# Workforce planning for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "workforce planning software" and as "headcount planning tool", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/planning/workforce-planning/2026-11/smb

**Standing:** ChartHop (tied with Rippling) leads with 15% of first choices; verdict contested. 55 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [ChartHop](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/charthop/index.md) | 15% | 9% | 34 |
| 2 | [Rippling](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/rippling/index.md) | 15% | 15% | 40 |
| 3 | [BambooHR](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/bamboohr/index.md) | 13% | 6% | 33 |
| 4 | [Homebase](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/homebase/index.md) | 11% | 3% | 38 |
| 5 | [Connecteam](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/connecteam/index.md) | 11% | 0% | 28 |
| 7 | [When I Work](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/when-i-work/index.md) | 4% | 5% | 21 |
| 8 | [Float](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/float/index.md) | 4% | 0% | 11 |
| 10 | [Runn](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/runn/index.md) | 2% | 6% | 18 |
| 11 | [Deputy](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/deputy/index.md) | 2% | 12% | 16 |
| 12 | [HiBob](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/hibob/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 11 |
| 21 | [TeamOhana](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/teamohana/index.md) | 0% | 8% | 12 |
| 101 | [SAP SuccessFactors Workforce Planning](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/sap-successfactors-workforce-planning/index.md) | 0% | 92% | 13 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 104 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: BambooHR, Homebase; alternatives ChartHop, Paylocity
- GPT-5.4 mini: Rippling; alternatives HiBob, Pigment
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Float; alternatives Agentnoon, ChartHop, Monday.com, Mosaic
- Perplexity Sonar: Monday.com; alternatives ADP Workforce Now, BambooHR, Deel HR, Productive
- Grok 4.20: BambooHR; alternatives Agentnoon, ChartHop, Homebase, Rippling
- Mistral Small: HiBob, Rippling; alternatives ChartHop, Connecteam, Leapsome
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: BambooHR, Rippling; alternatives Connecteam, HiBob, Homebase, Paymo
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: ChartHop; alternatives Connecteam, Homebase, Rippling, TeamOhana
- Kimi K2: Float, Runn; alternatives BambooHR, Connecteam, Rippling
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: BambooHR, Rippling; alternatives Connecteam, Deputy, Homebase, When I Work
- MiniMax M2.5: BambooHR, Paymo; alternatives Homebase, Rippling
- GPT-6 Luna: Jirav; alternatives Float
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Deputy, Homebase; alternatives BambooHR, Connecteam, Employment Hero, HiBob

## Sources the answers cite

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

- resources.rework.com: 28 answers, 33 citations
- g2.com: 27 answers, 34 citations
- dialzara.com: 24 answers, 24 citations
- walkme.com: 24 answers, 24 citations
- peoplemanagingpeople.com: 23 answers, 29 citations
- firsthr.app: 22 answers, 31 citations
- joinhomebase.com: 22 answers, 24 citations
- disprz.ai: 16 answers, 16 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://dialzara.com/blog/best-workforce-planning-software-for-smbs (24 answers)
- https://walkme.com/blog/workforce-planning-tools (24 answers)
- https://resources.rework.com/tools/workforce-management/best-workforce-planning-software-2026 (22 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/workforce-planning/small-business (20 answers)
- https://peoplemanagingpeople.com/tools/best-workforce-planning-software (18 answers)
- https://firsthr.app/compare/core-hr/workforce-planning-software (17 answers)
- https://disprz.ai/blog/workforce-planning-software (16 answers)
- https://joinhomebase.com/blog/workforce-planning-tools (16 answers)
- https://softwaresuggest.com/workforce-planning-software (12 answers)
- https://fitsmallbusiness.com/best-workforce-management-software (11 answers)

## Warned against

- Workday Adaptive Planning: 17 of 20 labels negative. "Tools designed for large enterprises (e.g., Workday Adaptive Planning, Oracle Workforce Planning) often come with high costs, steep learning curves" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Anaplan: 25 of 30 labels negative. "Enterprise-Level FP&A and Analytics Platforms (e.g., Anaplan, Workday Adaptive Planning, Visier, Oracle Workforce Planning, SAP SuccessFactors) - Why avoid or be cautious?" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Visier Workforce Planning: 15 of 17 labels negative. "❌ Enterprise-only tools (Anaplan, Visier, Orgvue) built for thousands of employees — overkill and overpriced for 30 people." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, scale prompt)
- SAP SuccessFactors Workforce Planning: 12 of 13 labels negative. "Enterprise-Level FP&A and Analytics Platforms (e.g., ... SAP SuccessFactors) - Why avoid or be cautious?" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

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

- ChartHop: 31% to 15%, −16. Cleared the floor by 3 points · rank 1 of 104, unchanged.
- Homebase: 20% to 11%, −9. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 2 → 4 of 104.
- Rippling: 8% to 15%, +7. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 3 → 2 of 104.
- BambooHR: 6% to 13%, +7. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 5 → 3 of 104.
- Zoho People: 6% to 0%, −6. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 6 → 22 of 104.
- When I Work: 0% to 4%, +4. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 16 → 7 of 104.
- Connecteam: 8% to 11%, +3. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 4 → 5 of 104.
- Float: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 9 → 8 of 104.
- Runn: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 18 → 10 of 104.
- Deputy: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 17 → 11 of 104.
- HiBob: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 20 → 12 of 104.
- TeamOhana: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 10 → 21 of 104.

## 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.