Across 12 B2B SaaS categories asked as “best <category> for startups 2026” on 24 October 2026, Google AI Mode and Perplexity agreed on names far more than on sources. 39 of 86 distinct vendors were named by both engines, yet only 3 of 198 distinct cited URLs appeared in both source lists. They put the same vendor first in 3 of 10 categories.
Which vendors does AI recommend in each B2B SaaS category?
The table lists, for each of the 12 categories, how many vendors each engine named, how many both named, whether they agreed on first place, and the most cited source types. Each category links to a page with the full ordered lists, every cited URL and what a missing company can do.
Source type counts combine both engines. Perplexity was not captured for marketing automation and AI meeting notes apps because the free account reached its search limit; those rows report Google AI Mode only.
Do Google AI Mode and Perplexity recommend the same vendors?
Partly. In the 10 categories captured in both engines, 39 of the 86 distinct vendors named appeared in both answers (45%). Both engines put the same vendor first in only 3: Apollo.io for sales engagement software, HubSpot CRM for CRM and Vanta for SOC 2 compliance automation tools. In the other 7 categories they led with different vendors.
Which sources do AI answers cite for software buying questions?
Software vendors’ own pages supplied 109 of the 217 citations (50%) and third-party listicles 64 (29%). G2 and Capterra-style review sites supplied 8. Google AI Mode cited YouTube 15 times, in 9 of its 12 answers; Perplexity cited neither YouTube nor Reddit.
| Source type | Google AI Mode | Perplexity | Share of all |
|---|
| Vendor page | 45 | 64 | 50% |
| Listicle | 28 | 36 | 29% |
| YouTube | 15 | 0 | 7% |
| Publisher | 1 | 13 | 6% |
| G2/Capterra | 1 | 7 | 4% |
| Reddit | 5 | 0 | 2% |
| LinkedIn | 1 | 1 | 1% |
| All citations | 96 in 12 answers | 121 in 10 answers | 100% |
129 of the 217 cited URLs (59%) contain “best”, “top”, “vs”, “alternatives” or “comparison”, and 39 contain 2026. Across the 10 categories with both engines, 8 had no cited URL in common at all. The engines mostly read different pages and still arrived at overlapping shortlists.
Do AI answers cite the vendors they recommend?
Sometimes. Of 139 vendor placements across all answers, 26 came with a page on that vendor’s own site among the cited sources (19%). 15 of those 26 pages were list or comparison posts, such as attio.com/f/best-crm-for-startups, which both engines cited while ranking Attio second for CRM.
How personalised are these AI answers?
Perplexity personalised all 10 answers it returned: each addressed the signed-in account’s own company by name, and several added a stack built for it. Google AI Mode showed location effects instead, adding Indian vendors for payroll and contract management. A logged-out buyer elsewhere may see different lists.
How was the data collected?
Each question was phrased as “best <category> for startups 2026” and opened once in Google AI Mode and once in Perplexity on 24 October 2026. The rendered answer was read with a script, vendors were recorded in order of first appearance, and every source in the answer’s source list was saved with its path.
- Question: “best <category> for startups 2026”, for 12 categories, typed the same way in both engines, with no follow-up.
- Google AI Mode: opened at its udm=50 search address in a signed-in Chrome profile in India; the full source panel was read after “Show all”.
- Perplexity: opened with the question in the address, from a signed-in free account; the Links tab was read.
- Vendors: counted when the answer presented them as an option (table row, heading, bold pick or decision-rule pick), in order of first appearance. Other mentions are kept separately with their context.
- Sources: domain and path for every listed source. Types (vendor page, listicle, G2/Capterra, Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn, publisher) are the author’s classification by domain owner; unconfirmed owners were labelled listicle.
- Completion: Google AI Mode answered all 12; Perplexity answered 10 before its free search limit.
The full dataset, with every vendor, link and cited URL, is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: ai-recommends-2026-10.json. Please link to this page when citing it.
What are the limits of this data?
This is one run of one question per engine, on 24 October 2026, from a signed-in browser in India. AI answers change between runs, by location and by account: Perplexity personalised its answers to the asking company, and a reload of one question changed Google AI Mode’s first pick. Treat these lists as a dated snapshot.
Related research: Who does AI cite for B2B buyer questions?, a 50-question Google AI Mode study, and the live AI visibility case study.