ChatGPT vs Gemini: They Disagree on the Best Software a Third of the Time

ChatGPT and Gemini name a different "best" product in one out of every three software categories, according to new research. That means the AI assistant a buyer happens to open can decide which brand they hear about first, and being visible on one platform tells you almost nothing about your visibility on another.

What changed?

AI visibility firm GetIntel published its AI Software Index 2026 on 12 August 2026, and the findings are stark, as reported by GlobeNewswire. The study analysed 9,978 usable answers, roughly split between ChatGPT and Gemini, collected on 6 August 2026 from the live consumer web apps rather than developer APIs. It ran around 80 structured prompt variants across 126 software categories, covering 1,825 brands.

The headline figure: the two assistants name a different number one product in one out of every three categories measured. Which AI a buyer happens to open can change which company gets recommended.

The methodology matters. GetIntel tested questions such as "What's the best CRM for a small business?" and "I'm a freelancer and need invoicing software", put to the live ChatGPT and Gemini apps rather than their APIs, on the reasoning that buyers see the interface, not the backend. That's a useful distinction for anyone benchmarking their own AI presence: testing via API calls can give a cleaner, less realistic picture than what an actual customer sees.

The Index is original research from GetIntel, a company that sells AI visibility software, and it will be refreshed quarterly, so it's worth reading alongside other independent data rather than as a final word. But the finding has been picked up elsewhere. Search industry tracker Search Engine Roundtable flagged the same study in its daily recap, noting that ChatGPT and Gemini disagree on the best software in a third of categories, and that review sites appear to have been skipped in the process. That suggests the divergence isn't only about which brand wins, but about which sources get consulted at all.

Why does this matter for your business?

If you've optimised your content and citations for one AI platform and assumed the job was done, this study challenges that assumption directly. A one-in-three disagreement rate isn't a rounding error. Across a large chunk of commercial categories, it's close to a coin flip.

For B2B software vendors, this is close to existential. Buyers increasingly ask an AI assistant to shortlist tools before they visit a comparison site or read a review. If ChatGPT names your competitor and Gemini names you, you're winning half the conversation and losing the other half without ever knowing it.

It also undermines the idea of a single "AI SEO trick" that works everywhere. If the two leading assistants pull from different signals, weight sources differently and reach different conclusions from similar prompts, there's no universal formula for getting named. Visibility becomes a per-platform exercise, closer to running separate campaigns for separate marketplaces than optimising one website for one search engine.

This fits a wider pattern this year: different AI platforms increasingly behave like separate economies with their own rules, rather than variations on the same theme. A brand's presence in ChatGPT tells you very little about its presence in Gemini, Perplexity or Google's AI Overviews.

What should you do now?

Start by testing your own brand across platforms, not just one. Ask ChatGPT and Gemini the exact same buyer-style question your prospects would use, such as "what's the best [your category] for [your typical customer]", and compare who gets named first, second, or not at all.

Do this from a logged-out, fresh session where possible. GetIntel's decision to test consumer apps rather than APIs reflects the reality that real buyers arrive with no special access and no history, so your own test should mirror that as closely as possible.

Track the gap over time rather than checking once. Because the Index is due to be refreshed quarterly, category leadership can plausibly shift between reports, and a single snapshot won't tell you whether you're gaining or losing ground on either platform.

Diversify your evidence base rather than concentrating it in one place. If review sites are being skipped in favour of other sources, as the Search Engine Roundtable recap suggests, then relying solely on third-party review platforms to carry your brand into AI answers is a fragile strategy. Spread your proof points, case studies, comparison content and structured data across as many credible surfaces as you can.

If you haven't checked how your brand actually shows up across AI platforms, this is a good prompt to do it properly rather than guessing. Sited's free audit at sited.online can show you where you're currently cited, where you're invisible, and which platforms need the most attention.

Frequently asked questions

What is GetIntel's AI Software Index 2026?

It's a study published on 12 August 2026 that analysed 9,978 usable answers, split roughly evenly between ChatGPT and Gemini, collected on 6 August 2026 from the live web applications rather than developer APIs. It covered 126 software categories and 1,825 brands.

Why do ChatGPT and Gemini recommend different products?

The study doesn't fully explain the mechanism, but it confirms the outcome: the two assistants name a different number one product in one out of every three software categories measured. Different training data, different source weighting and different retrieval methods are the likely drivers.

Does this mean review sites are becoming less important?

Search Engine Roundtable's coverage of the study noted that review sites appear to have been bypassed in some of these software recommendation answers. This doesn't mean reviews are worthless, but it does suggest brands shouldn't rely on review-site presence alone to secure AI visibility.

How can a small business check its own AI visibility across platforms?

Ask ChatGPT and Gemini the same buyer-style questions your customers would use, ideally from a logged-out session, and note who gets named. Tools built for this purpose, including free checkers, can also show which platforms cite your brand and which don't.

Is this study independent?

No. The Index is original research published by GetIntel, which sells AI visibility software, and it will be refreshed quarterly. That doesn't invalidate the findings, but it's worth weighing alongside other independent data as it emerges.