Industry report · Data as of 1. August 2026
SaaS & Software
AI models recommend Sage Group 23 times in this vertical, but the brand does not appear in classic web search.
HubSpot is the most frequently cited brand by AI assistants, although it does not lead in classic web search rankings. A significant divergence emerges with Sage Group, which ties for the second-highest number of AI citations despite failing to appear in the top ten of classic web search results.
15 Queries Sample: 195 AI models: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity
What stands out in this industry
Achtung.app derives every observation directly from the collected numbers. It describes visibility in AI answers, not product quality.
-
Channel consensus
3 of 10 top brands appear in both channels. The others are named only by AI or only in classic web search.
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Leader in both channels
HubSpot is the most-cited brand in AI answers and is also prominent in classic web search.
-
Largest channel asymmetry
Zoho is named 20× in AI answers and appears 1× in classic web search. AI models weight the brand more heavily than Google does.
-
Web search only
64 domains appear in classic web search but are named by no AI model. Mostly comparison portals, trade media, and established industry sites.
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Stability
10 % of AI mentions are stable. The others may be missing on the next query; reproducible visibility cannot be taken for granted.
The 10 most visible brands in AI answers
Ranked by AI prominence, a consolidated 0–100 visibility score: how often a brand is named, across how many AI models, at what position, and in what sentiment. Two further factors (recommendation strength, momentum) cannot be measured here and remain hidden. How the score is calculated
-
HubSpot achieves broad visibility across all four measured AI platforms, appearing in 40% of queries with an average AI position of 3.5 that slightly outpaces its classic web search rank of 4.5. The brand maintains an overwhelmingly favorable sentiment profile, accumulating 48 positive mentions with zero negative citations.
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Zendesk is cited in 20% of queries by all four AI assistants, demonstrating a strong visibility profile that visibly outpaces its classic web search performance. The brand captures a high average AI answer position of 2.2, which contrasts sharply with its lower average rank of 6.3 in traditional search results.
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Slack appears in 13% of queries across all four AI platforms, securing a notably higher average position in AI answers at 1.6 compared to its classic web search rank of 6.0. Furthermore, every single one of its 13 AI mentions registers as strictly positive.
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sevdesk is cited in 7% of queries across all four AI platforms, displaying a highly specialized AI-only visibility profile since it does not appear in the classic web search top 10. Despite its narrower query coverage, the brand achieves a perfect average AI position of 1.0 alongside a flawless 100% run consistency across measured prompts.
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Zoom surfaces in 13% of queries across all four AI platforms with a high average placement of 2.1, representing a distinct AI-first visibility profile. While it consistently secures prominent positions in AI-generated answers with exclusively positive sentiment, the brand fails to rank within the top 10 of classic web search results.
| # | Brand | Prominence |
|---|---|---|
| 6 ↑3 |
Lexware
lexware.de |
54.5 |
| 7 ↓3 |
Sage Group
sage.com |
54.0 |
| 8 New |
awork
awork.com |
53.3 |
| 9 New |
Freshdesk
freshdesk.com |
53.3 |
| 10 ↓3 |
Gusto
gusto.com |
53.1 |
Your brand not in the top 10? The free scan shows whether ChatGPT and Gemini recommend it.
Start free scanPast measurements
How the current top brands ranked across previous measurement cycles. Achtung.app re-collects each industry report monthly and keeps earlier snapshots archived.
| Brand | July 2026 | Current |
|---|---|---|
|
HubSpot
hubspot.com |
#1 | #1 |
|
Zendesk
zendesk.com |
#10 | #2 |
|
Slack
slack.com |
#2 | #3 |
|
sevdesk
sevdesk.de |
#5 | #4 |
|
Zoom
zoom.us |
– | #5 |
|
Lexware
lexware.de |
#9 | #6 |
|
Sage Group
sage.com |
#4 | #7 |
|
awork
awork.com |
– | #8 |
|
Freshdesk
freshdesk.com |
– | #9 |
|
Gusto
gusto.com |
#7 | #10 |
– = not in the top 10 of that measurement cycle.
Same brands, different visibility
Brands present in both channels, normalized to the per-channel peak and sorted by asymmetry. A long AI bar next to a short web-search bar means the brand is named disproportionately often by AI models even though it barely appears in organic web-search results. The reverse holds too.
Normalized per channel to the peak · sorted by |Δ|
Normalized per channel to the peak · sorted by |Δ|
Normalized per channel to the peak · sorted by |Δ|
AI top 10 vs. web-search top 10
On the left, the brands named most often in AI answers; on the right, the brands most visible in classic web-search results. Pink lines connect brands that appear in both top-10 lists.
7 AI only 3 in both 7 web search only
-
1
OMR⌀ Rank 4,1 · 12 Treffer
-
2
Fuer-Gruender⌀ Rank 3,0 · 5 Treffer
-
3
Zendesk⌀ Rank 6,3 · 7 Treffer
-
4
trusted⌀ Rank 4,0 · 4 Treffer
-
5
awork⌀ Rank 5,0 · 4 Treffer
stable Brands that appear in at least two of three model runs per query.
Where web search and AI diverge
Brands only one of the two channels knows. For one side that is a gap in AI visibility, for the other a gap in classic web search.
Visible in web search, absent from AI answers
| Brand | Web hits |
|---|---|
|
Omr
omr.com |
12 |
|
Fuer-Gruender
fuer-gruender.de |
5 |
|
Trusted
trusted.de |
4 |
|
Softwareabc24
softwareabc24.de |
5 |
|
Handelsblatt
handelsblatt.com |
3 |
Visible in AI answers, absent from web search
| Brand | AI mentions |
|---|---|
|
Sage Group
sage.com |
23 |
|
Freshdesk
freshdesk.com |
19 |
|
Personio
personio.de |
18 |
|
Zoom
zoom.us |
15 |
|
Cisco Webex
webex.com |
14 |
One-off hits are excluded: a brand appears here from two mentions in the respective channel onwards. GEO gap in the glossary
How stable are the AI mentions?
AI models do not answer deterministically. Achtung.app runs every query multiple times per model and measures how reliably a brand is named.
| Classification | Brands |
|---|---|
|
Stable
appears reliably in ≥ 2 of 3 runs
|
25 |
|
Borderline
appears in 1 of 3 runs; plan for it with care
|
55 |
|
Drift
appears only sporadically; may be missing on the next run
|
181 |
Based on 261 brands with a recorded run consistency. Run consistency in the glossary
The queries Achtung.app tracked
15 brand-free queries, each put to every AI model and to classic web search.
| Query | AI top |
|---|---|
| bestes CRM für kleine Unternehmen | HubSpot CRM 12× |
| welches Projektmanagement-Tool für Agenturen | awork 12× |
| beste Buchhaltungssoftware für Selbstständige | Lexware Office 11× |
| bestes HR-Tool für Startups | Gusto 12× |
| welche E-Mail-Marketing-Software empfehlen | ActiveCampaign 12× |
| beste Helpdesk-Software für B2B | Zendesk 11× |
| welches CMS für Unternehmenswebsites | WordPress 9× |
| beste Analytics-Plattform für SaaS | Amplitude 12× |
| empfehlenswerte Team-Chat-Software | Slack 12× |
| bestes Tool für Kundensupport-Automatisierung | Tidio 10× |
| welche Video-Meeting-Software für Unternehmen | Zoom 11× |
| beste Lohnabrechnungssoftware für KMU | Personio 10× |
| beste Dokumenten-Management-Software | DocuWare 11× |
| welches Tool für Lead-Generierung im B2B | HubSpot 7× |
| beste Zeiterfassungssoftware für Agenturen | Clockodo 9× |
Consensus = how many of the AI top-3 brands also appear in the classic web search top 3.
Brands compared
Every brand with at least one AI mention, ranked by AI prominence. The order measures visibility, not quality.
| # | Brand | Prominence |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
HubSpot
hubspot.com
|
60.4 |
| 2 |
Zendesk
zendesk.com
|
57.2 |
| 3 |
Slack
slack.com
|
56.6 |
| 4 |
sevdesk
sevdesk.de
|
55.9 |
| 5 |
Zoom
zoom.us
|
55.4 |
| 6 |
Lexware
lexware.de
|
54.5 |
| 7 |
Sage Group
sage.com
|
54.0 |
| 8 |
awork
awork.com
|
53.3 |
| 9 |
Freshdesk
freshdesk.com
|
53.3 |
| 10 |
Gusto
gusto.com
|
53.1 |
| 11 |
Pipedrive
pipedrive.com
|
52.9 |
| 12 |
Brevo
brevo.com
|
52.2 |
| 13 |
DocuWare
docuware.com
|
52.0 |
| 14 |
Personio
personio.de
|
51.9 |
| 15 |
Intercom
intercom.com
|
51.9 |
| 16 |
Rippling
rippling.com
|
51.5 |
| 17 |
Cisco Webex
webex.com
|
51.2 |
| 18 |
ActiveCampaign
activecampaign.com
|
51.2 |
| 19 |
Amplitude
amplitude.com
|
51.1 |
| 20 |
Shopify
shopify.com
|
51.0 |
| 21 |
MailerLite
mailerlite.com
|
50.8 |
| 22 |
Papierkram
papierkram.de
|
50.8 |
| 23 |
Mixpanel
mixpanel.com
|
50.4 |
| 24 |
Tidio
tidio.com
|
50.1 |
| 25 |
Zoho
zoho.com
|
48.5 |
| 26 |
Clockodo
clockodo.com
|
46.6 |
| 27 |
TYPO3
typo3.com
|
45.9 |
| 28 |
WordPress Foundation
wordpress.org
|
45.2 |
| 29 |
Monday
monday.com
|
44.7 |
| 30 |
Asana
asana.com
|
44.3 |
| 31 |
Salesforce
salesforce.com
|
44.0 |
| 32 |
Getharvest
getharvest.com
|
43.8 |
| 33 |
BambooHR
bamboohr.com
|
43.8 |
| 34 |
Clockify
clockify.me
|
43.6 |
| 35 |
ZEP
zep.de
|
43.6 |
| 36 |
Adobe
adobe.com
|
42.9 |
| 37 |
Klaviyo
klaviyo.com
|
42.9 |
| 38 |
WISO MeinBüro
wiso-meinbuero.de
|
42.2 |
| 39 |
DATALINE
dataline.de
|
41.8 |
| 40 |
Drupal Association
drupal.org
|
41.3 |
| 41 |
Accountable
accountable.de
|
41.3 |
| 42 |
Mailchimp
mailchimp.com
|
40.6 |
| 43 |
ClickUp
clickup.com
|
40.6 |
| 44 |
Discord
discord.com
|
40.4 |
| 45 |
BuchhaltungsButler
buchhaltungsbutler.de
|
40.1 |
| 46 |
ChartMogul
chartmogul.com
|
39.0 |
| 47 |
Gotomeeting
gotomeeting.com
|
39.0 |
| 48 |
Baremetrics
baremetrics.com
|
37.8 |
| 49 |
Deel
deel.com
|
37.6 |
| 50 |
M-Files
m-files.com
|
37.1 |
| 51 |
Help Scout
helpscout.com
|
37.0 |
| 52 |
Atlassian
atlassian.com
|
37.0 |
| 53 |
ConvertKit
convertkit.com
|
36.4 |
| 54 |
Plain
plain.com
|
35.9 |
| 55 |
Laserfiche
laserfiche.com
|
35.9 |
| 56 |
TimeTac
timetac.com
|
35.4 |
| 57 |
Jimdo
jimdo.com
|
34.9 |
| 58 |
LiveAgent
liveagent.com
|
34.5 |
| 59 |
Webwork-Tracker
webwork-tracker.com
|
34.1 |
| 60 |
Omnisend
omnisend.com
|
33.6 |
| 61 |
GoodData
gooddata.com
|
33.6 |
| 62 |
Trello
trello.com
|
33.6 |
| 63 |
Helply
helply.com
|
33.1 |
| 64 |
Leadinfo
leadinfo.com
|
33.1 |
| 65 |
Sendinblue
sendinblue.com
|
32.9 |
| 66 |
Dealfront
dealfront.com
|
32.9 |
| 67 |
Timo24
timo24.de
|
32.9 |
| 68 |
Wpvip
wpvip.com
|
32.8 |
| 69 |
Plausible Analytics
plausible.io
|
32.8 |
| 70 |
eDesk
edesk.com
|
32.8 |
| 71 |
DocHub
dochub.com
|
32.8 |
| 72 |
enaio
enaio.com
|
32.8 |
| 73 |
Pylon AI
pylon.com
|
32.8 |
| 74 |
SD Worx
sdworx.de
|
32.8 |
| 75 |
Contao Open Source CMS
contao.org
|
32.7 |
| 76 |
Webflow
webflow.com
|
32.4 |
| 77 |
Mattermost
mattermost.com
|
32.4 |
| 78 |
Wrike
wrike.com
|
32.0 |
| 79 |
PostHog
posthog.com
|
30.8 |
| 80 |
edlohn
edlohn.de
|
30.8 |
| 81 |
Chanty
chanty.com
|
30.8 |
| 82 |
Jitsi
jitsi.org
|
30.8 |
| 83 |
Clearbit has joined HubSpot
clearbit.com
|
30.8 |
| 84 |
Agenturbo
agenturbo.de
|
30.7 |
| 85 |
Ora
ora.pm
|
30.5 |
| 86 |
Celoxis
celoxis.com
|
30.5 |
| 87 |
Factorialhr
factorialhr.com
|
30.5 |
| 88 |
Automationanywhere
automationanywhere.com
|
30.1 |
| 89 |
Servicenow
servicenow.com
|
30.1 |
| 90 |
Sitecore
sitecore.com
|
29.7 |
| 91 |
Salesflare
salesflare.com
|
29.7 |
| 92 |
Heap
heap.io
|
29.4 |
| 93 |
Contentful
contentful.com
|
29.4 |
| 94 |
LeadScraper
leadscraper.de
|
28.5 |
| 95 |
La Growth Machine
lagrowthmachine.com
|
28.5 |
| 96 |
TriNet
trinet.com
|
28.2 |
| 97 |
Kenjo
kenjo.io
|
28.2 |
| 98 |
TeamSupport
teamsupport.com
|
28.2 |
| 99 |
Acquia
acquia.com
|
28.2 |
| 100 |
Evly
evly.ai
|
28.2 |
Showing 100 of 261 brands with an AI mention. The complete dataset is available as PDF, CSV or JSON. Δ = web-search prominence minus AI prominence, only for brands present in both channels.
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Download PDFMethodology
Achtung.app sends typical German-language queries for each industry to classic web search and to the active AI models. Queries are brand-free, so results show which brands surface organically. Both channels receive identical prompts so answers can be compared directly. Every brand named in the responses is extracted and consolidated on its canonical domain. The classic-web-search source is Brave Search, a Google-independent organic index.
3 runs per AI model per query; classic web search via a single top-10 fetch. Models queried: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity. Platforms and infrastructure (e.g. Google Analytics, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, TikTok) are excluded from the brand list because they are marketing channels, not competitors.
How Achtung.app collects, evaluates and what the method cannot do is set out in full in the methodology. Terms such as AI prominence, run consistency and GEO gap are explained in the glossary.
Frequently asked questions about this report
AI prominence is a 0–100 score built from four measured factors: in how many queries the brand is named (coverage), how many of the evaluated AI platforms cite it (breadth), where it appears in the answers (position), and how the mentions read (sentiment). Only measured values go in — no estimates.
This report is based on answers from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity. Each query was asked multiple times per platform; the details are in the methodology note above.
The numbers come from the collection run of 1. August 2026. Achtung.app re-collects this report monthly; the ranking and texts are fully recomputed each time.
No. The ranking measures how visible a brand is in AI answers, not the quality of its products or services. A high AI prominence means AI assistants name the brand frequently and prominently when users ask questions in this field.
The report only lists brands that appeared in the AI answers or in the classic web search top 10 for the tested queries. If a brand is missing, it was not named for this query set; that says nothing about other topic areas. Pure platform and infrastructure domains are deliberately excluded.
Yes. The published figures and rankings are licensed under CC BY 4.0: you may share and reuse them as long as you credit Achtung.app as the source and link to this page.
More industry reports
Who shows up in which industry in AI answers — Achtung.app measures it.
How to cite
If you use numbers from this report, please cite it like this:
Achtung.app (2026): SaaS & Software — August 2026. Industry report, data as of August 2026. https://achtung.app/branche/saas. License: CC BY 4.0.
Data in this report is published under CC BY 4.0 · Attribution: Achtung.app · Download the raw data: CSV · JSON