ExpressVPN vs Private Internet Access: where each is stronger and why

PIA takes the comparison 5.13 to 4.77, and the gap is made of money and disclosure: a bill that stays low after renewal, a transparency report, a chat staffed day and night and a no-logs claim it says has held up in court. ExpressVPN answers with obfuscation and a wider network; security ends level.

Why the Five Eyes service still wins on privacy

ExpressVPN's base in the British Virgin Islands keeps it outside the 5, 9 and 14 Eyes alliances, which Denver-based PIA cannot claim as a US company. Everything else in the column leans the other way. PIA publishes a transparency report on government requests and states its no-logs promise has survived a court test (its own page gives no case details), while ExpressVPN does neither. PIA's policy also lists no session times, where ExpressVPN admits to keeping the date of each successful connection and a per-user megabyte total.

Independent auditors have checked both no-logs claims, KPMG for ExpressVPN and Deloitte for PIA. When legal demands arrive, ExpressVPN says it will fight them under BVI law and holds nothing tying activity to a user; PIA says it complies with valid subpoenas after review, with little data to hand over. One parent, Kape Technologies, owns both brands, though each writes its own policy, and neither publishes a warrant canary.

A tied security score built from different parts

Same number, different ingredients. ExpressVPN brings its own Lightway protocol, DNS leak protection through its own encrypted DNS and third-party audits of its policy and server system by KPMG and Cure53. PIA counters with open-source apps on GitHub, multi-hop included in every plan, a Vulnerability Disclosure Program that pays bug reporters and a choice of AES-128 or AES-256. Kill switch, WireGuard, OpenVPN and RAM-only servers come standard on both.

Obfuscation and 113 countries: the two areas ExpressVPN takes

On a hotel or campus network that drops anything resembling a VPN, ExpressVPN can disguise Lightway traffic so it blends in; that feature alone puts it ahead in the bypass column. PIA does not list a stealth or obfuscation mode, which leaves it at zero. ExpressVPN also covers 113 countries and 214 locations, with physical servers in the UAE and Israel plus virtual ones elsewhere in the Middle East; PIA covers 104 countries. Both run 10 Gbps servers, and neither publishes a server count.

Three-year and 28-month deals after the first bill

The sticker gap is modest; the renewal gap is not. Once 28 months run out, ExpressVPN switches to yearly billing at more than double the starting rate, and one renewed year of Basic costs more than PIA's entire next three-year cycle ($99.95 against $73.71). PIA renews at the same price on every term, which keeps its long-term cost near the sticker price. ExpressVPN's higher tiers add a password manager, an eSIM and identity monitoring.

Refund fine print and ways to pay

The window is 30 days on both, no free trial either way. PIA (see its refund rules) also refunds renewals after verification, while ExpressVPN refunds first-time buyers only, excluding renewal payments and redemption codes; store purchases go through Apple or Google. Both take cards, PayPal, crypto, gift cards and app-store billing, with auto-renewal on by default and no cash option. ExpressVPN accepts Bitcoin and switches auto-renewal off when you pay that way; PIA takes crypto through BitPay and Amazon Payments.

Fewer platforms, higher support score

ExpressVPN ships apps for more screens: 12 against PIA's 10, adding Android TV, Fire TV, Apple TV and an Edge extension, while PIA covers Chromebooks directly and reaches consoles only through a router. PIA still takes the column because its live chat works around the clock, where ExpressVPN does not state round-the-clock hours. Separately, PIA's device cap does not exist, which suits a household full of gadgets. On ExpressVPN the cap moves from 10 devices on Basic to 14 on Pro. Both offer split tunnelling and an ad and malware blocker (Threat Manager and MACE respectively).

ExpressVPN and PIA questions

Which one is faster or better for Netflix?

We score what providers publish and do not run speed, streaming or unblocking tests, and neither provider names Netflix or other services in its claims.

Can PIA's apps really be inspected?

Yes. The client code is public on GitHub, so anyone can read and rebuild it. For details on PIA's independent audits and how it handles US subpoenas, see our PIA safety page.

Which one handles torrenting?

Neither states a torrenting policy on its site, so the comparison cannot rank them on it.

ExpressVPN or PIA: pick by what you need

Pick PIA if the priority is a low long-run bill, same-price renewals and a refund that covers them. Pick ExpressVPN when traffic disguise on restrictive networks matters or you need exits in the Middle East, and check that renewal bill before it lands.