September 2026 Edition, published · The permanent record of that edition, superseded since.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

Leave and absence management

Asked as “leave management software”, and as “PTO tracking tool”, 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
28%
Contested · Rippling 13%
28BambooHR13Rippling13Vacation Tracker46others

28% 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
01BambooHR28%7%41accepted challenger
02Vacation Tracker13%11%35accepted challenger
03Rippling13%11%27accepted challenger
04LeaveBoard11%0%21accepted challenger
05Connecteam7%0%16accepted challenger
06Timetastic7%16%19accepted challenger
07Day Off2%0%12accepted challenger
Show the six products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
13Workday0%40%15criticized challenger
12Gusto0%27%11criticized challenger
11AbsenceSoft0%14%14accepted challenger
09Factorial0%7%14accepted challenger
08Calamari0%0%15accepted challenger
10HiBob0%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.
All twenty-one head-to-head pages: the top seven 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% negative40%
Key
01BambooHR28%
02Vacation Tracker13%
03Rippling13%
04LeaveBoard11%
05Connecteam7%
06Timetastic7%
07Day Off2%
08Calamari0%
09Factorial0%
10HiBob0%
11AbsenceSoft0%
12Gusto0%
13Workday0%

What they warned about

Two 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, Llama 4 Maverick, 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.
Workday
40%
6 of 15 labels negative · 4 of 12 models
“comes with a much higher price tag and implementation complexity compared to tools like Timetastic” Qwen 3.7 Flash, comparative prompt
BambooHR
7%
3 of 41 labels negative · 3 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“Generic HR Platforms with Weak Leave Modules ... Tools like BambooHR receive consistent complaints about: Limited customization” Kimi K2, negative prompt
Gusto
27%
3 of 11 labels negative · 3 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Avoid full HR like BambooHR/Gusto ($6+/user or flat fees) unless you need payroll too.” Grok 4.20, budget prompt
Rippling
11%
3 of 27 labels negative · 3 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Multiple reviews strongly caution against it for non-US / India-based teams” DeepSeek V4 Flash, 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

65 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. 877 links across 200 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

34 answers · 39 citations · 11 models
34 answers · 37 citations · 10 models
34 answers · 34 citations · 10 models
21 answers · 37 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Vacation Tracker19 answers · 26 citations · 7 models
19 answers · 19 citations · 8 models
vendor site · G218 answers · 54 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Guideflow18 answers · 22 citations · 9 models
vendor site · AttendanceBot17 answers · 18 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Leapsome17 answers · 18 citations · 8 models
16 answers · 16 citations · 9 models
15 answers · 29 citations · 10 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 leave management software”, “leave management software”, “leave management tools”. 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 days
BambooHR bamboohr.com28%107490,5005511,055,247$44,698106
Vacation Tracker vacationtracker.io13%1032,4004930,7757
Rippling rippling.com13%1438301,00017,886712,399$42,013115
LeaveBoard leaveboard.com11%707200110,901
Connecteam connecteam.com7%69349,500288312,449$13,504120
Timetastic timetastic.co.uk7%691,0008114,7193
Day Off day-off.app2%279,90036,41441,1640
actiPLANS actiplans.com2%259006,660
Paycor paycor.com2%178673,0001,8181,002,900120
Time Off Manager 365 timeoff.management2%920093,840

Google's top ten for the three searches hold 12 sites; 3 of them are among the sites the models cited here (apps365.com, peoplemanagingpeople.com, technologyadvice.com). The first result for “best leave management software” is vendordirectory.shrm.org.

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 leave management software for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which PTO tracking tool would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top leave management tools and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best leave management software for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a leave management software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which leave management tools should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5HROne, Rippling
Three alternativesBambooHR, Namely, Sparrow
BambooHR, Vacation TrackerChanged
Two alternativesFactorial, Gusto
no first choice
Two alternativesGoCo, Time Off Manager 365
against: Timetastic
Timetastic
Four alternativesLeave Dates, OrangeHRM, Pause, Zoho People
no first choiceagainst: Factorial, Matrix Absence Management, PlanMyLeave, Timetastic
GPT-5.4 miniBambooHR
Three alternativesAbsenceSoft, Calamari, Sparrow
BambooHR, RipplingChangedagainst: GustoAbsenceSoft, Sparrow
Seven alternativesBambooHR, Keka, Leave Dates, LeaveBoard, Pause, Rippling, greytHR
absentify
One alternativeVacation Tracker
against: PurelyHR
no first choiceagainst: Rippling
Gemini 3.5 FlashRippling
Five alternativesAttendanceBot, Cocoon, HiBob, Tilt, Vacation Tracker
Vacation TrackerChanged
Four alternativesBambooHR, Calamari, HiBob, Rippling
Timetastic, Vacation Tracker
Four alternativesBambooHR, Deel, Gusto, Rippling
Vacation Tracker
Five alternativesConnecteam, Jibble, LeaveBoard, Timetastic, TracefyHR
no first choiceagainst: ADP, Excel, Google Sheets, Lincoln Financial, MS Access, PowerApps, Unum, Workday
Perplexity SonarRippling
Three alternativesAbsenceSoft, HiBob, Keka
BambooHRChanged
Three alternativesBuddy Punch, Connecteam, Deputy
no first choiceLeaveBoard
Five alternativesAttendanceBot, Day Off, Timetastic, Vacation Tracker, actiPLANS
no first choicenothing named
Grok 4.20Rippling
Two alternativesBambooHR, Paycor
against: Workday
BambooHRChanged
Three alternativesConnecteam, Paycor, Vacation Tracker
Vacation Tracker
Six alternativesBambooHR, Calamari, Deel, Factorial, Rippling, Timetastic
against: Workday
LeaveBoard
Three alternativesAbsenca, Day Off, actiPLANS
against: BambooHR, Gusto, Vacation Tracker
no first choiceagainst: ADP Workforce Now, MetLife, Replicon, The Standard, UKG Ready
Mistral SmallKeka
Four alternativesBizneo Time Management, HROne, LeaveSource, Sparrow
Connecteam, HomebaseChanged
Two alternativesAbsence.io, Time Off Manager 365
no first choiceTimetastic
Four alternativesDay Off, LeaveBoard, Vacation Tracker, actiPLANS
no first choiceagainst: BambooHR, Manual Tools
DeepSeek V4 FlashBambooHR
Six alternativesHiBob, LeaveBoard, Paycor, Rippling, UKG Pro, Vacation Tracker
BambooHRHeld
Five alternativesAttendanceBot, Gusto, Jibble, LeaveBoard, Vacation Tracker
LeaveBoard, Timetastic
Six alternativesBambooHR, Calamari, Factorial, Replicon, Vacation Tracker, Workday
Connecteam, actiPLANS
Four alternativesAttendanceBot, Calamari, LeaveBoard, Zoho People
against: Gusto, Vacation Tracker
BambooHR
Three alternativesFactorial, Namely, Rippling
against: Five, Timetastic, UKG Pro, Vacation Tracker
against: AbsenceSoft, Access PeopleHR, Rippling, UKG Ready, Vacation Tracker, Workday
Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceTime Off Manager 365Changed
Two alternativesHomebase, Vacation Tracker
Vacation Tracker
One alternativeGusto
LeaveBoard, Timetastic, Vacation Tracker
One alternativeTracefyHR
no first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashBambooHR
Four alternativesADP Workforce Now, Deel, Paylocity, Rippling
against: SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central – Time Off, Workday
BambooHRHeld
Six alternativesDeel, Deputy, Gusto, Oyster, Rippling, UKG Pro
Timetastic, Vacation Tracker
Four alternativesBambooHR, Calamari, Replicon, Rippling
against: Workday
LeaveBoard
Four alternativesConnecteam, Pause, TimeOff.Management, TracefyHR
no first choiceagainst: AbsenceSoft, Employee Leave Management India, Rippling, Zoho People
Kimi K2BambooHR
Four alternativesDeputy, HiBob, Namely, Zoho People
BambooHR, ConnecteamChanged
Two alternativesDeputy, Float
Timetastic, Vacation Tracker
Seven alternativesAbsence.io, AbsenceSoft, BambooHR, Calamari, Deel, Factorial, Remote
Staff Leave, Vacation Tracker
Two alternativesConnecteam, EzNxT
no first choiceagainst: BambooHR, Spreadsheets
GLM 4.7 FlashXRippling
Two alternativesCalamari, Connecteam
PaycorChanged
Three alternativesConnecteam, Factorial, LeaveBoard
no first choiceDay Off, Vacation Tracker
Five alternativesBuddy Punch, Connecteam, Factorial, LeaveBoard, TracefyHR
no first choicenothing named
MiniMax M2.5Namely
Five alternativesAbsence.io, BambooHR, HiBob, Leapsome, Rippling
BambooHRChanged
Five alternativesDeputy, LeaveBoard, Paycor, TMetric, Time Off Manager 365
BambooHR
Two alternativesPaycom, Personio
LeaveBoard
Two alternativesTimetastic, Vacation Tracker
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 19:41yes97 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:54yes48 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:06yes1626 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 17:53yes205 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 20:16yes3718 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:48yes1412 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:48yes2019 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 19:53yes53 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 21:25no030 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:56yes1535 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:38yes2866 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:33yes1128 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 18:36yes99 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 21:10yes46 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 22:01yes1149 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:22yes205 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 21:26yes3314 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 18:37yes55 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 19:06yes1916 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:05yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:31no033 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:33yes1018 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:40yes2346 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:58yes1544 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:25yes98 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:34yes58 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 22:06yes854 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:24yes208 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 19:54yes2317 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:04yes57 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-17 18:17yes2769 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 19:36yes53 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:12yes527 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:57yes1038 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:43yes9146 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 18:21yes818 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 21:00yes99 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:03yes34 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:55yes941 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:50yes206 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 18:16yes2115 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:02yes53 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 18:45yes109 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:11yes52 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 21:28yes822 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 21:46yes1016 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:42yes954 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:40yes1527 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 18:54no05 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:10no09 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 22:07yes1360 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 18:42yes2011 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 20:45yes1210 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 21:44no06 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-17 19:14yes1975 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 19:08yes53 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:25no028 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:29yes1056 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:09no024 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:38yes517 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:37yes158 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:46yes46 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:57yes1751 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:35yes197 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 20:40yes4721 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:48yes55 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 21:10yes1722 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:14yes52 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:16yes838 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:15yes2937 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:06yes23120 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 21:01yes1332 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
Deel HR read as Deel
SAP read as SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central – Time Off
SAP SuccessFactors read as SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central – Time Off
Workday HCM read as Workday
Unresolved, counted raw
Activ People HR
Bizneo Time Management
EzNxT
Five
Hartford
MS Access
Manual Tools (Spreadsheets, Email, Calendars)
Matrix Absence Management
PowerApps
Staff Leave
The Standard
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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