NordVPN costs $3.09/mo on a 2-year plan, while ExpressVPN costs $6.67/mo annually, more than double the price for a product that does the same job for most users. ExpressVPN's extra country coverage and faster reconnections are its case for the premium.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | NordVPN | ExpressVPN |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | No free tier | No free tier |
| Paid price | $3.09/mo USD | $6.67/mo USD |
| Protocol | NordLynx, OpenVPN, IKEv2 | Lightway, OpenVPN, IKEv2, L2TP |
| Servers | 5,800+ | 3,000+ |
| Countries | 60 | 105 |
| Simultaneous Connections | 6 | 8 |
| Kill Switch | ||
| Split Tunneling | ||
| Ad Blocker | Plus tier only | |
| Audited No Logs | ||
| Torrenting | ||
| Streaming Optimized | ||
| Score | 9/10 | 8/10 |
NordVPN
9
ExpressVPN
8
Runner-up
NordVPN is the better choice for most people because its $3.09/mo price is hard to beat, NordLynx is fast, and 60 countries covers 95% of use cases. ExpressVPN is a quality product, but its premium is justified only when you need extra country coverage or travel to regions where Lightway's reconnection speed matters.
Pricing
NordVPN's $3.09/mo Basic plan on a 2-year term is the cheapest price among major VPNs that do not compromise on quality, but that commitment works out to roughly $74 upfront. Its monthly rate then rises to $12.99, which is hard to justify.
ExpressVPN costs $6.67/mo annually, while its $12.95 monthly rate is nearly identical to NordVPN's. The difference disappears for a one-month VPN need, but NordVPN is cheaper at every tier for anything longer.
Speed and Protocol
NordLynx, NordVPN's WireGuard implementation, and Lightway, ExpressVPN's protocol, are close in independent speed tests and both are significantly faster than OpenVPN. The difference is negligible on nearby servers, while Lightway tends to hold up slightly better on reconnection speed for distant servers.
Neither should be a bottleneck for most use cases.
Server Coverage
NordVPN has 5,800+ servers across 60 countries, while ExpressVPN has 3,000+ servers across 105 countries.
ExpressVPN is the only option if you need a country that NordVPN does not cover, but NordVPN's larger pool per country generally gives better per-server load and speeds across commonly requested countries.
Streaming
Both reliably unblock Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, and other major streaming services. ExpressVPN has a slight reputation edge for obscure services, but there is no practical difference on the main platforms.