GTM AI Index
Index › Partner and channel › Channel marketing › Small business › September 2026 Edition

Channel partner and local marketing for small business buyers

Asked as “through-channel marketing platform”, and as “partner marketing and local marketing tool”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 53 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Brevo
Contested
11% of first choices, contested.
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 businessBrevo11%ContestedThis pageMid-marketJourneyBee15%ContestedStanding →EnterpriseImpartner22%ContestedStanding →

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
01Brevo11%0%11accepted challenger
02Kiflo8%0%17accepted challenger
03JourneyBee8%0%14accepted challenger
04xAmplify8%0%13accepted challenger
05PartnerStack8%19%16accepted challenger
06Unifyr8%52%33criticized challenger
07Channeltivity6%13%15accepted challenger
08Mindmatrix2%19%16accepted challenger
09HubSpot2%9%11accepted challenger
10Mailchimp2%20%10accepted challenger
11Channelscaler2%38%16criticized challenger
12Ansira2%80%10criticized challenger
Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
15Impartner0%76%21criticized challenger
14ZINFI0%75%16criticized challenger
13ActiveCampaign0%0%12accepted 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
JourneyBee vs ChannelscalerJourneyBee vs UnifyrChannelscaler vs Unifyr

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
15
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative30%
Key
01Brevo11%
02Kiflo8%
03JourneyBee8%
04xAmplify8%
05PartnerStack8%
06Unifyr8%
07Channeltivity6%
08Mindmatrix2%
09HubSpot2%
10Mailchimp2%
11Channelscaler2%
12Ansira2%
13ActiveCampaign0%
14ZINFI0%
15Impartner0%

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, 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.
Unifyr
52%
17 of 33 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 6 hard negative
“**Why Avoid:** Similar to Impartner, ZiftONE is an end-to-end Partner Relationship Management (PRM) solution designed for large-scale operations.” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
Impartner
76%
16 of 21 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 5 hard negative
“**Why Avoid:** Impartner is widely considered the leader in the enterprise space, but it comes with a hefty price tag” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
ZINFI
75%
12 of 16 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“**Why avoid:** Built for enterprises in manufacturing, telecom, or IT with complex, structured channel programs” Kimi K2, negative prompt
Ansira
80%
8 of 10 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“Platforms to Avoid or Approach with Extreme Caution: **Ansira** ... High pricing ... difficult learning curve, inadequate/unresponsive support” 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

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. 185 links across 107 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.

g2.com
9 answers · 21 citations · 3 models
thecmo.com
5 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
improvado.io
vendor site · Improvado4 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
martal.ca
4 answers · 4 citations · 2 models
sourceforge.net
vendor site · SourceForge3 answers · 5 citations · 1 model
journeybee.io
vendor site · JourneyBee3 answers · 4 citations · 2 models
extu.com
vendor site · Extu3 answers · 3 citations · 2 models
guideflow.com
vendor site · Guideflow3 answers · 3 citations · 1 model
us.fitgap.com
3 answers · 3 citations · 1 model
whatagraph.com
vendor site · Whatagraph3 answers · 3 citations · 2 models
insiderone.com
2 answers · 5 citations · 1 model
zipdo.co
2 answers · 5 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.

g2.com/categories/through-channel-marketing/small-business
7 answers · 3 models
g2.com/categories/through-channel-marketing
5 answers · 2 models
thecmo.com/tools/best-multi-channel-marketing-software
5 answers · 2 models
improvado.io/blog/cross-channel-marketing-platforms
4 answers · 2 models
martal.ca/multi-channel-marketing-platform-lb
4 answers · 2 models
sourceforge.net/software/channel-marketing/for-small-business
3 answers · 1 model
us.fitgap.com/search/through-channel-marketing-software/small-business
3 answers · 1 model
whatagraph.com/blog/articles/cross-channel-marketing-platforms
3 answers · 2 models
adroll.com/blog/cross-channel-advertising-top-software-for-your-business
2 answers · 1 model
blog.campaignlake.com/multi-channel-marketing-platforms
2 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 through-channel marketing platform for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which partner marketing and local marketing tool would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top through-channel marketing platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best through-channel marketing platform for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a through-channel marketing platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which through-channel marketing platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Cooperate MarketingGoogle Business Profile, HubSpotChanged
One alternativeLinkedIn Local Pages
ZINFI
Three alternativesChannelscaler, Extu, Mindmatrix
xAmplify
One alternativeEngageBay
no first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniChanneltivity
Two alternativesUnifyr, ZINFI
Google Business Profile, PartnerStackChangedChanneltivity
Two alternativesUnifyr, impact.com
Brevo
Two alternativesHubSpot Marketing Hub, Klaviyo
no first choiceagainst: Channelscaler, Extu, Impartner, Mindmatrix, The Ansira Platform, Unifyr, ZINFI
Gemini 3.5 FlashChanneltivity
Three alternativesChannext, Kiflo, xAmplify
against: Ansira, Impartner, SproutLoud, UnifyrGoHighLevelChanged
Three alternativesBrightLocal, Kiflo, Marq Team
against: PartnerStackxAmplify
Three alternativesChannelscaler, Kiflo, SproutLoud
against: ZINFIExtu
Three alternativesKiflo, Torchlite, xAmplify
against: Ansira, Impartner, Unifyrno first choice
Four alternativesMindmatrix, RVLVR, Unifyr, xAmplify
against: Ansira, Impartner, ZINFI
Perplexity SonarUnifyr
Three alternativesActiveCampaign, HubSpot Marketing Hub, JourneyBee
against: AnsiraKifloChanged
One alternativePartnerPortal.io
HubSpot
Six alternativesActiveCampaign, AdRoll, Brevo, Klaviyo, Ortto, SwipeBuilder
Brevo, Mailchimp
One alternativeZoho Marketing+
against: Ansirano first choicenothing named
Grok 4.1 FastUnifyr
Four alternativesChanneltivity, Kiflo, PartnerPortal.ai, ZINFI Unified Partner Management
against: AnsiraBrightLocal, Kiflo PRMChanged
Two alternativesContactID, Google Business Profile
against: PartnerStackThe Ansira Platform
Four alternativesChanneltivity, Mindmatrix, Unifyr, ZINFI Unified Partner Management
xAmplify
Three alternativesJourneyBee, Kiflo, PartnerPortal.io
against: Channeltivity, Impartner, Unifyr, ZINFIAnsira, Unifyr
One alternativeZINFI Unified Partner Management
against: Ansira, Marketing 360, Rithum, Unifyr
Mistral SmallUnifyr
Two alternativesJourneyBee, ZINFI Unified Partner Management
JourneyBee, Surefire LocalChanged
Two alternativesBirdeye, Euler App
Unifyr
Four alternativesChanneltivity, JourneyBee, Kiflo, Mindmatrix
Brevo
Four alternativesHubSpot Marketing Hub, Mailchimp, SwipeBuilder, Zoho Marketing+
no first choiceagainst: LocaliQ, ReachLocal, Seek Capital
DeepSeek V4 FlashKiflo
One alternativeChanneltivity
against: Impartner, Mindmatrix, Unifyr, ZINFIBrightLocal, RewardfulChanged
Four alternativesFirstPromoter, Google Business Profile, LeadDyno, Tapfiliate
against: Birdeye, Everflow, PartnerStack, impact.comKiflo
Three alternativesChannelscaler, Channeltivity, Mindmatrix
against: Impartner, Unifyr, ZINFIKiflo, PartnerPortal.io
Four alternativesCrossbeam, Mindmatrix, Rewardful, Tapfiliate
against: Impartner, Unifyr, ZINFIJourneyBee
Three alternativesKiflo, Unifyr, xAmplify
against: Channelscaler, Impartner, Salesforce PRM, ZINFIagainst: Adobe Marketo Engage, Albert.ai, Amazon DSP, Braze, Google Performance Max, Impartner PRM, Iterable, MediaMath, Mindmatrix, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Salesforce PRM, SproutLoud, The Trade Desk, Unifyr
Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceno first choiceHeldno first choiceBrevo
One alternativeMailchimp
no first choiceagainst: LinkedIn, TikTok Ads Manager and Promote
Qwen 3.7 FlashChanneltivity, Kiflo PRM
Two alternativesChannelscaler, PartnerStack
against: ImpartnerBrightLocal, PartnerStackChanged
Two alternativesGoogle Business Profile, HubSpot CRM
HubSpot Marketing Hub
Four alternativesAdRoll, Google Ads, Google Marketing Platform, StackAdapt
Canva, Google Drive / Dropbox Business
Four alternativesChannelurize, HubSpot, PartnerStack, impact.com
against: Adobe, SprinklrChannelscaleragainst: Adobe Experience Cloud, Impartner, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Unifyr, WorkSpan
Kimi K2xAmplify
Two alternativesPartnerPortal.io, PartnerStack
against: Impartner, Salesforce PRM, Unifyr, ZINFIPartnerStackChanged
Five alternativesActiveCampaign, Google Business Profile, InviteBox, Referral Factory, Tapfiliate
against: MailchimpJourneyBee
Two alternativesMindmatrix, PartnerPortal.io
against: Channelscaler, Channeltivity, Unifyr, ZINFIKiflo
Three alternativesActiveCampaign, PartnerPortal.io, xAmplify
against: Channelscaler, Impartner, UnifyrJourneyBee
Three alternativesMindmatrix, Unifyr, ZINFI
against: Impartneragainst: Channelscaler, Impartner, Magentrix, Salesforce PRM, Unifyr, ZINFI
GLM 4.7 FlashXJourneyBee, Mindmatrix
Two alternativesPartnerStack, Unifyr
Birdeye, PartnerStackChanged
One alternativeGoogle Business Profile
JourneyBee
Five alternativesChanneltivity, Magentrix PRM, OneScreen, Unifyr, ZINFI Unified Partner Management
Brevo
Two alternativesEngageBay All-in-One Suite, Omnisend
no first choiceagainst: Adobe Marketo Engage, Ansira, Braze, Channelscaler, Google Ads, HubSpot Marketing Hub, Klaviyo, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Mailchimp, Meta, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, TD SYNNEX MaaS, TikTok Ads, Unifyr
MiniMax M2.5AdRoll, xAmplify
Two alternativesChannelscaler, Mindmatrix
Euler App, Google Business ProfileChanged
Two alternativesBridge, BrightLocal
xAmplify
Three alternativesChanneltivity, JourneyBee, Unifyr
Brevo
Three alternativesActiveCampaign, AdRoll, HubSpot Marketing Hub
no first choiceagainst: Adobe Marketo Engage, Braze, HubSpot, Impartner, Oracle Eloqua, Oracle Partner, Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, Salesforce Partner, ZINFI
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 01:18yes88 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 00:53yes24 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 03:58yes2125 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 02:52yes196 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 02:32yes010 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 00:58yes08 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 04:19yes023 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 01:43yes02 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 00:00yes025 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 00:05yes028 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 02:34yes032 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-14 23:37yes018 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 00:37no04 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 01:41no02 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 01:22yes1626 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 00:34yes175 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-14 23:08yes05 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 02:53yes05 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 00:21yes016 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 03:55yes02 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 00:43yes051 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 00:00yes068 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 00:44yes078 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-14 23:19yes012 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 00:12yes2113 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 02:39yes47 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-14 23:20yes1930 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 03:07yes208 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-14 23:37yes010 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 02:25yes010 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 00:47yes073 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 02:04yes02 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 02:47yes034 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 03:45yes070 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 02:39yes031 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 01:21yes022 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 04:51yes1310 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 00:14yes38 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 00:24yes1522 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-14 22:56yes205 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 01:05yes010 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 01:31yes06 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 02:39yes017 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 00:01yes01 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 00:19no041 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-14 23:55yes036 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 04:48yes028 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 02:11yes024 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 00:38no05 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-14 23:50no06 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-14 23:22yes822 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 01:47yes207 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 04:57yes09 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 04:07yes06 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-14 23:43yes043 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 00:40yes02 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 01:00yes034 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 03:24yes057 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 00:04yes063 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 03:31yes014 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 02:34yes148 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 01:54yes45 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 01:00yes1330 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 02:58yes205 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 04:53yes08 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 00:53yes014 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-14 23:34yes047 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 03:35yes03 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 00:46yes075 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 01:58yes048 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 02:24yes0230 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 02:24yes051 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
ADXL
Adobe
Adobe Experience Cloud
AdsGency AI
Channelurize
Cooperate Marketing
Coorp.io
DIY Stack (HubSpot + Canva + Google Workspace)
EngageBay All-in-One Suite
Google Drive / Dropbox Business
INSTREAMATIC
LinkedIn
LinkedIn Local Pages
Meta (FB/IG)
Monday.com's Partner Marketing Software
Oracle Partner
PartnerPortal.ai
RVLVR
Rithum (formerly ChannelAdvisor)
Salesforce Partner
Seek Capital
TikTok Ads Manager and Promote
Torchlite
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in partner and channel

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