La Roche-Posay (60.4 percent appearance rate) and EltaMD (59.8 percent) possess 95 percent confidence intervals that overlap entirely. This means the difference between them is within the margin of this sample, and they are statistically tied for first place. Supergoop! (50.8 percent) overlaps with the lower bound of EltaMD, placing it in a strong competitive position.
How do the top sunscreen brands perform?
La Roche-Posay
60.4 percent appearance rate. La Roche-Posay appears in 290 of the 480 returned answers. The brand sees its highest visibility on ChatGPT, where it appears in 95.8 percent of answers. Performance drops sharply on Gemini, where the engine names it in only 30 percent of responses. The brand holds an average first mention position of 2.3 and achieves a 2.7 percent owned-domain citation rate (measured against 477 answers with retrieval evidence).
EltaMD
59.8 percent appearance rate. EltaMD appears in 287 returned answers. Similar to La Roche-Posay, the brand performs best on ChatGPT (87.5 percent) and Perplexity (67.5 percent). Gemini names EltaMD in 30.8 percent of its answers. The brand secures an average first mention position of 2.4 and a 3.6 percent owned-domain citation rate.
Supergoop!
50.8 percent appearance rate. Supergoop! appears in 244 returned answers. The brand shows strong consistency across ChatGPT (73.3 percent) and Perplexity (64.2 percent). Claude limits Supergoop! to 36.7 percent of answers. The brand generates the highest owned-domain citation rate among commercial brands in this study at 4.2 percent, with an average first mention position of 4.3.
Neutrogena
47.5 percent appearance rate. Neutrogena appears in 228 returned answers. ChatGPT favors the brand heavily (84.2 percent appearance rate). Other engines reduce its visibility: Perplexity (51.7 percent), Claude (29.2 percent), and Gemini (25 percent). Neutrogena holds an average first mention position of 4.9 and a 1.3 percent owned-domain citation rate.
CeraVe
39 percent appearance rate. CeraVe appears in 187 returned answers. ChatGPT names the brand in 60.8 percent of responses, while Gemini names it in 25.8 percent. CeraVe achieves an average first mention position of 5 and a 3.1 percent owned-domain citation rate.
Blue Lizard
18.8 percent appearance rate. Blue Lizard appears in 90 returned answers. The brand reaches 33.3 percent visibility on ChatGPT but drops to 9.2 percent on Gemini. Blue Lizard sits at an average first mention position of 6.5 and a 0.4 percent owned-domain citation rate.
Coppertone
17.5 percent appearance rate. Coppertone appears in 84 returned answers. ChatGPT names the brand in 35.8 percent of its answers. Claude barely registers the brand, naming it in just 4.2 percent of responses. Coppertone maintains a 0.6 percent owned-domain citation rate.
Sun Bum
16.9 percent appearance rate. Sun Bum appears in 81 returned answers. The brand maintains consistent lower-tier visibility across Perplexity (23.3 percent) and ChatGPT (26.7 percent). Claude names the brand in 4.2 percent of answers. Sun Bum earns a 1.7 percent owned-domain citation rate.
Where do the engines disagree?
Generative engines do not build their sunscreen recommendations from the same baseline. The data shows clear divides in brand preference and entity selection based on which engine processes the prompt.
Appearance rate by engine
Each cell uses that engine's own answer count as its denominator, so engines can be compared row by row.
| Brand | Perplexity (sonar-pro) rate | ChatGPT (OpenAI) rate | Gemini (Google) rate | Claude (Anthropic) rate |
|---|
| La Roche‑Posay | 69.2% | 95.8% | 30% | 46.7% |
| EltaMD | 67.5% | 87.5% | 30.8% | 53.3% |
| Supergoop! | 64.2% | 73.3% | 29.2% | 36.7% |
| Neutrogena | 51.7% | 84.2% | 25% | 29.2% |
| CeraVe | 36.7% | 60.8% | 25.8% | 32.5% |
| Blue Lizard | 18.3% | 33.3% | 9.2% | 14.2% |
| Coppertone | 20.8% | 35.8% | 9.2% | 4.2% |
| Sun Bum | 23.3% | 26.7% | 13.3% | 4.2% |
| Banana Boat | 41.7% | 18.3% | 6.7% | 0% |
| ISDIN | 6.7% | 35% | 7.5% | 13.3% |
| Aveeno | 15% | 34.2% | 2.5% | 4.2% |
| Black Girl Sunscreen | 9.2% | 33.3% | 2.5% | 4.2% |
ChatGPT heavily favors established clinical and mass-market brands. The OpenAI engine names La Roche-Posay in 115 of 120 answers and EltaMD in 105 of 120 answers. Neutrogena also sees 101 mentions on ChatGPT. This suggests the engine's retrieval tool and model weights prioritize dominant market share and historical web presence.
Gemini takes a different path, prioritizing institutional authority over commercial brands. The Google engine names the American Academy of Dermatology in 40 of its 120 returned answers (33.3 percent). By comparison, ChatGPT names the organization in 8 answers, while Perplexity and Claude never name it. Gemini also restricts top commercial brands: it names La Roche-Posay in only 36 answers and EltaMD in 37 answers. The same Gemini pattern holds across all five concerns in the Skincare AI Visibility Index 2026, where the American Academy of Dermatology appears in 32.1 percent of Gemini answers.
Claude entirely ignores several mid-tier brands. Banana Boat appears in 50 answers on Perplexity but 0 answers on Claude. SkinCeuticals appears in 24 answers on ChatGPT but 0 answers on Claude. This indicates Anthropic's web search tool or safety filters restrict the recommendation pool for specific skincare queries.
Which brands lead which demand clusters?
Consumer intent for sunscreen covers daily use, specific filters, and application formats. The clusters show how brands perform when prompts specify these exact needs.
Leaders by demand cluster
The same answers regrouped by the demand cluster each prompt was sampled for; cluster rates use that cluster's own answer count.
| Demand cluster | Answers | Leading brand | Leader rate | Runners-up |
|---|
| — Other demand — | | | | |
| Price and value | 24 | Neutrogena | 79.2% | La Roche‑Posay 50%, Coppertone 50%, Sun Bum 50% |
| Primary use case | 24 | Supergoop! | 66.7% | EltaMD 62.5%, La Roche‑Posay 50%, CeraVe 45.8% |
| Beginners and first purchase | 24 | EltaMD | 70.8% | CeraVe 66.7%, Supergoop! 62.5%, La Roche‑Posay 58.3% |
| Where to buy | 24 | La Roche‑Posay | 58.3% | Neutrogena 45.8%, EltaMD 41.7%, Supergoop! 29.2% |
| Gifting and occasions | 24 | Supergoop! | 70.8% | La Roche‑Posay 54.2%, EltaMD 54.2%, Neutrogena 54.2% |
| Specific need or condition | 24 | La Roche‑Posay | 62.5% | EltaMD 62.5%, Supergoop! 54.2%, CeraVe 41.7% |
| Comparison and evaluation | 24 | La Roche‑Posay | 66.7% | EltaMD 66.7%, Supergoop! 58.3%, CeraVe 54.2% |
| Trust and recommendation | 24 | EltaMD | 83.3% | La Roche‑Posay 75%, Neutrogena 75%, CeraVe 62.5% |
| Ownership and maker attribution | 24 | La Roche‑Posay | 62.5% | Neutrogena 54.2%, EltaMD 50%, Banana Boat 41.7% |
| Quality and premium tier | 24 | La Roche‑Posay | 70.8% | EltaMD 70.8%, Supergoop! 66.7%, Neutrogena 37.5% |
| Durability and longevity | 24 | La Roche‑Posay | 66.7% | EltaMD 58.3%, Blue Lizard 54.2%, Coppertone 50% |
| Specialist / advanced use | 24 | La Roche‑Posay | 70.8% | EltaMD 66.7%, Supergoop! 45.8%, Neutrogena 45.8% |
| General best-in-category | 24 | La Roche‑Posay | 95.8% | Supergoop! 95.8%, EltaMD 87.5%, Neutrogena 83.3% |
| Everyday and mainstream choice | 24 | EltaMD | 95.8% | CeraVe 95.8%, La Roche‑Posay 91.7%, Supergoop! 91.7% |
| Emerging and new entrants | 16 | Beauty of Joseon | 37.5% | La Roche‑Posay 25%, Neutrogena 18.8%, Sun Bum 12.5% |
| — SPF — | | | | |
| best sunscreen for face | 8 | EltaMD | 75% | CeraVe 62.5%, La Roche‑Posay 50%, Supergoop! 50% |
| chemical vs mineral sunscreen which is better | 8 | La Roche‑Posay | 50% | EltaMD 50%, CeraVe 50%, Blue Lizard 50% |
| best sunscreen for oily skin | 8 | Supergoop! | 100% | EltaMD 87.5%, La Roche‑Posay 62.5%, CeraVe 62.5% |
| best mineral sunscreen no white cast | 8 | ISDIN | 37.5% | Colorescience, Inc 37.5%, La Roche‑Posay 25%, EltaMD 25% |
| best sunscreen for dark skin tones | 8 | Supergoop! | 75% | Black Girl Sunscreen 50%, CeraVe 37.5%, Colorescience, Inc 37.5% |
| best tinted sunscreen | 8 | EltaMD | 62.5% | La Roche‑Posay 50%, Supergoop! 50%, CeraVe 37.5% |
| best sunscreen for kids | 8 | La Roche‑Posay | 62.5% | Neutrogena 50%, Blue Lizard 50%, Coppertone 50% |
| best sunscreen for acne prone skin | 8 | EltaMD | 87.5% | Supergoop! 87.5%, La Roche‑Posay 62.5%, Neutrogena 62.5% |
| best sunscreen stick for reapplication | 8 | EltaMD | 62.5% | Supergoop! 62.5%, Shiseido 50%, CeraVe 37.5% |
| best reef safe sunscreen | 8 | Blue Lizard | 87.5% | Badger 75%, CeraVe 37.5%, Sun Bum 37.5% |
| best SPF moisturizer for daily wear | 8 | La Roche‑Posay | 62.5% | EltaMD 62.5%, Neutrogena 50%, CeraVe 50% |
| best waterproof sunscreen for swimming | 8 | Coppertone | 62.5% | La Roche‑Posay 50%, Supergoop! 50%, Neutrogena 50% |
| best sunscreen under makeup | 8 | EltaMD | 100% | Supergoop! 100%, La Roche‑Posay 62.5%, CeraVe 50% |
| best mineral sunscreen for rosacea and redness | 8 | EltaMD | 75% | CeraVe 62.5%, La Roche‑Posay 50%, Colorescience, Inc 37.5% |
| best drugstore sunscreen | 8 | Neutrogena | 87.5% | La Roche‑Posay 75%, CeraVe 62.5%, Sun Bum 62.5% |
| best sunscreen for eczema prone skin | 8 | CeraVe | 62.5% | La Roche‑Posay 50%, EltaMD 50%, Blue Lizard 50% |
The data reveals that La Roche-Posay and EltaMD capture general and clinical demand, while Supergoop! competes strongly in format-specific prompts (like tint or finish). Brands like Blue Lizard and Thinkbaby surface primarily when prompts require mineral filter recommendations. Acne-prone and eczema-prone sunscreen prompts overlap with the Acne Treatments AI Citation Benchmark 2026 and the Sensitive Skin & Barrier Repair AI Citation Benchmark 2026, where La Roche-Posay and CeraVe lead.
Where do the answers come from?
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) requires understanding which sources provide the retrieval evidence models use to build answers. Owned domains rarely provide this evidence in the sunscreen category.
Share of the 477 answers with retrieval evidence that cited a URL on the brand's own website.
