September 2026 Edition, published · The permanent record of that edition, superseded since. The current standing is on the category page →
Index › Finance › Spend and procurement › Contractor payments › Small business · September 2026 Edition

Contractor payments for small business buyers

Asked as “contractor payments and 1099 platform”, and as “freelancer payout software”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 46 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing · first-choice share
59%
Clear leader
59Gusto11Square Payroll04BILL26others

59% of first choices, clear leader.

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 small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Gusto59%2%55endorsed leader
02Square Payroll11%19%16accepted challenger
03QuickBooks Contractor Payments4%0%13accepted challenger
04Wingspan4%0%12accepted challenger
05BILL4%17%12accepted challenger
06Wise Business2%9%23accepted challenger
Show the six products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
12PayPal MassPay0%82%11criticized challenger
11Tipalti0%23%13accepted challenger
09Rippling0%18%17accepted challenger
10Melio0%15%13accepted challenger
07Deel0%9%45accepted challenger
08Remote0%5%21accepted 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.
Head to headHead-to-head pages are published for mid-market buyers, so these open on mid-market figures, not small business.
All twenty-eight head-to-head pages: the top eight products, each against each

One product takes 59% of first choices here, so the chart would put eleven markers in one corner and one at the far edge. The two measurements it plots are columns in the standing above: share, and the negative label rate. One product carries a negative rate above 25% in this category.

What they warned about

Three of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity Sonar, Mistral Small, 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.
PayPal MassPay
82%
9 of 11 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 7 hard negative
“Small businesses should be cautious about PayPal, traditional bank wires, and any platform that does not explicitly address compliance” Mistral Small, negative prompt
Venmo
100%
7 of 7 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 6 hard negative
“Consumer payment apps like PayPal and Venmo may seem convenient for small jobs, but they are often not ideal for growing businesses.” Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt
Cash App
100%
5 of 5 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Consumer Apps (e.g., Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, Personal PayPal) ... Why to avoid them” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
Stripe Connect
67%
4 of 6 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“Frequent reports of holding funds in "reserves" for 6+ months, account freezes, and delays in payouts” Grok 4.20, negative 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

67 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. 979 links across 249 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

vendor site · Worksuite44 answers · 48 citations · 11 models
vendor site · G237 answers · 38 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Wingspan33 answers · 39 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Remote32 answers · 33 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Gusto31 answers · 50 citations · 10 models
30 answers · 30 citations · 9 models
21 answers · 21 citations · 8 models
18 answers · 25 citations · 7 models
vendor site · Rise Works18 answers · 18 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Deel17 answers · 23 citations · 10 models
vendor site · G217 answers · 23 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Guideflow16 answers · 16 citations · 9 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 “best contractor payments and 1099 platform”, “contractor payment platforms”, “contractor payments and 1099 platform”. 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 daysBest Google position
Gusto gusto.com59%129673,00010,5601,629,483118
Square squareup.com
Square Payroll 11%
11%531,000,000497,5263,658,565 company$9993
QuickBooks parent site
QuickBooks Contractor Payments 4%, QuickBooks Payroll 0%
4%501,000,00054,681
Wingspan wingspan.app4%2349,5007,4742,634$161
BILL bill.com4%3742,740,0001,063,0011,783,039$199,231119
Tax1099 tax1099.com4%1140,500171311,80386
Wise Business wise.com2%2701,900167158,520,306$81781
Trolley trolley.com2%1849,50027,83220,61030
ADP RUN adp.com2%274,00050513,578,070$62,421108
Found found.com2%33201,000640,59587,26513

Google's top ten for the three searches hold 22 sites; 2 of them are among the sites the models cited here (wise.com, worksuite.com). The first result for “best contractor payments and 1099 platform” is wise.com.

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.
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ModelDirect“What is the best contractor payments and 1099 platform for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which freelancer payout software would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top contractor payment platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best contractor payments and 1099 platform for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a contractor payments and 1099 platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which contractor payment platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Gusto
Two alternativesQuickBooks Contractor Payments, SurePayroll
no first choiceChangedGusto
Three alternativesDeel, Remote, Square Payroll
against: Wise Business
Tax1099
Four alternativesFound, IRS IRIS Portal, QuickBooks Payroll, SurePayroll
no first choiceagainst: PayPal MassPay, Venmo
GPT-5.4 miniGusto
Five alternativesBILL, Deel, QuickBooks Contractor Payments, QuickBooks Payroll, Tipalti
GustoHeld
Two alternativesDeel, Tipalti
Gusto
Six alternativesADP RUN, Deel, Justworks, Payoneer Workforce Management, Remote, Rippling
Gusto, Square Payroll
One alternativeFound
no first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashGusto
Four alternativesDeel, Melio, Square Payroll, Wingspan
WingspanChanged
Three alternativesDeel, Gusto, Worksuite
against: Wise Business
Gusto, Remote
Two alternativesDeel, Wise Business
against: Rippling
Found, QuickBooks Contractor Payments
Three alternativesGusto, Melio, Square Payroll
Gusto
Five alternativesDeel, Remote, Rippling, Wingspan, Worksuite
against: Cash App, Fiverr Enterprise, PayPal MassPay, Payoneer Workforce Management, Stripe Connect, Upwork, Venmo, Zelle
Perplexity SonarGusto
Four alternativesADP RUN, Deel, QuickBooks Contractor Payments, QuickBooks Payroll
TrolleyChanged
Three alternativesBILL, Melio, TalentDesk
Gusto
Five alternativesDeel, Melio, Remote, Square Payroll, Wise Business
Gusto, QuickBooks Contractor Paymentsagainst: SurePayrollno first choiceagainst: Venmo
Grok 4.20Gusto
Four alternativesBILL, Deel, QuickBooks Online, Rippling
against: BoomTax, Tax1099
GustoHeld
One alternativeDeel
Gusto, Wise Business
Three alternativesDeel, Remote, Rippling
Square Payroll
Two alternativesGusto, QuickBooks Contractor Payments
against: Wave Payroll
Gusto
Three alternativesQuickBooks Payroll, Routable, Trolley
against: BILL, PayPal MassPay, Stripe Connect
Mistral SmallGusto, Wingspan
Three alternativesDeel, QuickBooks Contractor Payments, Tipalti
GustoChanged
One alternativeTrolley
Gusto, Square Payroll
Three alternativesDeel, Oyster, Remote
against: Papaya Global
Gusto
Two alternativesADP RUN, Wingspan
no first choiceagainst: PayPal MassPay, Traditional Bank Wires
DeepSeek V4 FlashGusto
Two alternativesDeel, QuickBooks Contractor Payments
against: ADP, Paychex, Routable, Tipalti, Trolley
GustoHeld
Two alternativesPayoneer Workforce Management, Wise Business
against: Deel, Papaya Global, PayPal MassPay, Tipalti
Gusto
Five alternativesDeel, Oyster, Remote, Rippling, Wise Business
Square Payroll
Three alternativesGusto, QuickBooks Contractor Payments, Wingspan
ADP RUN, Gusto
One alternativeRippling
against: Deel, Remote
against: Airwallex, BILL, Cash App, Jobber, Melio, PayPal MassPay, Plowz & Mowz, Square Payroll, Stripe Connect, Venmo, Zelle
Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceGustoChanged
Two alternativesTrevorium, Trolley
Wise Business
Four alternativesDeel, Gusto, Oyster, Remote
no first choiceno first choiceagainst: Cash App, Papaya Global, Square Payroll, Venmo
Qwen 3.7 FlashGusto
Three alternativesDeel, Rippling, Wingspan
BILL, GustoChanged
Two alternativesDeel, Remote
Deel, Gusto
Two alternativesRippling, Wise Business
Square Payroll, Tax1099
Four alternativesGusto, QuickBooks Payments, Track1099, Wise Business
no first choice
Four alternativesDeel, Gusto, Rippling, Thryv
against: Cash App, PayPal MassPay, Square Payroll, Stripe Connect, Venmo, Zelle
Kimi K2Gusto
Three alternativesBILL, Deel, Melio
Gusto, Wise BusinessChanged
Two alternativesDeel, Melio
Gusto, Melio
Five alternativesBILL, Deel, Remote, Wingspan, Wise Business
Square Payroll
Two alternativesGusto, QuickBooks Contractor Payments
against: Wave Payroll
Gusto
Three alternativesDeel, OnPay, Worksuite
against: Deel, Fiverr Enterprise, Freelancer.com, Gusto, PayPal MassPay, Payoneer Workforce Management, Upwork, Wave Payroll
GLM 4.7 FlashXRoutable
Three alternativesDeel, Gusto, Tipalti
GustoChanged
Four alternativesDeel, Rippling, Trolley, Wise Business
Deel, Remote
Three alternativesGusto, Rippling, Wise Business
against: Papaya Global, Tipalti
Gusto
Two alternativesQuickBooks Online, Wave Payroll
no first choiceagainst: Houzz Pro, Melio, Native Teams, Plentific, Rippling
MiniMax M2.5Gusto
Four alternativesDeel, Remote, Wingspan, Worksuite
BILL, GustoChanged
Two alternativesTrolley, Wise Business
Remote
Four alternativesDeel, Gusto, Payoneer Workforce Management, Wise Business
Wave Payroll
Two alternativesGusto, Square Payroll
no first choiceagainst: Cash App, Deel, Payoneer Workforce Management, Rippling, Venmo
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 18:55yes910 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:22yes16 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:48yes2129 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 18:42yes206 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 20:32yes3717 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 21:04yes517 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 19:30yes1918 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:47yes53 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:21yes1020 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:17yes1329 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:53yes1970 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:48yes822 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:19no04 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:57yes36 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:20yes2025 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 20:02yes205 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 19:25yes3114 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:22yes522 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 18:04yes2529 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:15yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 21:06yes1440 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:51yes1723 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:43yes2330 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:01yes1336 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:12yes99 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:45yes410 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:57yes1825 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:51yes208 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 20:50yes2016 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:44yes56 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 18:01yes1924 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:59yes53 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:12yes1928 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:40yes1344 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:37yes1389 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:04yes515 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:04yes97 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:58yes36 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:33yes1725 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:16yes206 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 21:03yes3819 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 21:08yes53 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 19:33yes1827 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:01yes53 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:30yes1022 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:04yes2038 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:33yes2498 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 17:58yes1020 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 18:13no06 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 17:57yes57 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:21yes1251 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 20:49yes209 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 19:24yes1411 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:31no07 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:01yes915 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 17:57yes53 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:02no029 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:07yes1427 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:15yes1244 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:17no010 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:54yes2713 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:35yes46 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:54yes1150 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 18:51yes209 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 18:56yes3716 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 18:33yes56 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 17:54yes2028 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:41yes55 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:29yes1542 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:05yes2545 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:01yes22112 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:07yes2541 s

Normalization in this category

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

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Category-scoped readings
BILL.com read as BILL
Bill.com read as BILL
Bill.com (BILL) read as BILL
Patriot read as Patriot Software
PayPal read as PayPal MassPay
Payoneer read as Payoneer Workforce Management
Personal PayPal read as PayPal MassPay
QuickBooks read as QuickBooks Contractor Payments
QuickBooks Online Payments read as QuickBooks Payments
Square read as Square Payroll
Standard PayPal Business read as PayPal MassPay
Stripe read as Stripe Connect
Wave read as Wave Payroll
Unresolved, counted raw
ADP-backed payroll engine + 1099 workflows (custom)
Houzz Pro
PayFit
Plowz & Mowz
Plutio
Shortlist
TFY
Thryv
Toptal
Trevorium
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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