Which is faster, ExpressVPN or ProtonVPN?

On a clean network, the difference is within noise. WireGuard on ProtonVPN edges out Lightway in many independent tests; Lightway edges out OpenVPN clearly. Pick on other criteria.

Which has better privacy?

ProtonVPN has the cleaner ownership story (independent Swiss company), open-source clients, and explicit Swiss-law no-logs commitment. ExpressVPN has more audits and a longer track record but has been owned by Kape since 2021. Both have honoured no-logs claims when tested by court orders.

Which works better in Russia?

In 2026, neither is reliable for sustained use. Both connect intermittently and both get throttled when DPI recognises the protocol. ProtonVPN's Stealth is occasionally better than Lightway for short sessions; ExpressVPN's server diversity sometimes finds a working route faster. Neither is a long-term answer.

Should I just use ProtonVPN free?

For occasional use on open networks, yes — it's the best legitimate free VPN on the market. For Russia-shaped DPI, no — the free protocols are even more easily fingerprinted.

Where does VnePN fit in?

VnePN is purpose-built for the Russian routing problem: VLESS+Reality protocol, smart split routing for RU services, $4/mo flat. Different scope than the comparison above — narrower country focus, narrower feature set, different protocol bet.

ExpressVPN vs ProtonVPN

Two well-known names, very different products. A protocol-by-protocol, jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction look — and where neither one is the right answer.

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The 60-second TL;DR

ExpressVPN is a polished consumer brand with broad server footprint, strong streaming-unblock work, and a proprietary protocol called Lightway. Best at: streaming, frequent travel, simple "it just works" setup on phones and laptops.

ProtonVPN is the VPN arm of Proton AG (Switzerland), built around an open-source stack including WireGuard and a "Stealth" obfuscation layer. Best at: privacy stance backed by Swiss law, free tier with no data caps for serious testing, and a strong audit record.

For restrictive networks (Russia, Iran, parts of Asia): neither is currently optimal. Both rely on protocol families that DPI now fingerprints. The honest answer to "ExpressVPN vs ProtonVPN for getting out of Russia" is "neither — VLESS+Reality services."

Protocols, in detail

ExpressVPN — Lightway. Built on wolfSSL with a custom transport. Faster handshake than OpenVPN, comparable steady-state throughput to WireGuard. Closed source until partial open-sourcing in 2024. Has a recognisable handshake fingerprint to DPI in 2026.

ProtonVPN — WireGuard + OpenVPN + Stealth. WireGuard is the default; OpenVPN remains as a compatibility option. Stealth wraps WireGuard inside TLS to defeat naive DPI — useful for corporate Wi-Fi blocks and lighter country-level filters. Against current Russian or Iranian DPI, Stealth's effectiveness has been variable since mid-2025.

Both miss: a Reality-style transport that performs a real TLS handshake to a real cover site. That is what currently survives the heaviest filtering, and neither big provider has shipped one as of 2026.

Why does it matter? On a typical Western European Wi-Fi, all three protocols are equivalent. On a Russian residential ISP, the fingerprintable protocols get throttled to ~50 Kbps. On a Reality-based service, throughput stays at line rate. Background.

Jurisdiction and audits

ExpressVPN. Headquartered in the British Virgin Islands. Owned by Kape Technologies since 2021 — same parent that owns CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, and several review sites. Audited multiple times (PwC, Cure53, KPMG). The Kape ownership is the asterisk most privacy-conscious users care about; how much weight you give it is personal.

ProtonVPN. Swiss company, Switzerland's strong privacy laws apply (no mandatory data retention for VPN providers, requires Swiss judicial process to compel logs). Open-source clients on every platform. Audited by SEC Consult most recently in 2024. Independence: Proton AG is profit-with-purpose, owned partly by a foundation; no parent conglomerate.

If jurisdiction and ownership are the deciding factor, ProtonVPN has the cleaner story. If you weigh raw audit count and breadth, ExpressVPN's record is also extensive.

Price

ExpressVPN. $12.95 monthly headline. ~$6.67/mo on 12-month plan. ~$4.99/mo on 2-year plan with promo months. Renewal is at the higher non-promo rate — read the fine print.

ProtonVPN. Free tier exists and is genuinely usable (limited servers, no data cap, no logs). Plus plan: $9.99/mo, drops to ~$4.99/mo on annual. Bundles with Proton Mail and Drive at additional cost.

For a one-year commitment, prices are similar — within a couple of dollars. The free tier is ProtonVPN's clearest win for casual use; the 30-day refund policy is comparable on both.

Speed and footprint

Server count. ExpressVPN: ~3,000 servers across 105+ countries. ProtonVPN: ~6,000 servers across 110+ countries (free tier limited to a handful). Numbers like these are mostly marketing; what matters is whether a fast server exists where you need an exit.

Steady-state speed. Both within margin of error on a clean connection. Independent testing in 2025 showed ProtonVPN slightly ahead on WireGuard, ExpressVPN slightly ahead on its own Lightway in some regions. Real-world variance from your home network and time of day is bigger than either gap.

Streaming. ExpressVPN has historically invested more in keeping IPs unblocked on Netflix, Disney+, BBC iPlayer. ProtonVPN's Plus tier covers the major streaming services adequately. If streaming is the primary use case, lean ExpressVPN.

Where neither is the right answer

The case where the comparison stops being relevant: you are inside Russia, Iran, parts of central Asia, or a Chinese network with active GFW.

In those environments, the protocols both providers ship have known fingerprints. Connections come up; throughput collapses. Stealth-wrapped WireGuard helps for a while; both companies update it; censors update their detection; the cycle repeats. The fundamental design — a fixed-shape protocol wrapped in a recognisable obfuscation layer — runs into the same wall.

The transport that currently doesn't have this problem is VLESS+Reality. It performs a genuine TLS handshake to a real public site, with no signature for DPI to write. Specialist services (VnePN among others) build on top of it. It is faster than Lightway in restrictive networks, comparable to WireGuard on clean networks, and crucially: there is nothing for current DPI to fingerprint.

This is not a put-down of either ExpressVPN or ProtonVPN — they are excellent products in their core markets. They simply weren't designed against the specific DPI architecture that emerged in 2024–2026 in a few countries. If you are in one of those countries, you need a different tool. More on the ExpressVPN-in-Russia question.

Frequently Asked Questions

For Russia: try the protocol both miss

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