How AI Search Is Recommending Identity and Access Management: Monthly Trends

Executive Summary

The Identity and Access Management category was quiet again in September 2026: no tracked brand's valid recommendation coverage moved outside its normal month-to-month range, and Okta remained the category leader for a third consecutive month. Okta held 38.0% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026, down from 42.8% in August 2026. SailPoint held second place at 34.1% coverage, down from 37.9% in August, leaving the gap between the two leaders at 3.9 points.

Okta and SailPoint were the two largest coverage movers this month, each recording small declines that kept the competitive structure intact. Okta's valid recommendation coverage fell 4.8 points from August to September, while SailPoint's fell 3.8 points. BeyondTrust continued a two-month downward streak, from 15.2% in July to 11.9% in August to 10.6% in September, but remained the clear third-place brand.

Across the full July-to-September series, the category's shape has stayed consistent: Okta and SailPoint form a two-brand leadership tier, BeyondTrust holds a distant third, and six of the ten tracked brands have essentially no recommendation presence. The movement in September, like August, came from the combination of several smaller shifts rather than any single brand breaking out of its normal range.

Each monthly benchmark run begins with 800 prompt-surface observations (638 unique questions in July 2026, 650 in August 2026, and 645 in September 2026) across the benchmark's defined AI/search surface universe. All 800 prompts each month mentioned a tracked brand or competitor; 244 were relevant and 556 were irrelevant in July 2026, 334 were relevant and 466 were irrelevant in August 2026, and 368 were relevant and 432 were irrelevant in September 2026. The public metrics use 191 qualified observations in July 2026, 243 in August 2026, and 255 in September 2026 that survive both qualification stages.

Key Findings

Benchmark Context

The report separates the raw collection universe from the qualified analysis set. Brand-level recommendation percentages are calculated within the qualified benchmark set.

The qualified observation base grew again in September 2026, from 243 in August to 255. August 2026 sat between the baseline and current months with 243 qualified observations.

Benchmark-Level Metrics

AI Recommendation Trend

Okta Keeps a Narrow Lead in a Two-Brand Leadership Tier

The table below tracks valid recommendation coverage for all ten tracked brands across the July-to-September series, ranked by September 2026 standing.

Across the July-to-September series, no brand moved outside its normal month-to-month range. The category-level change came from the combination of several smaller movements, most notably Okta and SailPoint easing from their August highs while BeyondTrust extended its two-month decline. Five tracked brands—Axiad, CLEAR (by Alclear, LLC), Cross Match Technologies, RSA Security, and Telos Corporation—held zero recommendation coverage in all three months, and Keyfactor fell to zero coverage in September after holding a small share in July and August.

What Changed This Month

Okta: Coverage Eases From Its August High While Placement Improves

Okta's valid recommendation coverage fell from 42.8% in August 2026 to 38.0% in September 2026, with 97 valid recommendations from 255 qualified observations. Against the July 2026 baseline of 42.4%, the decline measured 4.4 points.

Okta's underlying placement signals moved in the opposite direction from its coverage. Its top-three rate rose from 29.8% in July 2026 to 34.9% in September 2026, and its rank-one rate rose from 17.8% to 22.0% over the same period. Its average recommended rank improved from 1.81 to 1.62.

Raw mention presence held nearly flat across the series, at 95.8% in July and 94.1% in September. The pattern is one of consistent visibility with an improving position inside answers, even as the overall share of recommendations carrying Okta's name eased in September.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Which surfaces and prompt types drove the September dip in Okta's recommendation coverage while its position inside answers improved?

SailPoint: Coverage Slips Alongside Okta, Keeping the Tier Intact

SailPoint's valid recommendation coverage fell from 37.9% in August 2026 to 34.1% in September 2026, with 87 valid recommendations from 255 qualified observations. Against July 2026, the decline was 1.0 point.

SailPoint's top-three rate improved from 17.8% in July 2026 to 24.7% in September 2026, while its rank-one rate slipped from 5.2% to 3.9%. Raw mention presence rose slightly over the series, from 73.3% to 73.7%.

The result is that both leaders softened in September by similar magnitude, leaving the gap between Okta and SailPoint at 3.9 points, narrower than the 4.9-point gap in August. The leadership tier structure did not change.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Which prompt types account for SailPoint's September decline, and did they overlap with the prompts where Okta also lost coverage?

BeyondTrust: Third-Place Brand Extends a Two-Month Downward Streak

BeyondTrust's valid recommendation coverage fell from 15.2% in July 2026 to 11.9% in August 2026 to 10.6% in September 2026, with 27 valid recommendations from 255 qualified observations. The September-to-August decline was 1.3 points.

Raw mention presence rose over the full series, from 26.2% in July to 27.5% in September, meaning the brand appeared in prompts more often even as its valid recommendation coverage declined. Its rank-one rate rose from 0.5% to 2.0% over the same period, on a base of one rank-one recommendation in July compared with five in September.

The distinction to notice is between visibility and recommendation: BeyondTrust is being mentioned in a stable or slightly growing share of prompts, but a smaller share of those mentions translate into valid recommendations. The gap to SailPoint, the brand directly above it, stood at 23.5 points in September.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Which prompts mention BeyondTrust without recommending it, and which competitor receives the recommendation instead?

Small-Count Brands: Semperis Returns While Keyfactor Drops to Zero

Semperis returned to the recommendation set in September 2026 with 0.4% valid recommendation coverage, or 1 valid recommendation from 255 qualified observations, after holding 0.0% in August. The brand appeared in 1 of 255 prompts in September.

Keyfactor dropped from 1.1% coverage in July 2026 (2 valid recommendations) to 0.4% in August (1 valid recommendation) to 0.0% in September, with no valid recommendations. Keyfactor appeared in 3 of 255 prompts in September, all neutral, meaning it was visible but never recommended.

RSA Security appeared once in September, a neutral mention, with no recommendations in any of the three months. Axiad, which had 2 mentions in July 2026, had zero presence in both August and September. CLEAR (by Alclear, LLC), Cross Match Technologies, and Telos Corporation had no presence in any month of the series. With counts this small, month-to-month change is difficult to read as a trend, but the sustained absence of recommendation presence across three consecutive months is itself the notable finding for these brands.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Was Semperis's single September recommendation an isolated occurrence or the start of renewed presence, and which prompts are surfacing these small-count brands at all?

Buyer-Intent Interpretation

In September 2026, all 255 qualified observations fell into the Brand Recommendation class. None of the qualified observations fell into the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes, the same result as July 2026 and August 2026. The qualified set continues to grow each month, but it remains entirely within the single-intent band. The practical consequence is that the public benchmark can currently measure which brand AI recommends and in what order, but it cannot yet answer commercial questions about price positioning, value perception, or direct head-to-head comparisons.

Brand Opportunity Summary

The benchmark identifies where attention is warranted; a company-level analysis is needed to explain why.

Evidence Behind the Benchmark

The aggregate metrics are built from prompt-level observations (query, surface, recommendation outcome, rank, sentiment, and citations where exposed). Company-level analysis can go deeper into prompt, competitor, surface, and evidence patterns. Source presence is not automatically treated as proof of causation.

About This Benchmark

This report is part of the LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery research program.

• AI Industry Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Industry Market Discovery Metrics
• AI Industry Market Discovery Standards

Report-Specific Interpretation Notes

• Small-count movements: Several brands (Semperis, Keyfactor, RSA Security, Axiad) moved on bases of fewer than five observations. These changes are worth watching but should not be over-read.
• Qualified denominator vs. raw collection: Brand-level percentages are computed against the qualified benchmark set (255 observations in September 2026), not the 800 raw prompt-surface observations collected.
• Directional analysis: Movement from one month to the next identifies areas worth investigating, but does not by itself establish why a change occurred. Okta's coverage dip and placement gain reflect separate signals in the benchmark's measured output, not necessarily a change in underlying market conditions.

Next Step

The Public Benchmark Shows Where a Brand Is Winning or Losing. A Company-Level Audit Shows Why.

The aggregate percentages in this report raise questions that the public benchmark cannot answer: which high-intent prompts is a brand winning, and which is it losing? When a brand loses a recommendation, which competitor takes its place? What attributes do AI systems associate with each option, and which external sources shape those answers? For a leader like Okta, the question is what explains the gap between its stable or improving placement and its September coverage dip. For a brand like BeyondTrust, the question is which prompts mention it without leading to a recommendation. For the brands with zero presence across all three months, the question is whether any category prompts genuinely warrant their inclusion.

A company-specific AI visibility audit maps those prompt, surface, competitor, ranking, sentiment, and evidence-source patterns into a prioritized visibility strategy. It moves from what the benchmark shows to why it happens and what to do about it.

Request an AI visibility audit