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The most visible cloud hosting platforms, October 2026

October 2026 · 12 questions asked in English, worldwide · ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Google AI Mode · 96 answers read

Leader

AWS

91%of answers name it

Most cited source

youtube.com

34citations

From Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews

Where engines disagree most

Microsoft Azure

1/4engines put it in their top three

Top three on ChatGPT, not on Google AI Mode, Gemini and Google AI Overviews

Brands

Rank Brand Rank change Heralded Score Score trend Mentioned Recommended By engine Mentioned by Change
1 AWS US New entry 83 , range 77–88
83
  • : score 83 · #1
 91% 59% First reading
2 Google Cloud US New entry 77 , range 70–82
77
  • : score 77 · #2
 87% 44% First reading
3 DigitalOcean US New entry 75 , range 67–81
75
  • : score 75 · #3
 79% 46% First reading
4 Microsoft Azure US New entry 66 , range 54–74
66
  • : score 66 · #4
 64% 40% First reading
5 Cloudways MT New entry 43 , range 36–51
43
  • : score 43 · #5
 35% 23% First reading
6 Vultr US New entry 40 , range 34–48
40
  • : score 40 · #6
 29% 21% First reading
7 Hetzner DE New entry 38 , range 32–46
38
  • : score 38 · #7
 28% 18% First reading
8 Hostinger LT New entry 35 , range 26–42
35
  • : score 35 · #8
 22% 15% First reading
9 Akamai Linode US New entry 27 , range 9–36
27
  • : score 27 · #9
 20% 4% First reading
10 Kinsta US New entry 27 , range 9–36
27
  • : score 27 · #10
 15% 8% First reading

“=” marks brands whose score ranges overlap, so the test cannot separate them. Every brand named in at least three answers is ranked. By engine has one dot per engine (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Google AI Mode), darker the more often it names the brand.

This month's moves

First reading. No comparable previous month yet.

Biggest risers

No clear rise.

Biggest fallers

No clear fall.

Drop-outs

No drop-outs.

Most cited sources

Rank Source Type Cited in Engines Pages cited Brands its pages mention
1 youtube.com Social 20.8% 2 of 4 18 Not read
2 google.com Brand site 20.8% 4 of 4 24 7
3 digitalocean.com Brand site 18.8% 3 of 4 14 12
4 amazon.com Brand site 18.8% 4 of 4 22 3
5 reddit.com Community 17.7% 4 of 4 16 27
6 microsoft.com Brand site 12.5% 3 of 4 15 2
7Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
8Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
9Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
10 elementor.com Brand site 10.4% 1 of 4 2 13

The questions, and who wins each

QuestionLanguageWins it
cloud hosting with the best support English Cloudways
which cloud hosting do experts recommend English AWS and DigitalOcean, tied

Each engine's top three

Method

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.

How the leaderboards are measured