The Week 28 Engineering Software Report
A category-by-category reading of all ten Week 28 Engineering software markets, with assistant ranks and verified evidence.
Week 28 Is the Baseline
This report covers Cooper's first official Engineering software hub snapshot: ten category-relative Overall AIQ rankings measured across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity during July 6–12, 2026, under scoring version aiq-v2. Each section is its own market record, so scores and ranks stay inside their category rather than forming a combined Engineering leaderboard.
Week 28 is Cooper's first official tracked edition, so week-over-week movement is not yet available. Return for the next edition to see the first recorded movers.
The baseline has two unanimous assistant leaders in Data Integration (ETL) and CI/CD. The preserved Observability & APM highlight instead shows a split across assistant columns, as do Feature Flags, Low-Code App Builders, Product Management, and Database as a Service.
Five markets include a displayed product without a category rank, covering six products and eight assistant cells. Business Intelligence and Product Management each include one displayed row with zero verified evidence; those are category-specific observations, not explanations for rank.
How to Read This Report
Overall AIQ is category-relative and combines Cooper's Best, Most affordable, and Easiest to set up questions. The assistant columns show each product's published category rank inside that Overall scope. An em dash means there was no category rank in this scope; it does not describe assistant intent.
Each compact table shows the category's first three products. Sources counts distinct verified source domains for a product, while Mentions counts distinct cited pages verified as naming that product. The category totals in the prose cover the full category snapshot. Neither evidence measure is presented as the cause of a rank.
Rising AIQ is a separate measurement dimension and is not included in this Overall analysis. Readers looking for emerging-product results can open the separate Week 28 Rising AIQ report.
Business Intelligence
Open the complete Business Intelligence ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Google Looker Studio | 57 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | 6 | 7 |
| 2 | 33 | 3 | 2 | 3 | — | 8 | 9 | |
| 3 | 30 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Google Looker Studio leads Business Intelligence at Overall AIQ 57, ranking first on ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, with no category rank here from Perplexity. Microsoft Power BI is second at 33, ranking third on ChatGPT and Claude and second on Gemini, again with no category rank from Perplexity.
Tableau is third at 30, ranking second on ChatGPT, fifth on Gemini and Claude, and fourth on Perplexity.
The complete snapshot contains 44 ranked products, 121 cited pages, and 192 verified mentions. Google Looker Studio records 6 sources and 7 mentions, Microsoft Power BI records 8 sources and 9 mentions, and
Tableau records 0 sources and 0 mentions. The displayed evidence ordering differs from Overall order, and the zero-evidence row is reported without assigning a cause.
Data Integration (ETL)
Open the complete Data Integration (ETL) ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Fivetran | 60 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 26 |
| 2 | 35 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 21 | |
| 3 | 23 | 3 | 4 | 3 | — | 1 | 2 |
Fivetran leads Data Integration (ETL) at Overall AIQ 60, ranking first on ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity. Airbyte is second at 35, ranking second on ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity and sixth on Gemini.
Hevo is third at 23, ranking third on ChatGPT and Claude and fourth on Gemini, with no category rank here from Perplexity.
The full snapshot includes 38 ranked products, 80 cited pages, and 210 verified mentions. Fivetran records 21 sources and 26 mentions, Airbyte records 15 sources and 21 mentions, and
Hevo records 1 source and 2 mentions. The unanimous leader and the absent displayed rank are separate published observations.
Observability & APM
Open the complete Observability & APM ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 26 | 32 | |
| 2 | 40 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 27 | 41 | |
| 3 | 35 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 15 | 19 |
Datadog leads the preserved Observability & APM highlight at Overall AIQ 44, ranking third on ChatGPT and Gemini, second on Claude, and first on Perplexity.
New Relic is second at 40, ranking first on ChatGPT, fourth on Gemini, sixth on Claude, and fifth on Perplexity.
Grafana Cloud is third at 35, ranking second on ChatGPT, sixth on Gemini, ninth on Claude, and fourth on Perplexity.
The complete snapshot contains 31 ranked products, 79 cited pages, and 263 verified mentions. Datadog records 26 sources and 32 mentions,
New Relic records 27 sources and 41 mentions, and
Grafana Cloud records 15 sources and 19 mentions. The second row carries the largest displayed evidence counts while the assistant first-place columns remain split.
CI/CD
Open the complete CI/CD ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 93 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 40 | |
| 2 | 42 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 21 | 23 | |
| 3 | 25 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 28 | 34 |
GitHub Actions leads the preserved CI/CD highlight at Overall AIQ 93, ranking first on ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity.
GitLab CI/CD is second at 42, ranking second on ChatGPT and Claude and third on Gemini and Perplexity.
CircleCI is third at 25, ranking fourth on ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity and third on Claude.
The full snapshot includes 26 ranked products, 97 cited pages, and 290 verified mentions. GitHub Actions records 29 sources and 40 mentions,
GitLab CI/CD records 21 sources and 23 mentions, and
CircleCI records 28 sources and 34 mentions. The third row exceeds the second on displayed evidence counts without changing their Overall positions.
Feature Flags
Open the complete Feature Flags ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 45 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 29 | |
| 2 | 39 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 18 | |
| 3 |  Flipt | 31 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 11 |
LaunchDarkly leads Feature Flags at Overall AIQ 45, ranking first on ChatGPT and Perplexity, second on Gemini, and third on Claude.
ConfigCat is second at 39, ranking second on ChatGPT and Perplexity, fourth on Gemini, and first on Claude.
Flipt is third at 31, ranking seventh on ChatGPT and Perplexity, first on Gemini, and second on Claude.
The complete snapshot contains 26 ranked products, 81 cited pages, and 237 verified mentions. LaunchDarkly records 17 sources and 29 mentions,
ConfigCat records 12 sources and 18 mentions, and
Flipt records 10 sources and 11 mentions. First-place assistant columns are distributed across all three displayed rows.
Low-Code App Builders
Open the complete Low-Code App Builders ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  AppSheet | 45 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 15 | 9 | 11 |
| 2 | 32 | 2 | 2 | 3 | — | 16 | 18 | |
| 3 | 25 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 13 | 14 |
AppSheet leads Low-Code App Builders at Overall AIQ 45, ranking first on ChatGPT, twelfth on Gemini, fourth on Claude, and fifteenth on Perplexity. OutSystems is second at 32, ranking second on ChatGPT and Gemini and third on Claude, with no category rank here from Perplexity.
Zoho Creator is third at 25, ranking third on ChatGPT, eighth on Gemini and Perplexity, and first on Claude.
The full snapshot includes 44 ranked products, 126 cited pages, and 296 verified mentions. AppSheet records 9 sources and 11 mentions, OutSystems records 16 sources and 18 mentions, and
Zoho Creator records 13 sources and 14 mentions. The evidence counts do not follow Overall order, while the assistant first-place columns are split.
Cloud Hosting (PaaS)
Open the complete Cloud Hosting (PaaS) ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 49 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 19 | 21 | 33 | |
| 2 |  Render | 43 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 25 | 36 |
| 3 | 36 | 3 | 7 | 8 | — | 16 | 25 |
Vercel leads Cloud Hosting (PaaS) at Overall AIQ 49, ranking first on ChatGPT, third on Gemini, second on Claude, and nineteenth on Perplexity.
Render is second at 43, ranking second on ChatGPT, fifth on Gemini, and fourth on Claude and Perplexity. Netlify is third at 36, ranking third on ChatGPT, seventh on Gemini, and eighth on Claude, with no category rank here from Perplexity.
The complete snapshot contains 33 ranked products, 135 cited pages, and 262 verified mentions. Vercel records 21 sources and 33 mentions,
Render records 25 sources and 36 mentions, and Netlify records 16 sources and 25 mentions. The second row carries the largest displayed evidence counts without those counts being treated as the cause of placement.
Product Management
Open the complete Product Management ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 45 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 21 | 26 | |
| 2 | 41 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 19 | 21 | |
| 3 |  Aha! | 24 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 18 | 0 | 0 |
Productboard leads Product Management at Overall AIQ 45, ranking first on ChatGPT, third on Gemini, second on Claude, and sixth on Perplexity.
Trello is second at 41, ranking second on ChatGPT and Gemini, first on Claude, and third on Perplexity.
Aha! is third at 24, ranking third on ChatGPT, ninth on Gemini, fifth on Claude, and eighteenth on Perplexity.
The full snapshot includes 36 ranked products, 97 cited pages, and 232 verified mentions. Productboard records 21 sources and 26 mentions,
Trello records 19 sources and 21 mentions, and
Aha! records 0 sources and 0 mentions. The split assistant firsts and zero-evidence third row are reported as independent observations.
API Platforms
Open the complete API Platforms ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 56 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 21 | 26 | |
| 2 | 28 | 2 | — | — | — | 1 | 2 | |
| 3 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 12 | 14 |
Postman leads API Platforms at Overall AIQ 56, ranking first on ChatGPT and Gemini, fourth on Claude, and seventh on Perplexity.
Hoppscotch is second at 28, ranking second on ChatGPT, with no category rank here from Gemini, Claude, or Perplexity.
Kong Konnect is third at 16, ranking twelfth on ChatGPT, fourth on Gemini, second on Claude, and sixteenth on Perplexity.
The complete snapshot contains 52 ranked products, 125 cited pages, and 238 verified mentions. Postman records 21 sources and 26 mentions,
Hoppscotch records 1 source and 2 mentions, and
Kong Konnect records 12 sources and 14 mentions. The third row has more displayed evidence than the second, while the middle row accounts for three absent assistant cells.
Database as a Service
Open the complete Database as a Service ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Amazon RDS | 56 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 10 | 13 |
| 2 | 34 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 7 | |
| 3 |  Neon | 31 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Supabase is second at 34, ranking third on ChatGPT and Claude, seventh on Gemini, and first on Perplexity.
Neon is third at 31, ranking fifth on ChatGPT, third on Gemini, and second on Claude and Perplexity.
The full snapshot includes 33 ranked products, 104 cited pages, and 126 verified mentions. Supabase records 6 sources and 7 mentions, and
Neon records 1 source and 1 mention. First-place assistant columns are split between the first and second Overall rows.
What Week 28 Establishes
Data Integration (ETL) and CI/CD establish the two unanimous assistant leaders in the displayed set. Observability & APM, Feature Flags, Low-Code App Builders, Product Management, and Database as a Service instead split first-place assistant columns across displayed products.
Business Intelligence, Observability & APM, CI/CD, Low-Code App Builders, Cloud Hosting (PaaS), and API Platforms establish evidence orders that differ from their Overall orders. Later editions can be compared with these category-specific records, but Week 28 itself supports no movement conclusion and no cross-category raw-AIQ hierarchy.
Related News
The Week 28 Rising AIQ Report
Eight category-relative Rising AIQ highlights, reported separately from Overall AIQ and with assistant breadth intact.
Which Sources Shape Software Recommendations in AI Search
A Week 29 analysis of how the public evidence footprint changed across one representative software market in each of Cooper’s eight hubs.
The Week 28 IT & Security Software Report
A category-by-category reading of all ten Week 28 IT & Security software markets, with assistant ranks and verified evidence.