ExpressVPN vs Windscribe

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.

WindscribeTakes bitcoin

Seized twice and prosecuted once, with nothing to hand over each time; no email needed to sign up, and it takes bitcoin over Lightning.

Verdict: ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN carries more independent audits of its no-logs claim: 5 against 3 for Windscribe. We publish no rating for VPNs, so the audit count is the one criterion that decides.

Criterion: Independent no-logs audits
ExpressVPN: 5
Windscribe: 3

ExpressVPN and Windscribe, 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 Windscribe compared fact by fact from their reviews; a check marks the side a decidable criterion favours.
Fact	ExpressVPN	Windscribe
Independent audits	5, latest 2025 (favoured on this row)	3, latest 2024
Real-world tests	1	3
Incidents on record	0	1
Market exits	1	0
Owner	Kape Technologies	Windscribe Limited
Jurisdiction	British Virgin Islands	Canada
Eyes alliance	Outside	Five Eyes
Price	From $2.99/mo on the 2yr plan	$69/yr Pro, or from $3/mo
Money-back	30 days	7 days
Crypto accepted	bitcoin	bitcoin, bitcoin lightning
Anonymous signup	No	Yes
Free tier	None	10 GB a month with a confirmed email, 2 GB without, across 11 countries
Servers	Vendor states servers in 113 countries, all running from RAM under its TrustedServer design	Vendor states servers in more than 69 countries on paid plans, all running from RAM after the FreshScribe rebuild
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

Windscribe

2026Dutch authorities physically seized a Windscribe server from a data centre rack: The company reports they found a stock install running entirely in RAM, with no drives, logs or user data on it
2025Greek prosecutors, with INTERPOL involvement, charged co-founder Yegor Sak personally over activity traced to a Windscribe server: The case was dismissed on 11 April 2025 after a two-year fight, because Windscribe held no user data to produce
2024Audit by PacketLabs: the full FreshScribe server infrastructure, 20 repositories and roughly 80,000 lines of code, with external and internal penetration testing
2022Audit by Leviathan Security Group: security audit of the mobile applications
2021Audit by Leviathan Security Group: security audit of the desktop applications
2021Ukrainian authorities seized two Windscribe servers: No user activity logs were found, but the unencrypted disks exposed an OpenVPN certificate authority key; Windscribe disclosed this publicly and rebuilt its network to run only in RAM

Frequently asked questions

Is ExpressVPN or Windscribe better for privacy?

ExpressVPN carries more independent audits of its no-logs claim: 5 against 3 for Windscribe. 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 Windscribe with bitcoin?

ExpressVPN takes bitcoin (processor: BitPay). Windscribe takes bitcoin and bitcoin lightning (processor: In-house). Each review quotes the vendor's own refund sentence for crypto purchases verbatim.

Which is cheaper, ExpressVPN or Windscribe?

ExpressVPN: From $2.99/mo on the 2yr plan. Windscribe: $69/yr Pro, or from $3/mo. Money-back: ExpressVPN 30 days, Windscribe 7 days. Prices are from each vendor's own page as of the review date.

Where are ExpressVPN and Windscribe based?

ExpressVPN: British Virgin Islands (outside the five, nine and fourteen eyes alliances). Windscribe: Canada (five eyes member). 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 Windscribe, each with its sources, and every VPN we review.

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