GTM AI Index
September 2026 Edition · The permanent record of this edition. The unqualified address always carries the latest edition.
Index › Customer › Digital adoption › Small business › September 2026 Edition

Digital adoption and onboarding for small business buyers

Asked as “digital adoption platform”, and as “in-product onboarding and user guidance tool”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 54 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
UserGuiding
Clear leader
44% of first choices, clear leader.
ShowinginAll 73 categories in the September 2026 Edition →

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
Small businessUserGuiding44%Clear leaderThis pageMid-marketUserpilot29%ContestedStanding →EnterpriseWalkMe39%ContestedStanding →

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01UserGuiding44%0%56endorsed leader
02Userpilot11%11%38accepted challenger
03HelpHero9%0%17accepted challenger
04Appcues7%18%38accepted challenger
05Tango6%7%27accepted challenger
06Userflow6%0%22accepted challenger
07Product Fruits4%0%14accepted challenger
08ProductFruits4%0%10accepted challenger
09Pendo2%53%34criticized challenger
Show the five products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
14WalkMe0%95%39criticized challenger
12Apty0%92%12criticized challenger
13Whatfix0%79%38criticized challenger
11Chameleon0%8%13accepted challenger
10Hopscotch0%0%13accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.
Head to head
Userpilot vs UserGuidingUserpilot vs WhatfixUserGuiding vs Whatfix

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative60%
Key
01UserGuiding44%
02Userpilot11%
03HelpHero9%
04Appcues7%
05Tango6%
06Userflow6%
07Product Fruits4%
08ProductFruits4%
09Pendo2%
10Hopscotch0%
11Chameleon0%
12Apty0%
13Whatfix0%
14WalkMe0%

02What they warned about

Two of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Perplexity Sonar, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
WalkMe
95%
37 of 39 labels negative · 11 of 12 models · 20 hard negative
“cautious with enterprise-first digital adoption platforms—especially **WalkMe** and **Whatfix**—because multiple sources describe them as costly and better suited to larger organizations” Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt
Whatfix
79%
30 of 38 labels negative · 11 of 12 models · 15 hard negative
“**WalkMe and Whatfix**: For smaller businesses, there're chances that it won't pay off, as it's pricey and can demand extra hands to manage it.” Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt
Pendo
53%
18 of 34 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“platforms small businesses should avoid or approach with extreme caution ... **2. Pendo** **Red flags:** **Steep learning curve**” Mistral Small, negative prompt
Apty
92%
11 of 12 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 6 hard negative
“**Why to Avoid:** Apty uses a "per app" licensing model, currently starting around **$9,500 per app, per year**.” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: four of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

21 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 4 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 174 links across 66 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. The other 8 models searched through a gateway that returned no source list on this edition.

userpilot.com
vendor site · Userpilot10 answers · 12 citations · 3 models
guideflow.com
vendor site · Guideflow8 answers · 14 citations · 2 models
appcues.com
vendor site · Appcues8 answers · 8 citations · 3 models
learn.g2.com
6 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
apty.ai
vendor site · Apty5 answers · 9 citations · 2 models
g2.com
5 answers · 7 citations · 3 models
walkme.com
vendor site · WalkMe5 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
gartner.com
vendor site · Gartner5 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
pendo.io
vendor site · Pendo5 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
supademo.com
vendor site · Supademo5 answers · 5 citations · 1 model
vividminds.ai
5 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
softwareadvice.com
4 answers · 4 citations · 1 model

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

userpilot.com/blog/digital-adoption-platforms
7 answers · 3 models
learn.g2.com/best-digital-adoption-platform
6 answers · 2 models
appcues.com/blog/product-adoption-software-platforms
5 answers · 2 models
gartner.com/reviews/market/digital-adoption-platforms
5 answers · 2 models
guideflow.com/blog/best-digital-adoption-platforms
5 answers · 2 models
apty.ai/blog/best-digital-adoption-platforms
4 answers · 2 models
g2.com/categories/digital-adoption-platform/small-business
4 answers · 2 models
pendo.io/pendo-blog/top-10-digital-adoption-platforms
4 answers · 2 models
softwareadvice.com/digital-adoption-platform
4 answers · 1 model
supademo.com/blog/digital-adoption-platforms
4 answers · 1 model

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ModelDirect“What is the best digital adoption platform for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which in-product onboarding and user guidance tool would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top digital adoption platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best digital adoption platform for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a digital adoption platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which digital adoption platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5no first choiceagainst: Apptio Nucleus, WalkMeUserGuiding, UserpilotChanged
Three alternativesArrows, GUIDEcx, OnRamp
Appcues
Two alternativesPendo, UserGuiding
UserGuiding
Three alternativesHelpHero, Product Fruits, Tour Kit
no first choiceagainst: WalkMe, Whatfix
GPT-5.4 miniAppcues, Userpilot
Two alternativesHelpHero, Pendo
against: WalkMe, WhatfixUserGuidingChanged
Two alternativesAppcues, Userpilot
against: Pendo, WalkMeUserflow
Three alternativesAppcues, Pendo, UserGuiding
against: WalkMe, WhatfixUserGuiding
One alternativeUserpilot
against: Appcues, WalkMeno first choiceagainst: WalkMe, Whatfix
Gemini 3.5 FlashUserflow
Five alternativesScribe, Tango, Trainual, UserGuiding, Userpilot
against: Pendo, WalkMe, WhatfixUserflowHeld
Two alternativesProduct Fruits, Userpilot
against: Appcues, PendoTango, Userflow
Four alternativesGuidde, Scribe, UserGuiding, Userpilot
against: WalkMe, WhatfixProduktly, Usetiful
Three alternativesGuidde, Tango, UserGuiding
against: WalkMe, WhatfixTango, Userflow
Five alternativesAppcues, Guidde, Scribe, UserGuiding, Userpilot
against: WalkMe, Whatfixagainst: Appcues, Apty, Pendo, WalkMe, Whatfix
Perplexity SonarUserGuiding
One alternativeTango
UserpilotChanged
Four alternativesArrows, Dock, OnRamp, UserGuiding
UserGuiding
Five alternativesAppcues, Hopscotch, Tango, Userflow, Userpilot
against: WalkMe, WhatfixUserGuiding
Three alternativesHelpHero, Shepherd.js, Tango
no first choiceagainst: Apty, WalkMe, Whatfix
Grok 4.1 FastProductFruits, UserGuiding
Three alternativesHelpHero, Userflow, Userpilot
against: Pendo, WalkMe, WhatfixUserGuidingChanged
Two alternativesProduct Fruits, Userpilot
against: AppcuesHelpHero, UserGuiding
Five alternativesHopscotch, Pendo, ProductFruits, Tango, Userpilot
against: WalkMe, WhatfixHelpHero, Product Fruits
Three alternativesGuideflow, Tango, UserGuiding
against: Pendo, WalkMe, WhatfixUserGuiding, Userpilot
Three alternativesHelpHero, ProductFruits, Tango
against: WalkMe, Whatfixagainst: Apty, ClickLearn, Gainsight PX, Pendo, WalkMe, Whatfix
Mistral SmallUserGuiding
Three alternativesSupademo, Tango, Userflow
against: Appcues, Pendo, WalkMe, WhatfixUserpilotChanged
Two alternativesAppcues, UserGuiding
against: Pendo, Userlane, WalkMe, WhatfixHelpHero, UserGuiding
Five alternativesHopscotch, ProductFruits, Tango, Userflow, Userpilot
against: Pendo, WalkMe, WhatfixHelpHero, Tango, UserGuiding
Two alternativesHopscotch, ScreenSpace
UserGuiding
Three alternativesAppcues, Chameleon, Tango
against: Pendo, Tango, Userpilot, WalkMe, Whatfix
DeepSeek V4 FlashUserGuiding
Two alternativesAppcues, Userpilot
against: Pendo, WalkMe, WhatfixUserGuidingHeld
Five alternativesAppcues, Chameleon, Intercom, Supademo, Userpilot
UserGuiding
Six alternativesAppcues, Chameleon, Pendo, Product Fruits, Userflow, Userpilot
against: Apty, WalkMe, WhatfixHelpHero
Three alternativesCommandBar, Kompassify, UserGuiding
against: PendoProductFruits, UserGuiding
Three alternativesAppcues, Chameleon, Userpilot
against: Apty, WalkMe, Whatfixagainst: Apty, Pendo, Userlane, WalkMe, Whatfix
Llama 4 MaverickUserGuiding
Three alternativesGuideflow, Jimo, Userflow
no first choiceChangedChameleon
Four alternativesAppcues, Tango, UserGuiding, Userpilot
UserGuiding
Three alternativesAppcues, Guideflow, Product Fruits
no first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashUserGuiding
Four alternativesAppcues, Guideflow, Product Fruits, Userpilot
against: Apty, WalkMe, WhatfixUserpilotChanged
One alternativeIntercom
against: WalkMeUserGuiding
Three alternativesTango, Userpilot, Visual SP
UserGuiding
Three alternativesAppcues, Notion, Tango
against: MindTickle, WalkMeAppcues
One alternativeWhatfix
against: WalkMeagainst: Apty, ClickLearn, Gainsight PX, Pendo, WalkMe, Whatfix
Kimi K2UserGuiding
Four alternativesAppcues, Pendo, Product Fruits, Userpilot
against: Apty, WalkMe, WhatfixProduct FruitsChanged
One alternativeUserGuiding
against: UserpilotUserGuiding
Four alternativesAppcues, Tango, Userflow, Userpilot
UserGuiding
Four alternativesHelpHero, Pendo, Shepherd.js, Tour Kit
HelpHero, UserGuiding
Two alternativesPendo, Userpilot
against: Appcues, Pendo, SAP Enable Now, Tango, Userpilot, WalkMe, Whatfix
GLM 4.7 FlashXAppcues, Inline Manual
One alternativeRendemo
against: PendoAppcuesChanged
Three alternativesGuideflow, UserGuiding, Userpilot
Pendo
Two alternativesAppcues, Product Fruits
against: Userpilot, WalkMe, WhatfixPendo
Two alternativesHelpHero, UserGuiding
no first choiceagainst: Appcues, Apty, Chameleon, ClickLearn, Inline Manual, Spekit, WalkMe, uPerform
MiniMax M2.5Lemon Learning, UserGuiding
Two alternativesGuideflow, Whatfix
UserGuidingChanged
Two alternativesAppcues, Userflow
Tango, UserGuiding
Three alternativesAppcues, Userpilot, Usetiful
HelpHero, Tango
Three alternativesChameleon, UserGuiding, Whatfix
no first choice
Three alternativesChameleon, Product Fruits, UserGuiding
against: Apty, Pendo, WalkMe, Whatfix
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 04:29no04 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 00:16yes15 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 03:45yes1819 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 03:17yes204 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 01:14yes09 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 01:29yes06 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-14 23:56yes031 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 01:54yes02 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 04:17yes029 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 05:03yes042 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 00:53yes0113 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 00:15yes09 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 02:23yes97 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 04:18yes35 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 00:54yes1420 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 03:36yes206 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-14 23:48yes06 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 02:45yes06 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 00:40yes035 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 00:08yes02 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 01:50no037 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-14 23:26yes027 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 00:43yes011 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-14 23:17yes018 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-14 23:50yes56 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 00:17yes614 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-14 23:21yes1828 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-14 23:41yes207 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-14 23:30yes07 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 02:16yes07 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 01:10yes019 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 02:44yes02 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 00:16yes034 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-14 23:22yes046 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 03:35yes025 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 04:31yes022 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 01:08yes68 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 04:03yes46 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 01:45yes1725 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 01:49yes205 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 02:44yes010 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 03:52yes08 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 02:50yes018 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-14 23:02yes08 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 03:05no036 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 01:38yes024 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 01:55yes0107 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 00:24yes013 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-14 23:06no05 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 02:00no010 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 04:55yes1024 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 03:40yes207 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 00:12yes07 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-14 23:25yes09 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 03:51yes018 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 00:48yes01 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 02:53no043 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 02:38yes041 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 00:11yes098 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 02:57yes015 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-14 23:25yes158 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 00:23yes56 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 02:14yes1822 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-14 23:29yes2015 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 02:35yes08 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 04:27yes011 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 00:27yes024 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 00:48yes01 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-14 22:59yes037 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-14 23:40yes059 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-14 23:02yes033 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 01:21yes017 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings
None. Every name in this category resolved on its own.
Unresolved, counted raw
Apptio Nucleus
Kompassify
Optimind
Visual SP (formerly WalkMe for Startups)
uPerform
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in customer

The other categories of this function, with the leader in each.
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