The most visible American customer support tools on Google AI Mode, October 2026

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

Leader

Zendesk

83%of answers name it

Most cited source

g2.com

9citations

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#1 overall Zendesk US 75 , range 57–85 83% 42% First reading
2#2 overall Freshdesk US 72 , range 51–83 71% 46% First reading
3#3 overall HubSpot Service Hub US 63 , range 45–78 63% 38% First reading
4#4 overall Help Scout US 54 , range 39–74 50% 33% First reading
5#5 overall Salesforce Service Cloud US 43 , range 32–62 42% 17% First reading
6#6 overall Intercom US 41 , range 31–60 33% 21% First reading
7#8 overall Front US 13 , range 2–40 13% 4% First reading
– Agentforce Service US Too few answers 0% 0% First reading
– ClearFeed US Too few answers 8% 0% First reading
– Desk365 US Too few answers 4% 0% 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 g2.com Review site 33.3% 1 of 4 3 12
2 reddit.com Community 33.3% 1 of 4 5 19
3Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
4Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
5Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
6Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
7 zapier.com Vendor site 16.7% 1 of 4 1 8
8Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
9Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
10 chatbase.co Vendor site 8.3% 1 of 4 1 4

The questions, and who wins each

QuestionLanguageWins it
best customer support software for a e-commerce company English Gorgias
customer support software recommendations for a head of support English Freshdesk, Help Scout and Intercom, tied
top customer support software English HubSpot Service Hub
how to choose customer support software English No brand recommended
what to look for in customer support software English No brand recommended
customer support software for a team of 20 to 200 English Freshdesk, Help Scout, Intercom and Zendesk, tied
customer support software that integrates with Slack English Thena and Zendesk, tied
customer support software with GDPR-compliant hosting English No brand recommended
customer support software for travel English HubSpot Service Hub and Zendesk, tied
most reliable customer support software English Freshdesk and HubSpot Service Hub, 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