I’ve been using ExpressVPN and NordVPN for more than a decade, and have been consistently impressed with the exceptional quality of both services and how consistently each one has improved over the years. They're two of the best VPNs in the industry and are neck-and-neck in virtually every category in which they compete, which makes comparing the two both easy and challenging. Easy because they're both great choices and challenging because it’s difficult to declare a clear winner.
Both providers offer fast speeds, intuitive apps, robust encryption, forward-thinking privacy protections, expansive server networks and excellent streaming capabilities. Be prepared to pay a premium for either service but, either way, you’re getting one of the best.
ExpressVPN has the edge in privacy and usability, while NordVPN wins out for features and speed. Read on for a more detailed evaluation of how these two VPN giants stack up against one another.
ExpressVPN vs. NordVPN compared
Major features compared
ExpressVPN NordVPN Price $13 per month, $75 for the first 15 months (then $100 per year) or $98 for the first 28 months (then $100 per year) $13 per month, $60 for the first year (then $140 per year), $81 total for the first two years (then $140 per year) Average Speed Loss % 18% 3% Server Network 11,500 plus servers in 105 countries 7,400-plus servers in 126 countries Encryption AES 256-bit, ChaCha20 AES 256-bit, ChaCha20 VPN Protocols Available Lightway, WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2 NordLynx, OpenVPN, NordWhisper, IKEv2 Jurisdiction British Virgin Islands Panama Compatibility Windows, MacOS, Linux, Chromebook, Android, iOS, Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Routers Windows, MacOS, Linux, Chromebook, Android, iOS, Android TV, Fire TV, Apple TV, Routers Simultaneous Connections 10 10
ExpressVPN ExpressVPN Price $13 per month, $75 for the first year or $98 total for the first two years (one- and two-year plans renew at $100 per year) Latest Tests No DNS leaks detected, 18% speed loss in 2025 tests Network 3,000 plus servers in 105 countries Jurisdiction British Virgin Islands ExpressVPN is currently CNET’s Editors’ Choice Best Overall VPN thanks to its cutting-edge privacy protections, exceptional transparency, unrivaled streaming capabilities and incredible ease-of-use across platforms. Whether you’re a VPN veteran with critical privacy needs or a casual user who just wants something easy to use and the best VPN for streaming international content, ExpressVPN delivers. It’s not as loaded with extra features as NordVPN is, but ExpressVPN offers everything that most VPN users need and is top of its class at virtually everything it does. 73% off with 2yr plan (+4 free months). Now only $3.49/month See at ExpressVPN
NordVPN Price $13 per month, $60 for the first year or $83 total for the first two years (one- and two-year plans renew at $140 per year) Latest tests No leaks detected, 3% average internet download speed loss in 2025 tests Network 7,400-plus servers in 118 countries Jurisdiction Panama If you’re looking for the fastest VPN on the market, NordVPN is a good bet. We measured a 3% average speed loss in our 2025 speed tests, which outshined the competition by a long shot. On top of being a speed leader, NordVPN is excellent for streaming, includes some useful privacy extras and has intuitive apps on most platforms. Like ExpressVPN, NordVPN is one of the most expensive VPN providers out there right now. But Express has the edge for privacy-critical users who care about the finer details of things like privacy policies and transparency reports. See at NordVPN
Speed winner: NordVPN was the fastest VPN in our tests
All VPNs will slow your internet speeds somewhat. At CNET, we generally like to see a VPN cut our base internet speeds by 25% or less -- which is our cutoff for categorizing a VPN as “fast.” With less than a 25% speed loss, you’re unlikely to notice any major performance issues, even if your base internet connection is on the slow side and you’re streaming in 4K or engaging in other data-heavy activities like torrenting or videoconferencing.
Both NordVPN and ExpressVPN fall well below that 25% threshold, with NordVPN cutting our speeds by a mere 3% and ExpressVPN by 18% in our 2025 speed tests. If fast VPN connection speeds are your main priority, NordVPN is the way to go -- but ExpressVPN is no slouch when it comes to speed performance either.
Value winner: Intro prices for both providers offer decent value for a basic VPN plan, but ExpressVPN's renewal price is more palatable than NordVPN's
Analyzing and directly comparing VPN prices can be difficult because of the multitude of subscription tiers available and because the features offered at each tier don't always line up neatly from one provider to the next. Both VPNs are two of the most expensive on the market and offer somewhat similar price plans and decent overlap with features, but NordVPN offers additional services that ExpressVPN does not, like advanced malware protection and secure cloud storage. The overall difference in value is razor-thin between ExpressVPN and NordVPN. Ultimately, the value is based on the specific tools you need. If you need a password manager and a handful of identity protection features on top of your VPN, then ExpressVPN would be the way to go. On the other hand, NordVPN is an excellent choice if you value more robust malware protections and encrypted cloud storage.
Let's start with a breakdown of the plan options.
ExpressVPN offers a Basic subscription plan that includes only the VPN and a stripped-down version of its Advanced Protection feature set. Basic costs $13 a month, $75 for the first 15 months or $98 total for the first 28 months, but the yearly and two-year plans both renew at $100 per year.
ExpressVPN's Advanced subscription allows for up to 12 simultaneous connections and includes the VPN, password manager, full suite of Advanced Protection tools and most Identity Defender features. The Advanced plan costs $14 per month, $90 for the first 15 months or $126 for the first 28 months (then $120 per year).
ExpressVPN's Pro subscription plan allows up to 14 simultaneous connections and includes everything in the Advanced plan, plus data removal services, credit reports and a dedicated IP for $20 per month, $135 for the first 15 months or $210 for the first 28 months (then $200 per year).
NordVPN’s introductory prices for its Basic plan are decent at $13 a month, $60 for the first 12 months or $83 total for the first 27 months, but the annual and two-year plans both renew at a preposterous $140 a year -- for just the VPN.
If you want to use NordVPN’s password manager and Threat Protection Pro on top of its VPN, you'll need to purchase its Plus package, which costs $14 pear month, $72 for the first 12 months (then $180 annually) or $108 total for the first 27 months (then $180 annually).
Adding 1TB of cloud storage to your plan bumps the price up to $15 per month, $84 for the first 12 months (then $219 annually) or $135 total for the first 27 months (then $219 annually) with the Complete subscription tier.
If you want to add NordVPN's identity protection services from NordVPN, you’ll need to spring for its Prime subscription tier which costs $18 a month, $108 for the first 12 months (then $372 annually) or $189 total for the first 27 months combined (then $372 annually). You can add a dedicated IP for $9 per month or $81 per year and data removal services for $11 per month or $90 per year.
That’s almost too much to keep track of. But here are the big takeaways: First, if we're looking strictly at each provider's Basic plans, neither is an exceptional value.
However, if you're looking for a bundled VPN subscription plan that includes extras like a password manager and identify protection tools, I'd say that ExpressVPN's Advanced plan offers the most value for ExpressVPN users and delivers arguably more value than NordVPN's Basic plan. You get a comparable introductory price and a cheaper renewal rate for more simultaneous connections and more features than NordVPN Basic.
ExpressVPN's Pro subscription plan is a pretty large jump in price from the Advanced plan and not a particularly good value based on what you get. Nord's Plus, Pro and Complete options do add more features -- notably the password manager in Plus and identity protection in Prime -- but they also hike up the service's already steep renewal rates. Also, NordVPN announced in August that the company is sunsetting its Meshnet feature on December 1, citing a lack of resonance with the NordVPN community. But Meshnet was a unique feature and a differentiator for NordVPN, and the service may be a less compelling value in its absence.
Privacy and security winner: ExpressVPN’s privacy protections and transparency are nearly unmatched
Although NordVPN’s privacy posture is solid, ExpressVPN gets the edge here because of its innovative privacy initiatives coupled with transparency that goes above and beyond what most of the competition delivers.
ExpressVPN’s TrustedServer technology takes the traditional principles of a RAM-only server infrastructure a step further by reinstalling the entire software stack in addition to wiping any data with every reboot, minimizing the risk of misconfiguration while ensuring no user data remains stored on a hard disk. ExpressVPN was also one of the first VPNs to implement post-quantum encryption to protect against potential future decryption threats from quantum computers, and it keeps up with the latest standards. The company also rolled out its own version of WireGuard with the same post-quantum protections and published a white paper detailing its process for others to follow -- which is exemplary of ExpressVPN's commitment to pushing the industry forward.
NordVPN also includes post-quantum protections across platforms, similarly integrating the latest NIST standard ML-KEM algorithm into its NordLynx protocol. This has helped NordVPN come up to speed with ExpressVPN and other top VPN options for privacy-focused users.
But ExpressVPN’s 23 independent audits since 2018 leaves others, including NordVPN, in the dust. In that same time period, NordVPN has commissioned five independent audits, including a steady clip of annual audits in 2022, 2023 and 2024. However, NordVPN’s latest audit reports are only available to customers, meaning that you have to register an account and buy a subscription to access the reports. ExpressVPN’s full audit reports, on the other hand, are available for the general public to scrutinize directly from its Trust Center.
That said, both VPNs have strict no-logs policies that have been audited, which is more than many other VPNs can declare. Both NordVPN and ExpressVPN employ industry-standard AES 256-bit and ChaCha20 encryption and deliver other essential VPN privacy protections like a kill switch and DNS leak protection. Both are also based out of privacy-friendly jurisdictions outside of the 14-Eyes data-sharing alliance (NordVPN in Panama and ExpressVPN in the British Virgin Islands).
I like that ExpressVPN has a built-in ShuffleIP feature that automatically changes your IP address for every site you visit while connected to its network, giving you extra protection against the possibility of anyone tracing your activity back to you. NordVPN doesn’t offer such a feature but does include a few other privacy features that ExpressVPN doesn’t. For instance, NordVPN offers Onion over VPN, which leverages the Tor network, as well as double-hop VPN connections, which route your traffic through two VPN servers instead of just one. Both of those features boost your privacy by supplying you with an extra layer of encryption. Although ExpressVPN is still the VPN I’d pick for critical privacy needs, I’d like to see the provider add the option for multi-hop connections in the future to make its service even stronger.
Usability winner: ExpressVPN is the easiest VPN to use across all platforms
I often recommend ExpressVPN to beginners because it’s the simplest VPN to use no matter what platform you’re using it on. The app requires no learning curve and delivers a consistent experience across platforms, is nicely minimalistic and easy to navigate. NordVPN’s app is also user-friendly, but somewhat more cluttered -- especially on mobile where the map navigation functionality dominates the interface. That said, I particularly like that NordVPN gives you the option to pause your VPN connection instead of disconnecting outright, which can be helpful if you need to jump off the VPN connection for a short amount of time but don’t want to risk forgetting to reconnect when you need it.
Both VPNs offer apps for Windows, MacOS, Linux (with GUI), Android, iOS, Android TV, Fire TV and Apple TV. Both also work on routers, but ExpressVPN’s router app (which is compatible with various router models including its own Aircove router) delivers by far the most intuitive router setup in the industry. This makes unblocking geo-restricted streaming content with ExpressVPN on smart TVs and streaming devices like Roku without native VPN support almost too easy.
I also prefer ExpressVPN’s Apple TV app over NordVPN’s because it’s far simpler to navigate, with servers organized in a sensible manner. While I use ExpressVPN’s Apple TV app in my free time, I stay away from NordVPN’s unless I’m actively testing it because it’s a pain to navigate, with side-scrolling navigation the only option to browse server locations arranged in no dicernible manner. I find it a curious choice for a VPN that has servers in 126 countries. If you’re looking to stream content with NordVPN on a streaming device, its Fire TV Stick app delivers a far superior experience.
ExpressVPN and NordVPN are both excellent for streaming, with each provider expertly unblocking geo-restricted content on popular streaming sites like Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max and BBC iPlayer. However, I found ExpressVPN to be slightly more reliable for unblocking content on various international Netflix libraries. For instance, my family and I routinely use ExpressVPN to unblock Hungarian content on Netflix, whereas NordVPN is unable to give us access to the same content. On the other hand, NordVPN offers servers in 126 countries while ExpressVPN has servers in 105, meaning that NordVPN should theoretically give you access to a wider range of international streaming content.
I like ExpressVPN’s newly updated iOS app, which includes some nice usability enhancements, including quick access to the protocol selection functionality and more intuitive server navigation options. You can quickly choose your desired VPN protocol right from the home screen and easily select from the five most recent, fastest or most popular server locations based on where you are. Additionally, you can now sort server countries by the number of available endpoints and easily select from a list of city-level servers. NordVPN’s app allows you to sort countries by alphabetical order or popularity.
Bottom line
Ultimately, whether you choose ExpressVPN or NordVPN, you’re making an excellent choice. Both VPNs sit at the very top of CNET’s list of the best VPNs available for a reason -- they’re first-class providers that deliver exceptional performance and privacy. Which one you choose will largely depend on what specifically you need from your VPN.
If you’re looking for the fastest possible speeds from your VPN or if you want additional privacy features like double-hop connections or Onion over VPN, go with NordVPN. In most other cases, ExpressVPN has the edge, like if you’re looking for the easiest app to use across platforms and the best option for streaming. Also, if you have critical privacy needs and/or appreciate companies with elevated transparency efforts, ExpressVPN is the better choice.