# Toolradar Tool-Page Sessions by Software Category

By [Toolradar Editorial Team](https://toolradar.com/editorial-policy) Updated 5 November 2026 12 min read

Productivity had the largest sum of tool-page sessions in the snapshot computed on 5 November 2026: 6,405 per-tool sessions across 43 qualifying tool pages, over approximately 30 days. That figure adds up session counts on selected Toolradar tool pages. It is not a count of distinct people, verified buyers or all traffic in the category, and tool pages with fewer than 50 sessions are left out.

Toolradar operates this directory and sells placements. Toolradar is part of Dupple, which sells newsletter sponsorships. Read [how we make money](https://toolradar.com/how-we-make-money) and [editorial policy](https://toolradar.com/editorial-policy) before you use these figures in a decision. Toolradar data: the figures come from its own snapshot and analytics, dated 5 November 2026, and are not independently audited.

## Ten categories in this snapshot

Summed per-tool sessions, top categories

1. Productivity6,405 Sessions on qualifying tool pages, added up per tool. Overlapping categories are not additive
2. Security5,142 Sessions on qualifying tool pages, added up per tool. Overlapping categories are not additive
3. VPN4,834 Sessions on qualifying tool pages, added up per tool. Overlapping categories are not additive
4. AI Assistants3,266 Sessions on qualifying tool pages, added up per tool. Overlapping categories are not additive
5. Note-Taking2,356 Sessions on qualifying tool pages, added up per tool. Overlapping categories are not additive
6. Graphic Design2,258 Sessions on qualifying tool pages, added up per tool. Overlapping categories are not additive
7. Video & Media1,538 Sessions on qualifying tool pages, added up per tool. Overlapping categories are not additive
8. Video Editing1,479 Sessions on qualifying tool pages, added up per tool. Overlapping categories are not additive
9. UI/UX Design1,379 Sessions on qualifying tool pages, added up per tool. Overlapping categories are not additive
10. Animation1,161 Sessions on qualifying tool pages, added up per tool. Overlapping categories are not additive

Sessions on qualifying tool pages, added up per tool. Overlapping categories are not additive. Snapshot of 5 November 2026

The [CSV](https://toolradar.com/data/tool-page-sessions-categories-2026-11-05.csv) shows the ten qualifying categories with the largest sums of per-tool sessions, ordered by the sum and then category slug for ties. The underlying views_30d metric includes only tool pages with at least 50 recorded sessions in the window. A category row requires at least eight qualifying tools. These filters mean the table is not a complete ranking of category traffic.

| Category | Qualifying tool pages | Sum of per-tool sessions | Snapshot date |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Productivity | 43 | 6,405 | 5 November 2026 |
| Security | 12 | 5,142 | 5 November 2026 |
| VPN | 9 | 4,834 | 5 November 2026 |
| AI Assistants | 27 | 3,266 | 5 November 2026 |
| Note-Taking | 13 | 2,356 | 5 November 2026 |
| Graphic Design | 12 | 2,258 | 5 November 2026 |
| Video & Media | 10 | 1,538 | 5 November 2026 |
| Video Editing | 8 | 1,479 | 5 November 2026 |
| UI/UX Design | 11 | 1,379 | 5 November 2026 |
| Animation | 9 | 1,161 | 5 November 2026 |

The same analytics session can visit more than one tool page and be counted in each page's metric. Adding those per-tool counts does not produce distinct category sessions. A tool can also belong to multiple categories, so the category rows overlap. Do not add the rows to calculate site-wide traffic or treat one row as a count of individual software buyers.

## Reading the top and bottom of the table

Productivity leads the sums with 6,405 across 43 tool pages. Security follows with 5,142 across 12, then VPN with 4,834 across 9. At the bottom of the ten, Video Editing has 1,479 across 8 tool pages, UI/UX Design has 1,379 across 11, and Animation has the smallest sum at 1,161 across 9. Productivity's sum is about 5.5 times Animation's (6,405 divided by 1,161).

> A higher sum is not more buyers. It adds session counts across selected tool pages, and the same session can be counted on several of them.

Divide each sum by its qualifying tool count to see the average page in each row. The division is summed_tool_sessions / qualifying_tools, rounded half up to a whole session. It is our arithmetic on the CSV, not a figure the method file publishes. On that basis VPN's pages average 537 sessions each, Security's 429, Graphic Design's 188, Video Editing's 185, Note-Taking's 181, Video & Media's 154, Productivity's 149, Animation's 129, UI/UX Design's 125 and AI Assistants' 121.

The two orders disagree at the top. Productivity has the largest total because it has 43 qualifying pages, but its average page is seventh of ten, at just over a quarter of VPN's average (149 against 537). So the spread says that a category with many qualifying pages can top a sum without its average page drawing more sessions. It does not say which category's products attract more buyers, and it does not say how much any category would earn from advertising.

Small rows move more under one busy page. VPN's average rests on 9 pages, so a single heavily visited page can account for a large share of its sum. The table does not show the spread of values inside each row, so this cannot be checked from the CSV.

## What the source measures

Toolradar Data stores a dated views_30d value for qualifying published tools in each category. Its analytics query counts distinct Umami session identifiers on each individual /tools/<slug> page during the rolling 30-day window. The values used here have a common computation timestamp of 5 November 2026 at 11:42:30 UTC. The underlying analytics query runs during that computation, so the observation is approximately the preceding 30 days, not a calendar-month total.

The computation retains the metric for tool pages with at least 50 recorded sessions and applies a minimum cohort size for category comparisons. This report sums the stored values for qualifying tools in each category and requires at least eight tool rows. It selects only the latest available computation timestamp for this metric and currently published tools. The [read-only aggregation method](https://toolradar.com/data/tool-page-sessions-categories-method-2026-11-05.txt) records the query.

The source methodology describes the analytics as excluding bots. The query used for the tool-page session metric does not add a separate bot filter, so this report cannot independently guarantee that every automated session is excluded. A session identifier is an analytics unit, not a verified human identity. Other factors in the analytics pipeline can also change what is recorded, and this report cannot measure them.

## What the thresholds leave out

A tool page with fewer than 50 sessions is absent from the stored views_30d cohort for this measure. A category with fewer than eight qualifying tool rows is absent from this table. A category that misses either threshold can still have visitors. The numbers therefore describe a selected set of higher-traffic tool pages, not every visit to every tool in a category.

The report also excludes category-list pages, comparison pages, alternatives pages, a tool's sub-pages such as its pricing page, and visits to a vendor's own site. A person researching a category may use any of those surfaces without opening a qualifying tool page. The [statistics hub](https://toolradar.com/statistics) and [how we rate](https://toolradar.com/how-we-rate#toolradar-data) describe other Toolradar Data surfaces and their own eligibility rules.

The snapshot uses catalog membership and publication status associated with the computation and extraction. A tool may later change category or become unpublished. A later extract can therefore change even when comparing a similar period. This report does not reconstruct every historical catalog change and should not be treated as a stable market census.

## Why sessions are not buyer counts

A visitor can be evaluating software, researching a topic, testing a page, working for a vendor or visiting for another reason. The dataset does not identify purchasing intent or job role. It also does not report qualified leads, trials, contracts or revenue. The page slug says buyer traffic, but the observable metric is the selected sum of tool-page sessions described above.

The summation matters independently of intent. If one session views two qualifying tool pages in the same category, it can contribute to both per-tool counts. If one tool belongs to two categories, that tool's metric can appear in both category rows. The CSV does not contain the session-level data needed to deduplicate across tools or categories. It contains no personal identifiers.

Productivity's total is thus the sum of session counts attached to 43 qualifying tool pages, not a count of unique people. Security's 5,142 is a similar sum across 12 qualifying pages. Their different page counts and category overlap make a simple comparison of totals incomplete. Neither number shows which products a specific visitor compared or whether an advertiser reached them.

## How to use the report as a vendor

Treat the file as one description of recorded interest in selected Toolradar tool pages during a dated period. If a product falls in a category, that does not mean its own page met the threshold or received a particular number of visits. The steps below turn the table into a question you can answer, without treating it as a forecast.

1. Find your category in the CSV. If its row is there, note the qualifying tool page count and the sum. If it is not there, the category had fewer than eight qualifying pages or sat outside the top ten by sum, so the absence says nothing about interest in it.
2. Compare the row with its neighbours. Divide the sum by the page count for your row and for the rows just above and below it. The result shows whether the average qualifying page in your category drew more or fewer sessions than its neighbours in this window.
3. Read your own page separately. Only a published tool page with at least 50 sessions in the window is counted at all. The CSV holds no per-page value, but a tool page that qualifies shows the same measure as "Toolradar page visits, last 30 days" in its "by the numbers" table, next to the peer median, and the category's statistics page lists the most visited tools. That table reads the latest weekly snapshot, so it can be newer than 5 November. Your own site's analytics cannot show sessions on a Toolradar page.
4. Decide what the result changes. A high per-page average is a reason to check that the description and pricing a visitor sees on your tool page are accurate and current. A low value, or a missing row, has several causes: a small category, a threshold, or demand that sits on surfaces this report excludes. One snapshot cannot tell these apart, so do not change your category plan on it alone.
5. Before any advertising decision, read the [sponsored-box format](https://toolradar.com/advertise/formats/sponsored-box). A tool-page session in this report is not a sponsored-box impression. Ask Toolradar for the exact placement, dates, disclosure and the measurements it will report, and use your own downstream data for leads or sales.

Worked example, using two rows of the CSV. VPN has 4,834 sessions across 9 pages, which is 537 per page. Security has 5,142 across 12 pages, which is 429 per page. VPN's average page drew more sessions in this window, but the CSV does not show which of its 9 pages did, or whether one of them carried most of the sum. A VPN vendor would check its own page first, then read the VPN row as context, not as a result.

The [vendor page](https://toolradar.com/vendors) describes the company workflow, and the [G2 alternatives guide](https://toolradar.com/vendors/guides/g2-alternatives-for-software-vendors) covers other directory options for vendors.

## Glossary of the terms in this report

- Session: an Umami session identifier. The method file defines the metric as the number of distinct Umami session IDs on an individual tool page in the preceding approximately 30-day window. It is an analytics unit, not a verified identity.
- Qualifying tool page: a published tool page with at least 50 sessions in the window. Only these pages enter the stored metric.
- Category: a row in Toolradar's category table. A tool can belong to several categories, so category rows overlap.
- Category cohort: the qualifying tool pages in one category. A category row appears only when the cohort holds at least eight tool rows.
- Sum of per-tool sessions: the total of the session counts of each qualifying page in a category. It is not a count of distinct sessions or people across the category.
- Snapshot: the stored values from one computation. The CSV uses the latest computation timestamp for the metric, 5 November 2026 at 11:42:30 UTC (the CSV column carries no time zone label; Toolradar stores these times in UTC).
- Approximately 30 days: the rolling window of the analytics query. It is not a calendar month.

## Reproduce the table from the CSV

Download the CSV and save the five lines below as a Python file in the same folder. The script sorts the ten rows by summed_tool_sessions and prints them in the order of the table above. It applies no thresholds of its own, because the file already holds only the rows that passed them.

import csv rows = list(csv.DictReader(open("tool-page-sessions-categories-2026-11-05.csv"))) rows.sort(key=lambda r: int(r["summed_tool_sessions"]), reverse=True) for r in rows: print(f'{r["category_name"]}: {int(r["summed_tool_sessions"]):,} sessions, {r["qualifying_tools"]} tool pages')

Run on the 5 November 2026 file, the script prints Productivity first and Animation last, with the same order and thousands separators as the table.

## Comparing this with crawler requests

The [AI crawler category report](https://toolradar.com/reports/ai-crawler-reads-by-category) counts identified crawler requests to tool pages over six complete UTC days. This report instead sums session identifiers for a selected set of tool pages over approximately 30 days. Their units, windows, filters and coverage are different. A crawler request should not be added to a session count or used as a substitute for a human audience measure.

[Umami's metric definitions](https://docs.umami.is/docs/metric-definitions) state that each session is stored as a unique UUID called a Session ID (read 5 November 2026). The Toolradar query uses distinct session identifiers per tool path, which is the specific definition for this report. External analytics terminology does not independently verify Toolradar's ingestion, its bot treatment or the values in the CSV.

If you compare this report with a later file, check the computation timestamp, the 50-session tool threshold and the eight-tool category threshold first. A category can rise because a page crosses the threshold or catalog membership changes, even if activity elsewhere is unchanged. A single snapshot cannot establish a trend or explain its cause.

## What we could not verify

We cannot establish how many distinct people, qualified buyers or customers are represented, whether every automated session was excluded, or what visitors did after leaving Toolradar. The sums omit lower-traffic tool pages and overlap across pages and categories. The source is first-party and unaudited, and these historical counts do not guarantee future audience, advertiser clicks, leads or sales.

The ordering in the table is an ordering of these filtered sums, not of all activity on Toolradar.

## Frequently asked questions

### Which category leads this selected table?

Productivity has the largest displayed sum: 6,405 per-tool sessions across 43 qualifying tool pages in the snapshot computed on 5 November 2026. Per qualifying page, its average is 149 sessions, seventh of the ten rows.

### Are these unique people or verified buyers?

No. They are sums of per-tool analytics session counts. A session can appear for several tools, and the data does not verify who is buying software.

### Why are lower-traffic pages missing?

The underlying metric includes only tool pages with at least 50 recorded sessions. The report also requires at least eight qualifying tool rows in a category, and the table shows only the ten largest sums.

### Can the category totals be added together?

No. Tools can belong to multiple categories and a session can visit multiple tools, so both the category rows and their per-tool session counts can overlap.

### Does a small number mean a category has no buyers?

No. A low sum can reflect a category with few qualifying pages, pages under the 50-session threshold, or visits on surfaces this report excludes, such as category lists and comparison pages. The table cannot separate these causes.

### Does this predict the reach of a sponsored box?

No. This report measures qualifying tool-page sessions, not sponsored-box impressions, clicks or advertiser outcomes.

### How can I check these numbers myself?

Download the CSV and the method file, then run the five-line script in the reproduction section. It prints the same order and totals as the table, and the method file records the query that produced them.

Spotted an outdated price or a wrong fact? [Suggest a correction](https://toolradar.com/corrections?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftoolradar.com%2Freports%2Fbuyer-traffic-by-category): we check it against the vendor's own page. Work for one of these vendors? [Claim your listing](https://toolradar.com/claim) to update it yourself.

## Data and method

- [Sessions by category (CSV)](https://toolradar.com/data/tool-page-sessions-categories-2026-11-05.csv)
- [How the counts were made](https://toolradar.com/data/tool-page-sessions-categories-method-2026-11-05.txt)

## Related

- [AI Crawler Requests to Toolradar Tool Pages by Category](https://toolradar.com/reports/ai-crawler-reads-by-category)Which software categories drew the most AI crawler requests to Toolradar tool pages in six days, with the…
- [How we rate](https://toolradar.com/how-we-rate)How Toolradar scores tools, and where its own data comes from.

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Source: https://toolradar.com/reports/buyer-traffic-by-category