• WireGuard: A great idea in development
  • FAQ: About ExpressVPN vs. Wireguard
  • WireGuard: A great idea in development
  • FAQ: About ExpressVPN vs. Wireguard

Will ExpressVPN use the WireGuard protocol?

Privacy news 14.03.2019 3 mins
ExpressVPN
Written by ExpressVPN
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Editor's note: This article was originally published in March 2019. ExpressVPN has since developed Lightway, a VPN protocol that we built from the ground up to meet the privacy, security, and performance needs of our users. While we have a lot of respect for WireGuard, we felt it wasn't really designed for a large VPN network with privacy and security as the first principle, and we won't be adding it to our protocol selections. Find out more about Lightway. Also check out this short video in which we answer the question:

Will ExpressVPN use the WireGuard protocol?

Want to test out our superior Lightway protocol? When you download ExpressVPN, it’s the default protocol for most connections. Built for exceptional speeds and powerful security, our proprietary protocol connects you more quickly, gives you blazing-fast connection speeds, and helps you stay even safer online.

 

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WireGuard® is a free and open-source VPN protocol originally written by Jason A. Donenfeld and currently developed by Edge Security LLC. WireGuard works directly on the kernel level of a device’s operating system, making it possible to encrypt and decrypt data more quickly and securely and with fewer risks of leaks, compared with other VPN protocols.

So far, the hope is that WireGuard can establish itself as a widespread protocol that makes VPN connections ubiquitous (including on mobile phones and the Internet of Things) without the risk of arbitrary disconnects or high battery usage.

It’s exciting to see such significant improvements, and, understandably, many are excited about seeing this protocol deployed commercially. We at ExpressVPN are frequently asked about our immediate plans and opinions on WireGuard, and we’d like to take the opportunity to clarify our position.

WireGuard: A great idea in development

WireGuard is easier to set up and handle than other VPN protocols, although more development is required before it’s ready for a large production environment with countless users.

This is an opinion shared by the developers of WireGuard, who state on their website:

“WireGuard is not yet complete. You should not rely on this code. It has not undergone proper degrees of security auditing and the protocol is still subject to change.”

One of the challenges WireGuard faces is to ensure anonymity for VPNs. No single user should be statically allocated a single IP address, neither on a public nor a virtual network. A user’s internal IP address might be discovered by an adversary (through WebRTC, for example), who might then be able to match it with records acquired from a VPN provider (through theft, sale, or legal seizure). A good VPN must be unable to match such an identifier to a single user. Currently, this setup is not easily achieved with WireGuard.

ExpressVPN will be supporting efforts to review and audit the WireGuard code, as we have done in the past with OpenVPN. We will contribute code and report bugs whenever we can and raise security and privacy concerns directly with the development team. And, due to WireGuard’s reduced complexity, any public audit will be more comprehensive and provide a higher level of assurance.

On Android, Linux, Mac, and routers, WireGuard performs very well. ExpressVPN puts the security and privacy of its users first, though, so we will await further testing before we roll out WireGuard to our large customer base.

WireGuard is a registered trademark of Jason A. Donenfeld.

FAQ: About ExpressVPN vs. Wireguard

Is ExpressVPN’s Lightway WireGuard?

No, ExpressVPN’s Lightway protocol is not WireGuard. ExpressVPN built Lightway from the ground up to meet the privacy, security, and performance needs of its users. Having achieved this, the service won’t be offering WireGuard to its selection of VPN protocols. To try out Lightway protocol, you can download the ExpressVPN app to your device and simply head to your settings.

How do I change protocols on ExpressVPN?

You can change your VPN protocol in the ExpressVPN app, but the process is slightly different depending on your device. Follow these links to learn how to change your protocol on Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and routers.

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Comments

  • W Wahdi
    2019-03-15 22:53:00

    Good Article May we try Wireguard on Express VPN soon?(this year Shamsi:)

  • USIL USIL
    2019-03-16 02:10:32

    Of course, wireguard is a nice protocol However, I hope IKEv2 is supported by other operating systems except iOS. I wonder why ExpressVPN allows IKEv2 on iOS only I've been waiting for IKEv2 for over a year Could this be done this year? Please

  • G Gez
    2019-03-26 02:06:05

    Nice

  • o oleg
    2019-03-31 03:01:58

    Vielen Dank und beste Wünsche!

  • B Bob
    2019-04-08 10:16:23

    Just, thank you for your efforts on my and everyone else’s behalf. 👍

    • J Jon
      2020-04-28 13:01:56

      Thanks alot for sharing this. It's make you guys being a great VPN compagny. Keep up updating every month would be cool 😁

  • J Jimmy Rancourt
    2020-02-02 00:07:46

    some new update expressvpn?

  • A AzureRaptor
    2020-02-17 08:02:17

    It's been nearly a year since this article was last updated. WireGuard is in the mainstream kernel now. Tell us what "efforts to review and audit the WireGuard code" you have "supported", Express. And what progress have you made in incorporating it into your own operations so we can use it?

  • Cooper Schuham Cooper Schuham
    2020-04-02 10:26:18

    Any updates?? Now is the time!

  • S Sam
    2020-04-09 02:13:41

    Would love to see wireguard for ExpressVPN very soon. Your major competitor Nord is close to implementing wireguard for all its clients/platforms. Please beat them to the punch to help secure your current customers (including me!)

  • J James Richard
    2020-05-15 20:54:55

    Any progress?

  • D Damon
    2020-05-27 20:35:24

    I've been waiting for Wireguard to be supported on ExpressVPN. I've set up my own Wiregaurd client/server testbed and it is amazingly fast. I'm in the process of researching switching to another VPN that supports Wireguard. Please hurry with support (especially on OpenWRT or GL-iNet products) - I don't want to change VPN providers, but I may have to.

  • P Pascal
    2020-07-14 09:17:43

    I can oly agree with the other comments. I'm using GNU/Linux with Wireguard on the kernel level on my PC and OpenWRT on my router, and I'm a ExpressVPN customer for more than 2 years. Being able to set up ExpressVPN with WireGuard would surely be a great improvement.

  • D Dre
    2020-08-21 11:45:07

    Is there update with this? It seems a lot of VPN companies are adapting it.

  • froid froid
    2020-12-30 20:34:47

    Any update for this? It's almost 2021 and this article was written way back in early 2019.

  • 3xploit on3 3xploit on3
    2021-01-06 05:02:23

    please give us option to choose wireguard, ok it will not by default, i tested in windows & android, its fast & work perfect, i tested with game mobile legend and latency is good

  • M Max
    2021-02-08 20:08:36

    Hello ExpressVPN Any update on your efforts to implement Wireguard to your service? 2y have gone by since this article was written.

  • H Hinar Tomess
    2024-08-19 18:13:28

    Will it have new vpn protocol come in future?

    • Vanessa Ko Vanessa Ko
      2024-08-26 10:07:52

      We will continue to focus on Lightway, which we created and introduced in 2021. We have continuously innovated through it to bring greater privacy protections to users.

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