Head to head
The gap
The security score is not a total of good things. It starts at 100 and eight channels each take a share of what is left, so one channel can settle a record on its own. Both records are drawn here on the same scale — the model’s own cap of 0.9 — rather than on a scale fitted to this pair, which would make every comparison look equally dramatic.
Line by line
Every field the contract publishes about a provider, in the contract’s own groups, including the rows where the two agree — a table that printed only differences would invent a disagreement, and one that printed only the interesting rows would be us choosing what is interesting. Open a group to read its rows; each one says how many it holds and how many of them the two records answer differently.
A green cell means the methodology itself prices that value below the other one, not that we prefer it. Rows the model does not price carry no mark at all: price is never marked, because nothing in the model says cheaper is safer, and neither is coverage, platform count or devices. Where a value was never established the cell says so instead of showing a zero.
What actually happened
Other pairs
Pairs within the top ten get a page — 80 comparisons in all. Records below that are not paired here: a comparison earns a page where the choice between the two is a real one, and that choice is made near the top of the register.
Security
Usability
Rank 4 of 68 in the register
Italy · Commercial VPN
Exits in 23 countries
Security
Usability
Rank 16 of 68 in the register
Virgin Islands (UK) · Commercial VPN
Exits in 106 countries
1 documented demand, none of which produced data
1 documented demand, none of which produced data
Open questions
Still open on this record.
Retention, unchecked by anyone. No independent audit has ever been commissioned (V01=no, based on consensus among reviewers and the absence of any AirVPN announcement of one, rather than a primary AirVPN denial) — retention (C01) rests entirely on the provider's own privacy notice, never checked by an outside party.
No transparency report, no canary. No transparency report of government/legal requests and no warrant canary could be found on airvpn.org (P05, P07 unknown) — the site does publish periodic 'mission' reports, but those cover donations to NGOs, not law-enforcement requests, so they do not establish P05.
What the forum threads show. Forum threads show users repeatedly asking AirVPN for a warrant canary with no confirmation from staff that one exists, which is suggestive but not a primary denial, so P07 stays unknown rather than 'none'.
Counts nobody publishes. Request/data-handover counts are consequently also unknown (P08, P09), and total subscriber count is never disclosed (M08 unknown) — AirVPN publishes only a live concurrently-connected-users counter, not a registered-user or subscriber total, so silence/ignorance carry real weight here.
Builds and pentests. Reproducible builds are not documented on AirVPN's own build-from-source page (eddie.website/support/build/), and no dedicated client/infrastructure pentest could be found (V13, V14 unknown). Kill switch scope and split-tunneling behaviour are sourced to a third-party review rather than AirVPN's own documentation (U08, U09 at confidence C) because the relevant FAQ pages could not be reached directly through the site's routing (they render via JavaScript and returned only a loading shell to a plain fetch).
Coverage outside the affiliates. Press coverage is not affiliate-only: BleepingComputer, a mainstream outlet outside the affiliate-aggregator list, has published an independent review carrying its own affiliate-disclosure notice rather than being confined to affiliate directories (X08=no). Its same review also found AirVPN failed every streaming service it tried — Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, ABC, NBC, CBS — which is why U12b_streaming_works now reads no rather than the addictivetips.com-sourced partial it carried before that host was ruled forbidden.
The yearly price. U04b_price_yearly=4.08 is the EUR effective-monthly rate of the one-year plan (49 EUR/year) on airvpn.org/buy/, flat on renewal like every AirVPN term.
The wordmark. AirVPN serves its wordmark only as PNG (/static/img/logo/web_header.png, logo_horiz.png) and has no press or brand page, so logos/airvpn.svg is left absent per AUDITOR.md §1 rather than tracing a raster.
Still open on this record.
The pentest, and the one not done. The pentest field is backed by Cure53's October-November 2024 review of the Lightway protocol, which found an unauthenticated-data-fragment denial of service rated High alongside four lesser items. ExpressVPN's trust centre lists a long series of such engagements, so the cadence is real; what it does not contain is an infrastructure pentest of the server fleet separate from the KPMG no-logs engagement.
The two prices, corrected. The pricing page now sells three separate plan lengths — 1-month, 12-month and 2-year — rather than the 24-28-month-only structure read on 2026-08-29. U04_price_monthly=14.99 is the Basic 1-month plan, autorenewing at the same $14.99. U04b_price_yearly=59.85 is what the Basic 12-month plan (billed as 12 months plus a 3-month bonus) actually charges for its first term; it autorenews at $99.95/year afterward, the figure the previous record had mistakenly stored as the yearly field itself.
The transparency report. P05/P06/P08/P09 now rest on ExpressVPN's biannual transparency report (Jul–Dec 2025: 155 government/law-enforcement requests, 0 disclosures, 3 warrants listed separately) reached via the Trust Center — the earlier run missed both.
The canary, and the rest of the block. No ExpressVPN warrant canary could be found and no primary statement denies one, so P07 stays unknown. P02/P03=none_known rest on the transparency series and the privacy policy's litigation stance; P11=none_known on the policy's statement that all demands run through BVI courts. P04=withdrew_physical is the June 2022 India exit.
What is never published. Subscriber count (M08) and total server count (U03) are not published. Server hardware ownership (C08: owned vs leased) and app-level device identifiers (C12) could not be established from any page checked.
106 countries against a claim of 113. U02_server_countries reflects the 105 country-landing pages in ExpressVPN's own sitemap plus China (confirmed 'Available - Virtual Locations' on the live /vpn-server page but lacking a dedicated landing page) — 106 codes total, against the site's own marketing claim of '113 Countries'; the live server-location page is a very large per-protocol table that was not exhaustively parsed, so the gap between 106 and 113 is reported rather than resolved.
An audit finding between two categories. V11_audit_findings is recorded as session_metadata rather than none_linkable or aggregates_only: the 2025 KPMG report describes a structured per-connection record (country, ISP, date, protocol, data volume, a stable salted-hash pseudonym) that is more than a pure aggregate but lacks IP and precise time — a genuinely ambiguous case for this field's four middle categories.
Notes
On the record as a whole.
AirVPN is a sole proprietorship ("AirVPN di Paolo Brini") registered in Perugia, Italy, and explicitly refuses service to residents of Italy (stated on every page footer and in the Terms of Service §1) — the practical effect is that its own home jurisdiction cannot compel it to log its own resident customers, though this is not evidence of a broader logging-mandate exemption.
AirVPN prices only in EUR (airvpn.org/buy/): 7.00 EUR/month, 49 EUR/year (4.08 EUR/month), flat on renewal. U04_price_monthly (8.11) is 7.00 EUR/month and U04b_price_yearly (56.74) is the 49 EUR/year total, both converted to USD at 1.158 EUR/USD — the rate Mullvad publishes on its own pricing page for the same date, where 5 EUR is shown as 5.79 USD — hence confidence C and a second source for the rate. Multi-year plans drop as low as 2.75 EUR/month.
A notable practice data point: public US federal court transcripts in United States v. Klyushin (D. Mass., docket 61629108, documents #183 and #217, found via CourtListener/RECAP) show a law-enforcement pen register was placed directly at the hosting company (DediPath), not at AirVPN, to monitor an AirVPN server's IP from Jan–Feb 2020; AirVPN's own staff, replying on their forum, confirmed the company had no knowledge of or involvement in the tap and that the device had to be installed outside AirVPN's own systems.
This is recorded in P12_case_history as a court_order/nothing_produced event, sourced to AirVPN's own forum confirmation (not to the PACER PDFs themselves, which returned 403 to automated fetches and were read only via a secondary summary).
On the record as a whole.
Express Technologies Ltd., incorporated in the British Virgin Islands since 2009, owned by Kape Technologies plc since the September 2021 acquisition ($936M, Kape's own about-us page). TrustedServer RAM-only architecture has been audited annually by KPMG (ISAE (UK) 3000 Type I, most recently 28 Feb 2025) since 2022 for privacy-policy compliance, plus PwC Switzerland (2019, TrustedServer) and Cure53 (2019 browser extensions; 2021 Lightway protocol, open-sourced).
The 2025 KPMG report was read directly (confidence A): the server writes one pseudonymous event per connection (date without time, salted/hashed username, country+ISP GeoIP, data volume, location group, protocol) but never logs IP address or exact timestamp; builds are described as reproducible across two independently operated build systems.
Recent changes
Not checked this pass. Whether ExpressVPN's coverage exists outside affiliate sites (X08), its affiliate payout tier (X10), and whether owner-run review media flags the ownership tie (X11) were not checked in this pass.
P2P, looked for and absent. U12a_p2p_allowed stays unknown for a different reason than the rest: it was looked for and is not published. Neither sitemap (578 page and support URLs) nor the terms of service mentions P2P, BitTorrent or file sharing anywhere, while every other catalogued provider states its position in its own documents. A support article or a terms clause would close it; a review site saying it works would not.
In 2017, Turkish authorities seized an ExpressVPN server investigating the assassination of Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov and found no usable logs (TorrentFreak, which carries a sponsorship notice for ExpressVPN — noted, not excluded, since the facts are externally checkable and ExpressVPN's own statement page has since returned HTTP 410 with no Wayback Machine snapshot).
In September 2021 the DOJ's Deferred Prosecution Agreement with Daniel Gericke, ExpressVPN's Chief Information Officer, over his prior 2016-2018 role in the UAE's 'Project Raven' hacking operation became public; the primary DPA document itself never names ExpressVPN (it covers only his earlier UAE employment) — the ExpressVPN link comes from ExpressVPN's own and press statements. ExpressVPN kept Gericke employed and published a public defense of that decision.
C12 is resettable_ad_id on the provider's own prose rather than on a store category. The privacy policy's marketing paragraph states that an Installation ID and an XV User ID are always collected and that advertising identifiers — IDFA or the Android Advertising ID — follow on explicit consent, all of it reaching AppsFlyer; the Play data-safety form independently declares Device or other IDs for advertising or marketing.
The consent gate and a mitigation nobody else here offers — AppsFlyer-bound traffic routed through a dedicated ExpressVPN IP pool so attribution cannot correlate by IP — are real and are recorded here, because the floor prices what can be held, not how well it is explained.
U07_protocols carries the whole picker: Lightway UDP and TCP as vendor_open, beside WireGuard, OpenVPN UDP/TCP and IKEv2. Lightway is ExpressVPN's own protocol and its source is published with independent review behind it (Cure53, 2021 and 2024), which is the distinction vendor_open exists for — proprietary prices the impossibility of telling whether a transport is weak, and here it can be told.
PPTP is retired on ExpressVPN apps by the provider's own protocol page, and L2TP and SSTP are explained there without being offered.
12 Sep 20265 changes
Major streaming services reachableU12b_streaming_works
partial changed to no
Usability scoreusability.score
60 changed to 57
Security scoresecurity.score
40 changed to 37
Monthly price USD, month-to-month plan, as chargedU04_price_monthly
8.11 changed to 8.12
Yearly plan price USD, first term as chargedU04b_price_yearly
56.74 changed to 56.84
13 Sep 20261 changes
Why this provider is in the catalogueM14_inclusion_basis
hand_picked, adverse_record changed to adverse_record
12 Sep 20263 changes
Security scoresecurity.score
15 changed to 14
Security verdictsecurity.verdict
insufficient changed to not_recommended
Yearly plan price USD, first term as chargedU04b_price_yearly
99.95 changed to 59.85
30 Aug 20261 changes
Weakest protocol still offeredC13_weakest_protocol
wireguard changed to not on the record
| ChannelPressure taken from what was left | AirVPNDominant channel: Retention0 to 0.9, longer is worse | ExpressVPNDominant channel: Integrity0 to 0.9, longer is worse |
|---|---|---|
| IntegrityHas it been caught saying one thing and doing another? | 0.000 | 0.633 |
| RetentionDoes a record exist that links traffic to a person, and who checked? | 0.349 | 0.455 |
| SilenceTen years, millions of users and nothing on record? | 0.240 | 0.000 |
| IgnoranceHow much of this did nobody establish? | 0.162 | 0.127 |
| HygieneWhat identifying material is collected in passing, and can the client be checked at all? | 0.066 | 0.134 |
| ArchitectureWho operates the exit, and what does it do to the traffic? | 0.050 | 0.050 |
| JurisdictionCan someone compel what exists, without the provider getting a say? | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| DisclosureHas it already handed something over? | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| What is left of 100The channels multiply: each one takes a share of what the one before it left standing | 37 | 14 |
By circumstance
| AirVPN | ExpressVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Torrenting | Allowed yes | — not established |
| Streaming | Not reachable no | Reachable yes |
| Devices at once | 5 | 10 |
| Under censorship | Claimed to work claimed | Claimed to work claimed |
| Exits in mandate countries | None | 7 United Arab Emirates, Belarus, China, India, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Vietnam |
| Hosting in those countries | — the question does not arise | Virtual locations only, hardware elsewhere virtual_only |
| Company under a mandate | No such mandate no | No such mandate no |
| Secret orders | Orders go through a judge judicial_only | No secret-order regime on record none_known |
AirVPN and ExpressVPN were assessed by the HushFleet team: AirVPN scores 37/100 for security, in the Weak band, and ExpressVPN 14/100, in the Not recommended band. The 23-point gap opens widest on Integrity — “Has it been caught saying one thing and doing another?” — taking 0% from AirVPN and 63% from ExpressVPN.
| AirVPN | ExpressVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Security | 37 weak · rank 4 of 68 | 14 not recommended · rank 16 of 68 |
| Usability | 57 out of 100 | 70 out of 100 |
| Record completeness | 82% usability 100% | 84% usability 92% |
| AirVPN | ExpressVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Who operates the exit | Run by the provider itself provider_operated | Run by the provider itself provider_operated |
| Retention as declared | Nothing that links traffic to a person none_linkableBairvpn.org · | Session metadata session_metadataBexpressvpn.com · |
| RAM-only diskless servers | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredBairvpn.org · | Yes, checked by someone independent yes_verifiedAexpressvpn.com · |
| IP allocation model | Exit address shared between users sharedCairvpn.org · | Dedicated address offered as an option dedicated_optionBexpressvpn.com · 2 sources · |
| Signup without email | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declaredBairvpn.org · | No, an email address is required noBexpressvpn.com · |
| Anonymous payment options | Cryptocurrency paid directlyBairvpn.org · | Cryptocurrency through a processorBexpressvpn.com · |
| Own DNS inside the tunnel | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declared | Yes, on the provider's word yes_declared |
| Worst third-party SDK category in the app | No third-party SDK noneBplay.google.com · | Install attribution attributionBexpressvpn.com · |
| Worst third-party tracker category on the site | No third-party tracker noneBairvpn.org · | Advertising adsBexpressvpn.com · |
| Who owns the hardware | Rented from third parties rentedCairvpn.org · | — not establishedno source published |
| Offered countries that sit under a logging mandate | NoneBairvpn.org · | 7 United Arab Emirates, Belarus, China, India, Kazakhstan, Turkey, VietnamBexpressvpn.com · |
| Hosting in the mandate countries it offers | — the question does not ariseno source published | Virtual locations only, hardware elsewhere virtual_onlyBexpressvpn.com · |
| Incorporation country mandates retention | No such mandate no | No such mandate no |
| Beneficial owner sits under a retention regime | No such regime no | No such regime no |
| Persistent device identifier | None held noneBplay.google.com · | A resettable advertising identifier resettable_ad_idBexpressvpn.com · 2 sources · |
| Weakest protocol still offered | — the question does not arise | — the question does not arise |
| What the exit does to passing traffic | — not established | — not established |
| AirVPN | ExpressVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| At least one independent audit | No independent audit noCbleepingcomputer.com · | Yes, and the report was read yes_verifiedAexpressvpn.com · |
| How the report is published | — the question does not ariseno source published | The full report is published full_pdfAexpressvpn.com · |
| Subject of the audit | — the question does not ariseno source published | The no-logs claim itself · The infrastructureAexpressvpn.com · |
| AirVPN | ExpressVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Server seizure by law enforcement | No seizure on record none_knownno source published · | Seized, and nothing usable was on it seizure_no_dataCtorrentfreak.com · |
| Actual disclosure history | No disclosure on record none_known | No disclosure on record none_known |
| Court record of compelled production | No court record none_known | No court record none_known |
| Response to a national logging mandate | Was never present in that country no_presenceno source published · | Pulled its servers out rather than comply withdrew_physicalBexpressvpn.com · |
| Transparency report | — not established |
| AirVPN | ExpressVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Documented gap between claim and behaviour | No documented lie noneCbleepingcomputer.com · | — not establishedno source published |
| Marketing against audit findings | — the question does not ariseno source published | No gap on record noneBexpressvpn.com · |
| Ownership structure transparency | Ownership is stated and checkable clear | Ownership is stated and checkable clear |
| Adverse events on the owner group record | Nothing adverse on record cleanCairvpn.org · | A history of adware or malware adware_malware_history |
| AirVPN | ExpressVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | AirVPN di Paolo Brini — Via Sagittario 4, Perugia (PG), Italy. VAT ID IT03297800546, REA PG-279011 (individual/sole-proprietor enterprise)Bairvpn.org · | Express Technologies Ltd.Bexpressvpn.com · 2 sources · |
| Where the company sits | Italy ITBairvpn.org · | Virgin Islands (UK) VGBexpressvpn.com · 2 sources · |
| Year the service launched | 2010Bairvpn.org · | 2009Bexpressvpn.com |
| AirVPN | ExpressVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms with a client | 8 Android, Android TV, Fire TV, iOS, Linux, macOS, Routers, WindowsBairvpn.org · | 10 Windows, Android, iOS, macOS, Linux, Routers, Android TV, Browser extension, Apple TV, Fire TVBexpressvpn.com · |
| Countries with an exit | 23 countriesBairvpn.org · | 106 countriesBexpressvpn.com · |
| Paying monthly | $8.11 per monthCairvpn.org · 2 sources · | $14.99 per monthB |
| Server fleet coverage | — the question does not ariseno source published | The whole fleet all_fleetAexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Auditor name | — the question does not ariseno source published | KPMG LLPAexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Auditor category | — the question does not ariseno source published | One of the Big Four big4Aexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Assurance standard | — the question does not ariseno source published | ISAE 3000 isae3000Aexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Date of latest report | — the question does not ariseno source published | 2025-02-28Aexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Audit cadence | — the question does not ariseno source published | An annual series annual_seriesBexpressvpn.com · 3 sources · |
|---|
| Total published audits | 0Cbleepingcomputer.com · | 5Bexpressvpn.com · 4 sources · |
|---|
| Retention as the report states it | — the question does not ariseno source published | Session metadata session_metadataAexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Client source code published | Every client allBairvpn.org · | Some clients partialBexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Reproducible builds | — not establishedno source published | Yes, and a build was reproduced yes_verifiedAexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Separate pentest | — not establishedno source published | Yes, and the report was read yes_verifiedAcure53.de · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Strength of the assurance opinion | — the question does not ariseno source published | A reasonable-assurance opinion reasonableAexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
Current, with request numbers fresh_with_numbersBexpressvpn.com · 2 sources · |
| Reported numbers plausible for this scale | — the question does not ariseno source published | The numbers are plausible at this scale plausibleBexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Warrant canary discipline | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Requests received | — not establishedno source published | 155Bexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Requests that produced data | — not establishedno source published | 0Bexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Secret-order regime | Orders go through a judge judicial_onlyCairvpn.org · | No secret-order regime on record none_knownBexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Chronology of documented enforcement events | 1 documented demandBairvpn.org · | 1 documented demandCtorrentfreak.com · |
|---|
| How the service is paid for | Paid subscriptions only paid_only | Paid subscriptions only paid_only |
|---|
| Claims of 100% anonymity or military-grade crypto | Makes no such claim no | Makes no such claim no |
|---|
| Aggressive lifetime subscriptions | Does not no | Does not no |
|---|
| Coverage exists only on affiliate sites | Covered outside affiliate sites too noCbleepingcomputer.com · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Security incident and how it was disclosed | No incident on record none_knownno source published · | Disclosed by someone else third_party_disclosedBjustice.gov · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Affiliate programme and payout tier | A standard payout standardBairvpn.org · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Owner-run review media discloses the tie | — the question does not ariseno source published | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| App store declaration | The store form matches the published policy matches_policy | The store form matches the published policy matches_policy |
|---|
| User base scale (mass >=10M, mid >=1M, niche <1M) | — not established | — not established |
|---|
| Ultimate beneficial owner as written | Paolo Brini, sole owner/operator trading as 'AirVPN di Paolo Brini'. The service began in 2010 as a project of a small group of Rome-based activists/hacktivists (initially operated by a company called Iridium), and was formalized under a dedicated company with Brini as owner in November 2012.Bairvpn.org · 2 sources · | Teddy Sagi, via Unikmind Holdings Limited (Isle of Man), sole shareholder of Kape Technologies plc since the May 2023 delisting; Kape owns ExpressVPN through Express Technologies Ltd.Cen.wikipedia.org · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Other businesses of the owner group | None disclosedBairvpn.org · | Antivirus · A review directory · Adtech or adwareCen.wikipedia.org · |
|---|
| Country of the ultimate beneficial owner | ITBairvpn.org · | IMBperivan.com · |
|---|
| Owner group | independentBairvpn.org · | kapeBexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Date the current owner took control | — the question does not ariseno source published | 2021-09Cexpressvpn.com · 2 sources · |
|---|
| Role of this brand inside the group | The group's principal brand principalBairvpn.org · | A brand the group acquired acquired_brandCexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Infrastructure shared with cluster siblings | Separate infrastructure separateBairvpn.org · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Paying yearly | $56.74 a year at renewal, billed onceCairvpn.org · 2 sources · | $59.85 a year at renewal, billed onceBexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Usable free tier | No free tier none | No free tier none |
|---|
| Works under active censorship | Claimed to work claimed | Claimed to work claimed |
|---|
| Protocols offered | 3 WireGuard, OpenVPN, An obfuscated protocolBairvpn.org · | 4 A vendor protocol with published source, WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2Bexpressvpn.com · 3 sources · |
|---|
| Kill switch coverage | On some platforms partialCeddie.website · 2 sources · | On every platform all_platformsCexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Split tunneling available | Not available noCbleepingcomputer.com · | Available yesBexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Simultaneous connections | 5Bairvpn.org · | 10Bexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| Friction to start using it | No account needed no_accountBairvpn.org · | An email address only email_onlyBexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
| P2P allowed | Allowed yesBairvpn.org · | — not establishedno source published |
|---|
| Major streaming services reachable | Not reachable noCbleepingcomputer.com · | Reachable yesBexpressvpn.com · |
|---|
