A Full Comparison in 2024

When evaluating a VPN provider’s privacy, we comb through the privacy policy for claims related to user data handling. Then, we confirm whether a third-party audit firm has verified the claims. Audits should have been completed within the past two years, and the results should be published so anyone can read them.

Does ExpressVPN Keep Logs?

No, ExpressVPN doesn’t collect, store or share user data, logs, IP addresses, VPN connection timestamps or browsing history. Reputable third-party security firms have authenticated its no-logs claim. The last audit of its no-logs claim, which KPMG conducted in 2023, proved ExpressVPN’s systems and infrastructure don’t collect, store or share user data. 

ExpressVPN has undergone security audits since 2018 and has had its protocols, browser extensions, apps and TrustedServer technology audited. The audits always prove that ExpressVPN’s features work as intended. 

ExpressVPN also commissions ad hoc audits whenever a major system update occurs. For example, it underwent an audit in April 2024 to confirm the remediation of the DNS flaw related to its split tunneling feature. The provider also publishes biannual transparency reports revealing the details and statuses of data requests it has received. 

Does TunnelBear Keep Logs?

TunnelBear doesn’t keep logs of your browsing history, IP address or DNS queries. It has undergone security audits since 2016 in the form of penetration tests conducted to pinpoint and patch up any security flaws. 

Unfortunately, none have ever verified the no-logs claim. TunnelBear publishes biennial transparency reports with information on user data requests.The silver lining is that TunnelBear has never been caught meddling with user data. 

ExpressVPN and TunnelBear both offer a split tunneling feature, which lets you select apps that will access the internet outside the encrypted tunnel while the VPN is active. However, their split tunneling features differ in terms of capability and the operating systems they work on.

With ExpressVPN, you can use the split tunnel feautre on Windows, Mac and Android (sorry, iOS users). However, ExpressVPN also supports inverse split tunneling, which enables you to select specific apps that will use the VPN tunnel while all others access the internet directly by default.

ExpressVPN’s split tunneling on routers works differently. The provider allows you to sort the devices connected to your router into groups. You can create up to five device groups, and may leave one device group connected to your real location and the others to different VPN servers. 

TunnelBear doesn’t have inverse split tunneling, but it does support both app- and URL-based split tunneling on Windows. It also supports app-based split tunneling on Android. Unfortunately, TunnelBear doesn’t offer split tunneling capability on Mac or iOS.

The following table summarizes the protocols and encryption standards on TunnelBear and ExpressVPN. 

Encryption:
WireGuard (ChaCha20)	N/A
OpenVPN (AES 256-bit)
Lightway (AES-256 GCM, ChaCha20)	Routers	N/A
IKEv2 (IPsec)
Automatic protocol selection

By default, both providers select your protocol automatically depending on your network. However, you can manually change to another protocol if you find that one isn’t working. These protocols passed our WebRTC, DNS and IP leak tests, meaning the encrypted tunnel can successfully ward off hacking, monitoring and surveillance attempts.

OpenVPN is a secure, multipurpose protocol that offers a good balance between connection speed and security. It has been tried and tested, so most of its security flaws have been patched. IKEv2 is ideal for mobile users because it reconnects easily when the network fluctuates.

WireGuard is a lightweight protocol that offers faster speeds than OpenVPN and is ideal for speed-intensive activities like streaming and gaming. Lightway is ExpressVPN’s proprietary protocol and provides the benefits of WireGuard but with better privacy and obfuscation. 

ExpressVPN and TunnelBear offer a kill switch, which blocks internet access to prevent data leaks if the VPN disconnects. ExpressVPN’s kill switch, “network lock,” is available on Windows, Mac, Linux and routers. “Network protection” acts as a kill switch on iOS. You can access servers, printers and other devices on your network with the kill switch activated.

TunnelBear’s kill switch, called VigilantBear, is available on Windows, Mac, iOS and Android devices. Unlike ExpressVPN, TunnelBear doesn’t have the capability to allow access to devices on your local network when the kill switch is activated. 

Both ExpressVPN and TunnelBear support obfuscation, which scrambles the VPN metadata from your internet traffic, making it look like regular web traffic. With obfuscation, you can use a VPN in restrictive countries without being detected. In addition, the technology enables you to access services and websites that frown upon VPN use.

ExpressVPN’s obfuscation is built-in and springs into action when the VPN is on regardless of the protocol used. TunnelBear’s obfuscation feature, GhostBear, is only compatible with the OpenVPN protocol. GhostBear isn’t built in or activated by default; you have to turn it on and off manually. 

ExpressVPN and TunnelBear each offer an ad blocker, but on different platforms. TunnelBear’s ad blocker, “blocker,” is only available on the browser extension. It’s best for blocking simple ads and privacy-invading techniques like pixel tracking in emails. 

ExpressVPN’s ad blocker is available on Windows, iOS, Mac and Android apps. This more advanced blocker can stop ads from loading in your web browser. In addition, ExpressVPN offers a feature called “threat manager” on major operating systems and Apple TV that is designed to block digital trackers and malicious websites.

Ordinarily, we compare VPN speeds based on our automated speed test results. However, because TunnelBear isn’t part of our automated VPN speed testing, we tested it manually for this review. We checked each VPN’s speeds across six locations worldwide based on a 30 Mbps internet connection from our test location in Kenya. 

Download Speed Table:

Location:
🇰🇪 Kenya*	29	45
🇺🇸 U.S.	28.5	19.06
🇬🇧 U.K.	27.5	25.07
🇦🇺 Australia	18.17	7.15
🇧🇷 Brazil	22.48	14.29
🇿🇦 South Africa	27.39	21.4
🇸🇬 Singapore	21.11	14.78
Average:	24.20	16.96

Upload Speed Table:

Location:
🇰🇪 Kenya*	26	58
🇺🇸 U.S.	24.67	3.05
🇬🇧 U.K.	26.1	7.81
🇦🇺 Australia	11	1.42
🇧🇷 Brazil	16.32	3.34
🇿🇦 South Africa	23.4	6.44
🇸🇬 Singapore	21.49	2.1
Average:	20.50	4.0

Latency Rate Table:

Location:
🇰🇪 Kenya*	3	3
🇺🇸 U.S.	417	445
🇬🇧 U.K.	303	308
🇦🇺 Australia	733	761
🇧🇷 Brazil	665	644
🇿🇦 South Africa	265	268
🇸🇬 Singapore	528	732
Average:	485.17	526.33

During our testing, ExpressVPN maintained an average of 82% of our unprotected download and 77% of our unprotected upload speeds, proving why it ranks as one of the fastest VPNs. 

TunnelBear averaged a middling 56% of our unprotected download speed, which is only fast enough for casual use. TunnelBear was downright sluggish with uploads, maintaining 15% of our unprotected speeds. 

If you want a VPN for streaming, pick ExpressVPN. During our testing, ExpressVPN unblocked Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, Peacock TV, Hulu and Max on the first attempt. TunnelBear unblocked Max and Peacock, but it couldn’t bypass geoblocks on any other popular streaming services we tested. 

Streaming on:

ExpressVPN streams without lags or buffering thanks to its fast download speed. It also offers unlimited data and bandwidth, allowing you to binge-watch shows without getting cut off in the middle of a captivating episode. 

In addition to its poor unblocking performance, TunnelBear isn’t fast enough to support lag- and buffering-free HD streaming. Plus, if you intend to use the free version, you’ll chew through the 2GB of monthly data in less than two hours of HD streaming.

ExpressVPN uses RAM-only servers, which it calls TrustedServer, to enhance user privacy. The servers wipe any logs clean with every reboot, ensuring no user data can be stored. Even if hackers or authorities break into a VPN server, they won’t find any user-related data, as was the case in Turkey in 2017. 

TunnelBear has not upgraded its infrastructure to RAM-only servers, so it’s harder to confirm that it will never store logs. 

For the torrenting test, we used both VPN services to download a 264MB torrent file on a 30 Mbps internet connection. To level the playing field, we connected both providers to a server in the United States. We also used the “automatic protocol” option to let each provider pick the fastest choice. 

Neither ExpressVPN nor TunnelBear supports port forwarding, which allows torrent traffic to bypass the NAT firewall, speeding up the download. TunnelBear downloaded the test torrent in 112 seconds, while ExpressVPN took 140 seconds. 

If our results are anything to go by, TunnelBear is faster for torrenting than ExpressVPN. However, TunnelBear used to block peer-to-peer (P2P) downloads, including torrenting, and it never officially revoked that policy. That might make it a dangerous choice for torrenting.

Besides looking at the pricing plans, we evaluated the VPNs’ value for the money to give you a clear view of how the two providers compare. 

Duration/Plan:	ExpressVPN Pricing (Per Month)	TunnelBear Unlimited Pricing (Per Month)
Free plan
Monthly	$12.95	$9.99
Six months	$9.99	N/A
One year	$6.66 per month (15-months plan)	$4.99
Three years	N/A	$3.33

As you can see, TunnelBear is the more affordable of the two providers on both short-term and extended plans. However, though ExpressVPN is comparatively pricey, it offers strong value because of its superior all-around performance. 

ExpressVPN Pricing

TunnelBear Pricing

TunnelBear offers a free plan that lets you access servers in 47 countries. However, free users get limited data (2GB per month) and can’t choose between city-level servers in the same country. ExpressVPN doesn’t offer a free plan but has a seven-day free trial on Android and iOS devices. 

ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you’re unsatisfied, you can request a full refund within 30 days of purchase. We’ve requested ExpressVPN’s refund several times in the past and always received it promptly. This shows how a money-back guarantee can work like a free trial, allowing you to test the VPN without the commitment of making a long-term purchase. 

By comparison, TunnelBear doesn’t offer a money-back guarantee, most likely because it has a free plan you can use to test the VPN. According to its policy, all paid-plan payments are non-refundable. TunnelBear may consider some refund requests on a case-by-case basis, but you shouldn’t count on it. 

An extensive distribution of servers provides a large pool of IP addresses you can use to unblock content in numerous countries. It also reduces the chances of server overload, which makes browsing faster. 

ExpressVPN has a better server distribution, with servers in 105 countries, whereas TunnelBear has servers in 47 countries. ExpressVPN also has city-level servers in 16 countries, but TunnelBear only allows city-level server access in the United States and Canada (and even then only to paid subscribers). 

TunnelBear is an attractive option for users on a shoestring budget thanks to its fleet of free servers. Its free version offers access to the entire server network in 47 countries — one of the best (if not the best) networks of free servers. The only minor issue is that free users cannot access city-level servers — but only the U.S. and Canada offer servers in multiple cities, anyway. 

ExpressVPN has native VPN support for desktops, mobile devices, smart TVs, web browsers and routers. Though TunnelBear is compatible with desktop, mobile and web browsers, it doesn’t work on smart TVs or routers, which means it’s also not useful for gaming consoles.

Device:
Desktop apps	Windows, Mac, Linux, Chromebook	Windows, macOS
Mobile apps	Android, iOS, Amazon Fire tablet	Android, iOS
Browser extensions	Chrome, Firefox, Vivaldi, Chromium, Brave, Edge	Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge
Smart TV	Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Amazon Fire Stick, Samsung TV, LG Smart TV, Android TV	Not supported
Gaming consoles	Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Roku, Steam Deck, Xbox supported via VPN routers	Not supported
Routers	Asus, ExpressVPN Aircove, Linksys, Netgear*	Not supported

You can use an ExpressVPN subscription on up to eight devices, which is enough for the average household. If you need to protect more devices, we recommend installing ExpressVPN on your router. 

TunnelBear offers unlimited simultaneous connections, so you can use one subscription to protect any number of devices. 

Ideally, your VPN of choice is based outside the Five, Nine and 14 Eyes alliances. A VPN provider based in an alliance country could be compelled to share information that might ordinarily be constitutionally protected. Learn more about the surveillance and data-sharing pact in our Five Eyes guide. 

ExpressVPN is based in the British Virgin Islands, a privacy-friendly jurisdiction outside the Five, Nine and 14 Eyes alliances. In contrast, TunnelBear is based in Canada, which is part of the Five Eyes alliance. If TunnelBear adheres to its no-logs policy, it should have nothing to share, but we aren’t completely sure that the policy holds true. 

If you hit a snag with ExpressVPN setup or use, you have three options to get help: live chat, email and the knowledgebase. The customer support channels are helpful, though what works best depends on the nature of your problem. ExpressVPN’s knowledgebase is organized in a way that makes it easy to find relevant help guides. 

The live chat is located in the bottom right-hand corner and is easily accessible on any page. The live chat agents responded to our queries within one minute, making this channel ideal for urgent issues. ExpressVPN’s email ticket support suffices for the most complex problems. 

TunnelBear offers a knowledgebase and ticket-based support channels. Its knowledgebase articles are organized into different categories, making it easy to find relevant guides. The email ticket system is reliable — agents act on each ticket within 48 hours. Sadly, TunnelBear doesn’t offer a live chat support option, so urgent issues cannot be resolved in minutes.