LinkedIn and B2B prospecting tools in the UK: which ones ChatGPT and Gemini recommend

We asked ChatGPT and Gemini 72 questions that UK founders, consultants, recruiters and sales teams ask before choosing a prospecting tool, on LinkedIn automation, cold email, contact data and outbound for startups. Then we counted the twelve tools they name. The email, data and CRM platforms are in most answers. The LinkedIn automation tools are named in fewer than a quarter, although 41 of the 72 questions mention LinkedIn.

Apollo.io and HubSpot are named most

Apollo.io comes up in 49 of the 141 answers and HubSpot in 45. They are also the tools named first most often: Apollo.io leads 28 answers and HubSpot 23. Lemlist (30 answers) and Instantly (29) follow, both on cold email, ahead of Smartlead (17), Reply.io and Kaspr (11 each).

1. Apollo.io49 · 35%
2. HubSpot45 · 32%
3. Lemlist30 · 21%
4. Instantly29 · 21%
5. Smartlead17 · 12%
6. Reply.io11 · 8%
7. Kaspr11 · 8%

ChatGPT and Gemini, October 13, 2026. One answer can name several email, data and CRM platforms.

LinkedIn automation tools are named in 34 answers

Of the five LinkedIn automation tools we tracked, Expandi is named most, in 17 answers, just ahead of La Growth Machine (16) and Waalaxy (15). Dripify follows with 12, and Meet Alfred is named once. Together, they appear in 34 of the 141 answers, against 86 for the email, data and CRM platforms.

1. Expandi17 · 12%
2. La Growth Machine16 · 11%
3. Waalaxy15 · 11%
4. Dripify12 · 9%
5. Meet Alfred1 · 1%

Even on LinkedIn questions, the generalists are named as often. The 41 questions that mention LinkedIn or Sales Navigator got 79 answers, and a LinkedIn automation tool is named in 27 of them. In the 24 answers on LinkedIn lead generation (connection requests, account limits, Sales Navigator exports), HubSpot is named 13 times, as the CRM where the leads end up. Expandi and Apollo.io are named 8 times each, Dripify and Waalaxy 7 times.

ChatGPT and Gemini rarely agree

Both AI models name an email, data or CRM platform in 61% of their answers. They differ on the rest. Gemini names a LinkedIn automation tool in 22 of its 69 answers, ChatGPT in 12 of 72. Gemini names Expandi, La Growth Machine and Lemlist two to three times as often as ChatGPT does. ChatGPT names HubSpot more often, in 27 answers against 18.

On the 69 questions both models answered, they name the same tool first on only 14. A tool can lead one AI model’s answer and be missing from the other’s answer to the same question.

Position and tone

Apollo.io is named earliest, with an average position of 1.8, then Instantly (2.0) and Expandi (2.1). La Growth Machine, Waalaxy and Kaspr come later, around 2.5. The tone is neutral to positive for every tool: Reply.io (78) and Apollo.io (77) are described best, La Growth Machine scores 73. Expandi (59) and HubSpot (61) score lower: they are often only listed, without comment, which scores 50.

LinkedIn automation toolEmail, data or CRM platform

Right is a better position, up a better tone, and a bigger bubble more answers. A name found in one answer only has one position and one tone: read it with care.

Where each kind of tool is named

The 72 questions cover six themes. Cold email questions go to the email platforms: Lemlist and Instantly are named in 11 answers each and Smartlead in 10. Data enrichment questions go to Apollo.io (12 answers) and Kaspr (6). On outbound for early startups, 14 of the 24 answers name none of the twelve tools: the AI models describe a method (a list, a sequence, a CRM) rather than products.

LinkedIn’s rules and the ICO are among the sources

The answers cite 203 different websites. ChatGPT cites sources in 69 of its 72 answers, Gemini in 37 of 69. The tools’ own websites lead: apollo.io is used in 26 answers, hubspot.com in 14, lemlist.com in 13. Two sources are not tools. ChatGPT cites LinkedIn’s help pages on prohibited software and automated activity in 20 answers, and the guidance of the ICO, the UK data protection regulator, on B2B marketing in 18. On automation and contact data, its answers come with LinkedIn’s limits and UK privacy rules.

LinkedIn tool websitePlatform websiteOther website

1. apollo.io26 · 18%
2. linkedin.com25 · 18%
3. ico.org.uk20 · 14%
4. hubspot.com14 · 10%
5. lemlist.com13 · 9%
6. instantly.ai12 · 9%
7. lagrowthmachine.com11 · 8%
8. business.linkedin.com10 · 7%
9. waalaxy.com8 · 6%
10. overloop.com7 · 5%

What this means for prospecting tools

• LinkedIn questions are not won by LinkedIn tools alone. When buyers ask how to automate LinkedIn, the answers often recommend a CRM or a data platform alongside, or instead. A LinkedIn tool that wants to be named there has to be described for the whole workflow: where the leads go, how they are enriched, how the follow-up works.
• Safety and compliance are part of the answer. ChatGPT answers automation questions with LinkedIn’s own rules and the ICO’s guidance. Clear, public pages on account limits, safe sending volumes and UK GDPR and PECR give AI models something precise to quote next to the tool’s name.
• Each AI model has its own shortlist. Gemini names LinkedIn tools almost twice as often as ChatGPT, and the two models put the same tool first on 14 questions out of 69. Being visible in one says little about the other.
• Startup questions are still open. On outbound for early startups, more than half of the answers name no tool. A tool clearly described for founders on a budget has room to be named.

Method

72 questions in English, written for the UK from the needs of founders, consultants, recruiters, agencies and sales teams, grouped in six themes of 12 questions. Each question was asked once to ChatGPT (gpt-6, with web search) and once to Gemini (Flash-Lite), from the UK, on October 13, 2026. Gemini gave no answer to 3 questions, so the study counts 141 answers. We counted the answers naming each of 12 tracked prospecting tools, their position (order among the tracked names of the answer), the tone of each mention, scored from 0 to 100 by a language model, and the websites cited. Instantly is also an English word: answers that only use it as an adverb (“instantly flagged”) are not counted.

This is a snapshot: two models, one day and 72 questions. AI answers vary from one session to the next, so a difference of a few answers between two tools is not significant. Tools we did not track, such as Lusha, Saleshandy or Dux-Soup, are not counted. We sorted the tools by what they are best known for; several do both LinkedIn and email.