# Coaching platforms for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "employee coaching platform" and as "digital coaching marketplace", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/learning/coaching-platforms/smb

**Standing:** 15Five leads with 16% of first choices; verdict contested. 50 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [15Five](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/15five/index.md) | 16% | 6% | 18 |
| 2 | [Coaching.com](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/coaching-com/index.md) | 10% | 15% | 13 |
| 3 | [Cloverleaf](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/cloverleaf/index.md) | 8% | 0% | 13 |
| 4 | [Boon Health](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/boon-health/index.md) | 6% | 15% | 13 |
| 6 | [Simply.Coach](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/simply-coach/index.md) | 4% | 0% | 27 |
| 7 | [Coachful](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/coachful/index.md) | 4% | 0% | 11 |
| 8 | [Lattice](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/lattice/index.md) | 4% | 7% | 15 |
| 10 | [CoachHub](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/coachhub/index.md) | 4% | 47% | 32 |
| 11 | [CoachAccountable](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/coachaccountable/index.md) | 2% | 6% | 18 |
| 28 | [UpCoach](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/upcoach/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 12 |
| 29 | [Paperbell](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/paperbell/index.md) | 0% | 20% | 10 |
| 127 | [Torch](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/torch/index.md) | 0% | 45% | 11 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 137 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: no first choice
- GPT-5.4 mini: Leapsome; alternatives Cloverleaf, MentorcliQ, Mentorly, Teamflect
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Boon Health; alternatives 15Five, Cloverleaf, Gong, Growthspace
- Perplexity Sonar: 15Five; alternatives Cloverleaf, Simply.Coach
- Grok 4.20: Cloverleaf; alternatives Boon Health, Lattice, Simply.Coach
- Mistral Small: Peoplebox; alternatives Boon Health, Cloverleaf, Simply.Coach
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Simply.Coach; alternatives Bravely, Cloverleaf, Marlee
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Cloverleaf; alternatives Boon Health
- Kimi K2: 15Five, Boon Health, Risely; alternatives Bravely, Rocky.ai
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Cloverleaf; alternatives 15Five, Bravely, CoachHub, Coachello
- MiniMax M2.5: Boon Health, Mentorloop; alternatives CoachHub, Coaching.com, Marlee
- GPT-6 Luna: 15Five; alternatives Lattice
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Coachful; alternatives Boon Health, Lattice, Peoplebox, Simply.Coach

## Sources the answers cite

75 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- simply.coach: 42 answers, 73 citations
- boon-health.com: 28 answers, 39 citations
- coachful.co: 26 answers, 52 citations
- peoplemanagingpeople.com: 24 answers, 27 citations
- g2.com: 21 answers, 35 citations
- capterra.com: 17 answers, 28 citations
- coachilly.com: 15 answers, 15 citations
- consumer.ftc.gov: 14 answers, 41 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://boon-health.com/learn/resources/best-employee-coaching-programs (22 answers)
- https://peoplemanagingpeople.com/tools/best-coaching-software (20 answers)
- https://simply.coach/blog/internal-coaching-tools-hr-teams (19 answers)
- https://simply.coach/blog/best-employee-coaching-software-platforms (17 answers)
- https://lister.ai/software/learning/employee-coaching-platforms/best-employee-coaching-platforms (13 answers)
- https://coachhub.com/ (11 answers)
- https://coachilly.com/coaching-software-review-2026 (11 answers)
- https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2026/04/how-spot-and-avoid-business-coaching-scams (11 answers)
- https://softwareworld.co/coaching-software-for-small-businesses (11 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/coaching/small-business (10 answers)

## Warned against

- Lurn: 10 of 10 labels negative. "was sued by the FTC in 2023 for deceptive practices... Small businesses targeting e-commerce or digital products should steer clear" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- BetterUp: 25 of 35 labels negative. "BetterUp reportedly requires at least a $6,000 annual commitment, making it a poor fit for a very small budget" (Perplexity Sonar, budget prompt)
- CoachHub: 15 of 32 labels negative. "enterprise-grade and typically cost hundreds of dollars per user per month ... too expensive for a small company" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, budget prompt)
- Automators AI: 4 of 4 labels negative. "the company promised profitable online stores, while many clients' stores were suspended or shut down" (GPT-6 Luna, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 13 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: 15Five at 16%.

- 15Five: 11% to 16%, +5. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 1 of 137, unchanged.
- Cloverleaf: 4% to 8%, +4. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 10 → 3 of 137.
- Coachful: 0% to 4%, +4. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 38 → 7 of 137.
- Delenta: 4% to 0%, −4. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 → 32 of 137.
- Coaching.com: 7% to 10%, +3. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 2 of 137, unchanged.
- CoachHub: 7% to 4%, −3. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 3 → 10 of 137.
- Risely: 5% to 2%, −3. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 4 → 15 of 137.
- Lattice: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 15 → 8 of 137.
- CoachAccountable: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 7 → 11 of 137.
- Paperbell: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 14 → 29 of 137.
- BetterUp: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 34 → 137 of 137.
- Boon Health: 5% to 6%, +1. Inside the floor by 12 points · rank 5 → 4 of 137.

## Record

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