New: the AI Shortlist Index for October 2026 is live. See which vendors ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode name in 8 categories

AI Shortlist Index · Security compliance automation (SOC 2, ISO 27001, GRC) · v1.0. Fieldwork 19 October 2026. Published 22 October 2026. By AEOLedger Research. Checks from Bengaluru, India.

Which security compliance automation vendors AI assistants name, Oct 2026

How ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode answer 3 buyer questions on security compliance automation: 15 answers, 19 Oct 2026, India.

What this page is. AEOLedger sells answer engine optimization services, so we have an interest in these results. 15 answers (3 questions × 5 runs), collected 19 October 2026 from one location, read by hand. Vendors are named only when an assistant named them; being listed here is a count, not an endorsement or a ranking. The data is downloadable as CSV.

Summary

  • The three questions produced three different shortlists. On the SOC 2 + ISO 27001 question Vanta, Drata and Secureframe led; on the 'cheaper and faster than the big names' question Vanta and Drata appeared only as what to avoid, in 5 of 5 answers; on the enterprise GRC question the lists moved to ServiceNow IRM, OneTrust, LogicGate and Archer.
  • Google AI Mode added small flat-fee vendors that the other two assistants never named, drawn from the vendors' own pricing pages.
  • No vendor was named in 10 or more of the 15 answers; the category has no settled shortlist.
  • 9 further vendors were named in 1 or 2 of 15 answers each.
  • 3 further vendors named in 3 to 9 of 15 answers are not shown (see limits).

The 3 buyer questions

Written in buyer wording, without any vendor’s name. Each question was asked in a fresh session every run (runs per question: ChatGPT 3, Perplexity 1, Google AI Mode 1), so 5 answers per question and 15 in all.

#TypeQuestion
C2-1shortlist“Which compliance automation platform is best for getting SOC 2 and ISO 27001 at the same time?”
C2-2requirements“Which SOC 2 compliance automation platforms are best for an early-stage startup that wants something cheaper and faster than the big names?”
C2-3shortlist“What is the best AI GRC platform for enterprise risk and vendor assessments?”

Who gets named

Named in X of N: answers whose text recommends or lists the vendor.
Apps, 19 October 2026, Bengaluru, India. ChatGPT (logged out, fresh chat, 3 runs per question); Perplexity (signed in to one account, fresh thread, 1 run per question); Google AI Mode (signed in, personalisation off, 1 run per question). N = 15 answers per vendor.

Answers naming each vendor (filled dot = named), across all 3 questions
VendorAnswersNamedBy assistant
Secureframe6 of 15ChatGPT 5/9, Perplexity 1/3, Google AI Mode 0/3
Vanta6 of 15ChatGPT 4/9, Perplexity 1/3, Google AI Mode 1/3
Drata5 of 15ChatGPT 3/9, Perplexity 1/3, Google AI Mode 1/3
Scytale5 of 15ChatGPT 2/9, Perplexity 2/3, Google AI Mode 1/3
LogicGate4 of 15ChatGPT 2/9, Perplexity 1/3, Google AI Mode 1/3
OneTrust4 of 15ChatGPT 3/9, Perplexity 1/3, Google AI Mode 0/3
ServiceNow IRM4 of 15ChatGPT 3/9, Perplexity 0/3, Google AI Mode 1/3
Archer3 of 15ChatGPT 3/9, Perplexity 0/3, Google AI Mode 0/3
Thoropass3 of 15ChatGPT 3/9, Perplexity 0/3, Google AI Mode 0/3

What gets cited

Domains the assistants linked as sources, counted once per answer.

DomainTypeCited in
vanta.comcited site7 of 15
secureframe.comcited site6 of 15
drata.comcited site5 of 15
servicenow.comcited site4 of 15
fabric.socited site3 of 15
scytale.aicited site3 of 15
thoropass.comcited site3 of 15
archerirm.comcited site3 of 15

Method

  • Fieldwork 19 Oct 2026, Bengaluru, India, consumer apps. 3 buyer questions written without any vendor name. ChatGPT was asked each question 3 times (logged out, fresh chat); Perplexity and Google AI Mode once each. 15 answers, every one read in full.
  • A vendor counts as named when the answer recommends or compares it, including a row in a comparison table. Vendors mentioned only as an acquisition note, as 'the big names to avoid', or in follow-up suggestions are not counted. Product lines are counted under their company.

The full protocol is on the methodology page.

Limits

  1. 15 answers per category, 5 per question: enough to say 'named in every answer' or 'in none', not to order vendors in the middle (95% intervals overlap).
  2. One location (India), no VPN. Perplexity ran in one signed-in account and Google AI Mode signed in with personalisation off; logged-out results may differ.
  3. Companies we track are not named on this page. As anonymised vendors they appear as 'a compliance automation vendor' only when named in 10 or more of 15 answers, shown as '10+ of 15' without a per-assistant split, and are otherwise left out; their sites are left out of the sources list.

Data

Download the data (CSV): one row per vendor and per cited domain, with the count, N, assistant split, date and location. Licensed CC BY 4.0: reuse it with a link to this page.

Want this for your own category, with your brand in it? Request a free snapshot.

How to cite and changes

AEOLedger. “Which security compliance automation vendors AI assistants name, Oct 2026.” AI Shortlist Index v1.0, 22 October 2026. https://aeoledger.com/research/ai-shortlist/compliance-automation/

  • v1.0, 22 October 2026: first published.

Spotted an error? Write to hello@aeoledger.com. Corrections are dated here.

See where you stand in your category.

The free snapshot runs 3 buyer questions through 3 AI assistants, 3 times each, with your brand in the count.

Or read the methodology first.