ExpressVPN review for Canada (2026): plans, renewal and audits

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Verdict

ExpressVPN is worth a look if you value a long record of outside audits and a plan that covers many devices. It lists servers in Montreal, Vancouver and two locations in Toronto. Its pricing page states the renewal price for each plan, and the Basic renewal is lower than NordVPN's Basic renewal on the figures we read. The trade-off is choice: we only saw 2-year plans.

This is an editorial review based on ExpressVPN's own published pages, not on our own tests. Our review method sets out how we work.

Check ExpressVPN's price

Who it suits, and who should look elsewhere

ExpressVPN suits you if:

• you want to read several independent audit reports before choosing;
• you have a large household, since even the Basic plan covers 10 devices and Express Pro covers 14;
• you want to know the renewal price before you sign up.

Look elsewhere if you want a monthly plan, a free tier, or a Calgary server. We did not find any of those on the pages we checked.

Plans and prices

ExpressVPN's pricing page told us "All amounts shown are in EUR" when we checked on October 6, 2026 from outside Canada. Providers set prices by location, so your checkout will show the amount in your currency. We have not converted any figure.

The page also shows struck-out "regular" totals (EUR 363.72 for Basic). We report what you would pay, not the discount claimed. The page text we read did not include 1-year or monthly prices, so we cannot quote them.

Compare the first term with the renewal. On Basic, the first 28 months cost EUR 69.72 and each year after that costs EUR 79.95. For comparison, NordVPN's Basic plan renewed at EUR 139.08 a year on the same day. Our page on the cheapest VPN in Canada lines up renewal prices side by side.

Servers in Canada and protocols

ExpressVPN's server list names four Canadian locations: Canada - Montreal, Canada - Toronto, Canada - Toronto - 2 and Canada - Vancouver. The same page says it has servers in 113 countries. There is no Prairie or Atlantic city on the list.

The protocols listed are:

• Lightway over UDP or TCP, ExpressVPN's own protocol;
• WireGuard;
• OpenVPN over UDP or TCP;
• IKEv2.

Lightway is ExpressVPN's own protocol, so the outside checks on it come from the audits ExpressVPN has commissioned (see below). Our VPN protocols guide compares the open options.

Privacy: jurisdiction, ownership and audits

The privacy policy, updated October 2, 2026, says ExpressVPN's "headquarters and registered place of business is in the British Virgin Islands (BVI)" and that Express Technologies Ltd. operates under BVI jurisdiction. The same policy refers to "its ultimate holding company, Kape Technologies PLC (UK)". So the operating company is in the BVI and the group it belongs to is British. Kape Technologies is also mentioned in the privacy policy of Private Internet Access, another VPN.

ExpressVPN has published these audits on its own site:

• PwC reviewed its TrustedServer setup (blog post from 2019);
• KPMG checked its privacy policy and no-logs practice, and Cure53 audited TrustedServer (announced October 26, 2022);
• Cure53 and Praetorian audited Lightway in 2024;
• Cure53 audited ExpressAI, according to the features page.

Audits check a provider at a point in time. They are still the best evidence you can read from outside.

What to check before you pay

• Renewal. The plan renews annually at the price in the table, after the first 28 months.
• Refund. ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee for new users. Read the conditions at checkout.
• Currency and total. Confirm both on the checkout page before you enter payment details.
• Plan size. If you only have a phone and a laptop, Basic's 10 devices are plenty.

See ExpressVPN plans

What the audits can and cannot tell you

A VPN company sits in a powerful position. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada made this point in a 2017 blog post: sending your traffic through a VPN can give a malicious provider a "privileged position to monitor, log, or tamper with any or all communications that are sent through the VPN."

That is the reason ExpressVPN's audit list matters. KPMG looked at its privacy policy and no-logs practice. PwC and Cure53 looked at TrustedServer, the way its servers are set up. Cure53 and Praetorian looked at Lightway. Each report covers one part of the service at one point in time. Together they give you more to check than a promise on a home page.

The same OPC post calls VPNs a "poor way of guaranteeing online anonymity". ExpressVPN hides your traffic from the café network and your internet provider. Websites can still recognize you when you sign in. Our guide to what a VPN hides explains who sees what.

Alternatives

For a direct comparison with its biggest rival, read NordVPN vs ExpressVPN. Surfshark allows unlimited devices if 14 is not enough. If you would rather avoid the gap between first-term and renewal prices altogether, Mullvad charges a flat EUR 5 a month on every plan length. If you want to try a VPN before paying, Proton VPN has a free plan.

Common questions