# Contractor payments for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

Gane Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "contractor payments and 1099 platform" and as "freelancer payout software", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/spend/contractor-payments/2026-09/enterprise

This is the permanent record of the September 2026 Edition, published September 17, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/spend/contractor-payments/enterprise/index.md

**Standing:** Tipalti leads with 24% of first choices; verdict contested. 49 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Tipalti](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/tipalti/index.md) | 24% | 2% | 45 |
| 2 | [Routable](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/routable/index.md) | 18% | 0% | 20 |
| 3 | [Papaya Global](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/papaya-global/index.md) | 12% | 5% | 39 |
| 4 | [Deel](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/deel/index.md) | 10% | 22% | 49 |
| 5 | [Worksuite](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/worksuite/index.md) | 8% | 0% | 28 |
| 6 | [WorkMarket](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/workmarket/index.md) | 8% | 23% | 13 |
| 7 | [Rippling](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/rippling/index.md) | 4% | 14% | 29 |
| 14 | [Remote](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/remote/index.md) | 0% | 16% | 32 |
| 34 | [Payoneer Workforce Management](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/payoneer-workforce-management/index.md) | 0% | 44% | 18 |
| 36 | [Wise Business](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/wise-business/index.md) | 0% | 45% | 11 |
| 74 | [Gusto](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/gusto/index.md) | 0% | 62% | 13 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 74 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: Worksuite; alternatives Deel, Routable, Trolley
- GPT-5.4 mini: Tipalti; alternatives Deel, Rippling
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Tipalti; alternatives Deel, Rippling, Routable, WorkMarket
- Perplexity Sonar: Deel; alternatives Tipalti, Worksuite
- Grok 4.20: Rippling; alternatives Deel, WorkMarket
- Mistral Small: Papaya Global, Routable
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Tipalti; alternatives Deel, Papaya Global, Remote, Routable
- Llama 4 Maverick: Routable; alternatives Remote, Rise Works, Worksuite
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Tipalti; alternatives Deel, Papaya Global
- Kimi K2: Routable, Tipalti; alternatives Dots, Papaya Global, Worksuite
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Papaya Global, Routable; alternatives Deel, Remote, Rippling, Tipalti
- MiniMax M2.5: Papaya Global; alternatives Remote, Routable, Tipalti

## Sources the answers cite

69 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- contractor-of-record.com: 45 answers, 47 citations
- worksuite.com: 44 answers, 59 citations
- remote.com: 39 answers, 43 citations
- papayaglobal.com: 34 answers, 48 citations
- learn.g2.com: 34 answers, 37 citations
- guideflow.com: 30 answers, 32 citations
- wingspan.app: 25 answers, 33 citations
- routable.com: 24 answers, 44 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://contractor-of-record.com/software/contractor-payouts (44 answers)
- https://worksuite.com/resources/insights/best-contractor-payment-software (39 answers)
- https://remote.com/blog/payroll/best-contractor-payment-tools (36 answers)
- https://learn.g2.com/best-contractor-payment-software (28 answers)
- https://papayaglobal.com/blog/10-best-contractor-payment-software (25 answers)
- https://wingspan.app/articles/best-contractor-payroll-services (21 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/contractor-payment-software (20 answers)
- https://routable.com/resources/best-1099-automation-platforms-high-volume-businesses (19 answers)
- https://4dev.com/blog/best-contractor-payment-software (12 answers)
- https://deel.com/blog/best-contractor-management-software-for-global-payments (11 answers)

## Warned against

- Deel: 11 of 49 labels negative. "Avoid These If Predictability Is Critical - Deel / Remote / Oyster" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt)
- Gusto: 8 of 13 labels negative. "Domestic SMB-Centric Payroll Platforms (e.g., Gusto, Square Payroll, QuickBooks Payroll) ... they are not designed to support large enterprise architectures" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)
- Remote: 5 of 32 labels negative. "Avoid or De-prioritize for Your Needs - Per-contractor platforms like Remote ($29/user)" (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)
- Payoneer Workforce Management: 8 of 18 labels negative. "PayPal and Payoneer can charge exorbitant transaction fees or bury high foreign exchange (FX) markups" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)

## Record

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