Absence Index
Who gets named. The public record.
In our September 2026 study, 46 of 286 checked vendors were never named in 2,095 valid answers: 16.1%, with a 95% Wilson interval of 12.3% to 20.8%. Read the dated evidence.
Explore the release
- Buyer questions: all 140 questions, who the five engines named for each, by engine.
- What AI names instead: the 36 "alternatives to" questions.
- Head to head: every checked vendor beside its category’s most named vendor.
- Statement records: what companies said about an acquisition or an incident, and what the engines repeated.
Absence Index, release 2026-09
Who AI names most, by category
Construction project management software
109 of 150
valid answers named Procore, the most named of 22 checked vendors
Full intervals in the linked public record. Captured 22 Sep 2026
Dealership management systems
90 of 150
valid answers named CDK Global, the most named of 22 checked vendors
Full intervals in the linked public record. Captured 22 Sep 2026
Dental practice management software
120 of 149
valid answers named Dentrix, the most named of 20 checked vendors
Full intervals in the linked public record. Captured 22 Sep 2026
Field service management software
108 of 150
valid answers named Housecall Pro, the most named of 22 checked vendors
Full intervals in the linked public record. Captured 22 Sep 2026
Hotel property management software
115 of 149
valid answers named Cloudbeds, the most named of 25 checked vendors
Full intervals in the linked public record. Captured 22 Sep 2026
Insurance agency management systems
127 of 150
valid answers named Applied Systems, the most named of 19 checked vendors
Full intervals in the linked public record. Captured 22 Sep 2026
Legal practice management software
126 of 150
valid answers named Clio, the most named of 21 checked vendors
Full intervals in the linked public record. Captured 22 Sep 2026
Loan origination and lending software
92 of 150
valid answers named nCino, the most named of 25 checked vendors
Full intervals in the linked public record. Captured 22 Sep 2026
Radiology and medical imaging software
87 of 150
valid answers named Sectra, the most named of 24 checked vendors
Full intervals in the linked public record. Captured 22 Sep 2026
Residential property management software
119 of 148
valid answers named Buildium, the most named of 22 checked vendors
Full intervals in the linked public record. Captured 22 Sep 2026
Transportation management systems
64 of 150
valid answers named AscendTMS, the most named of 25 checked vendors
Full intervals in the linked public record. Captured 22 Sep 2026
Veterinary practice management software
115 of 149
valid answers named ezyVet, the most named of 19 checked vendors
Full intervals in the linked public record. Captured 22 Sep 2026
CRM
113 of 150
valid answers named HubSpot CRM, the most named of 10 checked vendors
Full intervals in the linked public record. Captured 22 Sep 2026
Project management
97 of 150
valid answers named Asana, the most named of 10 checked vendors
Full intervals in the linked public record. Captured 22 to 23 Sep 2026
Source: Absence Index release 2026-09, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22907695. Counts are valid target answers across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode, three scheduled repeats and ten buyer questions per category. Excluded answers are left out of each base.
A record you can cite
Each vendor/category record carries its count, base, percentage and Wilson 95 percent interval. Missing dimensions are unavailable, never zero. Live paths follow the current release; dated paths remain fixed.
Example: Nimble in CRMTwelve industry pages
Claims, badges and disputes
Claims record vendor and date only; work contacts stay private for 24 months, then deleted.
Free badges: CC BY 4.0 with attribution; listed or named, light or dark, small or large. Pin a release or follow the current one; updates can take a day.
Dispute logs contain only date, vendor, category, release and status.
Dates and limits
The current release is 2026-09, published 23 September 2026: 14 categories, 286 vendors, 150 planned answers per category on ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22907695.
Release 2026-09: captured 22 and 23 September 2026 UTC under method v1.1 on ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode. Each release has its own configuration; we assert no change between releases. Per-engine counts are never inferred from combined counts.
Questions
Is the Index a ranking?
No. It is a record of observed answers on stated dates. Companies are not ordered by merit and nothing in it is a judgment of product quality. A vendor that is not named in a category was not named in those answers, which is a fact about the answers rather than a verdict on the vendor.
How does a company claim its page?
Where the record carries a canonical domain, by proving control of that domain with a DNS TXT record, and no email verification is needed. Where the release supplied no canonical domain, the claim opens by email instead. A claimant never chooses the domain. A claim verifies control and nothing else: it does not change an observation, endorse a vendor or add a vendor's words to the record.
What can a company do once it has claimed?
Dispute the record, request its one re-run for the release, request an alias correction, and take the badge code for its own site.
What are the re-run terms?
Any named company gets one re-run per release, under the same configuration, at no cost. Both results are published side by side with the original first. A re-run never replaces the original.
What do the badges say?
A badge states an observation on a dated release and links to the record it came from. The named form prints the count, the base, the percentage and the 95 percent interval. Text names only, no logos. Do not alter a badge, and keep its link and its visible category and release month.
What does the Index not know?
Where a release did not supply a dimension, the record says so rather than printing a zero. Per engine counts are not inferred from combined counts, capture dates are the dates the sources were captured. Answer text for releases before 2026-09 was not retained. For release 2026-09 and later, the full answer text is kept and published in the release's Zenodo deposit and on the receipt pages, except Perplexity, where the method keeps a scored excerpt of at most 60 words and the share link.
Index Verified and Category Exclusive
Your record, your move
Index Verified is your record, claimed by proving control of your domain with one DNS record. Show a badge with your real numbers, read your dated Index record, dispute a result and get one free re-run per release. No payment changes any number.
The engines badge counts an engine when a vendor is named on at least one of the ten questions in at least 2 of 3 scheduled repeats. Text names only: ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode.
A client who opts in gets a climb strip, release by release, with the engagement start marked and the Broadcastwell client disclosure. Counts from different engine sets or method versions stay separate.
Category Exclusive covers one company per category on the Fix Sprint and the program, for the engagement and 30 days after. The Agency Deadline Audit, white-label reports and every Index service stay open to everyone.
Read how it works. Claim and use your record. Check if your category is open.
Measure your own category.
One source-backed page or fix. Live or Handoff, chosen before payment. Due 48 elapsed hours after recorded Ready.
If we miss the deliverable or deadline, we initiate a full $490 refund within five business days. You keep the work. You may also request a full refund within 30 days of delivery.
No inclusion, ranking, revenue or commercial result is guaranteed.
Free 10-question check (one engine)One buyer question. One completed repair.
We build one source-backed page or fix for $490. Choose Live or Handoff before payment. We confirm Ready within 60 minutes during business hours. If anything is missing, a member of our team contacts you directly and finishes it with you. The deadline is 48 elapsed hours after recorded Ready.
If we miss the deliverable or deadline, we initiate a full $490 refund within five business days. You keep the work. You may also request a full refund within 30 days of delivery.
Fix one answer, $490