AI answers data · 10 categories
Who AI recommends, category by category
On November 6, 2026, we asked ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode the same buyer questions in 10 software categories: 250 answers, counted brand by brand, with the sites each answer cited.
The 10 categories we measured
Each page shows the brands named in 25 answers from 5 engines, the differences between engines, the sites AI reads, and the exact questions asked.
- Who AI recommends for accounting software for small business
Out of 25 answers, Zoho Books was named in 22, QuickBooks in 21 and Wave in 20.
- Who AI recommends for antivirus software
Out of 25 answers, Bitdefender was named in 25, Microsoft Defender in 23 and Norton in 20.
- Who AI recommends for cloud storage
Out of 25 answers, Google Drive was named in 21, Microsoft OneDrive in 20 and Proton Drive in 19.
- Who AI recommends for CRM software
Out of 25 answers, HubSpot was named in 24, Zoho CRM in 21 and Pipedrive in 19.
- Who AI recommends for note-taking apps
Out of 25 answers, Microsoft OneNote was named in 23, Notion in 19 and Apple Notes in 18.
- Who AI recommends for password managers
Out of 25 answers, Bitwarden was named in 25, 1Password in 20 and Proton Pass in 19.
- Who AI recommends for project management software
Out of 25 answers, ClickUp was named in 23, Asana in 21 and Jira in 17.
- Who AI recommends for video editing software
Out of 25 answers, DaVinci Resolve was named in 25, CapCut in 19 and Adobe Premiere Pro in 17.
- Who AI recommends for web hosting
Out of 25 answers, Hostinger was named in 25, SiteGround in 18 and Bluehost in 13.
- Who AI recommends for website builders
Out of 25 answers, Wix was named in 25, Squarespace in 24 and Shopify in 20.
How we collected and counted the answers
Same 5 generic questions per category for every engine, no brand in the questions, English, United States, one run on November 6, 2026 (UTC); a brand counts once per answer that names it.
Published November 6, 2026. Updated November 6, 2026. Background on how these engines answer: Google on AI Overviews and AI Mode, Perplexity on how it searches, Pew Research Center on clicks when an AI summary appears and the GEO research paper (Princeton, KDD 2024). More of our data: the English fan-out study, how AI chooses brands and what GEO is.
“As with Search overall, the AI features AI Overviews and AI Mode surface relevant links to help people find the information they’re looking for quickly and reliably, as well as to help them explore content they may not have discovered before.”Google Search Central, AI features and your website
No affiliation, no endorsement
Howseen has no affiliation with the brands named on these pages and none of them endorsed this study; brand names are used only to report what AI answers said. Corrections: raphael@howseen.ai.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers on the method, the brands named, corrections, and how to see what AI says about your own brand.
How were these answers collected?
On November 6, 2026 we asked ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode the same 5 generic buyer questions per category, in English, located in the United States. That is 250 answers in total, 25 per category.
Does Howseen rank or review these brands?
No. Each page reports what the AI answers said on one date: which brands they named and which sites they cited. We make no judgment on the quality of any brand and have no affiliation with them.
Why do some well-known brands appear less often?
AI engines build answers from the sources they read for that question. A brand that is rarely mentioned on those sources is named less often, whatever its size. Each category page lists the sites the answers cited.
Can a brand ask for a correction?
Yes. Write to raphael@howseen.ai with the page and the point in question; we check it against the raw answers and correct any error.
Can I see what AI says about my own brand?
Howseen tracks the questions your buyers ask on up to six AI engines, every 3 days or daily on Business, and shows which brands and sources are named instead of you. The trial lasts 3 days.
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