Industry report · Data as of 1. October 2026
SaaS & Software
AI models recommend Zoho 29 times in this vertical, but the brand does not appear in classic web search.
HubSpot is the most frequently cited brand by AI assistants and also maintains a strong top-five presence in classic web search. A notable divergence emerges between the two formats, as heavily cited AI recommendations like Zoho and Sage Group fail to rank anywhere within 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
2 of the 10 most-named AI brands are also among the 10 most visible brands in web search. The others lead in one channel only.
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Leader in both channels
HubSpot is the most-named AI brand that is also among the 10 most visible brands in web search: #1 in AI answers, #2 in web search.
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Largest channel asymmetry
Zendesk is named 24× in AI answers and appears 6× in classic web search. AI models weight the brand more heavily than Google does.
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Web search only
71 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
4 of the 10 most-named AI brands appear in at least two thirds of the model runs for their queries. The others may be missing on the next query; repeatable visibility is not a given, even at the top.
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
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HubSpot demonstrates strong visibility across both channels, appearing in 47% of AI queries across all four measured platforms while maintaining a high average classic web search rank of 4.0. Despite this broad reach and 42 positive mentions, its run consistency sits at just 48%, indicating that its AI appearances fluctuate significantly across different query sessions.
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sevdesk exhibits an AI-exclusive visibility profile, appearing across all four AI assistant platforms with an average position of 1.2 while failing to rank within the top 10 of classic web search. Whenever the brand is triggered in its 7% query coverage, it achieves a perfect 100% run consistency and generates entirely positive sentiment.
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WordPress relies entirely on AI for its top-tier visibility, reaching an average position of 1.5 across all four assistant platforms while remaining absent from the classic web search top 10. The brand appears in 7% of queries with a strong 83% run consistency and an exclusively positive sentiment profile.
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awork maintains a balanced presence, appearing in 13% of queries across all four AI platforms while also securing an average classic web search rank of 5.2. The brand achieves a noticeably higher average position in AI assistants at 2.5 compared to its traditional search ranking, supported by 13 entirely positive sentiment mentions.
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Zendesk shows steady visibility in both channels, appearing across all four AI platforms in 13% of queries and holding an average classic web search rank of 7.3. The brand stands out by achieving a perfect 100% run consistency in its AI appearances, alongside a higher average AI position of 2.8 compared to its traditional search placement.
| # | Brand | Prominence |
|---|---|---|
| 6 ↑1 |
Slack
slack.com |
69.4 |
| 7 ↓1 |
Zoho
zoho.com |
68.4 |
| 8 New |
Pipedrive
pipedrive.com |
67.8 |
| 9 ↓6 |
Lexware
lexware.de |
66.9 |
| 10 New |
Mocoapp
mocoapp.com |
65.9 |
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 | September 2026 | Current |
|---|---|---|
|
HubSpot
hubspot.com |
#1 | #1 |
|
sevdesk
sevdesk.de |
#4 | #2 |
|
WordPress Foundation
wordpress.org |
– | #3 |
|
awork
awork.com |
#10 | #4 |
|
Zendesk
zendesk.com |
#2 | #5 |
|
Slack
slack.com |
#7 | #6 |
|
Zoho
zoho.com |
#6 | #7 |
|
Pipedrive
pipedrive.com |
– | #8 |
|
Lexware
lexware.de |
#3 | #9 |
|
Mocoapp
mocoapp.com |
– | #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|
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.
8 AI only 2 in both 8 web search only
-
1
Fuer-Gruender⌀ rank 3.5 · 4 hits
-
2
HubSpot⌀ rank 4.0 · 4 hits
-
3
trusted⌀ rank 5.4 · 5 hits
-
4
awork⌀ rank 5.3 · 4 hits
-
5
Zendesk⌀ rank 7.3 · 6 hits
stable Brands named in at least two thirds of a query's model runs on average, across the queries they appear in.
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 |
|---|---|
|
Fuer-Gruender
fuer-gruender.de |
4 |
|
Trusted
trusted.de |
5 |
|
Peoplemanagingpeople
peoplemanagingpeople.com |
3 |
|
Softwareabc24
softwareabc24.de |
3 |
|
Handelsblatt
handelsblatt.com |
3 |
Visible in AI answers, absent from web search
| Brand | AI mentions |
|---|---|
|
Zoho
zoho.com |
29 |
|
Sage Group
sage.com |
21 |
|
Personio
personio.de |
20 |
|
Salesforce
salesforce.com |
16 |
|
Intercom
intercom.com |
16 |
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 at least two thirds of model runs
|
24 |
|
Borderline
appears in one to two thirds of model runs; plan for it with care
|
55 |
|
Drift
appears only sporadically; may be missing on the next run
|
147 |
Based on 226 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.
The queries ask for: 15× products
| Query | AI top |
|---|---|
| bestes CRM für kleine Unternehmen | Pipedrive 12× |
| welches Projektmanagement-Tool für Agenturen | ClickUp 9× |
| beste Buchhaltungssoftware für Selbstständige | sevdesk 12× |
| bestes HR-Tool für Startups | Personio 9× |
| welche E-Mail-Marketing-Software empfehlen | Brevo 12× |
| beste Helpdesk-Software für B2B | Zendesk 12× |
| welches CMS für Unternehmenswebsites | Drupal 11× |
| beste Analytics-Plattform für SaaS | Amplitude 10× |
| empfehlenswerte Team-Chat-Software | Slack 12× |
| bestes Tool für Kundensupport-Automatisierung | Intercom 9× |
| welche Video-Meeting-Software für Unternehmen | Zoom 10× |
| beste Dokumenten-Management-Software | DocuWare 10× |
| beste Lohnabrechnungssoftware für KMU | Sage Payroll 9× |
| welches Tool für Lead-Generierung im B2B | Clay 6× |
| beste Zeiterfassungssoftware für Agenturen | Harvest 12× |
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 Product
|
74.0 |
| 2 |
sevdesk
sevdesk.de Product
|
70.8 |
| 3 |
WordPress Foundation
wordpress.org Product
|
70.1 |
| 4 |
awork
awork.com Product
|
69.9 |
| 5 |
Zendesk
zendesk.com Product
|
69.4 |
| 6 |
Slack
slack.com Product
|
69.4 |
| 7 |
Zoho
zoho.com Product
|
68.4 |
| 8 |
Pipedrive
pipedrive.com Product
|
67.8 |
| 9 |
Lexware
lexware.de Product
|
66.9 |
| 10 |
Mocoapp
mocoapp.com Product
|
65.9 |
| 11 |
ActiveCampaign
activecampaign.com Product
|
65.7 |
| 12 |
Brevo
brevo.com Product
|
65.4 |
| 13 |
Drupal Association
drupal.org Institution
|
65.1 |
| 14 |
Papierkram
papierkram.de Product
|
64.4 |
| 15 |
Asana
asana.com Product
|
64.4 |
| 16 |
ClickUp
clickup.com Product
|
64.1 |
| 17 |
Personio
personio.de Product
|
63.9 |
| 18 |
Teamwork
teamwork.com Product
|
63.3 |
| 19 |
Salesforce
salesforce.com Product
|
63.1 |
| 20 |
Getharvest
getharvest.com Product
|
63.0 |
| 21 |
Sage Group
sage.com Product
|
62.9 |
| 22 |
Zoom
zoom.us Product
|
62.9 |
| 23 |
Freshdesk
freshdesk.com Product
|
62.8 |
| 24 |
Productive
productive.io Product
|
61.9 |
| 25 |
TYPO3
typo3.com Product
|
61.8 |
| 26 |
Mattermost
mattermost.com Product
|
61.8 |
| 27 |
Freshworks
freshworks.com Product
|
61.0 |
| 28 |
Mixpanel
mixpanel.com Product
|
60.8 |
| 29 |
Intercom
intercom.com Product
|
60.3 |
| 30 |
Amplitude
amplitude.com Product
|
60.2 |
| 31 |
Atlassian
atlassian.com
|
59.6 |
| 32 |
buhl
buhl.de Product
|
59.4 |
| 33 |
MailerLite
mailerlite.com Product
|
59.2 |
| 34 |
Klaviyo
klaviyo.com Product
|
59.2 |
| 35 |
Clockodo
clockodo.com Product
|
59.0 |
| 36 |
ZEP
zep.de Product
|
59.0 |
| 37 |
Mailchimp
mailchimp.com Product
|
58.5 |
| 38 |
ChartMogul
chartmogul.com Product
|
58.5 |
| 39 |
Wrike
wrike.com Product
|
58.1 |
| 40 |
DocuWare
docuware.com Product
|
57.6 |
| 41 |
Doxis
doxis.com
|
57.1 |
| 42 |
Monday
monday.com Product
|
56.9 |
| 43 |
TeamSupport
teamsupport.com Product
|
56.9 |
| 44 |
Cisco Webex
webex.com Product
|
56.2 |
| 45 |
Accountable
accountable.de Product
|
56.0 |
| 46 |
Gusto
gusto.com
|
55.0 |
| 47 |
BambooHR
bamboohr.com Product
|
54.8 |
| 48 |
M-Files
m-files.com Product
|
54.4 |
| 49 |
Toggl Track
toggl.com Product
|
53.4 |
| 50 |
La Growth Machine
lagrowthmachine.com
|
52.8 |
| 51 |
Fastsharepoint
fastsharepoint.com
|
52.4 |
| 52 |
CleverReach
cleverreach.com
|
52.0 |
| 53 |
ELO Digital Office
elo.com
|
51.3 |
| 54 |
ecoDMS
ecodms.de
|
51.3 |
| 55 |
rapidmail
rapidmail.de Product
|
50.8 |
| 56 |
DATEV
datev.de Service provider
|
50.6 |
| 57 |
Factorialhr
factorialhr.de
|
50.4 |
| 58 |
Baremetrics
baremetrics.com Product
|
50.1 |
| 59 |
Sitecore
sitecore.com
|
50.1 |
| 60 |
Rippling
rippling.com
|
49.9 |
| 61 |
Deel
deel.com Product
|
49.0 |
| 62 |
Plain
plain.com
|
48.5 |
| 63 |
Contentful
contentful.com
|
48.5 |
| 64 |
PostHog
posthog.com
|
48.2 |
| 65 |
enaio
enaio.com
|
48.2 |
| 66 |
Salesflare
salesflare.com
|
48.2 |
| 67 |
Paperless-ngx
docs.paperless-ngx.com
|
48.2 |
| 68 |
eDesk
edesk.com
|
47.5 |
| 69 |
Discord
discord.com
|
47.4 |
| 70 |
Magnoliasystems
magnoliasystems.ai
|
47.4 |
| 71 |
Gorgias
gorgias.com
|
47.1 |
| 72 |
HiBob
hibob.com
|
47.1 |
| 73 |
Quantumdesk
quantumdesk.com
|
46.6 |
| 74 |
Element
element.io Product
|
46.2 |
| 75 |
GoTo
goto.com Product
|
46.0 |
| 76 |
BuchhaltungsButler
buchhaltungsbutler.de Product
|
46.0 |
| 77 |
eesel AI
eesel.ai
|
45.9 |
| 78 |
Start
start.docuware.com
|
45.9 |
| 79 |
Freshsales
freshsales.com
|
45.9 |
| 80 |
D--Velop
d--velop.com
|
45.9 |
| 81 |
Jimdo
jimdo.com
|
45.9 |
| 82 |
Stockpress
stockpress.com
|
45.9 |
| 83 |
Activecollab
activecollab.com
|
45.9 |
| 84 |
Constant Contact
constantcontact.com
|
45.9 |
| 85 |
Amagno
amagno.de
|
45.5 |
| 86 |
Clockify
clockify.me
|
45.1 |
| 87 |
GoodData
gooddata.com
|
45.1 |
| 88 |
Zulip
zulip.com
|
44.4 |
| 89 |
Eurodata
eurodata.de Product
|
44.2 |
| 90 |
Adobe
adobe.com Product
|
43.8 |
| 91 |
Clay
clay.com Product
|
43.7 |
| 92 |
Wpvip
wpvip.com
|
43.7 |
| 93 |
Resnav
resnav.com
|
43.6 |
| 94 |
Sender
sender.net
|
43.6 |
| 95 |
Shopware
shopware.com
|
43.6 |
| 96 |
Optimizely
optimizely.com
|
43.6 |
| 97 |
Front
front.com
|
42.9 |
| 98 |
Memtime
memtime.com
|
42.8 |
| 99 |
CentralStationCRM
centralstationcrm.de Product
|
42.5 |
| 100 |
Strapi
strapi.io
|
42.4 |
Showing 100 of 226 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. The category (service provider, product, marketplace, media outlet) is classified only for the most-mentioned brands; it stays empty for the rest.
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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. October 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 — Oktober 2026. Industry report, data as of October 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