# Contractor payments for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "contractor payments and 1099 platform" and as "freelancer payout software", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/spend/contractor-payments/2026-11/smb

**Standing:** Gusto leads with 49% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 51 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Gusto](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/gusto/index.md) | 49% | 10% | 68 |
| 2 | [Square Payroll](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/square-payroll/index.md) | 25% | 12% | 34 |
| 3 | [QuickBooks Contractor Payments](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/quickbooks-contractor-payments/index.md) | 6% | 4% | 26 |
| 4 | [Melio](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/melio/index.md) | 4% | 17% | 12 |
| 6 | [Deel](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/deel/index.md) | 2% | 14% | 56 |
| 7 | [Wise Business](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/wise-business/index.md) | 2% | 18% | 33 |
| 12 | [Remote](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/remote/index.md) | 0% | 7% | 30 |
| 13 | [Rippling](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/rippling/index.md) | 0% | 21% | 24 |
| 14 | [BILL](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/bill/index.md) | 0% | 23% | 13 |
| 15 | [Papaya Global](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/papaya-global/index.md) | 0% | 20% | 10 |
| 25 | [Payoneer Workforce Management](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/payoneer-workforce-management/index.md) | 0% | 40% | 15 |
| 56 | [Tipalti](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/tipalti/index.md) | 0% | 43% | 14 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 79 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: Gusto; alternatives Found, Plane, QuickBooks Contractor Payments, Square Payroll
- GPT-5.4 mini: Gusto; alternatives Deel
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Gusto; alternatives BILL, Deel, Melio, Rippling
- Perplexity Sonar: Gusto; alternatives Deel, QuickBooks Contractor Payments, Remote
- Grok 4.20: Gusto; alternatives Deel, OnPay, QuickBooks Contractor Payments, Remote
- Mistral Small: Gusto; alternatives Deel, QuickBooks Contractor Payments, Worksuite
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Gusto; alternatives Deel, QuickBooks Workforce, Square Payroll
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Gusto, QuickBooks Online; alternatives Native Teams, SurePayroll
- Kimi K2: Gusto; alternatives Melio, QuickBooks Contractor Payments
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Gusto; alternatives Deel, QuickBooks Contractor Payments, Square Payroll
- MiniMax M2.5: Gusto, Square Payroll; alternatives Deel, QuickBooks Workforce, Remote
- GPT-6 Luna: Square Payroll; alternatives QuickBooks Contractor Payments
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Gusto, QuickBooks Contractor Payments; alternatives Deel, Remote, Square Payroll

## Sources the answers cite

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

- g2.com: 27 answers, 36 citations
- fitsmallbusiness.com: 24 answers, 31 citations
- gusto.com: 20 answers, 31 citations
- fabric.so: 20 answers, 21 citations
- wingspan.app: 19 answers, 24 citations
- gane.ai/index: 17 answers, 19 citations
- worksuite.com: 17 answers, 17 citations
- firsthr.app: 16 answers, 16 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://fitsmallbusiness.com/contractor-payroll-services (20 answers)
- https://fabric.so/comparison/best-contractor-payment-tool (19 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/contractor-payments (18 answers)
- https://wingspan.app/articles/best-contractor-payroll-services (18 answers)
- https://worksuite.com/resources/insights/best-contractor-payment-software (17 answers)
- https://firsthr.app/compare/payroll/contractor-payroll (16 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/finance/spend/contractor-payments/smb (16 answers)
- https://toolradar.com/guides/best-contractor-payment-platforms (14 answers)
- https://gusto.com/resources/guides/best-contractor-payroll-software (13 answers)
- https://joinhomebase.com/blog/payroll-software-contractors (12 answers)

## Warned against

- PayPal MassPay: 12 of 17 labels negative. "Platforms to Avoid or Be Cautious About ... PayPal (especially PayPal MassPay) - High fees for contractor payouts" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Venmo: 8 of 8 labels negative. "Personal Venmo or personal Zelle accounts for business payments. Don't use a personal account as a substitute for a business payment system." (GPT-6 Luna, negative prompt)
- Deel: 8 of 56 labels negative. "Avoid for tight budgets: Deel, Rippling, or Remote" (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)
- Payoneer Workforce Management: 6 of 15 labels negative. "transfers of less than $400/€400/£400 are subject to a fixed fee of $4/€4/£4, which can be expensive for smaller payments." (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 10 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Gusto at 49%.

- Square Payroll: 10% to 25%, +15. Cleared the floor by 5 points · rank 2 of 79, unchanged.
- Gusto: 42% to 49%, +7. Inside the floor by 3 points · rank 1 of 79, unchanged.
- Deel: 8% to 2%, −6. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 3 → 6 of 79.
- Wise Business: 5% to 2%, −3. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 5 → 7 of 79.
- QuickBooks Contractor Payments: 8% to 6%, −2. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 4 → 3 of 79.
- Rippling: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 7 → 13 of 79.
- BILL: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 10 → 14 of 79.
- Payoneer Workforce Management: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 16 → 25 of 79.
- Melio: 5% to 4%, −1. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 6 → 4 of 79.
- Remote: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 19 → 12 of 79.
- Papaya Global: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 64 → 15 of 79.
- Wingspan: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 20 → 22 of 79.

## 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.