AI Indexes
GTM AI Index
September 2026 Edition, published September 15, 2026 · The permanent record of that edition, superseded since. The current standing is on the category page →
Index › Marketing › September 2026 Edition

Search and social advertising platforms

Asked as “paid search and social ads management platform”, and as “PPC and paid social campaign management tool”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 60 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing · first-choice share
13%
Contested · Google Ads 13%
13Adzooma13Google Ads12Optmyzr62others

13% of first choices, contested.

ShowinginAll 112 categories in the September 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 twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Google Ads Lab in the set13%10%30accepted challenger
02Adzooma13%0%18accepted challenger
03Optmyzr12%19%43accepted challenger
04Skai7%19%31accepted challenger
05Meta Ads5%15%20accepted challenger
06Marin Software3%26%31criticized challenger
07Smartly2%15%20accepted challenger
08LinkedIn Campaign Manager2%0%12accepted challenger
09Madgicx2%12%17accepted challenger
10Microsoft Advertising2%13%15accepted challenger
11AdRoll2%9%11accepted challenger
12AdEspresso2%29%17criticized challenger
Show the two products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
14WordStream Advisor0%25%16criticized challenger
13HubSpot Ads0%0%10accepted challenger
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.

Google Ads is made by Google, whose model Gemini 3.5 Flash is in the set. On the four share prompts that model made it the first choice zero times of 4; the other eleven models six times of 44. Lab treatment is defined on the method page; the row is marked, not excluded.

All twenty-eight head-to-head pages: the top eight products, each against each

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% negative30%
Key
01Google Ads13%
02Adzooma13%
03Optmyzr12%
04Skai7%
05Meta Ads5%
06Marin Software3%
07Smartly2%
08LinkedIn Campaign Manager2%
09Madgicx2%
10Microsoft Advertising2%
11AdRoll2%
12AdEspresso2%
13HubSpot Ads0%
14WordStream Advisor0%

What they warned about

One of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Grok 4.20, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, 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.
Optmyzr
19%
8 of 43 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“or Optmyzr ($200+/month) until your ad spend justifies the cost” Kimi K2, budget prompt
Marin Software
26%
8 of 31 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“"Marin Software officially approved a plan of dissolution and liquidation in April 2025**. Avoid any remaining sales pitches"; Do not enter new engagements.” Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt
AdEspresso
29%
5 of 17 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“persistent user complaints about bulk-upload features in AdEspresso triggering automated flags or suspensions” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
WordStream Advisor
25%
4 of 16 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“Avoid unless you're a beginner who specifically understands the pricing trap upfront and won't get locked into upsells.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt

What they cite

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

Sites the answers cite

79 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 1144 links across 283 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

vendor site · HubSpot45 answers · 57 citations · 12 models
41 answers · 85 citations · 13 models
36 answers · 62 citations · 12 models
32 answers · 53 citations · 11 models
21 answers · 21 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Cometly19 answers · 30 citations · 9 models
18 answers · 23 citations · 7 models
vendor site · AdStellar17 answers · 23 citations · 10 models
17 answers · 20 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Optmyzr16 answers · 26 citations · 8 models
vendor site · Madgicx15 answers · 23 citations · 9 models
14 answers · 18 citations · 7 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 paid search and social ads management platform”, “paid search and social ads management 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
Google parent site
Google Ads 13%
13%167550,00015,818
Adzooma adzooma.com13%4932031,2590
Optmyzr optmyzr.com12%861,000161,519113
Metadata.io metadata.io8%19170012,7150
Skai skai.io7%1556,6002,38712,90535
Meta meta.com
Meta Ads 5%
5%17149,5001,5049,891,853 company$5,46049
HubSpot parent site
HubSpot Marketing Hub 5%
5%934368,0009,776
Marin Software marinsoftware.com3%92480727,6941
LinkedIn parent site
LinkedIn Ads Manager 3%
3%611,100,00077,031
AdRoll adroll.com
AdRoll 2%, AdRoll ABM 2%
3%2142,9005052,27318

Google's top ten for the two searches hold 16 sites; 5 of them are among the sites the models cited here (adstellar.ai, blog.hubspot.com, get-ryze.ai, madgicx.com, optmyzr.com). The first result for “best paid search and social ads management platform” is reddit.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 paid search and social ads management platform for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which PPC and paid social campaign management tool would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top paid search and social ads management platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best paid search and social ads management platform for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a paid search and social ads management platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which paid search and social ads management platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Directive, Google Ads
Five alternativesAdRoll ABM, Disruptive Advertising, HawkSEM, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Optmyzr
OptmyzrChanged
Six alternativesBirch, Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads Manager, Marin Software, Metaflow AI, Semrush Advertising Toolkit
Google Ads, Meta Ads
Six alternativesAmazon Ads, HubSpot Ads, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Marin Software, Microsoft Advertising, Smartly
Google Ads
Three alternativesAdControlCenter, Adzooma, WordStream Advisor
no first choiceagainst: AdRoll, Amazon Ads, Google Ad Manager, Hootsuite Ads, Socialbakers, Sprout Social
GPT-5.4 miniGoogle Marketing Platform with Search Ads 360
Two alternativesOptmyzr, Smartly
OptmyzrChanged
Two alternativesSkai, Sprinklr
Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising
Four alternativesAdobe Advertising, Amazon Ads, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Meta Ads
Meta Ads, Microsoft Advertising
One alternativeGoogle Ads
against: Optmyzr, Semrush Advertising Toolkit
no first choiceagainst: Microsoft Advertising
Gemini 3.5 FlashMetadata.io
Three alternativesHubSpot Ads, Influ2, Optmyzr
OptmyzrChanged
Three alternativesAdRoll ABM, Metadata.io, Primer
Google Search Ads 360
Five alternativesMarin Software, Optmyzr, Ryze AI, Skai, Smartly
Wask
Three alternativesAdzooma, Ryze AI, Shown.io
against: Optmyzr, Skai, Smartly
no first choiceagainst: AdEspresso, Angie's List / Angi, LocaliQ, Marin Software, WordStream Advisor, Yelp Ads
Perplexity SonarHubSpot Marketing Hub
Two alternativesAdRoll, Optmyzr
HubSpot Marketing HubHeld
Three alternativesBirch, Optmyzr, WordStream Advisor
no first choiceAdzooma
Three alternativesHubSpot Ads, Shown, Wask
no first choiceagainst: Adalysis, Opteo, Optmyzr
Grok 4.20Skai
Four alternativesAdzooma, Marin Software, Optmyzr, Revealbot
Marin Software, SkaiChanged
One alternativeMadgicx
against: AdEspresso, Opteo, Optmyzr, Smartly
no first choiceAdzooma, Google Ads, Meta Ads
Three alternativesAdEspresso, Birch, HubSpot Ads
Optmyzr, Smartly
Four alternativesAdStage, AgencyAnalytics, Basis or Madgicx, HubSpot Ads
against: Birch, Google Ads, Hootsuite Ads, Kenshoo, Madgicx, Marin Software, Revealbot, Smartly
Mistral SmallMetadata.io
Three alternatives6sense, AdRoll, WebFX
Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads ManagerChanged
One alternativeWordStream Advisor
Google Ads, Meta Ads
Four alternativesLinkedIn Campaign Manager, Microsoft Advertising, Optmyzr, TikTok Ads
Adzooma
Two alternativesAds Manager (Meta) + Ad Library, Google Ads
no first choiceagainst: Amplitudeagainst: LocaliQ, Meta Ads, WordStream Advisor
DeepSeek V4 FlashHubSpot Advertising
Four alternatives6sense, Skai, Smartly, Wask
Semrush Advertising ToolkitChanged
Three alternativesAdEspresso, Optmyzr, Revealbot
Optmyzr, Skai
Seven alternativesAdEspresso, Birch, Google Search Ads 360, Madgicx, Marin Software, Smartly, WordStream Advisor
against: Semrush Advertising Toolkit
Adzooma
Two alternativesAdEspresso, Native platforms
against: Optmyzr
no first choiceagainst: AdEspressoagainst: Fiverr, Google Ads, Madwire, Meta Ads, The AD Leaf Marketing Firm, WordStream Advisor
Llama 4 MaverickAdRoll
Three alternatives6sense, Madgicx, WebFX
Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads ManagerChanged
Two alternativesMeta Ads, Oktopost
no first choiceMadgicx
One alternativeSmartly
no first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashAdRoll ABM, Terminus
Five alternativesGoogle Ads, HubSpot Ads, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Microsoft Advertising, Revealbot
against: 6sense
AdMetricsoChanged
Two alternativesAgencyAnalytics, Revealbot
Madgicx, Optmyzragainst: Microsoft AdvertisingAdEspresso, Adzooma
Four alternativesGoogle Ads, Madgicx, Meta Ads, Ryze AI
against: Optmyzr
MEGA AI, Skai
Two alternativesMarin Software, Wask
against: Acquisio, AdEspresso, PPC Ad Lab, Skai
Kimi K2Metadata.io
One alternativeAdRoll ABM
against: 6sense, Demandbase
OptmyzrChanged
Three alternativesAdzooma, HubSpot Marketing Hub, WordStream Advisor
against: Opteo
Google Ads
Six alternativesAmazon Ads, Meta Ads, Microsoft Advertising, Optmyzr, Smartly, Sprinklr
against: Marin Software, Skai, The Trade Desk
Adzooma
Two alternativesMadgicx, Wask
against: Marin Software, Optmyzr, Skai
no first choiceagainst: Marin Softwareagainst: Google Search Ads 360, KlientBoost-style hybrid services, Marin Software, Skai
GLM 4.7 FlashXHubSpot Marketing Hub
Two alternativesAdRoll ABM, Skai
Birch, OptmyzrChanged
One alternativeAdEspresso
no first choice
Thirteen alternativesAdRoll, Adzooma, Google Ads, Hootsuite Ads, HubSpot Marketing Hub, Marin Software, Meta Ads, Opteo, Optmyzr, Skai, Smartly, Sprout Social, Synter
Adzooma, Buffer
Two alternativesHootsuite Ads, Ryze AI
against: Optmyzr
no first choiceagainst: Ezoic, Google Ads, LocaliQ, Madgicx, Meta Ads, WordStream Advisor, Zeely Inc.
MiniMax M2.5Skai
Two alternatives6sense, HubSpot's Ad Management Tools
Google Ads, LinkedIn Campaign ManagerChanged
Four alternativesMarin Software, Metadata.io, Optmyzr, WordStream Advisor
Google Ads
Four alternativesLinkedIn Campaign Manager, Meta Ads, Microsoft Advertising, TikTok Ads
Ryze AI
Four alternativesAdFlint, Adzooma, Google Ads, WordStream Advisor
no first choiceagainst: Adext AI, Albert.ai, LocaliQ, Shape, Skai, Trapica
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
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 10:16yes97 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 14:13yes46 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 13:20yes1736 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 07:53yes193 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 09:38yes258 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 11:29yes54 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 12:53yes2234 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 10:15yes51 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 12:14yes2564 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 10:57yes2324 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 10:22yes2573 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 11:45yes518 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 13:55yes97 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 08:07yes45 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 10:43yes1529 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 14:04yes203 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 10:08yes207 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 09:51yes52 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 12:33yes2232 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 08:24yes51 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 09:38no039 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 10:39yes2022 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 12:09yes23174 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 10:57yes928 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 10:08yes1912 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 10:24yes77 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 13:32yes922 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 13:55yes185 s
ComparativeGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 14:12yes249 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 09:58yes105 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 08:08yes2439 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 10:39yes51 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 12:22yes527 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 08:12yes2533 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 08:05yes19137 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 10:01yes1029 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 09:15yes188 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 07:49yes55 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 14:03yes1823 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 12:40yes193 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 13:58yes227 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 10:56yes155 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 12:08yes2430 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 08:13yes51 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 08:15yes1036 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 13:14yes1520 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 11:27yes2551 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 09:40yes1343 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 11:39no06 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 08:55no08 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 13:56no013 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 10:29yes163 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 13:19yes138 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 08:15no09 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 08:37yes2125 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 10:43yes52 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 11:41yes525 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 09:10yes2227 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 13:11yes15111 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 08:42yes525 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 07:45yes189 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 08:23yes47 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 13:38yes1725 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 10:02yes276 s
Negative framingGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 11:20yes2513 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 14:06yes54 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 07:28yes2442 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 13:23yes52 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 08:54yes1573 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 13:39yes2530 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 13:27yes25343 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 10:37yes2443 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
Facebook read as Meta Ads
Hootsuite read as Hootsuite Ads
HubSpot read as HubSpot Ads
HubSpot Ad Management read as HubSpot Ads
HubSpot Ads tools read as HubSpot Ads
HubSpot Marketing Hub Ads read as HubSpot Ads
HubSpot's Ad Management Software read as HubSpot Ads
Instagram read as Meta Ads
LinkedIn read as LinkedIn Campaign Manager
Microsoft Ads read as Microsoft Advertising
SEMrush read as Semrush Advertising Toolkit
Semrush read as Semrush Advertising Toolkit
Semrush (PPC Toolkit) read as Semrush Advertising Toolkit
TikTok read as TikTok Ads
WordStream read as WordStream Advisor
WordStream (LocaliQ) read as WordStream Advisor
Unresolved, counted raw
AdGile
AdMetricso
Ads Manager
Ads Manager (Meta) + Ad Library
Angie's List / Angi
Basis or Madgicx
Directive
Disruptive Advertising
Ezoic
Google Ads Manager, Search Ads 360
Google Marketing Platform with Search Ads 360
HawkSEM
HubSpot Advertising
HubSpot's Ad Management Tools
KlientBoost-style hybrid services
LinkedIn's native Campaign Manager
MEGA AI
Madwire (Marketing 360)
Microsoft Advertising Intelligence
Optmyzr Social
Predis
Shown.io
The AD Leaf Marketing Firm
WordStream, now part of LocaliQ
X (Twitter) Ads Manager
Zeely Inc.
iProspect
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
← ReviewsSEO →