# Smile.io vs Open Loyalty: which do AI models recommend for loyalty, September 2026

GTM AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, Loyalty, advocacy and referrals. Zero of twelve models named Smile.io first on the direct prompt; one named Open Loyalty. Page: https://gtm-ai-index.com/marketing/loyalty-advocacy-and-referrals/smile-io-vs-open-loyalty/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smile.io | 24% | #1 of 18 | 19% | 36 | 12 of 12 |
| Open Loyalty | 2% | #8 of 18 | 0% | 14 | 9 of 12 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- Perplexity Sonar: open loyalty first (first choices: CustomerGauge, Open Loyalty) (alternatives: Talon.One)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: neither first, one named (first choices: True Loyal) (alternatives: Annex Cloud, Open Loyalty, Yotpo Loyalty & Referrals)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither named (first choices: CustomerGauge) (alternatives: GrowSurf, Referral Rock, Salesforce Loyalty Management, Zinrelo)
- GPT-5.4 mini: neither named (first choices: Ambassador) (alternatives: CustomerGauge, Referral Factory, Salesforce Loyalty Management)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: neither named (first choices: Referral Rock) (alternatives: Annex Cloud, Influitive, PartnerStack, SaaSquatch)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: neither named (first choices: Influitive) (alternatives: Ambassador, Referral Rock, TrueLoyal)
- Mistral Small: neither named (first choices: GrowSurf) (alternatives: PartnerStack, True Loyal)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: neither named (first choices: Ambassador) (alternatives: CustomerGauge, PartnerStack, Referral Rock)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither named (alternatives: GrowSurf, Referral Rock)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: neither named (first choices: Influitive) (alternatives: Ambassador, CustomerGauge)
- Kimi K2: neither named (first choices: Referral Rock, Zinrelo) (alternatives: Kademi, PartnerStack)
- MiniMax M2.5: neither named (first choices: GrowSurf, Referral Rock) (alternatives: FirstPromoter, Kademi, Zinrelo)

## What the models said about Smile.io

- "Billing complaints: Multiple merchants report being charged even after cancelling their free plan" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt, hard negative)
- "Billing disputes (charges post-cancel, free plan limits eroding, overcharges on order counts); support delays on refunds" (Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "various tiers of Smile.io) have been flagged by users for aggressive pricing behaviors" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "Smile.io (Best for $0 Budget) ... the only major loyalty platform with a permanently free plan that actually includes referrals" (MiniMax M2.5, budget prompt, first choice)
- "Smile.io stands out as the best customer loyalty and referral platform for companies with a limited budget." (Grok 4.1 Fast, budget prompt, first choice)
- "The best customer loyalty and referral platform for a company with a limited budget is Smile.io" (Llama 4 Maverick, budget prompt, first choice)

## What the models said about Open Loyalty

- "Open Loyalty is the best-fit option among the results for mid-market and enterprise companies" (Perplexity Sonar, direct prompt, first choice)
- "API-first, composable toolkit for custom builds" (Perplexity Sonar, 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.