AI search statistics (2026)
Original, citable data on how AI answer engines actually recommend brands. We asked ChatGPT and Gemini the same buyer questions 96 times across 6 software categories. The finding: AI has durable “default” picks, a volatile middle tier, and it ignores some household names entirely — so a single check tells you almost nothing.
96
AI answers sampled
ChatGPT + Gemini, 16 runs each across 6 categories.
100%
Default-brand appearance
The leading brand in every category was named in all 16 runs.
83%
Categories where #1 flipped
The brand named first changed at least once in 5 of 6 categories.
38%
Salesforce, SMB CRM
The market leader appeared in barely a third of answers.
0%
Big names never named
LastPass, Basecamp, ConvertKit, Sage & Copper for their categories.
0%
Median top-3 churn
The top set is stable run to run — even as the order shifts.
Source: MentionPop AI Recommendation Consistency Index, August 2026 (96 observations, 6 categories). Sampled evidence, not guaranteed rankings.
What the data says.
- 01AI answer engines have durable “default” recommendations: in all 6 categories tested, the leading brand appeared in 100% of runs.
- 02Position is not deterministic — the brand named first flipped at least once in 83% of categories (5 of 6).
- 03Salesforce, the best-known CRM, appeared in only 38% of “best CRM for a small B2B sales team” answers.
- 04Brand recognition does not transfer to AI recommendations: LastPass, Basecamp, ConvertKit, Constant Contact, Wrike, Sage, Gorgias and Copper each appeared 0% of the time in their categories.
- 05The middle tier is the most volatile: appearance rates ranged widely (Mailchimp 81%, Brevo 63%, ActiveCampaign 31%, Dashlane 50%, NordPass 44%, Jira 38%).
- 06Because top-3 churn between consecutive runs had a median of 0%, the top of each list is stable while everything below it swings — so a single check is most misleading for mid-tier brands.
Share of 16 runs each brand was named.
Project management software
Most-named: Monday.com
CRM software
Most-named: HubSpot
Email marketing software
Most-named: Klaviyo
Accounting software
Most-named: QuickBooks
Help desk software
Most-named: Zendesk
Password managers
Most-named: 1Password
For each of 6 categories (project management, CRM, email marketing, accounting, help desk, password managers) we asked one buyer-intent prompt 8 times on ChatGPT and 8 times on Gemini — 16 runs per category, 96 observations total — with response caching disabled so every run was a fresh sample.
For a curated set of well-known brands per category we recorded whether each was named and in what order, then computed appearance rate (share of runs naming a brand) and top-3 churn (how much the top set changed between consecutive runs). Window: August 2026.
Limitations: this is a pilot — one prompt per category, brand detection limited to a curated list, and results reflect the study window. AI answers are non-deterministic and shift over time and by region. See the full study and the sampled-observation methodology.
Free to reference — a link back is appreciated.
This dataset is published under CC BY 4.0. Writing about AI search, GEO, or AEO? You're welcome to quote these numbers. Please attribute MentionPop and link to the study.
Citation
MentionPop. (2026). The AI Recommendation Consistency Index. https://mentionpop.com/research/ai-recommendation-consistency-index-2026/
Embed (HTML)
<p>According to <a href="https://mentionpop.com/research/ai-recommendation-consistency-index-2026/">MentionPop's AI Recommendation Consistency Index (2026)</a>, AI answer engines named each category's leading brand in 100% of runs, yet Salesforce appeared in only 38% of "best CRM" answers.</p>
See it for your brand
Your appearance rate, measured like this.
MentionPop runs this exact repeated sampling for your category and market — then reports your appearance rate, the sources AI cites, competitor appearances, and the first fix to make.