ExpressVPN split tunneling on Mac

Two things are true and they pull in opposite directions.

ExpressVPN's own Mac app has split tunneling. You can pick which apps use the VPN and which don't, in their client. If you're happy in the ExpressVPN app, you already have this.

But you can't use ExpressVPN with a WireGuard-based per-app tool like VPNonly. ExpressVPN runs on its own protocol, Lightway, and doesn't hand out WireGuard config files. There's nothing to import. Tools that route by WireGuard need a config, and ExpressVPN doesn't provide one.

So what are the options

• Stay in the ExpressVPN app and use its built-in split tunneling. It's the exclude model — the Mac is on the VPN, you leave some apps out.
• Want apps to opt in instead — nothing on the VPN until you add one app — use a provider that issues WireGuard configs. Mullvad, Proton, IVPN and NordVPN all do, and VPNonly works with any of them.

This isn't a knock on ExpressVPN; Lightway is a reasonable protocol. It just isn't interoperable the way WireGuard is.

Other providers

NordVPN · Mullvad · Proton VPN · Surfshark · IVPN · AirVPN or your own server. Or see which Mac VPNs have split tunneling, provider by provider.