Project Management Software: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Asana led the Project Management Software category in August 2026 with valid recommendation coverage of 67.7%, down from 72.7% in July 2026. The gap to the next brand, ClickUp, narrowed to 0.7 percentage points in August 2026, with ClickUp at 67.0%. monday.com followed at 65.6%.

The largest coverage increase belonged to Jira Service Management, which rose to 11.1% in August 2026 from 3.8% in July 2026. The largest coverage decline was posted by Notion, falling 7.7 points to 40.0%. Three brands declined beyond normal month-to-month variation this month (Asana, monday.com, Notion), one rose beyond it (Jira Service Management), and six moved within normal variation.

The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 640 qualified observations in August 2026 after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the six canonical AI surface families (ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode) with at least one qualified observation. Keyword variants roll up into their parent family rather than counting as separate surfaces.

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

Research Scope and Qualification

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. 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 recommendation context that can be evaluated.
• Top-three rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is recommended in one of the top three positions.
• Rank-one rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is recommended first.
• Net sentiment: positive mentions minus negative mentions divided by total mentions (neutral excluded).

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

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Largest Increase: Jira Service Management

Jira Service Management rose by 7.3 percentage points to 11.1% valid recommendation coverage, moving beyond normal variation. Raw mention presence also climbed to 13.4% in August 2026 from 4.9% in July 2026. Top-three rate moved up to 1.7% from 0.9% over the same period. Net sentiment moved from 1.0 in July 2026 to 0.99 in August 2026.

Largest Decline: Notion

Notion fell 7.7 points to 40.0% valid recommendation coverage, a decline beyond normal variation. Presence rate moved down to 59.1% from 62.9%, and top-three rate declined to 3.4% from 4.9%. Net sentiment moved from 0.88 in July 2026 to 0.85 in August 2026.

Additional Significant Declines: Asana and monday.com

Asana and monday.com both declined beyond normal variation. Asana's presence held steady at 98.1% while its coverage fell 5.0 points, suggesting weakening recommendation conversion. Asana fell to 67.7% in August 2026 from 72.7% in July 2026, while its top-three rate rose to 51.7% from 46.8%. monday.com declined to 65.6% from 71.8%, a drop of 6.2 points, with presence at 94.8% and top-three rate up to 46.7% from 41.6%.

Category Leader: Asana

Asana remained the category leader at 67.7% valid recommendation coverage in August 2026, though its lead narrowed to just 0.7 points over ClickUp. Directionally, Asana's top-three rate rose to 51.7% from 46.8%, and its rank-one rate rose to 18.3% from 14.9%.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The leaders by coverage kept different first-position profiles in August 2026.

Asana and monday.com were close on coverage yet differed in first-position rates: Asana recommended itself first in 18.3% of observations versus 19.8% for monday.com, while ClickUp's rank-one rate fell to 9.2% from 14.5%, weakening its first-choice position despite stable coverage.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

The qualified observations in the July and August 2026 series fell entirely into the Brand Recommendation discovery 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

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, 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 is a neutral, recurring measurement of how prominently brands appear in AI-generated answers across six canonical AI/search surface families. The index tracks presence, valid recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment as distinct signals and makes no claim that one proves another.

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

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