September 2026 Edition, published · The permanent record of that edition, superseded since. The current standing is on the category page →
Index › Finance › Accounting and close › AI accounting assistants · September 2026 Edition

AI accounting assistants

Asked as “AI bookkeeping tool”, and as “AI agent for accounting tasks”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 44 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing · first-choice share
25%
Contested · Zoho Books 18%
25Sage Intacct18Zoho Books09Ramp Accounting Agent48others

25% of first choices, contested.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.

The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Sage Intacct25%0%17accepted challenger
02Zoho Books18%0%13accepted challenger
03Ramp Accounting Agent9%6%16accepted challenger
04Vic.ai7%6%34accepted challenger
05Xero7%7%30accepted challenger
06Numeric7%0%17accepted challenger
07FreshBooks2%0%14accepted challenger
08Docyt2%0%11accepted challenger
09BILL2%10%10accepted challenger
Show the five products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
13Claude Lab in the set0%100%10criticized challenger
14ChatGPT Lab in the set0%92%12criticized challenger
12Zeni0%33%12criticized challenger
10QuickBooks Online0%22%36accepted challenger
11FloQast0%0%14accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.

Claude is made by Anthropic, whose model Claude Haiku 4.5 is in the set. On the four share prompts that model made it the first choice zero times of 4; the other eleven models zero times of 44. ChatGPT is made by OpenAI, whose model GPT-5.4 mini is in the set. On the four share prompts that model made it the first choice zero times of 4; the other eleven models zero times of 44. Lab treatment is defined on the method page; the row is marked, not excluded.

All twenty-eight head-to-head pages: the top eight products, each against each

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
C14
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01Sage Intacct25%
02Zoho Books18%
03Ramp Accounting Agent9%
04Vic.ai7%
05Xero7%
06Numeric7%
07FreshBooks2%
08Docyt2%
09BILL2%
10QuickBooks Online0%
11FloQast0%
12Zeni0%
13Claude0%
14ChatGPT0%

What they warned about

One of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity Sonar, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
ChatGPT
92%
11 of 12 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 7 hard negative
“You should never use public-facing consumer AI models (such as standard free tiers of ChatGPT, Bard, or generic LLM interfaces) to process your actual client ledgers” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
Claude
100%
10 of 10 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 5 hard negative
“public, non-enterprise AI chatbots should never be used to run your books or research complex tax regulations” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
Gemini
100%
5 of 5 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“never use public-facing consumer AI models (such as standard free tiers of ChatGPT, Bard, or generic LLM interfaces) to process your actual client ledgers” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
QuickBooks Online
22%
8 of 36 labels negative · 5 of 12 models
“Unlike small businesses that can run their entire ledger on simple, automated tools like QuickBooks Online, Zeni, or Inkle” Gemini 3.5 Flash, direct prompt

What they cite

Twelve of the twelve models returned a source list in this edition: four return the pages they cited and eight the search results they consulted.

Sites the answers cite

66 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 858 links across 279 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

30 answers · 30 citations · 10 models
vendor site · DualEntry25 answers · 29 citations · 10 models
22 answers · 23 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Numeric21 answers · 23 citations · 11 models
17 answers · 24 citations · 6 models
17 answers · 17 citations · 9 models
17 answers · 17 citations · 9 models
14 answers · 19 citations · 7 models
14 answers · 16 citations · 6 models
12 answers · 12 citations · 10 models
12 answers · 12 citations · 7 models
vendor site · Fast.io11 answers · 11 citations · 10 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

Search against answers

Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “ai accounting tools”, “ai bookkeeping tool”, “best ai bookkeeping tool”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Company and productsShareOwn site citedName searches, GoogleAI search demand, est.Organic visitsPaid search a month, est.Google ads, last 30 days
Sage sage.com
Sage Intacct 25%
25%500246,00090,5991,737,127 company$114,67178
Zoho zoho.com
Zoho Books 18%
18%36727,1002681,216,894 company$51,031119
Ramp Accounting Agent ramp.com9%36700770,056$13,511120
Vic.ai vic.ai7%8272001,2511
Xero xero.com7%72990,5004,6101,200,289$500119
Numeric numeric.io7%20112,10038,00694,254$4269
Wave waveapps.com7%363368,000253,218708,86239
Kick5%
Ledge ledge.co5%318,1007,7141,89723
FreshBooks freshbooks.com2%30440,500389305,801$221113

Google's top ten for the three searches hold 22 sites; 2 of them are among the sites the models cited here (dualentry.com, intuit.com). The first result for “ai accounting tools” is finlens.app.

How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHide
ModelDirect“What is the best AI bookkeeping tool for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which AI agent for accounting tasks would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top AI accounting tools and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best AI bookkeeping tool for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating an AI bookkeeping tool. What should we look at?”Negative“Which AI accounting tools should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Vic.ai
Four alternativesBooke AI, DualEntry, Integra Balance AI, Sage Intacct
Ramp Accounting AgentChanged
Two alternativesDocyt, Vic.ai
DualEntry
Eight alternativesAnrok, Fathom, QuickBooks Online, Trullion, Vic.ai, Xero, Zeni, Zone & Co
Zoho Books
Three alternativesBookeeping.ai, Kick, LayerNext
no first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniSage Intacct
Four alternativesFloQast, Hyperbots A/P Suite, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Oracle NetSuite
against: QuickBooks Online, Xero
BILLChanged
Three alternativesIntuit Enterprise Suite, Payhawk, Sage Intacct
no first choiceXero
One alternativeQuickBooks Online
against: Booke AI
no first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashLedge, Numeric
Three alternativesRamp Accounting Agent, Tabs, Vic.ai
against: Inkle, QuickBooks Online, Zeni
NumericChanged
Four alternativesLedge, Oracle NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Vic.ai
QuickBooks Online, Xero
Nine alternativesBILL, Booke AI, Brex, Numeric, Ramp Accounting Agent, Truewind, Trullion, Vic.ai, Zeni
Kick
Four alternativesBookeeping.ai, HelloBooks.ai, Xero, Zoho Books
against: Pilot, Wave, Zeni
no first choiceagainst: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini
Perplexity SonarSage Intacct
Three alternativesDualEntry, Numeric, Vic.ai
Ramp Accounting AgentChanged
Four alternativesFloQast, Numeric, QuickBooks Online, Vic.ai
no first choice
Twelve alternativesAnrok, BILL, Dext, FloQast, MindBridge, Numeric, QuickBooks Online, Ramp Accounting Agent, Tabs, Trullion, Vic.ai, Xero
Wave, Xero
One alternativeZoho Books
against: QuickBooks Online
no first choiceagainst: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini
Grok 4.20Sage Intacct
Four alternativesDocyt, Oracle NetSuite, QuickBooks Online, Xero
against: QuickBooks Online
Sage IntacctHeld
Two alternativesFloQast, Vic.ai
against: QuickBooks Online, Xero
QuickBooks Online, Xero
Five alternativesDigits, Docyt, Ramp Accounting Agent, Vic.ai, Zeni
Zoho Books
Two alternativesWave, Xero
against: QuickBooks Online
no first choice
Four alternativesBotkeeper, Netgain, QuickBooks Online, Xero
against: Air AI, Booke AI, ChatGPT, Claude, Digits, Grok, QuickBooks Online, Sage Copilot, Stampli, Vic.ai
Mistral SmallSage Intacct
Two alternativesTruewind, Vic.ai
Vic.aiChanged
Two alternativesFloQast, Sage Copilot
no first choiceagainst: ChatGPT, ClaudeZoho Books
Three alternativesBookeeping.ai, FreshBooks, QuickBooks Online
no first choiceagainst: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini
DeepSeek V4 FlashRho, Sage Intacct
Three alternativesOracle NetSuite, Vic.ai, Zeni
Ramp Accounting AgentChanged
Five alternativesFloQast, Numeric, Oracle NetSuite, Sage Copilot, Vic.ai
against: BILL
QuickBooks Online, Xero
Eight alternativesBILL, DOKKA, Dext, Docyt, FloQast, Karbon, Numeric, Vic.ai
against: ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot
Zoho Books
Five alternativesBookeeping.ai, Puzzle, QuickBooks Online, Wave, Xero
against: Bench, Truewind, Zeni
no first choice
Three alternativesNumeric, Trullion, Vic.ai
against: Basis, Bench, Booke AI, Digits, Pilot, Puzzle, Truewind, Zeni
against: Bench, Botkeeper, ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Meta AI, Ramp Accounting Agent, Sage Copilot
Llama 4 MaverickSage Intacct
Two alternativesTruewind, Vic.ai
no first choiceChangedno first choiceZoho Books
Three alternativesBookeeping.ai, FreshBooks, QuickBooks Online
no first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashDualEntry
Two alternativesSage Intacct, Vic.ai
Sage IntacctChanged
Three alternativesFloQast, Ramp Accounting Agent, Vic.ai
QuickBooks Online
Five alternativesBotkeeper, Dext, FloQast, Numeric, Xero
against: ChatGPT, Claude, Vic.ai
Wave, Zoho Books
One alternativeXero
no first choiceagainst: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini
Kimi K2Sage Intacct
Three alternativesDualEntry, Numeric, Vic.ai
against: Truewind
NumericChanged
Four alternativesFloQast, Pilot, Sage Intacct, Vic.ai
QuickBooks Online
Five alternativesDext, Fathom, FloQast, FreshBooks, Xero
Wave, Zoho Books
Two alternativesBookeeping.ai, QuickBooks Online
against: Bench
no first choiceagainst: ChatGPT, Claude
GLM 4.7 FlashXSage Intacct
Two alternativesDocyt, Zeni
against: QuickBooks Online
Docyt, Vic.aiChanged
Two alternativesBILL, Ramp Accounting Agent
QuickBooks Online
Nine alternativesDext, Fathom, FloQast, Numeric, Ramp Accounting Agent, Tabs, Trullion, Vic.ai, Xero
Kick, Zoho Books
Four alternativesFreshBooks, Puzzle, QuickBooks Online, Xero
no first choiceagainst: ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Gemini, Grok, Meta AI
MiniMax M2.5Sage Intacct
Three alternativesDualEntry, Truewind, Vic.ai
Ledge, Ramp Accounting AgentChanged
Two alternativesDocyt, Vic.ai
QuickBooks Online
Ten alternativesBILL, Dext, Fathom, FreshBooks, Microsoft Copilot for Finance, Numeric, Ramp Accounting Agent, Sage Copilot, Trullion, Xero
FreshBooks, Xero
Two alternativesDouble, Zoho Books
no first choiceagainst: Botkeeper
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency.
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:10yes98 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:35yes26 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 20:16yes1622 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 20:14yes207 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 19:40yes3517 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:50yes55 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 19:53yes2735 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:37yes53 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:59yes1041 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 17:58yes1029 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:12yes2478 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:01yes513 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:52yes179 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:44yes25 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:50yes1319 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:59yes204 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 18:06yes3115 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:07yes54 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 19:26yes1921 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:53yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:03yes526 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:30yes920 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:00yes1286 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:37yes513 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:15yes99 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 21:07yes410 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 19:16yes1123 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 20:42yes2014 s
ComparativeGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 20:30yes2514 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 18:49yes56 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 19:56yes1530 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:38yes53 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:50yes513 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:19yes1020 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:03yes832 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:00yes722 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 18:31yes97 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:51yes35 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:52yes1721 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 18:24yes204 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 20:06yes3315 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:34yes54 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:23yes911 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:14yes53 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:41yes520 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:02yes933 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:51yes1418 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:10yes513 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:04no05 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:18no010 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:46no014 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:17yes2010 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 19:45yes1812 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 18:47no011 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 18:21yes1521 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:01yes53 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:31no030 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:40yes1019 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:55yes15184 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:15no012 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:15yes1910 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:33yes57 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:17yes2164 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:03yes207 s
Negative framingGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 19:15yes3217 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:27yes56 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:37yes3023 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:24yes53 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:40yes1449 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:16yes1525 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:27yes1526 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 18:19yes2543 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
BILL AP/AR read as BILL
Bench Accounting read as Bench
Booke read as Booke AI
Dext Prepare read as Dext
NetSuite read as Oracle NetSuite
NetSuite (Intelligent Close) read as Oracle NetSuite
NetSuite (Oracle) read as Oracle NetSuite
QuickBooks read as QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks (Simple Start) read as QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online Simple Start read as QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Simple Start read as QuickBooks Online
Ramp read as Ramp Accounting Agent
Ramp Intelligence read as Ramp Accounting Agent
Ramp's AI spreadsheet tool read as Ramp Accounting Agent
Sage read as Sage Intacct
Unresolved, counted raw
Air AI
Blue J
Blue J/TaxGPT
DeskFerry
Elephas
Hyperbots A/P Suite
Integra Balance AI
Jupid
ZoneCapture
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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