Skip to content
Start free trial

Research · ChatGPT · Data from Oct 17, 2026

ChatGPT software recommendations: what 568 answers show

We asked ChatGPT 142 questions people ask before they buy software, 4 times each, and read all 568 answers. The top pick often changed between runs, each answer named only a few tools, and the links went to the tools’ own websites, not to Reddit or YouTube.

By the Kliqo AI team · Published · Method and sources below

Track your AI answersCite this study

142 questions · each asked 4 times

Each square is one question

  • 81Same first pick in all 4 runs
  • 31Same first pick in 3 of 4 runs
  • 30No tool first more than twice
ChatGPT on the web, logged out, no country set. All answers collected on Oct 17, 2026.[1]

The short answer

Three findings.

  1. 43%of questions changed their top pick

    The top pick changes.

    The first tool ChatGPT named was the same in all 4 runs for 81 of 142 questions. It changed at least once in 61, and in 30 no tool was first more than twice.[1]

  2. 2.6of 6.4 tools per question were named in every run

    Lists are short and shift.

    An answer named 4.2 tools on average. Over 4 runs a question saw 6.4 different tools, and only 2.6 of them were named every time.[1]

  3. 552of 568 answers linked a named tool’s own site

    ChatGPT links the tools’ own sites.

    Reddit and YouTube were linked in none of the 568 answers, and G2 in 3.[1,2]

Method

How we asked, and what we counted.

The questions. 142 questions people ask before they buy software, in 16 categories such as form builders, email marketing and screenshot APIs. 82 are broad, built from common search phrasings like “best X”, “free X” or “alternative to” a well-known tool. 60 ask about a specific feature or use case.[1]

The asking. ChatGPT on the web (chatgpt.com), logged out, in English and with no country set. Each question was asked in 4 separate runs on October 17, 2026: 568 answers.[1]

The reading. Every answer was read in full, AI-assisted and cross-checked with name matching. A tool counts as named when the answer suggests it as an option to use. The first pick is the first tool named. A site counts as linked when it is in the answer’s web sources, once per answer, with subdomains merged.[1]

What we counted

  • Which tools each answer suggested, and in what order.
  • Whether the first pick stayed the same over 4 runs of the same question.
  • How many different tools a question got over 4 runs, and which ones came back every time.
  • Which websites each answer linked, and whether they belonged to a tool it named.

What it can’t tell you

  • Other AI assistants. This is ChatGPT only.
  • Other days. Every answer is from Oct 17, 2026, and answers change as ChatGPT and the web change.
  • What signed-in users see, with their history, or in another country or language.
  • Why ChatGPT picked a tool, or what it read without linking it. We count links, not influence.
  • All software. 142 questions in 16 categories, chosen by us, not a random sample.

Finding 1

The top pick changes.

In 81 of the 142 questions, ChatGPT named the same tool first in all 4 runs. In the other 61 (43%), the first pick changed at least once. In 30, no tool was first more than twice.

About half the changes were small: in 31 questions, one run of the four put a different tool first. In 12 questions the first pick split two runs to two, in 14 one tool was first twice and two others once each, and in 4 every run had a different first pick.[1]

Broad questions were steadier than specific ones. For broad questions the first pick held in all 4 runs for 55 of 82 (67%). For questions about a specific feature or use case it held for 26 of 60 (43%).[1]

So one screenshot of “ChatGPT recommends us” shows one run. Ask the same question again and the first name can be someone else’s.

How many runs the most common first pick held

  • All 4 runs81 of 142
  • 3 of 4 runs31 of 142
  • 2 of 4 runs26 of 142
  • A different tool every run4 of 142

Same first pick in all 4 runs, by kind of question

  • Broad questions“best X”, “alternative to Y”55 of 82 · 67%
  • Specific questionsa feature or use case26 of 60 · 43%
142 questions, 4 runs each. “Held” = the most common first pick was the first tool named in that many runs.[1]

Same first pick in all 4 runs, by category

  • All 4 runs
  • 3 of 4
  • 2 or fewer
  • Image generation APIs9 of 12
  • AI email assistants6 of 8
  • Online form builders6 of 8
  • Email marketing tools5 of 8
  • CRMs for small teams5 of 8
  • AI assistants for note-taking apps5 of 8
  • Screenshot APIs5 of 8
  • AI SEO writing tools5 of 8
  • Testimonial tools7 of 12
  • Privacy-friendly web analytics6 of 11
  • Interactive demo tools4 of 8
  • Form backends4 of 8
  • SaaS boilerplates5 of 11
  • One-way video interview tools3 of 8
  • Link in bio tools3 of 8
  • AI chatbots for websites3 of 8
Each square is one question. 8 to 12 questions per category, so a difference of one or two questions is noise, not a ranking.[1]

Finding 2

Lists are short, and they shift.

A typical answer named 4 tools. Ask the same question 4 times and you see about 6 different tools, but only 2 or 3 of them every time.

Answers named between 1 and 10 tools, 4.2 on average. Most named 3 to 5: 422 of 568 answers.[1]

Over the 4 runs of a question, ChatGPT named 6.4 different tools on average, and 2.6 of them appeared in every run. Counting each tool once per question gives 908: 370 (41%) were named in all 4 runs, and 284 (31%) in only one.[1]

Being named once doesn’t mean being named next time. A tool named in every run is the one most people asking that question will see.

Answers by number of tools named

  1. 1 tool: 25 answers
  2. 2 tools: 34 answers
  3. 3 tools: 110 answers
  4. 4 tools: 181 answers
  5. 5 tools: 131 answers
  6. 6 tools: 39 answers
  7. 7 tools: 27 answers
  8. 8 tools: 15 answers
  9. 9 tools: 1 answers
  10. 10 tools: 5 answers
568 answers. Darker bars: answers that named 3 to 5 tools, the most common lengths.[1]

4.2

tools named in one answer, on average

6.4

different tools per question over 4 runs

2.6

of them named in all 4 runs

Every tool seen for a question, by runs that named it

Each tool counted once per question: 908 in all

  • All 4 runs37041%
  • 3 runs13215%
  • 2 runs12213%
  • 1 run only28431%
Averages over 142 questions. A tool is counted once per question, in however many of the 4 runs named it.[1]

What it means

Three things to do with this.

For a SaaS that wants ChatGPT to name it. Each one follows from what the answers did.

Count answers, not screenshots

Ask each buyer question at least 3 or 4 times, in fresh chats, and write down how often you’re named and how often you’re first. In 43% of our questions the first pick changed within 4 runs, so one answer is one sample.[1]

Do the same for your competitors. A rival named in every run is ahead of one named once, even if both appear in a screenshot.

Make your own site the page ChatGPT links

ChatGPT linked the recommended tools’ own sites in 552 of 568 answers.[1,2] Check that OpenAI’s search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, can read your site, robots.txt included.[4] Our free AI crawler checker shows it for any domain.

Then say on your pages, in plain sentences, what the product does, who it’s for and what it costs, so an answer has something to repeat. The guide to getting recommended by ChatGPT has the full list of fixes.

Check each AI on its own

Reddit threads and YouTube videos showed up in hundreds of Google AI answers in a category we track, and in no ChatGPT answer in this study.[1,3] Before you spend a month on one channel, look at which sites each AI links for your questions.

Specific questions are worth tracking too: their first pick held less often (43% vs 67% for broad ones), so they’re where answers are least settled.[1]

See how often ChatGPT names you, every day.

Kliqo asks your buyers’ questions every night on 3 AI models, records who each answer names and recommends and which sites it links, and shows how that changes. 7-day free trial.

Start free trialCheck your AI crawlers

FAQ

Questions, answered.

Does ChatGPT recommend the same software every time?

Not always. We asked 142 software buying questions 4 times each on Oct 17, 2026. The first tool ChatGPT named was the same in all 4 runs for 81 questions and changed at least once in 61 (43%). In 30 questions no tool was named first more than twice.

How many tools does ChatGPT name in one answer?

About 4: 4.2 on average, and most answers named 3 to 5. Across 4 runs of the same question ChatGPT named 6.4 different tools on average, and only 2.6 of them appeared in every run.

Which websites does ChatGPT link when it recommends software?

Mostly the tools’ own websites. 566 of 568 answers had web sources, and 552 linked the site of at least one tool they named (an approximate match by name). Of all sites linked, 84% belonged to a tool named in the same answer. GitHub was linked in 66 answers, Zapier in 8, G2 in 3, and Reddit and YouTube in none.

Does Reddit or YouTube help a product show up in ChatGPT?

Our data shows links, not influence, so it can’t say what ChatGPT learned in training. In this study ChatGPT linked Reddit and YouTube in none of 568 answers. In one category we track, Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode linked YouTube in 622 answers and Reddit in 378 over 30 days, while ChatGPT linked each once. Check each AI separately before you decide where to spend time.

Can I use these numbers?

Yes. Please name Kliqo AI as the source, give the collection date (Oct 17, 2026) and link to this page. The method and the limits are on the page: one AI, one date, 142 questions, and links counted, not influence.

Cite this study

Use the numbers. Link the source.

The numbers on this page are free to quote. Please name Kliqo AI, give the date the answers were collected (Oct 17, 2026) and link to this page. Questions about the data: contact us.

Citation

Kliqo AI. “ChatGPT software recommendations: 568 answers studied.” Data collected October 17, 2026; published October 18, 2026. https://kliqo.ai/research/chatgpt-software-recommendations

Sample
142 questions × 4 runs = 568 answers
Engine
ChatGPT on the web, logged out, no country set
Reuse
Free to quote with a link to this page

Sources

Where every number comes from.

Our own numbers come from Kliqo’s collection and tracking, with the definitions used. This page shows totals only. The tracked category stays anonymous.

  1. 1Kliqo AI study: 568 ChatGPT answers to 142 software buying questions, Oct 17, 2026ChatGPT on the web (chatgpt.com), logged out, in English, with no country set. 142 questions in 16 software categories (82 broad, 60 about a specific feature or use case), each asked in 4 separate runs on Oct 17, 2026. Every answer was read in full (AI-assisted, cross-checked with name matching). “Named” = suggested as an option to use, in the order it first appears. “First pick” = the first tool named. “Linked” = the site is in the answer’s web sources; subdomains count as the same site and a site counts once per answer. This page publishes totals only.
  2. 2Kliqo AI study: how a tool’s own site was matchedA linked domain counts as a tool’s own site when it contains the tool’s name without spaces, or a distinctive word of it (4 letters or more; generic words such as “forms”, “analytics”, “email” or “AI” are skipped). The match is approximate: a lookalike domain can count, and a tool with a generic name can be missed. 14 of the 566 answers with sources had no match.
  3. 3Kliqo AI tracking: one software category, Sep 14 – Oct 12, 202647 buyer questions asked every night on ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overview: 3,402 completed answers (ChatGPT 1,160, AI Mode 1,115, AI Overview 1,127). “Cited” = the URL is in the answer’s own citation list. Counts are answers that cite the domain at least once. The category and the tracked product stay anonymous.
  4. 4OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI crawlersOAI-SearchBot is used for search results in ChatGPT; ChatGPT-User fetches pages for a user’s request; GPTBot collects training data.
  5. 5Google Search Central: AI features and your websiteAI Overviews and AI Mode are part of Google Search and show links to the pages that support the answer.