# AWS Clean Rooms vs Amazon Marketing Cloud: which do AI models recommend for data clean rooms, October 2026

GTM AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, Data clean rooms. Two of fourteen models named AWS Clean Rooms first on the direct prompt; two named Amazon Marketing Cloud. Page: https://gtm-ai-index.com/gtm-data/data-clean-rooms/aws-clean-rooms-vs-amazon-marketing-cloud/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS Clean Rooms | 15% | #2 of 10 | 7% | 42 | 12 of 14 |
| Amazon Marketing Cloud | 14% | #3 of 10 | 17% | 24 | 12 of 14 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- GPT-5.4 mini: aws clean rooms first (first choices: AWS Clean Rooms) (alternatives: Acxiom, Databricks Clean Rooms, Snowflake Data Clean Rooms)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: aws clean rooms first (first choices: AWS Clean Rooms, Snowflake Data Clean Rooms) (alternatives: Decentriq, InfoSum, LiveRamp Clean Room)
- Llama 4 Maverick: amazon marketing cloud first (first choices: Amazon Marketing Cloud)
- MiniMax M2.5: amazon marketing cloud first (first choices: Amazon Marketing Cloud) (alternatives: Deciq)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Crossbeam) (alternatives: Amazon Marketing Cloud, Google Ads Data Hub, Salesforce Data Cloud DCR, Snowflake Data Clean Rooms)
- Perplexity Sonar: neither first, one named (first choices: Snowflake Data Clean Rooms) (alternatives: AWS Clean Rooms, InfoSum, LiveRamp Clean Room)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Optable) (alternatives: AWS Clean Rooms, Snowflake Data Clean Rooms)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: neither first, one named (first choices: Snowflake Data Clean Rooms) (alternatives: AWS Clean Rooms, Amazon Marketing Cloud, Google Ads Data Hub, Habu, LiveRamp Relate)
- GPT-6 Luna: neither first, one named (first choices: Snowflake Data Clean Rooms) (alternatives: AWS Clean Rooms, BigQuery Data Clean Rooms, LiveRamp Clean Room)
- Muse Glimmer 30B: neither first, one named (first choices: Snowflake Data Clean Rooms) (alternatives: AWS Clean Rooms, Amazon Marketing Cloud, Google Ads Data Hub, LiveRamp Data Collaboration Platform powered by Habu)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither named (first choices: Databricks Clean Rooms, LiveRamp Safe Haven, Snowflake Data Clean Rooms) (alternatives: Apollo.io)
- Mistral Small: neither named (first choices: InfoSum) (alternatives: Decentriq, Habu, LiveRamp Clean Room)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: neither named (first choices: LiveRamp Clean Room) (alternatives: Google Ads, Meta Advanced Analytics, Snowflake Data Clean Rooms, The Trade Desk)
- Kimi K2: neither named (first choices: Optable) (alternatives: Habu, Snowflake Data Clean Rooms)

## What the models said about AWS Clean Rooms

- "Pay-per-use (CRPU-hours); no free tier; costs can escalate quickly" (Kimi K2, budget prompt, hard negative)
- "Cloud-based (e.g., AWS Clean Rooms, Snowflake, Databricks) | Strong infrastructure, but integration complexity and variable TCO" (Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "Snowflake and AWS Clean Rooms get reasonable marks when properly configured — but watch for the cost/complexity pitfalls" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "AWS Clean Rooms is often the safer default because the pricing is usage-based and there's no separate license to buy just to get started" (GPT-5.4 mini, budget prompt, first choice)
- "AWS Clean Rooms is the top recommendation for most small businesses due to its pay-as-you-go pricing and free tier" (Mistral Small, budget prompt, first choice)
- "Already on AWS → AWS Clean Rooms pay-as-you-go is the most budget-friendly entry point, no big upfront investment." (Muse Glimmer 30B, budget prompt, first choice)

## What the models said about Amazon Marketing Cloud

- "Walled garden DCRs are incredibly powerful, but only within their own ecosystems. They are plagued by severe vendor lock-in." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "Walled Garden Clean Rooms (Google, Meta, Amazon) ... Why to be cautious: Vendor lock-in" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "Amazon documents a 100-distinct-user threshold for certain first-party data analyses." (GPT-6 Luna, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) seems particularly relevant if your company has significant Amazon advertising presence... it could be an accessible option for mid-market companies" (MiniMax M2.5, direct prompt, first choice)
- "set up Google Ads Data Hub or Amazon Marketing Cloud. It will teach your team how to work with clean room query logic without costing you a massive licensing fee." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, scale prompt, first choice)
- "If ad-focused, begin with free walled-garden DCRs (AMC/Google)—they solve 80% of needs without spend." (Grok 4.1 Fast, budget prompt, first choice)

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen 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.