ExpressVPN vs hide.me

Comparing: two VPNs
Decided by: Independent no-logs audits
Last reviewed: 2026-08-26

Courtroom-tested no-logs claim and a bitcoin refund policy that pays back the coins you sent, from a company that also owns two rivals here.

hide.meTakes bitcoin

One of the first VPNs ever audited, re-audited a decade later, with a free tier that does not cap your data at all.

Verdict: ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN carries more independent audits of its no-logs claim: 5 against 2 for hide.me. We publish no rating for VPNs, so the audit count is the one criterion that decides.

Criterion: Independent no-logs audits
ExpressVPN: 5
hide.me: 2

ExpressVPN and hide.me, fact by fact

Every row is from the two reviews as of their review dates, with sources on each. A check marks the side a decidable criterion favours; rows without one are information, not a score.

ExpressVPN and hide.me compared fact by fact from their reviews; a check marks the side a decidable criterion favours.
Fact	ExpressVPN	hide.me
Independent audits	5, latest 2025 (favoured on this row)	2, latest 2024
Real-world tests	1	0
Incidents on record	0	0
Market exits	1	0
Owner	Kape Technologies	eVenture Limited
Jurisdiction	British Virgin Islands	Malaysia
Eyes alliance	Outside	Outside
Price	From $2.99/mo on the 2yr plan	Free tier, or from $2.59/mo
Money-back	30 days	30 days
Crypto accepted	bitcoin	bitcoin, monero, ethereum, litecoin, dogecoin, solana
Anonymous signup	No	No
Free tier	None	No data cap, 8 locations, one device, reduced speeds, no card needed
Servers	Vendor states servers in 113 countries, all running from RAM under its TrustedServer design	Vendor states roughly 2,600 servers across 92 locations, with free users limited to eight of them
Last reviewed	2026-08-26	2026-08-26

No-logs evidence, side by side

Dated audits and real-world tests from each review. An empty column is a finding: the claim has not been independently checked.

ExpressVPN

2025Audit by KPMG: third KPMG audit of the no-logs privacy commitments
2024Audit by Cure53: fourth security audit of the Lightway VPN protocol
2023Audit by KPMG: assessment of the privacy policy claims
2022Audit by KPMG: no-logs policy and the TrustedServer architecture
2019Audit by PwC: privacy policy compliance and the TrustedServer technology
2017Turkish investigators seized a physical ExpressVPN server during the inquiry into the killing of the Russian ambassador to Turkey: The server produced no logs tying any customer to the IP addresses under investigation

hide.me

2024Audit by Securitum: no-logs policy and the RAM-only server infrastructure, with a published summary report
2015Audit by DefenseCode: one of the first independent examinations of a VPN provider's logging claims

Frequently asked questions

Is ExpressVPN or hide.me better for privacy?

ExpressVPN carries more independent audits of its no-logs claim: 5 against 2 for hide.me. We publish no rating for VPNs, so the audit count is the one criterion that decides. Audits, court and seizure records and incidents are dated on each review with their sources.

Can I pay ExpressVPN or hide.me with bitcoin?

ExpressVPN takes bitcoin (processor: BitPay). hide.me takes bitcoin, monero, ethereum, litecoin, dogecoin and solana (processor: In-house). Each review quotes the vendor's own refund sentence for crypto purchases verbatim.

Which is cheaper, ExpressVPN or hide.me?

ExpressVPN: From $2.99/mo on the 2yr plan. hide.me: Free tier, or from $2.59/mo. Money-back: ExpressVPN 30 days, hide.me 30 days. Prices are from each vendor's own page as of the review date.

Where are ExpressVPN and hide.me based?

ExpressVPN: British Virgin Islands (outside the five, nine and fourteen eyes alliances). hide.me: Malaysia (outside the five, nine and fourteen eyes alliances). A jurisdiction matters less than a court record showing what the provider could hand over; the reviews carry those where they exist.

The full reviews: ExpressVPN and hide.me, each with its sources, and every VPN we review.

More comparisons

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