ExpressVPN always has been and continues to be one of the top providers on the market. Even so, many of you would probably still want to take it for a test drive before buying a subscription. But is there even such a thing as an ExpressVPN free trial period?
Yes, definitely. And it’s a very generous deal too. If you get a subscription through their site, you’re covered by their 30-day refund. So you basically get a 30-day risk-free trial!
True, you technically pay for it, but here’s the catch – ExpressVPN has a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee. So you buy with no risk and can easily cancel your subscription before the 30 days are up to get your money back. Hence the “free trial.”
In this quick guide, we’ll show you how simple it is to do that.
8 Easy Steps to Get ExpressVPN for Free (30 Day Risk-Free Trial Hack)
- Step 1 – First, head to this page. When you finish reading all the copy and are ready to move on, click the red CTA button that says Start Your Trial Today.
- Step 2 – You’re now on ExpressVPN’s order page. The first thing you need to do is pick a subscription. We picked the monthly option because we already have other active test accounts with long-term subscriptions. But in case you plan on sticking around for a long time with ExpressVPN if you like their service, and you’re not on a tight budget (you’ll pay only $99.5 saving 49%), consider getting the 12 month-plan. It makes the most sense money-wise.
- Step 3 – Type in your email.
- Step 4 – Pick the payment option. We’re going to use PayPal for this tutorial.
- Step 5 – Once the payment has been processed, you’ll be taken to a page where ExpressVPN generates a password for you. You can choose whether you want to continue with it, or create your own password. When that’s done, you’ll be redirected to your ExpressVPN account’s subscription page. Make sure you copy the activation code on the right. Either write it down on a piece of paper or copy it in a text file on your device.
- Step 6 – Hit the red download button to start downloading the ExpressVPN Client for your device. In our case, the button says Download for Windows because the tester is using Windows 10. But the text will obviously change if you’re on a different operating system. Wait for the app to finish downloading, and run the setup to install it.
- Step 7 – Open the app, and hit Sign In. Copy your activation code, and click Continue. Next, choose whether you want to share various troubleshooting-related data with ExpressVPN, and whether or not you want the ExpressVPN app launching on startup.
- Step 8 – And you’re done! All that’s left is to pick a server, change protocols to see which ones offer the best experience, and test ExpressVPN until you decide it’s the right service for you.
Why Not Use the 7-Day Trial Instead?
ExpressVPN also offers a seven-day free trial. So why follow this method that involves you paying upfront?
Pretty simple – because the seven-day free trial is only available through the iTunes App Store and Google Play. The 30-day refund method is only available through the official ExpressVPN site, which is much more convenient.
That also means you can only get the 7-day trial on iOS and Android. You can’t get it on other devices, so the 30-day trial is your only option. At the same time, if you were to go with the 7-day option, you wouldn’t be able to test ExpressVPN on all the devices you want. You’d be limited to Android and iOS.
There’s also the obvious perk – you have a 30-day trial, which is miles ahead of the 7-day period you get on Android and iOS. Even better, you don’t have to put up with limitations. After all, in ExpressVPN’s eyes, you’re a paying customer. So you get the full experience.
For example, on iOS, you don’t get the kill switch and split tunneling features.
Also, If you end up buying a subscription through in-app purchases on iOS, and then decide you’re not happy with the service within 30 days, you can’t get your money back. You’re no longer covered by the 30-day refund policy. Instead, you have to request a refund through the App Store.
And according to ExpressVPN’s ToS page, those refunds are:
So yeah, definitely a much riskier affair than just getting the 30-day free trial through their site.
Don’t Other VPNs Offer Refund Policies Too? What’s So Special About ExpressVPN?
Yes, they do. But unlike ExpressVPN, their policies come with certain requirements, and if you don’t meet those requirements, you don’t get a refund. For example, you’re not allowed to go over a specific bandwidth limit (like 10GB).
With ExpressVPN, you basically get a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee. So no matter how much bandwidth you use up or how long you stay connected to their servers, you’ll still get a refund as long as you ask for it within 30 days of your purchase.
In some cases, you can even get a refund past the 30 days if you can prove the service didn’t work, and that you tried to contact ExpressVPN to solve the problem.
FAQ
We listed all the questions we got from our readers about ExpressVPN free trial accounts. We also included a few things we thought of while setting up a trial account.
How Long Does the ExpressVPN Free Trial Last?
If you buy an ExpressVPN subscription through their site, you’re covered by their no-questions-asked 30-day money-back guarantee. Since you can easily get a refund within that period, we can accurately say their “free” trial lasts 30 days.
But if you get ExpressVPN through the iTunes and Google Play stores, the trial will only last seven days.
How Long Does It Take to Get Your Refund?
It usually takes up to seven business days. They’ll be sent in USD, in the original method of payment.
Who Can Get an ExpressVPN Free Trial Account?
Only new customers can get one.
Are There Any Requirements to Qualify for the 30-Day Refund?
No, because their money-back guarantee is a technically a no-questions-asked policy. There is this little bit in their ToS section, though:
The wording is a bit vague, so we reached out to ExpressVPN over live chat to get a clarification. One of their helpful reps took the time to explain what that means. Basically, here’s the idea:
- Let’s say you bought a monthly subscription just like we did.
- Within the 30-day money-back period, you decide to upgrade your monthly plan to a yearly plan.
- Your initial payment (the monthly plan) will no longer be covered by the refund policy. But your second payment (the yearly plan) will be.
So to be 100% safe, don’t buy additional plans or change your subscription during the 30 days. Otherwise, your first payment won’t be refundable anymore.
Can You Get the ExpressVPN Free Trial on Two Devices?
Yes, definitely. ExpressVPN lets you use up to five devices simultaneously with one subscription.
If you need to use more than five devices, you’ll have to:
- Get additional subscriptions (make sure it’s not under the same account. Otherwise, you void the refund policy).
- Set up the VPN on your router.
- Share your VPN connection from your computer.
Can You Get an ExpressVPN Free Trial Account Without a Credit Card?
Yes, of course. ExpressVPN offers many other payment methods besides credit cards, such as:
- PayPal, Bitcoin, Alipay, UnionPay, Klarna, iDeal, WebMoney, Giropay, Interac Money, Yandex Money, OnceCard, Mint, FanaPay, Maestro, Tenpay, and Sofort.
How Many Times Can You Get an ExpressVPN Free Trial Account?
As many times as you want, in theory. You just need to use a different email address, and you can easily get a new one for free from ProtonMail.
Of course, nothing is stopping ExpressVPN from blacklisting your IP address or payment method (except Bitcoin) if they don’t appreciate you abusing their refund policy too much.
Can You Renew Your ExpressVPN Free Trial Account?
No, there’s no option to do that within your ExpressVPN account. When the 30-day period is over, you’re no longer covered by their money-back guarantee.
The only way to “renew” your free trial account is to cancel your current subscription and ask for a refund, and create a new account with a different email address. That way, you get a brand new account that’s once again covered by the 30-day refund policy.
Does ExpressVPN Offer a Referral Option?
Yes, they have a referral program. You just send an invite from your ExpressVPN account to the person’s email address. If they sign up, you both get 30 days added to your subscription free of charge.
So, in a way, you could theoretically “renew” your free trial if you get a friend or more to subscribe to ExpressVPN before your 30-day refund expires. Keep in mind that you can’t refer the same person multiple times.
Can You Unblock Netflix During the Free Trial?
Yes. Like we already said, there are no limitations since this isn’t technically a trial. You already paid for the full service, so you get all the premium perks. And unblocking Netflix is one of them.
If you see the Netflix proxy error, though, contact ExpressVPN’s support team or try our troubleshooting guide.
How Much Bandwidth Can You Use During the Free Trial?
As much as you want. ExpressVPN offers unlimited bandwidth. And again, you’re a paying customer from their point of view, meaning they have no reason to limit your account. So you don’t need to worry about going over bandwidth caps and invalidating the refund policy.
How Can You Cancel the ExpressVPN Free Trial?
You can’t do it from your account’s dashboard. Instead, you’ll have to contact ExpressVPN’s support staff and ask for a refund. You can easily do that over live chat.
Do You Get Charged After the 7-Day Free Trial?
If you’re asked to submit payment information before starting the trial, you will get charged when it expires. So make sure to cancel your subscription before your trial ends.
However, we didn’t have to submit any payment details when registering for a free trial on Android. The app would have likely notified us to upgrade to a paid plan when the trial would have expired.
If that was your experience, too, you shouldn’t get automatically charged when the trial is over. There’s no way for ExpressVPN to do that since you didn’t share any payment information.
Can You Renew the 7-Day Free Trial?
No. Once the trial is over, you can’t uninstall, re-download, re-install the ExpressVPN app, and use a different email address to get a new trial. If you do that, you’ll see this image:
Some users on Reddit say you can renew the trial on Android if you change your device’s ID, and clear the cached data for ExpressVPN. But other people said that it didn’t work for them. In our opinion, it’s not worth bothering with this.
If you happen to have multiple smartphones, though, you should be able to get a new 7-day free trial on each one of them.
That’s about all there is to getting an ExpressVPN free trial. If you have some other tips to offer, please tell us about them. Also, if you have additional questions about ExpressVPN trial accounts, let us know. We’ll do our best to answer and include them on this list.