Proton VPN vs ExpressVPN 2026: Price, Speed and Privacy

Proton VPN is the better choice for most buyers in 2026. VPN Plus renews at $83.88 a year against $99.95 for ExpressVPN Basic, Proton offers a free plan, and its no-logs policy has passed five annual audits in a row. ExpressVPN wins on the opening bill ($2.99 a month for 28 months versus $3.49 for 24) and on RAM-only servers. Prices were read on both vendors' pricing pages on October 19, 2026.

That verdict leans on the long run. ExpressVPN's first bill is the cheaper way into a VPN, but most people keep a VPN for years, and from the first renewal onward Proton costs less at every comparable tier. The privacy question is closer than the marketing on either side suggests: both publish audits, both hold a no-logs record, and the real differences are jurisdiction, open-source code and server design.

Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, evaluates 36 VPN tools in its VPN ranking. As of October 2026, Proton VPN is listed as an alternative to 16 other tools there (joint #2 of 36), and ExpressVPN to 13 (#6 of 36): buyers weigh these two against the field more often than almost any other pair.

Proton VPN vs ExpressVPN at a glance

Question	Proton VPN	ExpressVPN
Entry paid plan, two-year term	VPN Plus, $3.49/mo for 24 months	Basic, $2.99/mo for 28 months
Yearly renewal of the entry plan	$83.88	$99.95
Free plan	Yes, 1 device, 10 countries	No
Devices at once	10 on Plus and Unlimited	10 on Basic, 12 on Advanced, 14 on Pro
Server network	20,000+ servers in 140+ countries	Servers in 113 countries
Company jurisdiction	Switzerland	British Virgin Islands
No-logs audits	Securitum, fifth consecutive annual audit in 2026	KPMG, most recent in June 2025
Server design	Full-disk encryption on bare-metal servers	TrustedServer, RAM only
Money-back guarantee	30 days	30 days for new users

Sources: Proton's pricing page and ExpressVPN's pricing page, both read in US dollars on October 19, 2026.

Which is cheaper, Proton VPN or ExpressVPN?

ExpressVPN is cheaper for the first two years; Proton is cheaper from the first renewal onward. Both vendors push a long first term. Proton bills 24 months up front on VPN Plus, then renews every 12 months; ExpressVPN bills 28 months up front, then autorenews yearly.

Plan, first term	Billed up front	Months covered	Then renews at
Proton VPN Plus, 2 years	$83.76	24	$83.88 every 12 months
Proton Unlimited, 2 years	$191.76	24	$119.88 every 12 months
ExpressVPN Basic, 2 years + 4 months	$83.72	28	$99.95 a year
ExpressVPN Advanced, 2 years + 4 months	$125.72	28	$119.95 a year
ExpressVPN Pro, 2 years + 4 months	$209.72	28	$199.95 a year

The first bills of the two entry plans are four cents apart, so the opening offer comes down to months: ExpressVPN covers four more of them for the same money. That is a real advantage for a buyer who plans to cancel after a little over two years. ExpressVPN's pricing page shows only these two-year plans; Proton also sells monthly and 1-year terms, and its 2-year card shows the $9.99 monthly rate struck through.

The renewal is where the pair separates. Spread over 12 months, Proton's renewal works out to $6.99 a month and ExpressVPN Basic's to about $8.33, by our arithmetic. ExpressVPN adds sales tax at checkout where it applies, so a taxed US address pays a little more than the figures in this section. Our Proton VPN pricing breakdown covers Proton's shorter terms, and the ExpressVPN pricing page covers ExpressVPN's tiers in full.

What five years of each VPN costs

We added up the payments needed to stay covered for at least three and at least five years, using only the first-term and renewal prices each vendor prints. Because ExpressVPN's first term runs 28 months, its renewals land four months later than Proton's, so the table shows how many months each total actually buys.

Plan	Paid for 3+ years	Months covered	Paid for 5+ years	Months covered
Proton VPN Plus	$167.64	36	$335.40	60
ExpressVPN Basic	$183.67	40	$383.57	64
Proton Unlimited	$311.64	36	$551.40	60
ExpressVPN Advanced	$245.67	40	$485.57	64
ExpressVPN Pro	$409.67	40	$809.57	64

On the VPN-only plans, Proton's five-year bill is $48.17 lower, and it is exactly five years, while ExpressVPN's covers four extra months. Read the comparison per year of coverage and the gap holds: after the first term, each ExpressVPN Basic year costs $16.07 more than a Proton Plus year.

The bundle rows are not like for like, because the products inside them differ. Proton Unlimited adds encrypted mail, cloud storage and a premium password manager; ExpressVPN Advanced adds a password manager, an email relay and US identity monitoring. Compare them on what you would use, which the next section lays out.

What the higher tiers add

Proton Unlimited is a privacy suite; ExpressVPN Advanced and Pro are an identity-protection bundle. Neither upgrade changes the core VPN much, so the extra money buys software outside the tunnel.

Proton Unlimited keeps the VPN Plus features and the 10-device limit, then adds the paid tiers of Proton Mail, Drive and Pass. Proton's plan table lists 500 GB of storage instead of up to 5 GB, 15 email addresses with 3 custom domains, unlimited hide-my-email aliases, integrated 2FA and dark web monitoring. That suits someone replacing Gmail, Dropbox and a password manager at once.

ExpressVPN Advanced raises the device limit to 12 and adds ExpressKeys, its password manager with a 2FA authenticator, plus an email relay with 50 shared aliases. Its Identity Defender adds 5 ID alerts, automated data removal and up to $3 million in identity theft insurance, underwritten by American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida. Pro goes to 14 devices, includes a dedicated IP, raises the insurance to $5 million and adds ExpressAI, a chatbot with 500 credits a day.

• Pick Proton Unlimited if private email and encrypted storage would replace services you use now.
• Pick ExpressVPN Advanced if you are a US buyer who wants identity theft insurance and data removal in the same bill as the VPN.
• Skip both upgrades if you only want the VPN; the entry plans carry the same tunnel.

Is Proton VPN more private than ExpressVPN?

Proton has the stronger paper trail for a privacy buyer; ExpressVPN has the stronger server design. Both are credible no-logs services, and the difference is in how each one earns that trust.

Proton is based in Switzerland and says that, under the current Swiss legal framework, a VPN has no forced logging obligation. Its support pages describe a 2019 legal case in which Proton was ordered to hand over logs to identify a user and could not, because none existed. Securitum, a European security auditing firm, has audited its no-logs policy every year, with the 2026 report the fifth in a row, per Proton's audit post (updated June 16, 2026). Proton's apps are open source, so anyone can read the client code.

ExpressVPN is run by Express Technologies Ltd. under British Virgin Islands law, and its privacy policy says personal data is held by ExpressVPN, not by its UK parent Kape Technologies PLC. Its trust center lists KPMG no-logs and privacy audits from September 2022, December 2023 and June 2025, PwC reviews of its servers, and a long series of Cure53 app and protocol audits. ExpressVPN has open-sourced the core library of Lightway, its own protocol.

ExpressVPN's transparency report puts numbers on the pressure: it logged 137 government, law enforcement and civil requests and 3 warrants from January to June 2026, and says it had no activity data to hand over.

Which matters more depends on your threat model. A journalist or activist who wants to read the client code and prefers Swiss law leans Proton. A buyer whose worry is a seized or compromised server leans ExpressVPN, because TrustedServer runs only in RAM and wipes on every reboot, while Proton relies on full-disk encryption on servers it controls.

Which is faster, Proton VPN or ExpressVPN?

Cyberpresso runs no test lab, so this page names no speed winner. What each vendor claims: ExpressVPN advertises 10Gbps and 40Gbps servers on its features page, and Proton says its servers offer connections up to 10Gbps with at least 1Gbps of bandwidth on its features page.

Server capacity is not your speed. Real throughput depends on your own line, the distance to the server and the protocol: ExpressVPN runs Lightway and lists post-quantum protection on every plan, while Proton runs WireGuard plus Stealth, its obfuscated protocol tunnelled over TLS for networks that block VPNs. The fair test is your own, inside each 30-day money-back window, on the home and mobile connections you actually use.

Network breadth is easier to compare. Proton lists more than 20,000 servers in over 140 countries on VPN Plus; ExpressVPN lists servers in 113 countries and does not print a server total on its pricing page. Proton also includes Secure Core, which routes traffic through a first server in a privacy-friendly country, Tor over VPN and port forwarding, none of which appear in ExpressVPN's plan table.

Free plan, devices and refunds

Only Proton has a free plan. Proton Free costs $0, covers 1 device and connects to servers in 10 randomly chosen countries, without streaming support. ExpressVPN has no free tier, so its 30-day refund is the only way to try it without paying for good. Our VPN free trial guide covers the brands that run trials instead.

Device limits favour ExpressVPN on the upper tiers. Both entry plans cover 10 devices at once, but ExpressVPN Advanced allows 12 and Pro 14, while Proton Unlimited stays at 10. Households with more screens than that should read our Surfshark vs NordVPN comparison, since Surfshark sets no device limit.

The refund terms differ in one word. Proton offers a money-back guarantee on all subscriptions requested within the first 30 days; ExpressVPN's 30-day guarantee is for new users, so a returning customer should not count on it.

Who should pick which

• Pick Proton VPN Plus if you will keep a VPN past two years, care about Swiss jurisdiction and open-source apps, or want a free plan to start on.
• Pick Proton Unlimited if encrypted email and 500 GB of storage would replace paid services.
• Pick ExpressVPN Basic if you want the lowest monthly rate for a single first term and plan to cancel or switch before it renews.
• Pick ExpressVPN Advanced if you are in the US and want identity theft insurance and data removal bundled with the VPN.
• Use a business product for a company network; our best VPN for small business list covers admin-managed options.

The single-product write-ups are the Proton VPN review and the ExpressVPN review. For a wider price view across five brands, see our cheapest VPN comparison, and for a browser-only option, the best VPN Chrome extensions list. Android users on a zero budget can start with the best free VPN for Android picks.

Cyberpresso data: Cyberpresso reaches 28,000+ security readers with a 31% open rate, per the audience file dated November 1, 2026. VPN flaws, such as the Chrome VPN extensions caught hijacking traffic, are a regular item in the Cyberpresso brief.

How we compared

Louis Corneloup, founder of Dupple and Toolradar, wrote this comparison from Proton's pricing page, Proton's features page, Proton's no-logs policy page, Proton's audit post, ExpressVPN's pricing page, ExpressVPN's features page, ExpressVPN's trust center and ExpressVPN's privacy policy, all read on October 19, 2026, with prices in US dollars. The three- and five-year totals are our arithmetic from printed first-term and renewal prices. Cyberpresso runs no test lab, so no figure here is a measurement. The Toolradar counts come from its VPN category in October 2026. Editorial rules are on the Cyberpresso about page.

FAQ

Is Proton VPN or ExpressVPN better in 2026?

Proton VPN is the better fit for most buyers: VPN Plus renews at $83.88 a year against $99.95 for ExpressVPN Basic, Proton has a free plan, and its no-logs policy has passed five annual Securitum audits. ExpressVPN is better if you want RAM-only servers or the cheapest single first term.

Is Proton VPN cheaper than ExpressVPN?

Over the long run, yes. ExpressVPN Basic costs $2.99 a month for its first 28 months against $3.49 for Proton Plus over 24, but staying covered for five years costs $335.40 on Proton Plus and $383.57 on ExpressVPN Basic, by our arithmetic from both pricing pages on October 19, 2026.

Does ExpressVPN have a free plan like Proton VPN?

No. Proton Free costs $0 for 1 device and servers in 10 countries chosen at random. ExpressVPN sells only paid plans, so the way to try it is its 30-day money-back guarantee for new users.

Which is more private, Proton VPN or ExpressVPN?

Both are audited no-logs services. Proton is Swiss, open-sources its apps and has had five consecutive annual no-logs audits by Securitum. ExpressVPN operates under British Virgin Islands law, runs RAM-only TrustedServer infrastructure and lists KPMG no-logs audits from 2022, 2023 and 2025.

Is ExpressVPN faster than Proton VPN?

We publish no speed ranking because Cyberpresso runs no test lab. ExpressVPN advertises 10Gbps and 40Gbps servers; Proton says its servers reach up to 10Gbps. Your own line and the server distance decide real speed, so compare both inside their 30-day refund windows.

How many devices do Proton VPN and ExpressVPN allow?

Proton VPN Plus and Proton Unlimited each cover 10 devices at once. ExpressVPN covers 10 on Basic, 12 on Advanced and 14 on Pro.

Cite this: Cyberpresso, "Proton VPN vs ExpressVPN 2026: Price, Speed and Privacy", October 2026.

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