Data management platforms
Asked as “data management platform for audiences”, and as “DMP”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B software company. 27 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, six models each.
Standing · first-choice share
26%
Contested · Segment 15%
26Hightouch15Segment11Demandbase48others
26% of first choices, contested.
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
06
Salesforce Audience Studio0%82%11criticized challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.
Salesforce Audience Studio0%82%11criticized challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.04
Adobe Audience Manager0%56%16criticized challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.
Adobe Audience Manager0%56%16criticized 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.
Head to head
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
0304
0506Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01Hightouch26%
Hightouch26%02Segment15%
Segment15%03Lotame Spherical0%
Lotame Spherical0%04Adobe Audience Manager0%
Adobe Audience Manager0%05Oracle BlueKai0%
Oracle BlueKai0%06Salesforce Audience Studio0%
Salesforce Audience Studio0%What they warned about
One of six models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Opus 4.8, GPT-6 Astra, GPT-5.6 Sol, Gemini 3.1 Pro and Perplexity Sonar Pro 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.
Oracle BlueKai69%
9 of 13 labels negative · 5 of 6 models · 8 hard negative
“Defunct Platforms to Avoid Entirely (Sunsetted)... Oracle entirely shut down its advertising business and the BlueKai DMP.” Gemini 3.1 Pro, negative prompt
Salesforce Audience Studio82%
9 of 11 labels negative · 5 of 6 models · 8 hard negative
“Salesforce retired Audience Studio on February 1, 2024, removed application access, and deleted associated customer data” GPT-5.6 Sol, negative prompt
Adobe Audience Manager56%
9 of 16 labels negative · 5 of 6 models · 1 hard negative
“Any legacy DMP | Declining data supply, poor B2B account resolution, wrong tool for the era” Claude Opus 5, paraphrase prompt
Lotame Spherical18%
2 of 11 labels negative · 2 of 6 models · 1 hard negative
“that's almost never the right purchase anymore — and several of those products have been sunset” Claude Opus 5, paraphrase 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
33 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. 561 links across 294 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.
13 answers · 29 citations · 4 models
vendor site · Matillion10 answers · 11 citations · 3 models
9 answers · 18 citations · 4 models
vendor site · Improvado9 answers · 12 citations · 4 models
vendor site · Hightouch8 answers · 15 citations · 4 models
7 answers · 7 citations · 3 models
vendor site · Decentriq6 answers · 8 citations · 4 models
vendor site · Adobe5 answers · 8 citations · 4 models
vendor site · RudderStack5 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
vendor site · SourceForge5 answers · 6 citations · 3 models
5 answers · 5 citations · 3 models
vendor site · ContactPigeon5 answers · 5 citations · 2 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.
10 answers · 3 models
7 answers · 3 models
6 answers · 2 models
5 answers · 2 models
5 answers · 3 models
5 answers · 4 models
5 answers · 2 models
5 answers · 4 models
4 answers · 2 models
4 answers · 1 model
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 data management platform for audiences”, “data management platform for audiences”. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hightouch hightouch.com | 26% | 399 | 12,100 | 434 | 127,772 | 23 | |
| Twilio segment.com Segment 15% | 15% | 460 | 135,000 | 4,343 | 9,086 | 0 | |
| Demandbase demandbase.com | 11% | 581 | 5,400 | 211 | 42,531 | 34 | |
| RudderStack rudderstack.com | 7% | 166 | 1,900 | 42 | 46,132 | 50 | |
| 6sense 6sense.com | 4% | 618 | 49,500 | 316 | 108,788 | $1,209 | 120 |
| Fivetran fivetran.com Census 4% | 4% | 238 | 60,500 | 14,424 | 41,501 company | $126 | 97 |
| LiveRamp liveramp.com | 4% | 18 | 18,100 | 358 | 20,494 | $339 | 44 |
| ZoomInfo zoominfo.com | 4% | 542 | 135,000 | 1,810 | 6,376,738 | $1,140 | 120 |
| Permutive permutive.com | 4% | 21 | 590 | 4,782 | 505 | ||
| Google analytics.google.com Google Analytics 4 4% | 4% | 473 | 9,900 | 348 |
Google's top ten for the two searches hold 15 sites; 4 of them are among the sites the models cited here (business.adobe.com, cdp.com, decentriq.com, matillion.com). The first result for “best data management platform for audiences” is acquia.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 data management platform for audiences for a mid-market B2B software company?”Paraphrase“Which DMP would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B software company?”Comparative“What are the top data management platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best data management platform for audiences for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a data management platform for audiences. What should we look at?”Negative“Which data management platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Opus 5Hightouchagainst: 6sense, Adobe Real-Time CDP, Demandbase, Salesforce Data CloudHightouchHeldagainst: ActionIQ, Adobe Audience Manager, Adobe Real-Time CDP, Lotame Spherical, Oracle BlueKai, Salesforce Audience Studio, Salesforce Data Cloud, Tealium Customer Data Hub, Treasure Datano first choiceagainst: Amazon RedshiftCensus, Hightouchagainst: Adobe Real-Time CDP, Amperity, Salesforce Data Cloud, Tealium Customer Data Hubno first choiceagainst: Oracle BlueKaiagainst: Cleo, GoAnywhere, Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud, MOVEit, Snowflake
Three alternatives
Census, RudderStack, SegmentThree alternatives
6sense, Demandbase, SegmentSeven alternatives
Alation, BigQuery, Collibra, Databricks Lakehouse, Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud, Microsoft Fabric, SnowflakeFive alternatives
BigQuery, Lotame Spherical, RudderStack, Segment, SnowflakeClaude Opus 4.8Hightouch, RudderStack, SegmentLiveRampChangedBigQuery, Databricks Lakehouse, SnowflakeRudderStackno first choicenothing named
One alternative
ZoomInfoTwo alternatives
BlueConic, SegmentTwo alternatives
Amazon Redshift, Microsoft FabricGPT-6 AstraDemandbase, HightouchDemandbaseChangedno first choiceBrevo, Google Analytics 4against: SegmentHightouchagainst: Adobe Audience Manager, Oracle BlueKai, Salesforce Audience Studio
Two alternatives
6sense, HubSpot Marketing HubTwo alternatives
Adobe Audience Manager, SegmentFour alternatives
Adobe Real-Time CDP, Salesforce Data Cloud, Segment, Tealium Customer Data HubGPT-5.6 SolHightouchagainst: RudderStack, Salesforce Data CloudSegmentChangedagainst: Adobe Audience ManagerAdobe Real-Time CDP, Salesforce Data Cloudagainst: Adobe Audience Manager, Salesforce Audience StudioPiwik PROno first choiceagainst: Adobe Audience Manager, Oracle BlueKai, Salesforce Audience Studio
Three alternatives
6sense, HubSpot Audience Segments, SegmentFour alternatives
6sense, Demandbase, Hightouch, RudderStackFive alternatives
LiveRamp, Lotame Spherical, Segment, Tealium Customer Data Hub, Treasure DataFour alternatives
Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Mautic, RudderStackGemini 3.1 Pro6sense, DemandbaseAdRoll ABM, SegmentChangedagainst: Adobe Audience Manager, Oracle BlueKai, Salesforce Audience Studiono first choiceSegmentagainst: Adobe Audience Manager, Apache Unomi, Oracle BlueKai, Salesforce Audience StudioZeotapagainst: Oracle BlueKai, Salesforce Audience Studioagainst: Adobe Audience Manager, Lotame Spherical, Nielsen DMP, Oracle BlueKai, Salesforce Audience Studio
Five alternatives
Apollo.io, Census, Cognism, Hightouch, ZoomInfoFour alternatives
6sense, Demandbase, Dreamdata, Lotame SphericalFive alternatives
Adobe Audience Manager, LiveRamp, Lotame Spherical, Permutive, The Trade DeskFour alternatives
HubSpot CRM, Lotame Spherical, RudderStack, TracardiSeven alternatives
Census, Decentriq, Hightouch, LiveRamp, Mediarithmics, Segment, mParticlePerplexity Sonar ProZoomInfoagainst: Apollo.ioPermutiveChangedagainst: Oracle BlueKai, Salesforce Audience StudioBigQuery, Databricks Lakehouse, SnowflakeClicDataagainst: Adobe Audience Managerno first choiceagainst: AWS, Databricks Lakehouse, Matillion, OvalEdge, Snowflake
Three alternatives
Cognism, Hightouch, SegmentOne alternative
Adobe Audience ManagerSix alternatives
Collibra, Fivetran, Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud, Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft Purview, dbtThree alternatives
MotherDuck, Talend Open Studio, dbtBold 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 | 2026-09-09 20:29 | yes | 25 | 64 s |
| Direct recommendation | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-09 20:30 | yes | 39 | 57 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-09 20:32 | yes | 4 | 29 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-09 20:33 | yes | 10 | 30 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-10 18:45 | yes | 13 | 42 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-10 19:05 | yes | 20 | 8 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-09 20:36 | yes | 40 | 63 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-09 20:39 | yes | 31 | 152 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-09 20:40 | yes | 5 | 20 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-09 20:41 | yes | 6 | 24 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-10 18:47 | no | 0 | 24 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-09 20:39 | yes | 20 | 6 s |
| Comparative | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-09 20:44 | yes | 32 | 66 s |
| Comparative | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-09 20:46 | yes | 29 | 52 s |
| Comparative | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-09 20:49 | yes | 10 | 46 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-09 20:51 | yes | 7 | 57 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-10 18:49 | yes | 3 | 45 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-09 20:47 | yes | 19 | 9 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-09 20:54 | yes | 40 | 50 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-09 20:55 | yes | 37 | 45 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-09 20:56 | yes | 4 | 22 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-09 20:58 | yes | 5 | 45 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-10 18:50 | yes | 6 | 38 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-09 20:56 | yes | 20 | 4 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-09 21:00 | yes | 26 | 53 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-09 21:01 | no | 0 | 20 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-09 21:03 | yes | 6 | 42 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-09 21:05 | yes | 5 | 56 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-10 18:52 | yes | 7 | 40 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-09 21:02 | yes | 20 | 8 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-09 21:08 | yes | 34 | 73 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-09 21:09 | no | 0 | 12 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-09 21:10 | yes | 3 | 19 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-09 21:12 | yes | 5 | 35 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-10 18:54 | yes | 10 | 34 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-09 21:09 | yes | 20 | 7 s |
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
Databricks read as Databricks Lakehouse
Fabric read as Microsoft Fabric
HubSpot read as HubSpot Marketing Hub
HubSpot’s existing audience tools read as HubSpot Marketing Hub
Informatica read as Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud
Informatica IDMC read as Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud
Lotame read as Lotame Spherical
Oracle read as Oracle BlueKai
Oracle (BlueKai) read as Oracle BlueKai
Salesforce read as Salesforce Audience Studio
Salesforce (Krux/Audience Studio) read as Salesforce Audience Studio
Tealium read as Tealium Customer Data Hub
Tealium AudienceStream read as Tealium Customer Data Hub
Unresolved, counted raw
Google Cloud
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.