Zero Trust & VPN ads in ChatGPT
Ads shown in ChatGPT conversations about Zero Trust & VPN. We recorded 150 conversations on this topic in logged-out ChatGPT; after the follow-up message, ChatGPT showed 145 ads from 36 advertisers. Most often shown: Ironclad, Ericsson and Miles IT.
Our captureLogged-out ChatGPT, USOct 3–4, 2026
Advertisers shown in Zero Trust & VPN conversations
top 25 of 36Ranked by how many of the conversations on this topic ended with their ad on screen; share of the 145 shown ads.
| # | Advertiser | Ads shown | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ironclad | 24 | 16.6% |
| 2 | Ericsson | 15 | 10.3% |
| 3 | Miles IT | 14 | 9.7% |
| 4 | Contabo | 12 | 8.3% |
| 5 | Cato Networks | 11 | 7.6% |
| 6 | Netwrix | 7 | 4.8% |
| 7 | ZeroTier | 6 | 4.1% |
| 8 | Red River Technology | 5 | 3.4% |
| 9 | Sentinel One | 5 | 3.4% |
| 10 | GetApp | 4 | 2.8% |
| 11 | AlgoSec | 3 | 2.1% |
| 12 | Box | 3 | 2.1% |
| 13 | Tailscale | 3 | 2.1% |
| 14 | Ace Cloud Hosting | 2 | 1.4% |
| 15 | bestproxyandvpn.com | 2 | 1.4% |
| 16 | Bitdefender | 2 | 1.4% |
| 17 | Brightspeed | 2 | 1.4% |
| 18 | Ceeva | 2 | 1.4% |
| 19 | Jotform | 2 | 1.4% |
| 20 | Lucid Software | 2 | 1.4% |
| 21 | ManageEngine | 2 | 1.4% |
| 22 | Prefect Technologies | 2 | 1.4% |
| 23 | Torq | 2 | 1.4% |
| 24 | Apposite Technologies | 1 | 0.7% |
| 25 | Bitwarden | 1 | 0.7% |
11 more advertisers shared the other 11 shown ads.
Ad formats
| Format | Ads shown | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Text ad (advertiser name and headline) | 144 | 99.3% |
| Shopping ad (product name and price) | 1 | 0.7% |
Example ads
12 adsDistinct ads as shown (ignoring capitalization), most frequent first, one per advertiser where possible.
- ContaboText ad
VPS 4 – 8 GB, from $5.28/mo
Shown 12 times
- IroncladText ad
Contract Access Control for IT
Shown 10 times
- EricssonText ad
Smarter Branch Networks
Shown 7 times
- Miles ITText ad
Looking for a Top-Rated MSP?
Shown 7 times
- ZeroTierText ad
ZeroTier | PQC Network Ready
Shown 6 times
- NetwrixText ad
Try Netwrix 1Secure
Shown 5 times
- Sentinel OneText ad
Secure AI Apps, Data, And Access
Shown 4 times
- BoxText ad
Secure File Sharing - Get 14 Days Free
Shown 3 times
- Cato NetworksText ad
Shortlist SASE Platforms
Shown 3 times
- GetAppText ad
Secure Every Login
Shown 2 times
- JotformText ad
IT Access Request Form V2
Shown 2 times
- Red River TechnologyText ad
We Manage Your IT. You Run Your Business.
Shown 2 times
Example conversations
12 examplesChosen to cover different advertisers and question types. The question is quoted as we asked it; the follow-up message asked for a sponsored ad.
In a conversation that began “how do i set up zero trust access for a legacy app that only works on the internal network”, after the follow-up message, ChatGPT showed an ad from GetApp.
Text ad: “Secure Every Login”
Fix or choose question · Oct 3, 23:04 ET
In a conversation that began “what does cisco secure access cost compared to renewing our anyconnect licenses”, after the follow-up message, ChatGPT showed an ad from Ericsson.
Text ad: “Cloud-Managed Routers”
Price question · Oct 4, 01:55 ET
In a conversation that began “how to set up cloudflare access for internal apps”, after the follow-up message, ChatGPT showed an ad from Jotform.
Text ad: “IT Access Request Form V2”
Fix or choose question · Oct 4, 01:11 ET
In a conversation that began “perimeter 81 vs cloudflare zero trust for a company of 100 that wants simple setup”, after the follow-up message, ChatGPT showed an ad from IOmergent.
Text ad: “Fractional CISO Services”
Comparison question · Oct 4, 01:12 ET
In a conversation that began “best vpn for a remote team traveling internationally”, after the follow-up message, ChatGPT showed an ad from internationalsos.com.
Text ad: “International SOS - Discover our Services”
Best for question · Oct 3, 23:19 ET
In a conversation that began “cheapest way to give 20 remote employees secure access to one office server”, after the follow-up message, ChatGPT showed an ad from Miles IT.
Text ad: “Looking for a Top-Rated IT Company?”
Price question · Oct 4, 00:21 ET
In a conversation that began “our law firm uses an on-prem document management system and attorneys work from everywhere, what secure access option won't frustrate them?”, after the follow-up message, ChatGPT showed an ad from Ceeva.
Text ad: “Ceeva | Pittsburgh's Trusted IT Service Provider”
Long scenario question · Oct 4, 04:10 ET
In a conversation that began “is sase worth it for small business”, after the follow-up message, ChatGPT showed an ad from Ironclad.
Text ad: “Contract SOC2 Compliance for IT”
Worth it question · Oct 4, 02:51 ET
In a conversation that began “openvpn access server”, after the follow-up message, ChatGPT showed an ad from ManageEngine.
Text ad: “Secure Every Enterprise Endpoint”
Short search question · Oct 3, 23:17 ET
In a conversation that began “is nordlayer worth it”, after the follow-up message, ChatGPT showed an ad from dataimpulse.com.
Text ad: “Buy proxy - Cheap proxy services | DataImpulse”
Worth it question · Oct 3, 23:23 ET
In a conversation that began “tailscale vs twingate for a 60 person startup that needs access to aws, databases and an office nas”, after the follow-up message, ChatGPT showed an ad from Red River Technology.
Text ad: “We Manage Your IT. You Run Your Business.”
Comparison question · Oct 4, 01:40 ET
In a conversation that began “we're a 1,000 person company evaluating zscaler and netskope for sase, what should drive the decision besides price?”, after the follow-up message, ChatGPT showed an ad from Netwrix.
Text ad: “You can only focus on one risk at a time”
Long scenario question · Oct 4, 02:23 ET
Question types
How the conversations on this topic were asked, and how many of the shown ads came from each kind.
| Question type | Ads shown | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | 28 | 19.3% |
| Fix or choose | 22 | 15.2% |
| Long scenario | 23 | 15.9% |
| Comparison | 22 | 15.2% |
| Price | 21 | 14.5% |
| Short search | 14 | 9.7% |
| Worth it | 15 | 10.3% |
More in IT, Security & Dev Tools
Other IT, Security & Dev Tools topics (ads shown):
How this data was captured
We used logged-out ChatGPT from US internet connections and started a new conversation for every question. Message 1 was the question. If no ad appeared, message 2 was the follow-up “Sponsored ad”, and if there was still none, message 3, “Show me a sponsored ad.”, was a last try. A conversation that ended without an ad, or failed, was run once more in a fresh browser, and we keep one record per question, the last one: 123,613 recorded conversations from Oct 3, 2026, 21:22 to Oct 4, 2026, 11:26 ET, with no captures from 05:53 to 11:12 ET on Oct 4. Our export does not record which message each ad followed; in our own checks of more than 2,000 conversations (Oct 4 and Oct 12) no ad appeared after message 1 alone, so read every ad here as shown after a message asking for a sponsored ad. These counts show which ads appeared in conversations on each topic; they are not a measure of how often ChatGPT shows ads on its own.
Only ads drawn on screen count as shown. In our capture no answer showed more than one ad on screen; a second ad that arrived in the page data but never appeared is not counted. Industries, sub-niches and question types are our own labels for the questions we wrote. Independent; not affiliated with OpenAI. Full methodWhy this is not an ad rateWhat the ads looked like
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