September 2026 Edition, published · The permanent record of that edition, superseded since.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 › Enterprise · September 2026 Edition

Internal controls and SOX for enterprise buyers

Asked as “SOX compliance software”, and as “internal controls management tool”, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. 48 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing · first-choice share
25%
Contested · MetricStream 21%
25AuditBoard21MetricStream12Workiva42others

25% 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 an enterprise B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01AuditBoard25%7%30accepted challenger
02MetricStream21%11%36accepted challenger
03Workiva12%3%35accepted challenger
04Optro10%9%11accepted challenger
05ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management6%0%32accepted challenger
06SAP GRC4%0%17accepted challenger
07Archer4%10%20accepted challenger
08Pathlock2%0%11accepted challenger
Show the four products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
12Vanta0%54%13criticized challenger
11Oracle Risk Management and Compliance0%10%10accepted challenger
09Diligent One Platform0%5%21accepted challenger
10IBM OpenPages0%0%10accepted 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 enterprise.
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
S06
07
08
09
10
11
12
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01AuditBoard25%
02MetricStream21%
03Workiva12%
04Optro10%
05ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management6%
06SAP GRC4%
07Archer4%
08Pathlock2%
09Diligent One Platform0%
10IBM OpenPages0%
11Oracle Risk Management and Compliance0%
12Vanta0%

What they warned about

Two of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Perplexity Sonar, 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.
Vanta
54%
7 of 13 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Avoid for Scale: Mid-market tools (FloQast ~$25K; Vanta/Drata ~$20-25K) lack enterprise depth” Grok 4.20, budget prompt
MetricStream
11%
4 of 36 labels negative · 4 of 12 models
“Opaque pricing, 12-month implementation timeline... Not recommended unless you truly need the full GRC suite.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt
Microsoft Excel
100%
3 of 3 labels negative · 3 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“Spreadsheet‑Based “Control Registers” (Excel, Google Sheets, etc.) ... Avoid tools that are essentially spreadsheets” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt
Drata
67%
6 of 9 labels negative · 3 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Avoid for Scale: Mid-market tools (FloQast ~$25K; Vanta/Drata ~$20-25K) lack enterprise depth” Grok 4.20, 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

62 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. 978 links across 249 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

vendor site · Optro46 answers · 56 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Netwrix29 answers · 30 citations · 11 models
vendor site · HighRadius28 answers · 32 citations · 11 models
25 answers · 50 citations · 9 models
23 answers · 35 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Worldmetrics22 answers · 44 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Sprinto21 answers · 23 citations · 10 models
vendor site · MetricStream19 answers · 26 citations · 8 models
vendor site · RiskWatch19 answers · 24 citations · 9 models
17 answers · 25 citations · 9 models
15 answers · 16 citations · 7 models
15 answers · 15 citations · 7 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.com25%878,1002201290
MetricStream metricstream.com21%871,0003594,301$2118
Workiva workiva.com12%49022,20052458,186$23643
Optro optro.ai10%542,90039126,117$4,599754
ServiceNow servicenow.com
ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management 6%
6%38135,00013,451689,216 company$673101
SAP GRC4%880236
Archer archerirm.com4%35165,00033,9834,6039
BlackLine blackline.com
BlackLine Controls & Certifications 4%
4%2827,1001,25528,740 company$4,06679
FloQast floqast.com4%3899,90019441,324$5,03976
Pathlock pathlock.com2%171,00023100,297$8,432378

Google's top ten for the three searches hold 20 sites; 4 of them are among the sites the models cited here (gartner.com, highradius.com, netwrix.com, optro.ai). 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 an enterprise B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which internal controls management tool would you recommend to a large B2B company with thousands of employees?”Comparative“What are the top enterprise-grade internal controls tools and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best SOX compliance software for a large company that needs predictable total cost across thousands of users?”Scale-constrained“We are a 5,000 person company with SSO, SOC 2 and procurement review requirements evaluating a SOX compliance software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which internal controls tools should a large enterprise avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5BlackLine Controls & Certifications
Four alternativesArcher, Diligent One Platform, HighRadius, Pathlock
no first choiceChangedAuditBoard
Four alternativesArcher, MetricStream, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Workiva
BlackLine Controls & Certifications
Two alternativesArvexi, AuditBoard
no first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniDiligent Internal Controls / Audit
One alternativeSAI360
OptroChanged
Two alternativesLogicManager, TeamMate Controls
Diligent Internal Controls, Oracle Risk Management and Compliance, SAP GRC, SAP Process Control, Workivaagainst: Oracle Risk Management and ComplianceServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
One alternativeWorkiva
no first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashOptro
Three alternativesPathlock, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Workiva
OptroHeld
Five alternativesHighRadius, MetricStream, Oracle Risk Management and Compliance, SAP GRC, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
against: Drata, Vanta
Optro
Four alternativesBlackLine Controls & Certifications, FloQast, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Workiva
against: MetricStream
Workiva
Three alternativesOptro, SmartSuite SOX Management, ZenGRC
Optro, Workivaagainst: Confluence, Drata, Jira, Microsoft Excel, Secureframe, SharePoint Lists, Vanta
Perplexity SonarMetricStream
Three alternativesIBM OpenPages, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Workiva
AuditBoardChanged
Three alternativesMetricStream, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Workiva
AuditBoard, MetricStream
Five alternativesDiligent One Platform, IBM OpenPages, SAP GRC / SAP Audit Management, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Workiva
MetricStream
One alternativeWorkiva
against: AuditBoard, Diligent One Platform, Onspring, Optro, Resolver
no first choicenothing named
Grok 4.20AuditBoard
Four alternativesDiligent One Platform, MetricStream, SAP GRC, Workiva
against: LogicGate Risk Cloud, Onspring
AuditBoardHeld
Three alternativesArcher, MetricStream, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
no first choice
Seven alternativesArcher, AuditBoard, Diligent One Platform, LogicGate Risk Cloud, MetricStream, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Workiva
against: Drata, Vanta
MetricStream
Three alternativesOptro, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Workiva
against: Drata, FloQast, Vanta
no first choiceagainst: Spreadsheets
Mistral SmallMetricStream
Two alternativesAuditBoard, IBM OpenPages
AuditBoardChanged
One alternativeServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
MetricStream
Seven alternativesArcher, Diligent One Platform, Hyperproof, IBM OpenPages, LogicGate Risk Cloud, OneTrust GRC, SAP Audit Management
Workiva
One alternativeOracle Risk Management and Compliance
against: MetricStream
no first choicenothing named
DeepSeek V4 FlashAuditBoard, Workiva
Five alternativesDiligent One Platform, MetricStream, Pathlock, SAP GRC, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
against: FloQast
AuditBoardChanged
Four alternativesArcher, MetricStream, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Workiva
AuditBoard
Six alternativesArcher, MetricStream, Pathlock, SAP Audit Management, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Workiva
against: Sprinto, Vanta
Optro
Three alternativesOnspring, SmartSuite SOX Management, Workiva
against: MetricStream
no first choicenothing named
Llama 4 MaverickMetricStream, Pathlock, SAP GRCArcher, MetricStream, ServiceNow Integrated Risk ManagementChangedno first choiceAuditBoard, MetricStream, Resolver, SAP GRCno first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashMetricStream
Four alternativesDiligent Boards, Riskonnect, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Workiva
AuditBoardChanged
Two alternativesDiligent One Platform, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
against: Archer
AuditBoard
Five alternativesDiligent One Platform, Drata, OneTrust GRC, SAP GRC, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
against: Archer
Workiva
Two alternativesMetricStream, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
AuditBoard
Four alternativesBlackLine Controls & Certifications, Diligent One Platform, Vena, Workiva
against: AppSheet, Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, Outlook, PowerApps, Slack, WhatsApp, iCloud
Kimi K2AuditBoard
Three alternativesDiligent One Platform, MetricStream, Workiva
MetricStreamChanged
Three alternativesSAP GRC, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Workiva
AuditBoard
Nine alternativesArcher, Hyperproof, LogicGate Risk Cloud, MetricStream, Oracle Risk Management and Compliance, SAP GRC, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Vanta, Workiva
FloQast
Two alternativesAuditBoard, Workiva
against: BlackLine Controls & Certifications
no first choicenothing named
GLM 4.7 FlashXAuditBoard, Workiva
Five alternativesBlackLine Controls & Certifications, Diligent One Platform, FloQast, Pathlock, SAP GRC
ServiceNow Integrated Risk ManagementChanged
Three alternativesArcher, Diligent One Platform, Workiva
no first choiceOnspring
Four alternativesAuditBoard, Drata, Hyperproof, Vanta
against: MetricStream
no first choiceagainst: Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel
MiniMax M2.5AuditBoard, MetricStream
Two alternativesDiligent One Platform, RiskWatch
ArcherChanged
Two alternativesHyperproof, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
no first choiceagainst: Drata, VantaFloQastagainst: AuditBoard, BlackLine Controls & Certifications, Drata, Hyperproof, Vanta, Workivano 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 19:57yes99 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:27yes37 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 19:57yes1423 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 18:26yes207 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 17:58yes2716 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 21:06yes1910 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 19:42yes1522 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:32yes53 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:52yes835 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:09yes1041 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:49yes20105 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:37yes1027 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:03no05 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:52yes36 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:48yes1621 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:17yes175 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 18:35yes2616 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 18:23yes53 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:52yes2434 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:54yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:34no029 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:39yes1520 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:11yes2660 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:55yes522 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:40yes1810 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:29yes611 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 19:02yes928 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:00yes1914 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 18:25yes3320 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:14yes1311 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 18:21yes2027 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:48yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:47no032 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:10yes2560 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:17yes26113 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:09yes1243 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:39yes1510 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:03yes04 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 20:08yes2631 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 18:11yes158 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 21:09yes3424 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 18:32yes2216 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-17 18:32yes2467 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:11yes53 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:59yes1049 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:21yes919 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:54yes2767 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:00yes1647 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:31yes1811 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:25no07 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 20:00yes621 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:56yes2011 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 19:18yes1522 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:43no09 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 18:16yes2634 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:34yes53 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:25no037 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:59yes1344 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:03yes1441 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 18:53no048 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:25yes1811 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:16no06 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:02yes2132 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:51yes205 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 21:03yes3622 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 18:19yes56 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:19yes1015 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:40yes54 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:54no033 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:36yes2461 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:44yes26121 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 17:59yes557 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
Diligent (HighBond) read as Diligent One Platform
Diligent (formerly HighBond / OnControl) read as Diligent One Platform
Diligent (formerly HighBond/Diligent Boards) read as Diligent One Platform
Excel read as Microsoft Excel
IBM read as IBM OpenPages
LogicGate read as LogicGate Risk Cloud
Netwrix read as Netwrix Auditor
OneTrust read as OneTrust GRC
OneTrust (Risk Manager) read as OneTrust GRC
Oracle GRC read as Oracle Risk Management and Compliance
Oracle GRC Cloud read as Oracle Risk Management and Compliance
Oracle Risk Management read as Oracle Risk Management and Compliance
Oracle SOX Compliance Suite read as Oracle Risk Management and Compliance
Oracle legacy GRC / Enterprise Governance, Risk and Compliance read as Oracle Risk Management and Compliance
Oracle's SOX solutions 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
AppSheet
Bead AI
Deloitte's Compliance Dashboard
Diligent Internal Controls
Diligent Internal Controls / Audit
Outlook
PowerApps
SharePoint Lists
SoftComply
iCloud
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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