Earned wage access
Asked as “earned wage access provider”, and as “on-demand pay benefit”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 42 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing · first-choice share
29%
Contested · ZayZoon 26%
29Tapcheck26ZayZoon12Rain33others
29% of first choices, contested.
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.
The standing
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
Show the five products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
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.
All twenty-one head-to-head pages: the top seven 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 →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10B11
12Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01Tapcheck29%
Tapcheck29%02ZayZoon26%
ZayZoon26%03Rain12%
Rain12%04Payactiv7%
Payactiv7%05DailyPay7%
DailyPay7%06Clair7%
Clair7%07Dave2%
Dave2%08Branch0%
Branch0%09Chime Workplace0%
Chime Workplace0%10EarnIn0%
EarnIn0%11Brigit0%
12MoneyLion – Instacash0%
MoneyLion – Instacash0%What they warned about
Two of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity Sonar, Grok 4.20, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash and MiniMax M2.5 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.
EarnIn39%
11 of 28 labels negative · 10 of 12 models · 7 hard negative
“The District of Columbia Attorney General has filed suit against ActiveHours Inc., doing business as EarnIn, alleging that the app-based lender deceptively marketed and provided illegal high-interest loans” Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt
Dave60%
9 of 15 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 5 hard negative
“Verdict: Avoid. The FTC's complaint highlights systemic deception aimed at financially vulnerable users.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
MoneyLion – Instacash80%
8 of 10 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“MoneyLion: Sued by New York AG (Apr 2025) ... Accused of pushing workers into debt cycles.” Grok 4.20, negative prompt
DailyPay29%
12 of 42 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“DailyPay: Sued by New York AG (Apr 2025) alongside MoneyLion for high fees ... violating usury laws. High BBB/CFPB complaints” Grok 4.20, negative prompt
What they cite
Twelve of the twelve models returned a source list in this edition: four return the pages they cited and eight the search results they consulted.
Sites the answers cite
65 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 969 links across 240 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.
45 answers · 54 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Guideflow27 answers · 27 citations · 11 models
24 answers · 24 citations · 8 models
20 answers · 21 citations · 11 models
vendor site · G219 answers · 51 citations · 9 models
vendor site · DailyPay19 answers · 27 citations · 7 models
19 answers · 19 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Tapcheck17 answers · 26 citations · 9 models
17 answers · 23 citations · 8 models
16 answers · 16 citations · 8 models
15 answers · 18 citations · 9 models
14 answers · 14 citations · 7 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.
42 answers · 11 models
27 answers · 11 models
24 answers · 8 models
19 answers · 9 models
18 answers · 11 models
16 answers · 8 models
14 answers · 7 models
14 answers · 6 models
10 answers · 4 models
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 earned wage access provider”, “earned wage access provider”, “earned wage access providers”. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tapcheck tapcheck.com | 29% | 134 | 22,200 | 420 | 45,032 | 16 | 7 | |
| ZayZoon zayzoon.com | 26% | 167 | 90,500 | 304 | 39,895 | 1 | ||
| Rain rainapp.com | 12% | 95 | 246,000 | 376,115 | 6,438 | 17 | ||
| Payactiv payactiv.com | 7% | 208 | 110,000 | 700 | 92,054 | $231 | 13 | 3 |
| DailyPay dailypay.com | 7% | 216 | 165,000 | 3,329 | 213,488 | $2,108 | 56 | 2 |
| Clair getclair.com | 7% | 16 | 12,100 | 91,260 | 6,711 | |||
| Gusto gusto.com Gusto Wallet 2% | 2% | 10 | 673,000 | 10,560 | 1,629,483 company | 118 | ||
| Deel deel.com | 2% | 480 | 40,500 | 1,210 | 307,175 | $330,608 | 118 | |
| Chime Banking | 2% | |||||||
| ZestPay | 2% |
Google's top ten for the three searches hold 12 sites; 3 of them are among the sites the models cited here (dailypay.com, enterprise.chime.com, tapcheck.com). The first result for “best earned wage access provider” is enterprise.chime.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
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.
ShowHideModelDirect“What is the best earned wage access provider for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which on-demand pay benefit would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top earned wage access providers and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best earned wage access provider for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating an earned wage access provider. What should we look at?”Negative“Which earned wage access providers should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Rainno first choiceChangedno first choicePayactivno first choiceagainst: Brigit, Cleo, Dave, EarnIn, FloatMe, Grant Money, Grid, Klover, MoneyLion – Instacash, Tilt
Two alternatives
Payactiv, ZayZoonThree alternatives
Chime Workplace, Gusto Wallet, TapcheckGPT-5.4 miniDailyPayPayactivChangedDailyPayPayactivno first choiceagainst: Dave, EarnIn, MoneyLion – Instacash
Two alternatives
Tapcheck, ZayZoonOne alternative
EarnInTwo alternatives
EarnIn, TapcheckTwo alternatives
Branch, DailyPayGemini 3.5 FlashZayZoonagainst: DailyPayTapcheckChangedDailyPayClairno first choiceagainst: Albert, Brigit, Dave, EarnIn, FloatMe
Three alternatives
Immediate, Rain, TapcheckThree alternatives
DailyPay, Immediate, ZayZoonFour alternatives
Branch, EarnIn, Payactiv, TapcheckThree alternatives
Branch, Payactiv, ZayZoonPerplexity SonarTapcheckDailyPayChangedDailyPayTapcheck, ZayZoonno first choiceagainst: Brigit, DailyPay, Dave, EarnIn, Empower, MoneyLion – Instacash
Three alternatives
DailyPay, Rain, ZayZoonThree alternatives
BambooHR, Clair, PaidUpSeven alternatives
Branch, Chime Workplace, EarnIn, Immediate, Payactiv, Rain, TapcheckOne alternative
EarnInGrok 4.20TapcheckTapcheck, ZayZoonChangedagainst: DailyPay, EarnIn, PayactivDailyPay, PayactivZayZoonagainst: Branch, DailyPay, Payactiv, Rainno first choiceagainst: DailyPay, EarnIn, MoneyLion – Instacash, Payactiv
Four alternatives
DailyPay, Payactiv, Rain, ZayZoonTwo alternatives
Clair, RainFour alternatives
Branch, Chime Workplace, EarnIn, RainTwo alternatives
EarnIn, TapcheckThree alternatives
Chime Workplace, DailyPay, PayactivMistral SmallGusto Wallet, ZayZoonno first choiceChangedDailyPayClair, Tapcheckno first choiceagainst: Brigit, DailyPay, Dave, EarnIn, Empower, MoneyLion – Instacash
Three alternatives
Clair, Payactiv, RainTwo alternatives
EarnIn, PayactivTwo alternatives
Payactiv, ZayZoonDeepSeek V4 FlashRainagainst: DailyPayZayZoonChangedagainst: DailyPayDailyPay, PayactivTapcheck, ZayZoonagainst: DailyPayno first choiceagainst: Dave, EarnIn, MoneyLion – Instacash, Solo Funds
Two alternatives
Payactiv, ZayZoonThree alternatives
Branch, Gusto Wallet, RainTwo alternatives
Chime MyPay, EarnInTwo alternatives
Chime Workplace, ClairLlama 4 Maverickno first choiceDeelChangedDailyPayClairno first choiceagainst: Brigit, DailyPay, Dave, EarnIn, Empower, MoneyLion – Instacash
Two alternatives
Clair, PayactivQwen 3.7 FlashZayZoonDailyPay, ZestPayChangedDailyPayChime Banking, Daveno first choiceagainst: Albert, Brigit, Current, DailyPay, Gainful, Instavest, Marqeta/Stripe-backed apps, Modern Money
Three alternatives
DailyPay, Rain, TapcheckTwo alternatives
BrightPay, SavvyPayFour alternatives
Branch, EarnIn, Payactiv, ZayZoonThree alternatives
DailyPay, Deel, RipplingKimi K2RainRainHeldno first choiceTapcheck, ZayZoonno first choiceagainst: Albert, Brigit, DailyPay, Dave, EarnIn, Empower, FloatMe, MoneyLion – Instacash, Possible, Solo Funds
Three alternatives
Payactiv, Tapcheck, ZayZoonThree alternatives
DailyPay, Payactiv, ZayZoonTwo alternatives
Branch, PayactivGLM 4.7 FlashXTapcheckTapcheckHeldno first choiceTapcheck, ZayZoonno first choiceagainst: Dave, EarnIn, Payactiv
Three alternatives
DailyPay, Rain, ZayZoonTwo alternatives
DailyPay, PayactivSix alternatives
Branch, Chime Workplace, DailyPay, EarnIn, MoneyLion – Instacash, PayactivTwo alternatives
Payactiv, RainMiniMax M2.5RainZayZoonChangedDailyPay, PayactivTapcheckno first choicenothing named
Three alternatives
Clair, Payactiv, TapcheckTwo alternatives
Immediate, TapcheckTen alternatives
Branch, CloudPay NOW, EarnIn, Earnipay, FlexWage, Hastee, Instant Financial, Rain, Refyne, WagestreamThree alternatives
DailyPay, Payactiv, ZayZoonBold 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.
Seventy-two 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 | 2026-09-17 19:32 | yes | 15 | 9 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 18:46 | yes | 5 | 7 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 21:59 | yes | 14 | 56 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 20:24 | yes | 20 | 6 s |
| Direct recommendation | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 19:19 | yes | 29 | 29 s |
| Direct recommendation | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 18:01 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Direct recommendation | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 18:03 | yes | 18 | 22 s |
| Direct recommendation | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 20:21 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Direct recommendation | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 19:44 | yes | 5 | 26 s |
| Direct recommendation | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 19:56 | yes | 13 | 41 s |
| Direct recommendation | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 20:59 | yes | 23 | 65 s |
| Direct recommendation | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 19:09 | yes | 12 | 25 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 19:23 | no | 0 | 4 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 21:43 | yes | 4 | 6 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 19:41 | yes | 24 | 25 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 18:45 | yes | 20 | 7 s |
| Paraphrase | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 18:09 | yes | 28 | 15 s |
| Paraphrase | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 19:58 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Paraphrase | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 19:46 | yes | 17 | 18 s |
| Paraphrase | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 20:36 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Paraphrase | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 21:02 | no | 0 | 27 s |
| Paraphrase | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 18:02 | yes | 19 | 23 s |
| Paraphrase | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 18:24 | yes | 10 | 66 s |
| Paraphrase | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 21:07 | yes | 12 | 32 s |
| Comparative | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 20:17 | yes | 17 | 9 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 19:44 | yes | 7 | 11 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 19:54 | yes | 26 | 27 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 18:57 | yes | 20 | 15 s |
| Comparative | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 20:00 | yes | 23 | 14 s |
| Comparative | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 21:34 | yes | 5 | 5 s |
| Comparative | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-09-17 18:52 | yes | 27 | 53 s |
| Comparative | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 19:47 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Comparative | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 19:09 | yes | 10 | 29 s |
| Comparative | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 21:23 | yes | 14 | 29 s |
| Comparative | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 20:13 | yes | 10 | 92 s |
| Comparative | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 18:54 | yes | 5 | 57 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 19:47 | yes | 13 | 9 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 21:29 | yes | 4 | 6 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 21:52 | yes | 24 | 51 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 20:00 | yes | 20 | 5 s |
| Budget constrained | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 19:06 | yes | 29 | 17 s |
| Budget constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 21:33 | yes | 7 | 6 s |
| Budget constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 21:40 | yes | 15 | 18 s |
| Budget constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 20:50 | yes | 7 | 3 s |
| Budget constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 20:53 | no | 0 | 32 s |
| Budget constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 19:16 | yes | 11 | 24 s |
| Budget constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 20:11 | yes | 30 | 56 s |
| Budget constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 19:07 | yes | 7 | 21 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 18:11 | no | 0 | 10 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 20:14 | no | 0 | 8 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 18:15 | yes | 15 | 22 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 21:31 | yes | 20 | 13 s |
| Scale constrained | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 18:20 | yes | 19 | 14 s |
| Scale constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 19:26 | no | 0 | 8 s |
| Scale constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 20:49 | yes | 10 | 17 s |
| Scale constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 21:05 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Scale constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 20:56 | yes | 5 | 24 s |
| Scale constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 18:35 | yes | 10 | 28 s |
| Scale constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 19:00 | yes | 24 | 229 s |
| Scale constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 20:57 | yes | 5 | 23 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 18:49 | yes | 28 | 11 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 20:53 | yes | 6 | 9 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 22:06 | yes | 26 | 63 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 18:57 | yes | 20 | 10 s |
| Negative framing | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version) | 2026-09-17 21:00 | yes | 38 | 18 s |
| Negative framing | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 18:47 | yes | 5 | 6 s |
| Negative framing | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 19:12 | yes | 24 | 30 s |
| Negative framing | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 19:19 | yes | 8 | 6 s |
| Negative framing | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 21:27 | no | 0 | 32 s |
| Negative framing | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 20:27 | yes | 19 | 39 s |
| Negative framing | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 21:09 | yes | 28 | 148 s |
| Negative framing | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 20:53 | yes | 10 | 16 s |
Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
ADP read as ADP Immediate Pay
Dayforce read as Dayforce Wallet
Gusto read as Gusto Wallet
MoneyLion read as MoneyLion – Instacash
Unresolved, counted raw
Bancorp
Brass
Cash App Payroll
Chime Banking
Gainful
Grant Money
Grid
Instavest
Keeper
Local Credit Unions
Marqeta/Stripe-backed apps
Modern Money
PaidUp
Possible
SavvyPay
ZestPay
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.