GTM AI Index
Index Marketing Paid ads › Enterprise September 2026 Edition

Search and social advertising platforms for enterprise buyers

Asked as “paid search and social ads management platform”, and as “PPC and paid social campaign management tool”, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. 59 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Clear leader
42% of first choices, clear leader.

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 an enterprise B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Skai42%10%58endorsed leader
02Marin Software15%29%49criticized challenger
03Google Search Ads 36010%17%23accepted challenger
04Adobe Advertising5%30%27criticized challenger
05Smartly3%21%29accepted challenger
06Sprinklr3%11%18accepted challenger
07Optmyzr2%6%18accepted challenger
08LinkedIn Campaign Manager2%7%14accepted challenger
Show the one product at 0%, ordered by negative rate
09Google Ads0%21%14accepted 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
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative60%
Key
01Skai42%
02Marin Software15%
03Google Search Ads 36010%
04Adobe Advertising5%
05Smartly3%
06Sprinklr3%
07Optmyzr2%
08LinkedIn Campaign Manager2%
09Google Ads0%

02What 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, Perplexity Sonar, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, 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.
Marin Software
29%
14 of 49 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 5 hard negative
“**Why to Avoid:** Marin Software ... Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in July 2025 ... introduces immense vendor risk.” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
Skai
10%
6 of 58 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Red flags: Slow/dated UI... avoid if speed/UI matters.” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt
WordStream
100%
4 of 4 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“WordStream: Excellent for local SEO/PPC beginners, but lacks the sophisticated bulk-editing capabilities, rule-based automation engines, and granular permission structures needed for global campaigns.” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
Adobe Advertising
30%
8 of 27 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“Avoid standalone; caution without deep Adobe ecosystem.” Grok 4.1 Fast, 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. 5 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 228 links across 113 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 · AdStellar6 answers · 14 citations · 2 models
5 answers · 13 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Clicks Geek5 answers · 10 citations · 2 models
5 answers · 7 citations · 2 models
4 answers · 9 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Cometly4 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Optmyzr4 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Madgicx4 answers · 4 citations · 2 models
4 answers · 4 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Google Search3 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Sprinklr3 answers · 5 citations · 1 model
vendor site · Guideflow3 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.

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 paid search and social ads management platform for an enterprise B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which PPC and paid social campaign management tool would you recommend to a large B2B company with thousands of employees?”Comparative“What are the top enterprise-grade 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 large company that needs predictable total cost across thousands of users?”Scale-constrained“We are a 5,000 person company with SSO, SOC 2 and procurement review requirements evaluating a paid search and social ads management platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which paid search and social ads management platforms should a large enterprise avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.56sense
Three alternativesDemandbase, Google Ads, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
against: DV360
Optmyzr, SkaiChangedSkai
Four alternativesAdobe Advertising, Google Display & Video 360, Marin Software, The Trade Desk
Skai
One alternativeFluency
no first choiceagainst: Adzooma, TrueClicks, Upp.ai, WordStream
GPT-5.4 miniSkai
Two alternativesAdobe Advertising, Marin Software
SprinklrChanged
One alternativeSkai
against: HubSpot Ads
Google Search Ads 360, Sprinklr Social / Sprinklr Marketing & Advertising
Two alternativesAdobe Advertising, Google Display & Video 360
Marin Softwareagainst: Sprout SocialGoogle Search Ads 360
Three alternativesHootsuite, Sprinklr, Sprout Social
against: Google Ad Manager, Google Ads API-based custom tooling
Gemini 3.5 FlashMetadata.io
Five alternatives6sense, Demandbase, Google Search Ads 360, Influ2, Skai
Metadata.io, SkaiChanged
Three alternativesGoogle Search Ads 360, Revealbot, Smartly
no first choice
Five alternativesGoogle Search Ads 360, Optmyzr, Skai, Smartly, Sprinklr
against: Marin Software
Tiger Pistol
Three alternativesFluency, Hyperlocology, SOCi Ads
against: Adobe Advertising, Marin Software, Skai
Skai
Five alternativesAdobe Advertising, Marin Software, Optmyzr, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Smartly
against: AdEspresso, Adobe Advertising, Madgicx, Marin Software, Revealbot
Perplexity SonarSkai
Three alternativesDemandbase, Google Ads, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
against: Microsoft Advertising
Google Search Ads 360, SmartlyChanged
Two alternativesLinkedIn Campaign Manager, Skai
Skai
Six alternativesAdobe Advertising, Adpulse, Marin Software, Optmyzr, Smartly, Sprinklr
against: Hootsuite Ads/enterprise social suites
Google Search Ads 360
Three alternativesSkai, Smartly, Sprinklr
Google Search Ads 360
Three alternativesAdobe Advertising, Marin Software, Optmyzr
against: Apple Ads, Broad Display, Google Performance Max, Google Search Ads 360, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Pinterest, Quora Ads, TikTok Ads, X
Grok 4.1 FastMarin Software, Skai
Three alternativesBasis, Demandbase, Influ2
against: Adobe Advertising
SkaiChanged
Two alternativesGoogle Search Ads 360, Marin Software
Skai
Five alternativesAdobe Advertising, Google Search Ads 360, Marin Software, Smartly, Sprinklr
Marin Software
One alternativeGoogle Search Ads 360
against: ADvendio, Adobe Advertising, Hootsuite, Ryze AI, Skai
no first choiceagainst: Acquisio, Adobe Advertising, Marin Software, Pacvue, Skai, Smartly
Mistral SmallAdobe Advertising, Skai
Six alternatives6sense, Demandbase, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Marin Software, Metadata.io, MindsDB
Google Marketing Platform, Google Search Ads 360, LinkedIn Campaign ManagerChanged
Four alternativesMeta Ads, Meta Advantage+, Optmyzr, Skai
Adobe Advertising, Skai
Five alternativesAdStellar, Basis, Google Marketing Platform, Marin Software, Smartly
Skai
Two alternativesBasis, Marin Software
no first choiceagainst: AdEspresso, Adext AI, Albert.ai, ClickGUARD, Hootsuite Ads, Marin Software, Shape, Skai, Smartly, Sprinklr, Trapica
DeepSeek V4 FlashSkai
Five alternatives6sense, Demandbase, Marin Software, Metadata.io, Smartly
against: Adobe Advertising
SkaiHeld
One alternativeGoogle Search Ads 360
against: Marin Software, Smartly
Marin Software, Skai
Four alternativesAdobe Advertising, Google Marketing Platform, Smartly, Sprinklr
Skaiagainst: Adobe Advertising, Marin Software, Meta/Google native tools, Smartly, SprinklrAdobe Advertising, Skai
Two alternativesGoogle Ads, Google Marketing Platform
against: Meta Ads, Microsoft Advertising
against: Acquisio, AdEspresso, AdRoll, Bidtellect, Marin Software, QuanticMind, Skai, Smartly, WordStream
Llama 4 MaverickDirective Consulting
Two alternativesClicks Geek, Skai
Marin SoftwareChanged
Two alternativesLinkedIn Ads Manager, Smartly
no first choiceSkai
Three alternativesHootsuite, Marin Software, Sprout Social
Adobe Advertising
Two alternativesSkai, Smartly
nothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashSkai
Two alternativesDemandbase, Marin Software
Marin Software, SkaiChangedSkai
Four alternativesAdobe Advertising, Marin Software, Smartly, Sprinklr
Permutate
Three alternativesHubSpot Marketing Hub, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Sprinklr
against: AdRoll, Kenshoo, Marin Software
no first choiceagainst: Agorapulse, Google Ads, Hootsuite, Kenshoo, Marin Software, Meta Business Manager, Perpetua, Sellics, Sprout Social, WordStream
Kimi K2Skai
Four alternatives6sense, Demandbase, Google Marketing Platform, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
against: Marin Software
Marin SoftwareChanged
Four alternatives6sense, Demandbase, Google Search Ads 360, Skai
Skai
Four alternativesHootsuite, Marin Software, Smartly, Sprinklr
Skai
Three alternativesMarin Software, Optmyzr, Sprinklr
against: Acquisio, Adobe Advertising, Google SA360, Smartly
Skai
Two alternativesAdobe Advertising, Smartly
against: Marin Software
against: Acquisio, Google Search Ads 360, Marin Software, Skai, WordStream
GLM 4.7 FlashXMarin Software, Skai
Four alternativesGoogle Ads, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Microsoft Ads, Synter
SkaiChanged
Three alternativesAdobe Advertising, MarinOne Search, SA360
Skai
Five alternativesGoogle Search Ads 360, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Marin Software, Meta Ads, Smartly
Marin Software
Two alternativesOptmyzr, Skai
Marin Software, Skai, Smartly, Sprinklr
Three alternativesHootsuite, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Sprout Social
against: Adobe Marketo Engage, Ads Manager, Google Ads, Google Search Ads 360, HubSpot Ads, Madgicx, Marin Software, Optmyzr
MiniMax M2.5Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Skai
One alternativeLinkedIn Campaign Manager
Google Search Ads 360, LinkedIn Ads ManagerChanged
Three alternativesAdobe Advertising, Skai, The Trade Desk
Marin Software
Eight alternativesGoogle Ads, Google Search Ads 360, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Meta Ads, Microsoft Advertising, Optmyzr, Skai, Smartly
AdKit
Three alternativesAdStellar, Revealbot, Skai
Skai
Three alternativesAdobe Real-Time CDP, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, The Trade Desk
against: Google Search Ads 360
against: AI-Max for Search, Automatically Created Assets, Google Ads, Google's Performance Max, Meta
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-4-5-202510012026-09-14 23:03yes159 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 02:11yes37 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 01:09yes1324 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 03:34yes205 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 04:28yes011 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 00:32yes09 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 00:54yes079 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 04:15yes02 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 03:27yes064 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 03:14yes057 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 01:06yes075 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 02:04yes035 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 00:47yes1713 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 00:50yes416 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 00:36yes1322 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 00:03yes206 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-14 23:44yes07 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 04:01no07 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 00:46yes063 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 00:47yes02 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 02:18yes050 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 02:44yes043 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-14 23:20yes048 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 02:03yes025 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-14 23:01yes1411 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 03:54yes58 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 01:56yes1829 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 00:40yes1611 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 03:49yes013 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 00:34yes012 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 00:05yes028 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 02:15yes02 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 02:34yes062 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 01:21yes044 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 04:53yes055 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 02:54yes014 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 04:49yes2611 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 04:09yes45 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 02:11yes1132 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-14 23:26yes206 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 04:02yes012 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 00:04yes012 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-14 23:01yes036 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 01:31yes01 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 02:58no064 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 01:59yes065 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 04:29yes052 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 03:11yes031 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 04:48no06 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-14 23:50yes48 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 03:46no015 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 01:29yes2012 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-14 23:14yes010 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 03:37no05 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 00:32yes035 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 02:04yes02 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 04:08yes038 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-14 23:10yes052 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 00:04yes0147 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 02:01yes020 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 03:56yes169 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 04:39yes47 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 00:28yes1525 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 04:23yes207 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 00:23yes010 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-14 23:37yes06 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 03:04yes099 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 01:57yes01 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 04:26no041 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 00:51yes075 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 02:54yes041 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 04:31yes030 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
Amazon read as Amazon Ads
HubSpot read as HubSpot Ads
LinkedIn read as LinkedIn Campaign Manager
TikTok read as TikTok Ads
Unresolved, counted raw
ADvendio
AI-Max for Search
AdKit
Adobe
Adobe Marketing Cloud
Ads Manager
Automatically Created Assets (ACA)
Bidtellect
Broad Display
Directive Consulting
Google Ads API-based custom tooling
Google Campaign Manager 360
Google SA360
Google’s DV360/SA360
Google’s Search Ads 360
Hootsuite Ads/enterprise social suites
Hyperlocology
MarinOne Search
Meta
Meta (Facebook/Instagram)
Meta/Google native tools
MindsDB
Permutate
QuanticMind
SOCi Ads
Sellics
Sprinklr Social / Sprinklr Marketing & Advertising
Tiger Pistol
Upp.ai
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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