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If you’re choosing between these two for streaming specifically, the honest answer is that both will get you into Netflix, Disney+, and most major libraries in 2026 — the differences show up in consistency on trickier platforms, how many screens you can run at once, and what each company has changed about its infrastructure this year. Here’s what actually matters if you’re buying one to watch something tonight.
Pricing and refund windows
IPVanish’s Essential plan runs around $12.99/mo month-to-month, dropping to roughly $2.19/mo on a 2-year promotional term (renews at the full monthly rate). Its Advanced tier — which bundles 1TB of Livedrive cloud storage, Threat Protection Pro, a secure browser, and 5GB of AloSIM eSIM data — runs about $3.29/mo on the same 2-year term, or around $14.99/mo monthly. IPVanish’s 30-day money-back guarantee only applies to annual and 2-year plans bought directly from ipvanish.com — monthly subscribers aren’t covered, and App Store/Google Play purchases follow those stores’ own refund rules instead.
ExpressVPN now sells three tiers: Basic (around $12.99/mo), Advanced (around $13.99/mo), and Pro (around $19.99/mo) month-to-month, with 2-year promotional rates landing around $2.79-3.99/mo (Basic), $3.59/mo (Advanced), and $5.99/mo (Pro) depending on the current promo — check the current price before buying. ExpressVPN’s 30-day guarantee is active for first-time customers, but check the fine print during named promotional windows — the company has run guarantee-excluded promos before, and it’s worth confirming the current terms at checkout.
Server networks and what they actually unblock
ExpressVPN made its network metric change explicit in July 2026, announcing 214 distinct, app-selectable server locations across 113 countries — its largest network to date — while deliberately de-emphasizing raw “server count” in favor of location count (some locations use virtual servers registered to a country but physically hosted nearby). IPVanish’s numbers are messier across sources — anywhere from 3,200 to 3,400+ servers and 105 to 150 locations depending on which 2026 review you read, likely reflecting an expansion still in progress. Treat both as approximate and check each provider’s current network page before buying.
For actual streaming, both now reliably unblock Netflix — notably, this is new for IPVanish, which had well-documented Netflix trouble in past years. ExpressVPN connects to BBC iPlayer in under 3 seconds in 2026 testing and loads Disney+ regional catalogs almost instantly; IPVanish handles Disney+ and Hulu well but shows more inconsistency on BBC iPlayer, and at least one 2026 review flagged Amazon Prime Video as its shakiest platform. If BBC iPlayer or other geo-tight platforms are your main use case, ExpressVPN has the more consistent track record.
Speed: one real data point, not a universal verdict
CyberInsider ran a 13-test comparison on a 1,000 Mbps fiber connection in 2026 with results worth citing directly, since it’s the only outlet that published concrete numbers rather than a prose “winner”:
| Server | ExpressVPN | IPVanish |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | 718 Mbps | 829 Mbps |
| Los Angeles | 444 Mbps | 262 Mbps |
| New York | 612 Mbps | 606 Mbps |
| UK | 551 Mbps | 431 Mbps |
| Average | 581 Mbps | 532 Mbps |
IPVanish (on WireGuard) actually won the Seattle leg outright, while ExpressVPN — running its Rust-rewritten Lightway protocol — was more consistent across the other three routes and finished ahead on average. Treat this as one outlet’s test conditions rather than an industry-wide benchmark, but it does support the general reputation each has built: ExpressVPN as the more dependable long-distance streamer, IPVanish as capable of matching or beating it on specific routes.
Device limits: IPVanish’s clearest practical win
This is where IPVanish separates itself. Every IPVanish plan allows unlimited simultaneous connections — no cap, no add-on fee. ExpressVPN tiers its limits: 10 devices at once on Basic, 12 on Advanced, 14 on Pro (you can install on unlimited devices, just not run them all concurrently, and its Aircove hardware router counts as a single connection regardless of how many household devices sit behind it). For a household streaming across phones, tablets, smart TVs, and a couple of laptops simultaneously, IPVanish’s unlimited policy is a genuine, current advantage — not a marketing footnote.
Jurisdiction, ownership, and audits
IPVanish is US-based, currently owned by Ziff Davis (formerly J2 Global, which bought it from StackPath). It carries a real, documented wrinkle worth being upfront about: in 2016, under prior ownership, IPVanish handed a user’s connection logs to the Department of Homeland Security during a criminal investigation — despite marketing itself as zero-logs at the time. That incident became public via TorrentFreak in 2018. Since then, under Ziff Davis, IPVanish has commissioned no-logs audits from Leviathan Security Group (2022) and Schellman Compliance (2025), both affirming its current no-logs practices — though neither audit erases or directly addresses the 2016 incident.
ExpressVPN is registered in the British Virgin Islands and owned by Kape Technologies, which itself was taken private in 2023 by Unikmind Holdings (Teddy Sagi’s holding company) — Kape also owns CyberGhost and Private Internet Access. ExpressVPN runs RAM-only TrustedServer infrastructure, audited by KPMG three times (2022, 2024, and February 2025), and its Lightway protocol has been reviewed by Cure53. ExpressVPN cites roughly 23 total third-party audits across its apps, browser extension, and infrastructure as of early 2026 — among the highest audit counts in the industry, though that figure comes from ExpressVPN itself, corroborated by only one independent outlet in this research.
What’s changed recently — and matters if you’re a router user
If you were planning to run either VPN directly on a home router, know that ExpressVPN discontinued its dedicated app for third-party routers as of March 31, 2026, steering users instead toward its own Aircove hardware router (manual configuration on other routers is still technically possible, just no longer app-supported). Reviewers have noted this move has cost ExpressVPN some customers. IPVanish still supports installation on compatible routers via its control panel with no equivalent restriction.
Which one should you actually buy?
Editor’s pick: for pure streaming consistency, we lean ExpressVPN — see our full ExpressVPN review for the deeper breakdown. If unlimited devices and lower cost matter more than platform-by-platform consistency, IPVanish is the better value.
For pure streaming consistency — especially BBC iPlayer, Disney+, and other geo-locked platforms where ExpressVPN’s Lightway protocol and larger 2026 location count show up in faster, more reliable connections — ExpressVPN is the safer pick, and it comes with a deeper, more independently verified audit trail. But if your household needs to stream on more than a handful of screens at once, or you just want the lower price with unlimited devices and don’t want to think about router app support, IPVanish is the better value, and its recent no-logs audits go a long way toward addressing its 2016 history. Neither is a bad choice for streaming in 2026 — it comes down to whether consistency-per-platform or unlimited-devices-per-dollar matters more to you.
FAQ
Does IPVanish still have Netflix problems?
No — 2026 testing shows IPVanish now reliably unblocks Netflix US and UK, a real change from its documented history of Netflix trouble in past years.
Is ExpressVPN’s smaller device limit actually a problem for streaming?
Only if you regularly run more than 10-14 simultaneous connections (Basic through Pro tiers). Most households stay under that, but IPVanish’s unlimited policy removes the question entirely.
Should IPVanish’s 2016 logging incident be a dealbreaker?
It’s worth knowing about, but it happened under prior ownership (before the Ziff Davis era), and IPVanish has since passed two independent no-logs audits (2022, 2025). Judge it alongside those audits rather than in isolation.
Can I still use either VPN on my home router?
IPVanish, yes, on compatible routers via its control panel. ExpressVPN dropped dedicated third-party router app support as of March 31, 2026 — you’d need manual configuration or its own Aircove hardware router instead.
Sources consulted: security.org, cyberinsider.com, and vpnoverview.com (IPVanish and ExpressVPN pricing, refund terms), expressvpn.com/blog and techradar.com (ExpressVPN’s 214-location July 2026 network announcement and audit count), cyberinsider.com’s 13-test speed comparison and cybernews.com (streaming platform results), cybernews.com and expressvpn.com/features (device limit policies), en.wikipedia.org, cloudwards.net, and expressvpn.com/blog (ownership history and KPMG/Cure53 audits), proprivacy.com and cyberinsider.com (IPVanish’s 2016 DHS logging disclosure and subsequent Leviathan/Schellman audits), and tomsguide.com (ExpressVPN’s March 2026 router app discontinuation).
