# Ecommerce search and merchandising: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "ecommerce search and merchandising platform" and as "onsite product search engine for an online store", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Added to the November 2026 Edition. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/ecommerce-search-and-merchandising/2026-11

**Standing:** Algolia leads with 24% of first choices; verdict contested. 51 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Algolia](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/algolia/index.md) | 24% | 21% | 57 |
| 2 | [Luigi's Box](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/luigi-s-box/index.md) | 20% | 0% | 26 |
| 3 | [Doofinder](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/doofinder/index.md) | 20% | 16% | 31 |
| 4 | [Constructor](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/constructor/index.md) | 8% | 19% | 42 |
| 5 | [Hawksearch](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/hawksearch/index.md) | 8% | 7% | 14 |
| 6 | [Klevu](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/klevu/index.md) | 6% | 21% | 28 |
| 7 | [Searchanise](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/searchanise/index.md) | 6% | 8% | 12 |
| 8 | [Bloomreach Discovery](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/bloomreach-discovery/index.md) | 4% | 16% | 44 |
| 9 | [Athos Commerce](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/athos-commerce/index.md) | 2% | 11% | 19 |
| 12 | [Nosto](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/nosto/index.md) | 0% | 12% | 17 |
| 13 | [Coveo for Commerce](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/coveo-for-commerce/index.md) | 0% | 34% | 38 |
| 14 | [Clerk.io](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/clerk-io/index.md) | 0% | 10% | 10 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 67 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Klevu; alternatives BigCommerce, Bloomreach Discovery, Nosto, Searchspring
- GPT-5.4 mini: Algolia; alternatives Adobe Commerce, Bloomreach Discovery, Salesforce B2B Commerce, Searchspring
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Hawksearch; alternatives Algolia, Bloomreach Discovery, Coveo for Commerce, Klevu
- Perplexity Sonar: Luigi's Box; alternatives Coveo for Commerce, Hawksearch
- Grok 4.20: Constructor; alternatives Algolia, Athos Commerce, Bloomreach Discovery, Luigi's Box
- Mistral Small: Constructor, Luigi's Box; alternatives Clerk.io, Coveo for Commerce, Hawksearch
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Luigi's Box; alternatives Athos Commerce, Hawksearch, Klevu
- Llama 4 Maverick: Luigi's Box; alternatives Athos Commerce, Bloomreach Discovery, Clerk.io, Constructor
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Luigi's Box; alternatives Algolia, Bloomreach Discovery, Hawksearch
- Kimi K2: Klevu; alternatives Algolia, Athos Commerce, Bloomreach Discovery
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Athos Commerce; alternatives Algolia, Constructor, Luigi's Box
- MiniMax M2.5: Luigi's Box; alternatives Athos Commerce, Clerk.io, Hawksearch
- GPT-6 Luna: Algolia; alternatives Constructor, Klevu, Searchspring
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Luigi's Box; alternatives Bloomreach Discovery, Constructor, Hawksearch

## Sources the answers cite

78 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- marketmaze.me: 40 answers, 40 citations
- clerk.io: 37 answers, 49 citations
- guideflow.com: 34 answers, 42 citations
- algolia.com: 32 answers, 54 citations
- luigisbox.com: 23 answers, 32 citations
- constructor.com: 23 answers, 31 citations
- g2.com: 22 answers, 37 citations
- bcloud.ai: 14 answers, 18 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://marketmaze.me/p/tools-ecommerce-site-search (40 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/best-e-merchandising-software (24 answers)
- https://clerk.io/solutions/b2b-ecommerce/search (17 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/best-ecommerce-search-software (16 answers)
- https://luigisbox.com/blog/b2b-ecommerce-search (16 answers)
- https://constructor.com/blog/ecommerce-search-product-discovery-solutions (15 answers)
- https://algolia.com/blog/ecommerce/ecommerce-search-solutions (11 answers)
- https://netcoreunbxd.com/blogs/best-ecommerce-search-platforms-2026 (11 answers)
- https://algolia.com/resources/asset/report-b2b-site-search-trends-2024 (9 answers)
- https://valiantceo.com/the-7-best-ecommerce-search-and-discovery-platforms (9 answers)

## Warned against

- Coveo for Commerce: 13 of 38 labels negative. "High pricing ... complex initial setup ... AI analyses label it a "criticized challenger"" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Algolia: 12 of 57 labels negative. "Algolia has a relatively high negative sentiment share (19% of labels negative) and is criticized for its consumption-based pricing model" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Elasticsearch: 9 of 12 labels negative. "Avoid unless you have dedicated dev resources—it's not a turnkey SaaS platform." (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Bloomreach Discovery: 7 of 44 labels negative. "Platforms to Approach with Caution or Potentially Avoid - Bloomreach Discovery ... Frequently criticized for high costs relative to results" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Algolia at 24%.

- Luigi's Box: 2% to 20%, +18. Cleared the floor by 7 points · rank 10 → 2 of 67.
- Doofinder: 12% to 20%, +8. Inside the floor by 3 points · rank 2 → 3 of 67.
- Constructor: 0% to 8%, +8. Inside the floor by 3 points · rank 18 → 4 of 67.
- Searchspring: 8% to 0%, −8. Inside the floor by 3 points · rank 5 → 15 of 67.
- Searchanise: 12% to 6%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 3 → 7 of 67.
- Coveo for Commerce: 6% to 0%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 7 → 13 of 67.
- Klevu: 10% to 6%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 4 → 6 of 67.
- Bloomreach Discovery: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 9 → 8 of 67.
- Athos Commerce: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 52 → 9 of 67.
- Clerk.io: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 → 14 of 67.
- Algolia: 25% to 24%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 1 of 67, unchanged.
- Hawksearch: 8% to 8%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 → 5 of 67.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/gtm.