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A typical Claude answer names about twice as many brands as a typical Google AI Overviews answer. The counts are 7.2 against 3.6. ChatGPT names 4.1 and Perplexity 4.8. Gist counted 9,539 AI answers to 256 buying questions for the October 2026 Gist 100, and Claude names the most brands per answer in all 32 categories.
The gap shows up in the brand scores. Of the 304 brands in a published top ten, 186 get their highest score from Claude, against 57 for ChatGPT, 48 for Perplexity and 13 for Google AI Overviews. Within those top tens, ChatGPT never names 22 brands, and Perplexity and Google AI Overviews never name 12 each. A single overall score averages all of this away.
Brands named in a typical answer
Average number of ranked brands named per answer, all 32 categories
- Claude
- Perplexity
- ChatGPT
- Google AI Overviews
Source: The Gist 100, October 2026.
Business software answers name more brands
Every assistant names more brands per answer in the 16 business software categories than in the 16 consumer ones. ChatGPT names 4.8 against 3.5, Google AI Overviews 4.1 against 3.2, Perplexity 5.6 against 3.9 and Claude 7.8 against 6.6. Perplexity drops the most. Claude’s consumer answers, at 6.6, still name more brands than any other assistant’s business answers.
Email management software and applicant tracking systems draw the most brands per answer from all four assistants. Claude names 9.4 and 9.5 brands there, and Google AI Overviews 4.9 and 4.7. The fewest brands per answer sit in consumer categories. ChatGPT names 2.0 brands in a typical sunscreen answer, Perplexity 2.4 in mattresses and Google AI Overviews 2.4 in electric toothbrushes. Claude names 6.3, 7.9 and 4.6 in those same three.
Outside Claude, a typical consumer answer names 3.2 to 3.9 brands. One caution: Gist counted 1,859 Google AI Overviews answers, against 2,560 for each of the other three assistants, so its figures rest on fewer answers.
The widest gaps for single brands
A brand’s score is the share of answers in its category that name it, averaged across the four assistants equally. Gist’s counts list the 25 brands with the widest gaps between assistants, all in a published top ten. Claude gives the highest figure to 15 of them. Perplexity gives it to five, ChatGPT to four and Google AI Overviews to one.
Overall score and percent of each assistant’s answers naming the brand, for eight of the 25 widest gaps
| Brand and category | Score | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Claude | Google AI Overviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NordPass, business password managers | 55 | 0 | 65 | 96 | 58 |
| Transparent Labs, protein powder | 48 | 4 | 54 | 85 | 50 |
| Dreame, robot vacuums | 56 | 82 | 32 | 89 | 20 |
| Workday, applicant tracking systems | 31 | 68 | 1 | 39 | 18 |
| Hoka, running shoes | 43 | 38 | 38 | 81 | 15 |
| JustFoodForDogs, dog food | 18 | 0 | 4 | 61 | 8 |
| Mailchimp, email marketing | 63 | 86 | 71 | 66 | 26 |
| Zoho Sign, e-signature software | 18 | 5 | 1 | 61 | 6 |
NordPass has the widest gap, 96 points. Claude names it in 96% of answers, and ChatGPT never does. Transparent Labs runs from 4% in ChatGPT to 85% in Claude, and Hoka from 15% in Google AI Overviews to 81% in Claude. Not every gap favors Claude. ChatGPT names Workday in 68% of answers, Claude in 39%, Google AI Overviews in 18% and Perplexity in 1%.
What one overall score hides
The average treats the four assistants as equals, so it can sit between very different results. NordPass ranks fourth in its category with a score of 55, a figure that matches none of its four results. Mailchimp scores 63, and its results run from 86% in ChatGPT to 26% in Google AI Overviews.
JustFoodForDogs ranks sixth in its category and Zoho Sign seventh. Each scores 18. In both, Claude names the brand in 61% of answers and each of the other three assistants names it in 8% or fewer. An 18 suggests low reach everywhere. The four results show a brand that one assistant names in most of its answers and the rest name rarely or never.
Zeros sit behind the averages too. A brand with a zero from ChatGPT, such as NordPass or JustFoodForDogs, holds its place on the page through the other three assistants alone. The counts do not say why the assistants differ. One visible pattern fits the gap in brands per answer. The assistant that names the most brands per answer also gives the most brands their highest score. The counts show that pattern and cannot prove a link.
What to do with this
- Split your score by assistant. NordPass scores 55, yet ChatGPT never names it and Claude names it in 96% of answers. Read the four results before judging any score.
- Look for your zeros. ChatGPT never names 22 brands in a published top ten, and Perplexity and Google AI Overviews never name 12 each. Put your category’s buying questions to each assistant and note which ones leave your brand out.
- Check the shortest lists first. Perplexity names 2.4 brands in a typical mattress answer and ChatGPT names 2.0 in a typical sunscreen answer, against 7.9 and 6.3 for Claude. Find the assistant that names the fewest brands in your category and see whether your brand is among them.
Counted from the answers behind the October 2026 Gist 100. How it is made.
Sources
- The Gist 100: how it is made. Gist GEO
Questions marketers ask
Why do the assistants name such different numbers of brands?
The counts show the pattern and cannot show the reason. Claude names the most brands per answer in all 32 categories, 7.2 in a typical answer against 3.6 for Google AI Overviews. The assistant that names the most brands also gives 186 of the 304 brands in a published top ten their highest score.
Is a brand’s overall score still useful?
Yes, as a summary of how often the answers name it, with each assistant counting equally. It needs its four parts beside it. NordPass scores 55 overall, yet ChatGPT never names it and Claude names it in 96% of answers.