NordVPN vs ExpressVPN 2023

NordVPN vs ExpressVPN: Head-to-Head

They're both great VPNs, but it's NordVPN that takes the lead when the two are put side by side. It offers excellent speeds – faster than those achieved by ExpressVPN in our tests – which makes it an infinitely more useful tool than most rival VPNs. It also has a wide range of security features at the user's disposal, such as double VPN, threat protection, and a data breach monitor.

However, it's worth pointing out that ExpressVPN is still a strong service, thanks to its own excellent security features and the fact it has servers in more countries than NordVPN. The main downside to ExpressVPN is that the price is quite noticeably higher than NordVPN's. Arguably, however, this is justified by the generous features on offer from ExpressVPN.

Whether you opt for NordVPN or ExpressVPN, you can rest assured that you've picked a secure and safe VPN.

NordVPN vs ExpressVPN: Speed Tests

Speed is a major consideration when picking a VPN, especially if you're someone who does a lot of data-intensive downloading or streaming. As VPNs reroute your traffic through their servers to render your IP address untraceable, they're adding another link in the chain, which can affect internet speeds. All VPNs will have some effect on the speed you would usually expect from your ISP, but some are better than others.

In our testing, we found that the typical speed hit when using ExpressVPN was around a quarter. NordVPN on the other hand was capable of achieving speeds that weren't too adversely affected, making it the best choice of the two. This is a matter of milliseconds though, in most cases, so you're unlikely to be severely affected using either.

Our connection speed decreased by 13% when using NordVPN, which was pretty unnoticeable. ExpressVPN, however, made our connection speed 23.1% slower, so NordVPN wins the sprint.

NordVPN vs ExpressVPN: Unblocking Netflix

In the grand scheme of things, whether or not your VPN can unlock Netflix access might be a small issue. But, as streaming services continue to thrive, it’s a popular VPN question to ask. If you want to check out other regions of Netflix content, then you'll need to pick a VPN that can do this for you.

And we have bad news for you – on our latest test, ExpressVPN failed to access Netflix. NordVPN, on the other hand, was able to access the streaming platform.

However, take this result with a grain of salt. Netflix is constantly playing whack-a-mole with VPNs, evolving to detect their efforts to get around its VPN detections. So, the fact that it has blocked ExpressVPN on this occasion isn't such a surprise.

ExpressVPN has a huge server network and has been shown consistently on other tests that it does unblock Netflix (as they claim confidently on their website) so, despite our test results, we think you'd be fine unblocking websites like Netflix with either provider. NordVPN is a bit speedier though, so you're likely to have a better viewing experience with it than you may do with ExpressVPN.

NordVPN vs ExpressVPN for torrenting

ExpressVPN and NordVPN are both great VPNs for torrenting.

This is due to three factors that both VPN providers excel at. First, they both have no-logging policies. Second, they’re both fast, offering few to no torrenting interruptions (though NordVPN’s speedier download times give it the edge here). Finally, they both offer strong DNS leak protection, ensuring your torrenting stays encrypted.

Now, as for the elephant in the room – is it legal to torrent over a VPN? The answer is yes, and no, depending on what it is you're torrenting. The process of sharing files over peer-to-peer torrenting systems certainly isn't illegal. But, you'd be breaking the law if you were to torrent copyrighted material. And yes, that means almost all of the music, movies, and TV shows you probably watch. Remember, VPNs are completely Legal, of course, but they certainly don't give you a license to break the law.

NordVPN vs ExpressVPN for gaming

Security-conscious gamers need a speedy VPN to keep up with their peers. Even a split second of lag can be the difference between life and virtual death. All VPNs will slow down your internet slightly, as you're sending your data on a longer journey (via one of their servers). So, if you're gaming, selecting a VPN that minimally impacts your speeds is essential.

Both ExpressVPN and NordVPN should work great in this area, however. Both VPN services can give gamers all the speed and bandwidth capability needed to play online MMOs in Full HD and won't detract from the gaming experience.

In fact, in some cases, VPNs like ExpressVPN and NordVPN can even reduce ping time by connecting you to a server that's geographically closer to you, especially if your ISP's routing is particularly inefficient.

 NordVPN vs ExpressVPN: Security and Privacy

Keeping your personal data secure is essential for any VPN. ExpressVPN and NordVPN both bring an array of security practices and features to ensure they keep your data safe. Along with Surfshark and Private Internet Access, they're perhaps the most secure VPNs in the game.

Here’s a quick look at their top security features, from military-grade encryption to no-logging policies.

Encryption

NordVPN and ExpressVPN both use the same encryption standard – the Advanced Encryption Standard with 256-bit keys, also known as “AES-256.”

That 256 number refers to the number of combinations that are possible: 2 to the 256th power. It’s an astronomically high number that makes the encryption impossible to crack with a brute-force attack. It’s the NSA-recommended standard used by US government agencies and security experts alike, so you should be fine with it.

VPN protocols

A VPN protocol is the process through which a VPN tunnel (the thing that protects your data) is formed. Different protocols are best for different needs and may offer varying levels of security or speed depending on how they're built.

NordVPN offers the OpenVPN, IKEv2/IPsec, and NordLynx protocols, the latter of which is a custom protocol built on top of WireGuard. ExpressVPN offers the OpenVPN, IKEv2/IPSec, and L2TP/IPSec protocols, and like NordVPN, also has its own protocol, called Lightway. Both services offer the dependable OpenVPN protocol as their default.

NordVPN retired the relatively insecure L2TP/IPSec protocol a few years ago and, while ExpressVPN still offers it, the provider warns users that it’s not recommended. What ExpressVPN does recommend using is the provider's Lightway protocol, which was designed by ExpressVPN to improve on present server speeds.

Server security

In March 2018, NordVPN suffered a security breach while using a third-party server center. That’s a tough blow to recover from, but NordVPN’s no-logging policy saved any personal data from being compromised, and NordVPN has taken several steps to ensure security moving forward and five years on, it's got one of the safest networks around.

US cybersecurity consulting firm VerSprite vetted NordVPN’s security for vulnerabilities, and more third-party, independent security audits are scheduled for the near future. NordVPN is also building a network of collocated servers fully owned by their company to avoid third-party vulnerabilities.

ExpressVPN’s aforementioned TrustedServer security is also independently audited, and their servers run on RAM only, with all data wiped with every reboot and the entire software stack reinstalled at startup. NordVPN has made the switch to RAM servers as well.

Leak protection

Even when most of your traffic is safe within a VPN tunnel, your device’s DNS queries may sometimes “leak” out, leaving data like website visits or app use vulnerable.

Both NordVPN and ExpressVPN automatically use their own DNS servers, so it's hard to fault either of them in this regard. These self-managed DNS servers limit the chances of damage due to leaks since their servers are faster, the traffic is encrypted, and neither service keeps connection logs.

Threat protection

Both ExpressVPN and NordVPN go beyond their remit as VPN providers, providing extra security features to keep you safe. Both VPNs, for instance, now have Threat Protection tools for you to use, which we've already discussed briefly earlier on in this article.

NordVPN's advanced Threat Protection feature will scan websites for malicious content before you click on them, as well as scan files that you download. There's also protection against malicious adverts and trackers that reveal your browsing behaviors to advertisers, social media companies, and web pages.

ExpressVPN, conversely, has a tool called Threat Manager, which is effectively a DNS-based traffic blocker. This tool will prevent your device from communicating with servers used by malicious sites and trackers; they will appear on the provider's blocklist, which is updated regularly. Although most mainstream VPNs are safe, it's features like this that make ExpressVPN and NordVPN among the safest.

Logs and privacy

For many people, privacy is the main reason to invest in a VPN. By masking your online activity, a VPN can protect you from prying eyes, whether they belong to hackers, colleagues, or governments.

Some VPNs, typically the free ones, will even keep logs of your data, meaning that there is a record of the sites you've visited and the files you have downloaded. Others allow users to piggyback off your connection, potentially exposing you to illegal activity that is out of your hands. Just this month, SuperVPN exposed 360 million user records, making it the latest free “VPN” to fail to protect its users and instead endanger their safety.

Both NordVPN and ExpressVPN, on the other hand, do a fantastic job of protecting your privacy. It's the reason you're paying them, after all, and the brands know that their reputations are built on this sort of trust. Neither service keeps logs of your activity or connection history, meaning that the sites you visit, the files you download, and the messages you exchange aren't saved anywhere for future reference.

In testing, we found NordVPN and ExpressVPN to be robust and leak-free. It's not a claim that many VPNs can make, but our checks for holes in the security protocols came up negative, which is reassuring news.

VPN Features Compared

Both ExpressVPN and NordVPN are fully loaded VPN suites that offer a full package worthy of the subscription price, but NordVPN takes the win here.

NordVPN has a couple of extra security features which set it apart from other VPNs, however. For instance, the provider's dark web monitor will scan the internet to see if your personal information has been linked, and NordVPN's double VPN function will reroute your connection through multiple servers rather than just one, adding an extra layer of security.

NordVPN is now one of the only providers to offer packages that include other privacy-focused technology on top of a VPN. As we've mentioned previously, you can purchase NordVPN packages that include a password manager and encrypted cloud storage. If you opt for an annual or two-year subscription, these are still cheaper than ExpressVPN's standard VPN package.

ExpressVPN features

As we've covered, ExpressVPN has a stringent no-logs policy. What's more, its TrustedServer technology (which underpins its global server infrastructure) is RAM-only, which means nothing is ever written to hard drives by the provider. However, diskless servers are now commonplace in the VPN industry and are also something provided by NordVPN and other reputable providers like Surfshark.

Both ExpressVPN and NordVPN offer a killswitch, which can be a great defense against unintentionally making your online habits visible. A killswitch kicks in if your VPN loses its connection, stopping your activity dead, rather than defaulting to your ISP, which is less secure and could reveal your actions. Other highlights include the ExpressVPN Threat Manager, which is great for steering users away from shady websites with its malicious site blacklist, although NordVPN has a similar tool.

In terms of advanced features, ExpressVPN offers split tunneling, a method that allows for your traffic on a specific app or service to be allocated to the VPN or your regular internet service provider connection. This means that you can route all your traffic for torrenting, for example, through the VPN, while relying on your standard connection for daily browsing. There's also a private DNS service for faster, safer connections, and the provider's own Lightway protocol is designed to provide speed without a cost to security.

NordVPN features

NordVPN offers a robust suite of features as well, from the aforementioned killswitch to a “double VPN” functionality, which sends your traffic through two servers rather than just one. This adds an additional layer of security to the data you’re trying to protect.

The provider also offers split-tunneling like ExpressVPN, as well as Onion-Over-VPN, which uses a similar architecture to the super-anonymous TOR browser. There's also automatic wifi protection, which will auto-connect your VPN when you log into unsecured wifi networks you may find in train stations, hotel lobbies, and airports.

Also worth mentioning is NordVPN’s “CyberSec” feature, which can be turned on from within the Settings page. Once enabled, CyberSec will auto-block websites known for malware or phishing attempts, keeping users safe from bad actors while online. It serves as an ad-blocker as well, though Google policy restricts this function from working in NordVPN’s Android-specific app. NordVPN even throws in a data breach monitor, which you can use to see if your personal information, such as your email address, has been exposed in a breach.

New features are being brought out by NordVPN all the time – just recently NordVPN updated their Windows client to give users a security score – expressed as a percentage – to show just how many features you're taking advantage of. Another new feature is a scanner that will crawl the dark web for mentions of the email address you used to sign up to NordVPN – so you know quickly whether you've been affected in a data breach. Now, macOS, mobile, and Windows users all have access.

Global Server Coverage

NordVPN currently has over 5,000 servers in 60 countries around the world, and 1,600 servers in the US alone. ExpressVPN boasts more than 3,000 servers globally across 160 locations and 94 countries. How comprehensive is this coverage? In layman's terms, “very.” This is great news for two reasons – the more servers your provider offers, the quicker your speeds will be, and the more countries you can connect to, the more content you can unblock.

You'll be hard pushed to find a country that will unblock websites in more countries than ExpressVPN, for example, and you'll find few that can unblock content only available in the US than NordVPN. Both providers offer better global coverage than most VPN services overall.

Do NordVPN and ExpressVPN work in China?

You can use both NordVPN and ExpressVPN in China, which doesn't take too kindly to its citizens using VPNs to access blocked websites. In fact, the ExpressVPN website is blocked in the country – but the company works to keep its service available there. If you're traveling to China and want to use a VPN, then downloading it prior to your trip is strongly recommended.

NordVPN offers a server feature called “obfuscation” which protects against DPI (Deep Packet Inspection). If you aren't routing your connection through obfuscated servers, then someone observing your traffic would be able to see you're using a VPN (although they wouldn't be able to see what you're searching for). Obfuscation masks the fact you're even using the technology and makes your traffic appear normal. This is essential for VPN usage in China.

ExpressVPN's apps, however, don't have an area where you can choose to “turn on” this feature or deliberately connect to an obfuscated server, nor is there information about this on the company's website. Instead, the company says this feature is turned on when ExpressVPN detects DPI.

For more information on where VPNs are legal and illegal, check out our VPN legality guide.

VPN App Usability: NordVPN vs ExpressVPN

VPNs can be a difficult piece of software to understand. But this can be remedied with a clear, intimidating, and well-planned-out interface. Overall, there's very little to separate NordVPN and ExpressVPN when it comes to usability.

These are two modern, well-funded VPN brands, and each has invested cannily in their app interfaces. Both NordVPN and ExpressVPN impress with their simple, intuitive apps that make it easy to get started.

Both VPNs are simple to set up yet still have extensive details of how to complete this process on their respective websites. ExpressVPN has some rich features for more confident users, and NordVPN also has its share of technical settings, as well as a world map with which you can choose the location of the server you'd like to connect to. Newbies needn't delve into these if they don't need to, but for more experienced VPN users, the apps have the depth of settings you'd need.

Here’s a complete breakdown of each VPN provider’s app selection and the multi-platform support it offers.

NordVPN vs ExpressVPN: Customer Support

NordVPN's customer support includes:

• NordVPN help center: This is NordVPN's collection of articles that detail everything you need to know about their VPN. This includes guides, how-to's, and instructions on how to use the different features included in its VPN package.
• Video tutorials: NordVPN provides a number of instructional videos that will help you solve VPN issues.
• Live chat: If you need immediate support, you can use NordVPN's live chat function through the provider's website.
• Email: NordVPN can be contacted via email, through which the provider will assist you with various VPN troubleshooting issues. Remember to provide sufficient detail on your issue to get the best results.

ExpressVPN offers a similar set of customer support options, including:

• ExpressVPN support center: This is the area of ExpressVPN's website where you'll find a variety of assorted articles covering all the common issues you might experience when using their service. There are detailed setup instructions too.
• 24/7 live support: If you need quickly available support, then ExpressVPN has a live chat function you can type your email address into, and it'll connect you to a “Live Chat Agent”.
• Email: Like NordVPN, if you feel as if you can't solve the problem yourself, you can always email the provider to get on-hand support from ExpressVPN staff.

NordVPN has better customer support overall

Tech.co tested the supper/help center pages provided by these two VPNs and found NordVPN makes it slightly easier for you to troubleshoot issues than ExpressVPN, returning more relevant information for a variety of different common VPN issues.

NordVPN's support center will provide prompts after you put your query in, and return the most relevant information you need to solve it. ExpressVPN, on the other hand, brought up what it considered to be the most ExpressVPN served us the most relevant articles, although it took longer to find instruction-based answers than it did when we typed the same queries into NordVPN.

That being said, ExpressVPN does handily have the 10 common questions (e.g. “cancel your ExpressVPN subscription”; “how many devices can I connect simultaneously?”) and their corresponding answers attached to the support center homepage.

Payments options and refunds: NordVPN vs ExpressVPN

Both services accept all major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover), as well as PayPal and Bitcoin.

In addition, both NordVPN and ExpressVPN offer the same refund deal – a 30-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked.

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