If you’ve found this article, you’re interested in VPNs. If you want a quick refresher on exactly what a VPN can do for you, here it is; a VPN of any kind is an independent network that you connect to before browsing and surfing online so that any sites and networks you visit will see the IP address of the VPN rather than your own personal details.
This is to give you an extra layer of security to keep whoever wants to see your information from being able to do so freely. With the world rapidly approaching total digitalization, it’s not hard to see why VPNs and internet security have become such a massive market in the modern-day. As such, there are now more choices than ever for users to pick a VPN that best suits them.
Choices are great, but it can be a bit overwhelming trying to find the ‘best pick.’ As such, we’re here to help by comparing two excellent quality services, ExpressVPN and BullGuard. Neither of which will disappoint.
Overview
 ExpressVPN |  BullGuard | |
| Lowest Pricing | $8.32/month | $3.54/month |
| Speeds | Typically less than 10% impact on download speed. | Typically around 10%-20% impact on download speed. |
| Server Count | 3,000+ | 2,000+ |
| Country Count | 94 | 16 |
| Number of Devices | 5 | 6 |
| Money-Back Guarantee | 30 days | 30 days |
| Encryption | 256-bit AES | 256-bit AES |
| Accessibility | 10/10 | 8/10 |
| Live Support | Yes (24/7) | Yes (24/7) |
| Logging | Strict no-logging | Strict no-logging |
What is ExpressVPN?
ExpressVPN has been around for over a decade now and shares the very top spots of the VPN market with other well-known titans like NordVPN. Despite being known for its costly price tag, ExpressVPN continues to be one of the most popular VPNs in the world due to its outright unbeatable quality.
No other service except NordVPN itself can match its speeds. It spans a massive amount of countries with servers and has some of the highest quality support, software, and privacy protection on the entire market. While its hefty price tag will turn many users away, if you want the absolute best, ExpressVPN might just be what you’re looking for.
Its software is beautifully simple and designed with ease of access as a high priority. Once you’ve purchased your plan, you can have the VPN set up, customized, and running within a matter of minutes. It has every bonus feature you’d expect from a premium service except for an adblocker, strangely enough. However, killswitch and other essential elements are present and easy to navigate to.
Between incredible speeds and optimized software, ExpressVPN has so little impact on most devices that you can leave it running without noticing. Its impact on speed is minuscule for most servers, its connections are stable, and its lightweight software will stay out of your way no matter what you’re doing. In testing, we had absolutely no hassle working with ExpressVPN. It may be pricey, but it’s one of the cleanest VPN experiences we’ve ever tested.
You can download ExpressVPN and try it for yourself.
What is BullGuard?
Founded about 20 years ago in Denmark, BullGuard has been on the cybersecurity market for longer than most. With Avira as their parent company, it’s got a bit of credit to its name with its antivirus and privacy software, and along with those products, its very own VPN. BullGuard has joined forces with NordVPN’s networks to bring its own VPN to the market. Its own VPN which, despite not being well-known, is actually quite incredible quality.
BullGuard is by no means a new VPN; however, it is a relatively unheard-of service. Due to this, we were surprised to see that its quality actually compares exceptionally well with the likes of other premium services. It has fast, consistent speeds, great security features, and reliable server connections, all at a very affordable price point when compared to services like ExpressVPN.
Built to the same level of quality as their other software, BullGuard VPN delivers an optimized program that runs smoothly on all major devices. It left little to no impact on performance and was optimized well to allow for quick, seamless navigation between different settings and allowed for easy connection and disconnection between servers. Connections were stable, and speeds hardly fluctuated at all. Overall, BullGuard’s service was highly reliable.
Unfortunately, BullGuard lacks a few useful features like an ad blocker or split tunneling functions. However, if its lack of small gadgets and features like this aren’t a concern to you, then we found BullGuard’s key services to be more than worth the price.
You can download BullGuard’s VPN here.
Best VPN per category
| Category | VPN | The Verdict |
| Best VPN for Windows | | While ExpressVPN’s service is absolutely incredible, the quality difference simply doesn’t create a big enough gap to justify its price tag. Overall, we found BullGuard’s VPN Windows service to be very much comparable to ExpressVPN at a fraction of the price. |
| Best VPN for Mac | | ExpressVPN’s Mac software and support is brilliantly designed and optimized to run perfectly on MacOS systems. BullGuard’s Mac software is a bit clumsy and doesn’t feel nearly as good to use. ExpressVPN’s quality definitely wins here. |
| Best VPN for Android | | BullGuard shows its mobile capabilities with its excellent Android services. When testing on Android devices, we found that BullGuard VPN ran far smoother than expected, with a nicely optimized interface to go with it. |
| Best VPN for iOS | | ExpressVPN’s excellent quality software extends to its iOS support, whereas BullGuard doesn’t. ExpressVPN overall just ran smoother, faster, and more reliably on any iOS devices we tested, not to mention had far more features. |
| Best VPN for Torrenting | | ExpressVPN provides excellent security on its P2P connections, making for fast, extremely secure torrenting. BullGuard allows for P2P connections but has no extra layer of protection, meaning ExpressVPN definitely wins here. |
| Best Overall VPN | | Despite being an excellent service, BullGuard just isn’t able to compare to ExpressVPN in certain areas. Overall, ExpressVPN takes the cake as an unbeatable giant of the VPN space with its lightning-fast speeds and unshakeable quality. |
Final Verdict
Despite being one of the priciest options out there, ExpressVPN continues to hold up against the competition. Obviously, if budget is a concern, then we suggest looking into BullGuard VPN. It’s a seriously great quality provider that seems to be making good use of its teamwork with NordVPN by bringing an excellent service to the VPN world. However, if you want the very top that premium VPNs have to offer, there’s no beating ExpressVPN.
Express manages to lead the pack in just about every category. Its speeds dominate the market, its reliability and server connections are solid, its privacy and security are airtight, and it offers almost every feature you could expect from a VPN. Yes, it’s pricey. But you’re not just paying for a brand name here. You really are paying for absolute top quality.
