AI Indexes
GTM AI Index
October 2026 Edition · The permanent record of this edition. The unqualified address always carries the latest edition.
Index › Marketing › Direct mail › Small business › October 2026 Edition

Print for small business buyers

Asked as “direct mail automation platform”, and as “print and direct mail marketing tool”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 49 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, fourteen models each.
Standing · first-choice share
53%
Clear leader
53Postalytics12Lob08Click2Mail27others

53% of first choices, clear leader.

Since September 2026▼−4Since September 2026: 50% → 46%, −4 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.Postalytics held the lead, −4 points on 50%, inside the 11-point floor.
ShowinginAll 112 categories in the October 2026 Edition →

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.

The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all fourteen models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrantSince September 2026
01Postalytics53%5%55endorsed leader▼−4Since September 2026: 50% → 46%, −4 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.50% → 46%
02Lob12%20%49accepted challenger▲+5Since September 2026: 10% → 15%, +5 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.10% → 15%
03Click2Mail8%5%22accepted challenger▼−2Since September 2026: 10% → 7%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.10% → 7%
04Postie8%11%19accepted challenger▲+8Since September 2026: 2% → 10%, +8 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 10%
05PostGrid2%26%43criticized challenger▲+1Since September 2026: 2% → 2%, +1 point. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 2%
06Sendoso2%58%38criticized challenger▲+1Since September 2026: 2% → 2%, +1 point. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 2%
Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
09Reachdesk0%50%12criticized challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%
08PostcardMania0%30%10criticized challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%
07Thanks.io0%0%10accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%

The floor is 11 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. Movement is read over the twelve models both editions asked; GPT-6 Luna, Muse Glimmer 30B joined this edition and are in the standing but not yet in the comparison. How the floor is measured

Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
All twenty-eight head-to-head pages: the top eight products, each against each

One product takes 53% of first choices here, so the chart would put eight 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. Four products carry a negative rate above 25% in this category.

What they warned about

Six of fourteen models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Perplexity Sonar, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash 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.
Sendoso
58%
22 of 38 labels negative · 13 of 14 models · 4 hard negative
“Small businesses should avoid or approach the following types of direct mail automation platforms with caution: ... Enterprise Gifting & Sending Platforms (e.g., Sendoso, Reachdesk)” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
PostGrid
26%
11 of 43 labels negative · 11 of 14 models · 1 hard negative
“the quality and support complaints make it risky for small teams without technical resources to troubleshoot” Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt
Lob
20%
10 of 49 labels negative · 7 of 14 models · 2 hard negative
“**Avoid entirely if you have a tight budget:** Lob, Sendoso” Kimi K2, negative prompt
Reachdesk
50%
6 of 12 labels negative · 3 of 14 models · 2 hard negative
“often recommended for corporate gifting rather than direct mail automation, making it a less ideal choice for small businesses” Mistral Small, negative prompt

What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: fourteen of the fourteen in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

77 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 1101 links across 156 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. 18 of the 252 answers across every segment cited this index's own page for the category; the method page measures whether that reading tilts an answer.

vendor site · Guideflow61 answers · 62 citations · 12 models
vendor site · Postalytics39 answers · 76 citations · 11 models
38 answers · 79 citations · 13 models
37 answers · 46 citations · 12 models
vendor site · CIENCE36 answers · 36 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Lob32 answers · 51 citations · 13 models
vendor site · Mailmodo31 answers · 37 citations · 10 models
30 answers · 31 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Capterra25 answers · 33 citations · 11 models
25 answers · 27 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Oppizi24 answers · 25 citations · 12 models
vendor site · SourceForge23 answers · 32 citations · 10 models

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.

Search against answers

Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best direct mail automation platform”, “direct mail automation platform”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Company and productsShareOwn site citedName searches, GoogleAI search demand, est.Organic visitsPaid search a month, est.Google ads, last 30 daysBest Google position
Postalytics postalytics.com53%1901,000390,338282
Lob lob.com12%28927,1006,31955,936109
Click2Mail click2mail.com8%641,9002425,581$416
Postie postie.com8%491,00050345123
Sincerely trysincerely.com6%7
PostGrid postgrid.com2%1681,60011196,042$7651203
Mailjoy mailjoy.com2%13700
VistaPrint vistaprint.com2%14
PsPrint2%
BirdseyePost birdseyepost.com2%3

Google's top ten for the two searches hold 13 sites; 4 of them are among the sites the models cited here (g2.com, lob.com, postalytics.com, thecmo.com). The first result for “best direct mail automation platform” is thecmo.com.

How 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.
ShowHide
ModelDirect“What is the best direct mail automation platform for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which print and direct mail marketing tool would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top direct mail automation platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best direct mail automation platform for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a direct mail automation platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which direct mail automation platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Mailjoy
Four alternativesPFL, PostGrid, Sendoso, Stannp
Lob, VistaPrintChanged
One alternativePostGrid
Postalytics
Three alternativesClick2Mail, Lob, Postie
Click2Mail, Postie
Three alternativesMailjoy, PostGrid, Stannp
no first choiceagainst: Lob, PostGrid, Sendoso
GPT-5.4 miniPostalytics
Two alternativesClick2Mail, Lob
LobChanged
Two alternativesPFL Direct Mail Platform, Postalytics
Lob, PostGrid
Five alternativesClick2Mail, DocuPost, Postalytics, PostcardMania, Sendoso
against: PFL Direct Mail Platform
Lobagainst: PostGrid, Sendosono first choiceagainst: Lob, PFL Direct Mail Platform, Sendoso, Stadium/Snackmagic/Swagmagic
Gemini 3.5 FlashPostalytics
Three alternativesHandwrytten, Lob, Postal
against: Reachdesk, Sendoso
PostalyticsHeld
Five alternativesGoody, Handwrytten, Lob, Postal, Thanks.io
against: Sendoso
Thanks.io
Four alternativesLob, Oppizi, PostPilot, Postalytics
Postalytics
Three alternativesMailjoy, PostPilot, Thanks.io
Postalytics
Two alternativesIgnitePOST, PostPilot
against: Lob, Postal, Sendoso
against: Lob, PebblePost, PostGrid, Postie, Reachdesk, Sendoso
Perplexity SonarPostGrid
One alternativeSent
against: Reachdesk, Sendoso
PsPrintChanged
One alternativeClick2Mail
against: Reachdesk
PostGrid
Two alternativesRevSend, Sendoso
against: Inkit
Postalyticsno first choiceagainst: Reachdesk, Sendoso
Grok 4.1 FastLob
Three alternativesClick2Mail, PostGrid, Postal
against: Sendoso
PostalyticsChanged
Four alternativesPostGrid, PsPrint, Sendoso, VistaPrint
Click2Mail, Postalytics
Three alternativesLob, PostGrid, Postie
against: PostcardMania
Lob
Four alternativesClick2Mail, Inkit, Postalytics, PostcardMania
Lob, Postalytics
One alternativeSendoso
against: Click2Mail, Enthusem Direct Mail Automation, Lob, Mail Shark, PFL Direct Mail Platform, PostcardMania, Sendoso, Taradel
Mistral SmallBirdseyePost, PostieSincerelyChanged
Two alternativesPostcardMania, Postie
Sendoso
Four alternativesBoingnet, Postal, Postie, Reachdesk
Postie
Two alternativesLob, PostGrid
no first choiceagainst: PostGrid, Postal, Postalytics, Reachdesk, Sendoso
DeepSeek V4 FlashPostalytics
Two alternativesLob, Sendoso
against: PFL
PostalyticsHeld
Four alternativesLob, PFL, PostGrid, Sincerely
Postalytics
Three alternativesClick2Mail, Lob, PostGrid
against: Sendoso
Click2Mail, Postalytics
One alternativeDirectMail2.0
no first choiceagainst: Lob, PostGrid, Sendoso, SimplyCast
Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceSincerelyChanged
Three alternativesGunderson Direct, PostcardMania, Postie
no first choiceno first choiceno first choiceagainst: PostGrid
Qwen 3.7 FlashPostie
Three alternativesLetter Friends, Oppizi, Postalytics
SendosoChanged
Three alternativesMinted, PrintPlace, Purlife
Postalytics
Two alternativesClick2Mail, Thanks.io
against: 16 Personalized, PFL Direct Mail, Sendoso
Postalytics
Two alternativesDirectly.com, PostGrid
against: SmartMail
no first choice
Five alternativesMailerLite, Peachjar, PostcardMan, Switchback, Vistaprint for Business
nothing named
Kimi K2Postalytics
One alternativeLob
against: Sendoso
PostalyticsHeld
Three alternativesLob, PostGrid, Sendoso
Postalytics
Three alternativesLob, PostGrid, Reachdesk
against: Sendoso
Click2Mail
Two alternativesMailjoy, Postalytics
against: Lob, Switch
no first choiceagainst: Direct Mail, Lob, PostGrid, Postalytics, PostcardMania, Sendoso
GLM 4.7 FlashXPostalytics
Two alternativesPostGrid, Thanks.io
PostalyticsHeld
Four alternativesHandwrytten, Lob, Reachdesk, Sendoso
Postalytics
Five alternativesClick2Mail, Lob, Oppizi, PostGrid, Sendoso
Postalytics
Two alternativesClick2Mail, Direct Mail Software
no first choiceagainst: Enthusem Direct Mail Automation, GrowMail, PostGrid, Sendoso
MiniMax M2.5Postalytics
Two alternativesDirectMail.io, PostGrid
against: PFL Direct Mail Platform
SincerelyChanged
Three alternativesLob, PostGrid, Postie
Postalytics
Three alternativesLob, PostGrid, Stannp
Postalytics
Two alternativesPostGrid, Postie
no first choiceagainst: PostGrid, Sendoso
GPT-6 LunaPostalytics
Two alternativesLob, Thanks.io
PostalyticsHeld
One alternativeClick2Mail
Postalytics, Thanks.io
Three alternativesLob, PostGrid, PostPilot
Postalytics
One alternativeClick2Mail Connect
against: Lob
no first choiceagainst: Lob, PostGrid, Postalytics, Sendoso
Muse Glimmer 30BPostalytics
Three alternativesLob, Postie, Stannp
PostalyticsHeld
One alternativePostcardMania
Postalytics
Two alternativesLob, Postable
Click2Mail, Postalytics
Three alternativesInkit, Oppizi, PostGrid
Postalytics
One alternativeLob
against: PostGrid, Postie, Sendoso
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

The 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
Eighty-four rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 08:43yes96 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 09:47yes35 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 07:33yes2633 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 12:22yes143 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 09:07yes2010 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 08:48yes74 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 13:11yes1924 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 13:01yes52 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 09:58yes1751 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 14:08yes1840 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 12:24yes2446 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 14:15yes1424 s
Direct recommendationGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 12:16yes312 s
Direct recommendationMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 13:42yes2026 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 09:16no04 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 10:14yes54 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 08:38yes1824 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 12:58yes203 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 11:49yes2311 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 10:06yes54 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 08:02yes2230 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 10:32yes51 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 09:02no035 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 09:32yes2025 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 09:22yes1452 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 10:23yes1526 s
ParaphraseGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 11:32yes216 s
ParaphraseMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 11:09yes2030 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 08:51yes99 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 08:25yes57 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 07:42yes2729 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 09:54yes177 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 12:34yes258 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 11:53yes107 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 12:31yes2269 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 08:04yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 09:14yes2435 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 08:50yes1928 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 09:26yes1620 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 12:06yes1932 s
ComparativeGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 07:43yes731 s
ComparativeMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 12:33yes2133 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 11:52yes97 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 10:39yes35 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 10:59yes2430 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 09:24yes163 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 08:36yes245 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 08:32yes53 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 09:06yes2023 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 08:50yes51 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 12:54no026 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 08:36yes1923 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 11:22yes2327 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 11:05yes1926 s
Budget constrainedGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 11:32yes313 s
Budget constrainedMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 13:59yes1418 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 07:51no05 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 07:44no07 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 11:36yes1525 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 08:49yes143 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 10:07yes1410 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 12:18no07 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 08:07yes2137 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 07:38yes52 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 10:08no036 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 12:52yes1521 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 13:48yes1443 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 12:17yes1415 s
Scale constrainedGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 09:08yes214 s
Scale constrainedMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 13:10yes1324 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 09:34yes178 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 14:16yes56 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 14:09yes1321 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 11:54yes183 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 08:58yes249 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 12:30yes54 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 09:38yes1931 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 08:44yes52 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 12:38yes1025 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 08:24yes1831 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 08:39yes1964 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 08:11yes1727 s
Negative framingGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 11:34yes427 s
Negative framingMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 09:27yes2224 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
None. Every name in this category resolved on its own.
Unresolved, counted raw
16 Personalized
48HourPrint
Click2Mail Connect
Direct Mail Software
Directly.com
DocuPost
IgnitePOST
Kunvey
Letter Friends
Liftopia
PFL Direct Mail
Peachjar
PostcardMan
PrintNinja
PrintPlace
Purlife
Selzy
SendJim
Sent
SimplyCast
SmartMail
Switch
Switchback
Vistaprint for Business
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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