September 2026 Edition, published · The permanent record of that edition, superseded since. The current standing is on the category page →
Index › GTM › Sales › AI SDR › Small business · September 2026 Edition

AI SDR agents for small business buyers

Asked as “AI SDR agent”, and as “AI sales development tool that prospects and books meetings”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 45 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing · first-choice share
24%
Contested · AiSDR 22%
24Apollo.io22AiSDR09Agent Frank44others

24% of first choices, contested.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.

The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Apollo.io24%6%32accepted challenger
02AiSDR22%8%40accepted challenger
03Agent Frank9%6%18accepted challenger
04Clay4%12%16accepted challenger
05Instantly2%5%22accepted challenger
06Amplemarket Duo2%10%10accepted challenger
Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
0911x0%61%23criticized challenger
08Artisan Ava0%38%32criticized challenger
07Reply.io Jason0%8%12accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
Head to headHead-to-head pages are published for mid-market buyers, so these open on mid-market figures, not small business.
All twenty-eight head-to-head pages: the top eight products, each against each

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
A03
04
05
06
07
08
09
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01Apollo.io24%
02AiSDR22%
03Agent Frank9%
04Clay4%
05Instantly2%
06Amplemarket Duo2%
07Reply.io Jason0%
08Artisan Ava0%
0911x0%

What they warned about

One of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity Sonar, Grok 4.20, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
11x
61%
14 of 23 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 9 hard negative
“too expensive and complex for small teams, and some carry credibility risks... TechCrunch (Mar 2025) exposed inflated ARR and fake customer logos” DeepSeek V4 Flash, comparative prompt
Artisan Ava
38%
12 of 32 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 8 hard negative
“Artisan AI: Frequently criticized by users for sending thousands of emails with zero replies.” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
AiSDR
8%
3 of 40 labels negative · 2 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“AiSDR: While popular, it faces backlash for being a "black box."” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
Clay
12%
2 of 16 labels negative · 2 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“NOT an AI SDR — enrichment infrastructure; sends nothing” DeepSeek V4 Flash, comparative prompt

What they cite

Four of the twelve models returned a source list in this edition: four return the pages they cited.

Sites the answers cite

22 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 4 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 318 links across 136 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. The other 8 models searched through a gateway that returned no source list on this edition.

vendor site · Salesforge11 answers · 22 citations · 3 models
vendor site · Amplemarket11 answers · 11 citations · 3 models
vendor site · 11x8 answers · 15 citations · 4 models
vendor site · Artisan8 answers · 8 citations · 3 models
vendor site · AiSDR7 answers · 13 citations · 3 models
7 answers · 9 citations · 4 models
vendor site · Monday.com7 answers · 8 citations · 3 models
vendor site · Instantly6 answers · 9 citations · 2 models
vendor site · eesier5 answers · 7 citations · 3 models
5 answers · 6 citations · 3 models
5 answers · 5 citations · 3 models
5 answers · 5 citations · 2 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

Search against answers

Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “ai sdr agent”, “best ai sdr agent”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Company and productsShareOwn site citedName searches, GoogleAI search demand, est.Organic visitsPaid search a month, est.Google ads, last 30 daysBest Google position
Apollo.io apollo.io24%101033,100396111,60894
AiSDR aisdr.com22%12388038,41805
Agent Frank9%210152
Clay clay.com4%287135,000168,089294,05611
Salesforge Agent Frank salesforge.ai4%44100119,383191
SalesTools.io salestools.io4%1200
eesier eesier.com4%1
Instantly instantly.ai2%10774,00087,94459,881$98617
Amplemarket Duo amplemarket.com2%3320012,06787
SalesRobot salesrobot.co2%

Google's top ten for the two searches hold 15 sites; 3 of them are among the sites the models cited here (aisdr.com, amplemarket.com, salesforge.ai). The first result for “ai sdr agent” is therankmasters.com.

How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHide
ModelDirect“What is the best AI SDR agent for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which AI sales development tool that prospects and books meetings would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top AI SDR agents for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best AI SDR agent for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating an AI SDR agent. What should we look at?”Negative“Which AI SDR agents should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Apollo.io
Three alternativesAiSDR, Amplemarket Duo, eesier
Apollo.ioHeld
Two alternativesArtisan Ava, Drift
Amplemarket Duo
Three alternativesAiSDR, Apollo.io, Reply.io Jason
Apollo.io
Three alternativesAiSDR, Instantly, Reply.io Jason
against: 11x, Artisan Ava
no first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniClay
One alternative11x
B2B RocketChanged
Four alternativesAiSDR, Apollo.io, Lemlist, Qualified Piper
AiSDR
Five alternativesApollo.io, Instantly, Overloop, Regie.ai, Smartlead SmartAgents
against: 11x, Artisan Ava, Lemlist, Reply.io Jason
AiSDR
Two alternativesSalesDeveloper.ai, Squirrels AI
against: Qualified Piper
no first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashAgent Frank, AiSDR
Two alternativesAva, Instantly
AiSDRChanged
Four alternativesAgent Frank, Clay, Instantly, SalesRobot
against: 11x, Artisan Ava
AiSDR, Artisan Ava
Two alternativesPersana AI, SalesRobot
against: 11x, Apollo.io
Instantly, eesier
Two alternativesAgent Frank, AiSDR
against: 11x, Artisan Ava
no first choiceagainst: 11x's Alice, Artisan Ava
Perplexity SonarAiSDR
Three alternativesAmplemarket Duo, Artisan Ava, Coldreach
Apollo.ioChanged
Three alternatives11x, Artisan Ava, HubSpot Sales Hub
AiSDR, Artisan Ava
Four alternativesAgent Frank, Apollo.io, Instantly, Reply.io Jason
Apollo.io, Jeeva
Two alternativesAgent Frank, AiSDR
no first choicenothing named
Grok 4.20Salesforge Agent Frank
One alternativeAiSDR
against: Artisan Ava
Apollo.ioChanged
Two alternativesHubSpot Sales Hub, Instantly
Apollo.io, Saleshandy
Two alternativesAgent Frank, AiSDR
Babuger
Three alternativesApollo.io, Instantly, Jeeva
against: Agent Frank, AiSDR, Artisan Ava
AiSDR
Five alternativesAlta, Amplemarket Duo, Clay, Salesmotion, Unify
against: 11x, AiSDR, Artisan Ava
Mistral SmallAgent Frank
Four alternativesAiSDR, Luna.ai, MeetChase AI SDR, Stamina.io
Apollo.ioChanged
Three alternativesInstantly, Regie.ai, Salesmotion
AiSDR
Three alternativesColdreach, Humanlinker, Saleshandy
against: 11x, Alta
SalesTools.io
Four alternativesAgent Frank, Apollo.io, Instantly, LeadLoft
Clay
Two alternativesLavender, Outreach
nothing named
DeepSeek V4 FlashAiSDR
Two alternativesApollo.io, Salesforge Agent Frank
against: 11x
Apollo.ioChanged
Three alternativesAiSDR, Instantly, Salesforge Agent Frank
AiSDR, Salesforge Agent Frank
Two alternativesHubSpot Prospecting Agent, Jason AI
against: 11x, Amplemarket Duo, Clay, Regie.ai
Agent Frank
Three alternativesApollo.io, Jeeva, OpenClaw
no first choice
Five alternativesAiSDR, Jason AI, LeadLoft, Reply.io Jason, SalesTools.io
against: 11x
against: 11x, Artisan Ava
Llama 4 MaverickAgent Frank, MeetChase, SalesRobotApollo.ioChanged
One alternativeInstantly
Amplemarket Duo
Two alternativesAgent Frank, AiSDR
Gojiberry AI
Four alternativesAiSDR, Apollo.io, Instantly Hypergrowth, Lavender
no first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashAmplemarket Duo
Two alternativesInstantly, SalesRobot
ReachInbox, Salesforge Agent FrankChanged
One alternativeSalesRobot
AiSDR, Apollo.io
Two alternativesClay, Smartlead SmartAgents
AiSDR
Three alternativesSalesTools.io, Salesforge Agent Frank, folk CRM
AiSDR
Six alternativesApollo.io, Artisan Ava, Instantly, LeadLoft, OpenAI/ChatGPT API, Reply.io Jason
against: AiSDR, Artisan Ava
Kimi K2Regie.ai
Four alternativesAgentplace, AiSDR, Artisan Ava, Gojiberry AI
against: 11x
Apollo.ioChanged
Three alternativesAgent Frank, Reply.io Jason, Saleshandy
against: 11x, Artisan Ava
Apollo.io, Saleshandy
Three alternativesAgent Frank, AiSDR, Reply.io Jason
Apollo.io
Five alternativesAgent Frank, AiSDR, Instantly, Lavender, Mailshake
no first choice
Three alternativesClay, Instantly, Smartlead SmartAgents
against: 11x, Artisan Ava, Regie.ai
GLM 4.7 FlashXAiSDR
Four alternativesArtisan Ava, Breakout, Gojiberry AI, Regie.ai
Chase AIChanged
Two alternatives11x, Artisan Ava
against: Apollo.io, Clay
AiSDR, Apollo.io with Jason AI
Two alternativesArtisan Ava, Clay
against: Instantly
Artra
Five alternativesApollo.io, Instantly, Lemlist, Reply.io Jason, Saleshandy
no first choicenothing named
MiniMax M2.5SalesTools.io
Two alternativesAutoRev AI, Persana AI
AiSDRChanged
Three alternativesAva, Reply.io Jason, Zara
Saleshandy
Three alternativesAgent Frank, AiSDR, Apollo.io
eesier
Three alternativesAiSDR, LeadLoft, SalesTools.io
no first choice
Three alternativesClay, Lavender, Outreach
nothing named
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency.
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 02:01yes1514 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 01:23yes24 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 02:36yes1823 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 03:46yes205 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-14 23:36yes010 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 04:53yes08 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 00:36yes042 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 05:02yes02 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 01:14yes048 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 02:24yes033 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 01:47yes024 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 00:58yes014 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 01:53yes108 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 03:24yes54 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-14 23:20yes2527 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-14 22:53yes196 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-15 04:05yes09 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 03:02yes06 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 02:42yes019 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 00:08yes01 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 03:29yes050 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-14 23:01yes029 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 00:03yes032 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-14 23:00yes011 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 01:30yes99 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 02:47yes57 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 02:28yes3135 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 04:49yes2011 s
ComparativeGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-15 05:00yes08 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 04:26yes09 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 02:56yes023 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-14 23:32yes05 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 00:31yes025 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-14 23:19yes036 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 03:02yes076 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 03:43yes016 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 00:03yes1413 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 03:09yes49 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 00:55yes1720 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-14 23:33yes205 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-15 04:19yes07 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 04:50yes05 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 04:42yes037 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 03:22yes01 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 02:17yes034 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 05:00yes020 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 04:23yes041 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 04:52yes015 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 04:03no010 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 02:44no08 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-14 23:21yes1220 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 05:01yes208 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-15 00:28yes010 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-14 23:49yes07 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 04:28yes019 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 03:01yes02 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 00:43yes062 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 05:01yes062 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 00:41yes041 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 01:46yes015 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 04:05yes1417 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 02:50yes46 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-14 23:55yes1423 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 01:15yes206 s
Negative framingGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-14 22:54yes08 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 02:44yes07 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 04:35yes022 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 00:11yes01 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 04:09yes059 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 04:32yes056 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-14 23:07yes032 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-14 22:58yes016 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
Amplemarket read as Amplemarket Duo
Amplemarket (Duo) read as Amplemarket Duo
Amplemarket Duo Copilot read as Amplemarket Duo
Amplemarket's Duo Copilot read as Amplemarket Duo
Artisan read as Artisan Ava
Artisan (Ava) read as Artisan Ava
Artisan AI read as Artisan Ava
Artisan AI (Ava) read as Artisan Ava
Artisan.co (Ava) read as Artisan Ava
HubSpot Breeze read as HubSpot Prospecting Agent
Instantly Copilot read as Instantly
Qualified read as Qualified Piper
Regie read as Regie.ai
Reply.io read as Reply.io Jason
Reply.io (Jason AI) read as Reply.io Jason
Reply.io (Jason) read as Reply.io Jason
SalesForge (Agent Frank) read as Salesforge Agent Frank
Salesforge read as Salesforge Agent Frank
Salesforge (Agent Frank) read as Salesforge Agent Frank
Salesforge's Agent Frank read as Salesforge Agent Frank
Smartlead read as Smartlead SmartAgents
ZoomInfo read as ZoomInfo Copilot
Unresolved, counted raw
11x's Alice
Apollo.io with Jason AI
AutoRev AI
Bounti.ai
FactoryJet
Instantly Hypergrowth
Luna.ai
MeetChase AI SDR
OpenAI/ChatGPT API
ReachInbox
SalesDeveloper.ai
Salesforce
Squirrels AI
Stamina.io
Zara (Stamina)
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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