Toptal
Rankings by industry
A rank of 1 to 3 earns that leaderboard's badge for the month.
Rank and score by month
- Software development companies, Global27
No lines on the chart. Tick Show on chart in the table below, or add a leaderboard above.
Every leaderboard has one reading so far, from October 2026, so each line is a single dot for now. The next point arrives on 1 November 2026, when the new month's leaderboards publish. Chart up to 5 leaderboards at once.
Every leaderboard it is on
| Leaderboard | Market | All rank (AI and Search combined) | Heralded Score | AI and Search | Change | On chart |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software development companies, Global | Global | 1 | 27 , range 3–50 |
| First reading | |
| Software development companies, Europe | Europe | 1 | 11 , range 2–31 |
| First reading | Not yet: no monthly series for this leaderboard |
| Software development companies, Germany | Germany | – | Too few answers |
| First reading | |
| Software development companies, Spain | Spain | – | Too few answers |
| First reading | |
| Software development companies, France | France | – | Too few answers |
| First reading | |
| Software development companies, United Kingdom | United Kingdom | 1 | 25 , range 1–49 |
| First reading | |
| Software development companies, Italy | Italy | 2 | 4 , range 1–45 |
| First reading | |
| Software development companies, Netherlands | Netherlands | – | Too few answers |
| First reading | |
| Software development companies, Romania | Romania | 1 | 12 , range 1–44 |
| First reading | |
| No leaderboard matches this filter. | ||||||
By engine
-
Google AI Mode
–average rank
Not ranked · ranks on 0 leaderboards
-
Gemini
#1average rank
Best #1 · ranks on 3 leaderboards
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Google AI Overviews
–average rank
Not ranked · ranks on 0 leaderboards
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ChatGPT
–average rank
Not ranked · ranks on 0 leaderboards
Questions it answers
| # | Question | Leaderboard | Its place | Also named |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | How do I find a reliable software development partner? | software development companies | 1 | |
| 2 | Alternatives to hiring an in-house development team | software development companies | 1 | |
| 3 | Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it. | |||
| 4 | Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it. | |||
| 5 | Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it. | |||
| 6 | Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it. | |||
| 7 | Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it. | |||
| 8 | Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it. | |||
| 9 | Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it. | |||
| 10 | Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it. | |||
How engines describe it
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Gemini
Hiring independent talent directly via platforms like Toptal, Upwork, or specialized networks.
Asked: “Alternatives to hiring an in-house development team” · The most visible software development companies
Sources that mention it
No sources have been recorded for this brand.
Method
Each leaderboard ranks brands on two sides. AI is how ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode answer the board's buyer questions. Search is Google's top 10 results for the keywords behind those questions. All combines the two, where Search is measured.
For the AI side, each month Heralded asks every engine the same buyer questions, twice each, and reads every answer. An answer counts 0 for a brand it leaves out, 50 for a brand it names and 100 for a brand it recommends, and the Heralded Score is built from those. A brand named in at least three answers gets a score and a place.