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

Gane Index, November 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/2026-11

**Standing:** Foursquare Proximity leads with 15% of first choices; verdict contested. 54 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% | 10% | 31 |
| 2 | [Uniqode](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/uniqode/index.md) | 13% | 0% | 12 |
| 3 | [Radar](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/radar/index.md) | 4% | 3% | 31 |
| 4 | [GroundTruth](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/groundtruth/index.md) | 4% | 7% | 15 |
| 5 | [Braze](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/braze/index.md) | 4% | 24% | 21 |
| 10 | [CleverTap](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/clevertap/index.md) | 2% | 18% | 17 |
| 11 | [Estimote](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/estimote/index.md) | 2% | 21% | 14 |
| 35 | [Bluedot](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/bluedot/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 10 |
| 37 | [Kontakt.io](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/kontakt-io/index.md) | 0% | 9% | 11 |
| 41 | [Airship](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/airship/index.md) | 0% | 18% | 11 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 170 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: Qujam; alternatives Propensity, Reveal Mobile
- GPT-5.4 mini: 6sense, Demandbase; alternatives Braze, Foursquare Proximity, Insider, PlotProjects
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: AdRoll ABM, Braze, Uniqode; alternatives Mobilo, Popl, Propensity
- Perplexity Sonar: Uniqode; alternatives Braze, Radar
- Grok 4.20: Foursquare Proximity; alternatives Bluedot, PlotProjects, Radar
- Mistral Small: Foursquare Proximity, GroundTruth; alternatives Radar
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Foursquare Proximity; alternatives CleverTap, GroundTruth, Radar
- Llama 4 Maverick: InMarket; alternatives Uniqode
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Airify, ToneTag; alternatives BeaconBlaze, Merkle
- Kimi K2: Radar; alternatives CleverTap, Foursquare Proximity, Purple, Uniqode
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: CleverTap; alternatives Aislelabs, Braze, Foursquare Proximity, Radar
- MiniMax M2.5: Uniqode; alternatives Braze, HubSpot Marketing Hub, Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement
- GPT-6 Luna: Propensity; alternatives Radar, Shared Audiences
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Foursquare Proximity, Radar; alternatives B2Brain, Bluedot, Braze, Captello

## Sources the answers cite

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

- g2.com: 35 answers, 52 citations
- thecmo.com: 28 answers, 29 citations
- gane.ai/index: 21 answers, 31 citations
- verifiedmarketresearch.com: 20 answers, 21 citations
- sourceforge.net: 19 answers, 24 citations
- linkedin.com: 18 answers, 26 citations
- axiobench.com: 18 answers, 20 citations
- f6s.com: 15 answers, 20 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://thecmo.com/tools/best-proximity-marketing-software (28 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/mobile-marketing/f/proximity-marketing (20 answers)
- https://verifiedmarketresearch.com/blog/top-proximity-marketing-companies (20 answers)
- https://axiobench.com/best/proximity-marketing-software (18 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/location-based-marketing-software (13 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/location-based-marketing (11 answers)
- https://strategyand.pwc.com/gx/en/insights/archive/the-missing-link/the-missing-link.pdf (11 answers)
- https://beaconzone.co.uk/solutionsdirectory (10 answers)
- https://f6s.com/software/category/proximity-marketing (10 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/retail-proximity-and-iot-marketing (9 answers)

## Warned against

- Braze: 5 of 21 labels negative. "notably high negative rating (47% criticized) and is flagged as a "challenger=held" since September 2026, indicating significant criticism or dissatisfaction" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- CleverTap: 3 of 17 labels negative. "Avoid enterprise tools like Braze, CleverTap, or Airship" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt)
- Estimote: 3 of 14 labels negative. "Avoid full platforms like Estimote if over budget" (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)
- Airship: 2 of 11 labels negative. "Avoid enterprise platforms such as Braze, Foursquare, or Airship" (Perplexity Sonar, budget prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Foursquare Proximity at 15%.

- Uniqode: 4% to 13%, +9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 8 → 2 of 170.
- Radar: 13% to 4%, −9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 2 → 3 of 170.
- Kontakt.io: 7% to 0%, −7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 3 → 37 of 170.
- Gimbal: 4% to 0%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 6 → 141 of 170.
- GroundTruth: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 11 → 4 of 170.
- CleverTap: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 25 → 10 of 170.
- Estimote: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 26 → 11 of 170.
- InMarket: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 9 → 16 of 170.
- PlotProjects: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 12 → 36 of 170.
- Foursquare Proximity: 15% to 15%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 1 of 170, unchanged.
- Braze: 4% to 4%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 7 → 5 of 170.
- Bluedot: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 28 → 35 of 170.

## 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.