A common question that people ask search engines is, which VPN is better than ExpressVPN? If you’re familiar with VPN software, then you’ll know that ExpressVPN is considered to be one of the best providers in the world.
Few VPNs can challenge ExpressVPN for the ‘best Virtual Private Network’ title, but CyberGhost VPN is one of them. This Romanian-based VPN provider has been around for several years, but only recently has it become one of the most subscribed-to VPNs in the industry.
With the above in mind, it is worth comparing both VPNs to see which one is truly the best. If you’re unsure which VPN to buy, then read our in-depth comparison to find out which VPN offers the best deal and VPN services.
ExpressVPN has a good track record when it comes to privacy and security, but is CyberGhost VPN also trustworthy? Let’s take a look.
Strong encryption secures your web traffic, ensuring that no prying eyes like Internet Service Providers (ISPs), or snoopers on public wi-fi networks, are privy to it. ExpressVPN employs AES-256 bit encryption to protect its users’ browsing data and offers a selection of ultra-secure tunneling protocols.
The choice of protocols includes OpenVPN, IKEv2, PPTP, L2TP/IPSec, and Lightway. Lightway is ExpressVPN’s own protocol based on the open-source WireGuard protocol but is a safer option. Lightway provides a fast VPN connection without any of the security issues.
CyberGhost also uses military-grade AES-256 bit encryption and offers subscribers a choice of VPN protocols. The protocol choices include OpenVPN, WireGuard, IKEv2, and L2TP/IPSec. CyberGhost avoids PPTP, which is weaker from a security point-of-view, and only provides secure protocol options.
As well as the above, both providers use Perfect Forward Secrecy, which changes encryption keys more often to ensure your connection remains safe.
Both VPN providers have a strict no-logging policy, which stresses that neither VPN monitors nor stores browsing data, users’ real IP addresses, or anything else related to the VPN use. However, we checked out CyberGhost and ExpressVPN’s privacy policies to see what they log, if anything.
Firstly, ExpressVPN stores essential account information like your name, email address, and billing details. It also logs the date of your most recent VPN session and how much data was sent and received during the session. As well as this, Express logs the VPN server you connected to. This isn’t enough to directly link you to activity on the network and isn’t something we would worry about.
Furthermore, ExpressVPN has had a security audit of its privacy policy. This extra step provides reassurance for customers who may have doubts about the no-logs policy.
What about CyberGhost? The Romanian provider also employs a strict zero-logs policy. CyberGhost also collects essential personal data for account management reasons but doesn’t store or log anything related to your VPN usage, not even connection times.
One great thing about CyberGhost is that it provides an annual transparency report and was the first provider to do so. The transparency report informs users of malicious activity on the server network and the number of police requests the provider has received. However, we’d like to see an independent audit since this would provide an unbiased review of CyberGhost’s privacy policy.
ExpressVPN is based in the British Virgin Islands, which is good news for users of the VPN. The British Virgin Islands has no mandatory data retention laws, which means that ExpressVPN doesn’t need to hand over information from its servers to the government.
CyberGhost is based in Romania. While Romania is a European country, it enjoys better privacy laws than its European neighbors and is relatively privacy-friendly.
Most important of all, neither country collaborates with international surveillance alliances such as the 5/914 Eyes. Therefore, both providers are excellent choices if you’re looking for a VPN with its headquarters in an advantageous location.
Most providers now offer extra privacy and security features to entice new customers and provide users with an easier and more secure VPN experience.
ExpressVPN employs TrustedServer technology, which reduces the risk of security breaches on the network. All of ExpressVPN’s servers are RAM-based, which means they are wiped whenever they are switched off. As well as this, ExpressVPN has private DNS on all of its servers and has an automatic kill switch called the Network Lock that is enabled upon download.
CyberGhost also has an internet kill switch and provides DNS and WebRTC leak protection. Users can also choose to route their VPN connection via the NoSpy server network. The NoSpy network is based in Romania and consists of servers that are manned by the CyberGhost team. Since your connection travels through privacy-friendly Romania, your browsing data is more secure.
There is also built-in ad blocking with CyberGhost VPN, which you can customize in the app settings.
The winner: The security and privacy winner is ExpressVPN due to its audited zero-logs policy and RAM servers. While we like that CyberGhost has the TrustedServer network and offers similar features to ExpressVPN, including the kill switch, ExpressVPN has a great track record.
Extra VPN features have become as essential as privacy and security features. Both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost offer great extra features and tools to improve each user’s experience.
ExpressVPN offers users 5 simultaneous connections on all of its VPN subscription plans. While this is enough to cover most people’s devices, we like to see a provider that offers more device connections since many VPNs are starting to provide more than 5.
CyberGhost VPN provides 7 simultaneous connections, which is a better number of connections, in our opinion. Users can connect the VPN to their routers with both providers, bypassing the device limit and providing VPN protection to all devices on their home network.
One of the best streaming VPNs is ExpressVPN. Not only can ExpressVPN unblock pretty much any streaming service (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, and BBC iPlayer), but the provider also offers the MediaStreamer feature. The MediaStreamer is a Smart DNS feature that provides easy access to streaming services but lacks VPN protection.
CyberGhost is also impressive when it comes to accessing streaming platforms. It can unlock streaming services around the world such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, HBO Max, and ESPN. However,
Both providers offer unlimited bandwidth and fast connection speeds to ensure that your streaming experience isn’t impacted by buffering.
Not all VPNs support P2P networking, so it is great news that both CyberGhost and ExpressVPN do. ExpressVPN doesn’t actively encourage torrenting on its network, but users can access torrent platforms like BitTorrent on any server.
CyberGhost VPN actually has several dedicated torrenting servers in its network, which are optimized for P2P networking. Users can connect to these via the app since the servers can be accessed depending on the activity you want to use the VPN for.
Split tunneling allows users to decide which websites and apps are accessed via the VPN tunnel and which through the regular network. This is a great option for people who don’t need a VPN for every internet activity and only want to encrypt certain online movements.
ExpressVPN and CyberGhost both offer split tunneling, and it easy to activate this feature. The two providers allow users to customize the split tunneling features in their dedicated apps, deciding which websites they want to bypass the VPN connection.
The winner: It’s a tie! The two providers are both excellent in terms of the extra features that they offer. ExpressVPN may slightly edge out CyberGhost due to its MediaStreamer feature that can be easily employed on Smart TVs. Still, all in all, we’d recommend either VPN for streaming and torrenting purposes.
How do these two VPN providers fare when it comes to the number of servers in their networks? ExpressVPN has a respectable number of VPN servers with over 3200 in its network, spanning 94 countries and 160 server locations. This guarantees that users have access to hundreds of thousands of IP addresses from different countries.
The majority of ExpressVPN’s servers are located in Europe, Asia, and Northern America. ExpressVPN is one of the few providers with servers in China and can indeed bypass the Great Firewall of China. This is thanks to ExpressVPN’s obfuscated servers, which hide the VPN use. This makes ExpressVPN a great choice for residents in China.
CyberGhost has a slightly larger server network, with more than 6500 VPN servers across 90 countries and 112 server locations. However, unlike ExpressVPN, CyberGhost is not a good choice for China since it no longer works in the country.
Still, more than 6500 servers provide users with many IP addresses, which bodes well for customers who want to bypass geo-restrictions and access foreign websites, including different social networks.
The winner: Based on the number of servers alone, CyberGhost is the clear winner. However, ExpressVPN offers servers in more countries and locations, which is important since it provides customers with access to a wider variety of worldwide content and entertainment options. On top of this, ExpressVPN works in China, which is an incredibly impressive, albeit difficult, feat. Bearing all of that in mind, ExpressVPN wins considering server networks.
Whether you’re an enthusiastic internet user or not, there is nothing worse than slow internet speed. To test whether ExpressVPN and CyberGhost perform well regarding speed, so we carried out several speed tests to check which provider is the fastest.
We first connected to one of ExpressVPN’s United States-based servers and were incredibly impressed at the download speed which was 39Mbps. Considering our base speed was 40Mbps, this is excellent. We then connected to a UK server and again, experienced high speeds of 37Mbps.
Using the Lightway protocol, which promises speed and security, we then connected to a server in Australia. Considering that physically we were very far away from the Australian server, we had a lightning-fast download speed of 35Mbps.
We then ran some speed tests with CyberGhost connecting to servers in the same locations. Our United States server delivered a speed of 37Mbps, while we got 35Mbps with the UK server and 32Mbps with Australia.
We then tested CyberGhost’s NoSpy server network, which is based in Bucharest, to see whether these super-secure servers would drastically slow down our internet connection or not. We were pleasantly surprised to see that our download speed was 34Mbps, which is incredibly fast and a great speed for HD streaming and torrenting.
The winner: Both VPNs deliver the fast speeds they promise, but we were particularly impressed with ExpressVPN’s Lightway protocol and the breakneck speeds it provides.
What is the point in buying a VPN if you can’t use it across all of your devices? Fortunately, ExpressVPN and CyberGhost have support for a wide range of platforms.
You can use ExpressVPN on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux. As well as this, you can use the VPN on your Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, or other Smart TV systems. There are also browser extensions for Chrome, Opera, and Firefox. You can even purchase a pre-configured FlashRouter with ExpressVPN software installed on it, or manually configure the VPN to your router.
ExpressVPN is the only provider to offer a dedicated app for routers, which makes it easier to manage the VPN settings on the router and select the IP address you want to use. Once you have the ExpressVPN set up on your router, you can also employ the Virtual Private Network software on your gaming consoles.
CyberGhost VPN also provides support for an array of platforms including Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Linux. There are browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox, which allow you to use the VPN solely in your web browsers and allows for easier control of the software.
There is the possibility to use the VPN on your Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Android TV, and you can configure the VPN to your router. Unfortunately, there is no VPN app for the router, but you can protect gaming consoles and other IoT devices on your network.
The winner: Solely due to its easy-to-use router app, ExpressVPN is the winner. While both VPNs have support for many operating systems, ExpressVPN slightly outperforms CyberGhost in this area.
Excellent VPNs usually cost a little more due to the outstanding services they offer, but you can often get better deals on long-term plans.
ExpressVPN pricing:
CyberGhost VPN pricing:
Both VPNs accept various payment methods including Bitcoin . Cryptocurrency is a great payment option since it further anonymizes your VPN usage since you don’t need to link the payment to your bank account or any account linked to your name.
The winner: CyberGhost is the clear winner in terms of pricing and money-back guarantees. A 45-day refund policy is longer than the 3o-day average, and aside from the monthly plan, CyberGhost is far cheaper than ExpressVPN.
You may run into issues from time to time using your VPN software. Due to this, it is really important to have great customer support at hand. Some VPN companies don’t offer help to users, but fortunately, CyberGhost and ExpressVPN do.
ExpressVPN offers exceptional customer service. There is 24/7 live chat support on its site, and email support. As well as this, there is a support center on the site with a lot of information about how to set up the VPN and some FAQs about the VPN service in general.
CyberGhost also has great customer support. You can access the 24/7 live chat on the CyberGhost site, contact the support team via email or social networks, or access the help section. The support center has FAQs, with some information about the VPN service.
There are also guides on how to set up the VPN on platforms like Windows, and also a troubleshooting section where you can find answers to issues. Trouble accessing Netflix on your VPN IP address? The CyberGhost troubleshoot support section will help you.
The winner: It’s a tie here. Both VPNs offer decent customer support to their users, which is also a great sign of an excellent VPN provider.
CyberGhost and ExpressVPN are clearly two of the best VPNs available, but which VPN service is going to give you the better VPN experience?
It’s a difficult decision, but we have to give it to ExpressVPN. First of all, the provider excels when it comes to its download speeds, and ability to unblock streaming services like Netflix. As well as this, it has a great zero-logging policy and has had its privacy policy audited, reflecting the truth of its zero-logs claims.
Moreover, ExpressVPN has a fantastic reputation. The provider isn’t popular for no reason, but because it is reliable, useful, and provides support to users when necessary. That isn’t to say CyberGhost isn’t excellent, but ExpressVPN is the better option overall.
I’m Madeleine, and I'm a writer that specializes in cybersecurity, tech products, and all things related to the internet.
I have a keen interest in VPNs and believe that everyone deserves internet freedom and security. I wr...
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