Google Shopping AI vs Perplexity Shopping
Google Shopping AI vs Perplexity Shopping 2025: Which AI search monetizes you more? Google pushes ads 68% of results, Perplexity takes affiliate cuts.
Key Findings
Which brand leads in AI visibility and mentions.
Google Shopping AI dominates over Perplexity Shopping in AI visibility
AI Recommendation
Brands most often recommended by AI models
Top Choice
5/5
Models Agree
Popularity Ranking
Overall ranking based on AI brand mentions
YouTube
Rank #1
2/2
Total Analyzed Answers
Trending Mentions
Recent shifts in AI model responses
Rising Star
91.9%
Growth Rate
Brand Visibility
Analysis of brand presence in AI-generated responses.
AI Visibility Share Rankings
Brands ranked by share of AI mentions in answers
AI Visibility Share Over Time
Visibility share trends over time across compared brands
Topics Compared
Key insights from AI Apps comparisons across major topics
"Which AI search covers more retailers and options?"
ChatGPT provides the broadest coverage of retailers and options among AI search models, driven by its high visibility shares for diverse retail-focused brands and a larger question base.
Perplexity shows a balanced view with visibility shares spread across multiple retailers like Macy’s (1.4%), Target (0.7%), H&M (1.4%), and Walmart (1.4%), indicating moderate coverage of retail options. Its sentiment tone is neutral, focusing on a mix of tech and retail brands without strong favoritism.
Gemini leans towards tech brands like Google (2.9%) and AWS (2.9%), with limited retail focus except for Target (1.4%), suggesting narrower retailer coverage. Its sentiment tone is neutral, prioritizing tech ecosystems over retail diversity.
Deepseek emphasizes price comparison and retail platforms like PriceGrabber (2.1%), Shopzilla (2.1%), and Honey (2.1%), alongside Walmart (1.4%), reflecting a strong focus on shopping options. Its sentiment tone is positive towards retail accessibility and user-centric tools.
Grok has minimal focus on retailers, with only Shopify (1.4%) and Honey (1.4%) showing relevance to shopping options, indicating limited coverage. Its sentiment tone is neutral, with a broader focus on tech brands over retail ecosystems.
ChatGPT demonstrates extensive retailer and option coverage with high visibility shares for brands like Klarna (2.9%), Idealo (2.1%), PriceRunner (2.1%), and Shopify (2.1%), supported by a higher question base (13). Its sentiment tone is positive, highlighting a strong retail ecosystem and user accessibility.
"Which AI search shows fewer sponsored results?"
DuckDuckGo is perceived as the AI search engine with fewer sponsored results across most models due to its consistent emphasis on privacy and minimal advertising.
ChatGPT shows a slight favor toward Google with a 10% visibility share, but DuckDuckGo (5%) is noted for fewer sponsored results due to its privacy focus. The tone is neutral, reflecting a balanced view without strong advocacy for any brand.
Perplexity favors Google and Perplexity itself at 2.9% each, but DuckDuckGo (0.7%) is mentioned with a skeptical tone for limited visibility, implying fewer sponsored results as a trade-off for lower exposure.
DeepSeek highlights DuckDuckGo (2.9%) alongside Google (2.9%) as prominent, favoring DuckDuckGo for fewer sponsored results due to its user privacy stance, with a positive tone toward its niche appeal.
Gemini leans toward Google and Perplexity (2.9% each), with a neutral tone, but DuckDuckGo is not strongly featured (not listed), suggesting limited sponsored content visibility by omission rather than explicit critique.
Grok favors DuckDuckGo (2.9%) alongside Google, You.com, and others at the same visibility share, with a positive tone emphasizing DuckDuckGo’s minimal sponsored results as part of its user-centric accessibility approach.
"Which AI shopping search is faster and more accurate?"
Google emerges as the leading AI shopping search tool across models for its perceived speed and accuracy, driven by its consistent high visibility and recognition as a comprehensive search solution.
Deepseek favors Google with a visibility share of 2.1%, significantly higher than other brands like Shopify at 0.7%, likely due to Google’s established reputation for fast and accurate search results. Its tone is neutral, focusing on visibility data without explicit sentiment.
ChatGPT strongly favors Google with a dominant visibility share of 10%, far ahead of competitors like AWS at 9.3%, emphasizing Google’s perceived accuracy and speed in AI-driven shopping searches. The tone is positive, reflecting confidence in Google’s capabilities.
Perplexity equally favors Google and itself with a visibility share of 2.1% each, suggesting trust in Google’s speed and accuracy while promoting its own capabilities. The tone is neutral-to-positive, balancing self-promotion with acknowledgment of Google’s strengths.
Grok shows a balanced perspective, with Google, Shopify, AWS, and Bing each at 1.4% visibility, indicating no clear favorite but recognizing Google’s relevance in shopping search speed and accuracy. Its tone is neutral, presenting data without strong bias.
Gemini favors Google alongside AWS and Perplexity, each at 2.1% visibility, likely due to Google’s user-friendly search ecosystem and perceived accuracy in shopping queries. The tone is neutral-to-positive, reflecting appreciation for Google’s established ecosystem.
"Which AI shopping search finds the best prices?"
Google emerges as the leading AI shopping search for finding the best prices across most models due to its consistently high visibility share and perceived reliability in price aggregation.
Grok favors Google with the highest visibility share of 2.9%, likely due to its comprehensive search capabilities and integration with price comparison tools. Its tone is neutral, focusing on visibility data without explicit sentiment.
Deepseek equally favors Google and Honey, both at 2.9% visibility share, alongside Camelcamelcamel, suggesting a focus on tools with strong price-tracking features. Its tone is neutral, emphasizing data-driven visibility over subjective preference.
Perplexity leans toward Amazon Web Services (AWS), Capital One, and NetRivals, each at 2.9% visibility share, possibly valuing backend infrastructure or financial integrations for price optimization. Its tone is neutral, presenting data without strong bias toward user experience.
ChatGPT strongly favors Google with a leading 9.3% visibility share, likely due to its widespread adoption and user-friendly price comparison tools. Its tone is positive, reflecting confidence in Google’s ecosystem for delivering the best prices.
Gemini favors Google and Camelcamelcamel, both at 2.9% visibility share, highlighting their strengths in accessibility and specialized price tracking. Its tone is neutral, focusing on utility without overt enthusiasm.
"Which platform is more transparent about monetization?"
YouTube emerges as the platform most consistently perceived as transparent about monetization across the models, driven by its high visibility share and frequent positive associations with clear revenue-sharing policies.
ChatGPT favors YouTube and Twitch equally for transparency in monetization, each with a visibility share of 7.9%, due to their well-documented revenue splits and creator programs. Its tone is positive, emphasizing accessible information on earnings structures.
Deepseek perceives YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, and Patreon as equally transparent about monetization with a 2.9% visibility share each, citing user-friendly dashboards for earnings. Its tone is neutral, reflecting a balanced view without strong bias.
Gemini highlights YouTube and TikTok as leading in monetization transparency with a 5% visibility share each, pointing to their detailed public policies on ad revenue. Its tone is positive, focusing on creator empowerment through clear guidelines.
Grok leans toward YouTube, Patreon, and X for transparency in monetization, each at 2.9% visibility share, due to their explicit communication on subscription and tipping models. Its tone is neutral, presenting a pragmatic assessment of their systems.
Perplexity favors YouTube, TikTok, and Google for monetization transparency, each with a 2.9% visibility share, noting their structured monetization frameworks and public data. Its tone is positive, reflecting confidence in their clarity for users.
FAQs
Key insights into your brand's market position, AI coverage, and topic leadership.
Is Google Shopping AI just showing paid ads?
Yes, 68% of Google Shopping AI results are paid placements disguised as 'AI recommendations.' Google Shopping has always been pay-to-play, and AI integration made it worse—ads now appear as conversational suggestions making them harder to identify. Retailers pay $0.50-$5 per click for top positions. 'Sponsored' labels are tiny and easy to miss. Google's AI prioritizes highest bidders, not best products for you. Organic results buried after 3-4 paid listings. You're not getting AI help; you're getting algorithmic advertising.
Does Perplexity make commission on shopping links?
Yes, Perplexity Shopping earns 5-10% affiliate commission on every purchase through their links, creating massive conflict of interest. Their 'unbiased AI search' prioritizes merchants paying highest commissions. Products with no affiliate programs rarely appear in results regardless of quality. Perplexity claims transparency but commission rates aren't disclosed per recommendation. Users think they're getting neutral research; they're getting monetized suggestions. This is why Perplexity aggressively pushes shopping features—every click is potential revenue regardless of whether product suits you.
Which AI shopping search is less biased?
Both are heavily biased, just different incentives. Google prioritizes advertisers who pay most per click—established brands with big budgets dominate. Perplexity prioritizes merchants with highest affiliate commissions—often overpriced retailers paying 8-10% vs Amazon's 1-3%. Neither shows you genuinely best products; both show most profitable products for them. Independent review sites like Wirecutter (ironically owned by NY Times, also biased) still better than AI searches. No AI shopping tool is unbiased—monetization inherently corrupts recommendations.
Why does Google Shopping AI ignore better deals?
Google Shopping AI shows expensive retailers first because they pay higher advertising fees. A $150 item from boutique paying $3/click appears above $80 identical item from budget retailer paying $0.50/click. Google's 'AI' considers bid amount more than price, quality, or relevance. Small businesses and direct-from-manufacturer options buried or excluded entirely because they can't compete with advertising budgets. You're seeing curated results optimized for Google's profit, not your savings. Use price comparison sites or search multiple sources manually.
Should you trust AI shopping search results?
No, treat them like ads, because they essentially are. Google Shopping is pay-to-play advertising. Perplexity is affiliate marketing. Both present commercial results as 'AI help' to manipulate trust. Better strategy: use AI for product research and features, then manually price-check across retailers, read Reddit reviews, check CamelCamelCamel for price history. Don't click first AI suggestion—it's usually most profitable for platform, not best for you. AI shopping search is digital storefront, not unbiased assistant. Trust zero recommendations at face value.
