# ESG and carbon reporting for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "ESG reporting software" and as "carbon accounting platform", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/corporate/esg-and-carbon-reporting/2026-11/smb

**Standing:** Greenly leads with 33% of first choices; verdict contested. 55 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Greenly](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/greenly/index.md) | 33% | 9% | 53 |
| 2 | [Persefoni](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/persefoni/index.md) | 18% | 14% | 28 |
| 3 | [Sustain.Life](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/sustain-life/index.md) | 7% | 5% | 22 |
| 4 | [Seedling](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/seedling/index.md) | 7% | 0% | 10 |
| 5 | [Sweep](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/sweep/index.md) | 4% | 0% | 18 |
| 7 | [Workiva ESG](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/workiva-esg/index.md) | 4% | 79% | 43 |
| 8 | [Normative](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/normative/index.md) | 2% | 7% | 29 |
| 9 | [ESGgo](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/esggo/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 15 |
| 10 | [Novata](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/novata/index.md) | 2% | 7% | 15 |
| 11 | [Coolset](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/coolset/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 10 |
| 21 | [Plan A](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/plan-a/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 16 |
| 25 | [Position Green](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/position-green/index.md) | 0% | 18% | 11 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 121 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Greenly, Normative; alternatives Novisto, Sustain.Life
- GPT-5.4 mini: Futureproof, KEY ESG; alternatives Net0, Supercritical
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Greenly; alternatives Brightest, EcoHedge, Novata, Pulsora
- Perplexity Sonar: Greenly; alternatives Coolset, Normative, Novata
- Grok 4.20: Greenly; alternatives Normative, Sustain.Life
- Mistral Small: Workiva ESG; alternatives Metrio, Persefoni, Position Green
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Greenly; alternatives EcoHedge, EcoVadis, Sustain.Life
- Llama 4 Maverick: Workiva ESG; alternatives Greenly, Metrio, Position Green
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Metrio; alternatives EcoVadis, Greenly, Normative, Sweep
- Kimi K2: Greenly, Sustain.Life; alternatives ESGgo, Envoria, Greener Ahead, Intelex
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Persefoni; alternatives Intelex, Optial SmartStart
- MiniMax M2.5: Greenly, Sustain.Life; alternatives Code Gaia, Nasdaq Metrio
- GPT-6 Luna: Greenly; alternatives ESGdesk, EcoVadis
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Greenly, Persefoni; alternatives Normative

## Sources the answers cite

75 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- g2.com: 33 answers, 64 citations
- toolradar.com: 33 answers, 52 citations
- softwareadvice.com: 30 answers, 42 citations
- greenly.earth: 21 answers, 26 citations
- sourceforge.net: 20 answers, 24 citations
- capterra.com: 19 answers, 32 citations
- cubemos.com: 19 answers, 21 citations
- fanruan.com: 17 answers, 18 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://softwareadvice.com/esg/small-business (27 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/environmental-social-and-governance-esg-reporting/small-business (23 answers)
- https://toolradar.com/best/esg-reporting/for/small-businesses (20 answers)
- https://cubemos.com/en/blog/esg-software-vergleich (19 answers)
- https://fanruan.com/en/blog/top-sustainability-reporting-tools (16 answers)
- https://toolradar.com/guides/best-esg-reporting-software (16 answers)
- https://councilfire.org/guides/top-5-esg-frameworks-for-smes (15 answers)
- https://greenly.earth/en-us/blog/company-guide/our-top-5-esg-softwares (13 answers)
- https://slashdot.org/software/esg-reporting/f-small-business (13 answers)
- https://coolset.com/academy/best-esg-reporting-software-tools (12 answers)

## Warned against

- Workiva ESG: 34 of 43 labels negative. "Why to avoid: They often come with a "significant learning curve" and "limited functionality" that frustrates smaller teams. They are expensive and complex" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- IBM Envizi: 17 of 17 labels negative. "avoid committing to Workiva, Diligent ESG, IBM Envizi, Microsoft Sustainability Manager, Watershed, Sphera" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- SAP Sustainability Control Tower: 11 of 11 labels negative. "Larger platforms like Workiva and SAP Sustainability Control Tower are robust, but ... weaker fit for tight budgets." (GPT-5.4 mini, budget prompt)
- EcoVadis: 9 of 14 labels negative. "Why caution/avoid: Frequently criticized as extremely expensive ... one-size-fits-all questionnaires that feel irrelevant or overly generalized for small businesses" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 10 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Greenly at 33%.

- Greenly: 48% to 33%, −15. Cleared the floor by 5 points · rank 1 of 121, unchanged.
- Persefoni: 4% to 18%, +14. Cleared the floor by 4 points · rank 3 → 2 of 121.
- Seedling: 0% to 7%, +7. Inside the floor by 3 points · rank 27 → 4 of 121.
- Sweep: 0% to 4%, +4. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 22 → 5 of 121.
- Workiva ESG: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 21 → 7 of 121.
- ESGgo: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 23 → 9 of 121.
- Sustain.Life: 6% to 7%, +1. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 2 → 3 of 121.
- Normative: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 8 of 121, unchanged.
- Novata: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 9 → 10 of 121.
- Coolset: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 10 → 11 of 121.
- Plan A: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 24 → 21 of 121.
- Position Green: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 102 → 25 of 121.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/finance.