NordVPN vs ExpressVPN: Which is better?

Both NordVPN and ExpressVPN are considered to be one of the best VPN providers, but which one is better?

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NordVPN vs ExpressVPN comparison

NordVPN vs ExpressVPN: Which is better?

Both NordVPN and ExpressVPN are considered to be one of the best VPN providers, but which one is better?

We are supported by our audience, this post may contain affiliate links. See our affiliate disclosure for more details.

NordVPN vs ExpressVPN comparison

NordVPN vs ExpressVPN

When looking for a VPN, you’ll see that NordVPN and ExpressVPN are quite often considered the best options. In this post, we’ll be putting NordVPN vs ExpressVPN to find out once and for all, which VPN is better. The three main sections we’ll be focusing on are servers, features, and pricing. If you would like to read about each VPN in more detail than in this comparison, feel free to check out our NordVPN review and our ExpressVPN review.

NordVPN smartphone app
NordVPN mobile app - Credit: NordVPN

NordVPN vs ExpressVPN: Servers

When comparing NordVPN vs ExpressVPN, one of the biggest points of focus are the servers, specifically how many servers are available, and which types of servers are offered. Keep reading this NordVPN vs ExpressVPN comparison to find out which VPN is the best in terms of servers.

NordVPN offers a plethora of over 5,200 servers across 59 different countries. According to their website, there are currently 2,244 servers in the Americas, 2,224 servers in Europe, 645 servers in the Asia Pacific, and 124 servers in Africa, the Middle East and India. NordVPN provides the most servers we’ve seen from any VPN and because there are so many, you won’t have any trouble finding the perfect server for you.

This is in comparison to ExpressVPN which offers over 3,000 servers in 160 different locations across 94 countries. It’s pretty clear that NordVPN wins in terms of having the most servers, but that’s not all NordVPN has to offer.

NordVPN offers a range of different servers which includes: Standard, Double VPN, Onion over VPN, Dedicated IP, P2P, and Obfuscated servers. For most people, the standard encrypted server is all that they need, but if you’re looking for something more specific, NordVPN provides more than enough options to choose from. If you want to learn about what each of these servers does, check out our NordVPN review.

Both NordVPN and ExpressVPN use the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with 256-bit keys which is used worldwide by governments and cybersecurity experts.

NordVPN vs ExpressVPN: Features

NordVPN has four stand-out features, these are: Unblocks streaming services such as Netflix, SmartPlay, Kill Switch, and CyberSec.

NordVPN can unblock streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu, just choose a server where you would like to access these services from, then sit back and enjoy an interruption-free streaming experience.

NordVPN’s SmartPlay feature allows you to access content you otherwise wouldn’t have access to by combining VPN and Smart DNS technologies. Traditionally, Smart DNS allows you to get past geo-block restrictions, however, it doesn’t use any encryption. NordVPN’s SmartPlay feature works automatically with no setup required, meaning you can access geo-blocked content whilst staying secure and encrypted.

NordVPN’s Kill Switch feature is a technique used to quickly terminate an application if something goes wrong. NordVPN’s Kill Switch continuously monitors your connection to the VPN server. If it detects that your connection drops, the Kill Switch will block your device or the apps you specified from access to the web. When the tunnel to the VPN server is re-established the Kill Switch will restore your secure internet connection.

NordVPN’s CyberSec feature protects you from ads, unsafe connections and malicious websites. Due to Google’s policies, CyberSec doesn’t block ads in the NordVPN app which you can find in the Google Play Store. However, you can download the same NordVPN app for Android devices from NordVPN’s website in which CyberSec does block ads.

ExpressVPN has three stand-out features, these are: Unblocks streaming services such as Netflix, Network Lock, and VPN split tunnelling.

ExpressVPN can unblock streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu, just choose a server where you would like to access these services from, then sit back and enjoy an interruption-free streaming experience.

ExpressVPN’s Network Lock acts in a similar way to NordVPN’s Kill Switch feature. If the Network Lock detects that your connection has dropped, it will block traffic from entering or leaving your device. When the connection has been re-established, the Network Lock will restore your secure internet connection.

ExpressVPN’s VPN split tunnelling feature lets you control which traffic from your devices or apps go through an encrypted ExpressVPN server and what doesn’t, allowing you to protect the traffic you choose, without losing access to local network devices.

NordVPN vs ExpressVPN: Have they ever been hacked?

Unfortunately, NordVPN was breached back in March 2018. NordVPN reported that one of its rented servers located in Finland was breached due to a third-party security flaw. The breach was very limited and involved no user-identifying information, this goes to show NordVPN really doesn’t keep any logs of user activity.

As a response to the security breach, NordVPN invited a security research group to audit its apps and help to identify and fix any security issues. As well as this, they launched a bug bounty program which gave a money incentive to anyone who discovered and reported potential security issues.

On the other hand, ExpressVPN has never been breached.

NordVPN vs ExpressVPN: Pricing

NordVPN offers three different plans to choose from: one month plan, one year plan, and a two-year plan.

NordVPN also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee which means if you’re not satisfied with the service, you can get your money back! Because of this, we recommend users to purchase the longer plans as they have the cheapest cost per month.

NordVPN pricing
NordVPN pricing - Credit: NordVPN

ExpressVPN also offers three plans for you to choose from: 1-month plan, 6-month plan, and a 12-month plan.

Just like NordVPN, ExpressVPN also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee which means that if you’re not satisfied with the service, you can get your money back! Because of this, we recommend users to purchase the longer plans as they have the cheapest cost per month.

ExpressVPN pricing
ExpressVPN pricing - Credit: ExpressVPN

Quick Answers

How much is NordVPN?

NordVPN offers three different plans, 1-month, 6-month, and 2-year plans. The 1-month plan costs £9.20/mo, the 6-month plan costs £6.93/mo, and the 2-year plan costs £2.86/mo.

Is NordVPN good?

NordVPN is easily one of the best VPN service providers on the market. It offers thousands of fast servers from all across the world allowing for an unblocked and uninterrupted experience from streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu. NordVPN also has many great features and special server types that greatly improve security.

How much is ExpressVPN?

ExpressVPN offers three different plans, 1-month, 6-month, and 12-month plans. The 1-month plan costs £9.99/mo, the 6-month plan costs £7.71/mo, and the 12-month plan costs £6.42/mo.

Is ExpressVPN good?

ExpressVPN is without a doubt one of the best, if not, the best VPN providers available. It offers over 3,000 super-fast servers in 160 different locations across 94 countries. It uses military-grade encryption to keep your connection secure and even comes with many great features.

NordVPN vs ExpressVPN: Which is better?

Now that we’ve compared NordVPN vs ExpressVPN, which one is better? Both NordVPN and ExpressVPN are widely considered to be the two best VPNs on the market, and there are only a few small differences between the two VPNs.

When it comes to servers, NordVPN has 5,200+ servers, and ExpressVPN has 3,000+ servers. Despite having way more servers, the biggest reason NordVPN wins in terms of servers is because of the many types of servers they offer, such as Onion over VPN and Double VPN, etc.

In terms of features, both NordVPN and ExpressVPN offer similar features, the best feature of both being that they unblock streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu. Other than this, a great feature from NordVPN is CyberSec, which protects you from ads, unsafe connections and malicious websites. Similarly, a great feature from ExpressVPN is VPN split tunnelling, which allows you to control which traffic gets encrypted.

The main deciding factor between NordVPN vs ExpressVPN is the cost, NordVPN is much cheaper than ExpressVPN. The most expensive monthly plans from both NordVPN and ExpressVPN are their 1-month plans. NordVPN’s 1-month plan costs £9.20 and ExpressVPN’s 1-month plan costs £9.99. This is in comparison to the cheapest monthly plans from NordVPN and ExpressVPN. NordVPN’s cheapest monthly plan is a 2-year plan which costs £2.86 per month. ExpressVPN’s cheapest plan is a 1-year plan which costs £6.42 per month.

Feel free to check out NordVPN or check out ExpressVPN.

If you’re looking for something more in-depth than this NordVPN vs ExpressVPN comparison, we recommend you check out our NordVPN review and our ExpressVPN review. In these reviews, we rated NordVPN a 10 and rated ExpressVPN a 9.5.

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Joshua Robb

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Joshua Robb is the Company Director and a contributing author of Visually Reviewed. With a passion for innovating and pivoting technology, Joshua Robb has amassed a wide and in-depth knowledge of technology, with an ever-growing interest and passion for journalism, fashion and music.