Index › GTM data and infrastructure › September 2026 Edition

Customer data platforms

Asked as “customer data platform”, and as “CDP”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 44 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.

Standing

Segment

Clear leader

42% of first choices, a clear leader, and an endorsed one: 8% of its 24 labels were negative. Segment takes second on share and first on resentment.

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 business

Segment39%ContestedStanding →Mid-market

Segment48%Clear leaderThis page Enterprise

Salesforce Data Cloud41%Clear leaderStanding →

01The standing

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. Ordered by share.

ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant

Segment14%57endorsed leader

Hightouch10%41accepted challenger

RudderStack4%23accepted challenger

BlueConic11%27accepted challenger

Show the eight products at 0%, ordered by negative rate

Adobe Real-Time CDP54%26criticized challenger

Salesforce Data Cloud34%29criticized challenger

mParticle26%19criticized challenger

Klaviyo24%17accepted challenger

Treasure Data15%13accepted challenger

Tealium15%41accepted challenger

ActionIQ8%12accepted challenger

Bloomreach0%11accepted 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

Segment vs Hightouch Segment vs RudderStack Hightouch vs RudderStack

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 →

Accepted challengerEndorsed leader

0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative60%

Key

Segment48%

Hightouch20%

RudderStack14%

BlueConic5%

Tealium0%

Bloomreach0%

ActionIQ0%

mParticle0%

Klaviyo0%

Treasure Data0%

Salesforce Data Cloud0%

Adobe Real-Time CDP0%

02What they warned about

Eight of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. GPT-5.4 mini, Grok 4.1 Fast, Llama 4 Maverick and Qwen 3.7 Flash 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.

Adobe Real-Time CDP

54%

14 of 26 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 5 hard negative

“Adobe Real-Time CDP – Skip if you're not already deeply in the Adobe ecosystem” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt

Segment

14%

8 of 57 labels negative · 6 of 12 models

“Segment’s pricing is tied to Monthly Tracked Users (MTUs), which can scale aggressively and become highly expensive for mid-market budgets.” Gemini 3.5 Flash, paraphrase prompt

Salesforce Data Cloud

34%

10 of 29 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 2 hard negative

“Avoid enterprises like Salesforce/Adobe unless deeply invested (8+ weeks, $100K+).” Grok 4.1 Fast, paraphrase prompt

Tealium

15%

6 of 41 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 2 hard negative

“Avoid enterprise CDPs like Adobe or Tealium (custom, $50K+/year)” Grok 4.1 Fast, budget 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

18 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. 161 links across 87 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.

cdp.com

6 answers · 11 citations · 2 models

learn.g2.com

6 answers · 7 citations · 3 models

improvado.io

vendor site · Improvado6 answers · 6 citations · 2 models

gartner.com

vendor site · Gartner5 answers · 6 citations · 2 models

albato.com

vendor site · Albato5 answers · 5 citations · 1 model

insiderone.com

5 answers · 5 citations · 2 models

brevo.com

vendor site · Brevo4 answers · 4 citations · 1 model

cloudtalk.io

vendor site · CloudTalk4 answers · 4 citations · 1 model

decentriq.com

vendor site · Decentriq4 answers · 4 citations · 2 models

linkedin.com

vendor site · LinkedIn4 answers · 4 citations · 1 model

zapier.com

vendor site · Zapier4 answers · 4 citations · 1 model

bloomreach.com

vendor site · Bloomreach3 answers · 3 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.

improvado.io/blog/top-7-customer-data-platforms

6 answers · 2 models

albato.com/blog/publications/best-customer-data-platform-software

5 answers · 1 model

learn.g2.com/best-customer-data-platforms

5 answers · 2 models

brevo.com/blog/best-customer-data-platform

4 answers · 1 model

cdp.com/basics/cdp-vendors

4 answers · 2 models

cloudtalk.io/blog/best-customer-data-platform

4 answers · 1 model

decentriq.com/article/best-cdps

4 answers · 2 models

gartner.com/reviews/market/customer-data-platforms

4 answers · 1 model

insiderone.com/best-customer-data-platform

4 answers · 2 models

zapier.com/blog/customer-data-platform

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 customer data platform for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which CDP would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top customer data platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best customer data platform for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a customer data platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which customer data platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”

Claude Haiku 4.5no first choiceno first choiceHeldno first choiceSegment

One alternative

monday CRM

no first choiceagainst: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights

GPT-5.4 miniHightouch

One alternative

Segment

HubSpot Customer PlatformChanged

Two alternatives

Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment

no first choice

Nine alternatives

ActionIQ, Adobe Real-Time CDP, Amperity, BlueConic, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment, Tealium, Treasure Data, mParticle

Hightouch

One alternative

RudderStack

against: Segmentno first choicenothing named

Gemini 3.5 FlashHightouch

Five alternatives

6sense, BlueConic, Census, Demandbase, Segment

HightouchHeld

Five alternatives

Census, Factors.ai, HubSpot, Koala, RudderStack

against: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segmentno first choice

Ten alternatives

ActionIQ, Adobe Real-Time CDP, Bloomreach, Customer.io, Hightouch, Insider, Klaviyo, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment, Tealium

Hightouch, RudderStack

Three alternatives

Able CDP, Customer.io, PostHog

against: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment, Tealiumno first choiceagainst: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Salesforce Data Cloudagainst: Adobe Real-Time CDP, BlueConic, Census, Hightouch, Lytics, RudderStack, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment, Tealium, mParticle

Perplexity SonarSegment

Three alternatives

BlueConic, Hightouch, Tealium

SegmentHeld

Four alternatives

BlueConic, Hightouch, Tealium, mParticle

no first choiceSegment

Three alternatives

Brevo, Klaviyo, RudderStack

no first choiceagainst: Klaviyo

Grok 4.1 FastHightouch, Segment

Two alternatives

BlueConic, Tealium

against: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Salesforce Data Cloud, Treasure DataSegmentChanged

Four alternatives

BlueConic, Hightouch, RudderStack, Tealium

against: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Salesforce Data Cloudno first choiceSegment

Two alternatives

Hightouch, RudderStack

against: Adobe Real-Time CDP, HubSpot, Tealium, Zohono first choice

Four alternatives

ActionIQ, BlueConic, Hightouch, Segment

against: Hightouch, Lytics, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment, mParticle

Mistral SmallSegment

Three alternatives

BlueConic, Hightouch, Tealium

SegmentHeld

Three alternatives

BlueConic, Hightouch, Tealium

no first choiceSegment

Three alternatives

Hightouch, Klaviyo Data Platform, RudderStack

Segment

Four alternatives

BlueConic, Hightouch, Klaviyo, Tealium

nothing named

DeepSeek V4 FlashHightouch

Four alternatives

BlueConic, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment, Tealium

against: HubSpot, KlaviyoHightouchHeld

Three alternatives

Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment, Tealium

no first choice

Nine alternatives

Adobe Real-Time CDP, Amperity, BlueConic, Hightouch, RudderStack, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment, Tealium, mParticle

RudderStack

Three alternatives

Hightouch, Klaviyo, Segment

against: Adobe Real-Time CDP, BlueConic, Salesforce Data Cloud, Tealium, Treasure Data, mParticleno first choiceagainst: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Hightouch, Klaviyo, Segment

Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceBlueConic, SegmentChangedno first choiceJitsu, RudderStack, Segment's free tiersno first choicenothing named

Qwen 3.7 FlashBlueConic, Hightouch, Segment

Five alternatives

ActionIQ, Destiny, Rivet/Airbyte Stack, Salesforce Data Cloud, Tealium

SegmentChanged

Two alternatives

Keela, RudderStack

Segment

Four alternatives

RudderStack, Salesforce Data Cloud, Snowplow, mParticle

against: Adobe Real-Time CDPHubSpot, RudderStack

Three alternatives

Bloomreach, Segment, Zoho Analytics / Cortex

against: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Optimizely CMS, Oracle Unityno first choiceagainst: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Hightouch, Klaviyo, Segment

Kimi K2Segment

Three alternatives

BlueConic, Hightouch, Tealium

SegmentHeld

Two alternatives

BlueConic, Hightouch

Segment

Ten alternatives

Adobe Real-Time CDP, Bloomreach, BlueConic, Hightouch, Klaviyo Data Platform, RudderStack, Salesforce Data Cloud, Tealium, Treasure Data, mParticle

Jitsu, PostHog

Four alternatives

Census, Hightouch, RudderStack, Segment

no first choice

Four alternatives

BlueConic, Census, Hightouch, Segment

against: Tealium, mParticleagainst: ActionIQ, BlueConic, Lytics, Segment, mParticle

GLM 4.7 FlashXSegment

Two alternatives

Hightouch, Tealium

SegmentHeld

Three alternatives

BlueConic, Tealium, mParticle

no first choiceRudderStack

Three alternatives

HubSpot, Klaviyo Data Platform, Segment

no first choiceagainst: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Salesforce Data Cloud

MiniMax M2.5Segment

Three alternatives

BlueConic, Hightouch, Tealium

SegmentHeld

Three alternatives

BlueConic, Hightouch, Tealium

no first choiceRudderStack, Segment

Two alternatives

Capsule CRM, Coffee

against: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Amperity, Salesforce Data Cloud, Tealiumno first choicenothing named

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.

Prompt	Model	Version string	Time (UTC)	Searched	Sources	Latency
Direct recommendation	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-15 03:50	no	0	5 s
Direct recommendation	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-15 00:54	yes	2	5 s
Direct recommendation	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-15 01:31	yes	21	35 s
Direct recommendation	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-15 03:08	yes	20	6 s
Direct recommendation	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-15 03:30	yes	0	7 s
Direct recommendation	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-15 00:23	yes	0	11 s
Direct recommendation	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-15 01:01	yes	0	15 s
Direct recommendation	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-15 01:11	yes	0	2 s
Direct recommendation	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-15 02:44	yes	0	46 s
Direct recommendation	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-15 05:03	yes	0	25 s
Direct recommendation	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-15 02:21	yes	0	13 s
Direct recommendation	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-15 01:47	yes	0	11 s
Paraphrase	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-15 02:09	no	0	5 s
Paraphrase	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-15 03:11	no	0	3 s
Paraphrase	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-15 01:51	yes	5	24 s
Paraphrase	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-15 04:02	yes	19	5 s
Paraphrase	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-15 01:05	yes	0	9 s
Paraphrase	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-14 23:17	yes	0	7 s
Paraphrase	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-09-15 01:28	yes	0	35 s
Paraphrase	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-15 00:13	yes	0	2 s
Paraphrase	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-15 04:50	no	0	40 s
Paraphrase	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-15 02:29	yes	0	21 s
Paraphrase	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-15 01:24	yes	0	18 s
Paraphrase	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-15 04:29	yes	0	11 s
Comparative	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-15 04:40	yes	8	8 s
Comparative	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-15 04:07	yes	3	11 s
Comparative	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-15 01:02	yes	19	23 s
Comparative	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-15 00:28	yes	20	10 s
Comparative	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-15 04:36	yes	0	13 s
Comparative	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-15 01:23	yes	0	10 s
Comparative	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-15 04:15	yes	0	16 s
Comparative	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-15 01:34	yes	0	2 s
Comparative	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-15 00:42	no	0	37 s
Comparative	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-15 05:05	yes	0	55 s
Comparative	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-14 23:09	yes	0	32 s
Comparative	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-15 02:17	yes	0	12 s
Budget constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-15 03:20	yes	8	6 s
Budget constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-15 04:15	no	0	6 s
Budget constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-15 03:32	yes	20	25 s
Budget constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-15 01:19	yes	20	6 s
Budget constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-15 02:50	yes	0	10 s
Budget constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-15 04:40	yes	0	8 s
Budget constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-09-14 23:57	yes	0	24 s
Budget constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-15 00:19	yes	0	1 s
Budget constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-14 23:21	no	0	35 s
Budget constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-15 02:08	yes	0	41 s
Budget constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-15 01:16	yes	0	99 s
Budget constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-15 02:34	yes	0	15 s
Scale constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-15 02:28	no	0	9 s
Scale constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-15 04:55	no	0	8 s
Scale constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-15 02:40	yes	12	27 s
Scale constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-14 23:35	yes	20	9 s
Scale constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-15 02:46	yes	0	8 s
Scale constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-15 03:34	yes	0	9 s
Scale constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-09-15 04:25	yes	0	47 s
Scale constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-15 02:42	yes	0	2 s
Scale constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-15 04:38	yes	0	39 s
Scale constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-15 01:57	yes	0	58 s
Scale constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-15 00:51	yes	0	27 s
Scale constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-15 04:27	yes	0	16 s
Negative framing	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-14 23:06	yes	16	9 s
Negative framing	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-14 22:52	yes	5	8 s
Negative framing	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-15 00:32	yes	25	21 s
Negative framing	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-15 03:30	yes	20	6 s
Negative framing	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-15 03:34	yes	0	7 s
Negative framing	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-15 04:27	yes	0	11 s
Negative framing	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-09-15 04:26	yes	0	40 s
Negative framing	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-14 22:56	yes	0	2 s
Negative framing	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-15 00:05	yes	0	40 s
Negative framing	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-15 04:35	yes	0	57 s
Negative framing	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-15 01:40	yes	0	37 s
Negative framing	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-15 00:22	yes	0	18 s

Noise floor in this category

Flips between the edition run and its calibration repeat. Six prompts per model is a small sample; the index-wide floor is the number to trust.

Claude Haiku 4.5

2 of 2 flipped

GPT-5.4 mini

1 of 3 flipped

Gemini 3.5 Flash

2 of 3 flipped

Perplexity Sonar

1 of 3 flipped

Grok 4.1 Fast

3 of 4 flipped

Mistral Small

1 of 4 flipped

DeepSeek V4 Flash

2 of 4 flipped

Llama 4 Maverick

1 of 2 flipped

Qwen 3.7 Flash

5 of 5 flipped

Kimi K2

4 of 5 flipped

GLM 4.7 FlashX

2 of 3 flipped

MiniMax M2.5

1 of 3 flipped

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

Adobe read as Adobe Real-Time CDP

HubSpot read as HubSpot

HubSpot (Native) read as HubSpot

HubSpot (Smart CRM + Operations Hub) read as HubSpot

Oracle read as Oracle Unity

Salesforce read as Salesforce Data Cloud

Salesforce (Customer 360) read as Salesforce Data Cloud

Unresolved, counted raw

Bikky

Destiny

HubSpot's CDP

Keela

Rivet/Airbyte Stack

Segment's free tiers

Zoho

Zoho Analytics / Cortex

Discontinued, still offered

No shut-down product was recommended here.

Customer data platforms

By buyer segment

01The standing

Recommended versus criticized

02What they warned about

03What they cite

Sites the answers cite

Pages the answers cite

04How they answered

05The record

Noise floor in this category

Normalization in this category

Also in gtm data and infrastructure