Which B2B PPC and paid media agencies for SaaS do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend? (October 2026)
When SaaS companies ask AI engines which paid media agency to hire, one agency is named in most answers. Directive Consulting was named most often, in 44 of 59 answers (74.6%), followed by Hey Digital (30) and KlientBoost (28). All 59 answers named at least one firm, and 85 different firms were named in total, 41 of them only once.
By Frederik Jakobsen, founder of Danish Lead Co and SourceRank AI. Measured 10 October 2026, published October 2026.
The firms AI named most often
Share of all 59 answers that named the firm as a provider, and how many answers on each engine named it. An answer counts once per firm however often it repeats the name.
100.0%
Answers that named at least one provider firm: 59 of 59. Every answer named firms.
85 firms
Distinct firms named across all 59 answers. 41 of them were named in only one answer.
27.1%
Share of all 376 firm mentions taken by the three most named firms, Directive Consulting, Hey Digital and KlientBoost.
| # | Firm | Answers naming it | Engines | ChatGPT of 12 | Gemini of 12 | Copilot of 11 | AI Mode of 12 | AI Overviews of 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Directive Consulting | 44 of 59 74.6% | 5 of 5 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 8 |
| 2 | Hey Digital | 30 of 59 50.8% | 5 of 5 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 7 |
| 3 | KlientBoost | 28 of 59 47.5% | 5 of 5 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| 4 | Powered by Search | 24 of 59 40.7% | 5 of 5 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 |
| 5 | Refine Labs | 23 of 59 39.0% | 5 of 5 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 6 | SaaSHero | 15 of 59 25.4% | 5 of 5 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| 7 | Aimers | 12 of 59 20.3% | 5 of 5 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | Single Grain | 11 of 59 18.6% | 5 of 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 9 | NoGood | 10 of 59 16.9% | 5 of 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | Kalungi | 10 of 59 16.9% | 4 of 5 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 2 |
| 11 | HawkSEM | 10 of 59 16.9% | 4 of 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 12 | Obility | 9 of 59 15.3% | 5 of 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 13 | GrowthSpree | 8 of 59 13.6% | 5 of 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 14 | TripleDart | 8 of 59 13.6% | 4 of 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 15 | Camel Digital | 6 of 59 10.2% | 4 of 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Top 15 of 85 firms. Engine columns show answers naming the firm out of that engine's measured answers. Firms with the same count are listed in the order the data was read.
What the answers show
- +Directive Consulting was named in 44 of 59 answers, 74.6%, and was the most named agency on all five engines. ChatGPT named it in 12 of 12 answers.
- +Behind it sits a group of four: Hey Digital (30), KlientBoost (28), Powered by Search (24) and Refine Labs (23).
- +SaaSHero shows the own-content route: saashero.net was the most cited domain, in 13 of 42 answers with sources, and SaaSHero was named in 15 answers, only 1 of 12 of them on ChatGPT, which showed no sources in this run.
- +Review directories were nearly absent: cited in 2 of 42 answers with sources. Agencies' own pages were cited in 38.
What each engine named
The most named agency per engine. Directive Consulting led on all five.
| Engine | Answers | Named a provider | Distinct firms | Most named firm on that engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 12 | 12 of 12 100.0% | 36 | Directive Consulting (12 of 12) |
| Gemini | 12 | 12 of 12 100.0% | 30 | Directive Consulting (10 of 12) |
| Microsoft Copilot | 11 | 11 of 11 100.0% | 52 | Directive Consulting (7 of 11) |
| Google AI Mode | 12 | 12 of 12 100.0% | 32 | Directive Consulting (7 of 12) |
| Google AI Overviews | 12 | 12 of 12 100.0% | 34 | Directive Consulting (8 of 12) |
First-pick agreement: in 10 of the 12 questions where at least two engines named a firm, two or more engines named the same firm first. Directive Consulting was named by 5 of 5 engines.
The sources behind the recommendations
Most cited domains in the 42 answers that showed a source list. Agencies' own pages dominate.
| # | Cited domain | Kind | Answers citing it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | saashero.net | A named firm's own website | 13 of 42 31.0% |
| 2 | vertodigital.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 8 of 42 19.0% |
| 3 | cameldigital.co | A named firm's own website | 8 of 42 19.0% |
| 4 | youtube.com | Social and video | 6 of 42 14.3% |
| 5 | startups.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 5 of 42 11.9% |
| 6 | directiveconsulting.com | A named firm's own website | 5 of 42 11.9% |
| 7 | understoryagency.com | A named firm's own website | 5 of 42 11.9% |
| 8 | omnilabconsulting.com | A named firm's own website | 5 of 42 11.9% |
| 9 | growth.cx | A named firm's own website | 4 of 42 9.5% |
| 10 | onemetrik.com | A named firm's own website | 4 of 42 9.5% |
| 11 | growthspreeofficial.com | A named firm's own website | 4 of 42 9.5% |
| 12 | marketingltb.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 4 of 42 9.5% |
Out of the 42 answers that carried a source list (119 distinct domains). Sources per engine: ChatGPT 0 of 12, Gemini 8 of 12, Copilot 11 of 11, AI Mode 11 of 12, AI Overviews 12 of 12.
| Source kind | Answers citing at least one |
|---|---|
| A named firm's own website | 38 of 42 90.5% |
| Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 37 of 42 88.1% |
| Social and video | 7 of 42 16.7% |
| Community forum | 4 of 42 9.5% |
| Directory, review or analyst site | 2 of 42 4.8% |
An answer can cite several kinds, so the rows do not sum to the total. "A named firm's own website" means the domain matches the name of a firm named in this category.
How a firm in this category gets named
Being named depends on what the engines read. In this category, of the 42 answers that showed their sources, 38 cited a named firm's own website and 2 cited a directory, review or analyst site. In this category agencies write the comparison content the engines read, and the search-grounded engines name the authors. An agency outside the top five can enter through specific, honest comparison pages for the situations buyers ask about (Series A, PLG, cost per demo), but has to earn mentions elsewhere to show up on ChatGPT. This is the work SourceRank AI does, described on the services page. The free site readiness check shows whether your site is structurally ready to be cited; it checks your site, it does not measure answers like the ones on this page. To see where your own firm stands in these answers, book a call.
Exactly what was measured
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Date | 10 October 2026, one run |
| Buyer questions | 12, each phrased as a buyer asking for a provider, varied by size, budget, situation and switching. Full list below |
| Answer engines | 5: ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews |
| Engine cells | 60. One question on one engine |
| Answers measured | 59 of 60. The denominator for every share on this page. 1 Copilot answer was written for a buyer outside the US, a side effect of the third-party service we query Copilot through, and is excluded |
| Market | United States, English. Google AI Mode and AI Overviews were queried with a US location. ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot were not given a location, the same as in our client measurement runs; Copilot answers that assumed a buyer abroad are excluded |
| Sources | Cited sources come from Gemini, Copilot, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews. ChatGPT's answers in this run came back without a machine-readable source list, so ChatGPT is not in the source tables |
| Firm extraction | One language model call per answer listed the firms the answer named as providers, excluding directories, publications, citation labels and tools. Names were normalised and aliases merged. A hand check of 20 answers across the study is reported on the hub page |
| Not measured | Location personalisation for the chat engines, logged-in or personalised sessions, run-to-run variation (this is a single run, and the same question asked again can return different firms), and model versions, which change without notice |
All 12 buyer questions
- Best B2B PPC agency for a SaaS company
- Which paid media agency should a Series A SaaS startup hire?
- Top Google Ads agencies for B2B SaaS companies
- Best LinkedIn Ads agency for B2B SaaS
- We are unhappy with our paid ads agency. Which B2B SaaS paid media agency should we switch to?
- Recommend a PPC agency for a SaaS company spending $50,000 a month on ads
- Which paid search agencies specialize in B2B demand generation for software companies?
- Best affordable PPC agency for an early-stage B2B SaaS startup
- Top paid social agencies for enterprise SaaS companies
- Which B2B paid media agencies are best at lowering cost per demo?
- Best performance marketing agencies for B2B SaaS in the US
- Which agencies run the best paid acquisition for product-led growth SaaS companies?
Cite this research
Journalists, analysts and writers are welcome to quote, chart and republish the figures on this page. Please credit SourceRank AI and link to this page as the source. For the underlying data, a comment from Frederik Jakobsen or a category we have not covered, see the press page.
Suggested citation
SourceRank AI (2026). Which B2B PPC and paid media agencies for SaaS do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend? Measured 10 October 2026. https://sourcerankai.com/research/who-ai-recommends/b2b-ppc-agencies-for-saas/
Link to copy
<a href="https://sourcerankai.com/research/who-ai-recommends/b2b-ppc-agencies-for-saas/">Which B2B PPC and paid media agencies for SaaS do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend? (SourceRank AI, October 2026)</a>Where to go next
All 22 category studies
Who AI recommends across 22 B2B categories, with the cross-category findings and the full method.
What AI engines cite by industry
The source mix behind AI answers in ten industries, from our September 2026 measurement runs.
AEO for this industry
What we do for firms in this space, and the questions their buyers ask AI.
Common questions
Which B2B PPC and paid media agencies for SaaS does ChatGPT recommend?
In this October 2026 run ChatGPT named Directive Consulting most often, in 12 of its 12 answers. Across all five engines the most named were Directive Consulting (44 of 59 answers), Hey Digital (30) and KlientBoost (28).
Do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend the same B2B PPC and paid media agencies for SaaS?
Partly. Directive Consulting was named by 5 of the 5 engines, and in 10 of the 12 questions at least two engines named the same firm first. Below the top few names the lists diverge: 41 of the 85 firms were named in only one answer.
How was this measured?
12 buyer questions asking for B2B PPC and paid media agencies for SaaS were put once to ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews on 10 October 2026, from a US English context. 59 answers were measured, and the firms each answer named as providers were extracted and counted once per answer. It is a single run, and the same question asked again can return different firms.