Pineprompt analyzed 18,792 responses to 200 non-branded buyer prompts across 10 categories, run daily on seven AI search engines from September 30 to October 13, 2026. This is how the engines cite sources and name brands.
Key findings
- Perplexity cites a source in 100% of its answers (Gemini: 90.7%).
- The average answer names 6.2 tracked brands.
- 12.9% of brands are named by every engine; 46.2% by only one.
- Perplexity averages 10.1 citations per answer.
- Perplexity shows the highest day-to-day brand churn, at 68.8%.
The data is licensed under CC BY 4.0, so you may share and adapt it with attribution. Source: Pineprompt AI Search Visibility Benchmark 2026, pineprompt.com/research/ai-search-visibility-benchmark. The CSV is available.
Results by engine
| Engine | Answers with citations | Avg citations per answer | Avg brands named per answer | Day-to-day brand change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 99.5% | 9.3 | 5.5 | 36% |
| Claude (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) | 95.3% | 4.4 | 6.7 | 46.4% |
| Claude (claude-haiku-5-5) | 96.4% | 5 | 8.5 | 41.1% |
| Copilot | 98% | 4.8 | 7.6 | 51.3% |
| Gemini | 90.7% | 6.7 | 6 | 55.8% |
| Google AI Mode | 94.8% | 5.9 | 6.5 | 45.6% |
| Google AI Overview | 96.3% | 7.1 | 5.7 | 45.1% |
| Perplexity | 100% | 10.1 | 3.9 | 68.8% |
Top cited domain types by engine
| Engine | Most cited domain types, share of citations |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Vendor and brand sites (48.8%); Editorial and review sites (44.5%); Other (5.6%) |
| Claude (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) | Editorial and review sites (51.9%); Vendor and brand sites (47.6%); Other (0.3%) |
| Claude (claude-haiku-5-5) | Editorial and review sites (52.7%); Vendor and brand sites (46.9%); Other (0.3%) |
| Copilot | Editorial and review sites (56.6%); Vendor and brand sites (41.9%); Other (0.7%) |
| Gemini | Vendor and brand sites (59.8%); Editorial and review sites (38.4%); Forums and communities (1.2%) |
| Google AI Mode | Vendor and brand sites (34.5%); Editorial and review sites (27.5%); Video platforms (18.5%) |
| Google AI Overview | Vendor and brand sites (39.4%); Editorial and review sites (28.5%); Video platforms (18.5%) |
| Perplexity | Vendor and brand sites (46.3%); Editorial and review sites (43.9%); Other (5.4%) |
Brand overlap between engines
- 12.9% of the 8,269 brands seen are named by every engine.
- 46.2% are named by only one engine.
- Google AI Overview and ChatGPT share 45.6% of named brands (Jaccard similarity).
- Google AI Mode and ChatGPT share 45.2% of named brands (Jaccard similarity).
Results by category
| Category | Answers with citations | Avg citations per answer | Avg brands named per answer | Day-to-day brand change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accounting | 97.1% | 6.9 | 6.2 | 41.4% |
| CRM | 96.5% | 6.6 | 5.9 | 48.9% |
| Cybersecurity and VPN | 97.1% | 6.9 | 5.4 | 43.1% |
| Ecommerce platforms | 97.9% | 7.3 | 6.7 | 44.1% |
| Email marketing | 97.3% | 6.8 | 6.1 | 40.9% |
| HR and recruiting | 98% | 6.5 | 6.7 | 47% |
| Project management | 95.7% | 6.6 | 6.6 | 44.1% |
| Running and fitness | 91.2% | 6.5 | 5.1 | 46.8% |
| Travel insurance and travel | 94.1% | 6.8 | 5.9 | 43.9% |
| Web hosting | 97.7% | 6.8 | 6.9 | 47.4% |
Methodology
We wrote 200 non-branded buyer prompts across 10 categories and ran each against 7 engines: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overview, Google AI Mode, and Copilot. The 18,792 responses were collected from 2026-09-30 to 2026-10-13. Prompts were scheduled daily on each engine for 14 days (US, English); some runs returned no answer. Pineprompt analysed the responses to extract citations and named brands. Metric definitions are on the methodology page.
Limitations
The prompts are a fixed sample of buyer questions in US English, so results may not hold for other markets, languages, or query styles. AI answers are non-deterministic, and engines change without notice, so the numbers describe a 14-day window rather than a lasting property of each engine. Brand stats cover brands seen with 2 or more mentions that were assigned to category segments by 2026-10-13. Claude is split by model: the previous Haiku until 2026-10-09 around 18:40 UTC, claude-haiku-5-5 after. Domain type uses the app's source classification; missing source types land in Other.
Originally published on pineprompt.com.
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