September 2026 Edition, published · The permanent record of that edition, superseded since. The current standing is on the category page →
Index › Finance › Tax and compliance › Internal controls · September 2026 Edition

Internal controls and SOX

Asked as “SOX compliance software”, and as “internal controls management tool”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 45 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing · first-choice share
18%
Contested · FloQast 18%
18AuditBoard18FloQast11Complies.ai53others

18% of first choices, contested.

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 mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01AuditBoard18%9%33accepted challenger
02FloQast18%0%14accepted challenger
03Diligent One Platform4%5%20accepted challenger
04LogicGate Risk Cloud4%6%17accepted challenger
05Hyperproof4%12%16accepted challenger
06Optro4%0%11accepted challenger
07Workiva2%12%33accepted challenger
08Onspring2%0%10accepted challenger
09Vanta2%14%14accepted challenger
10Archer2%27%15criticized challenger
11Drata2%20%10accepted challenger
Show the two products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
13ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management0%47%15criticized challenger
12MetricStream0%30%20criticized 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.
All twenty-eight head-to-head pages: the top eight products, each against each

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative30%
Key
01AuditBoard18%
02FloQast18%
03Diligent One Platform4%
04LogicGate Risk Cloud4%
05Hyperproof4%
06Optro4%
07Workiva2%
08Onspring2%
09Vanta2%
10Archer2%
11Drata2%
12MetricStream0%
13ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management0%

What they warned about

Zero of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. 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 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.
ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
47%
7 of 15 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“ServiceNow GRC / OneTrust / MetricStream – $150k+ per year. Not even in the same universe.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt
Archer
27%
4 of 15 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Avoid legacy enterprise GRC systems (such as RSA Archer or ServiceNow GRC).” Gemini 3.5 Flash, scale prompt
MetricStream
30%
6 of 20 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“ServiceNow GRC / OneTrust / MetricStream – $150k+ per year. Not even in the same universe.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt
Workiva
12%
4 of 33 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Workiva, AuditBoard, LogicGate – Overkill, quote-only, and almost always over $40k/year.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget 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

63 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. 826 links across 207 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

vendor site · Optro46 answers · 51 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Worldmetrics33 answers · 59 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Netwrix28 answers · 32 citations · 11 models
25 answers · 30 citations · 10 models
20 answers · 20 citations · 8 models
19 answers · 33 citations · 9 models
19 answers · 24 citations · 9 models
vendor site · HighRadius19 answers · 22 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Pathlock18 answers · 22 citations · 9 models
vendor site · RiskWatch17 answers · 22 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Sprinto17 answers · 19 citations · 10 models
14 answers · 19 citations · 8 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 sox compliance software”, “internal controls tools”, “sox compliance software”. 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
AuditBoard auditboard.com18%878,1002201290
FloQast floqast.com18%3899,90019441,324$5,03976
Complies.ai complies.ai11%7072
Mitti mitti.com9%131,9003,885268,513484
Diligent diligent.com
Diligent One Platform 4%
4%70165,0006,449317,551 company$2871206
LogicGate logicgate.ai
LogicGate Risk Cloud 4%
4%3318,10070421 company31
Hyperproof hyperproof.io4%381,6003764,238$5934
Optro optro.ai4%542,90039126,117$4,599754
Workiva workiva.com2%49022,20052458,186$23643
Onspring onspring.com2%261,300257,53624

Google's top ten for the three searches hold 20 sites; 6 of them are among the sites the models cited here (gartner.com, highradius.com, netwrix.com, optro.ai, pathlock.com, v-comply.com). The first result for “best sox compliance software” is zluri.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.
ShowHide
ModelDirect“What is the best SOX compliance software for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which internal controls management tool would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top internal controls tools and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best SOX compliance software for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a SOX compliance software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which internal controls tools should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5AuditBoard
Three alternativesFloQast, Optro, Scytale
no first choiceChangedno first choiceEnvelop
Two alternativesArvexi, Workiva
no first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniWorkiva
Two alternativesAuditBoard, LogicGate Risk Cloud
against: Secureframe, Vanta
AuditBoardChanged
Two alternativesLogicGate Risk Cloud, Workiva
against: MetricStream
Workiva
Five alternativesAuditBoard, Diligent One Platform, MetricStream, Oracle Risk Management and Compliance, SAP Process Control
ScalePad ControlMap
Two alternativesAuditRunner, ComplianceAgent
no first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashOptro
Four alternativesFloQast, Hyperproof, Scytale, Workiva
against: MetricStream, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
Drata, OptroChanged
One alternativeHyperproof
Optro, Workiva
Six alternativesDrata, LogicGate Risk Cloud, MetricStream, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, TeamMate, Vanta
SmartSuite SOX Management
Five alternativesDoubleCheck Software, LogicGate Risk Cloud, Mitti, Scytale, Vanta
against: AuditBoard, MetricStream, Workiva
AuditBoard
Three alternativesDrata, Vanta, Workiva
against: Archer, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
against: Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel
Perplexity SonarFloQast
Two alternativesAuditBoard, Optro
AuditBoardChanged
Two alternativesLogicManager, ZenGRC
no first choiceComplies.ai
Two alternativesFloQast, Workiva
against: AuditBoard, BlackLine Controls & Certifications
no first choicenothing named
Grok 4.20FloQast
Three alternativesAuditBoard, Onspring, VComply
against: BlackLine Controls & Certifications, HighRadius
AuditBoardChanged
Three alternativesHyperproof, LogicManager, VComply
against: SAP, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
AuditBoard
Six alternativesArcher, Diligent One Platform, LogicGate Risk Cloud, MetricStream, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Workiva
Complies.ai
Two alternativesMitti, Netwrix Auditor
against: Drata, Hyperproof, Workiva
no first choiceagainst: Microsoft Excel, OneTrust GRC, SAP GRC, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
Mistral SmallFloQast
Two alternativesHighRadius, Optro
Archer, Diligent One PlatformChangedAuditBoard
Six alternativesArcher, Diligent One Platform, MetricStream, Pathlock, Sprinto, Workiva
Complies.ai, Mitti
One alternativeProcess Street
AuditBoardnothing named
DeepSeek V4 FlashFloQast
Four alternativesAuditBoard, Hyperproof, Onspring, Workiva
Hyperproof, LogicGate Risk CloudChanged
Five alternativesDrata, Onspring, Optro, Vanta, Workiva
against: Archer, MetricStream, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
AuditBoard
Nine alternativesArcher, Diligent One Platform, LogicGate Risk Cloud, MetricStream, Pathlock, SAP GRC / SAP Audit Management, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Sprinto, Workiva
Complies.ai
One alternativeNetwrix Auditor
against: AuditBoard, Drata, Hyperproof, LogicGate Risk Cloud, MetricStream, OneTrust GRC, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Vanta, Workiva
SailPoint, Vanta, Zluri
Five alternativesAuditBoard, BlackLine Controls & Certifications, FloQast, Riskonnect, Workiva
nothing named
Llama 4 MaverickFloQast
Two alternativesHighRadius, Onspring
Ascent ControlsChanged
Four alternativesDiligent One Platform, Hyperproof, OneTrust GRC, TeamMate
no first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashOnspring
Two alternativesHyperproof, Scytale
against: Deltek, SAP
VComplyChanged
Three alternativesAuditBoard, Onspring, RiskWatch
no first choiceMitti
Two alternativesComplies.ai, ManageEngine
no first choiceagainst: Archer, IBM OpenPages, MetricStream, SAP GRC, Spreadsheets
Kimi K2FloQast
Three alternativesAuditBoard, Onspring, Workiva
LogicGate Risk CloudChanged
Four alternativesAuditBoard, Hyperproof, Secureframe, ZenGRC
against: Archer, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
no first choice
Eight alternativesAuditBoard, Diligent One Platform, Hyperproof, OneTrust GRC, Secureframe, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Supervizor, Workiva
Mitti
Three alternativesEnvelop, ManageEngine EventLog Analyzer, Site24x7
no first choiceagainst: Riskonnect, Workivaagainst: Spreadsheets
GLM 4.7 FlashXAuditBoard, FloQast
Four alternativesHyperproof, Mitti, NAVEX One, Workiva
HyperproofChanged
Two alternativesLogicGate Risk Cloud, Onspring
against: Diligent One Platform
LogicGate Risk Cloud
Five alternativesAuditBoard, Pathlock, Resolver, SAP Audit Management, Workiva
Complies.ai
Four alternativesManageEngine Log360, Mitti, RiskWatch, Site24x7
no first choicenothing named
MiniMax M2.5FloQast
Three alternativesDiligent One Platform, Optro, VComply
AuditBoard, Diligent One PlatformChanged
Two alternativesArcher, Vanta
against: OneTrust GRC
Diligent One Platform
Five alternativesArcher, LogicGate Risk Cloud, MetricStream, Vanta, Workiva
Mitti
Two alternativesManageEngine, Site24x7
no first choicenothing named
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 21:06yes99 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 17:53yes36 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:54yes2459 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:59yes206 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 19:46yes2922 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:26yes53 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 19:48yes1316 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:00yes52 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:21yes925 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:02yes748 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:59yes1140 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:34yes1732 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:51no04 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:32no03 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:20yes1351 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:15yes126 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 20:19yes3016 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:40yes53 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:54yes1718 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:35yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:14yes943 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:12yes2027 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:19yes2387 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:50yes1230 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:28yes99 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:17yes47 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 20:06yes1323 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 18:24yes189 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 18:07yes2314 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:39yes57 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-17 18:13yes1483 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:51yes53 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:39yes731 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:20yes928 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:17yes26124 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 21:01yes927 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:32yes137 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:11yes35 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:53yes2052 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 18:41yes206 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 20:00yes3120 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 18:03yes1110 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-17 18:44yes2055 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:52yes53 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:07yes942 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:41yes1125 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:57yes2650 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:51yes929 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:51no09 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:46no010 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:18yes1160 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:36yes1911 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 19:26yes1411 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:56no010 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 18:25yes1723 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:01yes53 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:50no026 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:36yes922 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 21:04no020 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:01yes529 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:37no02 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:57no04 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:22yes1722 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 17:53yes206 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 18:45yes2010 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:54yes56 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:08yes1013 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:35yes52 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 21:25yes533 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:20yes2031 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:49yes1440 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:36yes1241 s

Normalization in this category

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

ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
BlackLine read as BlackLine Controls & Certifications
Diligent read as Diligent One Platform
Excel read as Microsoft Excel
LogicGate read as LogicGate Risk Cloud
LogicGate (Risk Cloud) read as LogicGate Risk Cloud
Netwrix read as Netwrix Auditor
OneTrust read as OneTrust GRC
Oracle read as Oracle Risk Management and Compliance
Oracle GRC read as Oracle Risk Management and Compliance
Oracle GRC / Controls tools read as Oracle Risk Management and Compliance
ServiceNow read as ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
ServiceNow GRC read as ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
ServiceNow GRC (Integrated Risk Management) read as ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
SmartSuite read as SmartSuite SOX Management
Unresolved, counted raw
AuditRunner
ComplianceAgent
DoubleCheck Software
Open-AudIT
Protecht Group
SailPoint
ScalePad ControlMap
Tugboat Logic/OneTrust
Vero AI
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
← Global e-invoicing complSales tax automation →