Who AI recommendsOriginal data, captured 24 Oct 2026
Who AI recommends for AI SDR tools
What Google AI Mode and Perplexity named, in order, when asked “best AI SDR tools for startups 2026”, and the pages they cited.
Asked “best AI SDR tools for startups 2026” on 24 October 2026, Google AI Mode named 6 vendors, led by AiSDR, Coldreach and Salesforge (Agent Frank), and Perplexity named 7, led by Apollo, Clay and AiSDR. 4 of the 9 vendors appeared in both answers, but they split on first place: AiSDR for Google AI Mode, Apollo for Perplexity.
Captured on: Google AI Mode ; Perplexity .
Which AI SDR tools does Google AI Mode recommend for startups?
Google AI Mode named 6 vendors for “best AI SDR tools for startups 2026” on 24 October 2026, in this order: AiSDR, Coldreach, Salesforge (Agent Frank), Artisan AI, Apollo.io (Outbound Copilot) and Clay + Claygent. AiSDR came first. 6 of the 6 names carried a link in the answer. The answer cited 8 sources from 8 domains.
| # | Vendor, as named | Link in answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | AiSDR | aisdr.com |
| 2 | ColdreachOwn site also cited | coldreach.ai |
| 3 | Salesforge (Agent Frank)Own site also cited | salesforge.ai |
| 4 | Artisan AI | artisan.co |
| 5 | Apollo.io (Outbound Copilot) | apollo.io |
| 6 | Clay + Claygent | clay.com |
A first load of this query at 19:53 IST was not used as the record because its extraction lacked section context. That answer opened with Coldreach as the first tool and also named Salesforge (Agent Frank), Apollo.io, Artisan AI and Clay + Claygent, citing 8 sources including gtmwalnut.com, salesbox.ai and hireemma.ai. The recorded load one minute later put AiSDR first.
Which AI SDR tools does Perplexity recommend for startups?
Perplexity named 7 vendors for the same question, in this order: Apollo, Clay, AiSDR, Artisan, Reply.io (Jason), Qualified (Piper) and Rox. Apollo came first. Its Links tab listed 10 sources from 10 domains. The answer was personalised: it addressed the signed-in account’s own company by name. Artisan also had a page on its own site among the cited sources.
| # | Vendor, as named | Link in answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apollo | None shown |
| 2 | Clay | None shown |
| 3 | AiSDR | None shown |
| 4 | ArtisanOwn site also cited | None shown |
| 5 | Reply.io (Jason) | None shown |
| 6 | Qualified (Piper) | None shown |
| 7 | Rox | None shown |
Personalisation seen on screen: Answer included a "For Klype" recommendation section. Vendors that appeared only in that personalised part are listed as mentions, not picks.
Do Google AI Mode and Perplexity agree?
4 of the 9 distinct vendors named appeared in both answers: AiSDR, Artisan AI, Apollo.io (Outbound Copilot) and Clay + Claygent. They split on first place: Google AI Mode led with AiSDR, Perplexity with Apollo. Only Google AI Mode named Coldreach and Salesforge (Agent Frank). Only Perplexity named Reply.io (Jason), Qualified (Piper) and Rox.
| Vendor | Google AI Mode | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|
| AiSDR | #1 | #3 |
| Artisan AI | #4 | #4 |
| Apollo.io (Outbound Copilot) | #5 | #1 |
| Clay + Claygent | #6 | #2 |
| Coldreach | #2 | Not named |
| Salesforge (Agent Frank) | #3 | Not named |
| Reply.io (Jason) | Not named | #5 |
| Qualified (Piper) | Not named | #6 |
| Rox | Not named | #7 |
Which sources did the AI answers cite?
Google AI Mode cited 8 sources and Perplexity cited 10, with no domain in common. Not one cited page appeared in both lists. Vendor pages were the most common source type, with 10 of 18 citations, followed by listicles with 6. Reddit, YouTube and LinkedIn together supplied 1. G2 and Capterra-style review sites supplied none.
| Cited domain and type | Perplexity | |
|---|---|---|
| artemisgtm.aiVendor page | 0 | 1 |
| artisan.coVendor page | 0 | 1 |
| coldreach.aiVendor page | 1 | 0 |
| devcommx.comListicle | 1 | 0 |
| dupple.comPublisher | 0 | 1 |
| hackceleration.comListicle | 0 | 1 |
| heygen.comVendor page | 0 | 1 |
| instantly.aiVendor page | 1 | 0 |
| linkup.soVendor page | 0 | 1 |
| operater.ioListicle | 0 | 1 |
| probo.comListicle | 0 | 1 |
| prospeo.ioVendor page | 0 | 1 |
| revspire.ioVendor page | 1 | 0 |
| salescaptain.ioVendor page | 1 | 0 |
| salesforge.aiVendor page | 1 | 0 |
| tamtotarget.comListicle | 1 | 0 |
| toolradar.comListicle | 0 | 1 |
| youtube.comYouTube | 1 | 0 |
Counts are cited URLs per domain. Type is the author’s classification: vendor page (a software company’s own site), listicle (a third-party list or comparison page), G2/Capterra (review marketplaces), Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn, publisher (news and media).
Every cited URL (18)
Google AI Mode
- instantly.ai/blog/ai-sales-agents-for-startups (Vendor page)
- revspire.io/resources/blogs/best-ai-sdr-tools (Vendor page)
- youtube.com/watch?v=rBsWo6rZ_zA (YouTube)
- coldreach.ai/blog/best-ai-sdr-tool-2026 (Vendor page)
- salescaptain.io/blog/ai-sdr-tools (Vendor page)
- tamtotarget.com/best-ai-sdr-tools-2026 (Listicle)
- salesforge.ai/blog/ai-sales-agents (Vendor page)
- devcommx.com/blogs/best-ai-sdr-platforms (Listicle)
Perplexity
- operater.io/blog/best-ai-sdr-tools-for-startups.html (Listicle)
- toolradar.com/guides/best-ai-sdr-agents-for-startups (Listicle)
- probo.com/hub/best-ai-sdr-platforms-2026 (Listicle)
- linkup.so/blog/the-best-ai-sdr-platforms-in-2026-ranked-by-data-freshness (Vendor page)
- dupple.com/learn/best-ai-sdr-tools (Publisher)
- prospeo.io/s/ai-sdr-software (Vendor page)
- heygen.com/blog/best-ai-sdr-tools (Vendor page)
- hackceleration.com/labs/best/ai-sdr-startups (Listicle)
- artisan.co/blog/the-best-ai-sdrs (Vendor page)
- artemisgtm.ai/resources/best-ai-sdr-tools (Vendor page)
What do the cited pages have in common?
13 of the 18 cited pages have “best”, “top”, “vs”, “alternatives” or “comparison” in the URL, so most are list or comparison pages. 10 sit on software vendors’ own sites, often a blog post ranking the category. 6 are third-party listicles. 4 carry 2026 in the URL.
- List-style URLs: 13 of 18 cited pages have “best”, “top”, “vs”, “alternatives” or “comparison” in the path.
- Year in the URL: 4 of 18 include 2026.
- By type: Vendor page 10, Listicle 6, YouTube 1, Publisher 1.
- Google AI Mode named Coldreach at #2 and cited its own page coldreach.ai/blog/best-ai-sdr-tool-2026.
- Google AI Mode named Salesforge (Agent Frank) at #3 and cited its own page salesforge.ai/blog/ai-sales-agents.
- Perplexity named Artisan at #4 and cited its own page artisan.co/blog/the-best-ai-sdrs.
What should a company missing from this answer do?
A company missing from these answers should get onto the pages the engines already cite, publish its own dated comparison page for this exact question, and put a short walkthrough on YouTube. Each step below names the specific pages from this run, so the work starts from what the engines read rather than from guesswork.
- Get onto the third-party pages that fed these answers. 7 of the 18 citations came from listicles, publishers and review sites. The most cited here were devcommx.com, dupple.com and hackceleration.com. Ask each author to evaluate your product for their next update, with a demo account and a clear one-line positioning for startups.devcommx.com/blogs/best-ai-sdr-platforms · dupple.com/learn/best-ai-sdr-tools · hackceleration.com/labs/best/ai-sdr-startups
- Publish your own answer to this exact question. Vendor-owned pages supplied 10 of the 18 citations. Write a dated page that answers “best AI SDR tools for startups 2026” honestly, with a comparison table, who each option suits, and the year in the URL. Pages like coldreach.ai/blog/best-ai-sdr-tool-2026 were cited for this question.coldreach.ai/blog/best-ai-sdr-tool-2026
- Answer the question on YouTube. Google AI Mode cited 1 YouTube video for this question, while Perplexity cited none. A 5 to 10 minute screen-share that compares the options and says who each one suits is the format these answers pulled from.youtube.com/watch?v=rBsWo6rZ_zA
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.
- One run per engine on one date. A second load can return a different list: see the note under the Google AI Mode table above.
- Location: the browser was in India, and Google AI Mode localises answers.
- Personalisation: both engines were used from signed-in accounts. Perplexity addressed the account’s own company by name in this answer.
- Vendors count only when presented as an option; other mentions are listed separately, with the context seen.
- Source types are the author’s classification, made by domain owner. The JSON lets you re-classify.
How was this data captured?
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.
Google AI Mode was opened at its udm=50 search address, and the full source panel was read after expanding “Show all”. Perplexity was opened with the question in the address and its Links tab was read. Paths were kept and query strings dropped, except YouTube video ids. Products from the same company keep the answer’s wording in the tables and are matched as one vendor when comparing engines. Nothing was estimated or filled in.
Captured on: Google AI Mode ; Perplexity .
Data: ai-recommends-2026-10.json (CC BY 4.0, please link to this page when citing). Method and all categories: Who AI recommends. Related study: Who does AI cite for B2B buyer questions?
Other categories
- Sales engagement software5 named by Google AI Mode, 6 by Perplexity
- CRM6 named by Google AI Mode, 6 by Perplexity
- Product analytics4 named by Google AI Mode, 6 by Perplexity
- SOC 2 compliance automation5 named by Google AI Mode, 5 by Perplexity
- AI customer support software6 named by Google AI Mode, 7 by Perplexity
- Payroll and HR software8 named by Google AI Mode, 6 by Perplexity
- Observability tools6 named by Google AI Mode, 8 by Perplexity
- Contract management software6 named by Google AI Mode, 6 by Perplexity
- ETL and data integration tools6 named by Google AI Mode, 10 by Perplexity
- Marketing automation7 named by Google AI Mode, Perplexity not captured
- AI meeting notes apps7 named by Google AI Mode, Perplexity not captured