The competitor may simply be easier to classify
A clear category, audience, and use case give an assistant a simple sentence to repeat. A technically strong project can still be invisible when its homepage uses broad language instead of a concrete product description.
The competitor may have stronger source coverage
AI answers often draw from more than one page. A project with consistent docs, ecosystem profiles, tutorials, and partner references gives the system more evidence to work with.
The fix is not to mention competitors everywhere
Start by making your own facts easier to verify. Then publish one useful comparison page that explains the actual trade-offs without making unsupported claims.
Apply this to your project