# Pendo vs Apty: which do AI models recommend for digital adoption, September 2026

GTM AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, Digital adoption and onboarding. Two of twelve models named Pendo first on the direct prompt; zero named Apty. Page: https://gtm-ai-index.com/customer/digital-adoption-and-onboarding/pendo-vs-apty/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pendo | 10% | #5 of 11 | 36% | 53 | 12 of 12 |
| Apty | 2% | #8 of 11 | 24% | 21 | 11 of 12 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- Kimi K2: pendo first (first choices: Pendo) (alternatives: Appcues, Chameleon, Userlane, Userpilot, Whatfix)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: pendo first (first choices: Pendo) (alternatives: Userlane, Whatfix)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither first, one named (first choices: Userpilot) (alternatives: Pendo, UserGuiding)
- GPT-5.4 mini: neither first, one named (first choices: Whatfix) (alternatives: Pendo, WalkMe)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Userpilot) (alternatives: Appcues, Pendo, Spekit, Whatfix)
- Perplexity Sonar: neither first, one named (first choices: Userpilot) (alternatives: Appcues, Chameleon, Pendo, Whatfix)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: neither first, one named (first choices: Appcues, UserGuiding, Userpilot) (alternatives: Apty, Pendo, Tango)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Whatfix) (alternatives: Appcues, Pendo, Userlane, Userpilot)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither first, one named (first choices: Userpilot) (alternatives: Appcues, Apty, UserGuiding)
- MiniMax M2.5: neither first, one named (first choices: Userpilot) (alternatives: Appcues, Chameleon, Pendo, Whatfix)
- Mistral Small: neither named (first choices: Userpilot) (alternatives: Appcues, Product Fruits, Spekit, UserGuiding, Userlane)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: neither named (first choices: Userpilot) (alternatives: Appcues, UserGuiding, Whatfix)

## What the models said about Pendo

- "you will want to avoid heavy enterprise Digital Adoption Platforms (DAPs) like WalkMe, Whatfix, and Pendo" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, budget prompt, hard negative)
- "The big enterprise platforms (WalkMe, Whatfix, Pendo, Apty) are not realistic for limited budgets" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt, hard negative)
- "My top pick for most limited budgets: Start with Pendo's free tier (if under 500 users) or Usetiful free/Plus" (Kimi K2, budget prompt, first choice)
- "I'd generally recommend Pendo if you want the strongest all-around platform" (GPT-5.4 mini, paraphrase prompt, first choice)

## What the models said about Apty

- "not realistic for limited budgets" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt, hard negative)
- "be cautious with these common pain points across enterprise-focused DAPs (e.g., WalkMe, Whatfix, Pendo, Apty)" (Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "don't use an enterprise DAP (WalkMe, Whatfix, Apty) for customer onboarding of a modern SaaS product" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "Whatfix, Userlane, or Apty frequently offer the best balance" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, scale prompt, first choice)
- "Best For: Organizations where data quality and compliance are the primary issues." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, comparative prompt, alternative)
- "Apty — Compliance & Process Focus ... Regulated industry, compliance critical" (Kimi K2, comparative prompt, alternative)

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category. Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category. Published under CC BY 4.0; the output is the models' output, and nothing here is a recommendation by the index.