Live database

GEO for SaaS

How AI engines choose and recommend SaaS companies today.

We run real buyer prompts against ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity with web search on, and record which SaaS companies they name and which sources they cite. This page is one live view into that dataset - it updates as new probes land.

Run your free AI visibility scanHow we collect this data
Updated Jul 18, 202619 prompts analyzed62 citations63 brands detected
Top cited domain
appstested.com
8 citations · 13% of all
Most active engine
ChatGPT
66% of citations
Top source type
Other
50% of citations
Data as of
July 18, 2026
trends unlock after two cycles
1

What buyers ask AI

Real questions people put to AI assistants about SaaS companies.

Best project management softwareCRM for startupsNotion alternativesBest customer support toolFree email marketing softwareBest analytics tool for SaaSTeam chat app comparisonBest billing software for subscriptionsAI writing tool for teamsBest form builder
2

What AI actually recommends

Data as of July 18, 2026

Live answers per engine - exactly what each one named, in order.

PromptChatGPTGeminiPerplexity
Best project management software for small teams
  1. Trello
  2. Basecamp
  3. Notion
  1. Trello
  2. Asana
  3. Monday.com
  1. monday.com
  2. Asana
  3. ClickUp
Best CRM for startups
  1. HubSpot CRM
  2. Pipedrive
  3. Zoho CRM
  1. HubSpot CRM
  2. Salesforce Essentials
  3. Pipedrive
  1. HubSpot
  2. Salesforce
  3. Pipedrive
Best note-taking app
  1. Obsidian
  2. Notion
  3. Apple Notes
  1. Google Keep
  2. Google
  3. Evernote
  1. Notion
  2. Obsidian
  3. Microsoft OneNote
Best customer support software
  1. LiveChat
  2. Freshdesk
  3. Zendesk
  1. Zendesk
  2. Salesforce Service Cloud
  3. Salesforce
  1. Zendesk
  2. Gorgias
  3. Freshdesk
Best subscription billing software
  1. Chargebee
  2. Recurly
  3. Stripe Billing
  1. Chargebee
  2. Zuora
  3. Salesforce
  1. Stripe Billing
  2. Chargebee
  3. Recurly
3

AI ranking factors

Where these engines actually look before naming anyone - citation share by source type.

Other50% · 31
Reviews37% · 23
News / PR10% · 6
Social3% · 2

Shares are computed from the sources engines actually grounded on in our software probes - not an editorial guess. Unknown domains fall into “other” and get reviewed monthly.

The United States sources that matter for SaaS companies

G2g2.com
The most-cited software review layer; category grids get quoted directly in answers.
Capterracapterra.com
Review + directory layer, strong for SMB-intent prompts.
TrustRadiustrustradius.com
In-depth reviews engines mine for pros/cons phrasing.
Product Huntproducthunt.com
Launch layer - establishes the product entity and early community proof.
Redditreddit.com
r/productivity, r/startups, r/sysadmin threads are prime Perplexity citations.
Hacker Newsnews.ycombinator.com
Technical credibility layer; “Show HN” and comment threads get cited for dev tools.
4

Engine comparison

How differently each engine sources its answers - share of that engine's citations per source type.

SourceChatGPTPerplexity
Reviews★★★★★★★★★★
News / PR★★★★★★★★★★
Social★★★★★★★★★★

Stars are banded from real citation shares in this vertical - hover any cell for the exact number.

5

How SaaS companies win AI visibility

What the data above means in practice - and the playbook that follows from it.

Software is the vertical where AI recommendations have already replaced the first Google search for a large share of buyers - and the engines answer from a surprisingly narrow evidence base. Three layers dominate: the review aggregators (G2, Capterra, TrustRadius), the comparison content economy (“X vs Y”, “best X for Y” listicles), and community threads where practitioners name tools unprompted. A SaaS product that exists in all three layers gets named; one that only has a polished homepage usually does not, because engines treat vendor self-description as the weakest form of evidence about software.

The single highest-leverage page type in this vertical is the alternatives page - both yours and other people’s. When a buyer asks “Notion alternatives”, engines assemble the answer from pages that already frame the market as a list. Publishing honest comparison pages (including where you lose) makes your product part of the raw material engines summarize. The same mechanics reward public pricing: engines routinely qualify recommendations with price points, and products with hidden pricing get skipped or described vaguely - a real disadvantage when the answer format is a shortlist with reasons.

01

Own your review-layer profiles

G2, Capterra and TrustRadius profiles complete, current and actively earning reviews - this layer supplies the largest share of software citations.

02

Publish honest comparison pages

“[You] vs [leader]” and “best [category] for [use case]” pages, with real trade-offs. Engines assemble shortlists from pages already shaped like shortlists.

03

Make pricing public and parseable

Engines qualify recommendations with prices. A clean pricing page with schema beats “contact sales” in every AI answer format.

04

Earn genuine community presence

Be useful in the subreddits and forums where your category is discussed. One organic “we switched to X and it stuck” thread outweighs pages of marketing.

05

Treat docs as marketing surface

Crawlable docs, changelog and integration pages answer task-shaped prompts. Add llms.txt and keep everything out from behind login walls.

06

Track your category prompts

Run your buyer prompts monthly per engine. Watch which sources get cited, and close the gap between where engines look and where you appear.

Win a use-case, not the category
Generic “best CRM” answers are locked up by incumbents. “Best CRM for real estate teams” is winnable - build the comparison page, the review cluster and the community proof for that specific slice.
Be present where “alternatives” is asked
Alternatives prompts are the highest-intent software queries in AI. Make sure third-party alternatives listicles include you - pitch the authors with real differentiators, and publish your own honest version.
Feed the engines structured facts
SoftwareApplication schema, public pricing, a plain-language “what it is” paragraph high on the homepage - engines quote these fragments verbatim in answers.
Watch Perplexity separately
In our probes Perplexity leans hardest on community threads and fresh reviews, while Gemini favors established editorial lists. The same product can rank on one and be absent on the other - measure both.
6

FAQ

Answers to common questions about this report.

What is GEO for SaaS?
Generative Engine Optimization for software: making sure that when a buyer asks ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity for “the best [your category]”, your product is one of the names in the answer - with the right description and price point attached.
Which sources do AI engines cite for software?
In our probes the biggest shares come from review aggregators (G2, Capterra), comparison listicles, and community threads on Reddit and Hacker News - see the live source mix above for the current split.
Is there a free way to check my SaaS's AI visibility?
Yes - run a free Zene scan with your product name. You'll see whether ChatGPT and Gemini mention you for your category prompts (Perplexity, Claude and Grok on Pro), and which competitors they name instead. No credit card required.
How is GEO different from SEO for SaaS?
SEO earns you a ranking a buyer might click; GEO earns you a place inside the answer itself. The levers overlap (content, authority, structure) but GEO weights third-party evidence - reviews, communities, comparisons - far more heavily than your own domain.
How can my product get started?
Run a free AI visibility scan with your product name or website. In about two minutes you'll see where you appear across engines, which sources cite you, and what to fix first.

See where your product appears across all AI engines.

The data above is the industry view. Run a free scan to get the same report for your product: where you show up, who outranks you, and what to fix first.

Run my free scanHow to track your brand in AI
Zene dashboard: a brand's AI visibility score, the next automatic scan, and per-engine cards for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity