Savings Account: AI Visibility Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

SoFi leads the Savings Account benchmark with 85.8% valid recommendation coverage in October 2026, up from 74.6% in August 2026, ahead of the next brand by 8.4 percentage points. The largest coverage increase was SoFi, which rose from 74.6% in August 2026 to 85.8% in October 2026. The largest coverage decline was American Express, which fell from 44.4% in August 2026 to 33.4% in October 2026.

October 2026 shows movement beyond normal month-to-month variation in both directions. SoFi, Axos Bank, and Barclays were significant risers, while American Express and EverBank were significant decliners. SoFi has now risen in each of the two months since August 2026, and American Express and EverBank have each declined in both months.

Across the full series, the benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 725 qualified observations after qualification in October 2026, up from 712 in August 2026.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth is the number of canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. All three months recorded qualified observations across all six families.

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

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. The funnel below shows how observations moved from raw collection to the public denominator.

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

Current Brand Standings

Questions This Section Answers

• How do the savings account brands rank by valid recommendation coverage?
• Which brands lead on top-three and rank-one placement, not just overall coverage?

This table is the primary current-month benchmark view.

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: Share of qualified observations in which the brand is mentioned in any form.
• 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 among the top three recommended options.
• Rank-one rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand is the single most recommended option.
• Net sentiment: Balance of positive over negative brand mentions, scaled from 0 to 1.

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

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Questions This Section Answers

• Which savings account brands gained or lost the most recommendation coverage since August 2026?
• How did SoFi's and American Express's placement rates move alongside their coverage changes?

Between the baseline and current months, several brands showed meaningful placement changes even where overall coverage moved within normal variation. CIT Bank's top-three rate rose from 12.2% in August 2026 to 24.1% in October 2026, and its rank-one rate rose from 1.3% to 8.7%. Capital One's top-three rate rose from 29.9% in August 2026 to 43.0% in October 2026, and its coverage moved up 4.8 points from September 2026 to October 2026. Marcus by Goldman Sachs rebounded 2.6 points from September 2026 to October 2026 while remaining below its August 2026 level.

Largest Increase: SoFi

SoFi rose 11.2 points, from 74.6% coverage in August 2026 to 85.8% in October 2026, beyond normal month-to-month variation. The rise continued from September 2026, when coverage was 76.4%, to October 2026, a gain of 9.4 points. SoFi now leads the category and has risen in each of the two months since August 2026.

Presence rate rose from 82.7% in August 2026 to 90.3% in October 2026. Top-three placement rose from 32.3% to 55.3%, and rank-one placement rose from 17.0% to 24.7% over the same period. Both placement measures rose by comparable magnitude to the overall coverage gain.

Largest Decline: American Express

American Express fell 11.0 points, from 44.4% coverage in August 2026 to 33.4% in October 2026, beyond normal variation. The decline continued from September 2026, when coverage was 39.5%, to October 2026, a drop of 6.1 points. American Express has declined in both months since August 2026.

Presence rate fell from 47.9% in August 2026 to 35.7% in October 2026. Top-three placement fell from 10.7% to 6.6%, and rank-one placement fell from 2.1% to 0.8%. All three measures declined over the same period, consistent with the overall decline in coverage.

Category Leader: SoFi

SoFi leads with 85.8% valid recommendation coverage in October 2026, up from 74.6% in August 2026. SoFi also leads in presence rate at 90.3%, up from 82.7%. Its top-three rate rose from 32.3% to 55.3%, and its rank-one rate rose from 17.0% to 24.7% across the same period.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Questions This Section Answers

• Which savings account brands appear most often in the top three, and which are most often ranked first?
• How can brands with similar recommendation coverage still differ in first-position strength?

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The leading brands by coverage show different placement patterns.

Close coverage can still hide different first-position rates. Ally Bank appears in the top three more often than Capital One (49.7% versus 43.0% in October 2026) despite slightly lower overall coverage, and SoFi's rank-one rate is more than twice Capital One's despite both sitting near the top 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 only and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

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 attributable sales.
• It does not capture every possible AI response.
• It does not measure organic-search ranking or social mention volume.
• It does not include private or sponsored channels.
• It does not establish causality from a metric movement alone.

Top 10 Cited Domains

Questions This Section Answers

• Which domains are cited most often in AI responses for savings accounts?
• How concentrated are citations, and do official bank domains appear among the top sources?

Across this measurement period, the benchmark observed 6,482 citations across 450 unique domains in AI responses for the savings account vertical.

Citations are concentrated in the top few domains: the ten most-cited domains account for roughly half of all citations observed, with the two leading personal-finance comparison sites alone drawing nearly a quarter. One tracked brand's own domain, sofi.com, appears in the top ten at rank 10, cited by five of the six surface families. Review and comparison sites dominate the upper ranks, followed by financial news outlets and user-forum content, while official brand properties appear only once in the top ten.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Visibility Market Discovery Index is a neutral industry benchmark tracking how brands appear and are recommended across major AI/search surfaces. The benchmark covers six canonical AI surface families: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. Measurements are taken monthly and added to the same public report.

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

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