Subcategory · AI Citation Index
AI Search
The AI search category reveals a stark divide between enterprise adoption patterns and consumer narratives. Traditional search infrastructure providers (Elastic, Algolia, Glean) command the highest shortlist rates, suggesting organizations prioritize integrating AI capabilities into existing search workflows over replacing them with standalone answer-engines. Perplexity's 30% shortlist rate—respectable but half of Elastic's—indicates that conversational search remains complementary rather than substitutional for most buyers. The 4-way tie in model_diversity across top brands suggests evaluators test AI search solutions against consistent criteria regardless of architectural approach.
90 discovery queries · 223 head-to-heads · refreshed Oct 22, 2026
Discovery stage
The shortlist
Across 90 buyer-style "AI Search" queries
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Score shifts, new entrants, citation gaps — every Monday.
Signal by intent
By topic
Top 5 most-cited brands per intent cluster. Brands with zero citations in a topic are not shown.
Evaluation stage
Head-to-head
How often AI cites each brand across uniform category evaluation prompts · median 2/100
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Each brand's score is the share of category evaluation prompts where AI cited them across all four engines — the same prompt pool for every brand. Brands above the median citation rate have stronger presence in evaluation-stage queries.
Brands to know
In this category
Elastic
Commands highest shortlist rate at 68%, positioning vector search capabilities atop established enterprise search infrastructure as the pragmatic AI search path.
Read brand profile →Glean
Achieves 52% shortlist rate by purpose-building for workplace search, demonstrating that vertical focus competes effectively against horizontal infrastructure plays.
Read brand profile →Perplexity
Reaches 30% shortlist rate as the category's highest-profile answer-engine, proving consumer AI search credibility translates partially but not dominantly to enterprise consideration.
Read brand profile →Citation sources
Where AI pulls citations from
1000 citations captured across AI Search prompt runs.
Vendor pages
310Product, help, and marketing pages from tracked vendors
Independent sources
160Reviews, encyclopedias, forums, press — not vendor-owned
Buyer questions
What AI cites for top AI Search questions
Most-cited prompts across the buyer journey. Click any prompt to see the actual URLs AI engines link to.
Discovery
Buyers exploring the categoryEvaluation
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