Key takeaways:
- 44% of B2B SaaS companies score below 50 in AI visibility, with significant gaps in mention frequency.
- Companies with perfect sentiment scores need better distribution to improve AI-assisted buyer recognition.
As B2B marketers work to be recognized in a world of artificial intelligence (AI), a new study shows that less than half are visible to buyers using AI.
DerivateX, a B2B SaaS SEO and Generative Engine Optimization agency, has published The State of AI Visibility in B2B SaaS: 2026 Benchmark Report, where it analyzed 50 B2B SaaS companies across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini, running 1,400 buyer-intent prompts in total and scoring each company on a 0 to 100 composite scale.
The average AI Presence Score across the B2B SaaS companies in the study is 56.9 out of 100, with 44 percent of companies scoring below 50. The gap between the highest scorer (Clio at 89) and the lowest (LeadSquared at 2) is 87 points, despite both operating in established software categories with active marketing teams.
What is the Most Selective Platform
The report found that Claude is the most selective AI platform, mentioning 88 percent of tested brands, compared to 100 percent for ChatGPT and Gemini. Sentiment is nearly uniform: 44 of 50 companies score 19 or 20 out of 20 on sentiment, meaning the visibility gap is driven entirely by mention frequency and platform breadth, not brand perception, according to DerivateX officials.
“What the data shows clearly is that platform breadth alone does not determine the score,” said Apoorv Sharma, Co-Founder of DerivateX. “Make is present on all four platforms and still scores 40, while Zapier is absent from Claude and scores 63. The difference is how often and how prominently each brand appears when AI systems are asked category questions by actual buyers.
“Mention rate and position carry 60 of the 100 available points in the scoring framework. That is where the optimization work happens.”
Which Companies Have Perfect Sentiment Scores
Within competitive categories, the report found the gaps between direct rivals substantial. In field service management, ServiceTitan scores 68 and Jobber 41. In payments, Stripe scores 65 and Razorpay scores 39. In SEO analytics, Ahrefs scores 83 and Semrush scores 68. In workflow automation, Zapier scores 63 and Make scores 40, despite Make appearing on all four platforms and Zapier being absent from Claude entirely.
The study identifies a highest-opportunity group: ten companies with perfect sentiment scores of 20 out of 20 but mention rates of 8 out of 30 or lower, inlcuded Close, WebEngage, Kissflow, CleverTap, Freshworks, Razorpay, BrightEdge, Mindbody, Mangools, and Toast. When AI platforms mention these brands, the framing is uniformly positive. The gap is frequency, not perception, said Sharma.
“Ten of the fifty companies we scored are being described positively every time AI mentions them, but that is happening in fewer than 9 of 28 tested prompts,” he said. “That is not a brand problem. That is a distribution problem. Getting cited more often in third-party content that AI platforms index is what moves those companies from occasionally mentioned to consistently recommended.”
To ready the full 2026 AI Visibility Benchmark Report, click here.
