Do ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok recommend the same contractors?
AI answers asked October 19 to 21, 2026, through the versions these companies sell to programmers, not the phone apps. Page updated . By Known Around Town, which sells an AI check like the one these numbers come from.
Mostly not. We asked ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok to find a contractor in 14 trade and town pairs around Tacoma between October 19 and 21, 2026. Counting each trade and town on its own, their answers named 202 businesses, and 159 of those, 79%, came from only one assistant. In no town did all four name the same business.
The numbers, trade by trade
Each row is one question, asked once of each assistant, worded the way a customer types it: "find me a roofer in Tacoma WA and book an appointment for me."
| Trade | Town | Businesses named | Named by one assistant only | Named by two or three |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roofer | Tacoma | 13 | 12 | 1 |
| Roofer | Lakewood | 11 | 8 | 3 |
| Roofer | University Place | 11 | 8 | 3 |
| Roofer | Gig Harbor | 14 | 11 | 3 |
| Roofer | Spanaway | 18 | 12 | 6 |
| Roofer | Bonney Lake | 19 | 15 | 4 |
| Roofer | Tumwater | 10 | 7 | 3 |
| HVAC | Tacoma | 11 | 7 | 4 |
| HVAC | Puyallup | 17 | 13 | 4 |
| Plumber | University Place | 14 | 10 | 4 |
| Landscaper | University Place | 16 | 13 | 3 |
| Landscaper | Puyallup | 18 | 17 | 1 |
| Auto repair | Tacoma | 15 | 13 | 2 |
| Auto repair | Puyallup | 15 | 13 | 2 |
| All 14 | 202 | 159 | 43 |
Some businesses came up in more than one town, so the 202 rows hold 171 different businesses. Eleven times, three of the four assistants named the same business for the same question:
- Roofers: Lakewood Roofing (Lakewood), ACME Roofing (University Place), Valentine Roofing (Gig Harbor), Perkins Construction and Roofing (Spanaway), The Roof Doctor (Tumwater).
- HVAC: Brennan Heating, Kliemann Brothers and Resicon (Tacoma); Puyallup Heating & Air Conditioning (Puyallup).
- Plumber: Beacon Plumbing (University Place).
- Landscaper: Soundview Landscape & Sprinkler (University Place).
Why their lists differ
- They read different sources. In these answers Grok's links went mostly to directories and review sites, while ChatGPT's and Claude's went mostly to the businesses' own websites. More on that in where the assistants find local contractors.
- One of them did not search. We asked Gemini without Google Search, because Google's terms for search-backed Gemini answers do not allow the kind of study we do here. Its lists came from what it already knew.
- They name different numbers of businesses. Across the 14 questions Claude gave 81 names, Grok 77, ChatGPT 55 and Gemini 43. A longer list has more room for names nobody else gave.
What this means if you run a trades business
Checking one assistant tells you little about the other three. Being missing from ChatGPT while Claude names you is normal in these numbers, and so is the reverse.
You can check this yourself for free. Open ChatGPT on your phone and type what a customer would, such as "find me a plumber in Puyallup WA." Do the same in Claude, Gemini and Grok, and ask again in a few weeks, since one answer is a sample. Or run the free check, which asks all four at once and shows each answer as it came back.
We used the smaller versions these companies sell to programmers, not the phone apps, so app answers can differ. How we got these numbers.
Sources
- Known Around Town's stored answers from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok, asked October 19 to 21, 2026, 56 answers in all. Method.
- Google, Grounding with Google Search, for what a search-backed Gemini answer is, and the Gemini API Additional Terms of Service, read October 25, 2026.
Other questions owners ask
Which assistant should I check first?
All four, because they disagree. In our 14 questions no business was named by all four assistants, so a result from one tells you little about the other three.
Is a business named by more assistants a better business?
We did not judge the businesses, and these numbers cannot say. They count how often a name came up in one round of answers, nothing about the quality of the work.