AIRANKS — The Authoritative Rankings for AI Web Content

AIRANKS measures AI visibility: we ask AI models real product and service questions, capture the complete answers as immutable observations, and publish what they contain — which brands were mentioned, which domains were cited, and which exact pages were linked. Every domain gets an AIR score from 1–10 (a decile of visibility in the active dataset; 0 means insufficient data), with the methodology in the open.

AIR

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The Question

← all rankings / dataset COBALT

What is the best vpn service tested and ranked

NordVPN takes the top spot in 100.0% of resamples. Of 12 ranked brands, only 4 hold a position we'd call firm.

0
answers sampled
0
brands named
1,000
bootstrap resamples

Who AI Cites For This Question

25 cited pages · bars vs the leader

The best VPN service 2026 | TechRadarwww.techradar.comtechradar.com/vpn/best-vpn?utm=airanks.net275
The Best VPN Services of 2026: 50+ VPNs Tested & Ranked | Security.orgwww.security.orgsecurity.org/vpn/best/?utm=airanks.net135
Top 10 Best VPN Services of 2026 (59 Tested Hands-On)www.top10vpn.comtop10vpn.com/best-vpn/?utm=airanks.net59
Best VPN services 2026: 7 top picks for every VPN need | PCWorldwww.pcworld.compcworld.com/article/406870/best-vp…ml?utm=airanks.net29
The 3 Best VPNs For Privacy of 2026 - RTINGS.comwww.rtings.comrtings.com/vpn/reviews/best/privacy?utm=airanks.net28
Proton VPN aces independent no-logs audit for the fifth consecutive year | TechRadarwww.techradar.comtechradar.com/vpn/vpn-services/pro…ar?utm=airanks.net20

The Ranking, With Its Uncertainty

NordVPN locked NordVPN — ci 1.00–1.00 · n=366 · 100.0% of resamples held this rank · named in 100% of answers
ProtonVPN firm ProtonVPN — ci 0.82–0.91 · n=366 · 92.9% of resamples held this rank · named in 95% of answers
Surfshark soft Surfshark — ci 0.73–0.91 · n=366 · 72.9% of resamples held this rank · named in 97% of answers
Mullvad soft Mullvad — ci 0.73–0.82 · n=366 · 77.7% of resamples held this rank · named in 82% of answers
ExpressVPN locked ExpressVPN — ci 0.64–0.64 · n=366 · 100.0% of resamples held this rank · named in 60% of answers
Private Internet Access firm Private Internet Access — ci 0.45–0.55 · n=366 · 90.0% of resamples held this rank · named in 23% of answers
Windscribe soft Windscribe — ci 0.36–0.55 · n=366 · 68.4% of resamples held this rank · named in 19% of answers
PrivadoVPN soft PrivadoVPN — ci 0.36–0.45 · n=366 · 75.7% of resamples held this rank · named in 18% of answers
IVPN contested IVPN — ci 0.09–0.27 · n=366 · 63.6% of resamples held this rank · named in 2% of answers
Hotspot Shield contested Hotspot Shield — ci 0.00–0.27 · n=366 · 50.9% of resamples held this rank · named in 1% of answers
Norton VPN gathering Norton VPN — gathering data, n=366. No bootstrap interval yet.
CyberGhost gathering CyberGhost — gathering data, n=366. No bootstrap interval yet.

The Incomparability Lattice

what the intervals separate, not what the list claims

An edge means one brand's interval sits strictly above another's — zero overlap. No edge between two brands is not a gap in the drawing, it is the finding: their intervals overlap, and the bootstrap cannot tell them apart. Brands on the same rung are incomparable, not tied — the ranking above orders them anyway because a list has to print a total order; this diagram is the honest version.

NordVPN

1.00–1.00

ProtonVPN

0.82–0.91

Surfshark

0.73–0.91

Mullvad

0.73–0.82

ExpressVPN

0.64–0.64

Private Internet Access

0.45–0.55

Windscribe

0.36–0.55

PrivadoVPN

0.36–0.45

IVPN

0.09–0.27

Hotspot Shield

0.00–0.27