Do AIs cite forums?
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It depends on the AI and the question. On troubleshooting questions for professional software, ChatGPT did not cite any of the forum pages that its search had retrieved, whereas Claude cited nearly a third of them, mostly brand user communities. Perplexity claims to cite Reddit threads, and Google's AI answers regularly cite them. Forums are therefore cited by certain AIs, on certain questions, but they are not a reliable way to appear in ChatGPT.
For what type of question? It all depends on the question. If a user asks their AI what is being said on a forum, it will go and fetch the forum. On a troubleshooting question that names a software, Claude cites that software's community. On a market question asked without specifying anything, ChatGPT leaves forums aside.
What we measured on forums
We asked three AIs troubleshooting questions for professional software in French, both with and without brand names, then classified each retrieved and cited site by type: software vendor, manufacturer support, administration, blog, forum. In ChatGPT, none of the forum pages retrieved by its search were cited, and 94% of these pages were Reddit threads. In Claude, 32% of the retrieved forum pages were cited.
The gap is not due to the hazard of a single question: it highlights two different ways of choosing. ChatGPT goes after the sources it names itself in its query, brand support or administration, and ignores the rest of what its search retrieves. Claude reads what it retrieves and retains the pages that answer, even when they come from users.
Brand communities, a case apart
The forums that Claude cites are mostly communities run by a vendor, such as those of HubSpot or Pennylane, and it cites them when the question names the brand. We classified them among forums because they are written by users, even if the site belongs to the manufacturer.
For a company that sells software or a technical product, a well-managed user community can therefore be cited on troubleshooting questions that name its brand, at least by Claude. On these same questions, ChatGPT primarily cites official documentation: the requested brand's documentation represents 58% of its citations.
What other measurements say
Studies observing user interfaces show the same trend for ChatGPT. Ahrefs, on ChatGPT 5.2, measured a citation rate of 1.93% for retrieved Reddit pages, published on April 15, 2026. Promptwatch, cited by Search Engine Land on August 19, 2026, saw Reddit's share in ChatGPT Search citations drop from 3.83% to 0.52% in a matter of days, without being able to explain the decline.
Other AIs openly cite discussions. Perplexity stated, as part of the lawsuit that Reddit filed against it in October 2025: "We summarize Reddit discussions, and we cite Reddit threads in our answers" (our translation). On a question we asked on September 15, 2026, about Reddit, Gemini cited Reddit in 36% of its sources, while ChatGPT cited none and Claude retrieved none.
What this changes for a business
Answering on forums has real value for Claude, Perplexity, and Google's AI answers, and a brand community is useful for troubleshooting questions. But a visibility strategy that relies on forums leaves ChatGPT aside, and ChatGPT is the AI that filters what it retrieves most strictly.
The useful question is not whether forums are cited, but in what context your customers are looking for you and with which AI. On questions that name your brand, clear documentation and an active community complement each other. On market-related questions, you need pages that provide answers, on sources that models consult and cite.
What we do not know
Our measurements on forums focus on professional software troubleshooting questions in French, using the models' API. Other sectors, other languages, or the consumer interface may yield different results. We do not measure the effect of participating in a forum on citations.
Sources
- Ahrefs, Louise Linehan — "Why ChatGPT cites pages", .
- Search Engine Land, Danny Goodwin — Reddit's share in ChatGPT Search citations, Promptwatch data, .
- Search Engine Land, Danny Goodwin — Reddit sues Perplexity and SerpApi, .
- FaireDuBruit measurements, from September 4 to 16, 2026 — see "How we measured".