The 5 Software Review Sites AI Engines Cite, and What They Cost

Ask an AI engine whether a product is worth buying and it usually quotes a review site. Which one depends on the engine. On 4 November 2026 Empact Partners put 120 software buying questions to ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Gemini and Claude and counted the review sites cited. More than a third of Claude’s cited answers used one, and more than half of Gemini’s.

We are a go-to-market consultancy for B2B software, and getting partners’ products onto the pages AI engines quote, from review profiles to roundups, is most of our Generative Engine Optimization. Below are the five review sites the engines cited most, in that order on average: who cites each, what a listing needs, what it costs.

Vlad Shvets

Founder @ Empact Partners

In our run the review sites did two jobs. Asked whether one product was worth it, every engine quoted a review site in at least 25 of every 30 answers. Asked for a shortlist, they cited one far less often, and Google’s two engines leaned on Gartner Peer Insights above the rest. A listing wins the last step of a purchase on every engine, and the first step mostly through Google.

1. Gartner Peer Insights

Best for: enterprise software that wants to be on the shortlists Google’s AI answers build.

Peer Insights is the free review side of Gartner, separate from its paid analyst research. Reviewers are IT and business professionals, verified by Gartner and published anonymously. It lists only software sold to mid-to-large enterprises, so a product built for small businesses is turned away.

On Google’s engines it was the most cited review site: 45 of Gemini’s 118 cited answers and 30 of AI Mode’s 118. It was also the one they used for shortlists. Asked for the best tool in a category, or an alternative to one, AI Mode cited it in 22 of 58 answers and Gemini in 33 of 60, mostly through its market and alternatives pages.

The knock is the gate and the wait. A vendor proves every mandatory capability with public links in English, names competitors and top customers, and waits 10 to 20 business days for the account, then again for the product. Claude, meanwhile, cited it in only 7 of 120 answers.

Pricing

Pros and cons

What G2 reviewers and Reddit say

“The review moderation process can also take a while, so there’s sometimes a delay between submitting a review and seeing it published.” — Software development engineer in test, mid-market, G2, Jul 2026

“This is also common with Gartner... we just had a promotion similar to that and got new reviews from customers and partners.. :)” — r/msp, Apr 2026, u/Nesher86

Standout feature: Customers’ Choice

Gartner’s Voice of the Customer report plots every vendor with 20 or more eligible reviews in 18 months on overall experience and user interest. Those above the market average on both get the Customers’ Choice distinction. Partner reviews, and reviews from companies under $50 million in revenue, are left out.

Verdict: if you sell to enterprises and your buyers use Google, this is the listing we would start before G2, because it is where Google’s engines build shortlists. Products sold to small businesses can skip it, since Gartner will not list them, and so can teams whose buyers work in Claude.

2. Capterra

Best for: smaller-company software whose buyers ask ChatGPT or Claude whether it is worth buying.

Capterra now runs as part of G2 Digital Markets, beside Software Advice and GetApp. Its vendor terms call the three one site, and one pay-per-click program runs across them. It lists only packaged software sold to the public, and listing is free, starting on G2.

ChatGPT cited Capterra in 37 of 119 answers, more than any other review site. Claude cited the network in 30 of 120, and 18 of those went through Software Advice, which Claude cited more often than Gartner, TrustRadius and Trustpilot combined. Most of it came on questions about one product’s reviews.

The knock is what you cannot see. Capterra’s content team writes the final profile copy, and the paid visibility is a monthly budget with no per-click price on any vendor page. Google’s AI Mode cited the network in only 12 of 118 answers.

Pricing

Pros and cons

What Reddit says

“My suspicion is yes! Just because when you ask ChatGPT or Claude to suggest tools, you can actually check where they found them, and Capterra and G2 show up there pretty often.” — r/SaaS, Sep 2026

“I’m certainly not a fan of Gartner (or G2 - they are all biased in one way or another) ... but ... to be fair - in this case they are not paying for good reviews - they are paying for you to write any review.” — r/msp, on a Capterra review offer, Apr 2026, u/LuckyLuke364

Standout feature: Capterra Shortlist

Each Shortlist names up to 25 products in a category, scored on ratings from the past 24 months and on popularity, which counts search demand and recent reviews. Entry needs 20 reviews on Capterra in 24 months and a U.S. presence. Capterra’s own “best” lists are drawn from it, and those are pages an engine can quote.

Verdict: if your buyers are smaller companies, or ask ChatGPT and Claude whether a product is worth it, list here early and point review requests at Capterra, since one profile reaches three sites. Enterprise products selling to Google users get more from Gartner first, and nobody should buy clicks before twenty reviews are live.

3. G2

Best for: any B2B software company, as the one listing every engine in our run cited at a steady rate.

G2 is the largest B2B software review site, with more than three million reviews, and now the owner of Capterra, Software Advice and GetApp. Buyers compare products on its category grids, and vendors manage their profile on all four sites from one G2 account. Listing is free, and G2’s research team verifies a new product in about three to five business days.

G2 was the only review site cited at a steady rate everywhere: 26 of ChatGPT’s 119 answers, 24 of AI Mode’s 118, 18 of Gemini’s and 19 of Claude’s 120. The engines cited its product review pages. On six questions about one product, ChatGPT cited G2’s newer AI pages, which carry a dated pros-and-cons summary written from the reviews.

The knock is how much sits behind the paid plans. Replying to a review needs one, and Starter costs $299 a month in its first year and $599 from the second. Gemini cited Gartner Peer Insights more than twice as often as G2.

Pricing

Pros and cons

What Reddit says

“I worked with a tech firm that got a fair bit of inbound because of being found via G2 categories e.g. lead intelligence.” — r/marketing, Aug 2025, u/JackGierlich

“I did G2, capterra and soureforge for well over a year. Not a single lead was generated. Like you, I was in a niche category that got very little traffic.” — r/marketing, Aug 2025, u/Successful_Mall_3825

“The difference it makes that when there is a buying team that doesn’t really know what their priorities are, all those without these certifications gets wiped off the table. Same for people without G2 labels.” — r/marketing, Aug 2025, u/History86

Standout feature: AI Visibility Dashboard

G2 built this with Profound, an answer-engine tracking company, to show how often a brand’s G2 product and category pages are cited by ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and others. It tells you whether your G2 listing is being read. It cannot see your brand anywhere G2 is not, so it measures one channel.

Verdict: list here whatever you sell, because no other review site held its share across all four engines. Pay for Starter once someone will answer every review; until then the free profile and a steady flow of reviews do the work. A product in a thin category should not expect leads from it.

4. TrustRadius

Best for: enterprise and mid-market products whose buyers research in ChatGPT.

TrustRadius is a review site owned by HG Insights, a technology-data company, outside the G2 group. It runs no ads, says it verifies every reviewer, and its reviews run long, which suits products bought after a real evaluation.

ChatGPT cited it in 18 of 119 answers, 14 of them on questions about one product’s reviews, which put it ahead of Software Advice and Trustpilot there. The other engines barely used it: 7 of Gemini’s 118 answers, 3 of Claude’s 120 and 2 of AI Mode’s 118.

The knock is everything outside ChatGPT. The free profile carries pricing, security details and award eligibility, but lead forms, review campaigns and buyer-intent data are Premium, and TrustRadius publishes no Premium price.

Pricing

Pros and cons

What G2 reviewers say

“I think it’s predictable. I know I’m going to get great information about big companies, but smaller, more niche companies aren’t well represented.” — Business analyst, enterprise, G2, Aug 2026

“Gets their reviews via bait and switch. They often take an hour or longer and require intimate knowledge of a product, but then they publish the review but send an email saying it wasn’t good enough for a reward.” — Senior software developer, small business, G2, Mar 2025

Standout feature: TrustRadius Top Rated

Top Rated is TrustRadius’s annual award, given on customer sentiment in each category. A free profile qualifies, so the cost is reviews, not a plan.

Verdict: worth a free profile if you sell to mid-market or enterprise buyers who use ChatGPT, since it was one of ChatGPT’s four main review sources. Hold off on Premium until ChatGPT is where your buyers are and you can measure what the profile sends; teams whose buyers use Google or Claude can leave TrustRadius for later.

5. Trustpilot

Best for: products with many self-serve buyers, who check the company’s name before they pay.

Trustpilot is a general review site built for consumer brands, with reviews of more than a million businesses. Its reviews are about the company rather than a product’s features, so the page answers a buyer who looks a vendor up by name.

ChatGPT cited it in 8 of 119 answers, every one a question asking whether a named product was worth it, from Deel to PandaDoc. The other three engines cited it in six answers between them.

The knock is fit. The engines used it for one kind of question, and the paid plans are priced per domain on 12-month contracts. A sales-led enterprise product will get little from it.

Pricing

Pros and cons

What Reddit says

“They are expensive. Hard to tell how much it makes a difference, but we did get clients from it. They also increase their rates on a yearly basis.” — r/smallbusinessuk, Jun 2026

“Find Trustpilot expensive and pushy - verging on the bullying.” — r/smallbusinessuk, Feb 2026

Standout feature: AI search analytics

On Plus and above, Trustpilot counts how often a company’s Trustpilot page is cited in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude answers, from its own server logs. Gemini is not counted, because Google uses one identifier for Gemini and Search, and nothing shows which question triggered a citation.

Verdict: a free claim is enough for most B2B software, so the page carries recent reviews and your replies when ChatGPT quotes it. Pay only if you sell self-serve to many small buyers who look you up by name; sales-led products can skip the paid plans.

Which Listing To Work On First

The engines split by question as much as by site, so the first listing follows who buys from you and where they ask. One run is one day and one answer per question, so read these shares as where each engine looked on 4 November. A rerun next month could move them.

A run like this is where Empact Partners starts its Generative Engine Optimization work with a partner: an audit that asks your category’s questions of each engine and lists the review sites, threads and roundups the answers cite, then a roadmap built on that list.

A named senior GTM consultant owns it and works the profiles alongside the mention building on the other pages, in your own channels, with a standing citation report. Expect quarters before the answers move.

If your product is missing from the review sites your buyers’ engines quote, book a call with me, and we’ll see whether we could work together.