Leader
4Heralded Score, range 3–6
The most visible software development companies in Europe, October 2026
Brands
Search is not measured for this board yet, so it ranks on AI answers.
| Rank | Brand | Rank change | Heralded Score All | AI | Score trend | Mentioned | Recommended | By engine | Mentioned by | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | | New entry | 1 , range 1–3 | 1#11 | 1
| 1% | 0% | | First reading | |
| – | | Unranked | Too few answers | Not measured | –
| 0% | 0% | None | First reading | |
| – | | Unranked | Too few answers | Not measured | –
| 0% | 0% | None | First reading | |
| – | | Unranked | Too few answers | Not measured | –
| 0% | 0% | None | First reading | |
| – | | Unranked | Too few answers | Not measured | –
| 0% | 0% | | First reading | |
| – | | Unranked | Too few answers | Not measured | –
| 0% | 0% | None | First reading | |
| – | | Unranked | Too few answers | Not measured | –
| 0% | 0% | | First reading | |
| – | | Unranked | Too few answers | Not measured | –
| 0% | 0% | None | First reading | |
| – | | Unranked | Too few answers | Not measured | –
| 1% | 1% | None | First reading | |
| – | | Unranked | Too few answers | Not measured | –
| 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. AI gives each brand’s score and rank from the engines’ answers; Search is not measured for this board yet. 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 | | Directory | 9.0% | 4 of 4 | 32 | 1 |
| 2 | | Social | 8.8% | 2 of 4 | 39 | Not read |
| 3 | | Social | 8.1% | 3 of 4 | 25 | Not read |
| 4 | | Community | 6.2% | 3 of 4 | 26 | Not read |
| 5 | | Consultancy | 6.0% | 3 of 4 | 16 | Not read |
| 6 | | Consultancy | 3.8% | 4 of 4 | 3 | Not read |
| 7 | | Community | 3.3% | 3 of 4 | 8 | Not read |
| 8 | | Consultancy | 3.3% | 3 of 4 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | | Vendor site | 1.4% | 1 of 4 | 5 | Not read |
| 10 | | Vendor site | 1.2% | 2 of 4 | 12 | Not read |
Questions asked
| Question | Language | Most recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Nearshore vs. offshore software development for a mid-sized company | English | No brand recommended |
| Alternatives to hiring an in-house development team | English | No brand recommended |
| Alternatives to freelance developers for building an app | English | No brand recommended |
| I'm a non-technical founder and need to build a web app. Which software development company should I hire? | English | |
| I lead IT at a mid-sized company and need a partner to modernize our legacy systems. | English | No brand recommended |
| best software development companies for startups | English | No brand recommended |
| custom software development outsourcing | English | |
| how to choose a software development partner | English | No brand recommended |
| how much does custom software development cost | English | No brand recommended |
| nearshore vs offshore software development | English | No brand recommended |
Each engine's top three
Google AI Mode
- 1
Toptal
Gemini
- 1
- 2
Thoughtworks
- 3
N-iX
Google AI Overviews
- 1
- 2
ScienceSoft
- 3
ChatGPT
- 1
Netguru
Related leaderboards
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.