---
title: "AI Comparison Tables: Google AI Mode Uses One in 40%"
url: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-comparison-tables-product-answers
description: "AI comparison tables study: Google AI Mode adds a table to 40.2% of 'best product' answers, 31 times the 1.3% rate of Google AI Overviews. See the data."
lang: en
---
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Google AI Mode lays out products side by side in a comparison table in **40.2%** of its answers to "best product" questions, 31 times the 1.3% rate of Google AI Overviews. Across five AI engines, 21.7% of product answers include a table.
Analysis of 17,524 AI product answers · answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features, September 2026
## Key Findings
1. 1. Google AI Mode includes a comparison table in **40.2%** of its answers to "best product" questions, 31 times the 1.3% rate of Google AI Overviews. Copy stat
2. 2. **21.7%** of AI answers to "best product" questions include a comparison table, about one answer in five. Copy stat
3. 3. AI answers to "best software" questions include a comparison table **55.7%** of the time, more than any other category. Copy stat
4. 4. AI answers about electronics include a comparison table **10.3%** of the time, about one in ten, with beauty at 11% and health at 12%. Copy stat
5. 5. Gemini includes a comparison table in **28.4%** of product answers, ChatGPT in 18.7% and Perplexity in 13.5%. Copy stat
## Summary
Ask Google AI Mode for the best project management software for a small team and the answer can arrive as a grid: five tools down the side, and price, free plan, key features and "best for" across the top. Ask the same question in a regular Google search and the AI Overview at the top is a few sentences and bullets.
That matters because a table changes what a brand is judged on. Instead of a line of praise, each product gets a row of facts: its price, its plans, what it includes and who it suits. The engine fills those cells from the pages it reads. If your page states those facts plainly, the cells are right; if it does not, the engine fills them from someone else's page or leaves them blank.
Google AI Mode builds a table in **40.2%** of product answers, and Google AI Overviews in 1.3%. Across all five engines, 21.7% of product answers include a table, and for software questions more than half do.
## What we measured
On September 23, 2026 we asked 2,000 "best product or service" questions, such as "best CRM for small business" or "best air fryer", across 20 categories, to five AI engines: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews (the AI summary above Google's search results). That produced 17,524 answers.
An answer counts as including a comparison table when it lays out options in rows and columns, such as products against price, features or ratings. We compared the rate by AI engine and by product category.
## One AI product answer in five is built around a table
21.7%
of AI answers to "best product" questions include a comparison table.
About one AI product answer in five lays options out side by side. A table compresses a comparison into rows and columns: price, features, best for. It is the format a careful shopper would build by hand, and AI engines now build it for them.
The facts that fill those cells have to come from somewhere. A table needs the same attribute for every product, so an engine looks for pages that state price, plans and features in clear, comparable terms. Brands whose pages bury those facts in marketing copy or behind a sales form give the engine nothing to put in their row.
## Google AI Mode builds tables, AI Overviews almost never do
40.2%
of Google AI Mode's product answers include a comparison table.
The two Google features behave in opposite ways. Google AI Mode builds a table in four answers in ten. Google AI Overviews, the short summary at the top of Google's search results, include one in 1.3% of answers, so a Google AI Mode user sees a table 31 times as often as someone reading an AI Overview.
Product answers with a comparison table by AI engine
Google AI Mode
40.2%
Gemini
28.4%
ChatGPT
18.7%
Perplexity
13.5%
Google AI Overviews
1.3%
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 17,524 AI product answers · answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features, September 2026
Gemini (28.4%) and ChatGPT (18.7%) use tables regularly, and Perplexity includes one in 13.5% of product answers. A shopper who asked the same product question on all five engines would see about one table across the five answers, most likely on Google AI Mode and almost never in the AI Overview at the top of Google's results.
## Software and services get the most tables
More than half of software answers, 55.7%, include a table, the highest rate of any category. Software is compared on plans, prices, user limits and integrations, attributes that fit naturally in columns. Services (36.7%), travel (33.6%) and finance (30.6%) follow, all categories where buyers compare prices, fees or terms.
Answers with a comparison table by category
Software
55.7%
Services
36.7%
Travel
33.6%
Finance
30.6%
Cars
24.8%
Insurance
22.6%
Gaming
21.7%
Home
21.5%
Outdoor
19.5%
Phones
19.4%
Kitchen
13.6%
Pets
12.7%
Health
12%
Beauty
11%
Electronics
10.3%
Physical consumer products get fewer tables. Electronics (10.3%), beauty (11%), health (12%) and pets (12.7%) sit at the bottom, and streaming, kids and office products fall between 18% and 19%. Cars (24.8%), insurance (22.6%), gaming (21.7%) and home (21.5%) sit close to the overall rate. If you sell software or services, a comparison table is the format your product is most likely to be judged in.
## What this means for software, services and ecommerce brands
Give AI engines the cells to fill. Publish a clear comparison page or specification table for your product with the attributes buyers compare: price, plans, key features and who it suits. Use a real HTML table rather than an image, so engines can read every value.
Keep the numbers current. A table cell showing last year's price or a retired plan is repeated as fact. Check the tables AI engines build in your category: if a competitor's row shows a feature you also offer, but your cell is blank or wrong, the fix is usually on your own pricing or features page.
Then check Google AI Mode in particular, where tables are most common. Our ecommerce seo services (https://www.suffdigital.com/seo/ecommerce-seo-services) build the product and comparison pages AI engines draw their tables from.
## Embed this research
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Source: Google AI Mode Adds a Comparison Table to 40% of Product Answers vs 1.3% for AI Overviews - Suff Digital
## Cite this study
APA
Suff Digital. (2026). Google AI Mode Adds a Comparison Table to 40% of Product Answers vs 1.3% for AI Overviews. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-comparison-tables-product-answers
Plain link
Google AI Mode Adds a Comparison Table to 40% of Product Answers vs 1.3% for AI Overviews - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-comparison-tables-product-answers
## Frequently asked questions
### How often do AI engines use comparison tables for products?
### Which AI engine uses the most comparison tables?
### Which product categories get AI comparison tables?
### Does ChatGPT use comparison tables?
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- AI SEO What AI-Cited Web Pages Have in Common: 72% More Likely to Show a 'Last Updated' Date: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/what-ai-cited-pages-have-in-common
- AI SEO Google AI Overviews Are Mostly Bullet Points 89% of the Time vs 37.5% for ChatGPT: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-answers-mostly-bullet-lists
- AI SEO 54% of AI Product Recommendations Don't Mention a Price: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-product-answers-mention-price
- AI SEO None of 7,048 ChatGPT Product Cards Send Shoppers to Amazon: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/chatgpt-product-cards
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