Competitive intelligence firms: AI search visibility ranking (2026)
How AI search engines rank competitive intelligence firms by visibility and citations. 20 brands measured monthly across Google AI Mode: which brands the AI names in answers, which domains it cites as sources, and how the leaders compare. Competitive intelligence firms helping companies monitor rivals, understand market moves, and turn insight into sharper strategy and positioning. Composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →
Refreshed Jul 04, 2026Download this ranking as a PDF
We'll email it to you. One-off send — no list, no follow-up, no surprise marketing.
When AI engines like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity answer questions about competitive intelligence firms, Contify comes up most often, appearing in 12.5% of tracked responses and earning citations in 37.5% of source references. Proactive Worldwide and Crayon follow as the next most frequently named brands across the five major AI engines monitored, rounding out a top tier that pulls noticeably ahead of the remaining 17 firms on this page.
The rankings reflect which sources AI engines treat as authoritative. The most cited domains include youtube.com, aqute.com, greenbook.org, improvado.io, and contify.com itself. That mix of industry research hubs, practitioner blogs, and a vendor's own domain signals that AI engines are drawing on a combination of third-party editorial content and direct brand presence, not primarily aggregator or review platforms. Brands with coverage across those sources tend to rank higher.
For a buyer using this page, the practical takeaway is that AI visibility correlates with third-party validation and topical depth, not just brand size. Before shortlisting a firm, check whether it appears in independent editorial sources like greenbook.org or practitioner-focused content, not only its own marketing. A firm that AI engines cite repeatedly across varied sources is more likely to have demonstrated expertise in the specific subcategory you need, whether that is market monitoring, sales intelligence, or strategic research.
At a glance
What we observed in this categoryauto-generated
Contify leads the competitive intelligence category with a composite score of 20.0, built on a citation rate of 37.5% that is nearly double that of the second-ranked brand, Proactive Worldwide, at 25.0%. Both share identical visibility scores of 12.5%, which is five times the category average of 2.5%, meaning their separation comes entirely from citation performance. That citation gap between first and second place is meaningful because it signals Google AI Mode treats Contify as a more trusted reference source, not merely a named brand.
A notable divergence between visibility and citation appears at ranks 3 through 8. Crayon and Kompyte each hold 12.5% visibility but carry zero citation rates, while Klue, AlphaSense, Gartner, and Meltwater each register 0.0% visibility yet all achieve 25.0% citation rates. This means Google AI Mode references Klue, AlphaSense, Gartner, and Meltwater as sources without naming them in direct answers, while Crayon and Kompyte are named but not sourced. Being cited and being visible are clearly separate outcomes in this category.
Google AI Mode is the dominant engine across all ten ranked brands, with no other engine appearing as a top engine for any brand in the dataset. The top cited sources include youtube.com, aqute.com, greenbook.org, improvado.io, and contify.com itself, alongside alpha-sense.com and quirks.com. The presence of YouTube, a market research community site like greenbook.org, and a trade publication like quirks.com suggests the AI is anchoring on a mixed content ecosystem of video, community content, and specialist editorial rather than vendor websites alone.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility risers
-
Contify 0% → 12% · rank #0 → #1+12pp
-
Proactive Worldwide 0% → 12% · rank #0 → #2+12pp
-
Crayon 0% → 12% · rank #0 → #3+12pp
The ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
contify.com
|
12% | 38% | Google AI Mode |
Contify leads with a composite score of 20.0 and a citation rate of 37.5%, which is 27.5 percentage points above the category average and the highest citation figure in the dataset. |
||||
| 2 |
proactiveworldwide.com
|
12% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
Proactive Worldwide matches Contify's 12.5% visibility but trails on citations at 25.0%, producing a composite score of 16.2 compared to Contify's 20.0. |
||||
| 3 |
crayon.co
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Crayon holds 12.5% visibility, five times the category average, but its 0.0% citation rate results in a composite score of 8.8, indicating it is named but not sourced by Google AI Mode. |
||||
| 4 |
kompyte.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Kompyte shares Crayon's exact profile with 12.5% visibility and 0.0% citations, scoring 8.8 composite, suggesting Google AI Mode treats both brands similarly as named-only entities. |
||||
| 5 |
klue.com
|
0% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
Klue records 0.0% visibility yet achieves a 25.0% citation rate, placing it at rank 5 with a composite score of 7.5, the same as AlphaSense, Gartner, and Meltwater. |
||||
| 6 |
alpha-sense.com
|
0% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
| 7 |
gartner.com
|
0% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
| 8 |
meltwater.com
|
0% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
| 9 |
sisinternational.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 10 |
cascadeinsights.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 11 |
evalueserve.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 12 |
cbinsights.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 13 |
forrester.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 14 |
octopusintelligence.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 15 |
aurorawd.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 16 |
cipher.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 17 |
fuld.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 18 |
academyci.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 19 |
similarweb.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 20 |
owler.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on competitive intelligence firms, 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 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 →
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 30 days and refresh this page automatically. How AI search ranking works →
Get your own competitive intelligence firms brand audited
The brands above were curated from public market-leader lists. Want the same 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 competitive intelligence firms AI visibility
Who leads AI visibility in competitive intelligence firms according to Google AI Mode?
Contify leads with a composite score of 20.0, driven by a 37.5% citation rate that is the highest in the category. Proactive Worldwide ranks second with a composite score of 16.2.
What is the average visibility and citation rate for competitive intelligence firms in Google AI Mode?
The category average visibility is 2.5% and the average citation rate is 10.0% across the 20 brands audited.
Which competitive intelligence brands are cited but not visibly named in AI answers?
Klue, AlphaSense, Gartner, and Meltwater each hold 0.0% visibility but achieve 25.0% citation rates, meaning Google AI Mode references them as sources without surfacing them as named answers.
What sources does Google AI Mode anchor on when answering competitive intelligence queries?
The top cited sources include youtube.com, aqute.com, greenbook.org, improvado.io, contify.com, alpha-sense.com, copy.ai, and quirks.com, reflecting a mix of video, editorial, and specialist research content.
Are any competitive intelligence brands visible in AI answers but not cited as sources?
Yes, Crayon and Kompyte both show 12.5% visibility but 0.0% citation rates, indicating Google AI Mode names them in responses without using their domains as reference sources.
Which engine dominates AI visibility for competitive intelligence firms?
Google AI Mode is the top engine for every ranked brand in the dataset, with no other engine appearing as a leading platform for any of the top 10 brands.