Census

Named in 45 judge labels across 2 categories by 6 of 6 models in the September 2026 Edition. 8 first choices, 5 negative labels. Every number here is derived from the raw labels under vendor table v2026-09-08.5.

Best standing

17% in CDP

Rank 3 of 35 products named in customer data platforms, accepted challenger. 2 of 6 models made it the first choice on the direct prompt; 0% of its 11 labels there were negative.

Standing by category

Every category where a model named Census. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.

Category	Vertical	First choices	Rank	Negative rate	Labels	Quadrant
Customer data platforms	GTM data and infrastructure	17%	3 of 35	0%	11	accepted challenger
Data warehouse and reverse ETL for marketing	GTM data and infrastructure	9%	4 of 62	15%	34	accepted challenger

By model

How each model treated Census across every prompt where it was named. Six models, six prompts per category.

Model	First choice	Alternative	Mention	Negative	Labels
Claude Opus 5	1	5	2	1	9
Claude Opus 4.8	3	3	1	1	8
GPT-6 Astra	2	2	1	1	6
GPT-5.6 Sol	0	4	1	1	6
Gemini 3.1 Pro	6	3	2	1	12
Perplexity Sonar Pro	1	3	0	0	4

What the models said for it

Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.

“The sources consistently name Hightouch and Census as the main specialized reverse ETL/activation vendors” Perplexity Sonar Pro · Warehouse & ETL · negative prompt · first choice

“the default I'd recommend is Hightouch (or Census) running on top of your existing data warehouse” Claude Opus 5 · CDP · direct prompt · first choice

“The two dominant players are Hightouch and Census... Census is incredibly robust, reliable” Gemini 3.1 Pro · Warehouse & ETL · scale prompt · first choice

“I'd lean toward a composable approach with Hightouch or Census layered on your data warehouse” Claude Opus 4.8 · CDP · paraphrase prompt · first choice

And against it

Verbatim evidence attached to negative labels. A warning on a product with few labels is a warning; on a product with many, it is one voice among them.

“if you're a standalone reverse ETL customer with no Fivetran ELT footprint, ask hard questions about roadmap, renewal pricing, and whether the standalone SKU survives long-term” Claude Opus 5 · Warehouse & ETL · negative prompt · soft negative

“Fivetran acquired its main competitor, Census, and migrated Census users from predictable flat fees to a consumption-based "Monthly Active Rows" (MAR) pricing model” Gemini 3.1 Pro · Warehouse & ETL · budget prompt · soft negative

“Census quickly becomes costly for marketing teams if they want to have complete and self-serve access to their customer data.” Claude Opus 4.8 · Warehouse & ETL · negative prompt · soft negative

“Re-evaluate old Census recommendations and quotes.” GPT-6 Astra · Warehouse & ETL · negative prompt · soft negative

Names read as Census

What the judge wrote, as written, with how often. The vendor table decides that these count as Census; a claim can dispute any of them.

Fivetran Activations 6Fivetran Activations, formerly Census 2Census (Fivetran Activations) 1Census (now part of Fivetran) 1Census / Fivetran Activations 1Fivetran Activations—formerly Census 1

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Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page gets a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as Census, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a logo and one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.

It does not get any change to labels, shares or quadrants, any preview, or any say over which quotes appear. Sponsorship is separate: a sponsor funds categories or buyer dimensions and is named on what it funded, and the rules are the same for every sponsor.