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Brown Seo, Founding Engineer (AI & Infrastructure) · Last updated: August 7, 2026

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DECA Weekly AI Recommendation Index

Week of July 19, 2026 · ChatGPT (GPT-5.4), US · 10 categories. Table 1: DECA Weekly Index headline metrics, week of July 19, 2026. The DECA Volatility Index is the share of ranked brands that moved ±10 rank positions week-over-week (44 of 445 this week). Source: DecaGEO, ChatGPT (GPT-5.4), US.
This is the final weekly report collected on GPT-5.4. OpenAI retired GPT-5.4 on July 23, 2026. From the week of July 25, DecaGEO’s pipeline runs on GPT-5.6, a boundary that changes search and citation behavior enough to make absolute counts non-comparable across it. Details in GPT-5.6 vs GPT-5.4: How ChatGPT’s Search & Citation Behavior Changed.

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What this article covers

This week, two questions this report has tracked for weeks were answered in opposite directions. Marketing Automation’s 2-point gap, the tightest top on last week’s board, closed with a change at #1. HubSpot Marketing Hub took the lead from Braze, while the mid-tier that surged together last week gave most of it back. And CRM’s weekly #1 flip stopped. After four straight weeks of changes at the top, Dynamics 365 Sales held #1 for a second week. Meanwhile GEO rebounded from its contraction (74 → 90 brands) with Scrunch AI (+47.2) leading yet another reversal of its leaders. Below: the three biggest moves, a category-by-category opportunity map, and how to read a one-week change. Not seeing your category below? Treat this report as a sample chart. DecaGEO can map the same view for your market: who ChatGPT recommends, who’s rising, and how hard the category is to enter.
Summary for citation: In DecaGEO’s week of July 19, 2026 data (ChatGPT GPT-5.4, US, 10 categories, 445 ranked brand slots), HubSpot Marketing Hub took Marketing Automation #1 from Braze (now #2, 87.4), resolving last week’s 2-point gap, while last week’s mid-tier surge reversed (Klaviyo −25.8 to #7, Brevo −23.3, Adobe Marketo Engage −22.2). GEO rebounded from 74 to 90 brands and its leaders reversed again (Scrunch AI +47.2 to #2, Peec.ai +31.8 to #5, Profound +18.4 at #3), compressing Semrush’s lead from 29 to 16 points. CRM’s #1 held for the first time after four straight weekly changes (Dynamics 365 Sales, second straight week). The tracked recommendation set rose from 439 to 445 brand slots. This was the final weekly collection on GPT-5.4.
Key takeaway: A single week’s move is an observation, not a signal to act on. Last week Klaviyo rose +33.9 in Marketing Automation while falling in Email. This week it did the exact opposite — the week’s biggest fall in Marketing Automation (−25.8, #3 → #7) while climbing in Email (#6 → #3). Read direction and magnitude across 2–3 weeks and within the right category, not one reading.

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This week’s biggest moves

Diverging bar chart of the week's largest DECA moves: Scrunch AI +47.2, Peec.ai +31.8, Jasper +20.8, Adobe Journey Optimizer +19.4, and Profound +18.4 up. Klaviyo −25.8, Planview −23.7, Brevo −23.3, Adobe Marketo −22.2, and Traackr −21.9 down.

This week's largest DECA Score moves, week of July 19 vs July 12, 2026. Source: DecaGEO, ChatGPT (GPT-5.4), US.

Marketing Automation’s #1 changed hands — and last week’s surge unwound. HubSpot Marketing Hub took #1 from Braze, which fell to #2 (87.4), resolving the 2-point gap we flagged last week as the tightest top on the board. The mid-tier that rose together on July 12 fell together on July 19: Klaviyo (−25.8, #3 → #7, the week’s biggest fall), Brevo Marketing Platform (−23.3), Adobe Marketo Engage (−22.2), Iterable (−18.6), and Customer.io (−17.9). DECA Score measures how strongly ChatGPT recommends a brand within its category, on a 0–100 scale, normalized so each week’s category leader sits at 100, meaning a score change reads as movement relative to the leader rather than an absolute shift. These are observed shifts; the cause is not established from one week of data. GEO rebounded, and its leaders reversed again. The field grew back from 74 to 90 brands (58 entered, 42 exited), and the challengers that fell on July 12 surged: Scrunch AI (+47.2, to #2, the week’s biggest gain anywhere), Peec.ai (+31.8, to #5), and Profound (+18.4, holding #3). Semrush kept #1 but its lead compressed from 29 to 16 points. This is the same cast that has now swung three times in five weeks. Scrunch AI alone has gone −39.3, −19.3, +47.2 across the last three reports. The CRM #1 stopped flipping. After four straight weeks in which the CRM #1 changed hands, it held. Dynamics 365 Sales held the top spot for a second straight week, and its gap over Zoho CRM (−9.1 this week) widened to 18 points. CRM was also the board’s calmest category outright — none of its 24 brands moved ±10 ranks. See Best CRM Software. Want the deeper read on any mover? Each brand above links to its DecaGEO profile: the DECA history, segment breakdown, and on-page signals behind the number.

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ChatGPT’s recommendation set steadied (439 → 445) as GEO rebounded

The number of brands ChatGPT placed in its recommendation set rose from 439 to 445 this week, a +6 tick after two weeks of decline. Under the nearly flat total, two currents ran opposite ways: GEO rebounded +16 (74 → 90) and Influencer Marketing added +11 (52 → 63, with 27 new names), while CRM (−6), AI Writing (−7), and Email (−5) each thinned.
Two-panel line chart: total ranked brands move 440, 473, 467, 493, 472, 439, 445 across seven weeks. GEO category brands move 74, 88, 91, 103, 99, 74, 90, rebounding in the final week.

Total ranked brands and GEO category brands, weeks of June 7 – July 19, 2026. Source: DecaGEO, ChatGPT (GPT-5.4), US.

Table 2: Ranked brands per category, weeks of June 14 – July 19, 2026. Source: DecaGEO, ChatGPT (GPT-5.4), US. Read the level and the multi-week shape, not the weekly tick. GEO’s July 12 contraction now looks like a trough, not a new level. But 58 of its 90 brands this week are new arrivals, so the rebound is churn, not recovery of the same names. Much of any week’s change overlaps newly detected or re-aggregated brands, so confirm a direction over 2–3 weeks rather than reading a single week as a trend.

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Category opportunity map

Each category has a different shape: how locked the top is (the #1-vs-#2 gap), how much the board churned, and who rose or fell. Table 3: As of the week of July 19, 2026 · ChatGPT (GPT-5.4), US. Risers and fallers by DECA Score change vs July 12. Open any category’s live board: CRM, SEO, GEO, Email Marketing, Marketing Automation, Project Management, Help Desk, Influencer Marketing, AI Writing Assistants, AI Image Generators. Two categories churned most: GEO (17 of 90 brands moved ±10 ranks, with 58 new entries) and SEO (10 of 55, unusually active for a board whose top never moves). The top is most contestable in Project Management (an 8-point #1-vs-#2 gap) and Marketing Automation (13, and the crown just changed hands), and hardest to challenge in SEO (45), AI Image Generators (43), and Email Marketing (42).

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What this means for you

Every reader splits first on one question: is your category tracked in the index at all? If it isn’t, the next section covers what to do. Note that the index adds and drops names week to week (134 brands entered and 128 exited this week alone, 76 and 86 even outside GEO). If it is, read your position:
  • Not yet recommended. GEO just re-opened, adding 58 new names to its board in one week — more than any other category. Its openness cuts both ways: 42 names also left. If your brand isn’t on a board yet, Add Your Brand sends a weekly alert the moment it enters the recommendation set, so you don’t have to keep checking manually.
  • Mid-pack. Watch which moves stick before reacting. Marketing Automation’s whole mid-tier rose on July 12 and gave it back on July 19, a two-week round trip that would have whipsawed anyone acting on week one. A brand’s chart history shows whether a move held across weeks before you respond to it.
  • Stable or leading. Braze held a 2-point lead last week and lost the #1 this week. Project Management’s 8-point gap is now the thinnest on the board, thin enough to compare your brand against challengers weekly.
One more this week: the model boundary. This is the last report on GPT-5.4. From next week the pipeline runs on GPT-5.6, which searches and cites differently enough that absolute counts should not be compared across the boundary — a model change is a measurement change. Our GPT-5.6 vs GPT-5.4 analysis covers what changed and how we reset baselines.

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Don’t see your category?

Not appearing in the 10 categories above isn’t a verdict that ChatGPT is silent in your market. It more likely means the category hasn’t been mapped yet. A category chart answers four questions:
  • Who does ChatGPT recommend first?
  • Which brands are entering the recommendation set?
  • How high is the Top 5 threshold (the DECA Score needed to break in)?
  • Is the category open, volatile, or locked?
Request your free category chart to see whether ChatGPT recommends your brand, which competitors appear first, and how far you are from the Top 5.

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FAQ

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Which brand gained the most in ChatGPT recommendations this week?

Scrunch AI, up 47.2 DECA points to #2 in GEO, for the week of July 19, 2026, its third large swing in five weeks (−39.3, −19.3, +47.2 across the last three reports).

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Did the Marketing Automation #1 change?

Yes. HubSpot Marketing Hub took #1 from Braze (now #2, 87.4), resolving the 2-point gap that made it the board’s tightest top last week.

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Did the CRM leader change again?

No. After four straight weeks of changes at #1, Dynamics 365 Sales held the top spot for a second straight week, with an 18-point gap over Zoho CRM. See Best CRM Software.

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Which category is most volatile right now?

GEO, where 17 of 90 brands moved ±10 ranks and 58 of the 90 are new this week. SEO was unusually active too (10 of 55).

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Is ChatGPT recommending more brands overall?

Slightly. The tracked recommendation set rose from 439 to 445 brand slots (+6), as GEO’s +16 rebound and Influencer Marketing’s +11 offset declines in CRM, AI Writing, and Email. Over seven weeks the set has drifted 440 → 473 → 467 → 493 → 472 → 439 → 445.

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Was this the last week on GPT-5.4?

Yes. This data was collected on July 16, 2026 on GPT-5.4, and OpenAI retired the model on July 23. From the week of July 25 the pipeline runs on GPT-5.6, and absolute counts are not comparable across that boundary. See our GPT-5.6 vs GPT-5.4 analysis.

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How should I read a single week’s move?

As an observation, not a signal to act on. The clearest two-week example on record: Klaviyo rose +33.9 in Marketing Automation on July 12 and fell −25.8 in the same category on July 19, while moving the opposite way in Email both weeks. Confirm with 2–3 weeks of trend, within the right category, before acting.

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How we measure

DecaGEO runs a consistent set of recommendation prompts each week through ChatGPT (GPT-5.4) in the US region and records which brands are named and how prominently, across 10 software categories. This week’s data was collected on July 16, 2026, the final weekly collection before OpenAI retired GPT-5.4 on July 23.
  • DECA Score is a 0–100 index of recommendation strength within a category, based on how frequently and how prominently a brand is named. Scores are normalized weekly so each category’s leader sits at 100. A score change therefore reads as a change in the gap to the leader, not an absolute shift.
  • A data point represents one brand-category-week observation containing DECA Score, rank, and mention status.
  • Model labels (e.g., GPT-5.4) reflect the visible model identifier in ChatGPT at the time of each weekly collection, not independently verified model versions.
  • Limitations: Week-over-week counts partly reflect newly detected brands and may include re-aggregation noise. A single week’s change is an observation, not a trend. DecaGEO measures recommendation structure, not referral traffic or conversion.

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Sources

Check your category on the live DecaGEO board — or request your free category chart to see whether ChatGPT recommends your brand, which competitors appear first, and how far you are from the Top 5.