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Cybersecurity · head to head

ExpressVPN vs OpsLevel

ExpressVPN logo

ExpressVPN

Cybersecurity

Consumer VPN registered in the British Virgin Islands, owned by Kape Technologies since 2021, with repeated third-party audits.

From
$6.67/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
OpsLevel logo

OpsLevel

Developer Tools

Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and production readiness

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: ExpressVPN ownership passed in 2021 to Kape Technologies, formerly Crossrider, whose earlier browser extension platform was widely used to distribute adware, and Kape also owns VPN review publications, so nominally independent rankings a buyer consults may originate inside the same corporate group.; OpsLevel opsLevel does not publish prices at all, not even a starting figure, so you cannot size a budget or compare against Backstage's zero licence cost without entering a sales cycle.
  • They diverge on capability: ExpressVPN covers TrustedServer, OpsLevel covers Service catalogue.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ExpressVPN and OpsLevel actually diverge.

Attributes where ExpressVPN and OpsLevel differ
AttributeExpressVPNOpsLevel
Starting price$6.67/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, Desktop, Mobile, ApiWeb
CategoryCybersecurityDeveloper Tools
Founded2009Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in ExpressVPN

  • TrustedServer
  • Lightway protocol
  • Repeated external audits
  • Network Lock
  • Split tunnelling
  • Aircove router
  • Threat Manager
  • Private DNS

Only in OpsLevel

  • Service catalogue
  • Scorecards and rubric
  • Checks
  • Campaigns
  • Self-service actions
  • Slack and Teams integration
  • Catalogue auto-enrichment
  • Deployment on request

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

ExpressVPN

  • A buyer who wants the largest available body of published third-party audit evidence behind a no-logging claimnot OpsLevel
  • Households wanting whole-network coverage through a router without configuring firmware by handnot OpsLevel
  • Frequent travellers who need connections that survive switching between mobile data and hotel Wi-Fi without droppingnot OpsLevel
  • Non-technical users who want the kill switch and DNS handled correctly by default rather than configurednot OpsLevel

OpsLevel

  • A platform team that needs to prove every production service has a named owner and an on-call rota before an auditnot ExpressVPN
  • Driving a fleet-wide migration such as a runtime upgrade across 400 services with a deadline and visible progressnot ExpressVPN
  • Giving developers a paved road to create a new service from a template without waiting on the platform teamnot ExpressVPN
  • An organisation where an incident took an hour to route because nobody could identify the owning teamnot ExpressVPN

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

ExpressVPN

  • Ownership passed in 2021 to Kape Technologies, formerly Crossrider, whose earlier browser extension platform was widely used to distribute adware, and Kape also owns VPN review publications, so nominally independent rankings a buyer consults may originate inside the same corporate group.
  • In 2021 the company's then chief information officer was named in a United States Department of Justice deferred prosecution agreement over work for a foreign government's offensive cyber programme and remained in post, which is a governance fact that sits uncomfortably alongside a product sold entirely on trust.
  • Audits are point-in-time engagements against an agreed scope, so they establish that specified servers and code matched the stated policy when examined, not that the infrastructure behaves the same way today or under different ownership.
  • Several country locations are virtual, meaning the hardware physically sits elsewhere, and after India's 2022 directive requiring VPN providers to retain subscriber data ExpressVPN withdrew its Indian servers, so an Indian connection is routed through hardware in another country, which matters if you need genuine in-country routing.
  • There is no port forwarding and no dedicated IP option, so seeding torrents, hosting a service behind the tunnel and any inbound connection do not work, and users who need those capabilities have to use a different provider.

OpsLevel

  • OpsLevel does not publish prices at all, not even a starting figure, so you cannot size a budget or compare against Backstage's zero licence cost without entering a sales cycle.
  • The Standard plan caps at 50 users, which is below the size at which service ownership becomes a real problem, so most genuine buyers land on Enterprise and its unpublished pricing.
  • Scores are only as honest as the metadata teams maintain; where ownership records go stale the rubric produces confident numbers about a catalogue that no longer reflects reality, and leadership acts on them.
  • It reports on quality rather than producing it, so it can generate friction between platform teams who set the rubric and product teams who see it as a scoreboard imposed on them without extra headcount to fix the findings.
  • As a hosted product it needs read access to source control, cloud accounts and observability tooling, which is a meaningful vendor review in regulated environments; on-premises exists but only on the Enterprise tier.

Pricing, plan by plan

ExpressVPN

$6.67/month
  • 1 Month$12.95/month
    • 8 devices
    • 94 countries
    • Unlimited bandwidth
  • 12 Months$6.67/month
    • All features
    • 3 months free
    • Best value
  • 6 Months$9.99/month
    • All features
    • 30-day guarantee

OpsLevel

On request
  • Standard$undefined/year
    • Up to 50 users
    • Unlimited catalogued components
    • Scorecards, campaigns and the global rubric
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Unlimited users
    • Custom integrations
    • Customisable dashboards

Which should you pick?

Choose ExpressVPN if

  • You need trustedserver.
  • You work on Web, Desktop, Mobile, Api.
  • You also want lightway protocol.
ExpressVPN review

Choose OpsLevel if

  • You need service catalogue.
  • You also want scorecards and rubric.
OpsLevel review

Questions people ask

Is ExpressVPN or OpsLevel better?
Neither clearly leads. ExpressVPN starts at $6.67/month and OpsLevel at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ExpressVPN or OpsLevel?
ExpressVPN starts at $6.67/month and OpsLevel at On request.
Does ExpressVPN or OpsLevel run on more platforms?
ExpressVPN runs on Web, Desktop, Mobile, Api. OpsLevel runs on Web.
What is ExpressVPN best used for?
ExpressVPN is most often used for a buyer who wants the largest available body of published third-party audit evidence behind a no-logging claim, households wanting whole-network coverage through a router without configuring firmware by hand, frequent travellers who need connections that survive switching between mobile data and hotel wi-fi without dropping, non-technical users who want the kill switch and dns handled correctly by default rather than configured. Of those, a buyer who wants the largest available body of published third-party audit evidence behind a no-logging claim and households wanting whole-network coverage through a router without configuring firmware by hand are not what OpsLevel is typically brought in for.
What can ExpressVPN do that OpsLevel cannot?
ExpressVPN covers TrustedServer, Lightway protocol, Repeated external audits, Network Lock. OpsLevel covers Service catalogue, Scorecards and rubric, Checks, Campaigns.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

ExpressVPN: Who owns ExpressVPN?

Kape Technologies, which acquired it in 2021. Kape was previously named Crossrider and also owns CyberGhost, Private Internet Access and Zenmate, along with the review sites vpnMentor and Wizcase.

OpsLevel: How much does OpsLevel cost?

It does not publish pricing. Billing is per developer using the portal, with volume discounts, and a quote requires a sales conversation.

ExpressVPN: Is the British Virgin Islands jurisdiction actually useful?

It has no mandatory data retention law and is outside the Five, Nine and Fourteen Eyes arrangements, which is the reason it was chosen. It also means limited practical legal recourse for a subscriber, so the jurisdiction protects the company's ability to hold no data rather than protecting you against the company.

OpsLevel: How does it compare with Backstage?

Backstage has no licence fee but you staff a team to build and run it. OpsLevel is hosted with checks, campaigns and scorecards out of the box, and you pay per developer instead.

ExpressVPN: Has the no-logs claim been audited?

Yes, repeatedly. PwC and KPMG have examined the no-logging claims and the TrustedServer architecture, and Cure53 has reviewed the applications, extension and protocol. The reports are published.

OpsLevel: Does it require writing catalogue YAML by hand?

No. It auto-discovers and enriches entries from connected systems, though teams still curate ownership and metadata.

ExpressVPN: Can I torrent with it?

Yes, peer-to-peer traffic is permitted on the network, but there is no port forwarding, so you can download but you cannot accept inbound connections and seeding performance suffers as a result.

OpsLevel: Can it run on premises?

Yes, but only on the Enterprise plan.

ExpressVPN: Does it work in China or similar networks?

Sometimes, using obfuscated connection modes, but no provider can guarantee this and availability changes without warning. Treat it as best effort and have a fallback.

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