The most visible customer support tools in United Kingdom, October 2026

October 2026 · 15 questions asked from United Kingdom in English · ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Google AI Mode · 60 answers read

Leader

Zendesk

58Heralded Score, range 33–70

Where engines disagree most

Hiver

1/4engines put it in their top three

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

Brands

Rank Brand Rank change Heralded Score All AI Search Score trend Mentioned Recommended By engine Mentioned by Change
1 Zendesk US New entry 58 , range 33–70 49#1 73#1
58
  • : score 58 · #1
40% 20% First reading
2 Freshdesk US New entry 57 , range 25–69 49#2 72#2
57
  • : score 57 · #2
33% 24% First reading
3 Help Scout US New entry 55 , range 24–66 45#3 71#3
55
  • : score 55 · #3
30% 21% First reading
4 Intercom US New entry 50 , range 20–59 39#4 70#8
50
  • : score 50 · #4
24% 14% First reading
5 HubSpot Service Hub US New entry 46 , range 6–54 31#7 71#5
46
  • : score 46 · #5
18% 8% First reading
6 Zoho Desk IN New entry 45 , range 6–53 31#8 70#7
45
  • : score 45 · #6
13% 11% First reading
7 Hiver US New entry 39 , range 4–51 20= #10 71#6
39
  • : score 39 · #7
12% 9% First reading
8 Front US New entry 39 , range 10–54 33#6 48#9
39
  • : score 39 · #8
17% 9% First reading
9 Freshworks US New entry 38 , range 17–56 36#5 41#11
38
  • : score 38 · #9
16% 14% First reading
10 Tidio US New entry 32 , range 5–51 30#9 37#13
32
  • : score 32 · #10
13% 7% First reading

“=” marks brands whose score ranges overlap, so the test cannot separate them. Every brand named in at least three answers is ranked. AI and Search give each brand’s score and rank on that side alone. 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 xurrent.com Vendor site 3.3% 1 of 4 1 8
12 aiproductivity.ai Review site 1.7% 1 of 4 1 Not read
13 beltstack.com Media 1.7% 1 of 4 1 Not read
14 botmother.com Vendor site 1.7% 1 of 4 1 Not read
15 capterra.co.il Review site 1.7% 1 of 4 1 Not read
16 capterra.com Review site 1.7% 1 of 4 1 Not read
17 communicate.so Vendor site 1.7% 1 of 4 1 Not read
18 custify.com Vendor site 1.7% 1 of 4 1 Not read
19 dailystory.com Vendor site 1.7% 1 of 4 1 Not read
20 demeterict.com Unclassified 1.7% 1 of 4 1 Not read

Questions asked

QuestionLanguageMost recommended
best customer support tools for small support teams English Freshdesk and Zoho Desk, tied
customer support software for teams answering customer questions English Freshdesk, Front, Help Scout and Hiver, tied
how can a support team resolve customer questions faster English No brand recommended
how to keep customer support requests from getting lost English Freshdesk, Freshworks, Jira Service Management and Zendesk, tied
shared inbox vs help desk software for support teams English Front, Help Scout, Zendesk and Zoho Desk, tied

Each engine's top three

Method

Each leaderboard ranks brands on two sides. AI is how ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode answer the board's buyer questions. Search is Google's top 10 results for the keywords behind those questions. All combines the two, where Search is measured.

For the AI side, 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