# State of AI Search: Changelog - November 2026

> We asked ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overview 20 questions about changelog tools and analyzed 819 answers. Beamer leads with 55% visibility.

- **Published:** November 4, 2026
- **Assistants:** ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overview
- **Coverage:** 20 prompts, 819 answers, 15 tracked brands, 344 cited domains
- **Data:** [data.csv](https://www.usenotra.com/state-of-ai-search/changelog/2026-11/data.csv?ntr=L5HaROig6rqi4dU6)

## Key findings

- Beamer and Headway are neck and neck: 55% and 50% on average across the assistants.
- Beamer is also named first most often, in 21% of answers on average across the assistants.
- Claude names 4.8 tracked brands per answer, Perplexity only 1.8.
- The assistants agree on the brand to name first for 15% of prompts.
- Google showed an AI Overview for 95% of the prompts we checked.

## Visibility ranking

Visibility is the share of answers that name the brand. Named first is the share that name it before any other tracked brand, own site cited the share that link to the brand's own domain. All three are averaged across the assistants, so each assistant counts the same however many answers it gave.

| # | Brand | Visibility | Named first | ChatGPT | Claude | Gemini | Perplexity | AI Overview | Own site cited |
| ---: | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| 1 | [Beamer](https://getbeamer.com) | **55%** | 21% | 54% | 78% | 64% | 37% | 42% | 10% |
| 2 | [Headway](https://headwayapp.co) | **50%** | 20% | 56% | 67% | 62% | 31% | 37% | 3% |
| 3 | [LaunchNotes](https://launchnotes.com) | **36%** | 2% | 37% | 53% | 40% | 12% | 37% | 11% |
| 4 | [Canny](https://canny.io) | **35%** | 6% | 21% | 56% | 42% | 26% | 32% | 12% |
| 5 | [AnnounceKit](https://announcekit.app) | **35%** | 6% | 26% | 55% | 29% | 12% | 53% | 19% |
| 6 | [Featurebase](https://featurebase.app) | **31%** | 6% | 44% | 56% | 22% | 17% | 16% | 9% |
| 7 | [GitHub Releases](https://github.com) | **24%** | 11% | 16% | 32% | 22% | 15% | 37% | 19% |
| 8 | [Frill](https://frill.co) | **14%** | 2% | 12% | 25% | 5% | 14% | 16% | 10% |
| 9 | [Release Drafter](https://github.com) | **8%** | 4% | 8% | 16% | 8% | 2% | 5% | 19% |
| 10 | [Sleekplan](https://sleekplan.com) | **7%** | 0% | 4% | 9% | 4% | 15% | 5% | 2% |
| 11 | [Noticeable](https://noticeable.io) | **5%** | 0% | 3% | 14% | 2% | 0% | 5% | 0% |
| 12 | [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com) | **4%** | 0% | 0% | 14% | 6% | 2% | 0% | 1% |
| 13 | [Changelogfy](https://changelogfy.com) | **2%** | 0% | 3% | 2% | 8% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 14 | [Productlane](https://productlane.com) | **0%** | 0% | 0% | 1% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 15 | [Notra](https://usenotra.com) | **0%** | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% |

## By assistant

| Assistant | Model | Answers | Brands per answer | Sources per answer |
| --- | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| ChatGPT | ChatGPT app | 200 | 2.8 | 3.3 |
| Claude | `anthropic/claude-opus-5.5` | 200 | 4.8 | 6.9 |
| Gemini | Gemini app | 200 | 3.1 | 5.3 |
| Perplexity | `perplexity/sonar` | 200 | 1.8 | 10.1 |
| AI Overview | Google Search | 19 | 2.8 | 7.3 |

ChatGPT, Gemini and Google were read from the consumer apps in the US, so their underlying models are not reported. Claude and Perplexity were asked through their APIs with web search. Earlier editions asked every assistant through its API, so changes from those editions are not like-for-like.

## Prompts

The 20 questions we asked, with the brand named first most often and the others that came up.

| # | Prompt | Named first | Also named |
| ---: | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | best changelog tool for saas | **Beamer** | Headway, Featurebase, AnnounceKit, Canny, +8 more |
| 2 | i need a changelog for my developer tool, what do people use | **GitHub Releases** | Headway, Beamer, LaunchNotes, Mintlify, +7 more |
| 3 | what should i use to publish product release notes | **GitHub Releases** | LaunchNotes, Beamer, Headway, AnnounceKit, +6 more |
| 4 | how do i add an in-app changelog widget to my web app | **Headway** | Beamer, Featurebase, AnnounceKit, Canny, +6 more |
| 5 | how do startups keep a changelog page up to date | **Beamer** | Headway, LaunchNotes, Canny, Featurebase, +6 more |
| 6 | best changelog tool with a custom domain | **Headway** | Featurebase, Beamer, Canny, AnnounceKit, +6 more |
| 7 | beamer alternatives that are cheaper | **Beamer** | Headway, Sleekplan, Frill, Featurebase, +5 more |
| 8 | free changelog page for a small startup | **Headway** | GitHub Releases, Canny, Beamer, Featurebase, +5 more |
| 9 | best changelog tool for a team shipping every day | **Headway** | Beamer, Canny, LaunchNotes, Featurebase, +5 more |
| 10 | what's the best public roadmap and changelog tool | **Canny** | Featurebase, Frill, Beamer, LaunchNotes, +4 more |
| 11 | best changelog software with email notifications | **Beamer** | AnnounceKit, Canny, LaunchNotes, Headway, +4 more |
| 12 | best product update announcement tool for b2b saas | **Beamer** | AnnounceKit, LaunchNotes, Featurebase, Headway, +4 more |
| 13 | i need users to see only updates relevant to their plan | **Beamer** | AnnounceKit, LaunchNotes, Featurebase, Sleekplan, +4 more |
| 14 | headway vs beamer vs launchnotes | **Headway** | Beamer, LaunchNotes, Featurebase, Canny, +3 more |
| 15 | how do i publish release notes in multiple languages | **GitHub Releases** | Beamer, Headway, AnnounceKit, Changelogfy, +3 more |
| 16 | how do i collect feedback on product release notes | **Beamer** | LaunchNotes, Canny, Headway, Frill, +3 more |
| 17 | tools that write release notes from github commits automatically | **Release Drafter** | GitHub Releases, LaunchNotes, Changelogfy, Beamer, +2 more |
| 18 | ai tool that turns pull requests into changelog posts | **GitHub Releases** | Release Drafter, AnnounceKit, LaunchNotes, Productlane, +2 more |
| 19 | best way to announce new features to users | **Beamer** | Headway, AnnounceKit, LaunchNotes |
| 20 | how to automate release notes for a mobile app | **Release Drafter** | GitHub Releases |

## What the assistants say

### Beamer

> Beamer: Best if you want a polished customer-facing changelog with multiple notification channels.
>
> ChatGPT, asked "best changelog software with email notifications"

> Beamer: the best-known option, built for teams that announce a lot.
>
> Claude, asked "what should i use to publish product release notes"

> Beamer: Best for interactive, marketing-led updates.
>
> Gemini, asked "best changelog tool for saas"

### Headway

> Headway: Best for a simple, inexpensive changelog.
>
> ChatGPT, asked "headway vs beamer vs launchnotes"

> Headway: best if you want something simple and cheap
>
> Claude, asked "best changelog software with email notifications"

> Headway: Best for a lightweight, low-cost changelog.[2][3]
>
> Perplexity, asked "best changelog tool for saas"

### LaunchNotes

> LaunchNotes: Best for a more sophisticated product release communication and feedback process.
>
> ChatGPT, asked "headway vs beamer vs launchnotes"

> LaunchNotes: best for sending emails to subscribers
>
> Claude, asked "best changelog software with email notifications"

> LaunchNotes: Best for structured, multi-channel release communication.
>
> Gemini, asked "best changelog tool for saas"

### Canny

> Canny: Best if you want to notify customers when features they've requested are released.
>
> ChatGPT, asked "best changelog software with email notifications"

> Canny is the established, polished option and the best fit if feedback management is your main need.
>
> Claude, asked "what's the best public roadmap and changelog tool"

> Canny: Best if feedback and changelogs must live together.
>
> Gemini, asked "best changelog tool for saas"

### AnnounceKit

> AnnounceKit: Best if email notifications and customer segmentation are particularly important.
>
> ChatGPT, asked "best changelog software with email notifications"

> AnnounceKit: best for in-app announcements and widgets
>
> Claude, asked "best changelog tool with a custom domain"

> AnnounceKit: Best for a broad announcement-and-feedback workflow.
>
> Perplexity, asked "best product update announcement tool for b2b saas"

## Cited sources

The domains the assistants link to most, by share of answers that cite them at least once, averaged across the assistants.

| # | Domain | Cited in | ChatGPT | Claude | Gemini | Perplexity | AI Overview | Top page |
| ---: | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | --- |
| 1 | [releasepad.io](https://releasepad.io) | **24%** | 6% | 33% | 19% | 30% | 32% | [10 Best Changelog Tools in 2026 \| Honest Comparison](https://www.releasepad.io/blog/best-changelog-tools/) |
| 2 | [announcekit.app](https://announcekit.app) | **19%** | 5% | 26% | 3% | 25% | 37% | [AnnounceKit: Changelog, In-App Widgets & Feature Requests](https://announcekit.app/) |
| 3 | [github.com](https://github.com) | **17%** | 3% | 34% | 7% | 21% | 21% | [GitHub - googleapis/release-please](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please) |
| 4 | [quackback.io](https://quackback.io) | **17%** | 6% | 17% | 22% | 25% | 16% | [Best Changelog Tools and Software in 2026 (7 Compared) \| Quackback](https://quackback.io/blog/best-changelog-tools) |
| 5 | [productbridge.io](https://productbridge.io) | **14%** | 1% | 19% | 13% | 25% | 11% | [5 Best Beamer Alternatives in 2026 (Pricing + Features)](https://productbridge.io/blog/beamer-alternatives) |
| 6 | [youtube.com](https://youtube.com) | **13%** | 0% | 7% | 0% | 0% | 58% | [LaunchNotes vs AnnounceKit: Honest Comparison, Pricing ...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47i1PbHbsHk) |
| 7 | [nolt.io](https://nolt.io) | **13%** | 6% | 21% | 1% | 10% | 26% | [The 9 best changelog tools in 2026](https://nolt.io/blog/best-changelog-tools) |
| 8 | [canny.io](https://canny.io) | **11%** | 1% | 16% | 20% | 5% | 16% | [Choosing the best changelog tool + 11 options (with features + ...](https://canny.io/blog/best-changelog-tools/) |
| 9 | [frill.co](https://frill.co) | **10%** | 0% | 11% | 0% | 30% | 11% | [Best Changelog Software: 8 Options Compared - Frill.co](https://frill.co/pages/best-changelog-software) |
| 10 | [launchnotes.com](https://launchnotes.com) | **10%** | 8% | 9% | 3% | 20% | 11% | [Plans & Pricing \| LaunchNotes](https://www.launchnotes.com/pricing) |

## More reports

- [AI visibility](https://www.usenotra.com/state-of-ai-search/ai-visibility/2026-11?ntr=L5HaROig6rqi4dU6): Peec AI leads with 60%
- [App hosting](https://www.usenotra.com/state-of-ai-search/app-hosting/2026-11?ntr=L5HaROig6rqi4dU6): Render leads with 75%
- [Auth](https://www.usenotra.com/state-of-ai-search/auth/2026-11?ntr=L5HaROig6rqi4dU6): Clerk leads with 71%
- [Email API](https://www.usenotra.com/state-of-ai-search/email-api/2026-11?ntr=L5HaROig6rqi4dU6): Resend leads with 79%
- [Postgres](https://www.usenotra.com/state-of-ai-search/postgres/2026-11?ntr=L5HaROig6rqi4dU6): Neon leads with 82%

All reports: https://www.usenotra.com/state-of-ai-search

## Where do you rank in AI search?

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