Chatbots: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Tidio leads the Chatbots benchmark with valid recommendation coverage of 59.5% in September 2026, up from 43.9% in July 2026 — a rise of 15.6 points that the benchmark classifies as movement beyond normal month-to-month variation. Intercom holds second place at 58.4%, up from 50.8% in July 2026 (up 7.6 points), putting it 1.1 points behind the leader.

The category also recorded two brand-label transitions this month. Zendesk Chat entered the tracked-brand list with 43.5% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026 — the largest single-month rise in the benchmark — while Zendesk, which held 50.8% coverage in July 2026, recorded 0.0% in September 2026, the benchmark's largest decline, as it was tracked under the new Zendesk Chat label in the same month. A similar transition occurred with LiveChat: LiveChat (Text S.A. (formerly LiveChat Software S.A.) entered with 19.7% coverage while LiveChat, at 17.2% in July 2026, recorded 0.0% in September 2026.

Among brands tracked continuously across the series, Tidio and Intercom were the two significant risers on valid recommendation coverage, while the benchmark produced 437 qualified observations in September 2026, down from 476 in July 2026.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. All six families were represented in all three months. August 2026 recorded 500 qualified observations, the highest in the series to date.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Chatbots

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark denominator is the qualified benchmark observation count for each month, not a raw collection total.

Every percentage in the standings that follow is calculated against the qualified benchmark observation count for its own month, so readers comparing this category against others with a different qualified-observation count should keep that scope in mind.

AI Market Discovery Methodology

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is mentioned at all.
• Valid recommendation coverage: share of qualified observations where the brand appears in a valid recommendation shortlist.
• Top-three rate: share of qualified observations where the brand appears in the top three recommended options.
• Rank-one rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is the first recommended option.
• Net sentiment: positive mentions minus negative mentions, divided by total mentions, on a scale from -1 to 1.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Largest Increase: Zendesk Chat

Zendesk Chat appeared in the benchmark for the first time in September 2026 with 43.5% valid recommendation coverage, a gain of 43.5 points from 0.0% in July 2026 that moved beyond normal month-to-month variation. Its presence rate reached 62.9%, with a top-three rate of 23.6% and a rank-one rate of 9.4% in September 2026.

Largest Decline: Zendesk

Zendesk fell to 0.0% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026 from 50.8% in July 2026, a drop of 50.8 points that moved beyond normal month-to-month variation. This decline corresponds with the introduction of Zendesk Chat as a separately tracked brand label in the same month.

Category Leader: Tidio

Tidio moved to the top of the benchmark with 59.5% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026, up from 43.9% in July 2026, a gain of 15.6 points beyond normal month-to-month variation. Its presence rate reached 79.0% in September 2026, up from 55.9% in July 2026. Tidio has risen in each of the two months since July 2026.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Intercom's top-three rate of 39.6% in September 2026 was the highest in the benchmark, while its rank-one rate of 11.2% showed it led with the first-position recommendation most often. Tidio's 59.5% coverage carried a 31.1% top-three rate, showing frequent placement within the top three.

Close coverage rates can still hide different first-position rates, as seen with Tidio's 59.5% coverage carrying an 8.7% rank-one rate compared with Intercom's 58.4% coverage carrying an 11.2% rank-one rate.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in both reported months fell into the Brand Recommendation class, which measures discovery and consideration.

The current public series measures brand-recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, or private and sponsored channels. A movement in a single metric does not by itself establish causality.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how often brands appear in AI-generated recommendations across major AI and search surfaces, using recommendation coverage as the primary metric. The benchmark is built from qualified public observations and updated monthly.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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