Is the AI answering service market growing or shrinking?
Miles FosterOwner and tester, RankDude
The answer▼ Shrinking
- Visits, year on year
- -40%
- Visits, last six months
- -62%
- Name searches vs October 2025
- -26%
Every month I add up the Google visits to the 11 AI answering service sites I track (DataForSEO estimates) and how often people in the US search for them by name (Google Ads). In September 2026 they got about 43,888 visits. Newo lost more visits in September 2026 (65,886) than the whole market did (62,389); without it, visits to the other sites rose 9.0% on August 2026.
The total hides very different stories: one site grew 16% in a year while another lost 92% of its visits. See who grew and who shrank, the visits month by month and the name searches, plus what I expect for October 2026.
AI answering service market demand: key numbers, September 2026
Four numbers for September 2026. Visits mean visits from Google search to the 11 tracked sites. Tap one for the detail below.
- Visits from Google43.9Kvisits-40% vs a year ago
- Name searches, US5.7Ksearches-26% vs October 2025
- Top five sites84.6%of visitsfastest grower: Moneypenny
- Expected in October43.9Kvisitslikely 17.9K to 69.9K
- The AI answering service market is shrinking as of September 2026.
- The 11 AI answering service sites RankDude tracks got 43,888 visits from Google search in September 2026, 40% fewer visits than in September 2025.
- People in the US searched Google for these sites by name 5,700 times in September 2026, 26% fewer searches than in October 2025.
- The five most-visited AI answering service sites get 84.6% of all visits.
- Fastest-growing AI answering service site over the year: Moneypenny, +16% (7.3K to 8.5K visits a month).
- Steepest fall over the year: Newo, -92% (18.4K to 1.4K visits a month).
- Forecast for October 2026: about 43.9K visits, likely between 17.9K and 69.9K.
Source: DataForSEO visit estimates and Google Ads search data, published 15 October 2026 by RankDude.
1.Are more people visiting AI answering service sites than a year ago?
Down 40% on a year ago; down 59% on August 2026
No. The 11 tracked AI answering service sites got 43,888 visits from Google search in September 2026. That is 40% fewer visits than in September 2025, and 59% fewer visits than in August 2026.
The highest month of the last two years was October 2024, with 223,267 visits; September 2026 is 80% below it. In the US, visits were 20,876, down 46% on a year ago.
WorldVisits a month to AI answering service sites, worldwide, two years
Source: DataForSEO, Google search visits, all tracked sites.
Worldwide, this month
43.9K
-40.4% on a year ago
United States, this month
20.9K
-45.9% on a year ago
Two-year high
223K
October 2024
US share of visits
47.6%
of worldwide visits
Miles explains
Visits are lower than a year ago. Most of the drop since August 2026 is one site: Newo went from 67,333 to 1,447 visits. Without it, the other sites grew 9% on the month. Name searches fell (-26%), but Google Trends interest in the term rose (+420%). The counted sites are losing ground; that does not mean interest in AI answering service sites is falling.
2.Are people searching for AI answering service sites by name?
Down 26% on October 2025; 5.7K name searches a month in the US
Fewer than before. People in the US searched Google for the names of the counted AI answering service sites 5,700 times in September 2026, 26% fewer searches than in October 2025. Someone who searches a site’s name already knows it, so this is the clearest sign of people coming back on purpose.
USName searches a month for AI answering service sites, US
Source: Google Ads via DataForSEO, to September 2026.
USMost searched AI answering service sites by name, searches a month
Smith.ai3.6K a month
Abby Connect1.3K a month
Dialzara480 a month
Newo210 a month
Marlie AI90 a month
Greetmate20 a month
Miles explains
Name searches are down, so fewer people are coming back on purpose. Better Google rankings will not fix that.
3.Which AI answering service sites grew, and which shrank?
The five most-visited sites hold 84.6% of all visits; the ten most-visited hold 100%
The five most-visited AI answering service sites get 84.6% of all visits, so one of them winning or losing a big Google ranking moves the whole total. Fastest grower over the year: Moneypenny, from 7,276 to 8,458 visits (+16%). Steepest fall: Newo, from 18,359 to 1,447 visits (-92%).
Growing fastest, year on year
Moneypenny8.5K visits+16%
Falling fastest, year on year
- Newo1.4K visits-92%
- Smith.ai14.9K visits-58%
Source: DataForSEO. Sites with 5,000+ visits a year ago.