The most visible cloud hosting platforms on Google AI Mode, October 2026

October 2026 · 12 questions asked in English, worldwide · Google AI Mode · 24 answers read

Most cited source

reddit.com

11citations

From Google AI Mode

Where engines disagree most

One engine

This page reads Google AI Mode only. Set Engine to All to compare them.

Brands

Rank Brand Heralded Score Mentioned Recommended By engine Mentioned by Change
1 DigitalOcean US 78 , range 63–87 88% 42% First reading
2 AWS US 77 , range 60–85 88% 38% First reading
3 Google Cloud US 76 , range 56–85 79% 42% First reading
4 Cloudways MT 52 , range 37–75 46% 33% First reading
= 5 Hetzner DE 44 , range 32–69 42% 21% First reading
= 5 Microsoft Azure US 44 , range 32–69 38% 25% First reading
7 Vultr US 41 , range 29–63 29% 25% First reading
= 8 Kinsta US 30 , range 15–46 17% 13% First reading
= 8 Liquid Web US 30 , range 16–46 21% 8% First reading
10 Hostinger LT 23 , range 11–42 13% 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.

Most cited sources

Rank Source Type Cited in Engines Pages cited Brands its pages mention
1 reddit.com Community 37.5% 1 of 4 10 25
2Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
3 devopsschool.com Reference 20.8% 1 of 4 1 10
4Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
5 amazon.com Brand site 8.3% 1 of 4 3 2
6 digitalocean.com Brand site 12.5% 1 of 4 1 7
7 cnet.com Media 8.3% 1 of 4 1 9
8Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
9Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
10Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.

The questions, and who wins each

QuestionLanguageWins it
best cloud hosting for a software company English AWS, Cloudways, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, tied
cloud hosting recommendations for a platform engineer English AWS, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, Hetzner and Vultr, tied
top cloud hosting English Akamai Linode, AWS, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, Hetzner, Microsoft Azure, OVHcloud and Vultr, tied
how to choose cloud hosting English Google Cloud
what to look for in cloud hosting English No brand recommended
cloud hosting for a team of 20 to 200 English AWS, Cloudways, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, Hetzner and Vultr, tied
cloud hosting that integrates with Terraform English No brand recommended
cloud hosting with GDPR-compliant hosting English Scalingo
cloud hosting for media English Cloudflare, DigitalOcean, Hetzner and Oracle Cloud, tied
most reliable cloud hosting English AWS, Cloudways, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, Hostinger, Microsoft Azure and Vultr, 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