Are you looking for an update ExpressVPN vs Hidemyass comparison?
ExpressVPN and HMA re popular names in the vpn industry when you are looking for a vpn for privacy online.
Even though both HMA and ExpressVPN are popular, they are for different reasons.
In this ExpressVPN vs Hidemyass comparison in 2021 we are going to compare these two vpns along the lines of their connection speeds, torrenting and streaming capabilities.
I hope that by the end of this HMA vs ExpressVPN comparison you’ll be able to choose the best vpn for you between HMA and ExpressVPN.
Without further ado, let’s get started.
Here is a quick summary.
| ExpressVPN | Hidemyass | |
| Website | expressvpn.com | hidemyass.com |
| Servers | 3,000 | 1,000 |
| Jurisdiction | BVI | United Kingdom |
| Streaming | Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, iPlayer | Netflix US, iPlayer |
| Speed | 4.4/5 | 3.9/5 |
| Torrenting | All servers | P2P servers |
| Kill Switch | YES | YES |
| Works in China? | YES | YES |
| Devices | 5 | 5 |
| Pricing | $ 8.32/month | $ 3.99/month |
About
ExpressVPN is a VPN service provider that enables you to access the internet anonymously and privately by masking your real IP address.
Check out my detailed review of ExpressVPN.
Hidemyass is also a VPN service that enables you to securely browse the internet and unblock geo-restricted content using their servers based in different countries.
Here is a more detailed HMA review.
Server Collection
Which one has more servers between ExpressVPN and HMA?
In order to be able to provide more options when choosing a server to connect to, a vpn needs to have a huge collection of servers.
It also ensures that server load is evenly distributed across the servers.
ExpressVPN at the time of this writing has a collection of more than 3,000 servers that are located in 94 different countries.
HMA, on the other hand, has a collection of just 1,000 vpn servers that are spread over 190 different countries.
Clearly, ExpressVPN has a larger collection of servers as compared to HMA.
However, HMA does a better job of distributing their servers across more countries in different continents.
If you are looking for a vpn that will provide a server in almost any country that you visit then I recommend HMA.
Streaming
The more streaming platforms a vpn service can unblock, the more popular it becomes…
This is backed up by the fact that the majority of people who purchase vpns do so in order to be able to access geo restricted entertainment content on video streaming sites.
Will you be able to access Netflix using either ExpressVPN or HMA?
ExpressVPN will enable you to streaming Netflix that is intended for different countries like the US, UK and Japan by connecting to their servers based in these countries.
In addition to Netflix unblocking, ExpressVPN also has the capacity to unblock Hulu, Amazon Prime and BBC iPlayer among other streaming platforms.
HMA, on the other side, is able to let you streaming your favorite tv series for different countries on Netflix.
You just need to connect to a server based in a country whose content you want and you’ll be able to stream without proxy errors.
In addition to Netflix, Hidemyass vpn is also able to unblock content on BBC iPlayer.
However, from the tests I carried out with HMA, it was not able to unblock content on Hulu and Amazon Prime.
Their IPs are blocked on these platforms.
If you are looking for a vpn that is great for streaming then I recommend ExpressVPN instead of HMA.
Speed
Both download and upload speeds are important factors that should determine whether your purchase a vpn or not.
While some vpns cause a huge drop in speeds, some are able to maintain speeds that are close to your original connection speeds before connecting to the vpn.
How does ExpressVPN vs HMA connection speeds compare?
I tested the connection speeds of both ExpressVPN and HMA by connecting to three different servers based in the US, UK and Hong Kong.
I then used speedtest.net to test for ping, download and upload speeds before and after connecting to the vpns.
Here are my results.
ExpressVPN, being a fast vpn, was able to maintain an average speed that was 87% of my original download speeds.
I talked of download speeds because they are more important when downloading or streaming content.
HMA, on the other hand, did not do as great compared to ExpressVPN in terms of download speeds.
My download speeds dropped to 78% on average of my original speeds before connecting to the three different servers.
It is therefore clear that ExpressVPN is able to deliver faster connection speeds that Hidemyass.
If you are looking for a vpn for speedy internet access then I recommend ExpressVPN.
Torrenting
If you’ve been online for a while then you’ve heard of people getting into trouble with law enforcement for downloading copyrighted material from the internet.
So you don’t want to be caught downloading copyrighted content from the internet.
One way to ensure that never happens is to always use either a proxy server or a vpn before downloading anything.
This is not to encourage copyright infringement… but you better be safe than be sorry.
So which vpn between Hidemyass and ExpressVPN has better support for torrenting?
ExpressVPN will let you download torrent files when you are connected to any of their servers without having to connect to any special torrenting servers.
It therefore means that all ExpressVPN servers are P2P enabled.
HMA, however, only allows torrenting on certain specialized P2P servers.
So you first need to connect to the appropriate servers in order to start torrenting if you don’t want your speeds throttled.
Before you choose a vpn for torrenting, you should also ensure that that particular vpn does not keep logs of your IP address.
Logs of your IP address can easily tie you to certain torrenting activities and get you in trouble.
As we’ll discover later, HMA keeps your IP subnet mask… something close to your real IP.
If you are looking for a vpn that is great for torrenting then I recommend ExpressVPN instead of HMA.
Privacy Policy
Most internet users never actually read the privacy policies in full, if they ever read it at all, whenever they are signing up for any online platforms or service.
This because these policies are usually very long and filled with legal terms that are intimidating.
A users therefore sees that check button as standing on the way between them and the content they want to access.
They therefore check it quickly so that they can access content that is blocked by that registration wall.
Before writing this ExpressVPN vs HMA comparison in 2021, I read the privacy policies of these vpns to ensure there nothing fishy hidden somewhere.
ExpressVPN, first of all, is based in the BVI which is a very friendly location for basing a vpn company.
Apart from the BVI not being part of the 14 eyes countries surveillance alliance, they don’t have mandatory data retention laws that obligate vpn companies to keep logs.
In addition to that ExpressVPN also explains, through their privacy policy that they do not keep your IP address or DNS queries.
However, they do keep logs of your connection data and actual location, bandwidth usage and ISP.
While I personally would worry about all this data that they collect, a privacy security firm audited their servers and software and established that none of these logs could actually be used to identify you or link to to certain activities on the server.
HMA, however, is based in the UK which not a privacy friendly jurisdiction.
First of all, the UK is a member of the 14 eyes countries that surveille their citizens and share their information among themselves.
A vpn company based in this country is also required to comply anytime the court asks for users logs.
To make matters worse, HMA vpn keeps more logs about you than you ever imagined.
Can you even imagine that they used to keep logs of your actual IP address?
Well, after succumbing to a lot of heat from their users, they updated their privacy policy to mention that now they don’t keep your full IP.
They instead keep your IP address but without the last three digits… which makes it a subnet mask and not a complete IP.
HMA also keeps logs of your connection timestamps, the vpn server you connect to and the total data transmitted.
So even though I felt quite offended that ExpressVPN unnecessarily keeps too many logs, HMA even keeps more.
I don’t recommend HMA if you want to stay anonymous online.
If you are looking for a vpn that is great for privacy and anonymity online then I recommend ExpressVPN.
Encryption and Data Protection
The tougher the encryption that a vpn uses the harder it is to decrypt and reveal the actual information.
This ensures that your personal information stays secure even if your data packets are hijacked by a malicious hacker.
They’ll never be able to decrypt and see the actual information.
ExpressVPN and Hidemyass both use NSA recommended AES 256-bit encryption technology to encrypt your data.
It is an encryption technology that is tamper proof and has never been hacked before.
ExpressVPN also uses two secure protocols OpenVPN and IKEv2/IPSec to transmit your information over the internet.
HMA also supports three vpn connection protocols that include OpenVPN, PPTP and L2TP protocols.
Even though PPTP protocol is prone to hacking and should never be used, some vpns still use it to be able to bypass China’s firewall.
Overall, both HMA and ExpressVPN offer you excellent encryption technologies and connection protocols that guarantee the security of your personal information online.
If you are looking for a vpn that is secure then either ExpressVPN or HMA is secure.
Ad Blockers
Do you find yourself getting annoyed by those video ads that start autoplaying in the background whenever you visit a websites.
Even though these ads sometimes play without sound, they can be quite intrusive.
In fact, they lead to a poor user experience when you are browsing a site.
Most premium vpns have an ad blocking feature that when turned on, blocks these ads and enables you to browse these websites ad free.
So how does HMA vs ExpressVPN ad blocking capabilities compare?
ExpressVPN, to my disappointment, does not have an ad blocker in its apps.
A malware blocker that can protect you when you are browsing a malware infected website is also missing in all their apps.
This is despite the fact that this vpn really charges a premium for their services.
Hidemyass also is completely lacking in this ad blocking and malware blocking capability.
So none of these vpns with shield your from ads or from malware from the internet like phishing websites.
If you are looking for a vpn that has an ad and malware blocker then neither ExpressVPN nor HMA can help, look elsewhere.
Dedicated IPs
A dedicated IP is the opposite of a shared IP address.
If you connect to the internet normally using your vpn, you’ll be assigned an IP address that is shared with other users.
This IP also changes every time you connect to a different server or a server based in a different country.
A dedicated IP ensures that you always connect to the internet using the same IP address.
This IP address is also unique to you and therefore is not shared anyone else.
You need such a dedicated IP address in order to be able to remotely access restricted networks like your work network or your home security camera feed.
Unfortunately, you won’t get a dedicated IP address using either HMA or ExpressVPN.
Neither of these vpns support a dedicated IP.
If you are looking for a vpn that will provide you with a dedicated IP then I recommend NordVPN or CyberGhost instead.
Kill Switch
If you want to always be safe online, then you need to ensure that all your internet traffic is encrypted and channelled through your vpn tunnel.
But usually when you are switching vpn servers, for example, your vpn first disconnect from the vpn server.
So you need to ensure that other applications cannot access the internet during these few seconds that you are looking for another server to connect.
This way, you ensure that your real IP address is not exposed.
An automatic internet kill switch ensures that internet access is cut off for your entire device anytime your vpn app disconnects from the server.
Internet access is restored as soon as the vpn reconnects.
Hidemyass and ExpressVPN both have an inbuilt automatic internet kill switch.
Once turned on, this kill switch will ensure that all your traffic in channelled through your vpn tunnel so that your real IP is never revealed.
If you are looking for a vpn with a kill switch then either ExpressVPN or HMA will work for you.
Split Tunnelling
A split tunnel enables you to whitelist certain applications and exempt them from having their traffic channelled through a vpn server.
But if you don’t want some of your applications to be slowed down because of the speed drops that is caused by a vpn connection then you need a vpn with a split tunnel.
HMA and ExpressVPN, both have a split tunnel that lets you specify certain applications for whitelisting.
It could be your application that runs backups that you don’t want slowed down… or anything else for that matter.
If you are looking for a vpn with a split tunnel then either Hidemyass or ExpressVPN will work.
Works in China?
How does ExpressVPN vs HMA compare in terms of their ability to bypass the great firewall of China?
Since the great firewall of China is excellent at detecting and blocking OpenVPN traffic, most vpns struggle to bypass the firewall because OpenVPN is the default connection protocol for most vpns.
Will you be able to use either ExpressVPN or HMA in China?
Both ExpressVPN and HMA, luckily, have the ability to make their vpn traffic look like normal https traffic and bypass the deep packet inspection technology of China’s firewall.
So, using either HMA or ExpressVPN, you’ll be able to access censored websites like YouTube while in China.
If you are looking for a vpn that works in China, then either ExpressVPN or HMA will work flawlessly.
Pricing
As we near the end of this ExpressVPN vs Hidemyass vpn comparison, let’s look at the different pricing options that these two vpns provide.
Which is a cheaper vpn between ExpressVPN and Hidemyass?
ExpressVPN is a pretty much expensive vpn because their longest plan, which is the 1 year plan costs $ 8.32/month.
HMA, on the other hand, has a 3 year plan that costs $ 3.99/month, billable upfront.
So if you are looking for a cheap vpn that also lets you pay for a couple years in advance then Hidemyass is what you are looking for.
Payment Options
What payment options do these two vpns provide?
Which one between ExpressVPN and HMA offers anonymous payment methods?
Let’s finish this ExpressVPN vs HMA comparison by comparing the different payments options that are available whenever you want to purchase either vpns.
I’m particularly interested in a vpn that offers anonymous payment options like gift cards or cryptocurrencies.
ExpressVPN accepts payments through PayPal, all major credit cards as well as cryptocurrencies payments through Bitcoin.
HMA, at the time of writing this vpn comparison, only supports payments through credit card and PayPal.
It does not support any kind of crypto payments.
Since crypto payments enable you to provide as little information about you as possible because they don’t need your billing address, they are great for ensuring that you don’t give any identifying information about you.
If you are looking for a vpn that will accept Bitcoin payments then I recommend ExpressVPN.
In Conclusion
We’ve come to the end of this ExpressVPN vs Hidemyass comparison.
I hope this comparison of these two vpns has helped learn about the pros and cons of either Hidemyass or ExpressVPN.
Are you now ready to make your choice between these two vpns?
If you are looking for a vpn that is cheap, unblocks Netflix and has the largest geographical coverage then I recommend Hidemyass.
However, if you are willing to pay a few more bucks for a vpn with excellent connection speeds, great streaming support and accepts Bitcoin payments then I recommend ExpressVPN.
Have you used either HMA or ExpressVPN before?
Please share your experience in the comments below.
