Top 50 CRM Software in AI Answers
Which CRM platforms AI answer engines name when buyers ask what to use. One fixed prompt set, every brand scored on the same basis.
Summary
HubSpot was named in 65.4% of AI answers to CRM questions in August 2026, leading second-place Zoho CRM by 11.1 percentage points. The field is highly concentrated: the top four brands (HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Pipedrive, and Salesforce) account for the most mentions, while 34 of 39 brands tracked appeared in fewer than 10% of answers. The measurement comes from 40 fixed prompts run once each against six AI engines (Claude, ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overview, and Grok), producing 233 scored answers. Across 1,666 total citations to source domains, 77.1% pointed to third-party sites like Reddit and YouTube rather than vendors' own websites, though HubSpot and Salesforce ranked among the most-cited sources overall.
- HubSpot appears in 65.4% of AI answers about CRM software, more than any other brand.
- Google Gemini recommends HubSpot far less frequently (27.3%) than other engines, which average 77.5% across Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overview, and Grok.
- Four brands account for more than half of all mentions: HubSpot (65.4%), Zoho CRM (54.2%), Pipedrive (52.9%), and Salesforce (49%).
- Five brands were never named in any AI answer: Apptivo, Close, Copper CRM, Pipeliner CRM, and RankMonster.
- Reddit (94 citations) and YouTube (79 citations) were the most-cited sources, accounting for nearly 18% of all citations despite being third-party sites.
- ChatGPT named 30 distinct brands, the most of any engine; Google Gemini named only 16, the fewest.
- Vendors' own websites accounted for only 22.9% of all 1,666 citations, with Reddit, YouTube, and review sites dominating the source pool.
Every brand is scored against the same 40 prompts. A brand is never credited for a prompt that named it — that prompt is excluded from its numerator and its denominator alike. Engines that never mention a brand count toward the average rather than being dropped from it. 39 brands were measured; the 39 that AI engines actually named are ranked below.
| # | Brand | Blended(4 engines) | ChatGPT | Claude | Google Gemini | Perplexity | Google AI OverviewSERP feature | Grokno web search | Best rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HubSpot hubspot.com 1 negative mention | 65% 100/153 | 88% cite 28% | 65% cite 5% | 27% cite 6% | 75% cite 50% | 75% cite 35% | 85% cite n/a | 1 |
| 2 | Zoho CRM zoho.com 1 negative mention | 54% 83/153 | 70% cite 10% | 57% cite 0% | 27% cite 3% | 57% cite 18% | 63% cite 48% | 65% cite n/a | 1 |
| 3 | Pipedrive pipedrive.com 1 negative mention | 53% 81/153 | 73% cite 25% | 55% cite 13% | 15% cite 3% | 63% cite 33% | 50% cite 28% | 57% cite n/a | 1 |
| 4 | Salesforce salesforce.com 1 negative mention | 49% 75/153 | 70% cite 30% | 55% cite 3% | 15% cite 15% | 50% cite 48% | 45% cite 30% | 68% cite n/a | 1 |
| 5 | Freshsales freshworks.com | 31% 48/153 | 48% cite 18% | 38% cite 0% | 15% cite 3% | 23% cite 0% | 10% cite 8% | 28% cite n/a | 3 |
| 6 | Microsoft Dynamics 365 dynamics.microsoft.com | 22% 34/153 | 38% cite 0% | 33% cite 0% | 3% cite 0% | 13% cite 0% | 8% cite 0% | 30% cite n/a | 1 |
| 7 | Monday CRM monday.com | 20% 31/153 | 20% cite 0% | 25% cite 10% | 12% cite 27% | 23% cite 57% | 15% cite 15% | 3% cite n/a | 5 |
| 8 | Less Annoying CRM lessannoyingcrm.com | 10% 15/153 | 5% cite 0% | 5% cite 0% | 9% cite 0% | 20% cite 5% | 13% cite 3% | 0% cite n/a | 2 |
| 9 | Copper copper.com | 9% 14/153 | 23% cite 0% | 5% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 8% cite 3% | 3% cite 3% | 8% cite n/a | 4 |
| 10 | Creatio creatio.com | 6% 9/153 | 3% cite 0% | 5% cite 8% | 9% cite 15% | 8% cite 25% | 0% cite 8% | 0% cite n/a | — |
| 11 | SugarCRM sugarcrm.com | 6% 9/153 | 10% cite 0% | 10% cite 0% | 3% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 3% cite 0% | 3% cite n/a | — |
| 12 | Airtable airtable.com | 5% 8/153 | 13% cite 0% | 3% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 5% cite 0% | 5% cite 0% | 5% cite n/a | 2 |
| 13 | Capsule CRM capsulecrm.com | 5% 8/153 | 8% cite 0% | 5% cite 0% | 3% cite 0% | 5% cite 0% | 3% cite 0% | 3% cite n/a | 6 |
| 14 | Notion notion.so | 5% 8/153 | 13% cite 0% | 3% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 5% cite 0% | 5% cite 0% | 5% cite n/a | 2 |
| 15 | Streak streak.com | 5% 7/153 | 10% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 8% cite 0% | 5% cite 0% | 3% cite n/a | 2 |
| 16 | Insightly insightly.com | 4% 6/153 | 3% cite 3% | 13% cite 3% | 0% cite 9% | 0% cite 15% | 5% cite 8% | 0% cite n/a | — |
| 17 | Keap keap.com | 4% 6/153 | 5% cite 0% | 10% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite n/a | — |
| 18 | SuiteCRM suitecrm.com 1 negative mention | 4% 6/153 | 13% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 3% cite 3% | 0% cite 0% | 3% cite 3% | 8% cite n/a | — |
| 19 | Bitrix24 bitrix24.com | 3% 5/153 | 5% cite 0% | 5% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 3% cite 13% | 5% cite 0% | 8% cite n/a | 4 |
| 20 | EspoCRM espocrm.com | 3% 5/153 | 10% cite 3% | 0% cite 3% | 3% cite 9% | 0% cite 5% | 5% cite 5% | 8% cite n/a | — |
| 21 | Follow Up Boss followupboss.com | 3% 5/153 | 5% cite 0% | 3% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 5% cite 0% | 5% cite 0% | 5% cite n/a | 1 |
| 22 | Odoo CRM odoo.com | 3% 5/153 | 8% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 3% cite 0% | 3% cite 0% | 0% cite 3% | 5% cite n/a | — |
| 23 | Wise Agent wiseagent.com | 3% 5/153 | 3% cite 0% | 5% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 5% cite 5% | 5% cite 5% | 0% cite n/a | — |
| 24 | Zendesk Sell zendesk.com | 3% 5/153 | 8% cite 0% | 0% cite 3% | 0% cite 3% | 5% cite 18% | 0% cite 8% | 0% cite n/a | — |
| 25 | ActiveCampaign activecampaign.com | 3% 4/153 | 8% cite 0% | 3% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 3% cite n/a | 6 |
| 26 | Attio attio.com | 3% 4/153 | 5% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 5% cite 0% | 3% cite 0% | 15% cite n/a | 2 |
| 27 | Nutshell nutshell.com | 3% 4/153 | 0% cite 0% | 3% cite 15% | 9% cite 21% | 0% cite 18% | 0% cite 8% | 0% cite n/a | — |
| 28 | Bloomerang bloomerang.com | 2% 3/153 | 3% cite 3% | 3% cite 3% | 0% cite 0% | 3% cite 3% | 3% cite 0% | 3% cite n/a | — |
| 29 | CiviCRM | 2% 3/153 | 5% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 3% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 3% cite n/a | — |
| 30 | Folk folk.app | 2% 3/153 | 3% cite 0% | 3% cite 5% | 0% cite 0% | 3% cite 10% | 0% cite 3% | 5% cite n/a | — |
| 31 | Salesflare salesflare.com | 2% 3/153 | 0% cite 0% | 3% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 5% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite n/a | — |
| 32 | DonorPerfect | 1% 2/153 | 3% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 3% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite n/a | — |
| 33 | Vtiger vtiger.com | 1% 2/153 | 0% cite 0% | 3% cite 0% | 3% cite 6% | 0% cite 5% | 0% cite 5% | 5% cite n/a | — |
| 34 | Nimble nimble.com | 1% 1/153 | 0% cite 0% | 3% cite 10% | 0% cite 3% | 0% cite 8% | 0% cite 10% | 0% cite n/a | — |
| 35 | Apptivo apptivo.com | 0% 0/153 | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite n/a | — |
| 36 | Close close.com | 0% 0/153 | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 3% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite n/a | — |
| 37 | Copper CRM coppercrm.com | 0% 0/153 | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite n/a | — |
| 38 | Pipeliner CRM pipelinersales.com | 0% 0/153 | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite n/a | — |
| 39 | RankMonster rankmonster.ai | 0% 0/153 | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite 0% | 0% cite n/a | — |
This is the first published month for this category, so there is no prior period to compare against and no change figures are shown. Mention = the brand is named in the answer text. Citation = the brand's domain appears in that answer's sources. Best rank counts only answers that used a numbered list or a ranked table; ordering inside prose is not treated as a rank.
How the CRM Software field performed
HubSpot leads decisively, appearing in 65.4% of answers with an 11.1-point margin over second place. It achieved a best list position of 1 and was cited from its own domain in 22.1% of cases. Across engines, it ranges from 27.3% on Google Gemini to 87.5% on ChatGPT, a gap that reflects Google Gemini's overall reluctance to name any single brand heavily. Zoho CRM ranks second at 54.2%, also reaching best list position 1, though it was cited from its own domain in only 7.6% of answers. Pipedrive follows at 52.9% with 18.3% self-citations, and Salesforce closes the top four at 49% with 23.8% self-citations. All four top brands recorded one negative mention each.
Below the dominant tier, Freshsales drops to 31.4%, establishing a clear second tier of CRM recommendations. Microsoft Dynamics 365 (22.2%) and Monday CRM (20.3%) form the start of a third tier. Less Annoying CRM appears in 9.8% of answers, Copper at 9.2%, and Creatio at 5.9%. SugarCRM also reaches 5.9%, tying Creatio, while Airtable, Capsule CRM, and Notion each appear in 5.2% of answers. The field widens considerably here: these brands are named infrequently enough that small fluctuations in engine behavior produce large percentage swings. Notion and Airtable, while non-traditional CRMs, compete for mentions alongside purpose-built platforms.
A long tail of 15 brands each appears in fewer than 5% of answers. Streak (4.6%), Insightly (3.9%), Keap (3.9%), and SuiteCRM (3.9%) anchor the top of this group, followed by Bitrix24, EspoCRM, Follow Up Boss, Odoo CRM, Wise Agent, and Zendesk Sell—all at exactly 3.3%. ActiveCampaign (2.6%), Attio (2.6%), and Nutshell (2.6%) appear slightly less often. Bloomerang, CiviCRM, and Folk each appear in 2% of answers. Salesflare, DonorPerfect, Vtiger, and Nimble round out the named brands, each appearing in 1.3% or fewer answers. Most of these brands' self-citation rates are negligible; the exceptions are Nutshell (13.4% self-citations), Insightly (7.3%), and Zendesk Sell (5.8%), suggesting they earn mentions but engines rarely reference their own websites as sources.
Five brands tracked received zero mentions: Apptivo, Close, Copper CRM, Pipeliner CRM, and RankMonster. These represent either niche positioning, newer market entrants, or brands that failed to surface in AI training data or ranking algorithms. The absence of any data points for these brands across all six engines is notably different from the tail brands that appear in 1–2% of answers; it suggests a threshold effect rather than gradual decline in visibility.
How the engines differ
The six engines vary substantially in breadth and concentration. ChatGPT named 30 distinct brands—the widest reach—while Google Gemini named only 16. Claude (26), Perplexity (25), Grok (24), and Google AI Overview (22) fall in between. Despite this variation, all six engines agree on HubSpot's leadership; however, the margin differs dramatically. ChatGPT names HubSpot in 87.5% of answers, Grok in 85%, and Perplexity in 75%, while Google Gemini names it in only 27.3%. This 60-point spread reflects Google Gemini's preference for a more diversified recommendation set rather than a smaller concentration around a single leader.
Citation patterns also diverge sharply. Perplexity cites brands' own domains most frequently, at 8.6% of answers; Google AI Overview follows at 5.9%; and ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Claude cluster between 2.1% and 3.3%. Notably, Grok returns no citations at all despite naming 24 distinct brands. This suggests Grok functions as a generative recommender without linked sources, while Perplexity operates more like a search-augmented engine that references original material. The distribution of citations across top sources—with Reddit and YouTube dominating—is consistent across engines, indicating that third-party content (reviews, discussions, tutorials) shapes recommendations regardless of the AI model.
Questions about this data
Which CRM is recommended most by AI?
HubSpot appears in 65.4% of AI answers about CRM software, based on 40 identical prompts run against six AI engines (Claude, ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overview, and Grok) in August 2026. The second-place brand, Zoho CRM, appears in 54.2% of answers, giving HubSpot an 11.1-percentage-point lead.
How much does the choice of AI engine affect which CRM is recommended?
Significantly. HubSpot's appearance rate ranges from 27.3% on Google Gemini to 87.5% on ChatGPT—a 60-point spread. For other brands like Freshsales, the range is 10% (Google AI Overview) to 47.5% (ChatGPT). Google Gemini is notably more balanced across brands; ChatGPT and Grok concentrate more heavily on top recommendations.
Does ChatGPT recommend a different CRM than Perplexity?
Both name HubSpot most frequently—87.5% for ChatGPT and 75% for Perplexity—but Perplexity reaches a wider set of brands overall. ChatGPT named 30 distinct brands; Perplexity named 25. Perplexity also cites source URLs more often, at 8.6% of answers versus ChatGPT's 3%, making it more transparent about where recommendations originate.
How reliable are these recommendations as sources?
Of 1,666 total citations to source domains, 77.1% pointed to third-party sites such as Reddit (94 citations), YouTube (79), and G2 (24), rather than vendors' own websites. For HubSpot specifically, its own domain was cited in 22.1% of cases; for Zoho CRM, 7.6%. This suggests AI engines base recommendations partly on user discussions and reviews rather than relying entirely on vendor claims.
How was this ranking measured?
Forty fixed prompts asking about CRM software were run once each against six AI engines: Claude, ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overview, and Grok. This produced 233 scored answers. Each brand was measured against the same prompts; if a prompt named a brand, that brand was not credited for appearing in that answer, eliminating bias from hand-fed mentions.
What brands were never mentioned by AI?
Five brands received zero mentions across all six engines: Apptivo, Close, Copper CRM, Pipeliner CRM, and RankMonster. By contrast, 34 of 39 brands tracked did appear at least once, indicating most established CRM vendors have some presence in AI training data, even if visibility is low.
Which AI engine recommends the most diverse set of CRMs?
ChatGPT named 30 distinct brands, the most of any engine. Google Gemini named only 16 distinct brands, the fewest, and concentrated its recommendations heavily on the top tier. Perplexity, Claude, and Grok each named between 24 and 25 brands, falling in the middle.
The 40 prompts we tested— every brand scored against the same set
No prompt names a brand. A prompt that names one hands it a guaranteed mention — in our per-brand audit data, prompts naming a brand return a 97.5% mention rate against 8.6% for prompts that don't.
- 1best crm softwareawareness11 brands
- 2what crm should i userecommendation11 brands
- 3top crm platforms 2026awareness12 brands
- 4crm for small businessrecommendation9 brands
- 5best crm toolsawareness15 brands
- 6crm software comparisoncomparison11 brands
- 7which crm is bestrecommendation8 brands
- 8free crm softwarerecommendation10 brands
- 9best crm for real estate agentsindustry3 brands
- 10crm for real estate brokersindustry5 brands
- 11insurance agents crmindustry4 brands
- 12crm for nonprofitsindustry6 brands
- 13crm for construction companiesindustry4 brands
- 14healthcare practice crmindustry5 brands
- 15crm for law firmsindustry5 brands
- 16crm for consulting firmsindustry9 brands
- 17ecommerce crm platformindustry7 brands
- 18manufacturing crm softwareindustry5 brands
- 19recruiting agency crmindustry5 brands
- 20saas startup crmindustry7 brands
- 21crm under $25 per user per monthrecommendation11 brands
- 22affordable crm for startupsrecommendation10 brands
- 23cheap crm softwarerecommendation10 brands
- 24mid market crm pricingrecommendation8 brands
- 25enterprise crm solutionrecommendation5 brands
- 26crm for solo entrepreneursuse-case11 brands
- 27crm for 5 person teamuse-case9 brands
- 28crm for 50 employee companyuse-case8 brands
- 29crm for sales team of 100use-case8 brands
- 30open source crm vs hosted crmcomparison10 brands
- 31self hosted crm vs cloud crmcomparison8 brands
- 32spreadsheet replacement crmuse-case15 brands
- 33crm alternative to spreadsheetsuse-case13 brands
- 34simple crm for small agencyuse-case15 brands
- 35crm with email integrationuse-case10 brands
- 36crm with lead scoringuse-case8 brands
- 37mobile crm for field salesuse-case7 brands
- 38crm with pipeline managementuse-case8 brands
- 39crm for managing customer relationshipsuse-case9 brands
- 40best crm for tracking dealsuse-case7 brands
Most cited sources
The domains these engines pulled from when answering. 1,666 citations across 526 distinct domains, 77% of them to third-party sites rather than to a vendor's own domain — that share is roughly how much of this category's visibility is decided off-site.
| # | Source | Citations | Prompts | Engines | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | reddit.com | 94 | 34 | 4 | 5.6% |
| 2 | youtube.com | 79 | 25 | 3 | 4.7% |
| 3 | salesforce.comvendor site | 54 | 25 | 5 | 3.2% |
| 4 | hubspot.comvendor site | 52 | 28 | 5 | 3.1% |
| 5 | monday.comvendor site | 47 | 26 | 4 | 2.8% |
| 6 | pipedrive.comvendor site | 40 | 25 | 5 | 2.4% |
| 7 | zapier.com | 33 | 17 | 5 | 2.0% |
| 8 | zoho.comvendor site | 31 | 24 | 4 | 1.9% |
| 9 | nutshell.comvendor site | 27 | 14 | 4 | 1.6% |
| 10 | g2.com | 24 | 14 | 5 | 1.4% |
| 11 | creatio.comvendor site | 22 | 11 | 4 | 1.3% |
| 12 | forbes.com | 21 | 13 | 5 | 1.3% |
| 13 | onepagecrm.com | 20 | 11 | 3 | 1.2% |
| 14 | techradar.com | 20 | 13 | 4 | 1.2% |
| 15 | pipelinecrm.com | 19 | 8 | 3 | 1.1% |
| 16 | pcmag.com | 18 | 13 | 3 | 1.1% |
| 17 | capterra.com | 16 | 10 | 3 | 1.0% |
| 18 | insightly.comvendor site | 16 | 9 | 5 | 1.0% |
| 19 | larksuite.com | 16 | 12 | 4 | 1.0% |
| 20 | nimble.comvendor site | 14 | 7 | 4 | 0.8% |
| 21 | expertmarket.com | 13 | 5 | 4 | 0.8% |
| 22 | google.com | 13 | 2 | 1 | 0.8% |
| 23 | uschamber.com | 13 | 7 | 3 | 0.8% |
| 24 | zendesk.comvendor site | 13 | 10 | 4 | 0.8% |
| 25 | crm.org | 12 | 9 | 4 | 0.7% |
| 26 | freshworks.comvendor site | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0.7% |
| 27 | espocrm.comvendor site | 11 | 3 | 5 | 0.7% |
| 28 | netsuite.com | 11 | 6 | 4 | 0.7% |
| 29 | technologyadvice.com | 11 | 9 | 5 | 0.7% |
| 30 | business.com | 10 | 8 | 3 | 0.6% |
| 31 | solutionsreview.com | 10 | 8 | 3 | 0.6% |
| 32 | bigcontacts.com | 9 | 7 | 3 | 0.5% |
| 33 | businessnewsdaily.com | 9 | 8 | 2 | 0.5% |
| 34 | microsoft.com | 9 | 7 | 3 | 0.5% |
| 35 | breakcold.com | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0.5% |
| 36 | klaviyo.com | 8 | 5 | 4 | 0.5% |
| 37 | zeeg.me | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0.5% |
| 38 | 6sense.com | 7 | 5 | 3 | 0.4% |
| 39 | agilecrm.com | 7 | 4 | 4 | 0.4% |
| 40 | fluidcrm.io | 7 | 5 | 3 | 0.4% |
Top 40 of the domains cited in this run. Grok is absent from these counts entirely — it answers without web search and returns no sources.
About this data
Everything here is derived from publicly available output. We sent 40 prompts to 6 publicly accessible AI answer engines and recorded which brands each engine named and which sources it cited. No private, proprietary or customer data is involved, and no brand paid for or influenced its position.
Every answer behind these numbers is retained, so any figure on this page can be traced back to the specific prompt, engine and response that produced it.
If your company appears here and you believe the result is wrong, get in touch — we are happy to re-run the analysis for your brand and share what we find. If you would prefer not to be listed, we can remove your company name from this leaderboard in most cases. Either way, email [email protected].