GTM AI Index
September 2026 Edition · The permanent record of this edition. The unqualified address always carries the latest edition.
Index Marketing Content marketing › Small business September 2026 Edition

Content marketing platforms for small business buyers

Asked as “content marketing platform”, and as “content planning and production tool for marketing teams”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 44 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Contested
27% of first choices, contested.

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.

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
01HubSpot Content Hub27%15%40accepted challenger
02CoSchedule18%3%35accepted challenger
03Buffer9%3%34accepted challenger
04Canva9%0%24accepted challenger
05Notion5%0%29accepted challenger
06StoryChief5%0%18accepted challenger
07Mailchimp2%0%10accepted challenger
Show the five products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
12Contently0%83%12criticized challenger
11Semrush0%26%27criticized challenger
08Jasper0%5%21accepted challenger
09Surfer SEO0%0%12accepted challenger
10Google Analytics 40%0%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.

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
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01HubSpot Content Hub27%
02CoSchedule18%
03Buffer9%
04Canva9%
05Notion5%
06StoryChief5%
07Mailchimp2%
08Jasper0%
09Surfer SEO0%
10Google Analytics 40%
11Semrush0%
12Contently0%

02What they warned about

Zero of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity Sonar, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, 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.
Contently
83%
10 of 12 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“using an enterprise-level "Content Marketing Platform" (like Contently or Optimizely) is usually out of the question” Gemini 3.5 Flash, budget prompt
HubSpot Content Hub
15%
6 of 40 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Platforms to avoid (high-tiers): HubSpot (Professional/Enterprise), Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Adobe Marketo Engage” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
Adobe GenStudio
80%
4 of 5 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“High-end suites like Adobe GenStudio or Optimizely CMP — ... usually a poor fit” Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt
Semrush
26%
7 of 27 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“Avoid the enterprise platforms (... Semrush/Ahrefs full suites” DeepSeek V4 Flash, 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

20 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. 5 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 186 links across 109 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.

vendor site · HubSpot9 answers · 13 citations · 2 models
7 answers · 13 citations · 2 models
vendor site · StoryChief6 answers · 7 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Omnibound6 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Gartner5 answers · 5 citations · 1 model
vendor site · Planable4 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
vendor site · ConvertMate4 answers · 4 citations · 2 models
3 answers · 4 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Averi3 answers · 3 citations · 2 models
vendor site · SocialBee3 answers · 3 citations · 2 models
3 answers · 3 citations · 1 model
3 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.

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 content marketing platform for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which content planning and production tool for marketing teams would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top content marketing platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best content marketing platform for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a content marketing platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which content marketing platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Enji, HubSpot Content Hub
Two alternativesActiveCampaign, Uberflip
HubSpot Content HubChanged
Three alternativesAirtable, Buffer, Monday.com
ClickUp
Seven alternativesAirtable, Buffer, Jasper, Narrato, Notion, Semrush, Surfer SEO
Moosend
Four alternatives$99 Social, Google Analytics 4, Semrush Content Marketing Platform, SocialBee
no first choiceagainst: Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube
GPT-5.4 miniHubSpot Content Hub, HubSpot Marketing Hub
Three alternativesContent Harmony, Semrush, Sprout Social
CoScheduleChanged
Two alternativesAsana, Notion
HubSpot Content Hub
Nine alternativesAhrefs, Airtable, Buffer, CoSchedule, Kit, Mailchimp, Notion, Semrush, Sprout Social
HubSpot Content Hub Free or Starter
One alternativeBuffer
no first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashHubSpot Content Hub
Four alternativesCoSchedule, Notion, Semrush, StoryChief
against: Adobe GenStudio, Contently, Skyword
StoryChiefChanged
Five alternativesAirtable, Asana, ClickUp, CoSchedule, Notion
CoSchedule, StoryChief
Four alternativesHubSpot Content Hub, Later, Metricool, Semrush
HubSpot Content Hub
Eleven alternativesBeehiiv, Buffer, Canva, CapCut, ChatGPT, Claude, Ghost, MailerLite, Notion, PosterMyWall, WordPress
against: Contently, Optimizely CMS
StoryChief
Five alternativesAsana, ClickUp, CoSchedule, HubSpot Content Hub, Monday.com
against: Optimizely CMS, Sprinklr
against: Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe Marketo Engage, Aprimo, Contentful, Contently, HubSpot Content Hub, Optimizely CMS, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Sitecore, Skyword, Sprinklr, Sprout Social
Perplexity SonarHubSpot's Content Hub / Marketing Hub
Six alternativesBuffer, Canva, CoSchedule, Jasper, Notion, Semrush
NotionChanged
Three alternativesHubSpot Content Hub, HubSpot Marketing Hub, Planable
no first choice
Seven alternativesBuffer, CoSchedule, ContentStudio, HubSpot Content Hub, Jasper, Narrato, Stackby
HubSpot Content Hub
One alternativeBuffer
no first choiceagainst: Adobe GenStudio, Agorapulse, BuzzSumo, Contently, Hootsuite, HubSpot Content Hub, Optimizely CMP, Semrush, Sprout Social
Grok 4.1 FastHubSpot Content Hub
One alternativeEnji
against: ActiveCampaign, Clearscope, CoSchedule, Semrush
CoScheduleChanged
One alternativeNotion
CoSchedule, Narrato
Four alternativesBuffer, ContentStudio, HubSpot Content Hub, Jasper
against: Adobe GenStudio, Skyword
HubSpot Content Hub
Five alternativesBuffer, Canva, Google Analytics 4, Google Search Console, Mailchimp
against: Ahrefs, Semrush
no first choiceagainst: Adobe Experience Cloud, Adobe Marketo Engage, Bark, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Meta, MyBuilder, Pinterest, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Skyword, Snapchat, TikTok
Mistral SmallHubSpot Content Hub
Seven alternativesActiveCampaign, Buffer, Canva, Enji, Jasper, Notion, PathFactory
no first choiceChangedHubSpot Content Hub
Three alternativesJasper, StoryChief, Surfer SEO
HubSpot Free Plan
Five alternativesBrevo, Buffer Free Plan, Canva Free Plan, EngageBay, GetResponse
no first choiceagainst: Contentlyagainst: Gumroad, Nuvei, Patreon, Substack, VidIQ
DeepSeek V4 FlashHubSpot Content Hub
Two alternativesCoSchedule, Semrush
CoScheduleChanged
Two alternativesNotion, Planable
CoSchedule, Stackby
Five alternativesBuffer, Notion, Planable, Semrush, StoryChief
against: HubSpot Content Hub, HubSpot Marketing Hub
Averi, Canva
Six alternativesBuffer, Google Analytics 4, Google Search Console, HubSpot Content Hub, Mailchimp, WordPress
against: Ahrefs, Contentful, Contentstack, Hootsuite, Kontent, Semrush
no first choiceagainst: Contentlyagainst: Ahrefs, Clearscope, Contena, Contently, CopyPress, HubSpot Content Hub, Jasper, Meta, Semrush, Textbroker, X
Llama 4 MaverickNotion
Five alternativesBuffer, Canva, CoSchedule, Foleon, Jasper
CoScheduleChangedAveri
Three alternativesCoSchedule, Jasper, StoryChief
no first choiceno first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashHubSpot Content Hub
Three alternativesActiveCampaign, CoSchedule, StoryChief
CoScheduleChanged
Two alternativesHubSpot Content Planner, Notion
HubSpot Content Hub, Kit
Four alternativesCoSchedule, Monday.com, Trello, WordPress
Buffer, CanvaCoSchedule
Eight alternativesAhrefs, Canva, Clearscope, Coda, HubSpot Content Hub, Notion, Semrush, Surfer SEO
against: Adobe Experience Manager, Buffer, Fiverr, HubSpot Content Hub, Mayple, Salesforce
Kimi K2ActiveCampaign
Two alternativesCoSchedule, Stackby
against: HubSpot Content Hub
CoSchedule Social CalendarChanged
Two alternativesNotion, StoryChief
CoSchedule, HubSpot Content Hub, StoryChief
Nine alternativesContentShake AI, Copy.ai, Jasper, Letterdrop, Narrato, Notion, Semrush, Stackby, Surfer SEO
against: Contently
Buffer, Canva, HubSpot Marketing Hub
Three alternativesBrevo, ChatGPT, Google Analytics 4
against: Ahrefs, Hootsuite, Semrush, Sprout Social
no first choiceagainst: Adobe GenStudio, Brandwatch, BuzzSumo, Content360.io, Contently, GRIN, HubSpot Marketing Hub, Optimizely CMP, PathFactory, Salesforce Social Studio, Semrush, Skyword, Uberflip
GLM 4.7 FlashXHubSpot Content Hub
Four alternativesBuffer, CoSchedule, Semrush, StoryChief
CoScheduleChanged
Four alternativesAirtable, Canva, Jasper, Notion
HubSpot Marketing Hub, StoryChief
Six alternativesAveri, Buffer, Canva, Jasper, Notion, Surfer SEO
Buffer, Canva, Mailchimp
Five alternativesBeehiiv, Google Analytics 4, Google Search Console, Klaviyo, Moz
against: BuzzStream, Contentful, Curata, DivvyHQ, HubSpot Marketing Hub, Influencity, PathFactory
no first choiceagainst: Facebook, GetResponse, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X
MiniMax M2.5HubSpot for Marketers
Four alternativesBuffer, CoSchedule, Jasper, Postiv AI
CoScheduleChanged
Four alternativesBuffer, Notion, Planable, StoryChief
HubSpot Content Hub, Stackby
Five alternativesBuffer, Canva, ChatGPT, Jasper, Notion
Buffer
Four alternativesCanva, Google Analytics 4, Google Search Console, Mailchimp
no first choiceagainst: Contently, Optimizely CMS, Sitecore, Skyword
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 01:13yes98 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 02:04yes55 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 04:41yes1625 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 00:26yes206 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 00:11yes07 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-14 23:03yes09 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 00:34yes020 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 03:15yes02 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 01:59yes041 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 04:13yes027 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 00:06yes022 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-14 22:51yes019 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 02:36yes98 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 01:06yes34 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 01:07yes1020 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 02:51yes205 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 01:44yes08 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-14 23:03no01 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 02:04yes023 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-14 22:58yes01 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 03:11no050 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 04:54yes031 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 03:54yes031 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 01:17yes019 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-14 23:12yes1611 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-14 23:57no09 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 00:16yes2126 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 01:26yes199 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 04:57yes08 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 03:01yes011 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 04:13yes062 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 03:12yes02 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 03:37no042 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 04:57yes063 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 01:00yes0106 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 00:18yes020 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 02:26yes88 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 04:32yes25 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 03:20yes1017 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 02:11yes207 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 02:41yes05 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 03:14yes08 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-14 23:09yes011 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 00:01yes02 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 03:06yes033 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-14 22:59yes026 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 04:28yes030 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-14 23:31yes023 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-14 23:01no08 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 02:47no09 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-14 23:47no015 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 00:09yes208 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 02:39yes08 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 03:58no011 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 00:45yes047 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 01:32yes02 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-14 23:57yes034 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 04:40yes046 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 02:20yes016 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 02:10yes016 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 04:44yes97 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 04:48yes65 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 01:11yes2134 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 04:12yes208 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-14 23:34yes010 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 00:23yes010 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 02:50yes032 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-14 23:40yes01 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 05:04yes035 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 01:23yes043 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 01:58yes064 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 03:51yes021 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
HubSpot read as HubSpot Content Hub
HubSpot (Content Hub / Marketing Hub) read as HubSpot Content Hub
HubSpot (Free or Starter Tier) read as HubSpot Content Hub
HubSpot (Marketing Hub / Content Hub) read as HubSpot Content Hub
HubSpot (Professional/Enterprise) read as HubSpot Content Hub
HubSpot (free tier) read as HubSpot Content Hub
LinkedIn read as LinkedIn articles
Unresolved, counted raw
$99 Social
Adobe Experience Cloud
Bark
Bluesky
Buffer Free Plan
Buffer/PublishOwl
Canva Free Plan
CoSchedule Social Calendar
ContentCal (now Adobe Express Content Scheduler)
ContentShake AI
HubSpot Content Hub Free or Starter
HubSpot Content Planner
HubSpot Free Plan
HubSpot's Content Hub / Marketing Hub
INK AI Writer / AISEO
Letterdrop
Mastodon
Mayple
Meta (Facebook & Instagram)
Meta (Facebook/Instagram)
MyBuilder
Salesforce
eesel AI blog writer
theStacc
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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