TunnelBear AI Visibility Market Strategy Report - VPN Services

Answer Capsule

TunnelBear is the weakest tracked brand in the October 2026 VPN Services AI recommendation benchmark, holding 7.22% valid recommendation coverage against a category leader at 81.20%. The brand is visible in only 10.25% of qualified AI observations and is the only tracked brand classified as a significant decliner across the July-to-October 2026 series, falling 6.4 percentage points from 13.6%. TunnelBear has never recorded a rank-one recommendation in the series and its top-three rate sits at 1.44%. The clearest opportunity is to rebuild recommendation-stage presence in the Best VPN Discovery and Evaluation cluster, where every qualified observation in the benchmark currently sits.

Who This Report Is For

This report is written for TunnelBear's marketing, growth, and brand leadership teams, and for category analysts tracking how AI and search surfaces recommend VPN providers at the discovery and consideration stage.

Report Card

Executive Summary

TunnelBear is present in the VPN Services AI recommendation benchmark but is not recommendation-led. The brand recorded 71 present mentions across 693 qualified observations in October 2026, a raw mention presence rate of 10.25%, and converted only 50 of those into valid recommendations, a valid recommendation coverage of 7.22%. That places TunnelBear last among the ten tracked brands on the benchmark's primary metric.

The gap to the category leader is wide. Proton VPN holds 81.20% valid recommendation coverage in October 2026, and NordVPN sits at 78.90%. TunnelBear's 7.22% is 74.0 percentage points behind the leader and 1.7 points behind IPVanish, the next-lowest tracked brand at 8.90%.

TunnelBear is the only brand the benchmark classifies as a significant decliner across the July-to-October 2026 series. Coverage fell from 13.6% in July 2026 to 7.22% in October 2026, a 6.4 point decline recorded over the three months since the July baseline. Raw mention presence fell 8.5 points over the same span, from 18.7% to 10.25%, and top-three rate fell 3.1 points, from 4.5% to 1.44%.

Placement is the sharper weakness. TunnelBear has recorded a 0.00% rank-one rate in every measured month of the series, meaning the brand has never been the first recommendation in any qualified observation. Its top-three rate of 1.44% is the lowest of any tracked brand and sits 72.15 points behind NordVPN's 73.59%.

Sentiment is not the problem. TunnelBear's net sentiment score of 0.7324 is positive, with 52 positive mentions, 19 neutral mentions, and zero negative mentions. When the brand appears, AI systems frame it favorably. The issue is that it appears far less often than competitors and is rarely placed inside the recommendation set.

The strongest platform signal for TunnelBear is AI Mode, where the brand recorded 12,522.25 in AI Visibility Authority Value and a 2.27% positive visibility rate, the highest of any platform in the packet. The weakest platform signal is ChatGPT, where TunnelBear recorded zero mentions, zero valid recommendations, and a 0.00% presence rate across 73 platform observations. That absence is the clearest single platform gap in the dataset.

The benchmark's public cluster structure limits what can be diagnosed. All 693 qualified observations in October 2026 fell into the Brand Recommendation cluster, and the two higher-intent clusters, VPN Comparison and Alternatives and VPN Pricing, Plans and Cost Evaluation, carry no data. The benchmark can show that TunnelBear is losing recommendation share, but it cannot yet show which comparison or pricing prompts are driving the loss.

What TunnelBear Is Winning

Questions This Section Answers

• Where is TunnelBear showing up strongest across the AI platforms tracked?
• What does TunnelBear's zero negative mentions and sentiment score say about how AI systems frame the brand?

TunnelBear's evidence-backed wins are narrow but real.

The brand carries zero negative mentions across 693 qualified observations in October 2026. Its net sentiment score of 0.7324 reflects 52 positive mentions, 19 neutral mentions, and no negative framing. Among tracked brands, only Proton VPN recorded a negative mention, and that was a single instance. TunnelBear's framing quality is clean.

TunnelBear's strongest platform by recommendation behavior is AI Mode. The brand recorded a 2.27% positive visibility rate and 12,522.25 in AI Visibility Authority Value on that surface, both the highest readings in its platform breakdown. AI Mode is also the only platform where TunnelBear's captured share of AI opportunity reached 2.50%, well above its 0.82% overall figure.

The brand also holds a small but measurable recommendation pocket. Fifty valid recommendations in October 2026 is a low absolute count, but it confirms that AI systems do place TunnelBear inside recommendation sets in some prompt conditions. That pocket is the starting point for any recovery effort.

Beyond those three signals, the wins are limited. TunnelBear does not lead any cluster, does not hold a rank-one position on any platform, and does not appear among the top ten cited domains in the benchmark's source layer.

Where TunnelBear Has the Clearest AI Visibility Gaps

Questions This Section Answers

• Why are TunnelBear's AI mentions not converting into recommendations?
• Which platforms and placement positions show the largest gaps for TunnelBear?
• How did TunnelBear's coverage, presence, and top-three rate change between July and October 2026?

TunnelBear's clearest gap is recommendation conversion. The brand is mentioned in 10.25% of qualified observations but recommended in only 7.22%. That 3.03 point spread means roughly three in ten mentions of TunnelBear are reference-only, with the brand named but not placed in the recommendation set. Competitors convert mentions to recommendations far more efficiently. NordVPN is mentioned in 99.1% of observations and recommended in 78.90%, and Surfshark is mentioned in 95.5% and recommended in 76.90%.

The second gap is placement. TunnelBear's top-three rate of 1.44% means the brand appears in a top-three recommendation position in roughly one in seventy qualified observations. NordVPN appears in a top-three position in 73.59% of observations, Surfshark in 57.58%, and Proton VPN in 51.37%. Even IPVanish, the next-lowest brand by coverage, records a 0.87% top-three rate, and CyberGhost VPN records 6.64%. TunnelBear's rank-one rate of 0.00% is shared only with IPVanish, and both brands have never been the first recommendation in the series.

The third gap is platform absence. TunnelBear recorded zero mentions on ChatGPT across 73 platform observations. ChatGPT is the surface where NordVPN holds a 90.41% valid recommendation coverage and a 63.01% rank-one rate, and where Proton VPN holds 87.67% coverage. TunnelBear's complete absence from that surface removes the brand from consideration in a large share of high-intent prompts. The brand's presence on Perplexity is also thin, at 3.49% raw mention presence across 86 observations.

The fourth gap is trajectory. TunnelBear is the only brand the benchmark classifies as a significant decliner, and the decline is visible across coverage, raw presence, and top-three placement at the same time. Coverage fell 6.4 points, presence fell 8.5 points, and top-three rate fell 3.1 points between July 2026 and October 2026. No other tracked brand declined on all three measures.

The fifth gap is source-layer absence. The benchmark's top ten cited domains include protonvpn.com at rank 9 with 177 citations and nordvpn.com at rank 10 with 167 citations. TunnelBear's owned domain does not appear in the top ten. Editorial and review sources dominate the citation layer, with security.org, cnet.com, techradar.com, thebestvpn.com, and tomsguide.com collectively accounting for 19.8% of citations. TunnelBear's absence from that source footprint may help explain why the brand is retrieved less often than competitors.

Biggest Opportunity

Questions This Section Answers

• Which cluster and prompt types offer TunnelBear the best chance to convert references into recommendations?
• Where does TunnelBear's gap between mention presence and recommendation coverage point to the most recoverable ground?

TunnelBear's single biggest opportunity is to convert its existing positive framing into recommendation-stage presence inside the Best VPN Discovery and Evaluation cluster.

The brand already holds a 0.7324 net sentiment score and zero negative mentions, which means the framing layer is not blocking recommendation. What is missing is placement. TunnelBear's top-three rate of 1.44% and rank-one rate of 0.00% show that AI systems name the brand without shortlisting it. The gap between the brand's 10.25% presence rate and its 7.22% recommendation coverage is the most actionable number in the dataset, because it isolates reference-only mentions that could plausibly be converted with better supporting evidence.

The prompt examples in the packet point to the specific conditions where this conversion matters. Prompts such as "Which is the best VPN?", "What's the most trusted VPN?", and "What are the best 5 VPNs?" are the discovery and evaluation questions where TunnelBear is being named but not shortlisted. Rebuilding the brand's owned answer layer and citation footprint around those prompt types is the clearest path from reference to recommendation.

Competitive Landscape

Questions This Section Answers

• How does TunnelBear's top-three and rank-one rate compare with the leading VPN brands?
• What does TunnelBear's average recommended rank of 5.63 say about where it lands when it is shortlisted?

NordVPN and Proton VPN hold the strongest recommendation-stage positions in the VPN Services category, with Surfshark and ExpressVPN forming a second tier. TunnelBear sits at the bottom of the tracked set, below IPVanish on top-three rate and tied with IPVanish on rank-one rate.

Average recommended rank covers rank-eligible recommendations only.

TunnelBear ranks last in the table on top-three rate and shares the lowest rank-one rate with IPVanish. Its average recommended rank of 5.63 is the weakest in the tracked set, meaning that when the brand does receive rank credit, it lands near the bottom of the recommendation list rather than near the top. The brand's sentiment score of 0.7324 is the lowest among tracked brands, though it remains firmly positive.

Prompt Evidence

Questions This Section Answers

• How did TunnelBear perform on the specific discovery prompts tracked across ChatGPT, AI Mode, Perplexity, and Copilot?

ChatGPT / Best VPN Discovery and Evaluation Prompt: "Which is the best VPN?" Result: TunnelBear recorded zero mentions on ChatGPT across 73 platform observations, while NordVPN held a 90.41% valid recommendation coverage and Proton VPN held 87.67% on the same surface.

AI Mode / Best VPN Discovery and Evaluation Prompt: "What are the best 5 VPNs?" Result: TunnelBear's strongest platform signal, with a 2.27% positive visibility rate and 12,522.25 in AI Visibility Authority Value, but the brand still recorded only a 2.27% valid recommendation coverage on that surface.

Perplexity / Best VPN Discovery and Evaluation Prompt: "What's the most trusted VPN?" Result: TunnelBear appeared in 3.49% of Perplexity observations, with a 2.33% valid recommendation coverage and a 0.00% rank-one rate, while NordVPN held an 89.53% coverage and a 66.28% rank-one rate.

Copilot / Best VPN Discovery and Evaluation Prompt: "Which is the best VPN service to use?" Result: TunnelBear recorded a 10.34% valid recommendation coverage on Copilot, its second-strongest platform, but a 4.60% top-three rate and a 0.00% rank-one rate.

What CiteWorks Studio Would Do Next

Phase 1: AI Visibility Market Discovery Audit Map every prompt where TunnelBear is mentioned but not recommended, and identify which competitors take the recommendation slot in those same observations.

Phase 2: Recommendation Readiness Plan Prioritize the discovery and evaluation prompts where TunnelBear's positive framing is already established but placement is missing, starting with the ChatGPT absence and the Perplexity shortfall.

Phase 3: Owned Answer Layer Buildout Build TunnelBear-owned pages that directly answer the highest-intent discovery prompts, with clear comparison and trust content that AI systems can retrieve and cite.

Phase 4: Citation and Authority Layer Development Pursue inclusion in the editorial and review sources that dominate the benchmark's citation layer, including security.org, cnet.com, techradar.com, thebestvpn.com, and tomsguide.com.

Phase 5: Monthly AI Visibility and Recommendation Tracking Track TunnelBear's coverage, top-three rate, rank-one rate, and platform presence month over month against the same qualified observation set to confirm whether the decline streak has reversed.

Why This Matters

Questions This Section Answers

• What does being named but not recommended cost TunnelBear at the buyer decision moment?
• Where should TunnelBear focus correction efforts given that its framing is already positive?

AI presence alone is not enough. TunnelBear is named in roughly one in ten qualified AI observations, but it is shortlisted in fewer than one in fourteen and has never been the first recommendation. Buyers who ask an AI system for the best VPN are seeing TunnelBear referenced without seeing it recommended, which means the brand is losing the decision moment even when it is visible.

The next move is targeted correction of the prompt, page, and citation layers. TunnelBear's framing is already positive, so the work is not about repairing reputation. It is about making the brand retrievable, citable, and shortlist-eligible in the specific discovery and evaluation prompts where AI systems are currently naming competitors instead.

Core Metrics

Sentiment Score

Sentiment Score = (positive mentions × 1 + neutral mentions × 0 + negative mentions × -1) / total mentions

For TunnelBear in October 2026, that calculation is (52 × 1 + 19 × 0 + 0 × -1) / 71, which produces a score of 0.7324.

This matters because unclassified mention counts are misleading. A brand that is mentioned 71 times sounds visible, but if 19 of those mentions are neutral references and only 52 are positive recommendations, the brand's actual standing is weaker than the raw count suggests. Share of voice is a diagnostic metric, not a business KPI. A positive recommendation, a neutral reference, a cautionary mention, and a competitor-displaced mention are not equal, and counting all mentions as wins is bad measurement.

TunnelBear's sentiment score is positive, which is a genuine strength. But sentiment alone does not produce recommendations. The brand's 0.7324 score sits below every other tracked brand, and its 7.22% valid recommendation coverage shows that positive framing has not translated into shortlist placement. Classified sentiment is required before interpreting AI visibility, and in TunnelBear's case it clarifies that the problem is placement, not perception.

Sentiment by Platform

Methodology

1. This report is a benchmark-based analysis of TunnelBear's AI recommendation visibility in the VPN Services category for October 2026. It is not a client result and does not describe any CiteWorks Studio engagement.
2. The reporting window is October 2026, with trend comparisons against July 2026, August 2026, and September 2026.
3. Six AI and search surface families were tracked: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. All six were represented in each month of the series.
4. The October 2026 run began with 800 prompt-surface observations and produced 693 qualified observations after qualification. The July 2026 baseline produced 707 qualified observations.
5. The competitor universe contains ten tracked brands: CyberGhost VPN, ExpressVPN, IPVanish, Mullvad VPN, NordVPN, Private Internet Access, Proton VPN, Surfshark, TunnelBear, and Windscribe.
6. Three public clusters were defined: Best VPN Discovery and Evaluation (C01), VPN Comparison and Alternatives (C02), and VPN Pricing, Plans and Cost Evaluation (C03). Only C01 carried sufficient coverage in October 2026. C02 and C03 returned no data.
7. Stage 0 extraction produced the prompt-level observations that feed the benchmark, retaining the query, AI or search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources.
8. A mention is counted when a tracked brand appears in a qualified observation in any form, including reference-only appearances that do not place the brand in a recommendation set.
9. A valid recommendation is counted when a tracked brand appears in a recommendation context within a qualified observation. Negative, neutral, cautionary, comparison-anchor, and listed-only mentions are not counted as valid recommendations unless the dataset explicitly marks them as such.
10. Brand-level percentages use the 693 qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection universe of 800 prompts. Unique question count for October 2026 was 586.
11. Small absolute counts apply to lower-coverage brands. TunnelBear recorded 50 valid recommendations in October 2026, down from 96 in July 2026, so each position carries outsized weight in the percentage movement.
12. Source presence in the citation layer is evidence about the information environment, not proof that a source caused a recommendation. Movements in the benchmark indicate correlation, not cause.

See How AI Is Recommending Your Brand

The public benchmark shows where TunnelBear is being named and where it is being passed over. A company-level AI visibility audit maps the specific prompts, surfaces, competitors, and source pages behind those patterns into a prioritized plan for rebuilding recommendation-stage presence in the VPN Services category.