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Telecom expense management · November 2026 Edition

Lightyear vs Sakon

Zero of fourteen models named Lightyear first on the direct prompt; zero named Sakon. Lightyear was named by twelve of the fourteen models and Sakon by ten and Lightyear carries 19 labels and Sakon 22, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Lightyear

accepted challenger

Named in two categories this edition.

Sakon

accepted challenger

Named in one category this edition.

First-choice share2%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate0%23%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#7#8A position in a field of 12; printed, not drawn.
Labels1922A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Lightyear reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Brightfin was named alongside these two in ten of the fourteen direct answers. vCom Solutions vs Lightyear · vCom Solutions vs Sakon · Brightfin vs Lightyear

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the telecom expense management page.

By framing

How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
LightyearFirst choices, of fourteen modelsSakon
Direct00
Paraphrase001 against Sakon
Comparative00
Budget-constrained101 against Sakon
Scale-constrained01
Negative003 against Sakon
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.

Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Lightyear and Sakon were named in the same answer thirty-one times, of the 66 answers naming Lightyear and the 88 naming Sakon. In those answers Sakon took the first choice zero times and Lightyear four.

Every model, every framing

The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Lightyear and Sakon stood in it.
ModelDirectParaphraseComparativeBudget-constrainedScale-constrainedNegative
Claude Haiku 4.5
GPT-5.4 mini
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Perplexity Sonar
Grok 4.20
Mistral Small
DeepSeek V4 Flash
Llama 4 Maverick
Qwen 3.7 Flash
Kimi K2
GLM 4.7 FlashX
MiniMax M2.5
GPT-6 Luna
Muse Glimmer 30B
Lightyear Sakon first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Lightyear on the left and Sakon on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Lightyear and Sakon stood in it.

Neither was the first choice, one was named

3 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
Claude Haiku 4.5Mindglobal alternatives: Calero, ClearSight, Lightyear, Sakon, vCom Solutions
Gemini 3.5 FlashvCom Solutions alternatives: Brightfin, Calero, Mindglobal, Sakon
Perplexity SonarvCom Solutions alternatives: Lightyear, Upland Cimpl

Neither was named

11 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.
GPT-5.4 miniValicom Clearview, vCom Solutions alternatives: Brightfin, Sakon TEM, Tangoe One Telecom
Grok 4.20Brightfin alternatives: ExpenseLogic, Genuity, Mobil, zLinq
Mistral SmallBrightfin, ExpenseLogic alternatives: Motus
DeepSeek V4 FlashExpenseLogic alternatives: Brightfin, Temforce
Llama 4 Maverickno first choice
Qwen 3.7 FlashBrightfin, Tangoe One Telecom alternatives: ExpenseLogic, Mobil
Kimi K2vCom Solutions alternatives: Brightfin, ExpenseLogic, Tangoe One Telecom
GLM 4.7 FlashXExpenseLogic, OneBill alternatives: Brightfin, Motus, Temforce
MiniMax M2.5Brightfin alternatives: ExpenseLogic, vManager
GPT-6 LunaClearview alternatives: Upland Cimpl, vCom Solutions
Muse Glimmer 30BMindglobal, vCom Solutions alternatives: Brightfin, Calero, ExpenseLogic, Valicom

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Lightyear leads by nine points.
Lightyear9%#2 of 15
Sakon0%#13 of 15
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
Level: the same share of first choices.
Lightyear2%#7 of 12
Sakon2%#8 of 12
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
The order flips: Sakon leads at enterprise.
Sakon6%#2 of 12
Lightyear2%#8 of 12
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Lightyear

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Three of four in this category shown.

“Lightyear is the strongest platform to shortlist” Perplexity Sonar · budget prompt · first choice
“Modern platforms (like Brightfin, ExpenseLogic, or Lightyear) build their value proposition around automated invoice parsing” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · alternative
“Alternative Budget Option ... Lightyear has pricing based on the number of services managed, with procurement free to use” Claude Haiku 4.5 · budget prompt · alternative

What the models said about Sakon

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.

“Another platform with a high negative rating (80%), Sakon is criticized for similar reasons, including outdated systems and poor user experiences.” Mistral Small · negative prompt · hard negative
“Sakon lacks an automated RFP process or contract rebidding... users report manual validation work to keep data accurate at a high cost” Claude Haiku 4.5 · negative prompt · soft negative
“Also flagged as a "criticized challenger" in some recent comparative evaluations” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · soft negative
“prioritize modern, API-driven vendors (such as *Brightfin, Sakon, vCom, or Calero*)” Gemini 3.5 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
“Global enterprise focus. Enterprise grade TEM with strong global carrier coverage and multi-country compliance.” Muse Glimmer 30B · comparative prompt · alternative
“Choose Sakon if managing mobile device ordering, logistics, and mobile fleets is your top priority.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · comparative prompt · alternative
Also compared

Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.