TunnelBear vs ExpressVPN: Which VPN to Opt for in 2026?

TunnelBear or ExpressVPN, which VPN should you choose in 2026? The former is less expensive, offers incredible security, and lets you simultaneously use it on unlimited devices. Meanwhile, ExpressVPN excels in speed, ease of use, privacy, and compatibility. According to our comprehensive tests, ExpressVPN is objectively a better VPN.

However, during our ExpressVPN vs TunnelBear test, we discovered many advantages of both VPNs worth exploring. Despite our quick conclusion, we advise staying along for the ride. Knowing everything about these two is in your best interest to make an informed decision.

So, let’s get down to business.

ExpressVPN vs TunnelBear: A Quick Comparison

	ExpressVPN 🏆	TunnelBear
📋 Our Current Ranking	#2	TBD
🔖 Prices	Starts at $4.99 monthly	Starts at $3.33 monthly
💸 Money-Back Guarantee	30 days for all plans	No refund policy
🆓 Free Version/Free Trial	No/7 days	Yes (forever free)/No
📓 Logging/Jurisdiction	No logging/British Virgin Islands	No logging/Canada
🔐 Protocols	OpenVPN, IKEv2, Lightway, Lightway Turbo	OpenVPN, IKEv2, WireGuard
🌐 Servers	3,000+ in 105+ countries	8,000+ in 47+ countries
🔝 Specialty Servers	Dedicated IP	No
⛔ Ad Blocking	Yes	No
💾 RAM-Only Servers	Yes	No
📺 Working With Netflix	Yes (15+ catalogs)	Yes (Netflix US)
🔽 P2P Allowance	Yes	Yes
📱 Concurrent Connections	8	Unlimited

Applications & Ease of Use

We’ll initiate the comparison with their apps.

After all, the only way to “touch” a VPN is to use its applications. ExpressVPN and TunnelBear support all major platforms, and by major, we refer to:

• Windows and macOS computers and laptops
• iOS and Android phones and tablets

It seems we forgot a VPN for Linux, but we haven’t. TunnelBear doesn’t work on Linux, while ExpressVPN supports all popular distros, including Mint and Ubuntu.

TunnelBear’s compatibility doesn’t extend past the basics. Its browser extension is more of an ad-blocker than a VPN. Simultaneously, ExpressVPN offers a full-on browser VPN extension that is usable on Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Brave, etc. Moreover, its app support stretches far and wide.

In addition to other “basic” systems, ExpressVPN works on:

• Smart TVs (including Android TVs)
• Apple TV
• Fire TV Stick
• Nvidia Shield TV
• Routers
• Gaming consoles, and more.

This VPN even has Smart DNS (we explained its definition here), allowing for effortless streaming on non-VPN-supported devices. Granted, only its eight simultaneous connections are a minor letdown, primarily because TunnelBear supports unlimited.

What Do Their Apps Look Like?

Their apps are astounding.

Here’s the ExpressVPN app:

The VPN breathes minimalism, making it excellent for beginners. The big connection button lets you change your IP in seconds. You can also launch the server list and pick the location with a few clicks. Its design language is universal, so every application looks identical.

Switch to a VPN on your macOS computer, and it’ll look the same. Grab your phone and launch ExpressVPN; boom, it’ll look identical.

We’re glad that TunnelBear is equally intuitive. Moreover, it may look a bit more inspiring:

The vast world map with a bear moving around as you switch locations looks cuter than a chihuahua. TunnelBear ensured all apps are identical, so you’ll see these good-looking animations when using a VPN on your phone or tablet.

In our ExpressVPN vs TunnelBear test, we enjoyed both providers’ ease of use and encountered no glitches or random crashes.

TunnelBear vs ExpressVPN Price Comparison

Another one is even tougher, especially because we discuss their financial sides.

Which VPN is cheaper, TunnelBear or ExpressVPN? The answer is TunnelBear. Here’s why:

The VPN offers discounted annual and triennial plans. The former is under $4.20 monthly, while the latter is $3.33 monthly for three years. The triennial plan is more attractive with its 67% discount and an upfront payment of $120. For three years of VPN protection, that’s not a lot.

Its renewal prices are higher, but not much. TunnelBear renews at $59.88 annually, roughly $5.00 monthly.

Moving on to ExpressVPN, its pricing structure looks like this:

The biennial plan is 61% off, thanks to four free months, for a monthly price of $4.99. Paid upfront, ExpressVPN costs about $140 for the first 28 months and then yearly. Its annual plan is 48% off thanks to three free months, with an upfront price of $99.95.

Get ExpressVPN Discount

If you do the math—and you don’t have to—you can notice that ExpressVPN costs much more. We don’t say ExpressVPN is expensive. Compare it to Astrill VPN, and it’ll seem dirt cheap. However, its prices were always slightly higher than the competition’s.

ExpressVPN doesn’t have a free version, but it offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Conversely, TunnelBear has a 100% free plan (forever) but no defined refund policy (money-back guarantee).

Features Analysis

This segues into our features comparison. After analyzing the ExpressVPN vs TunnelBear conundrum, we realized that ExpressVPN’s higher prices are justified.

Similarities

While they have similar features, some are better realized in ExpressVPN. Let’s first list them, and we’ll explain as we go:

• 256-bit encryption
• Split tunneling
• Kill switch
• Ad-blocking
• Obfuscation
• IPv6 and DNS leak protection

These five aren’t a lot. Right off the bat, we noticed that ExpressVPN’s ad-blocker is superior. You have to install a browser extension to use it with TunnelBear. On the other hand, ExpressVPN offers Advanced Protection, which blocks ads, trackers, malicious sites, and even porn sites (parental control).

This feature is present in all apps under a different name (Threat Manager).

ExpressVPN’s obfuscation is applied to all connections, so no need to switch it on manually. TunnelBear brands it GhostBear and lets you turn it on when bypassing network filtering or full-on censorship. In our experience, ExpressVPN’s version works better, but more about that later.

Unique Features

TunnelBear’s problem is its lack of unique features. While it surely has unique names, such as VigilantBear for a kill switch or SplitBear for split tunnelling, the company hasn’t developed anything significant.

ExpressVPN is no innovation giant, but its features are far from shabby.

For instance, the VPN offers an in-house Lightway Turbo protocol, which maximizes speed and security. The protocol has been audited and scored perfectly. TunnelBear offers WireGuard, which we’ve seen a thousand times in many VPNs. We even listed the top WireGuard VPN services you can use.

However, we want to mention three more tools from ExpressVPN:

• ID Alerts
• ID Theft Insurance
• Data Removal
• Credit Scanner

These are part of ExpressVPN’s unique Identity Defender bundle.

The first two features protect your privacy. ID Alerts will alert you if some of your login credentials are breached. Meanwhile, ID Theft Insurance will reimburse you if your data is stolen by someone else.

Data Removal minimizes the chances of stealing your data by promptly removing it from databases and data brokers. Finally, Credit Scanner monitors your credit card activity and catches early signs of theft.

We use these features daily, and while we’re not endangered, having someone else handle your privacy is always welcome. Sadly, TunnelBear missed the mark, and could’ve at least included features like a Multi-hop, SOCKS5, malware protection, and others.

Do ExpressVPN and TunnelBear Store Logs?

Building upon their security pillars, ExpressVPN and TunnelBear take utmost care of your privacy. By privacy, we refer to how they handle your data, and thankfully, there’s virtually nothing to handle, as they store nothing.

Here’s a summary of ExpressVPN’s privacy policy:

The VPN refrains from keeping logs related to your IP address, DNS requests, browsing history, etc. You can check its 20+ security audits and realize many were tied to its privacy policy. This means ExpressVPN is a verified zero-logging VPN that you can fully trust.

Besides, its British Virgin Islands jurisdiction is even more reassuring.

Here’s TunnelBear’s privacy policy summary:

Again, TunnelBear is clean as a whistle. It retains nothing of value to snoopers and keeps its servers free of sensitive data. Like ExpressVPN, TunnelBear has multiple audits that make the service trustworthy. While the Canadian jurisdiction isn’t ideal for privacy, it never influenced it negatively in this sense.

Do a quick Google search, and you’ll see that TunnelBear and ExpressVPN are trustworthy and have no past scandals that some popular VPNs were famous for.

Which VPN Is Faster: TunnelBear or ExpressVPN?

Now, it’s time to examine their speeds and actual performance.

We tested TunnelBear and ExpressVPN on three server locations: the UK, the USA, and Japan.

We were in Belgrade at the time of testing, and we repeated our tests for three days in a row, three times a day. We then took the best results and compiled them into a table. We also kept their protocols at “Automatic”, ensuring both VPNs choose the best protocol for the connection.

Before we proceed, here’s our network speed:

Our tests were performed on Windows 11 with the latest network adapter drivers. In the first ExpressVPN vs TunnelBear comparison, we measured their speed retention rates, and these were the results:

	ExpressVPN	TunnelBear
Download Speed Retention	76%	51%
Upload Speed Retention	91%	69%

We decided to display the actual speed test results to give this test more context. These were the best results we achieved in our TunnelBear vs ExpressVPN duel:

	UK (DL/UL Speed)	US (DL/UL Speed)	Japan (DL/UL Speed)
ExpressVPN	46.25/9.53 Mbps	42.04/9.34 Mbps	32.06/8.65 Mbps
TunnelBear	34.69/10.50 Mbps	29.43/5.52 Mbps	15.77/4.62 Mbps

A recent NordVPN vs TunnelBear duel displayed the former’s superiority. While ExpressVPN is a tad slower than NordVPN, it’s still faster than TunnelBear, whose speed test results were painfully average.

It’s not a slow VPN by any stretch, but don’t expect blazing-fast connections all the time.

Streaming & Torrenting Comparison

Streaming and torrenting are what most people with VPNs do. So, we thought it might be an adequate moment to discuss that. Having compared both VPNs, we ruled out TunnelBear as a winner because it was underwhelming.

Streaming: ExpressVPN Triumphs

TunnelBear isn’t made for streaming, and that’s clear as soon as you visit Netflix.

If you need a VPN to alter your Netflix country and access more content, TunnelBear is suitable only for a few popular libraries, but even that is a stretch. Netflix nearly always detects this VPN. BBC iPlayer is another one, and TunnelBear showed mixed results in our tests.

At times, it would work, and at other times, it would fail to unblock the website.

Other streaming services were “willy-nilly”, as TunnelBear was often detected, and our access was restricted.

Luckily, ExpressVPN comes to the rescue. This VPN works with at least fifteen Netflix libraries. It also reliably unblocks BBC iPlayer and offers access to Hulu, Hotstar, and ESPN+ abroad. The VPN’s browser extension includes location spoofing and is surprisingly decent for overcoming streaming geo-blocks.

Given ExpressVPN’s superior performance, watching 4K content is often smoother on distant servers. Meanwhile, TunnelBear’s connections to these servers can frequently produce longer buffering and unexpected “infinite loading screens”, as we call them.

Torrenting: Equal (Sort Of)

To torrent safely with a VPN, the provider must:

• Have fast speeds
• Use secure protocols
• Not store logs

ExpressVPN and TunnelBear tick all three boxes, so are they suitable for the task?

Yes, ExpressVPN works for torrenting on all 3,000+ servers. However, using a nearby server is best to minimize lag and drastically improve performance.

TunnelBear also works:

We used a server in Greece and achieved excellent performance while downloading Linux Mint. Neither VPN offers fancy P2P features like port forwarding or a SOCKS5 proxy, but they’re unnecessary and usually don’t produce significant performance boosts.

Server Locations

How large are their server networks? Let’s tackle that question immediately:

• ExpressVPN has over 3,000 servers in 105 countries.
• TunnelBear has over 8,000 servers in about 50 countries.

Is TunnelBear better? No. While the server count is essential, we prioritize the number of countries, which is three times higher in ExpressVPN. This results in superior server distribution and servers in more “obscure” countries. For example, ExpressVPN can give you an Indian IP address.

TunnelBear doesn’t have servers there.

ExpressVPN’s servers are also partly physical; others are virtual. Again, this contributes to more IP addresses and overall flexibility. ExpressVPN’s servers have 10 Gbps ports and are migrated to RAM, ensuring the highest privacy level. TunnelBear’s server quality is far from the best.

It doesn’t have RAM-only servers; not all have 10 Gbps ports. This explains why some servers are sluggish, while the rest offer more sustainable performance.

Bypassing Censorship: Which VPN Does It Better?

Overcoming censorship with TunnelBear and ExpressVPN was straightforward.

TunnelBear’s GhostBear is sufficient, while ExpressVPN’s built-in obfuscation doesn’t need special tweaking. With these features, both VPNs work in the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and other restricted regions.

But what about China? Can you unblock Telegram in China with ExpressVPN or TunnelBear? Can you use social media sites? That’s where things are a bit more nuanced.

Luckily, we had a few testers who could use these VPNs in China and evaluate their performance.

They had no luck with TunnelBear, which connected only once and had slow speeds that made the VPN barely usable. ExpressVPN was a bit better and worked a few times, but with reduced performance. Still, ExpressVPN was usable for chatting, streaming, and even torrenting (not gaming).

So, if you need a VPN for China, ExpressVPN is a bit better, but not by much, because no VPN reliably works in this country in 2026. If you travel elsewhere, expect both VPNs to work normally and without hurdles.

The Final Verdict

TunnelBear held its ground better than we expected. It beat ExpressVPN in unlimited simultaneous connections and pricing, offering cheaper subscription plans. Privacy-wise, it was also on par, thanks to an audited no-logging policy that makes it very trustworthy.

Even in our TunnelBear review, we said nothing horrible about it.

However, after our ExpressVPN vs TunnelBear assessment, we found ExpressVPN superior, which is reflected in the final score. ExpressVPN was more compatible, had more security features, and was more suitable for streaming and achieving next-level VPN performance.

Its compelling server fleet, fast P2P speeds, and more convincing performance in China were also contributing factors. If you can spend more, ExpressVPN will satisfy you more than TunnelBear. Thanks to four free months on its biennial plan, you can save 61%. Click below and try ExpressVPN risk-free.

Test ExpressVPN Risk-Free Today

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is TunnelBear better than ExpressVPN?

No. Our tests have shown that ExpressVPN is better in nearly every aspect. It does cost more, but ExpressVPN’s quality justifies the higher price. TunnelBear is better if you need unlimited simultaneous connections, but even then, Surfshark is a more suitable option.

Do TunnelBear and ExpressVPN offer dedicated IP addresses?

Only ExpressVPN offers them, but they’re paid extra on top of your existing subscription. ExpressVPN has dedicated IP addresses in the UK, the USA, Norway, Canada, Germany, and dozens of other locations.

Are ExpressVPN and TunnelBear free?

ExpressVPN isn’t free, while TunnelBear is.

TunnelBear’s free plan contains 2 GB of monthly data, no torrenting, and poor streaming abilities. It is free forever, but severely lacks features. ExpressVPN can be tested for free with a 7-day trial or a 30-day money-back guarantee that allows you to get a refund.