GTM AI Index

Index › Vendors › Google Performance Max · September 2026 Edition

Google · 3 categories · Named, not ranked

Google Performance Max

13Judge labels

0First choices

11Negative labels

7 of 12Models named it

3Categories

September 2026 Edition. Every number here is derived from the raw labels under vendor table v2026-09-16.3, every buyer segment counted.

Standing

5 labels, too few to rank

A product needs 10 labels in a category before a share or quadrant is stated. Google Performance Max was named 5 times in Programmatic and 2 other categories, where StackAdapt led with 61%. The labels and the evidence are below, counted exactly.

By buyer segmentRead the same way at every buyer size.

Small businessnot named

No model named it for this buyer.

Mid-market67 of 96

under the label threshold

Enterprisenot named

No model named it for this buyer.

In programmatic · each standing computed within its segment · bars are 0 to 100 · the accent bar is the product's own best reading

Standing by category

Every category where a model named Google Performance Max for a mid-market B2B company. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.

Category	Function	Share	Rank	Negative rate	Labels	Quadrant
Programmatic and display advertising	Marketing	0%	67 of 96	50%	2	under 10 labels · led by StackAdapt at 61%
Video advertising	Marketing	0%	120 of 121	100%	2	under 10 labels · led by StackAdapt at 24%
Search and social advertising platforms	Marketing	0%	87 of 137	0%	1	under 10 labels · led by Google Ads at 10%

Movement

This is the first edition on this tier, so no move can be computed for Google Performance Max yet. The next is due October 1, 2026. From the next edition this section shows, per buyer segment, whether its share moved by more than the measured noise floor.

By model

How each model treated Google Performance Max across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Twelve models, six prompts per category.

Model	Mention	Negative	Labels
Claude Haiku 4.5	0	0	0
GPT-5.4 mini	0	0	0
Gemini 3.5 Flash	0	0	0
Perplexity Sonar	0	0	0
Grok 4.1 Fast	0	1	1
Mistral Small	0	0	0
DeepSeek V4 Flash	2	1	3
Llama 4 Maverick	0	0	0
Qwen 3.7 Flash	0	0	0
Kimi K2	0	0	0
GLM 4.7 FlashX	0	1	1
MiniMax M2.5	0	0	0

By framing

Which of the six questions produced the naming. By model says how often; this says asked what. The first-choice count on the right carries the marks of the models that produced it.

FramingLabels by classFirst choices

Direct0 labelsNone

Paraphrase1 labelNone

Comparative1 labelNone

Budget-constrained0 labelsNone

Scale-constrained0 labelsNone

Negative11 labelsNone

First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative13 labels in all, every segment counted; 0 of the 0 first choices count toward share, since the comparative and negative framings do not. The bar is one segment per label class, to scale within the framing.

What the models said for it

Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.

No positive label carried a quote.

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.

“Walled gardens without controls: Google/Amazon if not using strict filters (e.g., Performance Max hides MFA)” Grok 4.1 Fast · Programmatic · negative prompt · soft negative

“These sites show up across open auctions, Performance Max, CTV, and some partner networks” DeepSeek V4 Flash · Video ads · negative prompt · soft negative

“While popular, these can be vulnerable to fraud and poor placement” GLM 4.7 FlashX · Video ads · negative prompt · soft negative

Named alongside

The products named in the same answers as Google Performance Max, over the 13 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Google Performance Max was named but was not.

ProductSame answerTook the first choice insteadHead to head

Meta Ads6 of 132Not in the top three

TikTok Ads6 of 131Not in the top three

Google Ads5 of 132Not in the top three

Albert.ai5 of 130Not in the top three

Marin Software5 of 130Not in the top three

Skai5 of 130Not in the top three

Madgicx4 of 132Not in the top three

YouTube Ads4 of 131Not in the top three

Optmyzr3 of 131Not in the top three

StackAdapt3 of 131Not in the top three

A head-to-head page exists where both products are in a category's top three. The other rows are the same fact without a page behind them, so they link to the product instead.

What carried it into the answer

The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Google Performance Max. A fact about retrieval, not a lever on the model.

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list, four of the twelve in this edition, so these counts come from 1 of the 13 answers that named Google Performance Max and are not a share of its labels.

Domains cited

admanage.ai1

click.co.uk1

clicksgeek.com1

colonyspark.com1

darkroomagency.com1

epom.com1

g2.com1

gitnux.org1

nnc-services.com1

ppc.io1

Ten of the ten domain citations in answers naming Google Performance Max came from somebody else's page.

Pages cited

admanage.ai/blog/google-ads-alternatives1

click.co.uk/insights/pros-cons-paid-search-ppc-platforms1

clicksgeek.com/best-paid-advertising-platforms-for-businesses1

colonyspark.com/blog/alternatives-google-and-facebook-ads1

darkroomagency.com/observatory/paid-search-advertising-explained-for-enterprise-growth-tea1

epom.com/blog/digital-advertising/best-advertising-platforms1

g2.com/categories/paid-search-advertising/enterprise1

gitnux.org/best/paid-search-software1

Pages are listed as the models cited them.

Names read as Google Performance Max

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

Performance Max 3Google Ads / Performance Max 1

The company

Google Search is the company behind Google Performance Max.

Website: google.com
Headquarters: United States
Founded: 1997

From Wikidata, fetched September 14, 2026. These describe the company, not the product's standing, and a claimed page can dispute any of them. · Wikidata

Is this your product?

Claim this page

Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page shows a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes and when Google Performance Max's standing changes by more than the noise floor; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as Google Performance Max, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.

It does not get any change to labels, shares or verdicts, any preview, or any say over which quotes appear. A verification link goes to your work email; an address at google.com is approved on the spot, any other address is reviewed by hand.

Your name and company appear on the claimed page, or the company alone if you ask below. A title and a LinkedIn address appear there too if you give them, and are left off if you do not. Your email address is never published.