The Gist 100Business softwareOctober 2026
Ramp is named first in 84% of answers, Brex in 0%
Ramp is named in 98% of AI answers about spend management and first in 84%. Brex is named in 83% and first in 0%, and the next most named brand, BILL Spend & Expense, reaches 63%.
By Gist GEO team · October 2026
Share of AI answers about spend management software that name each brand
Ramp is named in 98% of the 285 AI answers and first in 84%. No assistant names Ramp in fewer than 96% of its answers: ChatGPT does so in 100%, Perplexity and Claude in 99% and Google AI Overviews in 96%. Brex is named in 83%, BILL Spend & Expense in 63% and Navan in 42%. A typical answer names 6.0 brands, and every answer names at least one.
Below Brex the field opens up. BILL Spend & Expense is named in 63% of answers, 20 points behind Brex at 83%. Three brands then sit within 2 points of one another: Navan at 42%, Airbase at 41% and SAP Concur at 40%. Coupa is named in 31% of answers, Expensify and Airwallex in 27% each and Payhawk in 25%. Across the 285 answers, 29 brands are named at least once, so the room behind the leaders is wide.
The first slot holds a surprise. Brex is named in 83% of answers and first in 0%. Airbase is named in 41% and first in 7%, and Expensify in 27% and first in 4%. Two lower-scoring brands are named first more often than Brex. The answers lead with Ramp and then match other names to the question. Airbase is named in 90% of the mid-size answers and Expensify in 85% of the ease-of-use answers.
Ramp is named in 98% of answers, 15 points ahead of Brex at 83%, and is the first name in 84% of answers against 0% for Brex. Ramp's lowest question score is 92%, on the free or low-cost question, and its lowest assistant score is 96%, at Google AI Overviews. It ties Brex at 100% on the shortlist question. For a challenger the contest is for the name that appears beside Ramp, and that name changes with the question.
The startup and mid-size questions have different supporting casts. Payhawk is named in 70% of mid-size answers and 2% of startup answers, and Airbase in 90% and 35%. Airwallex runs the other way, at 55% for startups and 18% for mid-size companies. SAP Concur and Coupa are each named in 0% of answers to both the startup question and the free or low-cost question. One visible pattern is that a brand's reach follows the size of company the question describes.
Claude names 8.5 brands per answer and Google AI Overviews names 3.9, with ChatGPT and Perplexity both at 5.4. The wider lists change who appears. Payhawk is named in 59% of Claude's answers and 5% of ChatGPT's. Airbase is named in 70% of ChatGPT's answers and 11% of Google AI Overviews answers. BILL Spend & Expense is named in 82% of Perplexity's answers and 24% of Google AI Overviews answers. A brand that looks absent in one assistant can be a regular name in another.
Ramp's own site is cited in 64% of answers, bill.com in 58% and Airwallex's site in 50%, with G2, the only review site in the table, at 39%. Google AI Overviews breaks the pattern: it cites Ramp's site in 2% of its answers while naming Ramp in 96%, and it cites Airwallex's site in 51%, the site it cites most. Citing and naming are separate counts, so a brand's own pages matter more in some assistants than in others.
Who each company is, and how it shows up in the answers
98% of AI answers
Ramp is a financial technology company that offers corporate charge cards, expense management and bill-payment software to businesses. Eric Glyman, Karim Atiyeh and Gene Lee founded it in 2019, and it formally launched in February 2020. Ramp is headquartered in New York City.
Founded 2019 · New York
A single platform covering cards, expense tracking, bill pay, procurement and accounting automation is what the answers credit, along with spend controls. Ramp is named in 100% of answers to the best-platform, startup and shortlist questions and in 92% to the free or low-cost question. Every assistant names Ramp in at least 96% of its answers.
83% of AI answers
Brex is a financial technology company that offers corporate cards, cash management accounts and spend management software to businesses. It first served technology startups. Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi founded it in 2017, and it has been part of Capital One since 2026.
Since 2017 · San Francisco · Part of Capital One
Global operations earn it credit: local currency support in many countries, multi-entity setups, and cards, travel and expenses in one product. Brex is named in 100% of answers to the shortlist question and 95% to the startup question. ChatGPT names Brex in 100% of its answers and Google AI Overviews in 58%.
63% of AI answers
BILL Spend & Expense is the corporate card and expense management product of BILL, a financial operations software company formerly known as Bill.com. It combines expense management software with corporate cards for small and midsize businesses. BILL acquired Divvy in 2021 and later renamed it BILL Spend & Expense.
San Jose · Part of BILL
Budget controls, company cards and accounting integrations are the credit, along with a cost-conscious pitch for small and mid-sized businesses. BILL Spend & Expense is named in 85% of answers to the worth-paying-for question and 23% to the shortlist question. Perplexity names BILL Spend & Expense in 82% of its answers, Google AI Overviews in 24%.
42% of AI answers
Business travel and expense platform, formerly TripActions.
Business travel booked alongside expense management is what answers credit, with value clearest for organizations that travel a lot. Navan is named in 75% of answers to the worth-paying-for question and 2% to the free or low-cost question. ChatGPT names Navan in 56% of its answers.
41% of AI answers
Spend management platform, now part of Paylocity.
Answers credit structured purchasing workflows with approvals, plus reimbursements, cards and bill pay in one system for mid-sized companies. Airbase is named in 90% of answers to the mid-size question and 5% to the easiest-to-use question. ChatGPT names Airbase in 70% of its answers, Google AI Overviews in 11%.
40% of AI answers
SAP’s long-established travel and expense software.
Large enterprises with complex travel and expense policies are the audience answers describe, with credit for compliance, visibility and mature integrations. SAP Concur is named in 70% of answers to the shortlist question and 0% to the startup and free or low-cost questions. Google AI Overviews names SAP Concur in 44% of its answers.
31% of AI answers
Enterprise platform for procurement and business spend.
Procurement breadth is the strength answers credit, with the fit described as large organizations that run heavy supplier and purchasing workflows. Coupa is named in 76% of answers to the software-to-consider question and 0% to the startup, free or low-cost and easiest-to-use questions. Claude names Coupa in 52% of its answers.
27% of AI answers
Expense reporting app known for receipt scanning.
Receipt scanning and simple expense reports earn it credit, along with a low entry barrier. Expensify is named in 85% of answers to the easiest-to-use question and 59% to the free or low-cost question, but in 0% to the mid-size question. Claude names Expensify in 44% of its answers.
27% of AI answers
Financial platform for cross-border payments, business accounts and cards.
Cross-border strength is the draw: multi-currency cards, international payouts and entities in many countries, with accounting integrations noted for startups. Airwallex is named in 55% of answers to the startup question, and its own site is cited in 50% of answers. ChatGPT names Airwallex in 0% of its answers.
25% of AI answers
European spend management platform with corporate cards.
Multi-entity and international operations are the qualities answers credit, along with procurement depth that covers purchase orders and a modular design that adds cards, expenses and purchasing as needed. Payhawk is named in 70% of answers to the mid-size question, and Claude names Payhawk in 59% of its answers against 5% for ChatGPT.
The three brands named most for each question Gist asked
| Question | Named most | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|
| What's the best spend management platform right now? | Ramp 100% | Brex 97% | Navan 71% |
| Which spend management software do you recommend? | Ramp 100% | Brex 86% | Coupa 76% |
| What's the best free or low-cost spend management tool? | Ramp 92% | BILL Spend & Expense 75% | Zoho Expense 69% |
| Which spend management platforms are worth paying for? | Ramp 98% | Brex 90% | BILL Spend & Expense 85% |
| What's the best spend management platform for a startup? | Ramp 100% | Brex 95% | Airwallex 55% |
| What's the best spend management software for a mid-size company? | Ramp 98% | Airbase (Paylocity) 90% | Brex 80% |
| We're replacing our expense process. Which three spend management platforms should we shortlist? | Brex 100% | Ramp 100% | SAP Concur 70% |
| Which corporate card and expense platform is easiest for employees to use? | Ramp 98% | Expensify 85% | Navan 68% |
Share of each assistant’s answers that name the brand
| Brand | All four | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Claude | Google AI Overviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ramp | 98% | 100% | 99% | 99% | 96% |
| Brex | 83% | 100% | 76% | 98% | 58% |
| BILL Spend & Expense | 63% | 66% | 82% | 78% | 24% |
| Navan | 42% | 56% | 46% | 42% | 22% |
| Airbase (Paylocity) | 41% | 70% | 16% | 65% | 11% |
| SAP Concur | 40% | 45% | 24% | 48% | 44% |
| Coupa | 31% | 34% | 25% | 52% | 13% |
| Expensify | 27% | 18% | 25% | 44% | 22% |
| Airwallex | 27% | 0% | 38% | 41% | 29% |
| Payhawk | 25% | 5% | 15% | 59% | 20% |
The websites AI cites most on spend management software, by share of answers
Brand websites lead the citation table. Ramp's own site is cited in 64% of answers, bill.com in 58%, Airwallex's site in 50% and emburse.com in 45%. G2, the only review site in the table, is cited in 39%. Perplexity cites bill.com, G2 and Ramp's site in 88% of its answers each. ChatGPT cites Ramp's site in 79% and Brex's in 65%. Claude cites bill.com in 89% and OFX in 84%. Google AI Overviews cites Airwallex's site in 51%, Reddit in 42% and YouTube in 36%.
Three moves the numbers point to
Name the company size you serve on your own pages. The order changes with it: Payhawk is named in 70% of mid-size answers and 2% of startup answers, while Airwallex is named in 55% of startup answers and 18% of mid-size ones.
Earn reviews and mentions on the sites each assistant leans on. Perplexity cites G2 in 88% of its answers, while Google AI Overviews cites Reddit in 42% and YouTube in 36%, so a review profile reaches some assistants more than others.
Start with the assistant that names the most brands. Claude names 8.5 brands per answer against 3.9 for Google AI Overviews, and it cites OFX in 84% of its answers and emburse.com in 81%, so check whether those sites mention you.
Case study · 4 min read
Ramp is in 281 of 285 AI answers about spend management software and comes first in 84%. Answers cite its own site in 64%, but Google AI Overviews names Ramp in 96% while citing ramp.com in 2%. The counts show what the answers hold, not why.
84%of AI answers name Ramp first
Analysis · 4 min read
AI answers cite a ranked brand’s own site in 68% of business software answers and 24% of consumer ones. A vendor’s site is the most-cited website in 9 of 16 business categories and none of the consumer ones. Being cited is not the same as being named.
68% vs 24%Business vs consumer answers citing a brand’s site
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.
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