Debt Management: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Money Management International led the August 2026 benchmark with valid recommendation coverage of 8.6%, ahead of National Debt Relief at 7.7% and Freedom Debt Relief at 7.5% — a gap of 0.9 points between the top two brands. No brand recorded a significant rise from the May 2026 baseline; GreenPath Financial Wellness posted the only modest increase, up 1.1 points to 6.1%, which the series treats as stable rather than significant.

The largest coverage decline from the May 2026 baseline came from National Debt Relief, which fell from 30.1% to 7.7% in August 2026, a drop of 22.4 percentage points; the brand had reached 44.0% in July 2026 before falling 36.3 points in the most recent month. Freedom Debt Relief posted the next-largest baseline decline, from 25.7% in May 2026 to 7.5% in August 2026 (down 18.2 points), after peaking at 41.2% in July 2026.

Nearly every tracked brand recorded a significant decline from July 2026 to August 2026, following a July spike across the category. For six brands — Accredited Debt Relief, Curadebt, Financial Counseling Association of America, Freedom Debt Relief, National Debt Relief, and National Foundation for Credit Counseling — the August decline extends a net decline already visible from the May baseline. For four brands — Money Management International, GreenPath Financial Wellness, American Consumer Credit Counseling, and Clearpoint — the August decline mostly reverses a July increase, leaving August 2026 levels close to or above the May 2026 baseline. The series treats these four brands as stable across the full period despite the sharp single-month swing.

The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in August 2026 and produced 428 qualified observations after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts canonical AI surface families with at least one qualified observation across ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. Both months measured all six families.

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

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection.

For the full collection pipeline, see AI Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate is the share of qualified observations in which the brand is mentioned at all.
• Valid recommendation coverage is the share of qualified observations in which the brand is recommended in a qualifying answer.
• Top-three rate is the share of qualified observations in which the brand appears in the top three recommended positions.
• Rank-one rate is the share of qualified observations in which the brand is the first recommendation.
• Net sentiment measures the balance of positive over negative mentions, from 0 to 1.

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

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Largest Decline: National Debt Relief

National Debt Relief fell from 30.1% valid recommendation coverage in May 2026 to 7.7% in August 2026, a drop of 22.4 percentage points and the largest baseline-to-current decline in the benchmark. The brand peaked at 44.0% in July 2026 before falling 36.3 points in August. Rank-one placement also dropped, from 23.6% in May 2026 to 5.6% in August 2026, a difference of 18.0 points.

Second-Largest Decline: Freedom Debt Relief

Freedom Debt Relief dropped from 25.7% in May 2026 to 7.5% in August 2026, down 18.2 points. The brand reached 41.2% in July 2026 before falling 33.7 points in August. Presence fell from 28.5% in May 2026 to 8.2% in August 2026.

Category Leader: Money Management International

Money Management International led the August 2026 benchmark at 8.6% valid recommendation coverage, holding the top position despite a decline from 12.4% in May 2026 and a July 2026 peak of 55.3%. National Debt Relief posted the highest rank-one rate among tracked brands in August 2026, at 5.6%, compared with Money Management International's 3.5% rank-one rate and 5.8% top-three rate.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The top three brands by current coverage show notably different placement profiles.

National Debt Relief converted most of its coverage into first position, with a rank-one rate of 5.6% in August 2026 against a top-three rate of 6.5%. Freedom Debt Relief appeared in the top three at 6.8% but ranked first only 0.7% of the time. Close coverage can still hide different first-position rates.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All 428 qualified observations in August 2026 fell into the Brand Recommendation class, the same class that held all 522 qualified observations in May 2026.

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

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

This 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 or attributable sales
• Every possible AI response to a given prompt
• Organic-search ranking positions
• Social media mention volume
• Private or sponsored channels and paywalled assistant content
• Causality from a metric movement alone (the benchmark records the change, not why it occurred)

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how AI and search surfaces recommend brands across verticals, using a consistent prompt-level methodology applied month over month. The benchmark focuses on recommendation placement and coverage as distinct signals of AI-driven brand discovery. The modeled AI Authority Value is a separate, complementary measure.

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

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