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Heralded

The most visible customer support tools, October 2026

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

Leader

Zendesk

86%of answers name it

Where engines disagree most

Zoho Desk

1/4engines put it in their top three

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

Brands

Rank Brand Heralded Score Mentioned Recommended By engine Mentioned by Change
1 Zendesk US 82 , range 76–87 86% 55% First reading
2 Freshdesk US 77 , range 71–83 74% 52% First reading
3 Intercom US 55 , range 45–69 50% 32% First reading
4 HubSpot Service Hub US 53 , range 44–68 51% 29% First reading
5 Zoho Desk IN 47 , range 40–60 44% 26% First reading
6 Help Scout US 45 , range 38–55 41% 23% First reading
7 Salesforce Service Cloud US 44 , range 37–54 43% 20% None First reading
8 Gorgias US 34 , range 27–42 22% 17% First reading
9 Front US 29 , range 20–36 18% 9% First reading
10 Kustomer US 15 , range 10–27 7% 4% 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
11Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
12Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
13Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
14Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
15 dupple.com Media 6.3% 1 of 4 1 0
16Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
17 happyfox.com Brand site 6.3% 1 of 4 1 0
18Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
19Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
20Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.

The questions, and who wins each

QuestionLanguageWins it
customer support software with the best support English Freshdesk and Zoho Desk, tied
which customer support software do experts recommend English Freshdesk and Zendesk, 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