Customer data platforms
Asked as “customer data platform”, and as “CDP”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B software company. 24 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, six models each.
Standing · first-choice share
42%
Clear leader
42Hightouch25Segment17Census17others
42% of first choices, clear leader.
The standing
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all six models, for a mid-market B2B software company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrantSince September 2026
Show the four products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
08
Adobe Real-Time CDP0%56%16criticized challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.
Adobe Real-Time CDP0%56%16criticized challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.07
Salesforce Data Cloud0%38%16criticized challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.
Salesforce Data Cloud0%38%16criticized challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.05
Tealium Customer Data Hub0%14%14accepted challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.
Tealium Customer Data Hub0%14%14accepted challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.The floor is 12 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one can't be told apart from repeat variation, and both are shown. Each index measures its own floor from its own repeat, over its own categories, so the floor differs from one index to the next. How the floor is measured
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
All six head-to-head pages: the top four products, each against each
Recommended versus criticized
Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.
Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
0405
060708Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative60%
Key
01Hightouch42%
Hightouch42%02Segment25%
Segment25%03Census17%
Census17%04RudderStack12%
RudderStack12%05Tealium Customer Data Hub0%
Tealium Customer Data Hub0%06mParticle0%
mParticle0%07Salesforce Data Cloud0%
Salesforce Data Cloud0%08Adobe Real-Time CDP0%
Adobe Real-Time CDP0%What they warned about
Four of six models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Opus 5 and Claude Opus 4.8 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Segment27%
9 of 33 labels negative · 6 of 6 models
“When you have substantial anonymous traffic or very granular event collection. Billing can involve monthly tracked users, API calls, and throughput” GPT-6 Astra, negative prompt
Adobe Real-Time CDP56%
9 of 16 labels negative · 5 of 6 models · 2 hard negative
“What I'd steer you away from - Adobe Real-Time CDP or Salesforce Data Cloud — ... Mid-market implementations routinely stall.” Claude Opus 5, paraphrase prompt
Salesforce Data Cloud38%
6 of 16 labels negative · 4 of 6 models · 1 hard negative
“What I'd steer you away from - Adobe Real-Time CDP or Salesforce Data Cloud” Claude Opus 5, paraphrase prompt
mParticle27%
3 of 11 labels negative · 3 of 6 models
“mParticle merged with Rokt in January 2025... acquisition transitions justify contractual road-map commitments” GPT-5.6 Sol, negative prompt
What they cite
Six of the six models returned a source list in this edition: six return the pages they cited.
Sites the answers cite
31 of 36 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 6 of 6 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 536 links across 213 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. None of the 36 answers across every segment cited this index's own page for the category.
vendor site · Hightouch17 answers · 37 citations · 6 models
15 answers · 41 citations · 4 models
vendor site · RudderStack13 answers · 13 citations · 4 models
12 answers · 32 citations · 4 models
vendor site · Improvado10 answers · 11 citations · 4 models
vendor site · Gartner9 answers · 10 citations · 4 models
8 answers · 10 citations · 3 models
vendor site · Salesforce7 answers · 10 citations · 4 models
vendor site · Twilio7 answers · 9 citations · 4 models
7 answers · 7 citations · 5 models
vendor site · Decentriq7 answers · 7 citations · 3 models
vendor site · InsiderOne7 answers · 7 citations · 4 models
Pages the answers cite
The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.
9 answers · 4 models
7 answers · 3 models
7 answers · 3 models
7 answers · 3 models
7 answers · 3 models
6 answers · 3 models
6 answers · 3 models
6 answers · 4 models
5 answers · 3 models
4 answers · 3 models
Search against answers
Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best customer data platform”, “customer data platform”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
| Company and products | Share | Own site cited | Name searches, Google | AI search demand, est. | Organic visits | Paid search a month, est. | Google ads, last 30 days | Best Google position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hightouch hightouch.com | 42% | 399 | 12,100 | 434 | 127,772 | 23 | 7 | |
| Twilio segment.com Segment 25% | 25% | 460 | 135,000 | 4,343 | 9,086 | 0 | ||
| Fivetran fivetran.com Census 17%, Fivetran 0% | 17% | 238 | 60,500 | 14,424 | 41,501 company | $126 | 97 | |
| RudderStack rudderstack.com | 12% | 166 | 1,900 | 42 | 46,132 | 50 | ||
| Tracardi tracardi.com | 4% | 1 | ||||||
| Tealium Customer Data Hub tealium.com | 0% | 138 | 40 | 0 | 9,399 | 32 | ||
| Treasure Data treasure.ai | 0% | 105 | 1,600 | 43 | 801 | $82 | 7 | |
| BlueConic blueconic.com | 0% | 86 | 1,000 | 22 | 4,661 | $142 | 9 | 1 |
| Klaviyo Data Platform klaviyo.com | 0% | 41 | 20 | 1 | 200,057 | $572 | 20 | |
| Snowplow snowplow.io | 0% | 30 | 49,500 | 2,183 | 18,927 | 9 |
Google's top ten for the two searches hold 16 sites; 5 of them are among the sites the models cited here (cdp.com, gartner.com, hightouch.com, insiderone.com, salesforce.com). The first result for “best customer data platform” is gartner.com.
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.ShowHide
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHideModelDirect“What is the best customer data platform for a mid-market B2B software company?”Paraphrase“Which CDP would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B software company?”Comparative“What are the top customer data platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best customer data platform for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a customer data platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which customer data platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Opus 5Census, Hightouchagainst: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Oracle UnityHightouch, SegmentChangedagainst: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Bloomreach, Insider, Klaviyo Data Platform, Salesforce Data CloudHightouchagainst: ActionIQ, Adobe Real-Time CDP, Amperity, BlueConic, Treasure DataSegmentagainst: Klaviyo Data Platformno first choiceagainst: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment, mParticle
One alternative
SegmentThree alternatives
BlueConic, RudderStack, Tealium Customer Data HubFive alternatives
RudderStack, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment, Tealium Customer Data Hub, mParticleTwo alternatives
Jitsu, RudderStackFive alternatives
Census, GrowthLoop, Hightouch, Segment, mParticleClaude Opus 4.8HightouchCensus, HightouchChangedagainst: HubSpot CDPno first choiceagainst: Tealium Customer Data HubRudderStackagainst: Segmentno first choicenothing named
Three alternatives
Census, RudderStack, SegmentTwo alternatives
RudderStack, SegmentThree alternatives
Adobe Real-Time CDP, Hightouch, Salesforce Data CloudThree alternatives
HubSpot CDP, Jitsu, SnowplowGPT-6 AstraHightouchHightouchHeldno first choiceSegmentno first choiceagainst: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Hightouch, Lytics, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment
Two alternatives
RudderStack, SegmentTwo alternatives
RudderStack, SegmentEight alternatives
Adobe Real-Time CDP, Amperity, Hightouch, RudderStack, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment, Tealium Customer Data Hub, Treasure DataOne alternative
RudderStackSix alternatives
Adobe Real-Time CDP, Hightouch, RudderStack, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment, Tealium Customer Data HubGPT-5.6 SolHightouchagainst: Salesforce Data CloudHightouchHeldno first choiceRudderStackagainst: Segmentno first choiceagainst: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, SAP Customer Data Platform, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment, mParticle
Two alternatives
RudderStack, SegmentThree alternatives
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, RudderStack, SegmentTen alternatives
Adobe Real-Time CDP, Amperity, Bloomreach, Hightouch, RudderStack, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment, Tealium Customer Data Hub, Treasure Data, mParticleThree alternatives
Brevo, Lytics, PostHogGemini 3.1 ProCensus, Hightouchagainst: SegmentCensus, HightouchHeldno first choiceagainst: Adobe Real-Time CDPRudderStack, Tracardiagainst: Segmentno first choiceagainst: Adobe Audience Manager, Adobe Campaign, Adobe Real-Time CDP, Oracle Unity, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment
Two alternatives
Dreamdata, RudderStackThree alternatives
CaliberMind, RudderStack, SegmentSix alternatives
Apache Unomi, Census, Customer.io, Hightouch, Klaviyo Data Platform, SnowplowPerplexity Sonar ProSegmentSegmentHeldno first choiceSegmentno first choiceagainst: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Hightouch, Segment, Tealium Customer Data Hub, mParticle
Four alternatives
BlueConic, Hightouch, RudderStack, Tealium Customer Data HubTwo alternatives
BlueConic, HightouchSeven alternatives
Adobe Real-Time CDP, Bloomreach, Klaviyo Data Platform, RudderStack, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment, Tealium Customer Data HubFive alternatives
Capsule CRM, Customer.io, Fivetran, Klaviyo Data Platform, RudderStackBold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against
The record
One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency.
Thirty-six rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct recommendation | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 09:49 | yes | 26 | 55 s |
| Direct recommendation | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 09:50 | yes | 42 | 45 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 09:51 | yes | 4 | 37 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 09:52 | yes | 7 | 40 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 09:51 | no | 0 | 27 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 09:50 | yes | 20 | 6 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 09:53 | yes | 22 | 48 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 09:53 | no | 0 | 20 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 09:54 | yes | 4 | 29 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 09:55 | yes | 9 | 45 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 09:54 | no | 0 | 25 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 09:53 | yes | 20 | 5 s |
| Comparative | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 09:56 | yes | 37 | 65 s |
| Comparative | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 09:59 | yes | 32 | 148 s |
| Comparative | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 10:01 | yes | 9 | 56 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 10:02 | yes | 11 | 77 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 10:00 | yes | 6 | 40 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 09:59 | yes | 20 | 8 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 10:03 | yes | 41 | 54 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 10:04 | yes | 34 | 96 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 10:05 | yes | 2 | 24 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 10:06 | yes | 5 | 27 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 10:05 | yes | 11 | 32 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 10:04 | yes | 20 | 5 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 10:07 | yes | 7 | 49 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 10:07 | no | 0 | 20 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 10:08 | yes | 6 | 42 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 10:09 | yes | 2 | 58 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 10:08 | no | 0 | 26 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 10:07 | yes | 20 | 9 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 10:11 | yes | 40 | 80 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 10:12 | yes | 38 | 52 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 10:13 | yes | 5 | 41 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 10:14 | yes | 7 | 60 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 10:12 | yes | 9 | 36 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 10:12 | yes | 20 | 6 s |
Noise floor in this category
Flips between the edition run and its calibration repeat. Six prompts per model is a small sample; the index-wide floor is the number to trust.
ShowHide
Claude Opus 5
5 of 5 flipped
Claude Opus 4.8
2 of 3 flipped
GPT-6 Astra
1 of 4 flipped
GPT-5.6 Sol
0 of 3 flipped
Gemini 3.1 Pro
4 of 6 flipped
Perplexity Sonar Pro
0 of 3 flipped
Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
Adobe read as Adobe Real-Time CDP
HubSpot read as HubSpot CDP
Klaviyo read as Klaviyo Data Platform
Oracle read as Oracle Unity
SAP read as SAP Customer Data Platform
Salesforce read as Salesforce Data Cloud
Tealium read as Tealium Customer Data Hub
Tealium AudienceStream read as Tealium Customer Data Hub
Twilio (Segment) read as Segment
Unresolved, counted raw
None awaiting human review.
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.