Employee listening software: AI search visibility ranking (2026)
How AI search engines rank employee listening software 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. Platforms used to collect employee feedback, run surveys, measure engagement, and surface workforce sentiment to HR leaders. Composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →
Refreshed Jun 14, 2026Download this ranking as a PDF
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At a glance
What we observed in this categoryauto-generated
Culture Amp, Glint, and Leapsome share the top three ranks with identical composite scores of 8.8 and visibility at 12.5%, yet none of them has a single citation. Perceptyx sits at rank 5 with the highest raw visibility in the dataset at 25.0% and a citation rate of 12.5%, making it the only brand in the top five that earns both presence and source-level trust. The category average visibility is just 5.0%, so even the tied leaders at 12.5% are running at 2.5 times the average, which signals a thin but real separation from the rest of the field.
The visibility-versus-citation split is the defining structural feature of this category. Four brands in the top six (Culture Amp, Glint, Leapsome, Workday Peakon Employee Voice) appear frequently in AI-generated responses but are never cited as a source. Qualtrics EmployeeXM shows the inverse pattern: 0.0% visibility but a 12.5% citation rate, meaning the AI draws on Qualtrics content without naming the brand in its answers. This named-but-not-trusted versus trusted-but-not-named divide is unusually sharp here compared to categories where visibility and citation move together.
Google AI Mode is the dominant engine across all 20 brands in this audit, with no brand showing a different top engine. The top cited sources include third-party destinations such as youtube.com, gartner.com, reddit.com, and eletive.com alongside vendor-owned properties like go.perceptyx.com and qualtrics.com. This pattern suggests the AI anchors its factual claims on analyst and community content rather than brand homepages, which explains why brands with strong review or analyst coverage (Perceptyx, Qualtrics) earn citations while higher-visibility brands with primarily product-focused content do not.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility risers
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Perceptyx 0% → 25% · rank #0 → #5+25pp
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Culture Amp 0% → 12% · rank #0 → #1+12pp
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Glint 0% → 12% · rank #0 → #2+12pp
The ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
cultureamp.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Culture Amp holds the top rank with a composite score of 8.8 and visibility of 12.5%, more than double the 5.0% category average, but records zero citations across all queries. |
||||
| 2 |
glintinc.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Glint matches Culture Amp exactly at 12.5% visibility and an 8.8 composite score with a 0.0% citation rate, making it indistinguishable from the rank-1 brand on every measured metric. |
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| 3 |
leapsome.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Leapsome sits in a three-way tie at rank 3, sharing the same 12.5% visibility, 8.8 composite score, and 0.0% citation rate as the two brands directly above it. |
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| 4 |
qualtrics.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
Qualtrics EmployeeXM is the only brand in the top four with zero visibility yet a 12.5% citation rate, suggesting the AI uses its content as a source without naming it in responses. |
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| 5 |
perceptyx.com
|
25% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
Perceptyx leads all brands in raw visibility at 25.0%, five times the 5.0% category average, and also records a 12.5% citation rate, making it the only top-5 brand strong on both dimensions. |
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| 6 |
workday.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 7 |
lattice.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 8 |
officevibe.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 9 |
15five.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 10 |
worktango.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 11 |
achievers.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 12 |
quantumworkplace.com
|
12% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 13 |
beekeeper.io
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 14 |
engagedly.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 15 |
vantagecircle.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 16 |
motivosity.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 17 |
surveymonkey.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 18 |
weekdone.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 19 |
workleap.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 20 |
sparrowapp.io
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on employee listening software, 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.
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.
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.
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.
Get your own employee listening software 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 employee listening software AI visibility
Who leads AI visibility in employee listening software?
Culture Amp, Glint, and Leapsome share the top positions with identical visibility scores of 12.5% and composite scores of 8.8. However, Perceptyx has the single highest raw visibility at 25.0%, more than double those three brands.
Which brand is most cited by AI in this category?
Perceptyx and Qualtrics EmployeeXM are the only two brands in the top 10 with any citation activity, both recording 12.5% citation rates against a category average of just 1.9%.
What sources does AI cite most for employee listening software research?
The top cited sources include youtube.com, gartner.com, reddit.com, eletive.com, and go.perceptyx.com, indicating the AI favours third-party analyst, community, and video content over brand homepages.
Is there a gap between which brands are named and which are cited?
Yes, the gap is significant. Culture Amp, Glint, Leapsome, and Workday Peakon Employee Voice all appear at 12.5% visibility with zero citations, while Qualtrics EmployeeXM earns 12.5% citations with zero visibility.
Which brands have zero AI presence in employee listening software?
Lattice, 15Five, and WorkTango each record 0.0% visibility, 0.0% citation rate, and a composite score of 0.0, meaning they have no measurable presence in Google AI Mode responses for this category.
Which engine dominates AI visibility for employee listening software?
Google AI Mode is the top engine for every single brand across all 20 audited in this category, with no brand showing a different leading engine in the dataset.