GTM AI Index
Index › Marketing › September 2026 Edition

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Asked as “direct mail automation platform”, and as “print and direct mail marketing tool”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 46 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Postalytics
Clear leader
54% of first choices, clear leader.
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 businessPostalytics50%Clear leaderStanding →Mid-marketPostalytics54%Clear leaderThis pageEnterpriseLob37%ContestedStanding →

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
01Postalytics54%7%54endorsed leader
02Lob9%27%48criticized challenger
03Stannp7%0%21accepted challenger
04PostGrid7%25%40criticized challenger
05Sendoso4%22%45accepted challenger
06Click2Mail4%25%24criticized challenger
07PFL4%26%23criticized challenger
08Mailjoy2%11%19accepted challenger
09Reachdesk2%18%22accepted challenger
Show the two products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
11Postie0%31%13criticized challenger
10Postal0%6%18accepted 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
Postalytics vs LobPostalytics vs StannpLob vs Stannp

One product takes 54% of first choices here, so the chart would put ten markers in one corner and one at the far edge. The two measurements it plots are columns in the standing above: share, and the negative label rate. Five products carry a negative rate above 25% in this category. Jump to the standing

02What they warned about

Seven of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Mistral Small, Llama 4 Maverick 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.
Lob
27%
13 of 48 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“Platforms to Avoid on a Tight Budget- **Lob** — Great API, but the **$260–550/month** platform fee” DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt
PostGrid
25%
10 of 40 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“Platforms to Avoid on a Tight Budget ... **Postgrid** — Cheaper API alternative ($0–99/mo), but pricing is often quote-based” DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt
Sendoso
22%
10 of 45 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“Platforms with Significant Concerns ... Sendoso (and Postal.io - now acquired by Sendoso) Key Red Flags: Non-refundable prepaid balances that expire” Kimi K2, negative prompt
Click2Mail
25%
6 of 24 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Broken/misleading delivery tracking... their website is simply not working properly” DeepSeek V4 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

22 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. 196 links across 62 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.

postalytics.com
vendor site · Postalytics10 answers · 12 citations · 3 models
guideflow.com
vendor site · Guideflow10 answers · 10 citations · 2 models
capterra.com
vendor site · Capterra9 answers · 12 citations · 3 models
cience.com
8 answers · 8 citations · 2 models
g2.com
7 answers · 13 citations · 3 models
postgrid.com
vendor site · PostGrid6 answers · 8 citations · 2 models
gartner.com
vendor site · Gartner6 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
thecmo.com
6 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
gitnux.org
5 answers · 11 citations · 1 model
lob.com
vendor site · Lob5 answers · 9 citations · 3 models
wifitalents.com
vendor site · WifiTalents5 answers · 8 citations · 1 model
directmail.io
vendor site · DirectMail.io4 answers · 4 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.

guideflow.com/blog/direct-mail-automation-software
10 answers · 2 models
cience.com/blog/direct-mail-automation-software
8 answers · 2 models
capterra.com/direct-mail-automation-software
7 answers · 2 models
gartner.com/reviews/market/direct-mail-automation-software
6 answers · 2 models
gitnux.org/best/direct-mail-automation-software
5 answers · 1 model
postalytics.com/
5 answers · 2 models
thecmo.com/tools/best-direct-mail-marketing-software
5 answers · 2 models
directmail.io/best/direct-mail-platforms-2026
4 answers · 1 model
postgrid.com/direct-mail-automation-software
4 answers · 2 models
businessage.com/post/5-best-direct-mail-automation-software-platforms
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 direct mail automation platform for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which print and direct mail marketing tool would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top direct mail automation platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best direct mail automation platform for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a direct mail automation platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which direct mail automation platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5PFL
Two alternativesPostGrid, Sendoso
PFLHeld
Three alternativesPostGrid, Postalytics, Sendoso
Sendoso
Four alternativesLob, PostGrid, Postalytics, Thanks.io
Postalytics
One alternativeMailjoy
against: Click2Mailno first choiceagainst: Postie, Stadium
GPT-5.4 miniSendoso
One alternativePFL
LobChanged
Three alternativesPostGrid, Reachdesk, Sendoso
against: Direct Mail Managerno first choice
Six alternativesLob, PFL Direct Mail Platform, PostGrid Print & Mail, Postalytics, Reachdesk, Sendoso
Postalyticsagainst: Sendosono first choiceagainst: Direct Mail Processing, LLC
Gemini 3.5 FlashPostalytics, Reachdesk
Three alternativesAlyce, Lob, Postal
against: SendosoLob, Postalytics, SendosoChangedLob, PostPilot, Postalytics, Sendoso
Four alternativesPebblePost, Poplar, PostGrid, Reachdesk
Stannp
Three alternativesMailjoy, PostGrid, Thanks.io
against: Lob, Postalyticsno first choiceagainst: Inkit, Lob, Reachdesk, Sendoso
Perplexity SonarPostalytics
Three alternativesDirectMail.io, Lob, Sendoso
PostalyticsHeld
Three alternativesPFL, PostGrid, Sendoso
Lob, PostGrid
Five alternativesPFL, Postalytics, Postie, Reachdesk, Sendoso
Postalytics
Four alternativesClick2Mail, GundirXpress, Lob, Mailjoy
no first choiceagainst: Click2Mail, Keap, Lob, Mailform, Mailjoy, PostGrid, PostcardMania, SendGrid, Twilio Campaigns
Grok 4.1 FastPostalytics
Three alternativesLob, PostGrid, Sendoso
against: PFLPostalyticsHeld
One alternativePostGrid
against: Lob, PFL, SendosoPostalytics
Two alternativesLob, Sendoso
Click2Mail, Postalytics
Three alternativesLob, Mailjoy, Stannp
PostGrid
Two alternativesLob, Postalytics
against: Lob, PFL Direct Mail Platform, PostGrid, Sendoso
Mistral SmallPostalytics
Three alternativesLob, PostGrid, Sendoso
PostGridChanged
Three alternativesAmazingMail, Click2Mail, PFL
Lob
Seven alternativesMailjoy, PostGrid, Postalytics, Postie, Reachdesk, Sendoso, Stannp
Mailjoy, Postalytics
Three alternativesClick2Mail, Oppizi, Stannp
no first choiceagainst: Direct Mail Processing, LLC, Distribution Processing Center, LLC, Lob, PFL Direct Mail Platform, PostGrid, PostcardMania
DeepSeek V4 FlashPostalytics
Four alternativesLob, PFL, Reachdesk, Sendoso
PostalyticsHeld
Two alternativesLob, Sendoso
against: PFLPostalytics
Nine alternativesClick2Mail, Lob, Mailjoy, PFL, PostGrid, Postie, Reachdesk, Sendoso, Stannp
Stannp
Three alternativesClick2Mail, Postalytics, REmail
against: Lob, PostGrid, PostcardManiaLob, Postalytics
Five alternativesPFL, PostGrid, Postie, Sendoso, Stannp
against: Click2Mail, Mailjoy, Printfectionagainst: Boingnet, Click2Mail, Lob, PFL, PostGrid, Postalytics, Postie, Reachdesk, Sendoso, Stadium/Snackmagic/Swagmagic
Llama 4 MaverickPostalytics
One alternativeMagileads
no first choiceChangedCM.com
One alternativePostGrid
GundirXpress
Two alternativesModern Postcard, PostcardMania
no first choiceagainst: Click2Mail
Qwen 3.7 FlashPostalytics
Three alternativesClick2Mail, LetterStream, Sendoso
PostalyticsHeld
Three alternativesLob, Postal, Sendoso
Lob, Stannp
Nine alternativesClick2Mail, Mailjoy, PFL, PostGrid, Postal, Postalytics, Postie, Reachdesk, Sendoso
PostKnock
Three alternativesMailjoy, Postalytics, REmail
against: PostcardManiano first choiceagainst: Lob, PFL, PostGrid, Postie, Stadium
Kimi K2Postalytics
Three alternativesLob, PFL, Sendoso
PostalyticsHeld
Two alternativesLob, Sendoso
PostGrid
Six alternativesClick2Mail, Inkit, Lob, Postalytics, Sendoso, Stannp
Click2Mail, Stannp
Three alternativesBirdseyePost, PostPilot, Postalytics
against: Lob, PostGridLob, Postalytics
Three alternativesInkit, PFL, Sendoso
against: "Direct Mail", Click2Mail, Lob, PFL, PostGrid, Postal, Reachdesk, Sendoso
GLM 4.7 FlashXPostalytics
Four alternativesLob, PostGrid, Postal, Reachdesk
against: SendosoPostalyticsHeld
Three alternativesPostGrid, Sendoso, Stannp
Lob
Five alternativesPostGrid, Postal, Postalytics, Reachdesk, Sendoso
Postalytics
Four alternativesClick2Mail, LetterStream, Mailjoy, Stannp
no first choiceagainst: Lob, PostGrid, Postalytics, Postie, Sendoso, Stadium, Tremendous
MiniMax M2.5Postalytics
Four alternativesLob, Postal, Sendoso, Stannp
PostGridChanged
Two alternativesLob, Postalytics
PostGrid, Postalytics
Seven alternativesLob, Mailjoy, Postal, Postie, Reachdesk, Sendoso, Stannp
Postalytics Free Tier
Three alternativesPostGrid, PostPilot, REmail
no first choiceagainst: Lob, PostGrid, Postalytics, Reachdesk, Sendoso, Stadium
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 04:23yes139 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 01:48yes34 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 04:39yes1823 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-14 23:48yes205 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 00:46yes08 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 02:42yes012 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-14 23:43yes036 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 00:07yes02 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 03:53yes057 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 03:27yes021 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 04:41yes048 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 00:04yes022 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 04:13yes138 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 03:30yes54 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-14 22:58yes1117 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 00:24yes205 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 02:43yes07 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 03:03yes07 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 01:13yes012 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 02:40yes02 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 02:36yes030 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-14 23:49yes023 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 00:51yes027 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 00:00yes018 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 01:41yes79 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 05:04yes611 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 03:33yes2726 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 02:31yes208 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 02:56yes07 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 02:31yes07 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 04:47yes050 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 01:48yes02 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 04:40yes040 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 04:58yes031 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 03:33yes019 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 02:45yes013 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-14 23:02yes149 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-14 23:19yes35 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 00:24yes2527 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-14 23:19yes1719 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 03:36yes08 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 04:11yes011 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 01:56yes017 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 02:31yes01 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-14 23:19yes032 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 03:44yes025 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 02:02yes044 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 01:06yes020 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 05:02no06 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 00:07no010 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 04:06yes1226 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 04:00yes179 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 01:17yes08 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 00:53yes07 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 01:22yes020 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 03:33yes01 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-14 23:01yes023 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 03:16yes035 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 04:03yes063 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 03:05yes017 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 04:54yes1510 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 02:29yes35 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 03:01yes1225 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 00:17yes208 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 01:00yes011 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 01:41yes012 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 00:27yes062 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-14 23:37yes02 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 00:17yes032 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 04:46yes051 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-14 23:13yes0105 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 00:45yes017 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
"Direct Mail" (Mac-based software - directmailmac.com)
Adobe Campaign + Print partners
Direct Mail Manager
DirectIQ / LocusLogic
Distribution Processing Center, LLC
Magileads
Mailbox / Sendoso
Maropost / Mailjet Mail
PostGrid Print & Mail
Postalytics Free Tier
Printavo + Postalytics
PrintingforLess
Twilio Campaigns
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in marketing

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