To determine which VPN is the best service, I analyzed ExpressVPN and CyberGhost head-to-head in a number of categories. This includes everything from speed and device compatibility to more advanced functionality like security and torrenting capabilities. After running several tests, ExpressVPN emerged as the overall winner — it beat CyberGhost in every speed test, is independently audited to prove its zero-logs policy, and has a better range of payment options and customer service response times. However, it’s a close call as CyberGhost has a larger number of servers, simultaneous connections, and a more generous 45-day money-back guarantee. Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it — the best way to find out which VPN is best for you is to test them yourself! Fortunately, you can purchase ExpressVPN with confidence using its money-back guarantee. You get 30 days to test the service risk-free and can get a full refund if you change your mind. Try ExpressVPN risk-free today!
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13 Categories of Comparison: ExpressVPN vs CyberGhost
ExpressVPN was the top choice in the majority of categories. Try ExpressVPN risk-free today!
1. Pricing — CyberGhost’s Long-Term Plans Offer Better Value
CyberGhost’s 3-year plan is the cheapest option, at less than half the monthly cost of ExpressVPN’s lowest-priced plan. Both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost have similarly-priced monthly plans that are on the more expensive end of premium VPN services. However, for long-term subscriptions CyberGhost offers an incredible 83% off its monthly price. CyberGhost also has a longer money-back guarantee period for testing the service risk-free — 45 days compared to ExpressVPN’s 30 days. As a top-tier VPN with excellent security and a global network, ExpressVPN is worth the extra money. But if you’re looking for a more budget-friendly service with similar high-level security, CyberGhost is one of the best value VPNs on the market.
2. Streaming — ExpressVPN Can Reliably Access Streaming Sites
ExpressVPN wins this category for its ability to access a wide variety of streaming services. CyberGhost is effective at streaming some services with its optimized servers, but these are mostly restricted to popular options like Netflix and Disney+. Both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost provide good speeds for smooth, lag-free streaming and can unblock multiple services. My global team was easily able to bypass Netflix’s proxy error in different countries with both, as well as access region-locked services like Hulu, HBO Max, and BBC iPlayer. With ExpressVPN, I found it very easy to stream from different platforms — I didn’t have to spend time switching between servers to find one that worked. My streams were smooth and steady, with minimal buffering no matter which server I connected to. I could stream in UltraHD-quality video with all connections. That said, I did occasionally have trouble accessing BBC iPlayer. This service is notoriously difficult to access even with a premium service like ExpressVPN but after spending a few minutes trying different UK servers, I was able to successfully log in to my account.
The downside was that I couldn’t always connect to CyberGhost’s optimized servers — the Netflix servers are often full or almost full, resulting in failure to connect or slower speeds. Plus, you’re only guaranteed to connect to the streaming service using an optimized server, as standard servers can’t always get around location blocks. For reliability in unblocking services and providing high-quality streams without lag, ExpressVPN is the better choice for a streaming VPN. Stream lag-free with ExpressVPN today!
3. Servers — CyberGhost Has More Servers, But ExpressVPN Has More Locations
Both VPNs have impressive server networks that provide easy global connections. CyberGhost has one of the largest networks with over 9633 servers worldwide. ExpressVPN has fewer total servers, but a broader global reach with servers in 94 countries. That said, I’m a bit disappointed that ExpressVPN doesn’t list how many servers are available in each country. By contrast, CyberGhost not only provides a full breakdown but has at least four in each country it services. CyberGhost’s abundance of servers is ideal for connecting to precise geographic locations. This is really useful if you want to bypass a local restriction and gain access to your original content library in your home country. A higher number of servers also means less user traffic with each connection, reducing slowdown due to congestion. ExpressVPN is the better choice for streaming and providing high-speed connections no matter where you’re located. ExpressVPN is also available in locations like Russia, Turkey, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, where CyberGhost has no servers. I’d recommend ExpressVPN for fast streaming and its ability to reliably access global content. Connect to global servers with ExpressVPN
4. Speed — ExpressVPN is the Fastest VPN With the Smallest Impact
ExpressVPN is one of the fastest services I’ve ever tested, with consistently high speeds worldwide. To test ExpressVPN’s speeds, I connected to servers in Australia, Japan, Europe, and the US from the UK, with a base speed of 115Mbps. My speed never dropped below 89Mbps, even when connected to servers 15,000km away. These reliably fast speeds meant I could stream, torrent, and game online without lag or buffering. When I used ExpressVPN for secure online browsing, banking, and shopping, my connection was so smooth it was like I wasn’t using a VPN at all. CyberGhost is a fast VPN but it suffers with significant slowdown over long distances. My local connections in the UK and Europe were good, and even the US provided speeds of over 90Mbps for lag-free online activity. However, I had a steep drop when connecting to Australia — an almost 60% drop from my base speed. In comparison, ExpressVPN only dropped 25% from my standard speed. It’s worth noting that CyberGhost’s optimized servers were often faster than the standard options. Unfortunately these servers get full quickly, especially at peak traffic times. That said, I’d still recommend connecting to one of CyberGhost’s optimized servers if you can for the fastest possible speeds. For local connections, both VPNs provide high-speed, reliable connections. However, ExpressVPN is the best choice if you want a VPN with consistently fast speeds on global servers. Get fast connections with ExpressVPN
5. Security — Both VPNs Offer Impressive Protection
ExpressVPN and CyberGhost are both optimized for the best possible security while you’re connected to the server. ExpressVPN has a greater variety of protocols so you can customize your level of encryption and speed. CyberGhost provides basic malware and ad-blocking, as well as dedicated (or static) IP addresses for easy account authentication from anywhere.
Encryption Standard
Both VPNs provide the highest level of encryption — AES-256-bit — which is used by banks and the US military to protect sensitive information. This encryption method would take a hacker billions of years to crack brute-force. By using this high-level encryption to secure your connection, you can rest assured your online traffic is completely safe. ExpressVPN and CyberGhost also use 4096-bit RSA keys to help keep your traffic private, with ExpressVPN going one step further with its use of cipher block chaining. This technology helps obscure your VPN connection, making it even harder for cybercriminals and other snooping parties from tracking your activity.
Encryption Protocol
Both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost offer OpenVPN and IKEv2 protocols. OpenVPN is the industry standard for security and speed, while IKEv2 is excellent for mobile devices — it reconnects quickly when changing networks, like going from home WiFi to 4G. I usually connect with ExpressVPN’s proprietary protocol, Lightway — it’s exclusive to ExpressVPN and designed as a lightweight option that maintains a high level of security and lightning-fast speeds. When using this protocol, my speeds regularly exceeded 105Mbps. ExpressVPN also features L2TP/IPSec, a lower-security protocol that still makes your connection anonymous and provides a speed boost. This is a good choice if you’re experiencing slower speeds and aren’t sending or receiving any sensitive data. CyberGhost offers the WireGuard protocol, which is only 4,000 lines of code (compared to OpenVPN’s 70,000 lines). This makes it extremely lightweight and easy to debug if there are issues. That said, WireGuard is very fast so it’s a great option for streaming and torrenting.
Leak Protection
Even with the best encryption, there’s still the potential for data to leak which could lead to your activity being seen by anyone watching — including hackers, web trackers, and other malicious parties. Fortunately, both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost protect against the most common leaks — IP address, DNS, and IPV6.
Malware/Ad Blocker
Only CyberGhost provides a malware and ad-blocker with its VPN service, which can be manually switched on in the privacy settings. This blocker stops DNS domains that are used for ads, trackers, and malware from loading on your device. While I was mostly pleased with CyberGhost’s performance, it could be better. It won’t block ads running on YouTube, for example, as they don’t pose a security threat to your device. It also won’t stop malware from downloading to your device, even if it detects the threat. CyberGhost’s malicious content block is better than no protection at all, but I’d recommend you consider a more advanced malware blocker for full security.
Specialized Servers
CyberGhost has a greater number of specialized servers, particularly those designed for streaming, gaming, and torrenting. While these don’t have additional security, they are optimized for the best possible performance during these tasks. CyberGhost also offers dedicated IP addresses, for an additional fee. Static IP addresses are the same every time you connect, which makes them useful for bypassing authorization (like 2-factor authentication) or CAPTCHAs for accounts you regularly use. Both VPNs offer split tunneling, which means you can choose which apps or websites bypass the VPN connection. This is useful if you require encryption for one site or service but want to use your local connection for something else at the same time. For example, you can use split tunneling to stream Netflix while using an encrypted connection to safely bank online at the same time.
Server Security
Both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost use RAM-based servers for maximum data security. This kind of server doesn’t write data to a disk; instead, data is only held temporarily until the server is rebooted on a schedule. Once the server is switched off, all data is wiped. This guarantees your data is never logged or stored. While ExpressVPN rents its servers from trusted third-parties, CyberGhost has a small selection of NoSpy servers owned and operated by the company in Romania. These servers have a higher level of security as they’re not at risk of third-party interference. However, I experienced significant slowdown when connected (almost 60%), so there’s a compromise when connecting to the NoSpy servers. One final security detail worth mentioning is that both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost include a NAT firewall. Although your router already has this type of firewall equipped, its utility is somewhat limited since it can’t differentiate between device specific packets. By contrast, ExpressVPN and CyberGhost’s firewalls can decrypt these packets and send them to the relevant device, while discarding any suspicious ones. While you’ll still want an OS-level or antivirus-provided firewall to achieve top-level security, the additional protection provided by a VPN is still essential. Secure your devices with ExpressVPN today!
6. Torrenting — ExpressVPN Provides Fast Speeds and P2P Support on Every Server
ExpressVPN wins this category for its lightning-fast servers and torrenting capabilities on every server. CyberGhost is also excellent for torrenting with optimized P2P servers, but these are often slower due to heavy user traffic at peak times. CyberGhost’s optimized servers aren’t available on its mobile apps, either. Both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost are torrent-friendly and work with a variety of clients, including BitTorrent, uTorrent, qBittorrent, and Vuze. They both have strict security measures, like military-grade encryption and leak protection, to keep your data anonymous while file-sharing. Plus, both VPNs have kill switch functionality to prevent any data leaks if the server connection is interrupted. As the fastest VPN service I’ve tested, ExpressVPN’s torrent downloads are no different — the best server took 5 minutes to download a 5GB file, with a speed of almost 120Mbps. CyberGhost’s closest optimized server took 7 minutes to download the same file with a speed of just under 100Mbps. Despite CyberGhost’s optimized servers, ExpressVPN is the best choice for frequent torrenting. With torrenting allowed on all servers, you won’t experience the same congestion or slowdown with ExpressVPN that can happen with CyberGhost. Torrent quickly with ExpressVPN!
7. China — ExpressVPN Reliably Bypasses China’s Great Firewall
There aren’t many VPNs that work reliably in China due to its strict internet regulations. Fortunately, ExpressVPN’s obfuscated servers can bypass China’s Great Firewall for consistent connections in the country. My colleagues in China couldn’t get CyberGhost to launch — I confirmed with customer service that CyberGhost isn’t guaranteed to work in countries with restrictive internet. To test the VPNs, my research team in China attempted to connect to blocked sites like Netflix, YouTube, and Facebook. ExpressVPN had no issues accessing sites blocked by the Chinese government, although not every server worked — my colleagues had success with ExpressVPN servers in Japan and the US. It’s best to download ExpressVPN before you arrive in China as the website and app stores are blocked inside the country. You can also download Tor and use ExpressVPN’s .onion site (http://expressobutiolem.onion) to access the service. If you’re already in China, ExpressVPN has a mirror site (upghsbc.com/sign-in) that will connect you to the website. While you should exercise caution if you decide to use a VPN within China’s borders, you likely won’t be prosecuted for doing so. The common practice is that China fights VPNs by technologically blocking the services, and not by chasing after the people who use them. Try ExpressVPN in China!
8. Gaming — ExpressVPN’s Fast Speeds and Low Latency Provide Smooth Online Gameplay
ExpressVPN’s reliable server connections provide the fast speeds and low ping needed for lag-free gaming. CyberGhost has dedicated gaming servers that provide secure connections for playing online but distant server connections have high latency that severely impacts gameplay. During testing, I was impressed to find I could play online using ExpressVPN servers over 15,000km away without any interruption. This is particularly impressive considering the distance increased latency and crucial for high-intensity games like Call of Duty, Valorant, and CounterStrike. CyberGhost’s local optimized gaming servers actually improved my connection speeds, so playing online was more responsive than when I wasn’t using a VPN at all. I like that I could choose an optimized server based on distance and ping to ensure I connected to the fastest available option. However, when I chose servers in the US and Japan my ping was well above 100ms. This made my gameplay laggy and slow, meaning I couldn’t play effectively in other locations — worth considering if you’re traveling abroad and want to connect to your home server to play online. Both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost have top-tier encryption and a kill switch to protect your data when gaming online. The threat of DDoS attacks is small for casual gamers but if a disgruntled opponent tries to attack your network, both services keep your IP address and connection secure. CyberGhost is a good choice if your standard internet speeds are slower — its optimized servers could give you a boost for smoother online gaming. However, for the fastest speeds and lag-free gameplay on servers worldwide, ExpressVPN is the better overall choice for most gamers. Game online with ExpressVPN
9. Device Compatibility — CyberGhost Supports 7 Simultaneous Connections
CyberGhost allows up to 7 device connections at the same time, while ExpressVPN only supports 5. Both CyberGhost and ExpressVPN support all major operating systems — Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS — as well as Linux, popular browsers, game consoles, and routers. Privacy-conscious users will also be pleased to know ExpressVPN offers an extension for the Brave browser! To test the services, I downloaded the apps for both VPNs to my Windows PC, iPhone XS, and Android smartphone. I found that for the most part, both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost offer the same features for different operating systems. Notable differences are that ExpressVPN’s iOS app lacks a kill switch and CyberGhost doesn’t offer dedicated torrenting or gaming servers on mobile apps. Malware protection is also missing from CyberGhost’s iOS app. There are also some differences in available protocols for each operating system. ExpressVPN doesn’t provide its Lightway protocol on iOS and IKEv2 is missing from Android and Linux. Similarly, CyberGhost doesn’t offer IKEv2 on Android or OpenVPN on iOS. The apps for both VPNs are very similar across operating systems so it’s easy to move between devices and navigate the software. For desktop users, I’d recommend ExpressVPN as it’s the top VPN for Windows and Mac. I found it easier to use ExpressVPN on desktop as the CyberGhost app sometimes “jumps” around the screen when opening and closing menus. Plus, ExpressVPN comes equipped with a feature called MediaStreamer — a DNS service designed to improve your streaming experience and allow you to use ExpressVPN on devices that don’t have native VPN support, such as Apple TV. Both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost are great choices if you have multiple devices to protect and you want easy-to-use apps on every OS. Given that CyberGhost actively protects more devices at the same time, lets you set up different user profiles for members of your household, and includes optional paid add-ons like a password manager and security-management tool for its Windows app, it wins this category. Protect your devices with CyberGhost
10. Company Jurisdiction — Both VPNs Are Headquartered in Privacy-Focused Countries
Both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost are based in countries outside of intelligence-sharing alliances and with strong data privacy laws. As both VPNs are headquartered in secure locations, this means they’re not legally obliged to log, store, or share any user data. Even if requests are made by government bodies, there is no collected data to hand over to the authorities. Being outside of the 5/9/14 Eyes Alliances further improves your data security as countries within the Alliances have no legal jurisdiction over either VPN company. Interestingly, neither VPN has a warrant canary available on their websites. A warrant canary informs users of an issued government subpoena when they’re prohibited from revealing the subpoena exists — if the warrant canary is up on the site, users can assume no subpoena has been issued. If the VPN is served with a subpoena, the warrant canary is removed. When I contacted both VPNs about the lack of warrant canary, I was simply told there “just isn’t one” — but given the top-tier encryption and zero-logs policies of both services, a court-issued subpoena would find no identifiable user data anyway. It’s reassuring to know that CyberGhost and ExpressVPN won’t share information with government agencies — largely because there’s no data to share in the first place! Protect your data with ExpressVPN
11. Privacy Policy — Only ExpressVPN Has An Independently Audited Policy
Both VPNs claim to have a zero-logs policy that never stores any user data, but only ExpressVPN has proven its no-logs policy with an independent audit. In 2019, ExpressVPN hired multinational accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to perform a full audit of its services. After a thorough review, PwC confirmed that ExpressVPN fully complies with its published privacy statements, including its no-logs policy. CyberGhost has never undergone any independent audits confirming its policy, although it does have its safety processes audited and verified by QSCert each year.
Logging Policies
Both VPNs claim to never log any identifying information that could be linked back to you, such as IP addresses and websites you visit while connected. However, both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost keep some non-identifying logs. For example, both VPNs keep your login data (namely, your email address) so that you can access your account. ExpressVPN records the server you connect to, the date you connect, and the amount of data transferred. It doesn’t log any of your activity or your IP address — in fact, it’s possible to use ExpressVPN entirely anonymously, thanks to its Bitcoin and Mint payment methods. CyberGhost checks your account once a day to see if you’ve logged in, purely for statistical purposes — these logs are deleted at the end of the month. It also doesn’t log any of your activity while you’re connected to the server, and as you can sign up with Bitcoin you can use CyberGhost anonymously.
User Data Storage
Both VPNs use RAM-based servers to operate their services, which is the best possible option for data privacy. RAM-based servers can only store data (like the server you connected to) while they’re powered up. As the servers are regularly rebooted on a schedule, all data is wiped as soon as the servers are switched off. There is no way for any data to be permanently stored on the servers, securing your data privacy completely. Outside of its independent audit, ExpressVPN proved it can’t and won’t store user data when one of its servers was forcibly seized by the Turkish government in 2017. On investigation, the Turkish authorities were unable to obtain any data from the server — there simply were no logs available. CyberGhost also encountered an incident where user data could’ve been exposed when a Typeform data leak occurred in 2019. While 120 email addresses and 14 usernames were leaked, no passwords or other identifying private data was found as CyberGhost doesn’t store this information. One final point worth mentioning is that both VPNs use Google Analytics on their websites, but only for basic data collection and marketing purposes. Secure your data with ExpressVPN
12. Payments and Refunds — ExpressVPN Has More Payment Options (Including Anonymous Methods)
ExpressVPN offers a much wider variety of payment options than CyberGhost. With more than 20 options, including anonymous methods like Bitcoin, Mint, and other cryptocurrencies, it’s easy to sign up for ExpressVPN without linking the service to your identity. CyberGhost offers cryptocurrency for anonymous sign-up, but primarily accepts PayPal and credit cards.
Money-Back Guarantees
Both VPNs offer a money-back guarantee. ExpressVPN has a fairly standard 30-day money-back guarantee, which is offered by other popular VPN services like IPVanish. CyberGhost has 2 options — for 1-month subscriptions, you have 14 days to apply for a refund. For longer subscriptions CyberGhost offers an impressive 45-day money-back guarantee, which is one of the longest refund periods I’ve seen. I tested both VPNs to see how easy the refund process is and was pleased to find both services have a no-questions-asked policy.
ExpressVPN
I contacted ExpressVPN through the 24/7 live chat and was connected to an agent almost immediately. I stated that I wanted to cancel my account, and the agent quickly and politely processed my request — they didn’t ask me to reconsider or try to troubleshoot any issues, like some other VPNs have. I didn’t have to give a reason for cancelling and the whole process took less than 3 minutes. I had my money back in 5 business days.
CyberGhost
I had a similar experience when canceling my CyberGhost account. I contacted the 24/7 live chat and requested a refund. The agent promptly processed my request without asking me to reconsider cancelling. It took less than a minute to approve my refund and I had the full amount back in less than a week.
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13. Customer Support — ExpressVPN’s Response is Faster for Live Chat and Email
I was impressed by both ExpressVPN and CyberGhost’s customer support — ExpressVPN narrowly beats CyberGhost with slightly faster response times. Both VPNs have friendly, helpful 24/7 live chat with short wait times. I never had to wait more than 2 minutes to connect to an agent with CyberGhost, and ExpressVPN was even faster at less than a minute. The agents are knowledgeable and ensure you’re fully satisfied that your query is resolved. ExpressVPN’s email responses were very fast — I had responses to my emails in less than 30 minutes, regardless of whether I used an email address associated with an existing account or posing as a potential customer. CyberGhost has a reasonable response time to my email from an existing account (3 hours), but took 10 hours to reply to an email from a non-customer address. Despite the difference in email response times, both VPNs provided informative, clear responses that didn’t appear to be copy-pasted. I like that the email replies felt personalized, which is a good sign that both VPNs take customer service seriously. I also like that CyberGhost offers email support in English, French, German, and Romanian — ExpressVPN appears to provide support in English only. If you’re new to VPNs and need help figuring the apps out or have a troubleshooting issue, both VPNs have extensive help guides on their respective websites. ExpressVPN has multiple video guides which are useful for step-by-step instructions. CyberGhost’s guides have screenshots with relevant annotations, making them easy to follow. ExpressVPN and CyberGhost both have excellent customer service but since ExpressVPN provides the fastest customer responses, it takes the top spot in this category. Try ExpressVPN risk-free today!
And the Winner Is… ExpressVPN
CyberGhost is an excellent VPN service and the results of each category were very close — but ExpressVPN comes out on top with wins in 7 out of 13 categories. CyberGhost took the lead in 2 categories, with the remaining 4 ending in a tie.
Pricing: CyberGhost Streaming: ExpressVPN Servers: Tie Speed: ExpressVPN Security: Tie Torrenting: ExpressVPN China: ExpressVPN Gaming: ExpressVPN Device Compatibility: CyberGhost Company Jurisdiction: Tie Privacy Policy: Tie Payment and Refunds: ExpressVPN Customer Support: ExpressVPN1
CyberGhost is one of the best value VPNs available, with top-tier security and excellent device compatibility — offering up to 7 simultaneous connections. I’m impressed by its huge server network (over 9633 connections!) and the high level of customer support I received from the service. CyberGhost is a great choice for users who want precise location connections and the option to test the service for a generous 45 days. However, CyberGhost can’t quite match ExpressVPN’s impressive performance in almost every category. Not only does the service have best-in-class security and guaranteed data privacy, ExpressVPN has the fastest speeds for streaming, gaming, and torrenting. Overall, ExpressVPN provides a better service for new and experienced users — and it has a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee so you can purchase ExpressVPN with confidence. If you’re not totally satisfied, you have 30 days to request a refund and the process is simple — it took less than 3 minutes to approve my refund request and I had my money back in 5 days! Try ExpressVPN risk-free today!
