We asked ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, DeepSeek, and Mistral: "What's the best email marketing platform?" The results show a massive gap between incumbents and newer platforms.
The Full Ranking
Average visibility across 7 email marketing tools: 2/6 — one of the lowest scores of any SaaS category we tested.
- Mailchimp — 6/6 (recommended by all engines)
- ConvertKit — 5/6 (not mentioned by Perplexity)
- Brevo — 3/6 (not mentioned by ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek)
- Buttondown — 0/6 (invisible to all engines)
- Beehiiv — 0/6 (invisible to all engines)
- EmailOctopus — 0/6 (invisible to all engines)
- Bento — 0/6 (invisible to all engines)
The Incumbent Advantage
**Mailchimp dominates with a perfect 6/6. **ConvertKit follows at 5/6. But every challenger platform — Beehiiv, Buttondown, EmailOctopus, Bento — scores 0/6.
This is one of the starkest divides we've seen across all 34 categories. The newer email platforms that have gained significant market share in recent years are completely invisible to AI recommendation engines.
Beehiiv has grown rapidly as a newsletter platform. Buttondown is loved by developers. Yet when someone asks AI for email marketing recommendations, neither tool appears.
As AI-powered discovery grows, this invisibility becomes increasingly costly. Users who might be a perfect fit for these platforms never even learn they exist through this channel.
AI engine recommendations are heavily influenced by web presence depth — comparison articles, independent reviews, structured data, and community discussions. Newer platforms need to invest in building this content layer to become visible to AI engines.
Full Leaderboard
See how 204 SaaS tools rank across 6 AI engines at eurekanav.com/leaderboard. Want a free audit for your platform? Visit eurekanav.com.
Methodology
Same query sent to all 6 engines. Score = number that mention the tool (0-6). Temperature 0.3, max 1200 tokens. April 2026 data.
