VPN provider websites: which other companies they contact

On a first visit, 5 of 12 provider home pages load advertising or analytics services of other companies before anything is clicked. 5 load no outside service at all. Requested from: United States.1

57
Outside services contacted across all home pages, by purpose
  • advertising: 20 (35 %)
  • analytics: 6 (11 %)
  • tag manager: 4 (7 %)
  • session recording: 1 (2 %)
  • consent banner: 4 (7 %)
  • payment: 3 (5 %)
  • review widget: 1 (2 %)
  • video: 2 (4 %)
  • bot protection: 1 (2 %)
  • script or font host: 8 (14 %)
  • other: 7 (12 %)

By provider

ProviderOutside services loadedOf which advertising or analyticsSame, requested from GermanyAdvertising and analytics servicesChart
CyberGhost17114Microsoft (advertising), Google (advertising), Meta (advertising), Cloudflare (analytics), Google (analytics), Mouseflow (session recording), Google (tag manager)
ExpressVPN1173Microsoft (advertising), Google (advertising), Meta (advertising), Google (analytics), Google (tag manager)
Surfshark1072Microsoft (advertising), Google (advertising), Meta (advertising), Google (tag manager)
Private Internet Access1154Microsoft (advertising), Google (advertising), Cloudflare (analytics), Google (tag manager)
OVPN511PostHog (analytics)
Windscribe200none
NordVPN102none
AzireVPN000none
hide.me000none
IVPN000none
Mullvad000none
Proton VPN000none

Counted is what a browser loads on opening the home page: no click, no consent given, no login. Statistics a provider runs on its own domain are not counted. The same page can load more or less depending on the country of the visitor, for example where it must ask for consent first.

Every outside service, per provider

CyberGhost www.cyberghostvpn.com, requested from United States,
  • Microsoft bing.com · advertising
  • Google doubleclick.net · advertising
  • Meta facebook.com · advertising
  • Meta facebook.net · advertising
  • Google google.com · advertising
  • Google googleadservices.com · advertising
  • Cloudflare cloudflareinsights.com · analytics
  • Google google-analytics.com · analytics
  • Google google.com · analytics
  • Mouseflow mouseflow.com · session recording
  • Google googletagmanager.com · tag manager
  • Usercentrics usercentrics.eu · consent banner
  • Google google.com · bot protection
  • Cloudflare cloudflare.com · script or font host
  • Google googleapis.com · script or font host
  • Google gstatic.com · script or font host
  • jQuery jquery.com · script or font host
ExpressVPN www.expressvpn.com, requested from United States,
  • Microsoft bing.com · advertising
  • Google doubleclick.net · advertising
  • Meta facebook.com · advertising
  • Meta facebook.net · advertising
  • Google google.com · advertising
  • Google google.com · analytics
  • Google googletagmanager.com · tag manager
  • Usercentrics usercentrics.eu · consent banner
  • Google gstatic.com · script or font host
  • googleapis.com · other
  • on.aws · other
Surfshark surfshark.com, requested from United States,
  • Microsoft bing.com · advertising
  • Google doubleclick.net · advertising
  • Meta facebook.com · advertising
  • Meta facebook.net · advertising
  • Google google.com · advertising
  • Google googleadservices.com · advertising
  • Google googletagmanager.com · tag manager
  • google.com · other
  • OpenAI openai.com · other
  • tvsquared.com · other
Private Internet Access www.privateinternetaccess.com, requested from United States,
  • Microsoft bing.com · advertising
  • Google doubleclick.net · advertising
  • Google google.com · advertising
  • Cloudflare cloudflareinsights.com · analytics
  • Google googletagmanager.com · tag manager
  • Usercentrics usercentrics.eu · consent banner
  • Trustpilot trustpilot.com · review widget
  • jsDelivr (BootstrapCDN) bootstrapcdn.com · script or font host
  • Cloudflare cloudflare.com · script or font host
  • jQuery jquery.com · script or font host
  • OpenAI openai.com · other
OVPN www.ovpn.com, requested from United States,
  • PostHog posthog.com · analytics
  • Osano osano.com · consent banner
  • Paddle paddle.com · payment
  • Stripe stripe.com · payment
  • Stripe stripe.network · payment
Windscribe windscribe.com, requested from United States,
  • Google (YouTube) youtube.com · video
  • googleapis.com · other
NordVPN nordvpn.com, requested from United States,
  • Google (YouTube) ggpht.com · video
AzireVPN www.azirevpn.com, requested from United States,

No outside service is loaded.

hide.me hide.me, requested from United States,

No outside service is loaded.

IVPN www.ivpn.net, requested from United States,

No outside service is loaded.

Mullvad mullvad.net, requested from United States,

No outside service is loaded.

Proton VPN protonvpn.com, requested from United States,

No outside service is loaded.

Not checked: AirVPN.

As of October 11, 2026.