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

AI Tools for Research Industry Report, October 2026

Miles FosterOwner and tester, RankDude

The market▲ Growing

Visits, year on year, without ChatGPT
+7.9%
Visits, last six months
+68%
Name searches vs October 2025
+4.6%

Every key number on the AI tools for research market for October 2026, dated and sourced, so you can quote it. The 195 sites I measure got about 1.2 billion visits from Google, 163% more than a year ago, and the five most-visited sites took 95.1% 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 tools for research industry report: the key numbers for October 2026

Four numbers for October 2026. Visits mean visits from Google search to the 195 tracked sites. Tap one for the detail below.

1Every figure in one table

Measure

  • Search visits a month, all tracked sites, worldwide
    Value
    1,158,993,473
    Period and basis
    October 2026; +162.6% year on year, +2.4% month on month
  • Search visits a month, United States
    Value
    89,953,805
    Period and basis
    October 2026; +330.1% year on year
  • US share of worldwide search visits
    Value
    7.8%
    Period and basis
    October 2026
  • Brand-name searches a month, US, all counted brands
    Value
    139,468,610
    Period and basis
    September 2026; +4.6% against October 2025
  • Brand-name searches a month, worldwide
    Value
    1,468,700,100
    Period and basis
    September 2026; +27.3% against October 2025
  • Searches a month for “ai tools for research”, US
    Value
    720
    Period and basis
    Google Ads, 12-month average
  • Searches a month for “ai tools for research”, worldwide
    Value
    8,100
    Period and basis
    Google Ads, 12-month average
  • Referring domains, all tracked sites
    Value
    2,252,194
    Period and basis
    October 2026 (194 of 195 sites measured); first reading, no year-on-year figure yet
  • Share of worldwide visits held by the five most-visited sites
    Value
    95.1%
    Period and basis
    October 2026
  • Share held by the ten most-visited sites
    Value
    97.9%
    Period and basis
    October 2026
  • Tracked sites on Google's first page for “ai tools for research”, US
    Value
    0
    Period and basis
    October 2026; positions 1 to 10
  • Tracked sites ranking anywhere for “ai tools for research”, 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, StrongSuit, Logically, SciSpace, Crayon, Discuss, Enumerate, Minds, Strella and Suzy: 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 (+163%), and October 2026 was about the same as September 2026 (+2%). ChatGPT, which takes 79.3% of all the visits, accounts for most of the rise (98% of it). Without it, visits would be up 7.9% on a year ago instead of up 162.6%.

WorldVisits a month to AI tools for research sites, worldwide

0500M1000M1500M2000MNov 24Jan 25Mar 25May 25Jul 25Sep 25Nov 25Jan 26Mar 26May 26Jul 26Oct 261159M
Low 211MHigh 1159MAverage 537M
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 163% above a year ago, and this is the highest month in two years. 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 5% more often than in October 2025 (+5%). That is the loyalty number: nobody types a name by accident.

USSearches a month for the site names, United States

050M100M150M200MOct 25Dec 25Feb 26Apr 26Jun 26Sep 26139M
Low 111MHigh 140MAverage 131M
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 5%, and nobody types a site’s name by accident, so this shows more people coming back on purpose.

4Where the visitors live

About 8 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 267.8
Low 3.8High 8.4Average 6
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
    245,128,545
    Share of the measured countries
    84.7%
  • Germany
    Search visits a month
    16,688,140
    Share of the measured countries
    5.8%
  • Canada
    Search visits a month
    13,810,828
    Share of the measured countries
    4.8%
  • United Kingdom
    Search visits a month
    4,540,215
    Share of the measured countries
    1.6%
  • Brazil
    Search visits a month
    3,983,845
    Share of the measured countries
    1.4%
  • France
    Search visits a month
    2,893,093
    Share of the measured countries
    1%
  • Australia
    Search visits a month
    2,521,763
    Share of the measured countries
    0.9%

Source: DataForSEO, October 2026.

Miles explains

The US is the biggest single market, but only about 8 in every 100 visits. India alone is 84.7% of the countries measured outside it.

5The most-visited sites

ChatGPT gets the most visits, ChatGPT is the name people search for most, and no tracked site ranks on Google for “ai tools for research”. The five most-visited sites take 95.1% of all visits.

By worldwide search visits

By US brand-name searches

Miles explains

The five most-visited sites take 95.1% 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 Black Swan Data (+12263%); the steepest fall was at Logically (-99.9%). Big swings are usually one site winning or losing one Google ranking.

Growing

  • Black Swan Data
    A year ago
    10,956
    Now
    1,354,448
    Change
    +12263%
  • YouScan
    A year ago
    7,204
    Now
    164,217
    Change
    +2180%
  • 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%
  • Discuss
    A year ago
    7,709
    Now
    36,615
    Change
    +375%
  • ChatGPT
    A year ago
    218,778,485
    Now
    918,686,520
    Change
    +320%
  • Claude
    A year ago
    6,849,250
    Now
    28,705,332
    Change
    +319%

Declining

  • Logically
    A year ago
    7,238
    Now
    4
    Change
    -99.9%
  • StrongSuit
    A year ago
    10,476
    Now
    13
    Change
    -99.9%
  • SciSpace
    A year ago
    303,848
    Now
    2,700
    Change
    -99%
  • Recall
    A year ago
    40,361
    Now
    1,530
    Change
    -96%
  • Ainvest
    A year ago
    831,464
    Now
    42,605
    Change
    -95%
  • ChatDOC
    A year ago
    60,120
    Now
    3,754
    Change
    -94%
  • Petal
    A year ago
    5,914
    Now
    413
    Change
    -93%
  • Crayon
    A year ago
    32,135
    Now
    2,351
    Change
    -93%

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 Tools for Research Industry Report, October 2026”, published 2 November 2026, https://rankdude.ai/statistics/ai-tools-for-research/industry-report. Figures are estimates from the sources named beside them.