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

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

Leader

Zendesk

75%of answers name it

Where engines disagree most

One engine

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

Brands

Rank Brand Heralded Score Mentioned Recommended By engine Mentioned by Change
1 Zendesk US 68 , range 48–80 75% 33% First reading
2 Freshdesk US 59 , range 42–76 58% 33% First reading
3 HubSpot Service Hub US 49 , range 37–71 50% 25% First reading
4 Zoho Desk IN 44 , range 33–65 38% 25% First reading
5 Salesforce Service Cloud US 41 , range 31–59 42% 13% First reading
6 Intercom US 35 , range 14–49 29% 8% First reading
7 Help Scout US 31 , range 7–46 21% 8% First reading
– Ada CA Too few answers 0% 0% None First reading
– Agentforce Service US Too few answers 0% 0% None First reading
– Amadeus Max for Travelers ES Too few answers 0% 0% None 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
11 capterra.com Review site 8.3% 1 of 4 2 4
12 deepser.com Vendor site 8.3% 1 of 4 2 3
13Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
14Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
15 kustomer.com Brand site 8.3% 1 of 4 1 8
16 reddit.com Community 8.3% 1 of 4 2 4
17Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
18Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.
19 appsmith.com Vendor site 4.2% 1 of 4 1 1
20Withheld. Run a full Snapshot to see it.

The questions, and who wins each

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