Quick answer
NordVPN wins overall: it was the fastest of the three, unblocked the most streaming platforms, and has the strongest combination of audits and jurisdiction. Surfshark is the better buy for most households because it costs less than half as much and covers unlimited devices. ExpressVPN is worth the premium only if you value simplicity above everything and will never touch a setting.
The verdict in one table
- Fastest: NordVPN
- Cheapest: Surfshark, from about $2.19/mo
- Best streaming: NordVPN, with ExpressVPN close behind
- Best privacy jurisdiction: NordVPN (Panama) and ExpressVPN (BVI), both outside intelligence alliances
- Most devices: Surfshark, unlimited
- Easiest to use: ExpressVPN
- Best value overall: Surfshark
Speed
All three use modern WireGuard-derived protocols – NordLynx, Lightway and standard WireGuard respectively – so the gaps are smaller than they were three years ago. They are still real.
NordVPN lost 6-8% of baseline throughput on nearby servers and held above 70% on intercontinental routes, the best figures in the group. Surfshark lost 7-10% nearby, with more variability on distant servers but strong headline numbers thanks to 10 Gbps ports. ExpressVPN lost 8-11% and was the most consistent of the three, with the fewest sudden dips, though not the highest peak.
In practice, all three are fast enough for 4K streaming and large downloads on any normal connection. The difference matters if you are on gigabit fibre and routinely transfer large files, or if you are connecting across continents.
Privacy and jurisdiction
NordVPN operates from Panama, which has no mandatory data retention and is outside the Five, Nine and 14 Eyes arrangements. It runs a fully diskless RAM-only fleet and has had its no-logs claims audited by Deloitte multiple times.
ExpressVPN is based in the British Virgin Islands, also outside those alliances, and its TrustedServer system runs everything in RAM. Its strongest credential is not an audit but a real-world event: a 2017 server seizure in Turkey produced no user data. The counterweight is ownership – ExpressVPN was acquired by Kape Technologies in 2021, a company whose earlier history as an adware business still concerns some privacy advocates.
Surfshark is registered in the Netherlands, which sits inside the Nine Eyes framework. There is no VPN-specific retention requirement there, and Surfshark runs RAM-only servers with an audited no-logs policy, but on jurisdiction alone it is the weakest of the three.
If jurisdiction is your deciding factor, NordVPN and ExpressVPN are ahead. If audits and infrastructure are what you weigh, all three are credible.
Streaming
NordVPN unblocked every platform we tested, across eight Netflix regions plus BBC iPlayer, Disney+, Hulu, Prime Video and Max. ExpressVPN was marginally behind, failing one region on one test day. Surfshark unblocked seven of eight Netflix regions and all the major UK platforms.
All three include Smart DNS for consoles and older TVs, and all three run native apps on Fire TV, Android TV and Apple TV. For practical purposes the difference is small – you will occasionally switch servers on Surfshark where NordVPN works first time.
Devices and apps
This is where the gap is widest. Surfshark allows unlimited simultaneous connections. NordVPN allows 10. ExpressVPN allows 8.
For one person with a phone and a laptop, that is irrelevant. For a family of four with phones, laptops, tablets and two streaming sticks, it decides the question outright.
On app quality, ExpressVPN is the cleanest and the hardest to misconfigure, with one large button and few settings. NordVPN offers considerably more – Meshnet, Double VPN, Onion over VPN, dedicated IP, Threat Protection Pro – at the cost of a busier interface. Surfshark sits between them, with a modern design and a good set of extras including Rotating IP, MultiHop and CleanWeb.
Price and renewal
On long-term plans, Surfshark lands around $2.19 a month, NordVPN around $3.39, and ExpressVPN around $4.99. Over two years that is roughly $59, $92 and $135 respectively – a meaningful spread for services that overlap heavily.
All three renew at significantly higher rates than the introductory price, which is the most important thing to understand before buying. Budget for the renewal or set a reminder to cancel and re-subscribe.
Refunds: all three offer 30 days. Surfshark and NordVPN apply it to monthly plans too; ExpressVPN’s is the most straightforward to claim in our experience.
Extras worth knowing about
NordVPN includes Threat Protection Pro, which blocks ads, trackers and malicious downloads and is one of the few bundled blockers that works measurably well. Meshnet lets you link your own devices directly across the internet, which is useful for remote file access and LAN-style gaming. Higher tiers bundle a password manager and encrypted storage.
ExpressVPN offers Aircove, the only VPN router built by a provider, plus a password manager and an identity-monitoring service on some plans. Its extras are fewer but well executed.
Surfshark includes CleanWeb ad blocking, Alternative ID for generating disposable email addresses, and antivirus on its higher tier. For the price, the feature count is remarkable.
Which one should you buy?
Buy NordVPN if you want the best overall product and are willing to pay a middling price for it. It is the right answer for anyone who wants speed, streaming reliability and strong privacy without compromise, and it is the one we recommend most often.
Buy Surfshark if you are covering more than a handful of devices, or if the price difference matters to you. You give up a little speed consistency and a better jurisdiction, and you save roughly half.
Buy ExpressVPN if you or the person you are buying for will never open the settings, and you want the highest chance that it simply works every time. You are paying a premium for polish, and for some households that is money well spent.
Frequently asked questions
Is NordVPN better than ExpressVPN?
On measurements, yes – it is faster, cheaper, allows more devices and offers more features. ExpressVPN’s advantage is a simpler, more reliable experience, which is subjective but real.
Is Surfshark as good as NordVPN?
Close, and better on price and device count. NordVPN is faster, more consistent on streaming, and based in a stronger privacy jurisdiction.
Which is best for streaming?
NordVPN unblocked the most platforms in our testing, with ExpressVPN a close second. All three handle the main services.
Which is best for families?
Surfshark, because unlimited devices removes the counting entirely and the price is the lowest of the three.
Do any of them keep logs?
All three advertise no-logs policies and all three have been independently audited. ExpressVPN additionally had a server seized in 2017 with no user data recovered, which is the strongest practical evidence of the three.
Torrenting compared
None of the three supports port forwarding, which is the single feature that separates good torrenting VPNs from adequate ones. If you seed on private trackers, Private Internet Access or Proton VPN are better choices than any of these.
For downloading, all three allow P2P and all three have working kill switches that passed our forced-disconnection tests. NordVPN was the fastest on P2P transfers and routes torrent traffic to dedicated servers automatically. Surfshark permits P2P across most of the network. ExpressVPN allows it everywhere with no special configuration.
On jurisdiction, which matters more for torrenting than for most uses, NordVPN’s Panama and ExpressVPN’s British Virgin Islands bases are preferable to Surfshark’s Netherlands registration.
Support compared
All three offer 24/7 live chat, which is the industry standard at this tier, and all three answered within a few minutes in our tests.
ExpressVPN’s agents were the most technically capable, handling a router configuration question without escalation. NordVPN’s were fast and effective on common issues but leaned on scripted responses for anything unusual. Surfshark’s were pleasant and quick, though least able to help with advanced configuration.
All three maintain large knowledge bases. ExpressVPN’s setup guides are the best written, particularly for routers and less common platforms.
Who each one is wrong for
NordVPN is the wrong choice if you need more than 10 devices, if you want port forwarding, or if the renewal price would strain your budget.
ExpressVPN is the wrong choice if you are price-sensitive, if you have a large household, or if you want advanced features – at nearly $5 a month for 8 devices and a deliberately minimal feature set, it asks a lot for what it gives.
Surfshark is the wrong choice if jurisdiction is your deciding factor, or if you need the absolute best streaming consistency. The Netherlands sits inside the Nine Eyes framework, and while there is no VPN retention requirement there, some users rule it out on principle.
Server networks compared
NordVPN runs around 7,400 servers across 118 countries, including specialist options: Double VPN, Onion over VPN, obfuscated servers for restrictive networks, and dedicated IP addresses as a paid extra.
ExpressVPN operates roughly 3,000 servers in 105 countries, with unusually good coverage in Africa, South America and the Middle East, and it labels virtual locations clearly rather than presenting them as physical.
Surfshark has about 3,200 servers in 100 countries, the smallest count of the three, but it compensates with 10 Gbps ports that keep congestion low. Raw server numbers are a weak proxy for quality; what matters is whether there is a fast, lightly loaded server where you need one, and all three deliver that in common locations.
What happens if you cancel
All three offer 30-day money-back guarantees, and all three honoured them in our testing without argument. NordVPN and Surfshark process refunds through the original payment method within about a week. ExpressVPN’s process was the fastest, typically acknowledged in chat and processed within a few days.
If you cancel after the refund window, you keep access until the end of your paid term – none of the three cuts you off immediately. Turning off auto-renewal is done in the account dashboard rather than in the app, which catches some people out.
Verdict
NordVPN is the one to buy if you want the best, Surfshark if you want the best value, and ExpressVPN if you want the least friction. There is no wrong choice among the three – the differences are about priorities, not quality.