# Mobile marketing and push: what AI models recommend, September 2026

Gane Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "mobile push notification and SMS marketing platform" and as "push and SMS messaging tool", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/mobile-marketing-and-push/2026-09

This is the permanent record of the September 2026 Edition, published September 15, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/mobile-marketing-and-push/index.md

**Standing:** OneSignal (tied with Customer.io) leads with 34% of first choices; verdict contested. 47 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [OneSignal](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/onesignal/index.md) | 34% | 12% | 51 |
| 2 | [Customer.io](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/customer-io/index.md) | 34% | 7% | 27 |
| 4 | [Omnisend](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/omnisend/index.md) | 4% | 6% | 17 |
| 5 | [Braze](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/braze/index.md) | 4% | 34% | 41 |
| 6 | [CleverTap](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/clevertap/index.md) | 2% | 18% | 17 |
| 7 | [MoEngage](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/moengage/index.md) | 2% | 18% | 11 |
| 14 | [Courier](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/courier/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 20 |
| 15 | [Twilio Programmable Messaging](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/twilio-programmable-messaging/index.md) | 0% | 13% | 23 |
| 16 | [ActiveCampaign](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/activecampaign/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 10 |
| 17 | [Attentive](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/attentive/index.md) | 0% | 25% | 24 |
| 18 | [Klaviyo](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/klaviyo/index.md) | 0% | 24% | 25 |
| 19 | [SlickText](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/slicktext/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 10 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 75 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: Vero; alternatives Customer.io, Knock
- GPT-5.4 mini: Braze; alternatives Customer.io
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Customer.io; alternatives Courier, Knock, OneSignal
- Perplexity Sonar: Customer.io; alternatives ActiveCampaign, Courier
- Grok 4.20: OneSignal; alternatives ActiveCampaign, CleverTap, Customer.io, Pushwoosh
- Mistral Small: Customer.io; alternatives ActiveCampaign, OneSignal
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Customer.io; alternatives CleverTap, OneSignal, Vero
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Customer.io, Vero
- Kimi K2: Customer.io; alternatives OneSignal, Vero
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: OneSignal; alternatives Customer.io, Pushwoosh, SendPulse
- MiniMax M2.5: OneSignal; alternatives ActiveCampaign, Customer.io

## Sources the answers cite

20 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 4 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- courier.com: 11 answers, 15 citations
- onesignal.com: 9 answers, 16 citations
- pushwoosh.com: 9 answers, 13 citations
- klaviyo.com: 9 answers, 10 citations
- getvero.com: 7 answers, 11 citations
- engagelab.com: 7 answers, 9 citations
- textus.com: 7 answers, 7 citations
- wisepops.com: 7 answers, 7 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://courier.com/blog/top-push-notification-platforms (11 answers)
- https://klaviyo.com/blog/best-sms-marketing-platforms (7 answers)
- https://wisepops.com/blog/push-notification-software (7 answers)
- https://sashido.io/en/blog/best-push-notification-service-platforms-2026 (6 answers)
- https://textus.com/blog/sms-marketing-platform (6 answers)
- https://getvero.com/resources/best-email-sms-push-messaging-platforms-in-2026 (5 answers)
- https://getvero.com/resources/top-6-sms-marketing-platforms-for-b2b-in-2026 (5 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/push-notification-software-tools (5 answers)
- https://pushwoosh.com/blog/mobile-push-notification-services (5 answers)
- https://viasocket.com/discovery/blog/gea2wg/Push%20Notification%20Software/7-affordable-push-notification-platforms-for-smbs (5 answers)

## Warned against

- Braze: 14 of 41 labels negative. "Braze: Enterprise-focused, typically $60K-$200K/year—massive overkill for mid-market" (MiniMax M2.5, direct prompt)
- Iterable: 8 of 19 labels negative. "Generally too expensive and complex for lean mid-market teams unless you have a dedicated lifecycle marketing team." (Kimi K2, direct prompt)
- Airship: 7 of 22 labels negative. "steer clear of "Enterprise" giants (like Salesforce Marketing Cloud or Airship)" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, paraphrase prompt)
- OneSignal: 6 of 51 labels negative. "Several reviewers explicitly advise avoiding the platform." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)

## Record

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