August 2026 category evidence
CRM
Most named checked vendor
78 of 117 observed answers named Salesforce Sales Cloud
66.7% (95% interval 57.7% to 74.6%; base 78 of 117). Observed naming on the stated capture date, not a ranking.
Release 2026-08.1. Method version not supplied for this historical release. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22721962
Systems that centralize customer and prospect records, sales activity, pipeline management, and related revenue workflows.
10 companies checked. Capture date: 2026-08-28. 3 answers are excluded because an engine returned the recorded reason. Excluded answers reduce their question bases and are not counted as misses.
The Index measures observed naming, not service quality or product merit.
Core metric table
Observed naming by company
CRM observed naming table. Sorted by observed mention rate. These are observed answer counts on stated dates, not a ranking; vendors whose intervals overlap are not statistically distinguishable.| Company | Named | Cited | Buyer questions | Capture date |
|---|
| Salesforce Sales Cloud | 78 of 117 observed answers, 66.7% (95% interval 57.7% to 74.6%) | 17 of 117 observed answers, 14.5% (95% interval 9.3% to 22.0%) | 10 of 10 | 2026-08-28 |
|---|
| HubSpot CRM | 77 of 117 observed answers, 65.8% (95% interval 56.8% to 73.8%) | 5 of 117 observed answers, 4.3% (95% interval 1.8% to 9.6%) | 9 of 10 | 2026-08-28 |
|---|
| Pipedrive | 63 of 117 observed answers, 53.8% (95% interval 44.8% to 62.6%) | 14 of 117 observed answers, 12.0% (95% interval 7.3% to 19.1%) | 9 of 10 | 2026-08-28 |
|---|
| Zoho CRM | 63 of 117 observed answers, 53.8% (95% interval 44.8% to 62.6%) | 5 of 117 observed answers, 4.3% (95% interval 1.8% to 9.6%) | 9 of 10 | 2026-08-28 |
|---|
| Microsoft Dynamics 365 | 23 of 117 observed answers, 19.7% (95% interval 13.5% to 27.8%) | 3 of 117 observed answers, 2.6% (95% interval 0.9% to 7.3%) | 6 of 10 | 2026-08-28 |
|---|
| Freshsales | 15 of 117 observed answers, 12.8% (95% interval 7.9% to 20.1%) | 0 of 117 observed answers, 0.0% (95% interval 0.0% to 3.2%) | 5 of 10 | 2026-08-28 |
|---|
| Close | 5 of 117 observed answers, 4.3% (95% interval 1.8% to 9.6%) | 0 of 117 observed answers, 0.0% (95% interval 0.0% to 3.2%) | 3 of 10 | 2026-08-28 |
|---|
| Insightly | 3 of 117 observed answers, 2.6% (95% interval 0.9% to 7.3%) | 1 of 117 observed answers, 0.9% (95% interval 0.2% to 4.7%) | 2 of 10 | 2026-08-28 |
|---|
| Copper | 1 of 117 observed answers, 0.9% (95% interval 0.2% to 4.7%) | 0 of 117 observed answers, 0.0% (95% interval 0.0% to 3.2%) | 1 of 10 | 2026-08-28 |
|---|
| Nimble | 0 of 117 observed answers, 0.0% (95% interval 0.0% to 3.2%) | 0 of 117 observed answers, 0.0% (95% interval 0.0% to 3.2%) | 0 of 10 | 2026-08-28 |
|---|
Buyer questions
The ten fixed questions
Each question was put to every engine 3 times. Ask the same question yourself; answers vary by run.
What is the best CRM for a growing B2B sales team?
Question 1. 12 observed answers, 0 excluded.
Ask the engine yourself; answers vary by run.ChatGPTPerplexityClaude
Which CRM is best for managing a complex sales pipeline?
Question 2. 12 observed answers, 0 excluded.
Ask the engine yourself; answers vary by run.ChatGPTPerplexityClaude
What are the top CRM tools for a mid-market company?
Question 3. 12 observed answers, 0 excluded.
Ask the engine yourself; answers vary by run.ChatGPTPerplexityClaude
What are good alternatives to a traditional CRM?
Question 4. 12 observed answers, 0 excluded.
Ask the engine yourself; answers vary by run.ChatGPTPerplexityClaude
Which CRM options work well for a small sales team that is scaling?
Question 5. 12 observed answers, 0 excluded.
Ask the engine yourself; answers vary by run.ChatGPTPerplexityClaude
What CRM should a revenue team consider when replacing spreadsheets?
Question 6. 12 observed answers, 0 excluded.
Ask the engine yourself; answers vary by run.ChatGPTPerplexityClaude
How do the main CRM platforms compare for reporting and forecasting?
Question 7. 12 observed answers, 0 excluded.
Ask the engine yourself; answers vary by run.ChatGPTPerplexityClaude
Which CRM approach is better for a team with multiple sales motions?
Question 8. 12 observed answers, 0 excluded.
Ask the engine yourself; answers vary by run.ChatGPTPerplexityClaude
What should a buyer evaluate in a CRM?
Question 9. 12 observed answers, 0 excluded.
Ask the engine yourself; answers vary by run.ChatGPTPerplexityClaude
How can a sales team use a CRM to improve handoffs and follow-up?
Question 10. 9 observed answers, 3 excluded.
Ask the engine yourself; answers vary by run.ChatGPTPerplexityClaude
Method note
4 engines, 3 repeats, 10 fixed buyer questions, and one checked set.
Selection rule: A vendor is in the checked set if it appears on the relevant category page of at least two major software directories as of the capture date.
Commissioned engagement: no. No vendor in this category commissioned or paid for its inclusion or its result.
A named vendor may request one same-configuration re-run per release at no charge. Read the dispute policy.
Download CRM data
Citation erratum, 11 September 2026
Vendor citation counts were reconstructed from saved cited URLs, requiring an existing named verdict and the vendor domain or a subdomain in the same answer. The earlier citation fields were incorrectly zero. Named counts, question counts, answer bases and exclusions are unchanged. Nimble remains recorded at zero named answers. Answer text was not retained, so contextual qualification of its name cannot be independently re-scored from this release. This correction is archived in version 2026-08.1.