# Retail, proximity and IoT marketing: what AI models recommend, October 2026

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "proximity marketing platform" and as "location-based and in-store marketing tool", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/retail-proximity-and-iot-marketing/2026-10

This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/retail-proximity-and-iot-marketing/index.md

**Standing:** Foursquare Proximity leads with 15% of first choices; verdict contested. 46 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Foursquare Proximity](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/foursquare-proximity/index.md) | 15% | 7% | 29 |
| 2 | [Radar](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/radar/index.md) | 13% | 0% | 29 |
| 3 | [Kontakt.io](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/kontakt-io/index.md) | 7% | 12% | 16 |
| 6 | [Gimbal](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/gimbal/index.md) | 4% | 6% | 16 |
| 7 | [Braze](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/braze/index.md) | 4% | 22% | 18 |
| 9 | [InMarket](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/inmarket/index.md) | 4% | 27% | 11 |
| 11 | [GroundTruth](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/groundtruth/index.md) | 2% | 9% | 11 |
| 12 | [PlotProjects](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/plotprojects/index.md) | 2% | 10% | 10 |
| 25 | [CleverTap](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/clevertap/index.md) | 0% | 12% | 16 |
| 26 | [Estimote](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/estimote/index.md) | 0% | 20% | 15 |
| 27 | [Airship](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/airship/index.md) | 0% | 15% | 13 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 130 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: HubSpot Marketing Hub; alternatives AdRoll ABM, DemandScience, Mapsted, Terminus
- GPT-5.4 mini: Demandbase; alternatives Bluedot, Foursquare Proximity, Gimbal
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Propensity; alternatives GroundTruth, Qujam, StackAdapt
- Perplexity Sonar: Foursquare Proximity; alternatives Insider
- Grok 4.20: InMarket; alternatives Foursquare Proximity, Radar
- Mistral Small: Radar; alternatives InMarket, Kontakt.io
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Foursquare Proximity; alternatives Gimbal, GroundTruth, InMarket
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Ruuf; alternatives Foursquare Proximity, Push.io, Wrebby
- Kimi K2: InMarket; alternatives Foursquare Proximity, Radar
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Braze; alternatives CleverTap, Foursquare Proximity, SAP Engagement Cloud
- MiniMax M2.5: no first choice; alternatives Hey Sid, Propensity
- GPT-6 Luna: Propensity; alternatives Radar, Shared Audiences
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Kontakt.io; alternatives Foursquare Proximity, Gimbal, Uniqode

## 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:

- thecmo.com: 51 answers, 61 citations
- g2.com: 49 answers, 104 citations
- worldmetrics.org: 42 answers, 66 citations
- zipdo.co: 34 answers, 55 citations
- f6s.com: 28 answers, 35 citations
- sourceforge.net: 23 answers, 48 citations
- gitnux.org: 22 answers, 36 citations
- us.fitgap.com: 21 answers, 28 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://thecmo.com/tools/best-proximity-marketing-software (50 answers)
- https://worldmetrics.org/best/proximity-marketing-software (31 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/location-based-marketing (29 answers)
- https://f6s.com/software/category/proximity-marketing (23 answers)
- https://zipdo.co/best/proximity-advertising-software (18 answers)
- https://zipdo.co/best/proximity-marketing-software (18 answers)
- https://gartner.com/reviews/market/location-based-marketing-software (16 answers)
- https://clevertap.com/blog/location-based-marketing-platform (15 answers)
- https://us.fitgap.com/search/location-based-marketing-software/enterprise (14 answers)
- https://foursquare.com/products/proximity (13 answers)

## Warned against

- Braze: 4 of 18 labels negative. "Avoid: Enterprise tools like Braze/CleverTap (great but $100s+/month post-trial)" (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)
- Beacons.ai: 3 of 3 labels negative. "Several Reddit posts specifically warn against using Beacons for email marketing, citing lost business due to account issues." (MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt)
- Estimote: 3 of 15 labels negative. "Historically suffered from very poor app/store ratings (sometimes as low as 2.3/5)... "unreliable"" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)
- InMarket: 3 of 11 labels negative. "The FTC has taken action against location-data companies like InMarket, Kochava, and X-Mode/Outlogic over precisely those kinds of practices." (GPT-5.4 mini, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Radar at 16%.

- GroundTruth: 9% to 3%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 3 → 9 of 120.
- CleverTap: 6% to 0%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 6 → 24 of 120.
- Foursquare Proximity: 9% to 13%, +4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 2 of 120, unchanged.
- Radar: 19% to 16%, −3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 1 of 120, unchanged.
- Gimbal: 2% to 5%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 12 → 4 of 120.
- Braze: 2% to 5%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 15 → 5 of 120.
- InMarket: 2% to 5%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 13 → 6 of 120.
- PlotProjects: 6% to 3%, −3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 4 → 10 of 120.
- Estimote: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 11 → 26 of 120.
- Kontakt.io: 2% to 3%, +1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 10 → 8 of 120.
- Airship: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 26 → 25 of 120.
- Bluedot: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 25 → 27 of 120.

## Record

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