engender belief amongst customers—one thing I wholeheartedly agree with. And ExpressVPN merely has a greater monitor report of privateness and transparency. Whereas NordVPN has undergone 5 impartial audits of their historical past, ExpressVPN has undergone 19—nearly 4 occasions as many.

Moreover, whereas each companies provide usually up to date Transparency Stories on their web sites, ExpressVPN started publishing them a bit sooner and its reviews include extra element for customers than Nord’s reviews.

Each companies use AES-256 encryption and RAM-only servers to wipe knowledge after every server reboot, thereby growing knowledge privateness. However ExpressVPN goes even additional by utilizing its personal signature TrustedServer expertise.  This method reloads the most recent software program stack, OS, and all with every reboot, eliminating the possibility for bugs and inconsistencies throughout servers that would result in VPN vulnerabilities.

Regardless of NordVPN’s Plus plan providing extra safety features, the unparalleled transparency and privateness options of ExpressVPN give it the sting right here.

Greatest for streaming: Tie

VPNs are primarily used for privateness and safety, however they can be used for leisure functions, unblocking geo-restricted content material. Whether or not you’re touring or simply need to entry region-locked content material, utilizing a VPN to spoof your location is a good way to look at the entire content material you need irrespective of your bodily location—taking a look at you, Netflix England’s whole number of Ghibli films.

In my testing, each ExpressVPN and NordVPN got here by with flying colours when making an attempt to entry streaming companies in numerous places. They efficiently unblocked Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, and a handful of different companies as properly. 

The variations in streaming efficiency are so minimal that I can’t even nitpick to justify a winner on this class. It’s a tie between these two companies. Each are completely succesful at unblocking content material on each main streaming website and both will serve you properly if that is your objective.

ExpressVPN vs. NordVPN: Backside line

You possibly can’t actually go fallacious with both of those VPNs. I gave each NordVPN and ExpressVPN 4.5 out of 5 stars of their respective critiques and each garnered Editors’ Selection awards for his or her excellent choices and worth. That being mentioned, NordVPN is our choose for finest VPN total and for good purpose. It supplies glorious safety features, unmatched speeds, terrific streaming capabilities, and nice customization choices.

ExpressVPN does have a sterling privateness monitor report and a extremely clear and easy-to-use interface. However Nord additionally has rock-solid privateness and with a bit little bit of time, anybody can use the app comfortably. Nonetheless, every time somebody asks me for a VPN advice I often default to NordVPN first.

Additional studying: VPNs and the legislation: How typically does legislation enforcement really request VPN logs?