Research AI moats

Research AI has a narrow moat: an average moat of 56 out of 100, 21st of 29 AI markets. 4 of its 142 rated products have a wide moat and 37 have none. Its main moat is hard to copy, and no source is strong.

Data updated · 142 products rated

The widest moats in ResearchCheck your product’s moat

Narrowmoat rating, 56 out of 100
21 of 29markets, by average moat
142products rated for moat
3%have a wide moat

Every rated product, by moat

Wide 3% (4)Narrow 71% (101)None 26% (37)

Moat profile

Each source on a 0 to 100 scale, averaged across the market and rated against the other AI markets. Threats count against the moat.

SwitchingRetentionHard to copyRegulationEcosystem

Dashed line: the average across all AI markets.

Moat sources

Switching costsHow much time, data and retraining a customer would lose by moving to a rival.Weak · 27
Habit and retentionHow deeply the product sits in a daily routine or workflow.Moderate · 68
Hard to copyDifferentiation from rivals, and how few products are thin layers over a public model.Moderate · 78
Regulatory barrierCompliance work (health, finance, legal, privacy rules) a new entrant must clear first.Weak · 3
EcosystemShare of products with a public API and with ten or more integrations.Weak · 32

Threats to the moat

Wrapper exposureShare of products whose core could be rebuilt on a public model in days.Low · 1
Platform dependencyHow much products rely on another company’s platform (a social network, a store, a search engine) to work.Low · 23

Widest moats in Research

Ranked by FalcoScan’s moat score, shown as bands, with the sources each product is strong on. Exact scores are on paid plans.

  1. 01Lila SciencesAutonomous AI scientistStrong on switching costs, habit and retention, hard to copy, regulatory barrierWide moat
  2. 02NotCoAI-driven plant-based food formulationStrong on switching costs, habit and retention, hard to copy, regulatory barrierWide moat
  3. 03Open Alex Research APIFree open API for 250 million scholarly works with AI filteringStrong on habit and retention, hard to copy, ecosystemWide moat
  4. 04InstaDeepDecision-making AI for the enterpriseStrong on switching costs, habit and retention, hard to copy, regulatory barrierWide moat
  5. 05Periodic LabsAI scientist for accelerated researchStrong on hard to copyNarrow moat
  6. 06Scite AI Citation IntelligenceAI that shows whether papers support or contradict each otherStrong on habit and retention, hard to copyNarrow moat
  7. 07Orion Research AIAI drug target identification for biotech researchStrong on habit and retention, hard to copy, ecosystemNarrow moat
  8. 08Semantic Scholar ResearchFree AI-powered academic search across 200M scientific papersStrong on habit and retention, hard to copy, ecosystemNarrow moat
  9. 09Consensus AI EvidenceAI that surfaces scientific consensus on health and policy topicsStrong on habit and retention, hard to copyNarrow moat
  10. 10StockmarkJapanese-language business intelligence powered by domain-tuned LLMsStrong on habit and retentionNarrow moat

Make one of these? Products rated a wide or narrow moat can show a live moat badge on their site. Get your badge →

Most exposed products

The products with the least protection and the full top 25 open with a free account. Exact moat scores and their inputs are on paid plans.

Questions

Does Research AI have a moat?

Research AI has a narrow moat on FalcoScan, averaging 56 out of 100 across 142 rated products, against 62 across all AI markets. 3% of its products have a wide moat and 26% have none.

What protects Research AI products from competition?

Rated against other AI markets: switching costs weak, habit and retention moderate, hard to copy moderate, regulatory barrier weak, ecosystem weak. The main moat is hard to copy.

Which Research AI tools have the widest moats?

Lila Sciences, NotCo, Open Alex Research API lead Research on FalcoScan's moat rating. The ten widest are listed on this page; exact moat scores for every product are in FalcoScan plans, the API and the MCP server.

How does Research AI compare with other AI markets?

Research ranks 21st of 29 AI markets by average moat, wider than 8 of them. The nearest markets are Design (56) above it and Learning (54) below it.

What threatens moats in Research AI?

Wrapper exposure is low (1% of products could be rebuilt on a public model quickly) and platform dependency is low.

Cite and share

Quote a figure, link to the page or take the data for every market.

Citation

FalcoScan, “Research AI moats”, data updated 9 October 2026. https://falcoscan.com/moats/research

BibTeX
@misc{falcoscan_moats_research_2026,
  author = {{FalcoScan}},
  title = {Research AI moats},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  howpublished = {\url{https://falcoscan.com/moats/research}},
  note = {Data updated 9 October 2026}
}
Link for your site

<a href="https://falcoscan.com/moats/research">Research AI moat rating (FalcoScan)</a>

Market data

Every market’s moat rating, average, sources, threats and saturation, as a CSV or as Markdown with the method and definitions. Free to use with a citation.

MarkdownCSV

The figures refresh daily from the FalcoScan catalog. When you quote one, quote the date with it: .

See the exact moat of every AI product.

Founders use it to find a market they can defend. Investors use it to tell a product from a wrapper. Teams use it to see which rivals are exposed.

Open to everyone

No account

  • Moat rating for every AI market
  • The five moat sources and two threats
  • The 10 widest moats per market, as bands
  • The moat check for your own product

Free account

Free, one minute

  • The 10 most exposed products in Research
  • The 25 widest moats in Research, as bands
  • Track a market with email alerts
  • Save tools to your Workspace

Pro, Studio or Team

7-day free trial

  • Exact moat score for every product
  • Switching cost, stickiness, differentiation and wrapper risk behind it
  • The Market Terminal across every market
  • API and MCP access for your own tools
Create a free accountSee paid plans