The Gist 100Business softwareOctober 2026
Assistants agree on Shopify and WooCommerce, then split on the rest
Shopify is named in 98% of AI answers and WooCommerce in 84%, with little difference between assistants. Beyond those two, the field depends on the assistant: Wix is named in 32% of ChatGPT answers and 86% of Claude answers.
By Gist GEO team · October 2026
Share of AI answers about e-commerce platforms that name each brand
In October 2026, Gist asked ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews eight buying questions about e-commerce platforms, ten times each, and counted 289 answers. Shopify is named in 98% of them. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude each name it in 100% of their answers and Google AI Overviews in 94%. WooCommerce is named in 84%, and no assistant puts it below 81%. Every answer named at least one brand.
The field thins fast after that. The drop from WooCommerce at 84% to BigCommerce at 61% is 23 points. Wix is named in 59% of answers, Squarespace in 44%, Square Online in 41% and Adobe Commerce in 34%, while Big Cartel, Ecwid and Salesforce Commerce Cloud sit at 13%, 11% and 10%. In all, 24 brands were named at least once, and a typical answer names 4.9 of them.
The surprise is what kind of product WooCommerce is. The answers describe an open-source plugin for WordPress that hands owners control of the site and its data and leaves hosting, security and extensions to them. Even so, WooCommerce is named in 100% of answers to the best platform and small business questions, the same share as Shopify. WooCommerce falls to 32% on the beginner question, against 100% for Shopify.
Shopify is the first brand named in 86% of answers. WooCommerce is first in 6%, Square Online in 7% and BigCommerce in 1%, although WooCommerce appears in 84% of answers overall. The score gap between Shopify at 98% and WooCommerce at 84% is 14 points, but the gap in first mentions is 80 points. Appearing in an answer and opening it are different results, and for every platform but Shopify the opening mention is rare. For most brands, being named alongside Shopify is the result worth competing for.
BigCommerce is named in 100% of answers to the question about platforms worth paying more for and in 18% of answers to the cheapest platform question. Square Online reverses that pattern, at 95% on cheapest and 5% on worth paying more for. Adobe Commerce is named in 65% of answers about platforms worth paying more for and 0% of answers about the cheapest. Only Shopify and WooCommerce stay high on both, Shopify at 96% on cheapest and 94% on worth paying more for, WooCommerce at 98% and 71%. For BigCommerce, Square Online and Adobe Commerce, winning one price question does not carry over to the other.
Claude names 6.1 brands per answer, against 5.2 for Perplexity, 4.0 for ChatGPT and 3.9 for Google AI Overviews. The four brands the assistants disagree on most, Wix, BigCommerce, Squarespace and Square Online, are all named most often by Claude. Wix is named in 86% of Claude answers and 32% of ChatGPT answers, a gap of 54 points. BigCommerce reaches 84% on Claude and 39% on Google AI Overviews. For these brands, the assistant a buyer opens changes the answer alongside the question asked.
Shopify's own site is cited in 54% of answers, well above bigcommerce.com at 30% and wix.com at 24%. ChatGPT cites Shopify's site in 98% of its answers and Claude in 68%, but Google AI Overviews cites it in 0%, although it names Shopify in 94% of its answers. Google AI Overviews leans on YouTube at 61%, Ecomm.Design at 55% and Reddit at 49% instead. A brand can be named without its own site being the source, so the pages behind an answer depend on the assistant.
Who each company is, and how it shows up in the answers
98% of AI answers
Shopify is a Canadian commerce platform that businesses use to build online stores and sell online or in person. Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand and Scott Lake founded it in 2006, and the company is headquartered in Ottawa. It grew out of Snowdevil, an online store for snowboarding equipment, after Lütke built his own e-commerce software to run it.
Founded 2006 · Ottawa, Canada
One system for hosting, payments, stock, shipping and multichannel selling is how the answers describe it, with a wide app ecosystem and a path to high volume. It is named in 94% to 100% of answers on every question, and it is the first brand named in 86% of all answers.
84% of AI answers
WooCommerce is an open-source e-commerce plugin that merchants add to WordPress sites to sell online. WooThemes, a WordPress theme developer, launched it in 2011 and hired Mike Jolley and James Koster to build it. Automattic, the company known for WordPress.com, acquired WooThemes and WooCommerce in 2015.
Since 2011 · Part of Automattic
Control is the draw. The answers describe an open-source plugin for WordPress sites, with hosting and security left to the owner. It is named in 98% of answers to the cheapest platform question and 62% of those about fast-growing brands, and Perplexity names it in 88% of its answers.
61% of AI answers
BigCommerce is an e-commerce platform that provides online store creation, hosting, search engine optimization, marketing and security for retailers from small businesses to enterprises. Eddie Machaalani and Mitchell Harper founded it in Sydney, Australia, in 2009, and it is headquartered in Austin. BigCommerce is part of Commerce.com, the parent brand the company launched in 2025.
Founded 2009 · Austin
Large or complex catalogs are where the answers send it, along with B2B and international needs and built-in commerce features that reduce reliance on add-ons. It is named in 100% of answers to the worth-paying-more question and 95% of those about fast-growing brands, but in 0% of those about beginners.
59% of AI answers
Website builder with drag-and-drop editing and built-in store tools.
A drag-and-drop builder with strong design control is the picture the answers paint, aimed at first-time sellers, creators and shops built around content. It is named in 90% of answers to the beginner question and 78% of those about the best platform, and Perplexity names it in 70% of its answers.
44% of AI answers
Website builder known for designer templates, with online store features.
Design-led small businesses are the audience, from artists and photographers to service firms and small product catalogs, and the answers credit a polished storefront. It is named in 76% of answers to the best platform question and 2% of those about fast-growing brands. Claude names it in 64% of its answers.
41% of AI answers
Online store builder from the payments company Square.
Shops that also sell in person are the match, with online and in-store inventory kept in sync, and the answers call it a budget-friendly start for beginners. It is named in 95% of answers to the cheapest platform question and 82% of those about small business, and Claude names it in 60% of its answers.
34% of AI answers
Adobe’s e-commerce platform, formerly Magento, for large and complex stores.
Enterprises with development resources are the audience, for complex catalogs, integrations and B2B workflows, and the answers note the heavier infrastructure and implementation work. It is named in 88% of answers about fast-growing brands and 71% of those about platforms to consider, but in 0% of those about beginners.
13% of AI answers
Simple online store builder aimed at artists and makers.
Very small catalogs from artists, makers and creators are the use the answers describe, in a simple, lightweight shop. It is named in 73% of answers to the cheapest platform question and in 0% of those about small business or fast-growing brands. Perplexity names it most, in 22% of its answers.
11% of AI answers
Tool for adding a store to an existing website, owned by Lightspeed.
Putting a store on a site that already exists is the job the answers give it, aimed at small businesses and one-person shops. It is named in 35% of answers to the cheapest platform question. Perplexity and Claude name it in 26% and 18% of answers, while ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews do not name it.
10% of AI answers
Salesforce’s enterprise e-commerce platform.
Global enterprises already on Salesforce are the audience, for multi-storefront, high-volume operations and catalogs that must connect to CRM data. It reaches 46% on the worth-paying-more question. Perplexity names it in 22% of its answers, and ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews name it in 2% each.
The three brands named most for each question Gist asked
| Question | Named most | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|
| What's the best e-commerce platform right now? | Shopify 100% | WooCommerce (WordPress) 100% | BigCommerce 82% |
| Which e-commerce platforms do you recommend? | WooCommerce (WordPress) 100% | Shopify 97% | BigCommerce 91% |
| What's the cheapest good e-commerce platform? | WooCommerce (WordPress) 98% | Shopify 96% | Square Online 95% |
| Which e-commerce platforms are worth paying more for? | BigCommerce 100% | Shopify 94% | WooCommerce (WordPress) 71% |
| What's the best e-commerce platform for a small business? | Shopify 100% | WooCommerce (WordPress) 100% | Square Online 82% |
| What's the best e-commerce platform for a fast-growing brand? | Shopify 100% | BigCommerce 95% | Adobe Commerce (Magento) 88% |
| I'm starting an online store. Which three platforms should I compare? | Shopify 100% | WooCommerce (WordPress) 100% | Wix 60% |
| Which e-commerce platform is easiest for beginners? | Shopify 100% | Wix 90% | Square Online 70% |
Share of each assistant’s answers that name the brand
| Brand | All four | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Claude | Google AI Overviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify | 98% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 94% |
| WooCommerce (WordPress) | 84% | 85% | 88% | 81% | 84% |
| BigCommerce | 61% | 59% | 62% | 84% | 39% |
| Wix | 59% | 32% | 70% | 86% | 49% |
| Squarespace | 44% | 50% | 41% | 64% | 22% |
| Square Online | 41% | 26% | 42% | 60% | 35% |
| Adobe Commerce (Magento) | 34% | 29% | 36% | 49% | 20% |
| Big Cartel | 13% | 11% | 22% | 9% | 8% |
| Ecwid | 11% | 0% | 26% | 18% | 0% |
| Salesforce Commerce Cloud | 10% | 2% | 22% | 14% | 2% |
The websites AI cites most on e-commerce platforms, by share of answers
Brand sites, publishers and review sites share the citations. Shopify's own site is cited in 54% of answers, Forbes in 30%, bigcommerce.com in 30% and G2 in 26%. The assistants differ sharply. ChatGPT leans on platform sites, with woocommerce.com at 64%. Perplexity cites Forbes and wix.com in 75% of its answers each, and omnisend.com, a brand site outside the platform field, in 62%. Claude cites TechnologyAdvice in 74%, and Google AI Overviews cites Ecomm.Design in 55%.
Three moves the numbers point to
Publish buying guides on your own site if ChatGPT matters to your buyers. It cites Shopify's site in 98% of its answers, woocommerce.com in 64% and bigcommerce.com in 45%, and the answers tie each platform to a buyer type.
Earn coverage on the publishers and review sites that Perplexity and Claude cite. Forbes appears in 75% of Perplexity answers, TechnologyAdvice in 74% of Claude answers, and G2 in 50% of Perplexity answers and 52% of Claude answers.
Show your product in walkthrough videos and answer buyer questions on Reddit, because Google AI Overviews cites YouTube in 61% of its answers and Reddit in 49% while citing Shopify's own site in 0%.
Analysis · 4 min read
Outside sources name the market leader in six categories. AI answers name that brand first in two. In the other four it ranks second to sixth, 14 to 41 points behind the most-named brand, so market size and AI standing need separate scoreboards.
2 of 6Categories where AI names the market leader first
Analysis · 4 min read
HubSpot scores 99 in CRM software and 29 for its Service Hub in customer support software. Zoho has a top-ten product in seven categories and leads none. Five of 13 companies with products in several categories lead one, and none leads two. A lead stays in its category.
99 vs 29HubSpot’s CRM score against its Service Hub score
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
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.
Check my brand, freeChoose which optional analytics and advertising Gist can use. You can change your choices in Privacy settings. Privacy policy
