ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Mode disagree on the "best" tool in half of software categories

Description and use

ChatGPT, Gemini, and AI Mode give conflicting top‑brand recommendations across 10 software categories, highlighting engine‑specific AI visibility.

Problem

Different AI answer engines produce conflicting top‑brand recommendations for software categories, making it hard to determine a single best tool.

Outcome

In 5 of 10 categories the three engines named different leaders; in the other 5 they agreed but the full rankings diverged. The study shows AI visibility is engine‑, category‑, and country‑specific.

Workflow

• 1. Prepare a set of 182 buyer‑intent prompts covering 10 software categories.
• 2. For each prompt, send one API call to each engine (ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode).
• 3. Collect JSON responses, extracting cited source URLs to distinguish citations from passing mentions.
• 4. Count brand mentions per engine per category.
• 5. Compile per‑category leader tables and full ranked lists.
• 6. Publish results on the public leaderboard and provide methodology documentation.

Evidence

in 5 of 10 categories, the three engines name a different brand as the leader.

Source

The pipeline is boring on purpose: prompt set → one API call per engine per prompt → count mentions.

Source