ExpressVPN Got Bought by a Company You Should Google
A privacy company. Bought by a former adware distributor. For $936 million. The product is still good. The ownership story is why it lost 2 points on our scorecard.
Founded as Crossrider. Software flagged as malware by Malwarebytes and Symantec.
Buys CyberGhost, ZenMate, and Private Internet Access.
Rebrands from Crossrider to Kape Technologies. Same leadership.
Buys ExpressVPN for $936M. Also buys vpnMentor — a major VPN review site. Now owns products AND reviews.
Delists from London Stock Exchange. Goes fully private. Zero public oversight.
Lightway protocol — fast and open-source. TrustedServer — RAM-only, data wiped on reboot. Independent audits still published. No proven privacy violations since the acquisition. On pure technical merit, it’s top-tier.
But at $6.67/month on the best plan, it’s nearly double the price of NordVPN ($3.49) and Surfshark ($2.49) for comparable performance. You’re paying a premium for a product whose parent company has the least transparent ownership structure in the industry.
I used ExpressVPN for over a year before the acquisition. The app was fast, the kill switch worked, support was responsive. When Kape bought them, I gave it six months to see if anything changed. The product stayed solid — but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was paying double for a VPN owned by a company I wouldn’t trust with my data. Switched to NordVPN and haven’t looked back.