# Leave and absence management for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

Gane Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "leave management software" and as "PTO tracking tool", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/core/leave-and-absence-management/2026-09/enterprise

This is the permanent record of the September 2026 Edition, published September 17, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/core/leave-and-absence-management/enterprise/index.md

**Standing:** Workday leads with 37% of first choices; verdict contested. 49 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Workday](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/workday/index.md) | 37% | 17% | 53 |
| 2 | [Rippling](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/rippling/index.md) | 10% | 19% | 27 |
| 3 | [UKG Pro](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/ukg-pro/index.md) | 8% | 12% | 34 |
| 4 | [AbsenceSoft](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/absencesoft/index.md) | 6% | 12% | 26 |
| 6 | [SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central – Time Off](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/sap-successfactors-employee-central-time-off/index.md) | 4% | 14% | 22 |
| 8 | [Dayforce](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/dayforce/index.md) | 2% | 22% | 18 |
| 19 | [BambooHR](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/bamboohr/index.md) | 2% | 45% | 31 |
| 20 | Oracle Fusion Cloud Absence Management | 0% | 11% | 18 |
| 21 | [ADP Workforce Now](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/adp-workforce-now/index.md) | 0% | 26% | 19 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 87 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Workday; alternatives ADP, SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central – Time Off
- GPT-5.4 mini: Workday; alternatives AbsenceSoft, SAP SuccessFactors Time Management
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: AbsenceSoft, Rippling; alternatives Cocoon, HiBob, Tilt, Workday
- Perplexity Sonar: UKG Pro, Workday; alternatives AbsenceSoft, Rippling
- Grok 4.20: Workday; alternatives ADP Workforce Now, Rippling, UKG Pro
- Mistral Small: Workday; alternatives ADP Workforce Now, BambooHR, UKG Pro
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Workday; alternatives AbsenceSoft, Cocoon, Dayforce, Deel
- Llama 4 Maverick: Workday
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Workday; alternatives Oracle Fusion Cloud Absence Management, SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central – Time Off, UKG Pro
- Kimi K2: SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central – Time Off, Workday; alternatives ADP Vantage HCM, ADP Workforce Now, BambooHR, Oracle Fusion Cloud Absence Management
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Workday; alternatives BambooHR, Deel, Rippling, Zalaris
- MiniMax M2.5: Workday; alternatives ADP Workforce Now, BambooHR, Deel, Rippling

## Sources the answers cite

64 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- employsome.com: 34 answers, 34 citations
- forbes.com: 28 answers, 29 citations
- peoplemanagingpeople.com: 26 answers, 30 citations
- apps365.com: 22 answers, 28 citations
- guideflow.com: 22 answers, 26 citations
- worldmetrics.org: 20 answers, 30 citations
- g2.com: 19 answers, 38 citations
- articsledge.com: 19 answers, 19 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://employsome.com/best/leave-management-software (34 answers)
- https://forbes.com/advisor/business/software/best-leave-management-systems (26 answers)
- https://peoplemanagingpeople.com/tools/best-leave-management-software (21 answers)
- https://articsledge.com/post/leave-management-software (19 answers)
- https://hono.ai/blog/best-employee-leave-management-system-for-enterprise (18 answers)
- https://gartner.com/reviews/market/absence-management-software (17 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/leave-management-software (16 answers)
- https://indeavor.com/blog/best-absence-management-software-top-9-solutions-for-enterprise-teams (15 answers)
- https://leapsome.com/blog/absence-management-software (15 answers)
- https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/leave-management-tools (14 answers)

## Warned against

- BambooHR: 14 of 31 labels negative. "SMB-Designed HR Suites (e.g., BambooHR, Factorial, Zoho People) ... Why avoid them" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Workday: 9 of 53 labels negative. "Avoid for Predictable Costs - Enterprise giants (Workday...): Custom quotes only" (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)
- ADP Workforce Now: 5 of 19 labels negative. "Avoid for Predictable Costs ... often $100k+ setup + unpredictable per-user/module fees" (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)
- Dayforce: 4 of 18 labels negative. "Avoid for Predictable Costs ... Custom quotes only" (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, September 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/hr.