The most visible B2C VPNs on Google AI Overviews, October 2026

October 2026 · 12 questions asked in English, worldwide · Google AI Overviews · 24 answers read

Industry Asked from Brands from Audience Engine Month

Leader

Surfshark

83%of answers name it

Most cited source

youtube.com

49citations

From Google AI Overviews

Where engines disagree most

One engine

This page reads Google AI Overviews only. Set Engine to All to compare them.

Brands

Rank	Brand	Heralded Score	Mentioned	Recommended	Mentioned by	Change
1#1 overall	Surfshark NL	81 , range 67–89	83%	54%		First reading
2#2 overall	NordVPN LT	77 , range 59–86	83%	42%		First reading
3#3 overall	ExpressVPN VG	76 , range 55–86	71%	50%		First reading
4#4 overall	Proton VPN CH	72 , range 48–82	71%	38%		First reading
5#5 overall	Mullvad SE	46 , range 33–71	38%	29%		First reading
6#6 overall	CyberGhost RO	23 , range 12–42	17%	4%		First reading
–	AirVPN IT	Too few answers	4%	0%		First reading
–	Aura US	Too few answers	0%	0%	None	First reading
–	Avast SecureLine VPN CZ	Too few answers	0%	0%	None	First reading
–	CopVPN	Too few answers	0%	0%		First reading

“=” marks brands whose score ranges overlap, so the test cannot separate them. Every brand named in at least three answers is ranked. By engine has one dot per engine (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Google AI Mode), darker the more often it names the brand.

Most cited sources

Rank	Source	Type	Cited in	Engines	Pages cited	Brands its pages mention
1	youtube.com	Social	79.2%	1 of 4	23	Not read
2	cnet.com	Media	54.2%	1 of 4	5	9
3	reddit.com	Community	33.3%	1 of 4	5	14
4	allaboutcookies.org	Reference	41.7%	1 of 4	3	7
5	Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
6	google.com	Vendor site	16.7%	1 of 4	7	6
7	Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
8	Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
9	Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
10	Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.

The questions, and who wins each

Question	Language	Wins it
best VPNs	English	ExpressVPN, Mullvad, NordVPN, Proton VPN and Surfshark, tied
VPNs recommendations for travellers	English	ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Proton VPN and Surfshark, tied
top VPNs	English	Mullvad, NordVPN, Proton VPN and Surfshark, tied
how to choose VPNs	English	CyberGhost, ExpressVPN, Mullvad, NordVPN, Private Internet Access, Proton VPN and Surfshark, tied
what to look for in VPNs	English	No brand recommended
VPNs for families	English	Surfshark
VPNs that work with a smart TV	English	ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Surfshark, tied
VPNs with GDPR-compliant hosting	English	No brand recommended
best VPNs for streaming	English	ExpressVPN
most reliable VPNs	English	ExpressVPN

Each engine's top three

Google AI Overviews

Method

Each month Heralded asks every engine the same buyer questions, twice each, and reads every answer. An answer counts 0 for a brand it leaves out, 50 for a brand it names and 100 for a brand it recommends, and the Heralded Score is built from those. A brand named in at least three answers gets a score and a place.

How the leaderboards are measured