Which VPN apps Claude recommends

CiteLadder asked Claude Sonnet 5.5 20 buyer questions about VPN apps, three times each, in three conditions: from memory, with web search available, and told to search first. Proton VPN was named in the most answers in every condition. Telling Claude to search kept the same top five brands but changed their order and how often each was named first. This page reports what Claude said through the Anthropic API. It is not a ranking of which VPN is best, and the Claude apps can answer differently.

What we asked Claude

We wrote 20 questions a VPN buyer might ask. They covered five intents: best overall, a specific buyer or use case, budget or free, feature-led, and comparison shortlists. Each question ran three times in each condition. The requests gave no current date.

Some examples, quoted exactly:

• "What's the most trustworthy VPN app right now?"
• "Best VPN for watching foreign streaming libraries while traveling abroad"
• "Which VPNs have independently audited no-logs policies?"

Other prompts asked about gaming, torrenting, journalists, censorship, a non-technical parent on an iPad, small businesses with remote staff, and students on a budget. Another model listed the brands in each answer, and code counted them.

Brands Claude named from memory

With no tools, Claude gave 60 answers that named 44 distinct brands, about 5.2 per answer. The top three brands took 43.1% of all mentions.

• Proton VPN appeared in 93.3% of answers. It was named in every run for 17 prompts.
• Mullvad appeared in 66.7% of answers. It was named first 33 times, more than any other brand, with an average position of 1.9.
• NordVPN appeared in 63.3% of answers.
• Surfshark appeared in 46.7% of answers.
• ExpressVPN appeared in 43.3% of answers.

IVPN followed at 33.3%, then Windscribe and Private Internet Access at 16.7% each. Answers were fairly stable: run agreement across the three runs was 77.2%. So from memory, Proton VPN showed up almost everywhere, and Mullvad was the brand Claude most often put first.

How often Claude searched when it could

When web search was available but not required, Claude searched in 7 of 60 answers, with 8 searches in total. Most answers still came from what the model already knew.

The results looked close to the memory condition. Proton VPN appeared in 88.3% of answers. NordVPN rose to 71.7% and was named first 10 times. Mullvad appeared in 60% and was still named first most often, 26 times. ExpressVPN appeared in 58.3% and Surfshark in 53.3%. CyberGhost entered the top ten at 10%.

What changed when Claude was told to search

When the system prompt told Claude to search before answering, it searched in all 60 answers. The top five brands stayed the same as from memory: Proton VPN, Mullvad, NordVPN, Surfshark and ExpressVPN. No brand left or entered the top five. Proton VPN remained the brand named in the most answers.

The order inside the top five moved:

• Proton VPN appeared in 73.3% of answers, down from 93.3% from memory.
• NordVPN appeared in 71.7% and was named first 25 times, with an average position of 1.9. It became the brand Claude most often put first.
• Surfshark appeared in 56.7% and ExpressVPN in 53.3%.
• Mullvad fell to 36.7% of answers and was named first 8 times, down from 33 from memory.

Answers named fewer brands, 4.5 on average, and varied more between runs: run agreement dropped to 55%. IPVanish and CyberGhost appeared in the top ten at 8.3% each. Only 1 answer included inline citations.

What Claude searched for

Told to search, Claude ran 263 searches. 45.7% of queries contained a year, and 45.7% contained the word "best". The year 2025 appeared in 113 queries and 2026 in 8. Since the requests gave no current date, the years reflect what the model assumed.

Sample queries, quoted exactly:

• "best VPN for streaming Netflix libraries abroad 2025"
• "VPN audits no-logs verified Mullvad Proton NordVPN ExpressVPN Surfshark PIA audit"
• "best business VPN small business remote employees 2025"

Many queries mirrored the prompt and added a year. Some named specific brands directly, which means brands Claude already knew shaped what it looked up.

Which sites the searches returned

Review and comparison publishers dominated the results. Across the 60 searched answers:

• techradar.com and tomsguide.com each came back for 78.3% of answers.
• security.org came back for 73.3%.
• cyberinsider.com came back for 71.7%.
• gizmodo.com came back for 70%.
• cybernews.com came back for 65%.
• thebestvpn.com came back for 50%.

pcworld.com, comparitech.com and en.wikipedia.org followed. No VPN vendor site appears in the top ten hosts. When Claude searched, it read what third-party reviewers wrote about VPNs.

What a VPN brand can take from this

From memory, Claude named a small set of brands often and consistently. Being in that set depends on what the model learned in training, which a brand cannot change quickly.

Search changes the order more than the membership. When told to search, NordVPN was named first far more often and Mullvad far less. The sources behind that shift were review sites such as techradar.com, tomsguide.com and security.org. A VPN brand that wants to appear in searched answers should check how it is covered on those sites, especially in pages for "best" lists with a current year.

Use-case prompts matter too. Queries targeted streaming, students, audits and small businesses. Coverage that ties a brand to a clear use case gives searches something specific to find. CiteLadder tracks these answers over time so you can see which brands Claude names in your category and which sources it reads.

Brand shares in each condition

Share of the 60 answers (20 prompts, three runs) that named each brand. "Prompts named in every run" counts the prompts where the brand appeared in all three runs from memory.

Sites Claude's searches returned

When told to search. Share of answers whose searches returned at least one page from the site.

The 20 prompts

• What's the most trustworthy VPN app right now? (best overall)
• Which VPN do security experts actually recommend? (best overall)
• Best all-around VPN for phone and laptop? (best overall)
• What VPN has the best overall speed and reliability? (best overall)
• Best VPN for watching foreign streaming libraries while traveling abroad (for a specific buyer or use case)
• Which VPN works best for online gaming without adding lag? (for a specific buyer or use case)
• Good VPN for a small business with remote employees? (for a specific buyer or use case)
• Which VPN is best for torrenting safely? (for a specific buyer or use case)
• Best VPN for journalists who need strong anonymity (for a specific buyer or use case)
• What VPN actually works in countries with heavy internet censorship? (for a specific buyer or use case)
• Easiest VPN for a non-techy parent to use on an iPad? (for a specific buyer or use case)
• Which VPN covers the most devices for a big family? (for a specific buyer or use case)
• Is there a free VPN that's actually safe to use? (budget or free)
• Cheapest VPN that still doesn't log my data? (budget or free)
• Best value VPN with a long-term plan for students (budget or free)
• Which VPNs have independently audited no-logs policies? (feature-led)
• VPN with a reliable kill switch and split tunneling on Android? (feature-led)
• Which VPN apps offer WireGuard and multi-hop connections? (feature-led)
• Compare the top 3 VPNs for privacy versus speed (comparison shortlist)
• Shortlist the best paid VPNs and their main pros and cons (comparison shortlist)

Frequently asked questions

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CiteLadder tracks your brand's mentions, position, sentiment and competitors across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews. Every result links back to the recorded answer, so you can see when Claude names you and where.

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