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Index › HR › Core HR and payroll › Payroll software › Small business · November 2026 Edition

Payroll software for small business buyers

Name: AI model recommendations for payroll software for small business buyers, November 2026 Edition
Creator: Gane
Published: 2026-11-01
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Asked as “payroll software”, and as “payroll provider”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 52 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, fourteen models each.

Standing · first-choice share

58%

Gusto

Clear leader

58Gusto23Patriot Payroll04OnPay15others

58% of first choices, clear leader.

Since October 2026▲+9Since October 2026: 49% → 58%, +9 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise.Gusto held the lead, +9 points on 49%, inside the 13-point floor.

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.

Small business

Gusto58%Clear leader▲+9Since October 2026: 49% → 58%, +9 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise.This page Mid-market

Rippling29%Contested▲+9Since October 2026: 20% → 29%, +9 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise.Standing →Enterprise

ADP26%Contested▼−5Since October 2026: 31% → 26%, −5 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise.Standing →

The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all fourteen models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.

ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrantSince October 2026

Gusto15%72endorsed leader▲+9Since October 2026: 49% → 58%, +9 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise.49% → 58%

Patriot Payroll11%35accepted challenger▲+1Since October 2026: 22% → 23%, +1 point. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise.22% → 23%

OnPay2%50accepted challenger▼−2Since October 2026: 6% → 4%, −2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise.6% → 4%

Rippling4%47accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 2% → 2%, ±0 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise.2% → 2%

05QuickBooks Payroll14%44accepted challenger▼−8Since October 2026: 10% → 2%, −8 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise.10% → 2%

ADP RUN18%33accepted challenger▲+2Since October 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise.0% → 2%

Paychex Flex41%22criticized challenger▲+2Since October 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise.0% → 2%

ADP47%17criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 2% → 2%, ±0 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise.2% → 2%

Show the five products at 0%, ordered by negative rate

Paycor64%11criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%

SurePayroll33%15criticized challenger▼−2Since October 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise.2% → 0%

QuickBooks Workforce13%15accepted challenger▼−2Since October 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise.2% → 0%

Justworks12%16accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%

Square Payroll6%18accepted challenger▼−2Since October 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise.2% → 0%

The floor is 13 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one can't be told apart from repeat variation, and both are shown. Each index measures its own floor from its own repeat, over its own categories, so the floor differs from one index to the next. Both editions asked the same fourteen models. How the floor is measured

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.

For buyers

Build your shortlist

Head to head

Rippling vs Patriot Payroll Rippling vs ADP Workforce Now Rippling vs Paylocity

Head-to-head pages are published for mid-market buyers, so these open on mid-market figures, not small business.

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 →

Q05

Accepted challengerEndorsed leader

0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative70%

Key

Gusto58%

Patriot Payroll23%

OnPay4%

Rippling2%

05QuickBooks Payroll2%

ADP RUN2%

Paychex Flex2%

ADP2%

Square Payroll0%

Justworks0%

QuickBooks Workforce0%

SurePayroll0%

Paycor0%

What they warned about

Ten of fourteen models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash and Muse Glimmer 30B 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.

Gusto

15%

11 of 72 labels negative · 10 of 14 models · 1 hard negative

“Gusto burned me hard. still get anxiety logging into any payroll system now.” Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt

Paycor

64%

7 of 11 labels negative · 7 of 14 models · 5 hard negative

“Paycor - mentioned in the Reddit thread as having failed to meet deadlines for filing quarterly forms and making errors with tax payments.” Llama 4 Maverick, negative prompt

Paychex Flex

41%

9 of 22 labels negative · 7 of 14 models · 4 hard negative

“Users report major payroll and tax filing problems, terrible customer support with long wait times, hidden fees” Mistral Small, negative prompt

ADP

47%

8 of 17 labels negative · 6 of 14 models · 4 hard negative

“ADP (particularly for small businesses) - Major Issues: Nearly impossible to reach live customer support, frequent technical issues” MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt

What they cite

Fourteen of the fourteen models returned a source list in this edition: five return the pages they cited and nine the search results they consulted.

Sites the answers cite

71 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 662 links across 144 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. 1 of the 252 answers across every segment cited this index's own page for the category; the method page measures whether that reading tilts an answer.

forbes.com

38 answers · 39 citations · 12 models

capterra.com

26 answers · 40 citations · 13 models

adp.com

vendor site · ADP24 answers · 35 citations · 12 models

techrepublic.com

24 answers · 28 citations · 10 models

fitsmallbusiness.com

22 answers · 23 citations · 10 models

gusto.com

vendor site · Gusto21 answers · 31 citations · 10 models

quickbooks.intuit.com

17 answers · 24 citations · 10 models

business.org

13 answers · 13 citations · 8 models

business.usnews.com

12 answers · 14 citations · 6 models

resources.rework.com

vendor site · Rework12 answers · 12 citations · 8 models

technologyadvice.com

12 answers · 12 citations · 7 models

patriotsoftware.com

vendor site · Patriot Software11 answers · 11 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.

forbes.com/advisor/business/software/best-payroll-services

33 answers · 10 models

capterra.com/resources/payroll-software-for-small-businesses

18 answers · 11 models

techrepublic.com/article/best-payroll-software

18 answers · 10 models

quickbooks.intuit.com/r/payroll/best-payroll-companies

13 answers · 8 models

technologyadvice.com/payroll-software

12 answers · 7 models

adp.com/resources/articles-and-insights/articles/t/the-best-payroll-softwar…

10 answers · 6 models

fitsmallbusiness.com/best-payroll-services

10 answers · 6 models

paycom.com/resources/blog/best-payroll-software-for-small-businesses-in-2026

10 answers · 8 models

resources.rework.com/tools/payroll/best-payroll-software-2026

10 answers · 7 models

tech.co/hr-software/best-payroll-software-small-business

10 answers · 7 models

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 payroll software”, “payroll platforms”, “payroll 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 products	Share	Own site cited	Name searches, Google	AI search demand, est.	Organic visits	Paid search a month, est.	Google ads, last 30 days	Best Google position
Gusto gusto.com Gusto 58%, Gusto Simple 0%	58%	742	673,000	10,560	1,629,483		118	1
Patriot patriotsoftware.com Patriot Payroll 23%	23%	59	8,100	115	1,375,182 company		41	2
OnPay onpay.com	4%	114	22,200	200	1,180,466	$89	48	4
Rippling rippling.com	2%	1438	301,000	17,886	712,399	$42,013	115
QuickBooks Payroll	2%		1,000,000	54,681
ADP parent site ADP RUN 2%	2%	78	2,740,000	23,897
Patriot Full Service Payroll	2%
Thriday	2%
Paychex paychex.com Paychex Flex 2%	2%	139	550,000	4,777	2,394,396 company		68
Paylocity paylocity.com	2%	250	1,220,000	2,380	1,682,033	$8,493	79

Google's top ten for the three searches hold 20 sites; 5 of them are among the sites the models cited here (adp.com, forbes.com, gusto.com, patriotsoftware.com, quickbooks.intuit.com). The first result for “best payroll software” is gusto.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 payroll software for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which payroll provider would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top payroll platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best payroll software for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a payroll software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which payroll platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”

Claude Haiku 4.5Gusto

Five alternatives

ADP RUN, OnPay, Paychex Flex, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

Gusto, OnPayChanged

Two alternatives

ADP RUN, QuickBooks Payroll

ADP RUN, Gusto

Four alternatives

OnPay, Patriot Payroll, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

against: Payroll4FreePatriot Payroll

Four alternatives

Homebase, OnPay, Payroll4Free, Wave Payroll

no first choiceagainst: ADP, Paycor, QuickBooks Payroll, SurePayroll

GPT-5.4 miniGusto

Three alternatives

ADP RUN, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

GustoHeld

Two alternatives

ADP RUN, QuickBooks Payroll

Gusto

Six alternatives

ADP RUN, OnPay, Patriot Payroll, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling, Square Payroll

Patriot Payroll

Three alternatives

Gusto, OnPay, QuickBooks Workforce

no first choiceagainst: ADP RUN, Gusto, QuickBooks Payroll, SurePayroll

Gemini 3.5 FlashGusto

Five alternatives

Deel, OnPay, QuickBooks Payroll, Remote, Rippling

GustoHeld

Three alternatives

ADP RUN, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

Gusto

Five alternatives

ADP RUN, Justworks, OnPay, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

Patriot Payroll

Four alternatives

OnPay, Roll by ADP, Square Payroll, SurePayroll

against: Payroll4FreeGusto

Five alternatives

ADP RUN, Justworks, Paychex Flex, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

against: Workdayagainst: ADP RUN, ADP TotalSource, Barebones Software, Justworks, MyPayrollHR, Patriot Basic Plan, Paychex Flex, QuickBooks Payroll, TriNet

Perplexity SonarGusto

Five alternatives

Deel, OnPay, QuickBooks Payroll, Remote, Rippling

against: Patriot PayrollGustoHeld

Five alternatives

ADP RUN, OnPay, Paychex Flex, QuickBooks Workforce, Rippling

Gusto

Six alternatives

ADP RUN, OnPay, Patriot Payroll, Paychex Flex, QuickBooks Workforce, Square Payroll

against: Justworks, RipplingPatriot Payroll

One alternative

Square Payroll

against: Gusto, Payroll4Freeno first choiceagainst: ADP RUN, Gusto, HR.my, Paychex Flex, Paycom, Paycor, Paylocity, Payroll4Free, QuickBooks Workforce, TimeTrex, UKG Pro, Wave Payroll, eSmart Paycheck

Grok 4.20Gusto

Four alternatives

OnPay, Patriot Payroll, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

against: ADP, Paychex FlexGustoHeld

Five alternatives

Justworks, Patriot Payroll, Paycor, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

Gusto

Six alternatives

Justworks, OnPay, Patriot Payroll, Paychex Flex, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

against: ADPPatriot Payroll

Three alternatives

OnPay, SurePayroll, ezPaycheck

against: Gusto, QuickBooks Payrollno first choiceagainst: Intuit Payroll, Paychex Flex, Paycor, Paylocity, Wave Payroll

Mistral SmallGusto

Four alternatives

ADP RUN, Paychex Flex, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

GustoHeld

Four alternatives

ADP RUN, Paylocity, QuickBooks Workforce, Rippling

Gusto

Six alternatives

Justworks, OnPay, Patriot Payroll, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling, SurePayroll

Patriot Payroll

Two alternatives

OnPay, QuickBooks Payroll

no first choiceagainst: ADP Workforce Now, Gusto, Intuit Online Payroll, Paychex Flex, Paycor, QuickBooks Workforce, SurePayroll

DeepSeek V4 FlashGusto

Four alternatives

ADP RUN, OnPay, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

GustoHeld

Three alternatives

OnPay, Patriot Payroll, QuickBooks Payroll

Gusto

Five alternatives

ADP RUN, OnPay, Patriot Payroll, QuickBooks Workforce, Square Payroll

Patriot Payroll

Two alternatives

OnPay, Square Payroll

no first choiceagainst: ADP, Paychex Flexagainst: ADP, Paychex Flex, Paycor, SurePayroll, UKG Pro

Llama 4 MaverickGusto

Four alternatives

ADP RUN, OnPay, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

PaylocityChanged

Four alternatives

ADP, G-P, Gusto, Rippling

Gusto

Four alternatives

OnPay, Papaya Global, Rippling, SurePayroll

Patriot Payroll

Two alternatives

Gusto, OnPay

Gusto

Four alternatives

OnPay, Papaya Global, Patriot Payroll, Rippling

against: ADP RUN, Gusto, Moorepay, Paycor

Qwen 3.7 FlashGusto

Three alternatives

Intuit QuickBooks Online Payroll, OnPay, Rippling

Gusto, QuickBooks PayrollChanged

Two alternatives

OnPay, Rippling

Gusto

Four alternatives

Patriot Payroll, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling, SurePayroll

Gusto

Four alternatives

QuickBooks Payroll, Square Payroll, SurePayroll, Zoho Payroll

Gusto, Rippling, Thriday

Two alternatives

ADP RUN, Paylocity

against: Dayforce, Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM, SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll, UKG Proagainst: ADP RUN, ADP Workforce Now, Dayforce

Kimi K2Gusto

Four alternatives

OnPay, Patriot Payroll, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

GustoHeld

Two alternatives

OnPay, Square Payroll

Gusto

Five alternatives

ADP RUN, OnPay, Patriot Payroll, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

Patriot Payroll

Three alternatives

OnPay, Payroll4Free, SurePayroll

against: Gustono first choiceagainst: ADP, OnPay, Patriot Payroll, Paychex Flex, Payroll4Free, QuickBooks Payroll, Square Payroll

GLM 4.7 FlashXGusto

Five alternatives

ADP RUN, OnPay, Patriot Payroll, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

GustoHeld

Three alternatives

ADP RUN, QuickBooks Payroll, Square Payroll

Gusto

Six alternatives

ADP RUN, OnPay, Patriot Payroll, QuickBooks Workforce Payroll, Rippling, SurePayroll

Patriot Payroll

Two alternatives

OnPay, Square Payroll

against: Gustono first choiceagainst: Dayforce, Everee, Lookout Services, SurePayroll, Wave Payroll

MiniMax M2.5Gusto

Four alternatives

ADP RUN, Patriot Payroll, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

GustoHeld

Six alternatives

ADP, OnPay, Paychex Flex, QuickBooks Payroll, Square Payroll, Wave Payroll

Gusto

Five alternatives

ADP, Justworks, Patriot Payroll, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

Patriot Payroll

Three alternatives

Gusto, OnPay, Square Payroll

no first choiceagainst: ADP, Gusto, Paychex Flex, Paycor, Wave Payroll

GPT-6 LunaGusto

Three alternatives

OnPay, QuickBooks Workforce, Rippling

GustoHeld

Two alternatives

OnPay, QuickBooks Payroll

Gusto

Five alternatives

ADP RUN, OnPay, QuickBooks Workforce, Rippling, Square Payroll

Patriot Full Service Payroll

Two alternatives

Gusto Simple, Square Payroll

against: Patriot Payrollno first choiceagainst: ADP RUN, Gusto, QuickBooks Payroll

Muse Glimmer 30BGusto, OnPay

Four alternatives

Justworks, Patriot Payroll, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

ADP, ADP RUN, Paychex FlexChanged

Three alternatives

Gusto, Justworks, QuickBooks Workforce

Gusto

Nine alternatives

ADP RUN, Deel, Justworks, OnPay, Paychex Flex, QuickBooks Payroll, QuickBooks Workforce, RemoFirst, Rippling

Patriot Payroll

Two alternatives

OnPay, Square

no first choiceagainst: ADP, Accountants World, Gusto, Patriot Payroll, Paylocity, Payroll Relief, Rippling, Wave Payroll

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.

Eighty-four rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.

Prompt	Model	Version string	Time (UTC)	Searched	Sources	Latency
Direct recommendation	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-11-01 11:20	yes	10	7 s
Direct recommendation	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-11-01 11:18	yes	2	8 s
Direct recommendation	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.6-flash` (asked for `gemini-3.5-flash`; the API answered as this version)	2026-11-01 10:51	yes	7	18 s
Direct recommendation	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-11-01 11:02	yes	10	3 s
Direct recommendation	Grok 4.20	`spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai`	2026-11-01 13:28	yes	5	25 s
Direct recommendation	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-11-01 12:48	yes	5	4 s
Direct recommendation	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-11-01 12:22	yes	22	25 s
Direct recommendation	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-11-01 09:34	yes	5	3 s
Direct recommendation	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-11-01 12:12	no	0	29 s
Direct recommendation	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-11-01 10:14	yes	10	30 s
Direct recommendation	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-11-01 09:36	yes	9	39 s
Direct recommendation	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-11-01 10:48	yes	10	39 s
Direct recommendation	GPT-6 Luna	`gpt-6-luna`	2026-11-01 10:21	yes	3	12 s
Direct recommendation	Muse Glimmer 30B	`meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai`	2026-11-01 09:39	yes	10	22 s
Paraphrase	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-11-01 11:26	yes	10	7 s
Paraphrase	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-11-01 09:17	yes	1	5 s
Paraphrase	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.6-flash` (asked for `gemini-3.5-flash`; the API answered as this version)	2026-11-01 12:40	no	0	13 s
Paraphrase	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-11-01 12:37	yes	10	4 s
Paraphrase	Grok 4.20	`spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai`	2026-11-01 13:31	yes	5	34 s
Paraphrase	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-11-01 09:17	yes	5	4 s
Paraphrase	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-11-01 11:19	yes	24	20 s
Paraphrase	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-11-01 10:37	yes	5	2 s
Paraphrase	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-11-01 10:45	yes	5	15 s
Paraphrase	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-11-01 08:51	yes	20	24 s
Paraphrase	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-11-01 10:29	yes	23	40 s
Paraphrase	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-11-01 11:40	no	0	53 s
Paraphrase	GPT-6 Luna	`gpt-6-luna`	2026-11-01 12:48	yes	3	13 s
Paraphrase	Muse Glimmer 30B	`meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai`	2026-11-01 12:08	yes	13	25 s
Comparative	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-11-01 12:42	yes	10	9 s
Comparative	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-11-01 10:16	yes	4	8 s
Comparative	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.6-flash` (asked for `gemini-3.5-flash`; the API answered as this version)	2026-11-01 11:07	no	0	14 s
Comparative	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-11-01 09:16	yes	10	6 s
Comparative	Grok 4.20	`spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai`	2026-11-01 13:15	yes	5	35 s
Comparative	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-11-01 12:35	yes	5	7 s
Comparative	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-11-01 11:29	yes	15	22 s
Comparative	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-11-01 08:36	yes	5	2 s
Comparative	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-11-01 12:19	yes	5	19 s
Comparative	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-11-01 11:15	yes	15	37 s
Comparative	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-11-01 10:13	yes	15	45 s
Comparative	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-11-01 09:19	yes	9	22 s
Comparative	GPT-6 Luna	`gpt-6-luna`	2026-11-01 10:21	yes	6	24 s
Comparative	Muse Glimmer 30B	`meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai`	2026-11-01 11:15	yes	15	28 s
Budget constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-11-01 10:13	yes	10	7 s
Budget constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-11-01 12:31	yes	4	5 s
Budget constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.6-flash` (asked for `gemini-3.5-flash`; the API answered as this version)	2026-11-01 11:27	yes	8	18 s
Budget constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-11-01 10:46	yes	10	3 s
Budget constrained	Grok 4.20	`spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai`	2026-11-01 13:28	yes	5	29 s
Budget constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-11-01 09:38	yes	5	4 s
Budget constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-11-01 11:12	yes	19	17 s
Budget constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-11-01 09:11	yes	5	2 s
Budget constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-11-01 08:43	no	0	31 s
Budget constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-11-01 12:44	yes	10	19 s
Budget constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-11-01 12:51	yes	9	41 s
Budget constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-11-01 10:10	yes	5	19 s
Budget constrained	GPT-6 Luna	`gpt-6-luna`	2026-11-01 09:54	yes	3	11 s
Budget constrained	Muse Glimmer 30B	`meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai`	2026-11-01 08:41	yes	13	19 s
Scale constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-11-01 10:47	no	0	6 s
Scale constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-11-01 12:24	no	0	6 s
Scale constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.6-flash` (asked for `gemini-3.5-flash`; the API answered as this version)	2026-11-01 09:01	no	0	15 s
Scale constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-11-01 12:16	yes	10	6 s
Scale constrained	Grok 4.20	`spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai`	2026-11-01 13:31	yes	5	40 s
Scale constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-11-01 12:12	no	0	5 s
Scale constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-11-01 11:54	yes	9	27 s
Scale constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-11-01 10:30	yes	5	3 s
Scale constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-11-01 08:44	no	0	27 s
Scale constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-11-01 10:08	yes	10	20 s
Scale constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-11-01 12:48	no	0	11 s
Scale constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-11-01 08:58	no	0	22 s
Scale constrained	GPT-6 Luna	`gpt-6-luna`	2026-11-01 10:14	yes	2	13 s
Scale constrained	Muse Glimmer 30B	`meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai`	2026-11-01 08:56	no	0	2 s
Negative framing	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-11-01 12:02	yes	18	9 s
Negative framing	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-11-01 10:54	yes	4	5 s
Negative framing	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.6-flash` (asked for `gemini-3.5-flash`; the API answered as this version)	2026-11-01 12:08	yes	8	20 s
Negative framing	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-11-01 12:17	yes	10	5 s
Negative framing	Grok 4.20	`spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai`	2026-11-01 13:25	yes	5	29 s
Negative framing	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-11-01 09:25	yes	14	11 s
Negative framing	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-11-01 10:00	yes	25	27 s
Negative framing	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-11-01 12:37	yes	5	4 s
Negative framing	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-11-01 11:50	yes	10	28 s
Negative framing	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-11-01 11:50	yes	24	30 s
Negative framing	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-11-01 09:52	yes	15	93 s
Negative framing	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-11-01 08:56	yes	10	36 s
Negative framing	GPT-6 Luna	`gpt-6-luna`	2026-11-01 10:51	yes	2	15 s
Negative framing	Muse Glimmer 30B	`meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai`	2026-11-01 10:21	yes	14	25 s

Normalization in this category

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

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Category-scoped readings

Ceridian read as Dayforce

Ceridian Dayforce read as Dayforce

Deel Payroll read as Deel

Oracle read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM

Patriot read as Patriot Payroll

Patriot Software read as Patriot Payroll

Paychex read as Paychex Flex

QuickBooks read as QuickBooks Payroll

QuickBooks Online Payroll read as QuickBooks Payroll

QuickBooks Online Payroll (Intuit) read as QuickBooks Payroll

RUN Powered by ADP read as ADP RUN

SAP read as SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll

Wave read as Wave Payroll

Unresolved, counted raw

Accountants World

Barebones Software

Everee

Globall

Gusto Contractor Plan

Intuit Online Payroll

Intuit QuickBooks Online Payroll

Lookout Services

Patriot Basic Plan

Patriot Full Service Payroll

QuickBooks Workforce Payroll

Roll by ADP

Thriday

eSmart Paycheck

Discontinued, still offered

No shut-down product was recommended here.

Payroll software for small business buyers

By buyer segment

The standing

Recommended versus criticized

What they warned about

What they cite

Sites the answers cite

Pages the answers cite

Search against answers

How they answered

The record

Normalization in this category

Also in core hr and payroll