Top 20 influencer marketing platforms by AI search visibility (2026)
Platforms used to discover creators, manage influencer campaigns, track performance, handle partnerships, and scale brand creator programs. Ranked by a composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →
Refreshed Jun 05, 2026At a glance
What we observed in this categoryauto-generated
Upfluence and Modash share the top visibility score in this category at 37.5% each, more than three times the category average of 11.9%. Despite identical visibility, Upfluence holds a meaningfully higher composite score of 33.8 versus Modash's 26.2, entirely because Upfluence carries a 25% citation rate while Modash has zero. That gap matters: Upfluence is not just appearing in AI Overviews but being sourced as a reference, which represents a qualitatively different level of AI trust.
The visibility-to-citation divergence is stark across this category. Of the top 10 brands, only two — Upfluence (25%) and CreatorIQ (12.5%) — receive any citations at all. Brands ranked 2 through 6, including Modash, GRIN, Traackr, Afluencer, and Shopify Collabs, all appear in AI Overviews at rates between 25% and 37.5% but hold a 0% citation rate. This means AI is naming these brands frequently but not anchoring claims to their own domains, suggesting they are being discussed via third-party roundups rather than sourced directly.
Google AI Overviews is the dominant engine for every brand in the top 10 without exception, indicating the category's AI visibility is entirely concentrated in one channel. The top cited external sources — g2.com, sproutsocial.com, skeepers.io, businessofapps.com, and reddit.com — suggest AI Overviews is drawing heavily on review aggregators, editorial listicles, and community discussions rather than vendor content. Upfluence is the only brand whose own domain (upfluence.com) appears in the top cited sources list, reinforcing its unique dual status as both a named and trusted reference.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility risers
-
Upfluence 0% → 38% · rank #0 → #1+38pp
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Modash 0% → 38% · rank #0 → #2+38pp
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GRIN 0% → 25% · rank #0 → #3+25pp
The ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
upfluence.com
|
38% | 25% | Google AI Overviews |
Upfluence leads with a 33.8 composite score and is the only top-ranked brand cited by AI at 25%, making it the sole vendor whose own domain appears among the category's top cited sources. |
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| 2 |
modash.io
|
38% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
Modash matches Upfluence's 37.5% visibility but holds a 0% citation rate, producing a composite score of 26.2 versus Upfluence's 33.8 — a gap driven entirely by citation absence. |
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| 3 |
grin.co
|
25% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
GRIN sits at 25% visibility and a 17.5 composite score, tied with Traackr and Afluencer, but earns zero citations despite appearing more than twice as often as the 11.9% category average. |
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| 4 |
traackr.com
|
25% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
Traackr shares GRIN's 25% visibility and 17.5 composite score with a 0% citation rate, indicating AI surfaces it in roundup contexts but never anchors sourced claims to its domain. |
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| 5 |
afluencer.com
|
25% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
Afluencer appears at 25% visibility — more than double the 11.9% category average — yet its 0% citation rate and 17.5 composite score place it in a cluster of four brands with identical metrics. |
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| 6 |
shopify.com
|
25% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 7 |
creatoriq.com
|
12% | 12% | Google AI Overviews |
| 8 |
impact.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 9 |
later.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 10 |
influencity.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 11 |
meltwater.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 12 |
aspire.io
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 13 |
shopltk.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 14 |
captiv8.io
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 15 |
izea.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 16 |
creator.co
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 17 |
klear.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 18 |
heepsy.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 19 |
juliusworks.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 20 |
hypeauditor.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on influencer marketing platforms, these are the domains Google AI Overviews 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 influencer marketing platforms 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 influencer marketing platforms AI visibility
Who leads AI visibility in influencer marketing platforms?
Upfluence and Modash are tied at 37.5% visibility, both more than three times the 11.9% category average. Upfluence leads overall with a composite score of 33.8 due to its 25% citation rate, which Modash entirely lacks.
Which influencer marketing platform is most cited by Google AI Overviews?
Upfluence is the only platform in the top 10 with a meaningful citation rate at 25%; CreatorIQ is the only other brand with any citations at 12.5%, while all other ranked brands show 0%.
What sources does AI cite most for influencer marketing platform research?
The top cited sources are g2.com, sproutsocial.com, skeepers.io, businessofapps.com, and reddit.com, indicating AI Overviews relies primarily on review aggregators and editorial content rather than vendor sites.
Is there a meaningful gap between brands being named and brands being trusted in this category?
Yes — 8 of the top 10 brands have a 0% citation rate despite visibility scores ranging from 12.5% to 37.5%, showing AI frequently names these platforms but rarely sources claims directly to their domains.
Which AI engine dominates visibility for influencer marketing platforms?
Google AI Overviews is the top engine for every single brand in the top 10, meaning the entire category's AI visibility is currently concentrated in one channel with no diversification across other engines.
How concentrated is AI visibility across the 20 brands audited in this category?
Visibility is highly concentrated: the top two brands each hold 37.5% visibility against an 11.9% category average, and the bottom half of the 20-brand field likely holds near-zero presence based on the average.