Insights · Research · September 2026

Which AI SDR tools do ChatGPT and Perplexity recommend?

In September, ChatGPT recommended AiSDR on 10 of 15 buyer questions in both of our runs, 11x on 9 and Reply.io on 8. Perplexity recommended Apollo on 9, and AiSDR and Clay on 7 each. The biggest change since July is on Perplexity, where AI-native SDR tools that were almost absent in July now come up routinely.

Fabian Cid

Founder, Shifter

September 27, 2026
7 min read

When a sales leader asks an AI assistant which AI SDR to use, a shortlist of five or six names comes back. We wanted to know which names, how stable they are from one run to the next, and what changed since we first asked in July.

The questions

We asked 15 questions, written the way buyers type them.

• 8 are the exact questions from our 3 July run, typed the same way (lowercase, no question mark), so the before/after is fair.
• 3 are general AI SDR questions.
• 4 cover angles July didn't: HubSpot integration, a small budget, G2 reviews, and whether to hire a human SDR instead.

Who both runs recommended

We ran every question twice, a day apart (24 and 25 September), on both engines. A tool counts as recommended for a question only if both runs presented it as an option. That means in a sentence, list or table row, trade-offs allowed. A tool mentioned only in a source title or link, or only as something to avoid, doesn't count. The table shows the number of questions, out of 15, where that happened. It lists every tool that reached 3 or more on either engine.

HubSpot and Salesforce came up in many answers, but almost always as the CRM an AI SDR connects to, not as the AI SDR itself. HubSpot's own AI agent (Breeze Prospecting Agent) was recommended on 2 questions on ChatGPT, and Salesforce's on none. Neither reaches the table's cutoff.

Five tools reached at least 4 questions on both engines: AiSDR, Reply.io, Salesforge, Clay and Apollo. That's the closest thing to a shared shortlist across the two engines. 11x, Artisan and Regie.ai are strong on ChatGPT (6–9), but on Perplexity they mostly appeared in the titles of sources the answer cited, not as recommendations.

How stable is an answer? Leaving the CRMs out, 64% of the tools ChatGPT recommended for a question were recommended again in the second run. On Perplexity it was 39%. Perplexity's lists are longer and change more between runs, which is why a single screenshot of an AI answer proves very little.

What changed since July

For the 8 questions we asked both times, here's how many answers mentioned each tool anywhere, including in source titles. That's a looser count than the table above, but it's the only one we can apply the same way to July's saved text. July was a single run. September has two runs, shown separately, so the comparison is run for run.

Perplexity

ChatGPT

What moved:

• On Perplexity, the AI-native SDR tools arrived. Clay, Artisan, AiSDR and Instantly went from 0 of 8 answers in July to 4–6 in each September run, and 11x from 1 to 5–6. One caution: in July we asked Perplexity logged out, and in September on a Pro account in Incognito, so part of this change may be the mode, not the market.
• On ChatGPT, the older sales-engagement names gave way. Outreach went from 5 of 8 to 1 in each run, and Apollo from 8 to 5. The dedicated AI SDRs held or grew: Reply.io 3 → 4–5, Salesforge 1 → 3–4, and 11x steady at 5.
• "Artisan alternatives" changed meaning. In July, Perplexity read it as handmade and artisanal products and named no sales tools. In both September runs, it led with Artisan the AI sales platform and its competitors, and only then mentioned other meanings (bread and cheese in one run, mousepads in the other). ChatGPT read it as the sales tool both times.

What the answers lean on

We counted each cited site once per answer, with subdomains merged.

• ChatGPT leans on the vendors' own sites. aisdr.com was cited in 11 of 15 answers in both runs. 11x.ai was cited in 9 in both runs, salesforge.ai in 9 and 8, and reply.io in 8 and 9. The third-party sites that appeared were g2.com (6 in each run) and reddit.com (5 in run 1).
• Perplexity leans on roundups. zoominfo.com (including its sales blog's "best tools" posts) was cited in 9 and 11 answers. artisan.co (including its blog) was cited in 11 and 8. Vendors' own "best AI SDR tools" articles were a big part of the source list.
• Location shows up in Perplexity. Because we ran from Spain, 7 of 15 Perplexity answers in run 2 mentioned Spain or EU rules, and cited Spanish legal sources (boe.es and aepd.es, 5 answers each). ChatGPT didn't.

If you sell an AI SDR and you're not on the list

1. Answer the comparison yourself. On ChatGPT, the named tools are mostly cited from their own pages. A page that honestly compares you with AiSDR, 11x or Artisan, and says who each one suits, is the kind of page these answers quote.
2. Get into the roundups Perplexity reads. Its sources were largely "best AI SDR tools" articles, many written by vendors. Being listed, accurately, in the ones it cites gives it a reason to include you.
3. Keep your basics consistent. Pricing, integrations and who you're for, on your site, G2 and LinkedIn. That's what the answers repeat when they do name you.

How we ran this

• Engines and modes:
  • ChatGPT in Temporary Chat with web search on.
  • Perplexity on a Pro account, a new Incognito thread per question.
  • July's runs were logged out (ChatGPT in Temporary Chat; Perplexity with no account).
• Dates (UTC):
  • Run 1: 24 September 2026, 15:49–16:22. The 3 general questions on ChatGPT were reused from a capture earlier that day, in the same mode.
  • Run 2: 25 September 2026, 17:10–18:09.
  • July: 3 July 2026.
• Location: both September runs were from Spain (Galicia). July's run was also from Spain; the town wasn't recorded.
• Counting:
  • Recommended (the table): the answer presents the tool as an option, in a sentence, list or table row. A mention only in a source title, a link or a warning ("too expensive for this use case") doesn't count. Each mention was labeled by an AI model, and we reviewed every exclusion that changed a number.
  • Mentioned (July vs September): the tool's name or site appears anywhere in the answer, including source titles.
  • For "X alternatives" questions, X itself isn't counted.
  • CRMs are reported separately (see above).
  • For "Artisan alternatives", only the AI-sales part of the answer is counted.
• What this isn't: a ranking of product quality, or a prediction of what you'll see. Answers vary by run, account and location. It's what these two engines said, on these dates, to these questions.
• Corrections: if you're a named vendor and think we miscounted, email hello@shifter.co. We'll re-run the question and publish a dated note either way.
• Disclosure: Shifter works on AI-search visibility for B2B software companies. No company paid to be included, and the questions and counting rules were fixed before the runs.

FAQ

Which AI SDR tool does ChatGPT recommend most?

In our September runs, ChatGPT recommended AiSDR on 10 of 15 buyer questions in both runs, followed by 11x (9) and Reply.io (8).

Does Perplexity recommend the same AI SDR tools as ChatGPT?

Partly. Five tools were recommended in both runs on at least 4 of 15 questions on both engines: AiSDR, Reply.io, Salesforge, Clay and Apollo. Perplexity put Apollo first (9 of 15), while ChatGPT put AiSDR first (10 of 15).

Why do AI answers about AI SDR tools change?

AI answers are generated fresh each time from whatever sources the engine finds that day, so the same question can return a different list. In our runs, 64% of the tools ChatGPT recommended for a question were recommended again the next day, and 39% of Perplexity's. That's why we only count names that appeared in both runs.

How can an AI SDR company get into these answers?

Publish pages that answer buyers' comparison questions directly, since ChatGPT mostly cites vendors' own pages. Get listed accurately in the "best AI SDR tools" roundups Perplexity cites. And keep your pricing, integrations and positioning consistent across your site, G2 and LinkedIn.