- We asked ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google the same 50 customer questions, for example “Which home contents insurance is good and inexpensive?”
- Most of the time, the three recommend different providers. All three name just under one in four of the providers mentioned; more than half are named by only one of them.
- ChatGPT names no provider at all in 18 of 50 answers and refers to comparison sites. Google almost always names some, four on average.
- Each of the three relies on different websites: ChatGPT mainly on Verbraucherzentrale and Finanztip, Perplexity on business media, Google also on YouTube.
Today, your customers also ask ChatGPT and Perplexity which insurance, which broker or which heat pump is the best. We wanted to know: Do ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google recommend the same providers? To find out, we asked all three the same 50 questions.
For Google, we evaluated the AI Overview. This is the answer Google shows above the regular search results.
An example: home contents insurance
We asked: “Which home contents insurance is good and inexpensive?”
| Who answers | Insurers named |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT | none, refers to Check24, Stiftung Warentest and Finanztip |
| Perplexity | HUK-Coburg, VHV, Interrisk |
| Google AI Overview | HUK-Coburg, Allianz, Allianz Direct, DEVK, Hanse Merkur |
No insurer is named by all three. Only HUK-Coburg appears in two answers.
1. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google mostly recommend different providers
As with home contents insurance, so it was with most questions. For each recommended provider, we counted how many of the three name it:
- All three recommend just under one in four providers (23%).
- Two of the three also recommend about one in four (24%).
- Only one recommends more than half (53%). Usually this is Google (76 providers), then Perplexity (49), rarely ChatGPT (8).
The basis is the 46 questions that all three answered. We counted each recommended provider once per question, 250 in total.
- all three23%
- two of the three24%
- only one53%
Source: ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google via DataForSEO, query on October 25, 2026, 250 recommended providers across 46 questions
2. ChatGPT often names no provider at all
| ChatGPT | Perplexity | Google AI Overview | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answers without a provider | 18 of 50 | 11 of 50 | 3 of 46 |
| Providers named per answer | 1,7 | 3,4 | 4,0 |
- ChatGPT64%
- Perplexity78%
- Google AI Overview93%
Source: ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google via DataForSEO, query on October 25, 2026, 50 questions (Google: 46 with AI Overview)
ChatGPT begins many answers with the statement that there is no single best provider. It then refers to comparisons such as Finanztip or Stiftung Warentest. For questions about dentists, ChatGPT names no provider in 9 of 10 answers.
3. ChatGPT relies on consumer advocates, Perplexity on business media
Below each answer, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google link the websites the answer comes from. We counted these sources. Each of the three AIs draws on different websites:
| Who answers | Most frequently linked (number of answers) |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Verbraucherzentrale (17), Finanztip (15), Stiftung Warentest (11) |
| Perplexity | Handelsblatt (16), n-tv (16), Stiftung Warentest (13), Finanztip (12) |
| Google AI Overview | YouTube (12), Finanztip (7), Handelsblatt (6), HUK (5) |
What is written there, the AI often adopts directly. An example: For the question about legal expenses insurance, ChatGPT recommends WGV, ARAG and HUK-Coburg and writes: “Finanztip names these plans as recommendations for good value for money.”
Perplexity links about eight websites per answer, ChatGPT and Google about three. For Perplexity and Google, around 40% of the linked websites belong to providers themselves, such as insurers or banks.
4. Agreement on brokers, disagreement on insurance and heat pumps
The tables show in how many of 10 answers in an industry a provider is named. For online brokers, all three name the same providers most often:
| Online brokers | ChatGPT | Perplexity | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scalable Capital | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Trade Republic | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| ING | 6 | 5 | 6 |
| finanzen.net zero | 2 | 7 | 5 |
| Traders Place | 1 | 7 | 5 |
For insurance and heat pumps, the answers diverge. Perplexity and Google each name Allianz in 5 of 10 answers, ChatGPT in none. Google names Viessmann and Vaillant in 7 of 10 answers each, ChatGPT in 2 each.
| Provider | ChatGPT | Perplexity | |
|---|---|---|---|
| HUK-Coburg (insurance) | 3 | 5 | 5 |
| Allianz (insurance) | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| WGV (insurance) | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Viessmann (heat pumps) | 2 | 6 | 7 |
| Vaillant (heat pumps) | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Bosch (heat pumps) | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Quirion (asset management) | 6 | 4 | 4 |
What this means for your marketing
- Visible in one AI does not mean visible in all. More than half of the recommended providers are named by only one of the three. Your position on Google says little about whether ChatGPT or Perplexity recommend you.
- Recommendations originate on other websites. ChatGPT often adopts the recommendations of Finanztip, Stiftung Warentest and Verbraucherzentrale. Your presence on these sites thus becomes part of your marketing.
- Your own website can become a source. For Perplexity and Google, 41% and 38% of the linked websites come from providers themselves. Pages that directly answer your customers’ questions have a chance of being cited.
- Depending on the industry, a different AI counts. For online brokers, all three recommend the same providers. For insurance and heat pumps, the recommendation depends on which AI your customers ask.
How we measured
On October 25, 2026, we asked ten questions per industry the way customers ask them, for example “Which broker is best for ETF savings plans?” or “Which heat pump is suitable for an older building?” The five industries are insurance, online brokers, asset management, heat pumps and heating, as well as dentists and implantology.
ChatGPT and Perplexity answered with web search; for Google, we evaluated the AI Overview of search in Germany. We did not count guides, test magazines and comparison portals such as Finanztip, Stiftung Warentest or Check24 as providers. AI answers change from query to query. The figures show the status on that day.
