ExpressVPN scored 8.7 in our July cycle and sits sixth. Nothing is wrong with it — the apps are the best in the category and support is genuinely excellent. But it costs $4.99 a month on a two-year term, and five providers we tested measured faster for less money.
1. NordVPN — the direct replacement
902 Mbps nearby against ExpressVPN's 856, six of six streaming platforms, four published audits and $3.39 a month. It matches ExpressVPN on everything that showed up in our measurements and beats it on most, for a third less.
2. Surfshark — the value pick
874 Mbps nearby, unlimited devices against ExpressVPN's eight, and $2.19 a month. You lose DAZN and move to a Nine Eyes jurisdiction. For a household, the unlimited device policy alone usually settles it.
3. Proton VPN — if privacy is the reason you were buying
898 Mbps nearby, 712 long-haul — the best intercontinental result of the cycle. Open-source clients, Swiss jurisdiction, and a free tier with no data cap. At $4.49 it is barely cheaper, but it is faster and independently verifiable.
4. CyberGhost — if you were buying it for streaming
Six of six platforms, the most consistent unblocking we measured, a 45-day refund window and $2.19 a month. Slower on long-haul routes, so this is a streaming choice rather than an all-round one.
5. IPVanish — if you torrent
824 Mbps nearby, unlimited devices, P2P on every server and a sustained transfer that held 88 MB/s across a six-hour soak. US jurisdiction is the trade-off, and streaming is weak at three of six.
The honest summary: ExpressVPN's advantages are app design and support quality. If those are what you were paying for, keep paying. If you were paying for performance, you were overpaying.
What you give up by leaving
Lightway's reconnection speed is genuinely class-leading at a median 0.3 seconds, and the router firmware is better than anything else available. If you switch networks constantly or run a router-level VPN, those are real losses. For everyone else, the money is better spent elsewhere.
How we chose these five
Every provider here was bought at full retail price and run through the same six test suites as ExpressVPN, in the same lab, on the same 942 Mbps control line, within the same test cycle. That matters: comparing a figure we measured in July against one a provider published last year is not a comparison at all.
To qualify, a provider had to either measure faster than ExpressVPN on at least two distance bands or cost materially less while remaining within 5% on speed. All five clear that bar.
What switching actually involves
- Check your refund window on ExpressVPN before cancelling — 30 days from purchase.
- Install the new provider and run a DNS leak test before you uninstall the old one.
- Test the streaming platforms you actually use, not the ones in the marketing.
- If you use router-level VPN, check firmware support first — this is where ExpressVPN is genuinely hardest to replace.
The honest case for staying
If you have ExpressVPN configured on a router, use it across several unusual devices, or contact support more than occasionally, the switching cost may exceed the saving. Those are the three areas where it leads and where the alternatives require more effort from you rather than less.
