ExpressVPN vs Pleo

ExpressVPN and Pleo both appear on the Smoower Developer Ecosystem Index.

ExpressVPN (rank #569) holds a narrow lead over Pleo (rank #625) on the overall Smoower ecosystem score (35 vs 33). The gap of 2 points reflects composite signals across code, docs, community and reach.

On code quality (the state of repositories, tests, releases and polish), ExpressVPN is ahead of Pleo. On education (docs, guides and learning material for developers), ExpressVPN is slightly ahead of Pleo. On community (issue response, PR reviews and discussion health), ExpressVPN is ahead of Pleo. On reach (how visible the ecosystem is beyond its own repos), ExpressVPN is clearly ahead of Pleo. On momentum (release cadence and how fast the ecosystem moves), Pleo is clearly ahead of ExpressVPN.

ExpressVPN carries 1,250 GitHub stars across 12 public repos, with 3 repositories active in the last 90 days and 7 external contributors on record. Pleo shows 36 stars across 34 public repos, 5 active in the last 90 days and 8 external contributors. The star gap on its own does not decide the comparison, but ExpressVPN's footprint is roughly 34.7x larger, which usually shows up in downstream signals like inbound issues and third party integrations.

ExpressVPN is the stronger read for anyone weighting reach. Pleo looks better where momentum is the deciding factor. The table below breaks the scores down pillar by pillar; the linked profiles cover the underlying repos, docs and community signals in full.