Hosted Exchange: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Google Workspace led the Hosted Exchange benchmark in September 2026 with a valid recommendation coverage of 37.8%, down from 44.5% in July 2026. The gap to the next brand, IONOS, was 21.1 points, with IONOS at 16.7% in September 2026, down from 18.3% in July 2026.

The largest coverage increase among tracked brands was OVHcloud, rising to 6.4% in September 2026 from 4.2% in July 2026. The largest coverage decline was Rackspace Email, falling to 1.0% in September 2026 from 6.1% in July 2026. Microsoft SharePoint also declined to 0.0% in September 2026 from 1.6% in July 2026.

This month saw movement beyond normal month-to-month variation for two tracked brands. Rackspace Email and Microsoft SharePoint each declined in both of the two months since July 2026. Across the three-month series, Google Workspace has declined in each of the two months since July 2026, while OVHcloud has risen in each of the two months.

The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 312 qualified observations in September 2026 after qualification.

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 present in each month of the series.

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

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. See AI Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is mentioned in any capacity.
• Valid recommendation coverage: share of qualified observations where the brand appears in a legitimate recommendation context.
• Top-three rate: share of qualified observations where the brand appears in the first three recommended positions.
• Rank-one rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is the first or only recommendation.
• Net sentiment: positive minus negative mentions divided by total mentions, ranging from -1 to 1.

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

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Between August 2026 and September 2026, IONOS and OVHcloud were the only tracked brands to gain coverage, rising 0.6 points to 16.7% and 1.2 points to 6.4% respectively, both within normal month-to-month variation.

Largest Decline: Rackspace Email

Rackspace Email recorded the largest coverage decline in the series, falling to 1.0% in September 2026 from 6.1% in July 2026, a drop of 5.1 points beyond normal variation. The brand declined in each of the two months since July 2026, including a 3.0 point drop from August 2026 to September 2026. Rackspace Email had only 3 valid recommendation observations in September 2026, down from 19 in July 2026.

Category Leader: Google Workspace

Google Workspace remained the category leader for valid recommendation coverage. Its coverage moved to 37.8% in September 2026 from 44.5% in July 2026, a decline of 6.7 points within normal variation. Google Workspace's presence rate fell by 12.2 points even while it kept the leadership position. The brand's presence rate declined from 81.4% in July 2026 to 69.2% in September 2026, a drop of 12.2 points.

Largest Decline: Microsoft SharePoint

Microsoft SharePoint fell to zero valid recommendations in September 2026. The brand recorded no valid recommendations in September 2026, zero top-three placements, and zero rank-one placements, down from 5 valid recommendations in July 2026. Microsoft SharePoint declined in each of the two months since July 2026.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The placement snapshot shows how often a brand appears in the top three and first positions. For the leading brands in September 2026:

Similar coverage can still hide different first-position rates. Google Workspace's 27.6% rank-one rate is more than five times IONOS's 5.1%, despite a gap in overall coverage of 21.1 points.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

The qualified observations in this benchmark fell into the Brand Recommendation class of buyer intent.

All qualified observations in each month sit in a single class. The current public series measures Brand Recommendation discovery only and cannot answer pricing, value, or head-to-head comparison questions.

Historical Measurement Record

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

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 or sales attribution
• Every possible AI response or surface beyond the six canonical families
• Organic-search ranking or social mention volume
• Private or sponsored channels
• Causality from a metric movement alone

Metric movements in this series should not be treated as causal proof of brand or market performance.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how AI and search surfaces present and recommend brands in response to real discovery prompts. It measures presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment as distinct signals.

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

Get a Company-Level Authority Index

The public industry benchmark shows category-level standings. A company-level Authority Index can go deeper. The public percentage cannot identify the prompts, competitors, or sources causing a brand's result.

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