The UK MSP and IT support sector produced one of the most fragmented results in the Tenacious AI Visibility Index.
Not a single managed service provider appeared across ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity simultaneously.
No full consensus.
No clear cross-platform winner.
No provider that every AI model agreed on.
The closest firms to cross-model visibility were:
Each appeared across two of the three AI models.
That matters because IT decision-makers increasingly use AI tools to research managed service providers, cloud partners and outsourced IT support companies.
If AI systems are giving different answers depending on the platform used, buyers may be seeing very different shortlists before they ever visit a provider’s website.
When a business looks for outsourced IT support, the stakes are high.
The provider they choose may influence:
Traditionally, buyers relied on referrals, Google search, partner directories and vendor ecosystems.
Increasingly, they may also ask AI systems questions such as:
The issue is that AI systems do not currently appear to agree on the answer.
In this sector, ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity produced very different recommendations.
That inconsistency is the story.
It suggests the UK MSP market has not yet developed the same level of AI-recognised authority seen in sectors such as recruitment, cyber security or FX.
For MSPs, that creates both a risk and an opportunity.
The risk is being invisible when buyers ask AI for recommendations.
The opportunity is that the leaderboard is still wide open.
For this edition of the Tenacious AI Visibility Index, we asked ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity ten questions designed to reflect real buyer research behaviour.
The questions covered:
All prompts were UK-focused and run during June 2026.
The objective was not to identify the best MSPs.
The objective was to understand which MSPs AI systems recommend when answering buyer questions.
As with previous sectors, each AI model behaved differently.
ChatGPT returned a single sector-level ranking rather than answering each question individually.
Claude answered all 10 questions with named company recommendations.
Perplexity answered all 10 questions but only returned named company citations on 1 of the 10 questions.
The remaining 9 responses contained no named company recommendations.
That limited Perplexity coverage is important context when interpreting the results.
For businesses that want to understand how these rankings are assessed, our AI visibility metrics guide explains the signals that increasingly influence whether brands appear inside AI-generated recommendations.
| Rank | Company | ChatGPT Rank | Claude Mentions | Perplexity Citations | Models Agree |
| 1 | Transparity | #6 | 1 | — | 2/3 |
| 2 | Nasstar | #9 | 5 | — | 2/3 |
| 3 | ANS | #10 | 4 | — | 2/3 |
| 4 | Connection Technologies | — | 4 | 1 | 2/3 |
| 5 | AAG IT Services | #1 | — | — | 1/3 |
| 6 | Controlware UK | #2 | — | — | 1/3 |
| 7 | Centrality | #3 | — | — | 1/3 |
| 8 | Wavex | #4 | — | — | 1/3 |
| 9 | Xtravirt | #5 | — | — | 1/3 |
| 10 | ARO Technology | #7 | — | — | 1/3 |
The most important finding is not simply who appears at the top.
It is how little agreement exists between the models.
Nasstar achieved the strongest overall visibility score, appearing in ChatGPT’s sector ranking and being mentioned 5 times by Claude.
ANS also performed strongly, appearing in ChatGPT’s ranking and receiving 4 Claude mentions.
Connection Technologies is particularly interesting.
It did not appear in ChatGPT’s ranking, but it was mentioned 4 times by Claude and was the only company in the top 10 to receive a Perplexity citation.
In a sector where Perplexity only returned named citations once, that makes Connection Technologies an important outlier.
Transparity also bridged two models, appearing in ChatGPT’s ranking and once in Claude.
Beyond those four firms, the sector becomes heavily fragmented.
Several companies ranked highly by ChatGPT did not appear at all in Claude or Perplexity.
These include:
That suggests ChatGPT is drawing from a very different view of the UK MSP market than Claude or Perplexity.
The MSP sector appears to be highly model-sensitive.
ChatGPT produced a clear top 10 list, but many of those firms did not appear in Claude’s question-level responses.
Claude, meanwhile, repeatedly surfaced firms such as:
Many of these firms did not appear in ChatGPT’s sector ranking.
Perplexity returned named company data for only one question, which means its contribution to the overall ranking was much smaller than in sectors such as FX or recruitment.
This matters because it shows how inconsistent AI recommendations can be in a fragmented market.
The same buyer asking the same type of question in different AI tools may see very different provider lists.
For MSPs, that means visibility cannot be treated as a single-platform issue.
The goal is not just to appear in one model.
It is to build enough authority, clarity and citation strength that multiple AI systems can confidently recognise and recommend the business.
We explain this wider issue in more detail in our guide on what actually drives AI visibility, where we explore how authority, content and citations shape discoverability inside AI platforms.
The MSP sector produced one of the most fragmented datasets in the entire Tenacious AI Visibility Index.
Unlike sectors such as Recruitment or FX, where multiple firms achieved consensus across all three AI models, MSPs failed to produce a single company that appeared across ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity.
That tells us something important.
AI systems currently have no shared understanding of who the leading UK MSPs are.
ChatGPT's Top 10 included:
Several of these firms never appeared in Claude's responses.
Several never appeared in Perplexity.
In other words, ChatGPT is drawing from a different set of authority signals than the other models.
Claude consistently surfaced providers such as:
These firms appeared repeatedly throughout the buyer-focused questions yet were absent from ChatGPT's Top 10 ranking.
This suggests Claude may place greater weight on operational relevance and contextual recommendations than broad sector reputation.
Perplexity only returned named company citations on 1 of the 10 questions.
That makes its contribution to the dataset smaller than in most other sectors we've analysed.
Even so, one company stood out.
Connection Technologies appeared:
It is effectively the only firm bridging those two models.
In a sector with no full consensus companies, that makes Connection Technologies one of the most interesting visibility stories in the dataset.
The MSP sector has historically been built on referrals.
Many providers grow through:
That works extremely well for generating business.
However, it doesn't necessarily create AI visibility.
The challenge is that AI systems need evidence.
They need signals.
They need publicly available information that helps them understand:
When we look at the firms appearing repeatedly throughout this dataset, they typically have stronger footprints across:
This is exactly why understanding what actually drives AI visibility has become increasingly important.
Many MSP websites still focus heavily on service descriptions but publish relatively little content that demonstrates expertise.
As AI becomes part of the buying journey, it creates a visibility gap.
The positive takeaway is that no provider currently dominates.
Unlike other sectors where a handful of firms have already established strong AI visibility, the MSP market remains wide open.
That means firms investing today in:
have a genuine opportunity to become future AI recommendations.
Our generative engine optimisation guide explores how businesses can improve visibility within AI systems by strengthening the signals these models rely upon.
It's important to clarify what this report is measuring.
This is not a ranking of the best MSPs in the UK.
It is a ranking of AI visibility.
A provider appearing frequently in AI responses does not automatically mean it is the best fit for every organisation.
Likewise, a provider that doesn't appear may still deliver exceptional service.
What this report measures is simple:
When businesses ask AI for MSP recommendations, which companies get mentioned?
That visibility is becoming increasingly valuable as more buyers use AI tools during supplier research.
The MSP and IT support sector is currently one of the least consolidated AI markets we've analysed.
No company achieved consensus across ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity.
Nasstar emerged as the strongest overall performer.
ANS, Connection Technologies and Transparity also demonstrated meaningful visibility.
Beyond those firms, the landscape becomes highly fragmented.
For buyers, that means AI recommendations can vary dramatically depending on which platform they use.
For MSPs, it creates a significant opportunity.
There is still no dominant AI leader in the sector.
The firms that invest now in authority, content and visibility have a real chance to shape how future AI systems recommend providers.
As AI increasingly becomes part of the B2B buying process, visibility inside those platforms will matter just as much as visibility inside traditional search engines.
Check Your MSP's AI Visibility
If you're an MSP, managed service provider or IT support company, the next question is simple:
Does AI recommend your business?
Run a free AI Visibility Scan using Answer Architect and receive: https://www.answerarchitect.ai
Or book a free AI visibility audit, and we'll walk through the results together: https://meetings-eu1.hubspot.com/dwhitby
You'll see exactly where your brand appears, where it doesn't, and what actions are most likely to improve your visibility in AI search.
Which UK MSP appeared most often in AI recommendations?
Nasstar achieved the highest overall visibility score in this dataset, appearing in ChatGPT's sector ranking and receiving five mentions from Claude.
Did any MSP appear across ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity?
No. This was one of the few sectors where no company achieved full three-model consensus.
Why do AI tools recommend different MSPs?
Each AI model uses different data sources, retrieval systems and authority signals. As a result, supplier recommendations can vary significantly between platforms.
What helps an MSP become visible in AI search?
The strongest signals typically include industry authority, expert content, case studies, media mentions, citations and strong brand recognition across trusted sources.
Is AI visibility replacing SEO?
No. AI visibility builds upon strong SEO foundations. Technical SEO, authority building and high-quality content remain essential for both traditional search and AI recommendations.
