The Gist 100Business softwareOctober 2026
Price and hiring volume change which applicant tracking systems get named
Workable is named in 77% of AI answers, more than any other brand, yet the leader changes with the question. Zoho Recruit is named in 100% of answers on affordability, where Greenhouse is named in 8%.
By Gist GEO team · October 2026
Share of AI answers about applicant tracking systems that name each brand
Gist asked ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews eight questions that a hiring team might ask when choosing recruiting software, and counted 285 answers. Workable appears in 77% of answers, Greenhouse in 65% and Ashby in 60%. Greenhouse is named first most often, in 32% of answers, against 17% for Ashby and 15% for Workable. Workable is also the steadiest across assistants, named in 69% to 81% of each assistant's answers.
The field is open. A typical answer names 6.9 brands, and 38 brands appear across all answers. Three brands reach 60%, then the scores fall 15 points from Ashby at 60% to Lever at 45%. Workday, at 31%, sits 14 points below Lever, with JazzHR at 43%, Zoho Recruit at 40%, iCIMS and Breezy HR at 37% and BambooHR at 36% between them.
The pattern a reader may not expect is how differently one brand fares from question to question. Ashby is named in 96% of answers on startups and 0% on the affordable question. iCIMS is named in 100% on high-volume hiring and 0% on the same affordable question. Zoho Recruit makes the trip in reverse, from 100% on the affordable question to 0% on high-volume hiring. Workable, named in 77% overall, runs from 100% on the hiring-manager question to 28% on high volume.
Workable is named in 77% of answers and Greenhouse in 65%, a gap of 12 points. First mentions reverse the order, with Greenhouse at 32% and Workable at 15%, a gap of 17 points. Ashby is named first in 17% of answers, and Lever, named in 45%, is named first in 0%. One visible clue is how answers describe Greenhouse, as a safe general-purpose choice for structured hiring. For vendors, the contest is for the first mention as much as for inclusion.
On the affordable question Zoho Recruit, Breezy HR and JazzHR are named in 100%, 98% and 87% of answers, while Lever is named in 2%. On the question about what is worth paying more for, Greenhouse is named in 100%, Ashby in 94% and Lever in 75%, while Zoho Recruit is named in 10%. High-volume hiring has a third set, with iCIMS at 100%, SmartRecruiters at 90%, Paradox at 68% and Workday at 67%. The answers tie each brand to a price band and a hiring scale, so the question a buyer asks shapes which names appear.
Claude names 9.5 brands per answer, against 6.3 for ChatGPT, 6.1 for Perplexity and 4.7 for Google AI Overviews. Claude names Breezy HR in 71% of its answers, JazzHR in 69% and Zoho Recruit in 64%, while ChatGPT names them in 19%, 14% and 12%. ChatGPT instead names Lever in 76% and Workday in 68%, against 51% and 39% on Claude. Google AI Overviews names BambooHR in 69% of its answers and Perplexity in 8%. A brand's overall score hides which assistant carries it.
Workable is named in 77% of answers, yet its own website is cited in 11%. Lever and Greenhouse come closest, with Lever named in 45% and cited in 23% and Greenhouse named in 65% and cited in 31%. Each assistant cites greenhouse.com in between 25% and 35% of its answers. Pinpoint reverses the pattern, with its own site cited in 41% of answers and the brand named in 31%. The answers point to third-party sources doing much of the work, with People Managing People cited in 45% of answers and Zapier in 31%. A brand's own pages are one source among several.
Who each company is, and how it shows up in the answers
77% of AI answers
Workable makes cloud-based applicant tracking and recruitment software, first built for small and medium-sized businesses. Nikos Moraitakis and Spyros Magiatis founded the company in Athens, Greece, in 2012, and it is based in Boston. In 2024 it launched a human resources information system for onboarding, time-off tracking and employee records.
Founded 2012 · Boston
Quick setup, easy job distribution, AI-assisted sourcing and a workflow that smaller teams can run without dedicated recruiting-operations staff are what answers credit. It is named in 100% of answers on which system is easiest for hiring managers and in 28% on high-volume hiring.
65% of AI answers
Greenhouse sells recruiting software as a service to companies, on annual licenses. Daniel Chait and Jon Stross founded it in 2012, and the company is headquartered in New York City. Its software lets companies set a uniform interview procedure so candidates are judged on the same rubric.
Founded 2012 · New York
Structured hiring is the credit answers give most often, along with interview planning, scorecards, integrations and collaboration with hiring managers for mid-size and larger companies. ChatGPT names it in 88% of its answers against 36% for Google AI Overviews.
60% of AI answers
Ashby is recruiting software for talent teams at companies from startups to enterprises, combining an applicant tracking system with CRM and sourcing, scheduling and analytics. Co-founders Benjamin Encz and Abhik Pramanik started working on it in late 2018. Ashby is a remote-first company.
Founded 2018
Analytics and reporting lead the praise, along with automation, scheduling and an all-in-one design that combines applicant tracking and candidate relationship tools for growing companies. It is named in 96% of answers on startups and in 0% on the affordable question.
45% of AI answers
Applicant tracking system with candidate relationship management built in.
A combined applicant tracking and CRM product, aimed at sourcing and at building pipelines of passive candidates, is what answers credit to it. ChatGPT names it in 76% of its answers against 20% for Google AI Overviews.
43% of AI answers
Applicant tracking software aimed at small and mid-size employers.
Small firms and early-stage startups are the buyers answers match to it, citing job posting, applicant tracking and light automation that answers describe as affordable and quick to adopt. It is named in 87% of answers on the affordable question and in 69% of Claude's answers.
40% of AI answers
The recruiting and applicant tracking app in the Zoho suite.
The affordable pick for small teams, with a broad feature set and AI-assisted recruiting, is how answers describe it. It is named in 100% of answers on the affordable question and in 64% of Claude's answers.
37% of AI answers
Talent acquisition software used by large employers.
High-volume and seasonal hiring, recruitment marketing and complex global hiring at enterprise scale are what answers credit, along with a large network of integration partners. It is named in 100% of answers on high-volume hiring and in 76% on the question about which systems to consider.
37% of AI answers
Applicant tracking software for small businesses, organized around a visual hiring pipeline.
Ease of use, a visual hiring pipeline and an entry plan limited to one active job, aimed at very small businesses, are what answers credit. It is named in 98% of answers on the affordable question and in 71% of Claude's answers.
36% of AI answers
HR software for small and mid-size companies, covering hiring, onboarding and employee records.
Recruiting bundled into a full HR system, for small and midsize businesses and for hiring managers who are not recruiters, is what answers describe. It shows up most on the question about which system is easiest for hiring managers, and Google AI Overviews names it in 69% of its answers against 8% for Perplexity.
31% of AI answers
Enterprise software for HR and finance, with recruiting as one of its modules.
Answers pair it with large organizations that want deep integration with a wider HR system and advanced analytics, often when the team already runs that system. ChatGPT names it in 68% of its answers and Perplexity in 1%.
The three brands named most for each question Gist asked
| Question | Named most | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|
| What's the best applicant tracking system right now? | Workable 96% | Ashby 93% | Greenhouse 93% |
| Which applicant tracking systems do you recommend? | Workable 97% | Greenhouse 86% | Ashby 78% |
| What's the best affordable applicant tracking system? | Zoho Recruit 100% | Breezy HR 98% | JazzHR 87% |
| Which applicant tracking systems are worth paying more for? | Greenhouse 100% | Ashby 94% | Lever 75% |
| What's the best applicant tracking system for a startup? | Ashby 96% | Workable 96% | Teamtailor 62% |
| What's the best applicant tracking system for a company hiring at high volume? | iCIMS 100% | SmartRecruiters 90% | Paradox 68% |
| We're choosing recruiting software. Which three applicant tracking systems should we shortlist? | Greenhouse 100% | Workable 92% | Ashby 75% |
| Which applicant tracking system is easiest for hiring managers to use? | Workable 100% | BambooHR 82% | Lever 54% |
Share of each assistant’s answers that name the brand
| Brand | All four | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Claude | Google AI Overviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Workable | 77% | 81% | 79% | 79% | 69% |
| Greenhouse | 65% | 88% | 61% | 76% | 36% |
| Ashby | 60% | 76% | 62% | 68% | 33% |
| Lever | 45% | 76% | 32% | 51% | 20% |
| JazzHR | 43% | 14% | 50% | 69% | 40% |
| Zoho Recruit | 40% | 12% | 38% | 64% | 44% |
| iCIMS | 37% | 39% | 26% | 60% | 24% |
| Breezy HR | 37% | 19% | 38% | 71% | 20% |
| BambooHR | 36% | 35% | 8% | 34% | 69% |
| Workday | 31% | 68% | 1% | 39% | 18% |
The websites AI cites most on applicant tracking systems, by share of answers
Publishers and brand sites split the citations. People Managing People, a publisher, is cited in 45% of answers and Zapier in 31%, while the brand sites Pin and pinpointhq.com are cited in 43% and 41%. ChatGPT cites People Managing People in 0% and instead cites lever.co in 48% of its answers, greenhouse.com in 35%, ashbyhq.com in 34% and workable.com in 29%. Perplexity cites pinpointhq.com in 100% and Forbes in 88%, and Claude cites SelectSoftware Reviews in 85%.
Three moves the numbers point to
Earn coverage on People Managing People, which Google AI Overviews cites in 47% of its answers, Perplexity in 62% and Claude in 70%, and which ChatGPT cites in 0%. Pair that work with pages on your own site.
Publish pages on your own site that Perplexity can cite, since it cites pinpointhq.com in 100% of its answers, Pin in 88% and gem.com in 75%, all brand sites. Claude cites Pin in 64% and gem.com in 31%.
Make the ease-of-use case on the hiring-manager question, where Workable is named in 100% of answers and BambooHR in 82%, then Lever in 54% and Rippling in 48%. The drop after the first two leaves room for a third name.
Analysis · 4 min read
A typical Claude answer names 7.2 brands, against 3.6 for Google AI Overviews. Claude gives 186 of the 304 brands in a published top ten their highest score, and ChatGPT never names 22 of them. Which brands appear depends on the assistant, and one overall score hides it.
7.2 vs 3.6Brands per answer, Claude vs Google AI Overviews
Analysis · 4 min read
In 8 of 32 categories, the most-named brand is not named first most often. Gmail scores 96 in email management but is first in 8 percent of answers. Fathom is first in 52 percent of notetaker answers, Fireflies.ai in 10. These counts measure how often a brand appears and how often it is named first.
96 vs 8Gmail’s score versus its first-mention share
Analysis · 4 min read
Ask an AI assistant for a budget option and the top brand changes in 24 of 32 categories. Technivorm Moccamaster scores 67 overall and 0 on the budget question, while Carrd goes from 19 to 100. An overall score can hide how a brand fares on price questions.
24 of 32categories where the budget leader differs
Gist asks a fixed set of eight buying questions in each category. None of them names a brand. Each question is put to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews ten times, with web search on.
A brand’s score is the share of answers that name it, averaged across the assistants so that each one counts equally. Stores and review sites named in passing are not ranked. Brands named in fewer than one answer in ten are left off.
Measured October 5 to October 6, 2026.
No. It shows which brands AI assistants name when asked, not which products are best. Being named often usually reflects how much has been written about a brand, and where.
The page shows the 10 most-named brands. The free scan checks your own brand on a topic you choose.
Yes. AI answers shift as assistants are updated and as new pages are published. The date at the top shows when this ranking was measured.
See which brands appear in AI recommendations for your category, and where your brand stands among them.
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