AEO for AI agent platforms: AI search visibility ranking
How AI search engines rank AI agent platforms by visibility and citations. 20 brands measured quarterly across Google AI Mode: which brands the AI names in answers, which domains it cites as sources, and how the leaders compare. AI agent platforms used to build autonomous workflows, orchestrate tools, manage memory, and deploy task-oriented agents for operations and customer use cases. Composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →
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When users query AI engines about AI agent platforms, n8n leads the pack with a visibility rate of 25.0%. Close contenders include Zapier and CrewAI, which are also frequently mentioned. These brands have positioned themselves prominently in the AI visibility landscape, making them top choices for those evaluating options.
The rankings are largely influenced by the sources AI engines rely on, with platforms like YouTube, Reddit, and make.com being among the most cited. This suggests that aggregator and review sites heavily shape the narrative about these platforms by providing information the AI engines pull from to generate responses.
For buyers, considering brands that are frequently mentioned by AI engines could indicate strong recent reviews or third-party validation. Look for platforms that not only rank well but also show strength in topical authority, particularly in your area of interest, as these factors reflect what AI engines value when making recommendations.
At a glance
What we observed in this category
n8n leads the AI agent platforms category with a visibility score of 25.0%, more than double the 12.5% shared by Zapier, CrewAI, and Dust. The category average visibility sits at just 3.1%, making n8n's position a substantial outlier rather than a marginal lead. Its composite score of 17.5 is nearly twice that of its nearest rivals at 8.8, which means the AEO gap between first and second place is wider than the gap between second and tenth. That concentration at the top shapes how Google AI Mode frames the entire category.
The most striking divergence in this dataset is between named mentions and cited sources. Botpress holds zero visibility yet leads citation at 25.0%, making it the most-trusted source the AI pulls from without naming it as a category leader. n8n, Zapier, CrewAI, and Dust all carry 0.0% citation despite their visibility scores. This split suggests Google AI Mode is treating brand mentions and source references as separate signals, and brands can be influential in answers without appearing in either column simultaneously.
The top cited sources for this category are dominated by third-party and community platforms: youtube.com, reddit.com, linkedin.com, and make.com all appear before most brand-owned domains. Among brand domains, only botpress.com and arahi.ai feature in the cited sources list. This anchoring on community and video content indicates that Google AI Mode is drawing heavily on user-generated comparisons and tutorials when generating answers about AI agent platforms, rather than relying on vendor documentation or press coverage.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility risers
-
Zapier 0% → 12% · rank #7 → #2+12pp
Biggest visibility fallers
-
Dust 38% → 12% · rank #2 → #4-25pp
-
Lindy 25% → 0% · rank #1 → #8-25pp
-
Botpress 12% → 0% · rank #6 → #5-12pp
The AEO ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
n8n.io
|
25% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
n8n's visibility of 25.0% is more than eight times the category average of 3.1%, yet its citation rate is 0.0%, meaning Google AI Mode names it without sourcing it. |
||||
| 2 |
zapier.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Zapier rose five rank positions and gained 12.5 visibility points in the latest period, but simultaneously lost 12.5 citation points, signalling a trade-off between mention frequency and source trust. |
||||
| 3 |
crewai.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
CrewAI matches Zapier and Dust with a 12.5% visibility score and 8.8 composite, but carries 0.0% citation, placing it firmly in the named-but-not-sourced tier of AEO performance. |
||||
| 4 |
dust.tt
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Dust fell from a previous visibility of 37.5% down to 12.5%, a loss of 25.0 points, making it the steepest visibility decline in the category despite holding its composite score at 8.8. |
||||
| 5 |
botpress.com
|
0% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
Botpress is the only brand in the top five with a positive citation rate at 25.0%, achieving the highest citation score in the dataset despite recording 0.0% visibility in the same period. |
||||
| 6 |
moveworks.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 7 |
microsoft.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 8 |
lindy.ai
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 9 |
voiceflow.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 10 |
kore.ai
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 11 |
langchain.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 12 |
openai.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 13 |
llamaindex.ai
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 14 |
google.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 15 |
aws.amazon.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 16 |
cognigy.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 17 |
flowiseai.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 18 |
pydantic.dev
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 19 |
relevanceai.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 20 |
dify.ai
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on AI agent platforms, these are the domains Google AI Mode cited most often. If you're not on this list — or if your competitors are — that's a concrete PR / linkbuilding target.
How to read this AEO ranking
Four things worth knowing before you act on the numbers above. These are the same definitions across every industry page — for category-specific observations, see the What we observed section above (where available) and the per-brand insights inline in the ranking.
Visibility = being named
A brand's visibility % is the share of AI answers that mention it by name in the response prose. This is who AI engines actively recommend to the buyer. More on visibility →
Citation rate = being trusted
Citation rate is the share of AI answers that include the brand's domain as a clickable source link. This is what the AI treats as authoritative evidence, different from being named. More on citation rate →
Top engine differs by brand
The "top engine" column shows which AI surface each brand performs best on. Big gaps between a brand's score across engines usually points to specific content or schema gaps. How AI engines pick sources →
AEO rankings move month to month
AI engines re-crawl and re-rank on shorter cycles than classical search. We re-audit every brand on this list at least every 90 days and refresh this page automatically. How AI search ranking works →
Run an AEO audit on your own AI agent platforms brand
The brands above were curated from public market-leader lists. Want the same answer engine optimisation measurement against your own brand — including the queries you appear on, which competitors get named instead, and a prioritised fix list? Run a free preview.
Frequently asked about AEO for AI agent platforms
Who leads AEO in AI agent platforms?
n8n leads with a visibility score of 25.0% and a composite score of 17.5, both well above the next group of brands sitting at 12.5% visibility and 8.8 composite.
Which brands are cited most by Google AI Mode in AI agent platforms?
Botpress leads citation at 25.0%, followed by Moveworks, Microsoft AutoGen, Lindy, and Voiceflow at 12.5% each. The top four visibility brands all have 0.0% citation.
What sources does Google AI Mode anchor on for AI agent platforms queries?
The most-cited sources are youtube.com, reddit.com, make.com, and linkedin.com, indicating the AI is drawing primarily on community and video content rather than vendor-owned pages.
Can a brand have high citation but low visibility in this category?
Yes. Botpress has the highest citation rate in the dataset at 25.0% while recording 0.0% visibility, showing that being a trusted source and being named as a category leader are independent outcomes in Google AI Mode.
Which brands have seen the biggest AEO shifts recently in AI agent platforms?
Zapier gained five rank positions and 12.5 visibility points, while Lindy dropped seven positions and lost 25.0 visibility points and 37.5 citation points in the same period.
How concentrated is AEO performance across AI agent platforms brands?
Performance is highly concentrated: n8n alone accounts for 25.0% visibility against a category average of 3.1%, and six of the top ten brands record 0.0% visibility and 0.0% citation.