GTM AI Index
Index › Marketing › Influencer › Small business › September 2026 Edition

Influencer platforms for small business buyers

Asked as “influencer marketing platform”, and as “creator and influencer management tool”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 49 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Favikon
Contested
31% of first choices, contested.
ShowinginAll 73 categories →

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 businessFavikon31%ContestedThis pageMid-marketFavikon27%ContestedStanding →EnterpriseCreatorIQ53%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 small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Favikon31%0%19endorsed leader
02Modash16%8%36accepted challenger
03Elev8or12%0%10accepted challenger
04GRIN8%61%33criticized challenger
05Afluencer6%3%30accepted challenger
06Shopify Collabs4%4%24accepted challenger
07Upfluence4%56%25criticized challenger
08Aspire4%78%27criticized challenger
Show the six products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
13Traackr0%92%13criticized challenger
14CreatorIQ0%91%23criticized challenger
11HypeAuditor0%11%19accepted challenger
12Influencity0%8%12accepted challenger
09Heepsy0%5%20accepted challenger
10Collabstr0%0%17accepted 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
Favikon vs AfluencerFavikon vs GRINAfluencer vs GRIN

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% negative50%
Key
01Favikon31%
02Modash16%
03Elev8or12%
04GRIN8%
05Afluencer6%
06Shopify Collabs4%
07Upfluence4%
08Aspire4%
09Heepsy0%
10Collabstr0%
11HypeAuditor0%
12Influencity0%
13Traackr0%
14CreatorIQ0%

02What they warned about

Five of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, Perplexity Sonar, Mistral Small, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, 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.
CreatorIQ
91%
21 of 23 labels negative · 10 of 12 models · 12 hard negative
“specific platforms and business models you should **avoid or approach with high caution**... Enterprise Platforms with Locked-In Annual Contracts **The Platforms:** *CreatorIQ, Aspire*” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
GRIN
61%
20 of 33 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 9 hard negative
“Enterprise-level (ecom automation, UGC); $2,000-5,000+/mo, annual contracts, no self-serve trials. Overkill/too pricey.” Grok 4.1 Fast, direct prompt
Aspire
78%
21 of 27 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 14 hard negative
“Enterprise-level (ecom automation, UGC); $2,000-5,000+/mo, annual contracts, no self-serve trials. Overkill/too pricey.” Grok 4.1 Fast, direct prompt
Upfluence
56%
14 of 25 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 7 hard negative
“notorious among small business owners ... for its strict **12-month contract lock-ins and aggressive auto-renewal clauses**” Gemini 3.5 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. 191 links across 90 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.

learn.g2.com
6 answers · 9 citations · 2 models
modash.io
vendor site · Modash5 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
guideflow.com
vendor site · Guideflow5 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
skrapp.io
vendor site · Skrapp5 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
sproutsocial.com
vendor site · Sprout Social5 answers · 5 citations · 3 models
influencermarketinghub.com
4 answers · 11 citations · 2 models
grin.co
vendor site · GRIN4 answers · 7 citations · 3 models
archive.com
4 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
blog.hypeauditor.com
vendor site · HypeAuditor4 answers · 4 citations · 2 models
influee.co
vendor site · Influee4 answers · 4 citations · 2 models
influenceflow.io
vendor site · InfluenceFlow3 answers · 8 citations · 2 models
reddit.com
vendor site · Reddit3 answers · 5 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.

learn.g2.com/free-influencer-marketing-platforms
6 answers · 2 models
skrapp.io/blog/influencer-marketing-platforms
5 answers · 2 models
guideflow.com/blog/influencer-marketing-platforms
4 answers · 2 models
sproutsocial.com/insights/influencer-marketing-platforms
4 answers · 2 models
amourvert.com/articles/best-influencer-marketing-platforms-for-small-busine…
3 answers · 2 models
blog.hypeauditor.com/influencer-marketing-platforms-for-small-businesses-ru…
3 answers · 1 model
influee.co/blog/influencer-marketing-platforms
3 answers · 2 models
influencermarketinghub.com/micro-influencer-platform
3 answers · 1 model
influencermarketinghub.com/top-influencer-marketing-platforms
3 answers · 1 model
learn.g2.com/best-influencer-marketing-software
3 answers · 2 models

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 influencer marketing platform for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which creator and influencer management tool would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top influencer marketing platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best influencer marketing platform for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating an influencer marketing platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which influencer marketing platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Skrapp
Three alternativesFavikon, Thinkers360, Traackr
Favikon, NaanoChanged
One alternativeSkrapp
Afluencer, Heepsy
Six alternativesCollabstr, HypeAuditor, Influee, Later Influence, Modash, Upfluence
Afluencer
Two alternativesElev8or, Influencers.club
no first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniModash
Three alternativesAfluencer, Later Influence, Sprout Social Influencer Marketing
ModashHeld
One alternativeAspire
against: GRINModash
Three alternativesGRIN, InfluenceKit, Upfluence
against: Aspire, CreatorIQ, Later InfluenceModash
Three alternativesGRIN, InfluenceKit, impact.com Starter Edition
against: CreatorIQ/Aspire-like enterprise tools, Upfluenceno first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashFavikon
Three alternativesLimelight, PartnerStack, Passionfroot
against: Aspire, GRIN, Onalytica, Shopify Collabs, Sprout Social's TaggerFavikonHeld
Four alternativesGoByline, Passionfroot, SparkToro, Thinkers360
against: Brandwatch, CreatorIQ, OnalyticaModash
Five alternativesCollabstr, Influencer Hero, Influencity, Shopify Collabs, Social Cat
Shopify Collabs
Five alternativesAfluencer, Collabstr, Scrumball, Social Cat, TrendHero
against: Aspire, CreatorIQ, GRINModash, Shopify Collabs
Five alternativesAfluencer, Archive.com, Influee, JoinBrands, Upfluence
against: Aspire, CreatorIQ, GRINagainst: Aspire, CreatorIQ, ShopMy, Upfluence
Perplexity SonarFavikon
Three alternativesKolsquare, LinkedIn Creator Marketplace, Modash
against: AfluencerModashChanged
Two alternativesFavikon, PartnerStack
Afluencer
Four alternativesHypeAuditor, Modash, Shopify Collabs, Sprout Social Influencer Marketing
against: #paidAfluencer
Three alternativesHeepsy, Shopify Collabs, Shoutcart
no first choiceagainst: Brandwatch, CreatorIQ, Kolsquare, Sprout Social, Traackr
Grok 4.1 FastFavikon
Two alternativesAfluencer, Modash
against: Aspire, GRIN, Traackr, UpfluenceFavikonHeld
One alternativeAfluencer
against: Aspire, Creator.co, CreatorIQ, GRIN, PartnerStackAfluencer, Shopify Collabs
Three alternativesHeepsy, HypeAuditor, Modash
against: GRIN, UpfluenceElev8or
Five alternativesAfluencer, GRIN, Heepsy, Scrumball, Shopify Collabs
against: Aspire, UpfluenceGRIN, Upfluence
Three alternativesHeepsy, Modash, Shopify Collabs
against: CreatorIQagainst: Aspire, CreatorIQ, GRIN, NeoReach, Traackr, Upfluence
Mistral SmallUpfluence
Two alternativesModash, impact.com
against: Aspire, CreatorIQ, GRINFavikonChanged
Two alternativesCollabstr, Modash
against: Aspire, GRIN, Heepsy, Later InfluenceAinfluencer, Collabstr, Modash
Seven alternativesAfluencer, GRIN, Heepsy, Influencity, Intellifluence, JoinBrands, Upfluence
Elev8or
One alternativeAfluencer
against: Modashno first choiceagainst: Amatuska LLC, InfluencerAdvantage.com, UpGrow.com
DeepSeek V4 FlashFavikon
Two alternativesHeepsy, Thinkers360
against: Aspire, CreatorIQ, GRIN, Modash, Onalytica, TraackrFavikonHeld
Two alternativesHypeAuditor, Intellifluence
against: Aspire, GRIN, ModashAfluencer, Collabstr
Four alternativesHeepsy, HypeAuditor, Intellifluence, Modash
against: Ainfluencer, Aspire, GRIN, Influencer Hero, UpfluenceElev8or
Six alternativesAfluencer, Ainfluencer, Collabstr, Heepsy, Scrumball, Shopify Collabs
against: Aspire, GRIN, UpfluenceGRIN, Modash
Two alternativesShopify Collabs, Upfluence
against: Aspire, CreatorIQ, Traackragainst: Aspire, Fiverr, Shoutcart, Upgrow
Llama 4 MaverickFavikon
One alternativeCreator
PartnerStackChangedno first choice
Four alternativesAfluencer, HypeAuditor, Influencity, Shopify Collabs
Elev8or
Three alternativesInfluence.co, Shopify Collabs, Shoutcart
no first choiceagainst: Brandwatch, Flowbox, HypeAuditor, Traackr, Upfluence
Qwen 3.7 FlashFavikon
Two alternativesLinkedIn Sales Navigator, Passionfroot
AspireChanged
Two alternativesModash, Upfluence
against: CreatorIQ, GRINInfluenceFlow
Three alternativesCollabstr, Influee, Modash
Afluencer, Elev8or
One alternativeScrumball
no first choice
Three alternativesGRIN, Insense, Modash
against: Aspire, CreatorIQ, Flowbox, GRIN, HubSpot Influencer, Klear, Sprout Social, Traackr, Upfluence
Kimi K2Favikon
Four alternativesAfluencer, Creator.co, GoByline, Skrapp
against: CreatorIQ, Onalytica, TraackrFavikonHeld
Two alternativesModash, Thinkers360
against: Aspire, CreatorIQ, GRIN, TraackrAinfluencer
Six alternativesAfluencer, GRIN, Heepsy, Intellifluence, Modash, Shopify Collabs
Ainfluencer
Two alternativesAfluencer, Influence.co
GRIN, Modash
One alternativeAfluencer
against: AspireIQ, CreatorIQ, Upfluenceagainst: Aspire, Captiv8, CreatorIQ, Dreaminfluence, GRIN, Influee, Klear, NeoReach, Traackr, Upfluence
GLM 4.7 FlashXFavikon
Two alternativesGoByline, Skrapp
AspireChanged
Three alternativesFavikon, Heepsy, Modash
Modash, Shopify Collabs
Three alternativesGRIN, Influence.co, Shoutcart
against: CreatorIQ, Traackr, UpfluenceElev8or
Two alternativesAfluencer, inBeat
no first choiceagainst: Aspire, CreatorIQ, GRIN, HypeAuditor, Influencity, Traackr, Upfluence
MiniMax M2.5LinkedIn
Four alternativesCreatorIQ, Onalytica, Traackz, Twitter/X
FavikonChanged
Three alternativesAfluencer, HypeAuditor, Modash
Collabstr, InfluenceFlow
Two alternativesCreator.co, Heepsy
against: GRIN, HubSpotAspireIQ, Influence.co
Two alternativesBuzzSumo, Heepsy
against: CreatorIQGRIN, Modashnothing 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.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 03:34yes77 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 01:47yes34 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 01:55yes1322 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-14 23:35yes205 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 00:13yes08 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 04:56yes08 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 03:15yes017 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 01:13yes02 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-14 22:55yes029 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 01:48yes046 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 04:42yes060 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-14 23:59no010 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-14 23:38yes88 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 01:26no03 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-14 23:31yes2427 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 01:47yes206 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 01:07yes08 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 04:18yes07 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 01:49yes018 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 04:37yes01 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 02:16no036 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-14 23:14yes026 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 03:53yes025 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-14 23:50yes017 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-14 23:56yes88 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 01:16yes67 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-14 23:17yes2323 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-14 23:09yes207 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 02:51yes08 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 03:44yes08 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 04:13yes027 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 00:10yes02 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 02:39yes060 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 02:02yes086 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 04:07yes062 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 01:09yes017 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 01:33yes77 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 00:00yes45 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 03:49yes1723 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 00:18yes206 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 03:31yes010 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-14 23:10yes08 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-14 23:00yes021 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 03:16yes02 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 02:29yes030 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-14 23:34yes023 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-14 23:31yes015 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 00:56no08 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 01:43no011 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-14 23:42no05 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 01:21yes1121 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 04:43yes209 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 00:36yes09 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 04:30no05 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 02:09yes065 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 01:17yes02 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 04:36yes036 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 00:18yes043 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 02:23yes039 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 01:00yes019 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 04:00yes2418 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 04:53yes47 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 02:46yes1923 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 02:42yes205 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 03:05yes08 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-14 23:34yes010 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 02:22yes022 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 01:42yes03 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-14 23:25yes021 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 04:15yes039 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 01:16yes059 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 03:26yes013 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
Amatuska LLC
Archive.com
AuthoredUp
Creator
CreatorIQ/Aspire-like enterprise tools
Directive Consulting's LinkedIn platforms
HubSpot Influencer
InfluencerAdvantage.com
LinkedIn
LinkedIn's native Creator Marketplace
SARAL
ShopMy
Sprout Social's Tagger
Traackz
TrendHero
Twitter/X
UpGrow.com
Upgrow
impact.com Starter Edition
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in marketing

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