Online Backup: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

IDrive led the Online Backup benchmark in September 2026 with a valid recommendation coverage of 77.5%, ahead of Backblaze at 70.6%. The largest coverage decline came from SpiderOak, which fell to 4.1% in September 2026 from 7.2% in August 2026. CrashPlan also declined significantly, dropping to 9.9% in September 2026 from 15.2% in July 2026. There were no significant coverage increases this month.

Positioning has diverged across the three-month series. IDrive's valid recommendation coverage rose from 75.6% in July 2026 to 77.5% in September 2026, while SpiderOak declined in each of the two months since July 2026, falling from 11.0% to 4.1%. The gap between IDrive and SpiderOak widened from 64.6 points in July 2026 to 73.4 points in September 2026.

The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 677 qualified observations in September 2026 after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

August 2026 sat between these two months, with 665 qualified observations. 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.

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

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. The funnel below shows how observations were qualified.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. Link AI Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

Presence rate is the share of qualified observations in which a brand is mentioned at all. Valid recommendation coverage is the share of qualified observations in which a brand appears in a recommendation context. Top-three rate is the share of qualified observations in which a brand appears in the first three recommended positions. Rank-one rate is the share of qualified observations in which a brand is the single top recommendation. Net sentiment is the balance of positive over negative mentions.

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

Recommendation Coverage Movement

CrashPlan is the category leader by a different measure: its 5.4-point slide between July and August 2026 was the largest single-month movement in the series, and its September 2026 level of 9.9% was essentially unchanged from August 2026.

Largest Decline: SpiderOak

SpiderOak's valid recommendation coverage dropped to 4.1% in September 2026 from 11.0% in July 2026, a decline beyond normal month-to-month variation that moved in every month of the series. SpiderOak declined in each of the two months since July 2026. Presence rate fell to 4.4% from 11.2%. Qualified recommendations fell from 74 in July 2026 to 28 in September 2026.

Largest Decline: CrashPlan

CrashPlan's valid recommendation coverage fell to 9.9% in September 2026 from 15.2% in July 2026, a decline beyond normal month-to-month variation. The largest single-month move came between July and August 2026, when coverage fell 5.4 points. Presence rate declined to 13.3% from 17.9%. Qualified recommendations fell from 102 in July 2026 to 67 in September 2026.

Category Leader: IDrive

IDrive led the category in September 2026 with a valid recommendation coverage of 77.5%, up from 75.6% in July 2026. Its presence rate rose to 94.7% from 89.0%. IDrive was the top recommendation in 38.9% of September 2026 observations.

Stable Brands

Backblaze, Acronis, pCloud, Carbonite, Livedrive, SugarSync, and Zoolz moved within normal month-to-month variation. IDrive also registered as stable on the movement test despite leading and rising modestly across the series. SugarSync and Zoolz held at 0.0% valid recommendation coverage for the third consecutive month.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The table below shows how often the leading brands appear in the top three positions and as the single top recommendation.

Close coverage can still hide different first-position rates. IDrive was the top recommendation in 38.9% of September 2026 observations, well ahead of Backblaze at 17.6%, despite the two brands sitting within 6.9 points on coverage.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in all three months fell into the Brand Recommendation class.

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

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, private or sponsored channels, or causality from a metric movement alone.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how often and how prominently brands appear in AI-generated recommendations across major AI and search surfaces. Canonical research links:

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

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