ExpressVPN Reviews — Pricing, Features & The Honest Take

ExpressVPN advertises “Save 80%” on Basic, and it is exactly 80.8% — against a baseline the page states in a footnote: “Any discounts reflect a reduction based on the current monthly service price.” The renewal is printed on the card too: “Then autorenews at €79.95 annually.” After a session spent finding renewal terms buried at checkout, that is worth naming. The number to plan around is still the second one — €79.95 a year is €6.66 a month, 167% above the €2.49 headline.

• What it is: A premium VPN bundled with a password manager, email relay, eSIM data and AI chat.
• Best for: Buyers who want a strong VPN and will diary the renewal at month 28.
• Pricing: Basic €69.72, Advanced €111.72, Express Pro €181.72 for 28 months. Verified July 2026.
• The honest catch: Renewal is roughly 2.3× to 2.7× the introductory rate.

What Is ExpressVPN?

ExpressVPN is among the best-known premium VPNs, and the current offering is a suite rather than a single product: the VPN itself plus ExpressKeys (password manager), a private email relay, holiday.com eSIM data and ExpressAI private chat, sold in three tiers.

Every tier is a 2-year plan plus 4 free months — 28 months — with a 30-day money-back guarantee for new users. All prices are in euros with sales tax added at checkout.

How ExpressVPN Works

• Three tiers, all on 28-month terms.
• Devices scale — 10, 12, then 14.
• Renewal is stated on every card.
• The discount baseline is disclosed.
• Dedicated IP is an add-on below Express Pro.
• Teams pricing needs 5 licences minimum.

ExpressVPN Pricing

Captured from ExpressVPN’s order page in July 2026 on the euro price list. Only 2-year plans were shown.

Renewal increase: Basic +167% · Advanced +130% · Express Pro +131%

What actually decides your cost:

• The discount claims survive checking, and the baseline is published. Basic’s struck-through €363.72 over 28 months implies a monthly rate of €12.99; €2.49 against that is 80.8% off, badged “Save 80%”. Advanced works out at 73.4% against €14.99, and Express Pro at 67.5% against €19.99 — matching “Save 73%” and “Save 67%”. The footnote states the basis outright: “Any discounts reflect a reduction based on the current monthly service price for the selected tier.” Naming your own comparison basis is rare, and it is what makes the percentages verifiable.
• The renewal is on the card, not hidden at checkout. Each tier prints “Then autorenews at €79.95 annually” directly beneath the price. Contrast that with vendors who disclose renewal only at the payment step, and it is a meaningful difference in practice — you can see the real long-run cost before clicking anything.
• That renewal is still where the money is. €79.95 a year is €6.66 a month against the €2.49 headline — a 167% increase. Advanced goes from €3.99 to €9.16 (+130%) and Express Pro from €6.49 to €15.00 (+131%). Measured against the renewal rather than the monthly rate, the first-term saving is about 63% on Basic and 56% on the other two — still large, just not eighty.
• The intro effect decays quickly once it ends. Basic costs €69.72 for 28 months. One renewal takes the total to €149.67 over 40 months — an effective €3.74 a month. Two renewals: €229.62 over 52 months, €4.42. Three: €309.57 over 64 months, €4.84, heading asymptotically toward €6.66. If you intend to keep a VPN for years, budget nearer €5 a month than €2.49.
• Express Pro is the only tier that includes a dedicated IP. Basic and Advanced list it as a paid add-on, unpriced on this page. If a static IP is why you are shopping, that pushes you to €181.72 for the term and €179.95 a year thereafter — or to an add-on cost you cannot see in advance.
• The tiers differ by bundle, not by VPN. All three say “Best-in-class VPN”; what changes is device count (10/12/14), ad-blocking depth, email relay allowance, and whether you get the password manager, eSIM data and AI credits. If you want only the VPN, Basic is the product and the rest is upsell.

Who Should Use ExpressVPN

• Buyers wanting a premium VPN with a diary reminder. The clearest case — €69.72 for 28 months, then reassess.
• Households. Ten to fourteen simultaneous devices across the range.
• People who want one bundle. Password manager, email relay and eSIM in a single subscription.
• Anyone needing a dedicated IP. Included on Express Pro.

It fits poorly for autorenewers who do not check, given the 167% step; for buyers wanting only a VPN at the lowest long-run price, where the renewal rate is high; and for anyone needing a short paid term, since only 28-month plans were offered.

Honest Pros and Cons

Strengths

• Discount percentages that check out exactly on all three tiers.
• The discount baseline is disclosed in a footnote.
• Renewal price printed on every card.
• 30-day money-back guarantee for new users.
• 10 to 14 simultaneous devices.
• A genuine bundle — password manager, email relay, eSIM, AI.

Limitations

• Renewal costs 167% more than the intro rate on Basic.
• Only 28-month plans were shown.
• Dedicated IP is an unpriced add-on below Express Pro.
• Sales tax is added at checkout.
• The sweepstakes adds noise to a pricing page.
• Long-run cost is nearer €5 a month than €2.49.

ExpressVPN Alternatives and How It Compares

• NordVPN is the closest rival on scale, with similar intro-then-renewal pricing.
• ProtonVPN is the privacy-first Swiss option with a genuinely unlimited free tier.
• PrivadoVPN is far cheaper up front, though its renewal is disclosed only at checkout.
• CyberGhost competes on long-term pricing and streaming servers.
• Surfshark allows unlimited simultaneous connections.

For a broader survey, browse our VPN software directory.

The Verdict

ExpressVPN’s order page is the most honest one we have read in this category, and the reasons are specific rather than impressionistic. The discount percentages are exactly right — 80.8%, 73.4% and 67.5% against badges of 80%, 73% and 67%. The baseline is disclosed in a footnote: the reduction is measured against “the current monthly service price for the selected tier”, which is what lets a reader check the claim at all. And the renewal price is printed on each card — “Then autorenews at €79.95 annually” — rather than surfacing at the payment step. Several competitors do none of those three things.

None of that changes what the product costs over time, which is the number worth planning around. Basic is €69.72 for 28 months, then €79.95 a year — €6.66 a month against the €2.49 headline, a 167% increase. Advanced and Express Pro both roughly double at renewal too. The arithmetic over a longer horizon is instructive: one renewal takes Basic to an effective €3.74 a month, two renewals to €4.42, three to €4.84. Anyone planning to keep a VPN for years should budget around €5 a month, not €2.49 — and put a reminder in the calendar for month 28, when the 30-day guarantee is long past and the price steps up.

Two practical notes on choosing a tier. All three are described as “Best-in-class VPN”, so what you are paying more for is the bundle — device count (10, 12, 14), ad-blocking depth, email relay allowance, and whether the password manager, eSIM data and AI credits are included. If you want a VPN and nothing else, Basic is the product. But if a dedicated IP matters, only Express Pro includes one; on Basic and Advanced it is an add-on whose price this page does not show, which makes the cheaper tiers harder to compare than they look.

FAQ

How much does ExpressVPN cost?

On the euro price list captured July 2026: Basic is €69.72 for the first 28 months (€2.49 a month), Advanced €111.72 (€3.99) and Express Pro €181.72 (€6.49). Each is a 2-year plan plus four free months. Thereafter they autorenew at €79.95, €109.95 and €179.95 annually respectively. Sales tax is added at checkout.

What does ExpressVPN cost when it renews?

Considerably more, though the page says so up front. Basic renews at €79.95 a year — €6.66 a month against the €2.49 introductory rate, a 167% increase. Advanced goes from €3.99 to €9.16 a month and Express Pro from €6.49 to €15.00. Each figure is printed on its plan card as “Then autorenews at…”, rather than appearing only at checkout.

Is ExpressVPN’s “Save 80%” claim accurate?

Yes, and unusually it is checkable. The struck-through €363.72 over 28 months implies a €12.99 monthly rate, against which €2.49 is 80.8% off. Advanced is 73.4% and Express Pro 67.5%, matching their badges. The page also states the basis in a footnote — discounts are measured “based on the current monthly service price for the selected tier”.

Which ExpressVPN plan includes a dedicated IP?

Only Express Pro, at €181.72 for 28 months and €179.95 a year thereafter. Basic and Advanced both list “Dedicated IP available as add-on”, but the order page does not publish what that add-on costs — so if a static IP is a requirement, the cheaper tiers cannot be fully priced without asking.

How many devices can I use with ExpressVPN?

Ten simultaneous devices on Basic, twelve on Advanced and fourteen on Express Pro. All three tiers describe the underlying VPN identically as “Best-in-class VPN”; the differences between them are device count, ad-blocking depth, private email relay allowance, and whether the password manager, eSIM data and AI chat credits are included.