RankDude
Updated 11/02/2026 · next update 12/01/2026

AI Research Assistant Industry Report, October 2026

Miles FosterOwner and tester, RankDude

The market▼ Shrinkingbut name searches are up 20% since October 2025

Visits, year on year, without Screener
-37%
Visits, last six months
-19%
Name searches vs October 2025
+20%

Every key number on the AI research assistant market for October 2026, dated and sourced, so you can quote it. The 124 sites I measure got about 104 million visits from Google, 21% more than a year ago, and the five most-visited sites took 94.3% of them.

Below: every figure in one table, the most-visited sites, who grew and who shrank and what I expect for November 2026.

Published 2 November 2026. Data from DataForSEO, Tranco and Ahrefs · free to quote with a link · not a ranking

AI research assistant industry report: the key numbers for October 2026

Four numbers for October 2026. Visits mean visits from Google search to the 124 tracked sites. Tap one for the detail below.

1Every figure in one table

Measure

  • Search visits a month, all tracked sites, worldwide
    Value
    104,088,164
    Period and basis
    October 2026; +21.4% year on year, +1.6% month on month
  • Search visits a month, United States
    Value
    3,088,409
    Period and basis
    October 2026; -18.4% year on year
  • US share of worldwide search visits
    Value
    3%
    Period and basis
    October 2026
  • Brand-name searches a month, US, all counted brands
    Value
    1,752,750
    Period and basis
    September 2026; +20.0% against October 2025
  • Brand-name searches a month, worldwide
    Value
    9,216,210
    Period and basis
    September 2026; -14.5% against October 2025
  • Searches a month for “ai research assistant”, US
    Value
    1,900
    Period and basis
    Google Ads, 12-month average
  • Searches a month for “ai research assistant”, worldwide
    Value
    6,600
    Period and basis
    Google Ads, 12-month average
  • Referring domains, all tracked sites
    Value
    728,363
    Period and basis
    October 2026; first reading, no year-on-year figure yet
  • Share of worldwide visits held by the five most-visited sites
    Value
    94.3%
    Period and basis
    October 2026
  • Share held by the ten most-visited sites
    Value
    96.5%
    Period and basis
    October 2026
  • Tracked sites on Google's first page for “ai research assistant”, US
    Value
    0
    Period and basis
    October 2026; positions 1 to 10
  • Tracked sites ranking anywhere for “ai research assistant”, US
    Value
    0
    Period and basis
    October 2026; any position checked

Brand-name searches leave out Alexi, Blue J, Chat with PDF, Gatsbi, Habeas, Hebbia, Inciteful, Kerns, Logically, Moara, Petal, Proem, Recall, SciSpace, SMMRY and StrongSuit: the name is shared with an ordinary word or another product.

2How many people visited

In plain words: These sites got more visits from Google than a year ago (+21%), and October 2026 was about the same as September 2026 (+2%). Screener, which takes 86.4% of all the visits, gained more visits on its own than the whole market gained in a year. Without it, visits would be down 37.4% on a year ago instead of up 21.4%.

WorldVisits a month to AI research assistant sites, worldwide

050M100M150M200MNov 24Jan 25Mar 25May 25Jul 25Sep 25Nov 25Jan 26Mar 26May 26Jul 26Oct 26104M
Low 59MHigh 128MAverage 94M
Hover, tap, or use the arrow keys to inspect a month

Source: DataForSEO, Google search visits, all tracked sites.

Miles explains

Judge this line on the year, not the last dot: visits are 21% above a year ago, and 19% below the April 2026 high. One site winning or losing a ranking can swing a single month a lot.

3How many people went looking

People typed a site’s name into Google 20% more often than in October 2025 (+20%). That is the loyalty number: nobody types a name by accident.

USSearches a month for the site names, United States

0500K1.0M1.5M2.0MOct 25Dec 25Feb 26Apr 26Jun 26Sep 261.8M
Low 1.2MHigh 1.8MAverage 1.4M
Hover, tap, or use the arrow keys to inspect a month

US searches a month for the counted brand names, summed. Google Ads data via DataForSEO, to September 2026.

Miles explains

Name searches are the number I trust most. They are up 20%, and nobody types a site’s name by accident, so this shows more people coming back on purpose.

4Where the visitors live

About 3 of every 100 visits come from the United States. Outside the US I measure 7 countries one by one; the largest is India.

USShare of visits that come from the US (%)

02.557.510Nov 24Jan 25Mar 25May 25Jul 25Sep 25Nov 25Jan 26Mar 26May 26Jul 26Oct 263
Low 3High 5.9Average 4
Hover, tap, or use the arrow keys to inspect a month

US share of worldwide search visits, month by month.

Country

  • India
    Search visits a month
    64,004,451
    Share of the measured countries
    97.5%
  • Canada
    Search visits a month
    566,318
    Share of the measured countries
    0.9%
  • United Kingdom
    Search visits a month
    431,249
    Share of the measured countries
    0.7%
  • Australia
    Search visits a month
    239,026
    Share of the measured countries
    0.4%
  • Germany
    Search visits a month
    170,168
    Share of the measured countries
    0.3%
  • Brazil
    Search visits a month
    137,449
    Share of the measured countries
    0.2%
  • France
    Search visits a month
    108,494
    Share of the measured countries
    0.2%

Source: DataForSEO, October 2026.

Miles explains

The US is the biggest single market, but only about 3 in every 100 visits. India alone is 97.5% of the countries measured outside it.

5The most-visited sites

Screener gets the most visits, Dimensions is the name people search for most, and no tracked site ranks on Google for “ai research assistant”. The five most-visited sites take 94.3% of all visits.

By worldwide search visits

By US brand-name searches

Miles explains

The five most-visited sites take 94.3% of all visits. When one of them gains or loses a big ranking, the whole market total moves with it.

6Who grew and who shrank

The fastest grower in a year was Paperguide (+1200%); the steepest fall was at Logically (-99.9%). Big swings are usually one site winning or losing one Google ranking.

Growing

  • Paperguide
    A year ago
    15,769
    Now
    204,959
    Change
    +1200%
  • PubMed.ai
    A year ago
    5,285
    Now
    51,962
    Change
    +883%
  • ResearchPal
    A year ago
    9,179
    Now
    49,744
    Change
    +442%
  • Video Highlight
    A year ago
    40,481
    Now
    147,283
    Change
    +264%
  • AnswerThis
    A year ago
    16,054
    Now
    56,024
    Change
    +249%
  • Anara
    A year ago
    45,489
    Now
    115,682
    Change
    +154%
  • Noiz
    A year ago
    90,926
    Now
    210,015
    Change
    +131%
  • Kavout
    A year ago
    16,674
    Now
    31,940
    Change
    +92%

Declining

Worldwide search visits, October 2026 against a year earlier; sites with at least 5,000 visits a year ago.

To cite this report: RankDude, “AI Research Assistant Industry Report, October 2026”, published 2 November 2026, https://rankdude.ai/statistics/ai-research-assistant/industry-report. Figures are estimates from the sources named beside them.