# People analytics for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

Gane Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "people analytics platform" and as "HR analytics software", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/planning/people-analytics/2026-09/smb

This is the permanent record of the September 2026 Edition, published September 17, 2026 and superseded since.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/planning/people-analytics/smb/index.md

**Standing:** BambooHR leads with 41% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 63 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [BambooHR](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/bamboohr/index.md) | 41% | 10% | 61 |
| 2 | [Rippling](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/rippling/index.md) | 10% | 4% | 27 |
| 3 | [Lattice](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/lattice/index.md) | 8% | 6% | 33 |
| 4 | [15Five](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/15five/index.md) | 5% | 0% | 18 |
| 5 | [Personio](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/personio/index.md) | 5% | 10% | 21 |
| 6 | [Gusto](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/gusto/index.md) | 5% | 0% | 17 |
| 7 | [Culture Amp](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/culture-amp/index.md) | 3% | 3% | 31 |
| 10 | [Factorial](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/factorial/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 12 |
| 11 | [HiBob](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/hibob/index.md) | 2% | 8% | 13 |
| 12 | [ChartHop](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/charthop/index.md) | 2% | 30% | 30 |
| 20 | [Workday People Analytics](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/workday-people-analytics/index.md) | 2% | 78% | 23 |
| 25 | [Microsoft Power BI](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/microsoft-power-bi/index.md) | 0% | 30% | 10 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 93 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: Zimyo; alternatives BambooHR, Gusto, IntelliHR
- GPT-5.4 mini: Rippling; alternatives BambooHR, Culture Amp
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Rippling; alternatives BambooHR, ChartHop, Culture Amp, HiBob
- Perplexity Sonar: BambooHR; alternatives HiBob, Personio, Rippling, ThriveSparrow
- Grok 4.20: BambooHR; alternatives 15Five, Lattice, Personio
- Mistral Small: Culture Amp, Lattice; alternatives BambooHR
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: BambooHR; alternatives ChartHop, Culture Amp, Lattice, Personio
- Llama 4 Maverick: Workday People Analytics
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: BambooHR; alternatives Culture Amp, Factorial, Lattice
- Kimi K2: BambooHR; alternatives Factorial, HiBob, Lattice, Personio
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: BambooHR; alternatives Culture Amp, Lattice
- MiniMax M2.5: BambooHR, Personio

## Sources the answers cite

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

- personio.com: 37 answers, 44 citations
- eletive.com: 32 answers, 32 citations
- jugglehire.com: 32 answers, 32 citations
- peoplemanagingpeople.com: 31 answers, 35 citations
- thrivesparrow.com: 27 answers, 27 citations
- selectsoftwarereviews.com: 25 answers, 26 citations
- hrbench.com: 24 answers, 30 citations
- firsthr.app: 24 answers, 26 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://personio.com/hr-lexicon/hr-analytics-tools (37 answers)
- https://eletive.com/blog/people-analytics-tools (32 answers)
- https://jugglehire.com/blog/hr-tips/people-analytics-tools (32 answers)
- https://thrivesparrow.com/blog/best-people-analytics-software (27 answers)
- https://hrbench.com/blog/best-people-analytics-software (24 answers)
- https://peoplemanagingpeople.com/tools/best-people-analytics-software (22 answers)
- https://selectsoftwarereviews.com/buyer-guide/analytics-tools (22 answers)
- https://firsthr.app/compare/general/hr-analytics-software (21 answers)
- https://hibob.com/blog/best-hr-analytics-software-tools (20 answers)
- https://learn.g2.com/best-hr-analytics-software (19 answers)

## Warned against

- Visier: 38 of 44 labels negative. "Avoid or be cautious about: Enterprise-grade dedicated people-analytics platforms (Visier, Workday People Analytics, One Model, ChartHop, Crunchr, Eletive, Workhuman iQ, Microsoft Viva Glint)" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- One Model: 19 of 19 labels negative. "Dedicated people analytics platforms (Visier, Crunchr, One Model) are enterprise tools ... not cost-effective for small businesses." (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt)
- Workday People Analytics: 18 of 23 labels negative. "Workday is notorious for complex setups and high costs (often six-figure annual contracts). It is frequently cited as a poor first choice for small teams" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)
- Crunchr: 12 of 14 labels negative. "Dedicated people analytics platforms (Visier, Crunchr, One Model) are enterprise tools ... not cost-effective for small businesses." (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative 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.