Does AI recommend Proton VPN?
proton.me in vpns: how often Gemini, Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT name it next to NordVPN, its top competitor, which sites the answers cite, and whether AI crawlers can read the site.
47%
of AI answers name Proton VPN
NordVPN: 54%. Rank 2 of 47 brands tracked.
Proton VPN vs NordVPN, engine by engine
Named most by Google AI Overviews (51%), least by Gemini (44%). The grey tick is the typical (median) brand of the category.
Is Proton VPN named, and where?
- Yes. Proton VPN is named in 47% of the answers across Gemini, Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT.
- It ranks 2 of 47 brands we track in vpns.
- In list answers it shows up at position 2.4 on average in ChatGPT (1 = first).
- Its own site, protonvpn.com, is the 5th most cited site in the category.
The category baseline
From the AI Citation Index (47 brands tracked in vpns, Week 41).
1%
The typical brand
54%
The category leader
47%
Proton VPN, above typical
The sites the answers cite
The sites cited most in AI answers about vpns, all engines. Being listed, reviewed or discussed on these is the shortest path into the answers.
- youtube.com6.7% of citations
- reddit.com3.9% of citations
- cnet.com3.7% of citations
- nordvpn.com3.4% of citations
- protonvpn.com3.2% of citations
- surfshark.com2.9% of citations
- techradar.com2.5% of citations
Can AI crawlers read proton.me?
Yes: nothing we checked stops the AI engines from reading the site. Checked Oct 17, 2026.
| Crawler | What it feeds | robots.txt |
|---|---|---|
| OAI-SearchBot | ChatGPT search, the pages it cites | Allowed |
| GPTBot | OpenAI model training only | Allowed |
| Googlebot | Google Search and Google AI Overviews | Allowed |
| Google-Extended | Gemini answers and training | Allowed |
| ClaudeBot | Claude | Allowed |
| Firewall | Bot protection | Lets them in |
| Text without JavaScript | 1614 words in the raw homepage HTML | Readable |
Nothing to fix here. The crawlers behind ChatGPT search, Google AI Overviews and Gemini can read the site, and the homepage text shows without JavaScript. The next step is being cited: see the sites above.
What next
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Check another brandNumbers come straight from the answers we collected; we do not edit them for any brand. We publish counts and the sites cited, never the answers themselves. Proton VPN team? If something looks wrong, tell us.
We make every effort to find high-quality data sources, but this data comes from AI engine answers collected from the open web and we cannot guarantee its accuracy, completeness or reliability. Use it at your own risk.