ExpressVPN Basic Now Blocks Trackers and Includes ExpressAI

ExpressVPN’s cheapest plan now does more. Its plans page lists tracker blocking and the ExpressAI assistant under Basic, two features that used to start on dearer plans. TechRadar’s Mark Gill reported the change on 5 November 2026, and we checked the page ourselves on 6 November.

The price did not change. Basic still costs $2.99 a month on the 28-month term, or $83.72 up front, and renews at $99.95 a year. Our ExpressVPN review compares all three plans.

What happened

The plans page now shows “Advanced Protection” on Basic, which in the page’s words can “Block ads, trackers, malicious sites, and adult sites”. Basic also lists ExpressAI with “50 credits/day, 1 models, 100MB storage”, while Advanced gets 100 credits a day and 500 MB and Express Pro gets 500 credits a day.

According to TechRadar, Basic used to block ads, malicious sites and adult sites but not trackers. Tracker blocking started on Advanced, and ExpressAI came only with Express Pro. ExpressVPN made no announcement, but its Advanced Protection article, updated on 5 November, now says “All advanced protection features are included in the Basic, Advanced, and Express Pro plans”.

ExpressVPN describes ExpressAI as “The first consumer AI powered by confidential computing for privacy-led intelligence”. Its Trust Center lists “A security audit by Cure53 of ExpressAI (March 2026)”.

Why it matters

Tracker blocking stops many of the small scripts and requests that let ad and analytics companies follow you from site to site. It cannot stop every method, though. Sites can still recognize a browser by its settings, and whatever you do while logged in stays tied to your account.

The change also narrows the gap between Basic and Advanced. Advanced costs $4.49 a month, or $125.72 for 28 months, and renews at $119.95 a year. For the extra money it still adds:

• 12 devices instead of 10
• the ExpressKeys password manager
• Identity Defender, which is for US users
• more ExpressAI credits and a bigger email relay allowance

ExpressVPN is also testing a lower Advanced price on some visitors, $4.19 a month or $117.32, but our standard check on 6 November still showed $4.49.

What to do

• If you were about to pay for Advanced only to block trackers, Basic now covers that. Choose Advanced for its extra devices, the password manager or ID monitoring.
• If you already pay for Basic, update the app and look through its protection settings. We have not checked how the new features appear in each app. The browser extension also gained its own blocker, which works with the VPN off, and our Web Protection report explains it.
• If you are a new customer, buying on ExpressVPN’s website gives you a 30-day money-back guarantee, while Apple’s and Google’s app stores apply their own refund rules. Our ExpressVPN deal page lists the current offer.

What we changed

We added Basic’s tracker blocking and ExpressAI allowance to our ExpressVPN review and our ExpressVPN deal page, with links to this report. Our scores do not change, because they already count ad and tracker blocking for ExpressVPN. The provider tables will show the new plan details after our next price check.