September 2026 Edition, published · The permanent record of that edition, superseded since. The current standing is on the category page →
Index › HR › Core HR and payroll › Global payroll · September 2026 Edition

Global payroll and employer of record

Asked as “employer of record”, and as “global payroll provider”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 46 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing · first-choice share
22%
Contested · Oyster 13%
22Deel13Oyster13Papaya Global52others

22% 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
01Deel22%19%53accepted challenger
02Papaya Global13%17%36accepted challenger
03Oyster13%7%27accepted challenger
04RemoFirst11%11%19accepted challenger
05Remote9%18%51accepted challenger
06Rippling9%12%33accepted challenger
07Multiplier2%8%24accepted challenger
08G-P2%18%11accepted 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
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01Deel22%
02Papaya Global13%
03Oyster13%
04RemoFirst11%
05Remote9%
06Rippling9%
07Multiplier2%
08G-P2%

What they warned about

One of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, 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.
Deel
19%
10 of 53 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“Drastically Cautioned – Documented Legal/Compliance Issues... Who should avoid: Companies with compliance-sensitive contracts, enterprise clients, or critical payroll deadlines.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
Remote
18%
9 of 51 labels negative · 7 of 12 models
“premium, all-in-one Employer of Record (EOR) providers like Deel, Remote, or Rippling ... these admin costs can quickly deplete your capital” Gemini 3.5 Flash, budget prompt
Papaya Global
17%
6 of 36 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“Platforms with Notable Concerns ... Papaya Global - Trustpilot rating: Concerning 3.2/5 with reports of missed payments and hidden fees” Kimi K2, negative prompt
Rippling
12%
4 of 33 labels negative · 3 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Rippling (for global payroll outside the US)... If you need true multi-country payroll, look elsewhere.” Mistral Small, 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

66 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. 945 links across 198 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

vendor site · Teamed27 answers · 42 citations · 11 models
25 answers · 29 citations · 11 models
23 answers · 28 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Gartner22 answers · 26 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Remote21 answers · 27 citations · 11 models
21 answers · 25 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Oyster HR18 answers · 22 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Safeguard Global17 answers · 17 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Deel16 answers · 26 citations · 9 models
16 answers · 19 citations · 7 models
vendor site · HeroHunt.ai16 answers · 16 citations · 9 models
vendor site · RemoFirst15 answers · 17 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 employer of record”, “employer of record”, “eor and global payroll platforms”. 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
Deel deel.com22%48040,5001,210307,175$330,608118
Papaya papayaglobal.com
Papaya Global 13%
13%163246,00031,430189,744 company$8,309111
Oyster oysterhr.com13%73301,000109,205379,211$14,169655
RemoFirst remofirst.com11%651,6002117,414$701361
Remote remote.com
Remote 9%, Remote People 0%
9%249110,000426,655766,598$15,858883
Rippling rippling.com9%1438301,00017,886712,399$42,013115
Hire with Columbus hirewithcolumbus.com9%135024228
Native Teams nativeteams.com4%123208647,722$12,206302
Multiplier usemultiplier.com2%1019,90071,23469,887$4,584120
G-P globalization-partners.com2%87110,00011,47116,514$302,233120

Google's top ten for the three searches hold 23 sites; 4 of them are among the sites the models cited here (globaleorservices.org, oysterhr.com, remofirst.com, remote.com). The first result for “best employer of record” is hrtechedge.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 employer of record for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which global payroll provider would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top EOR and global payroll platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best employer of record for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating an employer of record. What should we look at?”Negative“Which EOR and global payroll platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Multiplier, Oyster
Three alternativesDeel, Remote, Velocity Global
DeelChanged
Three alternativesADP, Papaya Global, Rippling
Deel
Two alternativesPapaya Global, Remote
Hire with Columbusagainst: RemoFirstno first choiceagainst: Deel, Rippling
GPT-5.4 miniDeel
Two alternativesRemote, Rippling
RemoteChanged
Four alternativesADP GlobalView Payroll, Deel, Papaya Global, Rippling
Deel, Papaya Global, Remote
Six alternativesADP, CloudPay, G-P, Oyster, Rippling, Velocity Global
RemoFirst
One alternativeDeel
against: Remote
no first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashRippling
Three alternativesDeel, Papaya Global, Remote
RipplingHeld
Three alternativesDeel, Papaya Global, Remote
Deel
Seven alternativesG-P, Multiplier, Oyster, Papaya Global, Remote, Rippling, Safeguard Global
Hire with Columbus
Three alternativesRemoFirst, Remote People, Thera
against: Deel, Remote, Rippling
no first choiceagainst: Atlas HXM, Deel, Papaya Global, Rippling
Perplexity SonarTeamed
One alternativeSafeguard Global
DeelChanged
Four alternativesPapaya Global, Paylocity, Remote, Rippling
Deel, Papaya Global
Four alternativesMultiplier, Oyster, Remote, Rippling
RemoFirst
Two alternativesPlayroll, Remote People
against: Deel, Remote
no first choiceagainst: Agile HRO, Horizons, Native Teams, RecruitGo, Skuad
Grok 4.20Deel
Four alternativesMultiplier, Oyster, Remote, Rippling
against: Papaya Global
RipplingChanged
Three alternativesDeel, Papaya Global, Remote
Deel, Papaya Global
Five alternativesADP, Oyster, RemoFirst, Remote, Rippling
Hire with Columbus
Three alternativesHorizons, RecruitGo, RemoFirst
against: Multiplier, Remote
no first choiceagainst: Deel, G-P, Gusto Global, Oyster, Papaya Global, Remote
Mistral SmallOyster
Two alternativesDeel, Remote
Papaya GlobalChanged
Four alternativesDeel, Lano, Remote, Rippling
Deel
Six alternativesMultiplier, Oyster, Papaya Global, Remote, Remote People, Rippling
Tarmack
Two alternativesHire with Columbus, Remote People
no first choiceagainst: Foxhire, G2O, Multiplier, Payoneer Workforce Management, Rippling, Talent500
DeepSeek V4 FlashDeel
Three alternativesOyster, Remote, Teamed
against: G-P, Papaya Global
Deel, RipplingChanged
Three alternativesMultiplier, Papaya Global, Remote
Deel
Eight alternativesADP, G-P, Oyster, Papaya Global, Remote, Rippling, TMF Group, Velocity Global
RemoFirst
Two alternativesNative Teams, Wisemonk
against: Deel, Remote
no first choiceagainst: Deel, Gusto Global, Papaya Global, Remote
Llama 4 MaverickDeel, Oyster, Remote
One alternativeMultiplier
Papaya GlobalChanged
Three alternativesOyster, Remote, Rivermate
Deel, Papaya Global
Two alternativesADP GlobalView Payroll, Remote
RemoFirstno first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashDeel, Oyster, Remote
Two alternativesMultiplier, Rippling
Oyster, Papaya GlobalChanged
Five alternativesPaylocity, Remote, Rippling, SRGA Global, TMF Group
Deel, Remote
Three alternativesOyster, Papaya Global, Rippling
Native Teams
One alternativeRemoFirst
no first choiceagainst: Deel, Payoneer Workforce Management, Remote, Wise
Kimi K2Deel, Remote
Two alternativesOyster, Teamed
Papaya GlobalChanged
Four alternativesDeel, Lano, Remote, Rippling
Deel
Three alternativesOyster, Papaya Global, Remote
Native Teams
Two alternativesHire with Columbus, RemoFirst
no first choiceagainst: Deel, Oyster, Papaya Global, Velocity Global
GLM 4.7 FlashXG-P, Safeguard Global
Eight alternativesDeel, Multiplier, Omni HR, Oyster, Papaya Global, Remote, Teamed, WorkMotion
Papaya GlobalChanged
Six alternativesDeel, Multiplier, Oyster, Paylocity, Remote, Rippling
Deel
Eight alternativesAtlas HXM, HireGlobal, Oyster, Papaya Global, Payoneer Workforce Management, Remote, Rippling, TopSource
Hire with Columbus
Three alternativesHireGlobal, RemoFirst, Tarmack
no first choiceagainst: ADP GlobalView Payroll, Deel, Employment Hero, RemoFirst, Remote
MiniMax M2.5Oyster
Four alternativesAtlas HXM, Deel, Multiplier, Remote
Deel, Papaya GlobalChanged
Two alternativesRemote, Rippling
Remote People
Eight alternativesDeel, G-P, Multiplier, Oyster, Papaya Global, RemoFirst, Remote, Rippling
RemoFirst
Three alternativesMultiplier, Pilot, Remunance
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 21:08yes99 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 21:14yes36 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:40yes2134 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 20:44yes204 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 19:50yes3519 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:26yes54 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 21:11yes1620 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 21:35yes53 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:24no030 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 21:16yes1327 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 21:07yes1433 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 21:46yes520 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 18:48yes98 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:55yes15 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:07yes922 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:33yes209 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 21:02yes1510 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:31yes55 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-17 19:00yes1940 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 21:02yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:31yes514 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:31yes721 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 17:55yes1281 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:04yes517 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 17:54yes189 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:59yes411 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:51yes2030 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 20:29yes209 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 21:44yes3215 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:41yes159 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 18:59yes2929 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:14yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:40no070 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 21:05yes1529 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:49yes1096 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 18:11yes1739 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 21:09yes97 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 21:13yes45 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 19:23yes2521 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:15yes204 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 20:55yes3920 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 18:02yes53 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-17 18:14yes1431 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 19:39yes52 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:41yes1038 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:12yes916 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:27yes1717 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:41yes1026 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:30no07 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:04no010 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:58yes1255 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 20:37yes2010 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 20:52yes1210 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 21:34no06 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:55yes2029 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:37yes53 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 17:58yes523 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:02yes922 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:22yes1571 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 18:19yes525 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:48yes3516 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:39yes214 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 20:02yes2623 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:26yes208 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 21:06yes4721 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:27yes58 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 18:30yes3440 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:05yes52 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:40yes1846 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:51yes2536 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:21yes1555 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 21:15no08 s

Noise floor in this category

Flips between the edition run and its calibration repeat. Six prompts per model is a small sample; the index-wide floor is the number to trust.

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Claude Haiku 4.5
3 of 4 flipped
GPT-5.4 mini
3 of 4 flipped
Gemini 3.5 Flash
2 of 4 flipped
Perplexity Sonar
2 of 4 flipped
Grok 4.20
2 of 5 flipped
Mistral Small
3 of 5 flipped
DeepSeek V4 Flash
4 of 5 flipped
Llama 4 Maverick
3 of 4 flipped
Qwen 3.7 Flash
4 of 4 flipped
Kimi K2
4 of 4 flipped
GLM 4.7 FlashX
4 of 4 flipped
MiniMax M2.5
3 of 4 flipped

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
ADP Global read as ADP GlobalView Payroll
ADP Global Payroll read as ADP GlobalView Payroll
ADP GlobalView read as ADP GlobalView Payroll
Atlas read as Atlas HXM
Gusto read as Gusto Global
Gusto (including Gusto Global EOR) read as Gusto Global
Oyster HR read as Oyster
Papaya read as Papaya Global
Paylocity Global Payroll read as Paylocity
Payoneer read as Payoneer Workforce Management
RemotePeople read as Remote People
RemotePeople (formerly Horizons) read as Remote People
TopSource Worldwide read as TopSource
Workday read as Workday Payroll
Unresolved, counted raw
Blue Marble
Check
Foxhire
G2O (by Velocity Global)
Hero Hunt
Links International
Localis
Mauve
Remunance
SRGA Global
Talent500 (by Oyster)
Thera
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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