Last updated: 15 September 2026
Quick Answer
ExpressVPN and NordVPN are both defensible choices and the gap between them is small. ExpressVPN has been audited far more often and sits in the British Virgin Islands; NordVPN is cheaper on the long plans, covers ten devices and bundles a certified phishing blocker. IPVanish is the budget option with unlimited devices, but it is American and it has a 2016 incident on its record that the other two do not.
Most comparisons of these three end up as a list of numbers nobody can verify. Speed figures measured on one connection in one city, server counts that change weekly, feature tables where every box is ticked. None of it tells you what you actually want to know, which is who has been checked, by whom, and what happened the one time each of them was tested for real.
So this page is organised around what can be looked up rather than what can be claimed. Three providers, four questions with verifiable answers.
Where each one is registered, and why it matters
A VPN provider's address decides which government can compel it to do something. This is the least glamorous part of the comparison and the one that changes the answer most.
ExpressVPN operates from the British Virgin Islands, a territory with no data retention requirement and no obligation to co-operate with foreign intelligence requests as a matter of course.
NordVPN is registered in Panama, which is similarly outside the intelligence-sharing arrangements and has no retention law covering communications providers.
IPVanish is based in the United States, which is a founding member of the Five Eyes arrangement and where authorities have well-documented powers to compel disclosure. That does not mean IPVanish hands over data. It means the legal ceiling is different, and for a reader in the UK weighing who might eventually be asked for what, that difference is the whole point of the exercise.
Who has actually been audited
Every provider here claims to keep no logs. The claim is worth exactly as much as the verification behind it.
ExpressVPN has the longest record by a distance, passing its twenty-third independent security audit and adding four ISO certifications, including ISO/IEC 27001, in February 2026. If sheer volume of external scrutiny is your criterion, this is the winner and it is not close.
NordVPN has been through six no-logs assurance engagements, the most recent carried out by Deloitte under the ISAE 3000 standard. Fewer than ExpressVPN, but conducted on a regular cycle since 2018 rather than as a one-off, and covering the specialty servers as well as the standard ones.
IPVanish holds an independent audit by Schellman from April 2025 and publishes quarterly transparency reports. That is a genuine improvement on where it was, and the reason it needed one is the next section.
Devices, and the reason households pick differently
NordVPN covers ten simultaneous connections on one subscription. ExpressVPN covers eight. IPVanish places no limit at all.
For a couple with two phones, two laptops and a tablet, none of this matters. For a household where adult children still use the family account, or where a smart TV, a streaming stick and a router all count against the total, the unlimited allowance is the single strongest argument IPVanish has. Surfshark, which is outside the scope of this page, offers the same and usually costs less.
Price, and where the trap is
Advertised VPN pricing is close to meaningless because it describes the first term only. Every provider here discounts heavily for two or three years upfront and then renews at the standard annual rate.
On promotional pricing NordVPN and ExpressVPN's entry tiers land within a pound or so of each other, and IPVanish undercuts both. On renewal the picture changes: ExpressVPN renews at a noticeably higher annual figure than NordVPN, and IPVanish stays the cheapest of the three.
The number worth writing down is not the monthly headline. It is what you will be charged when the term ends, which is disclosed at checkout and which almost nobody reads. For NordVPN, the sterling figures and the renewal are set out in how much is NordVPN in the UK? Put the renewal date in a calendar the day you subscribe and you have removed the entire category of complaint that fills these providers' support forums.
The full NordVPN assessment
The audit record, the 2018 server breach, the plans where the phishing blocker is missing, and where NordVPN is genuinely weaker than the two providers above.
Read the NordVPN Review →Streaming, with the usual warning
All three unblock the major services most of the time, and any of them will occasionally stop working for a week after a platform tightens its detection. Anyone presenting this as a settled ranking is describing a snapshot.
What can be said is that NordVPN and ExpressVPN both run dedicated streaming servers and are reported as recovering faster from detection waves, while IPVanish has a thinner record, with recent comparisons finding it failed on catalogues the other two reached. For BBC iPlayer and ITVX specifically, which is what most British readers are actually asking about, NordVPN and ExpressVPN are the safer bets.
The open-source question
One point in ExpressVPN's favour that rarely appears in comparison tables. NordVPN's NordLynx is a proprietary variation on WireGuard, and the modifications are not published, so nobody outside the company can inspect them. ExpressVPN's Lightway protocol has been opened for external review.
Whether this bothers you depends on how much weight you give to auditability over track record. A closed protocol backed by six external audits is not the same risk as one backed by nothing, but the criticism is legitimate and NordVPN does not have an answer to it.
Which one, for which person
Choose ExpressVPN if external verification is your deciding factor, if you want an open protocol, or if a British Virgin Islands registration reassures you more than a Panamanian one. You will pay more at renewal for it.
Choose NordVPN if you want the strongest bundle for the money on a long plan, ten device slots, and the phishing blocker that AV-Comparatives certified. This is our pick for most readers over 50, and the reasons are set out in full in the review.
Choose IPVanish if cost and device count are what decide it and the American jurisdiction does not trouble you. It is a competent service today. Read the 2016 note above first, and decide with it rather than around it.
If none of the three convinces you, Proton VPN and Mullvad both have strong privacy reputations and we earn nothing from either, which is worth saying plainly on a page where we do earn something from one of the three above.
Frequently Asked Questions
On external verification, yes: ExpressVPN has passed twenty-three independent audits and holds four ISO certifications, against NordVPN's six Deloitte assurance engagements. On value it loses, because it renews at a higher annual rate and covers eight devices rather than ten. Neither is a bad decision.
For privacy, yes. NordVPN is registered in Panama with six independent audits, while IPVanish is American and, under previous ownership in 2016, supplied connection data to investigators despite advertising no logs. IPVanish wins on price and on unlimited simultaneous connections.
IPVanish, both on the promotional term and at renewal. ExpressVPN is the most expensive of the three when the first term ends. Compare the renewal figure rather than the advertised monthly price, because that is what you actually pay from year two onwards.
NordVPN and ExpressVPN both run dedicated streaming servers and are reported as recovering quickly when a platform tightens detection. IPVanish has a thinner record here. No provider can guarantee access to any streaming service, and any page claiming otherwise is describing one week rather than a rule.
Rarely worth it mid-term. Every provider here has a refund window, so if you are already paid up, wait until the renewal approaches and make the decision then, when the money is actually at stake.
Sources
- NordVPN — independent no-logs assurance engagement (Deloitte, ISAE 3000)
- AV-Comparatives — Anti-Phishing Comparative Test
- Security.org — NordVPN and IPVanish compared
- Cybernews — ExpressVPN and IPVanish jurisdiction and logging comparison
How we assess VPNs
We did not buy these subscriptions and we do not publish speed figures we did not measure. What this page compiles is material that already exists and can be checked by someone other than us: published audits and the standard each ran under, the jurisdiction each provider operates from, documented incidents, laboratory certifications, and the problems users report repeatedly. Where a claim comes from a company, we say so. Where it comes from an outside body, we name it. More on how this site works.
We earn a commission if you subscribe to NordVPN through our links, and nothing from ExpressVPN or IPVanish. That is precisely why the recommendation above is not unanimous. Full disclosure.