Why Platforms Differ
Platforms vary because they draw on different data and present answers differently:- ChatGPT mixes model knowledge with live web search
- Perplexity is citation-heavy and search-native
- Gemini and Google AI Mode are shaped by Google’s search ecosystem
- Grok mixes web data with its own platform context
- How often platforms mention brands
- How many sources they cite
- Which kinds of pages they prefer to cite
Platform Availability by Plan
Platform coverage depends on your plan:| Platform | Starter | Plus | Pro | Agency / Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Perplexity | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gemini | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Google AI Mode | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Grok | No | No | Yes | Yes |
What to Compare
At the platform level, the most useful comparisons are:- Presence Rate
- Brand Mention Rate
- Primary Citation Share
- Share of Voice
- Strong overall performance but weak Perplexity citations
- Good citation coverage but weak ChatGPT brand mention rates
- Competitor strength concentrated on only one platform
How to Use Platform Comparison
Find platform strengths
Look for platforms where you are already strong:- High presence
- Strong citation share
- Healthy Share of Voice
Find platform weaknesses
Look for platforms where you underperform:- Low presence compared to your other platforms
- Low or declining Share of Voice
- Weak citation coverage versus competitors
Reading the Results
When one platform looks much weaker than the others, ask:- Are competitors winning the same prompts there?
- Are those responses citing a different class of content?
- Are we being mentioned but not cited, or absent entirely?
- Prompts for prompt-level breakdown
- Citations for URL-level detail
- Competitors for the competitive landscape
Next Steps
- Prompts - Inspect prompt-by-platform performance
- Citations - Compare citation behavior by platform
- Competitors - Review who wins on the same platform/date slice