How the data was captured
On 24 October 2026, between 19:40 and 20:07 IST, I asked each engine “best <category> for startups 2026” once per category, with no follow-up questions. Google AI Mode was opened in a signed-in Chrome profile in India; Perplexity in a signed-in free account with saved personalisation. The text was read from the rendered answer with a script, and nothing was inferred.
A brand counts as named when the answer presented it as an option, and its position is the order of first appearance. Cited sources are every source in Google AI Mode’s source panel and Perplexity’s Links tab, recorded as domain and path. Perplexity has no answer for Marketing automation and AI meeting notes apps after the free account reached its search limit. One run per engine is a snapshot, not a ranking: a second run can name different brands. The full dataset is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: download the JSON, or read the analysis in Who AI recommends.