# Marketing automation and campaign management for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026 Gane, the publisher, sells software in this category. Every product here is measured by the same method as in every other category. Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "marketing automation platform" and as "marketing automation and campaign management tool", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/marketing-automation/2026-11/smb **Standing:** HubSpot Marketing Hub leads with 37% of first choices; verdict contested. 49 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts. ## First-choice share | Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | [HubSpot Marketing Hub](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/hubspot-marketing-hub/index.md) | 37% | 22% | 73 | | 2 | [ActiveCampaign](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/activecampaign/index.md) | 35% | 5% | 73 | | 3 | [Brevo](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/brevo/index.md) | 22% | 3% | 62 | | 4 | [Mailchimp](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/mailchimp/index.md) | 4% | 23% | 47 | | 5 | [MailerLite](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/mailerlite/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 15 | | 6 | [Klaviyo](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/klaviyo/index.md) | 0% | 12% | 32 | | 7 | [Omnisend](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/omnisend/index.md) | 0% | 7% | 15 | | 46 | [Keap](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/keap/index.md) | 0% | 55% | 11 | | 47 | [Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/salesforce-marketing-cloud-account-engagement/index.md) | 0% | 70% | 10 | | 50 | [Adobe Marketo Engage](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/adobe-marketo-engage/index.md) | 0% | 86% | 21 | Rank is by share of first choices among all 50 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: no first choice - GPT-5.4 mini: HubSpot Marketing Hub; alternatives ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp - Gemini 3.5 Flash: ActiveCampaign, HubSpot Marketing Hub; alternatives Brevo, Zoho Marketing Automation - Perplexity Sonar: ActiveCampaign; alternatives Brevo, HubSpot Marketing Hub, Zoho Marketing Automation - Grok 4.20: HubSpot Marketing Hub; alternatives ActiveCampaign, Brevo - Mistral Small: ActiveCampaign; alternatives Brevo, EngageBay, HubSpot Marketing Hub, Zoho Marketing Automation - DeepSeek V4 Flash: HubSpot Marketing Hub; alternatives ActiveCampaign, Brevo, Zoho Marketing Automation - Llama 4 Maverick: ActiveCampaign; alternatives Brevo, EngageBay, HubSpot Marketing Hub, Zoho Marketing Automation - Qwen 3.7 Flash: HubSpot Marketing Hub; alternatives ActiveCampaign, Keap - Kimi K2: ActiveCampaign; alternatives Brevo, HubSpot Marketing Hub - GLM 4.7 FlashX: HubSpot Marketing Hub; alternatives ActiveCampaign, Brevo, Customer.io, Klaviyo - MiniMax M2.5: HubSpot Marketing Hub; alternatives ActiveCampaign, Brevo - GPT-6 Luna: ActiveCampaign; alternatives Brevo, HubSpot Marketing Hub - Muse Glimmer 30B: ActiveCampaign; alternatives Brevo, HubSpot Marketing Hub ## Sources the answers cite 70 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers: - fitsmallbusiness.com: 27 answers, 28 citations - toolradar.com: 23 answers, 34 citations - g2.com: 23 answers, 31 citations - zapier.com: 19 answers, 22 citations - softwareadvice.com: 18 answers, 25 citations - capterra.com: 17 answers, 26 citations - improvado.io: 16 answers, 16 citations - resources.rework.com: 13 answers, 15 citations Pages named in the most answers: - https://fitsmallbusiness.com/best-marketing-automation-software (27 answers) - https://improvado.io/blog/marketing-automation-tools (16 answers) - https://zapier.com/blog/best-marketing-automation-software (15 answers) - https://g2.com/categories/marketing-automation/small-business (14 answers) - https://resources.rework.com/guides/choosing-software/how-to-choose-marketing-automation-for-small-business (13 answers) - https://toolradar.com/guides/best-marketing-automation-software (12 answers) - https://capterra.com/marketing-automation-software/s/small-businesses (9 answers) - https://infobip.com/blog/best-marketing-automation-platforms (9 answers) - https://constantcontact.com/blog/how-to-choose-marketing-automation-software (8 answers) - https://emailtooltester.com/en/blog/best-b2b-marketing-automation-platform (8 answers) ## Warned against - HubSpot Marketing Hub: 16 of 73 labels negative. "ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, Ontraport, and Keap may not be the best fit for small businesses due to their complexity, pricing, or limited features" (Llama 4 Maverick, negative prompt) - Adobe Marketo Engage: 18 of 21 labels negative. "generally avoid unless you have complex multi-channel programs, substantial contact volume, technical support, and a dedicated marketing-operations owner" (Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt) - Oracle Eloqua: 8 of 8 labels negative. "Buyer feedback emphasizes it's not SMB-friendly and can feel bloated... Skip unless you have enterprise needs." (Grok 4.20, negative prompt) - Salesforce Marketing Cloud: 9 of 9 labels negative. "demands significant training and expertise, and its pricing reflects its enterprise capabilities and can be cost-prohibitive for small to mid-market businesses" (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt) ## Movement since October 2026 Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat. New leader: ActiveCampaign (39%) to HubSpot Marketing Hub (37%). Margin 2 points, within noise. - HubSpot Marketing Hub: 31% to 37%, +6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 2 → 1 of 50. - ActiveCampaign: 39% to 35%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 1 → 2 of 50. - Brevo: 25% to 22%, −3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 3 of 50, unchanged. - MailerLite: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 7 → 5 of 50. - Mailchimp: 4% to 4%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 4 of 50, unchanged. - Klaviyo: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 5 → 6 of 50. - Omnisend: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 8 → 7 of 50. - GetResponse: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 → 11 of 50. - Keap: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 32 → 46 of 50. - Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 42 → 47 of 50. - Adobe Marketo Engage: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 44 → 50 of 50. ## 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.