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

Programmatic and display advertising for small business buyers

Asked as “programmatic advertising platform”, and as “demand-side platform for display ads”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 47 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Contested
32% 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
01StackAdapt32%2%53endorsed leader
02AdRoll21%4%28accepted challenger
03LinkedIn Campaign Manager11%10%21accepted challenger
04Choozle9%9%23accepted challenger
05Google Ads4%12%17accepted challenger
06Hey Sid4%0%12accepted challenger
07The Trade Desk4%73%48criticized challenger
08DV3602%68%28criticized challenger
Show the four products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
12Google Display & Video 3600%76%17criticized challenger
11Demandbase0%50%10criticized challenger
10Amazon DSP0%26%27criticized challenger
09Meta Ads0%8%13accepted 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% negative50%
Key
01StackAdapt32%
02AdRoll21%
03LinkedIn Campaign Manager11%
04Choozle9%
05Google Ads4%
06Hey Sid4%
07The Trade Desk4%
08DV3602%
09Meta Ads0%
10Amazon DSP0%
11Demandbase0%
12Google Display & Video 3600%

02What they warned about

Three of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, 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.
The Trade Desk
73%
35 of 48 labels negative · 10 of 12 models · 13 hard negative
“Platforms to avoid/be cautious of: The Trade Desk (TTD)... High Spend Minimums: The Trade Desk often requires commitments starting around $100,000 per quarter.” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
Google Display & Video 360
76%
13 of 17 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“Platforms to avoid/be cautious of: ... Google Display & Video 360 (DV360)... DV360 often requires $25,000+ per month.” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
DV360
68%
19 of 28 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 6 hard negative
“What to Avoid - **Enterprise DSPs directly** (DV360, The Trade Desk, Amazon DSP direct)” Kimi K2, budget prompt
Amazon DSP
26%
7 of 27 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“Skip Trade Desk/Demandbase/Amazon DSP: $20K+/month, too complex/expensive for small B2B.” Grok 4.1 Fast, direct 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. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 180 links across 86 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 · Improvado8 answers · 12 citations · 2 models
7 answers · 7 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Reddit5 answers · 6 citations · 1 model
vendor site · Adwave5 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Epom5 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Vibe.co5 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Google Search4 answers · 7 citations · 1 model
vendor site · Ad Geeks4 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Hey Sid4 answers · 4 citations · 1 model
4 answers · 4 citations · 2 models
vendor site · StackAdapt3 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Basis3 answers · 4 citations · 3 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.

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 programmatic advertising platform for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which demand-side platform for display ads would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top programmatic advertising platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best programmatic advertising platform for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a programmatic advertising platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which programmatic advertising platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5DV360, LinkedIn Advertising
One alternativeThe Trade Desk
Google Display Network, LinkedIn Campaign ManagerChanged
One alternativeThe Trade Desk
StackAdapt
Two alternativesAdLib, Simpli.fi
against: Basis, Google Display & Video 360
AdRoll, Choozleno first choiceagainst: Google's Performance Max
GPT-5.4 miniLinkedIn Campaign Manager
Two alternativesGoogle Ads, Microsoft Advertising
Google Ads, Google Display NetworkChanged
One alternativeStackAdapt
against: DV360, The Trade Desk
AdRoll
Three alternativesAmazon DSP, Basis, StackAdapt
against: The Trade Desk
Google Ads
One alternativeAdRoll
against: Google Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk
no first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashStackAdapt
Four alternativesAdRoll ABM, Choozle, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Pontiac Intelligence
against: 6sense, DV360, Demandbase, The Trade Desk
StackAdaptHeld
Four alternativesAdRoll ABM, Choozle, Google Display Network (GDN) via Google Ads, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
against: Google Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk
StackAdapt
Four alternativesAdLib, Blasto, Choozle, Vibe.co
against: DV360, The Trade Desk
AdRoll
Five alternativesChoozle, Google Ads, Meta Ads, SmartyAds DSP, ad:personam
against: AdLib, DV360, The Trade Desk
StackAdapt
Three alternativesAdGeeks, AdLib, Choozle
against: DV360, The Trade Desk
against: Adobe Advertising, Amazon DSP, Google Display & Video 360, Google Display Network, Microsoft Audience Network, The Trade Desk, Yahoo DSP
Perplexity SonarStackAdapt
Two alternativesHey Sid, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
against: DV360, The Trade Desk
StackAdaptHeld
One alternativeDemandbase
against: Google Ads
StackAdapt
Five alternativesAd Geeks, AdRoll, Choozle, Hey Sid, Simpli.fi
against: DV360, The Trade Desk
AdRoll
Five alternativesChoozle, Google Ads, Google Display Network, SmartyAds, StackAdapt
against: DV360, The Trade Desk
no first choiceagainst: Adobe Advertising, The Trade Desk
Grok 4.1 FastStackAdapt
Two alternativesAdRoll, Google Display & Video 360
against: Amazon DSP, Demandbase, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, The Trade Desk
AdRollChanged
Two alternativesEpom DSP, StackAdapt
against: DV360, Demandbase, The Trade Desk
AdRoll
Four alternativesAdwave, Simpli.fi, StackAdapt, Vibe.co
against: Google Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk
AdRoll, Choozleagainst: Google Display & Video 360, The Trade DeskLinkedIn Campaign Manager, StackAdapt
One alternativeAmazon DSP
against: DV360, The Trade Desk
against: Adform, Adobe Advertising, Amazon DSP, Google Display & Video 360, MediaMath, Microsoft Invest, The Trade Desk
Mistral SmallThe Trade Desk
Four alternativesBrandzooka, Choozle, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, StackAdapt
LinkedIn Campaign ManagerChanged
Two alternativesHey Sid, StackAdapt
AdRoll, StackAdapt
Four alternativesAdLib, Amazon DSP, SmartyAds DSP, Untitled DSP
against: The Trade Desk
AdRoll
Seven alternativesAdQuick, Adomni, Adwave, Choozle, SmartyAds DSP, StackAdapt, Vibe.co
no first choiceagainst: Amazon DSP, Google Display Network, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Microsoft Advertising Audience Network, StackAdapt
DeepSeek V4 FlashStackAdapt
Seven alternativesAdRoll, Choozle, Google Ads, Hey Sid, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Meta Ads, Quantcast
against: 6sense, DV360, Demandbase, The Trade Desk
AdRollChanged
Three alternativesChoozle, N.Rich, StackAdapt
against: Demandbase, Google Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk
AdRoll, StackAdapt
Five alternativesAd Geeks, AdLib, Choozle, Simpli.fi, SmartyAds
against: Adobe Advertising, Amazon DSP, Basis, DV360, The Trade Desk
ad:personam
Five alternativesAdRoll, Choozle, Google Ads, Meta Ads, StackAdapt
StackAdapt
Two alternativesAdRoll, Vibe.co
against: DV360, The Trade Desk
against: AdRoll, Choozle, Google Display & Video 360, MediaMath, The Trade Desk
Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceno first choiceHeldno first choice
One alternativeHey Sid
no first choiceno first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashHey Sid
Three alternativesGoogle Search Ads, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, StackAdapt
against: DV360, The Trade Desk
StackAdaptChanged
Four alternativesAdRoll ABM, Demandbase, Google Display Network, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
StackAdapt
Five alternativesAmazon DSP, MatadorIO, Media.net, Taboola, Teads
against: Google Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk
AdRoll
Three alternativesChoozle, Meta Ads, StackAdapt
no first choiceagainst: DV360, Microsoft Invest, The Trade Desk
Kimi K2Hey Sid
Four alternativesAdRoll, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, StackAdapt, Vibe.co
against: DV360, The Trade Desk
StackAdaptChanged
Three alternativesBrandzooka, Hey Sid, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
against: DV360, The Trade Desk
StackAdapt, Vibe.co
Three alternativesAdCritter, AdRoll, SmartyAds DSP
against: Amazon DSP, Basis, DV360, The Trade Desk
AdRoll
One alternativeGoogle Display Network
against: Amazon DSP, Choozle, DV360, The Trade Desk
StackAdapt
Two alternativesBlasto DSP, Choozle
against: The Trade Desk
nothing named
GLM 4.7 FlashXAdRoll ABM
Five alternativesAdLib, DemandScience, RichAds, RollerAds, StackAdapt
StackAdaptChanged
One alternativeAmazon DSP
against: Google Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk
Hey Sid, StackAdapt
Five alternativesBlasto DSP, Google Ads, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Meta Ads, Simpli.fi
Choozle
Four alternativesAdRoll, Simpli.fi, SmartyAds DSP, StackAdapt
no first choicenothing named
MiniMax M2.5The Trade Desk
Two alternativesLinkedIn Campaign Manager, StackAdapt
against: Google Ads, Meta Ads
LinkedIn Campaign Manager, StackAdaptChanged
Two alternativesChoozle, Epom
AdRoll, Choozle, StackAdapt
One alternativeRoku
against: Google Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk
AdRoll, Choozle
One alternativeBidMind
against: Google Display & Video 360
Blasto DSP, StackAdapt
One alternativeAmazon DSP
nothing 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 02:54no05 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 04:23yes48 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-14 23:16yes2325 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 01:05yes205 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 01:40yes08 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 03:30yes010 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 01:23yes017 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 00:13yes02 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 03:17yes061 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 02:23yes023 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 03:19yes030 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 05:00yes014 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-14 23:34no05 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 01:16yes44 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 04:26yes1422 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 00:47yes1915 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 04:25yes08 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 04:11yes06 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 02:20yes016 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 02:40yes01 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 00:36yes025 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 00:42yes027 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-14 23:31yes016 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-14 23:06yes026 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-14 23:10yes810 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-14 23:30yes99 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 04:35yes1924 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-14 22:57yes2011 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 04:31yes010 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 00:41yes010 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 04:49yes029 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 04:34yes02 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 04:38no041 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-14 22:53yes049 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 00:28yes049 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 01:08yes019 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 03:47yes148 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 00:29yes25 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 03:07yes1622 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 04:43yes2020 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 04:56yes07 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 03:38yes08 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 02:45yes017 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-14 23:41yes02 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 01:34yes047 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-14 23:14yes022 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 04:29yes019 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-14 23:48yes012 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 00:28no07 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 05:04no07 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 04:46yes1222 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-14 23:39yes207 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 04:38yes010 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 04:50no05 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 00:17yes040 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 01:40yes04 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 01:30yes030 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 00:14yes024 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 02:56yes086 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 01:30yes012 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 05:04yes1610 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 04:35yes46 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 00:11yes1925 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 01:50yes2017 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 00:48yes08 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 02:58yes012 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 00:34yes089 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 02:50yes01 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 02:02no041 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 02:29yes027 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-14 23:04yes026 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 04:37yes036 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
Adobe read as Adobe Advertising
Google read as Google Display & Video 360
LinkedIn read as LinkedIn Campaign Manager
Meta read as Meta Ads
Unresolved, counted raw
AdCritter
AdQuick
Adomni
AudiencePrime
BidMind
Blasto
Centro
Google Ads Display Network
Google Display Network (GDN) via Google Ads
Google Search Ads
LinkedIn Advertising
MatadorIO
Microsoft Advertising Audience Network
Pontiac Intelligence
Rocket Fuel
Simpli
Trade Desk + Bombora/6sense
Untitled DSP
Vistar Media
Walmart Connect
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
← Direct mailProximity →