Is ExpressVPN Safe to Use?

The fact is, all four Kape-owned VPNs are “no-log” services—meaning they do not track browser activity or connection logs—so they don’t have any browser data to work with in the first place. And ExpressVPN in particular routinely submits its code to third-party audits to confirm its no-log claims and to test the app for malware injection and other vulnerabilities. So far, all audits have come back clean. They do have access to your account information, which some users may find unacceptable, but that’s a common practice among, well, virtually any online company. Average users shouldn’t worry about this any more than you worry about handing your credit card info over to Netflix or Amazon.

Yet despite all evidence that ExpressVPN isn’t an adware-ridden sham that is stealing your data and selling it off to third-party businesses and foreign governments, we’re still not sure you should use ExpressVPN—nor Cyberghost, PIA, or ZenMate—for one simple reason: monopolization.

While the four VPN companies Kape owns would appear to be “competitors” on the surface, all these companies ultimately make money for Kape, and Kape steers their business strategies and privacy policies. The more companies Kape owns, the less incentive these products have to compete—or enact aggressive privacy-forward policies.

Of course, one would assume VPN reviewers would call out any untrustworthy or blatantly suspicious activity, right? Well, in addition to buying the VPN companies, Kape is also buying up VPN review websites. We’re not saying there’s evidence Kape is interfering with these publications or that they’re pressured to give Kape’s products a better score, but anyone can see the clear conflict of interest here.

To be clear: ExpressVPN, Cyberghost, PIA, and ZenMate, are fine for general users. But if you’re serious about data privacy, online anonymity, and the health of the VPN market as a whole, we suggest looking for independent VPNs that prioritize privacy and transparency instead of supporting large companies intent on cannibalizing an entire market—and therefore disincentivizing competition, innovation, and consumer-friendly policies among the products it owns.