Key findings
- Answers are short lists. Each answer named 5.4 brands on average. If you aren’t in the top five or six for your category, you usually aren’t mentioned at all.
- The engines agree on the leader 10 times out of 15. They split on HR software, product analytics, e-signature, website builders, AI meeting notes. In those categories the first-named brand depends on which AI the buyer uses.
- Many brands appear in only one engine. 33 of the 98 brands we recorded were named by just one of the two engines. Being recommended by ChatGPT says little about Perplexity, and the reverse.
- Review sites and lists decide the answers. The most-cited sites were techradar.com, zapier.com, softwarecompare.net, zoho.com, dupple.com. Software vendors’ own blogs were cited too, mostly in their own categories.
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Results by category
Score out of 100: 10 points for being named first in an answer, down to 2 points for fifth and later, added across both engines. The ChatGPT and Perplexity columns show the order each engine named the brand.
Help desk
“What is the best help desk software for small teams?”
| Brand | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freshdesk | #1 | #1 | 100 |
| Help Scout | #2 | #3 | 70 |
| Zoho Desk | #3 | #2 | 70 |
| Intercom | – | #4 | 20 |
| Zendesk | #4 | – | 20 |
| Gorgias | – | #5 | 10 |
| Jira Service Management | #5 | – | 10 |
| Spiceworks | – | #7 | 10 |
| Tidio | – | #6 | 10 |
CRM
“What is the best CRM for startups?”
| Brand | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot | #1 | #1 | 100 |
| Pipedrive | #3 | #2 | 70 |
| Attio | #2 | #5 | 50 |
| Zoho CRM | #4 | #3 | 50 |
| Close | – | #4 | 20 |
| Salesforce | #5 | #6 | 20 |
Project management
“What is the best project management tool for small teams?”
| Brand | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asana | #1 | #1 | 100 |
| Trello | #2 | #2 | 80 |
| ClickUp | #3 | #3 | 60 |
| Notion | #4 | – | 20 |
| Zoho Projects | – | #4 | 20 |
| Basecamp | – | #6 | 10 |
| monday.com | #5 | – | 10 |
| Plutio | – | #5 | 10 |
Email marketing
“What is the best email marketing platform for small businesses?”
| Brand | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| MailerLite | #1 | #1 | 100 |
| Brevo | #3 | #2 | 70 |
| Mailchimp | #2 | #3 | 70 |
| Klaviyo | #4 | #6 | 30 |
| ActiveCampaign | #5 | #5 | 20 |
| Constant Contact | – | #4 | 20 |
Accounting
“What is the best accounting software for small businesses?”
| Brand | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| QuickBooks Online | #1 | #1 | 100 |
| Xero | #2 | #2 | 80 |
| FreshBooks | #3 | #4 | 50 |
| Zoho Books | #5 | #3 | 40 |
| Wave | #4 | #5 | 30 |
HR software
“What is the best HR software for small businesses?”
| Brand | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| BambooHR | #2 | #1 | 90 |
| Gusto | #1 | #2 | 90 |
| Zoho People | #4 | #3 | 50 |
| Rippling | #3 | #6 | 40 |
| Homebase | #5 | #4 | 30 |
| ADP RUN | – | #7 | 10 |
| Deel | – | #5 | 10 |
| Paychex Flex | – | #8 | 10 |
Live chat
“What is the best live chat software for a website?”
| Brand | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tidio | #1 | #1 | 100 |
| LiveChat | #3 | #2 | 70 |
| Intercom | #2 | #5 | 50 |
| tawk.to | #6 | #3 | 40 |
| Zendesk | #4 | #4 | 40 |
| HubSpot | #5 | – | 10 |
Product analytics
“What is the best product analytics tool for a SaaS company?”
| Brand | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amplitude | #1 | #2 | 90 |
| Mixpanel | #2 | #1 | 90 |
| PostHog | #3 | #3 | 60 |
| Heap | #4 | #4 | 40 |
| Gainsight PX | – | #6 | 10 |
| Pendo | – | #5 | 10 |
Password managers
“What is the best password manager for teams?”
| Brand | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Password | #1 | #1 | 100 |
| Bitwarden | #2 | #3 | 70 |
| Keeper | #3 | #2 | 70 |
| Dashlane | #4 | #4 | 40 |
| NordPass | – | #5 | 10 |
E-signature
“What is the best e-signature software?”
| Brand | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Acrobat Sign | #2 | #1 | 90 |
| DocuSign | #1 | #2 | 90 |
| PandaDoc | #4 | #3 | 50 |
| Dropbox Sign | #3 | – | 30 |
| SignNow | #5 | #4 | 30 |
| SignWell | – | #5 | 10 |
Meeting scheduling
“What is the best meeting scheduling software?”
| Brand | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calendly | #1 | #1 | 100 |
| Google Calendar | #2 | #2 | 80 |
| Cal.com | #3 | #6 | 40 |
| HubSpot Meetings | – | #3 | 30 |
| Doodle | #5 | #5 | 20 |
| Microsoft Bookings | #4 | – | 20 |
| SavvyCal | – | #4 | 20 |
| Acuity Scheduling | #6 | – | 10 |
| Reclaim | – | #7 | 10 |
Website builders
“What is the best website builder for a startup?”
| Brand | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Webflow | #2 | #2 | 80 |
| Wix | #3 | #1 | 80 |
| Framer | #1 | #4 | 70 |
| Shopify | #5 | #3 | 40 |
| Carrd | #4 | – | 20 |
| Hostinger | – | #5 | 10 |
Payroll
“What is the best payroll software for small businesses?”
| Brand | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gusto | #1 | #1 | 100 |
| QuickBooks Payroll | #2 | #2 | 80 |
| ADP RUN | #3 | #5 | 40 |
| OnPay | #4 | #4 | 40 |
| Patriot Payroll | – | #3 | 30 |
| Square Payroll | – | #6 | 10 |
AI meeting notes
“What is the best AI meeting notes app?”
| Brand | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fathom | #1 | #2 | 90 |
| Granola | #2 | #3 | 70 |
| Fellow | #5 | #1 | 60 |
| Fireflies.ai | #3 | #4 | 50 |
| Otter.ai | #4 | #5 | 30 |
Customer feedback
“What is the best customer feedback tool for SaaS?”
| Brand | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canny | #1 | #1 | 100 |
| Featurebase | #3 | #3 | 60 |
| Productboard | #2 | #4 | 60 |
| Gleap | – | #2 | 40 |
| Survicate | #4 | #6 | 30 |
| UserVoice | #5 | #5 | 20 |
| Hotjar | – | #7 | 10 |
The sites AI read most
Every answer cites the pages it was built from. These sites were cited in the most categories, across both engines. For most software, being listed and well described on them matters more than any change to your own homepage.
| Site | Categories cited in |
|---|---|
| techradar.com | 9 of 15 |
| zapier.com | 7 of 15 |
| softwarecompare.net | 6 of 15 |
| zoho.com | 6 of 15 |
| dupple.com | 6 of 15 |
| pcmag.com | 6 of 15 |
| itechguides.com | 5 of 15 |
| rankite.com | 5 of 15 |
| forbes.com | 5 of 15 |
| toolradar.com | 4 of 15 |
| techrepublic.com | 4 of 15 |
| zdnet.com | 4 of 15 |
| learn.g2.com | 4 of 15 |
| guides.reviews | 3 of 15 |
| salesforce.com | 3 of 15 |
Method
- When: October 2026 (collected 2026-10-22).
- Engines: ChatGPT (logged out, web search on) and Perplexity (Sonar, web search on), both asked from the United States.
- Questions: one plain buyer question per category, asked once per engine, with no follow-ups.
- Counting: a brand counts when the answer names it as an option. Order is where it is first named.
- Limits: AI answers vary between runs, users and locations. This is one snapshot. Later editions will add more runs, more engines and more categories.
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