September 2026 Edition, published · The permanent record of that edition, superseded since. The current standing is on the category page →
Index › HR › Compensation and total rewards › Pay equity › Small business · September 2026 Edition

Pay equity for small business buyers

Asked as “pay equity analysis software”, and as “pay transparency compliance tool”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 43 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing · first-choice share
21%
Contested · Figures 7%
21Gusto07Figures07Pave65others

21% 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 small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Gusto21%18%28accepted challenger
02Pave7%6%16accepted challenger
03Figures7%6%16accepted challenger
04Payscale7%26%27criticized challenger
05BambooHR5%0%14accepted challenger
06PayAnalytics5%23%22accepted challenger
07Trusaic PayParity2%45%22criticized challenger
08Syndio2%69%32criticized challenger
Show the one product at 0%, ordered by negative rate
09beqom Pay Equity0%60%10criticized challenger
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.
Head to headHead-to-head pages are published for mid-market buyers, so these open on mid-market figures, not small business.
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
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01Gusto21%
02Pave7%
03Figures7%
04Payscale7%
05BambooHR5%
06PayAnalytics5%
07Trusaic PayParity2%
08Syndio2%
09beqom Pay Equity0%

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, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX 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.
Syndio
69%
22 of 32 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 6 hard negative
“Small businesses should avoid enterprise‑grade, complex tools (like Syndio) that demand dedicated rewards staff and quote‑based pricing” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt
Trusaic PayParity
45%
10 of 22 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“What to Avoid on a Tight Budget - ... Trusaic PayParity — these are enterprise/statistical audit platforms priced for large organizations” DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt
beqom Pay Equity
60%
6 of 10 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“beqom – Enterprise total-compensation management suite, typically $100,000–$500,000+ per year. Massive implementation overhead” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
Gusto
18%
5 of 28 labels negative · 5 of 12 models
“Gusto is a pay equity tool that is suitable for small businesses... However, it has some limitations, such as not having statistical regression or intersectional analysis” Llama 4 Maverick, 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

67 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. 1025 links across 186 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

vendor site · Gartner46 answers · 47 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Soteria HR43 answers · 47 citations · 11 models
40 answers · 61 citations · 11 models
40 answers · 44 citations · 10 models
vendor site · PayAnalytics28 answers · 44 citations · 11 models
25 answers · 42 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Guideflow22 answers · 23 citations · 9 models
vendor site · beqom21 answers · 23 citations · 11 models
20 answers · 28 citations · 9 models
20 answers · 20 citations · 10 models
vendor site · G219 answers · 23 citations · 10 models
16 answers · 22 citations · 9 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.

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 pay equity analysis software”, “pay equity analysis software”, “pay equity tools”. 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 productsShareOwn site citedName searches, GoogleAI search demand, est.Organic visitsPaid search a month, est.Google ads, last 30 daysBest Google position
Gusto gusto.com
Gusto 21%, Gusto + OpenComp 2%
23%742673,00010,5601,629,483118
Pave pave.com7%19127,10028,4237,645$917
Figures figures.hr7%5490,500269,5113,710
Payscale payscale.com7%2099,9002991,408,989$2633
BambooHR bamboohr.com5%107490,5005511,055,247$44,698106
PayAnalytics payanalytics.com5%722001,02586
OpenComp opencomp.com5%4639005,52451
Compport compport.com5%3511012,146
CompUp compup.io5%594023,016
Pay Transparency Compliance Checker paytransparency.app5%

Google's top ten for the three searches hold 20 sites; 6 of them are among the sites the models cited here (beqom.com, g2.com, gartner.com, payanalytics.com, peoplemanagingpeople.com, synd.io). The first result for “best pay equity analysis software” is gartner.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 pay equity analysis software for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which pay transparency compliance tool would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top pay equity tools for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best pay equity analysis software for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a pay equity analysis software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which pay equity tools should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5EEOPay
Three alternativesParity Software, Payscale, beqom Pay Equity
CompUpChanged
Two alternativesHiBob, SixFifty's Pay Transparency Policy Builder
BambooHR, Compease
One alternativeCompport
against: Payscale, beqom Pay Equity
HRSoft
Two alternativesCompport, Salary.com CompAnalyst
against: Syndio
no first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniSalary.com Pay Equity
Two alternativesOutSolve, Payscale
no first choiceChangedSalary.com Pay Equity
Three alternativesADP DataCloud, Payscale, Sysarb
Paycor
One alternativeTrusaic PayParity
against: Salary.com CompAnalyst
no first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashOpenComp
Four alternativesPave, PayAnalytics, Soteria HR, Workleap Compensation
against: Syndio
PaveChanged
Two alternativesComplete, Workleap Compensation
against: Syndio, beqom Pay Equity
Workleap Compensation
Four alternativesCandorIQ, Compease, Pave, Pequity
Aeqium, Parity Software
Two alternativesCompUp, The LEEP Toolkit
against: Syndio, Trusaic PayParity, beqom Pay Equity
PayAnalytics
Three alternativesChartHop, Figures, Payscale
against: Syndio, Trusaic PayParity
against: Affirmity, Syndio, Trusaic PayParity
Perplexity SonarFigures
One alternativePayAnalytics
against: Gusto, Visier
TalentUpChanged
Two alternativesTrusaic PayParity, beqom Pay Equity
Pave, PayAnalytics
Three alternativesBambooHR, Syndio, Sysarb
Pave
One alternativeComprehensive.io
no first choicenothing named
Grok 4.20Gusto
Two alternativesBambooHR, OpenComp
against: Syndio
GustoHeld
One alternativeBambooHR
against: Payscale, Ravio
Gusto
Four alternativesBambooHR, ChartHop, Figures, OpenComp
against: Syndio, Workday Pay Equity
Gusto
Five alternativesComprehensive.io, Excel/Google Sheets, OpenComp, Pave, Ravio
against: Figures, PayAnalytics, Syndio
BambooHR, Payscale
Three alternativesCompport, SalaryCube, Workleap Compensation
against: Syndio, Trusaic PayParity
against: BetterComp, Mercer, Payscale, Visier
Mistral SmallBambooHR
Two alternativesFigures, Trusaic PayParity
RavioChanged
One alternativeDeel Compensation/Pay Equity
against: Sysarb, beqom Pay Equity
Gusto, Pave
Two alternativesPayAnalytics, Syndio
Compport, Figures
One alternativeTrusaic PayParity
no first choiceagainst: Gusto
DeepSeek V4 FlashPayAnalytics
Two alternativesFigures, Soteria HR
against: Syndio
Salary Range BuilderChanged
Three alternativesBetterComp, Figures, SalaryCube
against: PayAnalytics, Payscale
PayAnalytics
Three alternativesAeqium, Gusto + OpenComp, Pave
against: Syndio
Gusto
Three alternativesGreen Mountain / Vermont Women's Fund Toolkit, HiBob Pay Equity Audit Template, PayAnalytics
against: Payscale, Syndio, Trusaic PayParity
no first choice
One alternativeSoteria HR
against: CaptivateIQ, Compport, Gusto, Pave, Payscale, Syndio, Varicent, Workleap Compensation, Xactly, beqom Pay Equity
Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceno first choiceHeldno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceagainst: Gusto
Qwen 3.7 FlashGusto + OpenComp
Three alternativesDeel Compensation/Pay Equity, Payscale, Rippling
GustoChanged
Two alternativesBambooHR, Rippling
against: PayAnalytics, Payscale, Syndio, beqom Pay Equity
ChartHop
Three alternativesBambooHR, OptionImpact / Vantage Point, Pave
against: PayAnalytics, Trusaic PayParity
Gusto
Three alternativesDeel Compensation/Pay Equity, Excel, Salary.com Pay Equity
against: Syndio, Workday Pay Equity
no first choicenothing named
Kimi K2OpenComp
Two alternativesGusto, Trusaic PayParity
CompUp, PayscaleChanged
Two alternativesFigures, Ravio
Pave
Four alternativesChartHop, Figures, Gusto, OpenComp Market Pulse
against: PayAnalytics, Syndio, Trusaic PayParity
Gusto
Two alternativesPayAnalytics, SalaryCube
against: Syndio
Compport, Figures, Pave
Two alternativesBambooHR, Gusto
against: SAP SuccessFactors, Workday Pay Equity
against: Affirmity, Government-provided DIY toolkits, Syndio, Trusaic PayParity
GLM 4.7 FlashXPayscale
Three alternativesDeel Compensation/Pay Equity, Gusto, Salary Equity Analyzer
EU Pay Transparency Obligations Checker, Pay Transparency Compliance CheckerChanged
Three alternativesGusto, Payscale, Sysarb
Pave
Three alternativesChartHop, Deel Compensation/Pay Equity, Gusto + OpenComp
against: Syndio
Gusto
Three alternativesDeel Compensation/Pay Equity, OpenComp Market Pulse, Payscale
against: Syndio, Trusaic PayParity
no first choiceagainst: Deel Payroll, Gusto, Soteria HR, Syndio
MiniMax M2.5Syndio, Trusaic PayParity
Two alternativesDeel Compensation/Pay Equity, PayAnalytics
Pay Transparency Compliance CheckerChanged
Two alternativesPayAnalytics, Payscale
Pave
Three alternativesFigures, Gusto, Syndio
Gusto
One alternativeStride
against: Trusaic PayParity
no first choicenothing named
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.
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 18:47yes138 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:24yes36 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 19:24yes2226 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 20:18yes207 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 20:46yes3320 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:47yes828 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:08yes1325 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:57yes53 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:15yes1939 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:06yes1341 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:15yes2530 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 21:26yes617 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:48yes178 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 21:42no04 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 22:06yes1560 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:06yes204 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 19:40yes3518 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 21:44yes138 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 18:00yes2231 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:40yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:18yes1270 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:29yes1121 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:35yes2038 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 18:32yes1128 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:51yes97 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:30yes610 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:46yes1827 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:13yes207 s
ComparativeGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 19:05yes2218 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:23yes108 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 18:59yes2534 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 21:21yes53 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 17:58yes28106 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:42yes1933 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:21yes22280 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 21:16yes2036 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:54yes95 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:04yes45 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:55yes1824 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:19yes186 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 18:02yes4020 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:46yes53 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 18:39yes2921 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:29yes53 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:17yes921 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:35yes2046 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:08yes2539 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:10yes817 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:49no05 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 21:04no011 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 19:36yes1823 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 18:08yes209 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 21:31yes1110 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:42no06 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 18:18yes1922 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 21:26yes53 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 21:24yes1432 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:47yes724 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:37yes1475 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:20yes517 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 18:47yes168 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 21:07no06 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 22:04yes1550 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:34yes205 s
Negative framingGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex (asked for grok-4.20-non-reasoning; the API answered as this version)2026-09-17 20:03yes1610 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 21:20yes56 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-17 18:02yes2170 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 19:05yes54 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:09yes1022 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 21:25yes1950 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 21:13yes1376 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:35yes1766 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
ADP read as ADP DataCloud
Affirmity PayStat read as Affirmity
BambooHR Elite read as BambooHR
Barley read as Workleap Compensation
Beqom read as beqom Pay Equity
CompAnalyst read as Salary.com CompAnalyst
Comprehensive read as Comprehensive.io
Deel read as Deel Compensation/Pay Equity
Deel Services read as Deel Compensation/Pay Equity
Figures.hr read as Figures
Lattice read as Lattice Compensate
PayScale Insight read as Payscale
PaySuite read as beqom Pay Equity
Payscale Ascent read as Payscale
SAP read as SAP SuccessFactors
Salary.com read as Salary.com Pay Equity
Salary.com's Pay Equity Suite / CompAnalyst read as Salary.com Pay Equity
Syndio PayEQ read as Syndio
Trusaic read as Trusaic PayParity
Workday read as Workday Pay Equity
Workleap read as Workleap Compensation
beqom read as beqom Pay Equity
beqom (PayAnalytics) read as beqom Pay Equity
Unresolved, counted raw
Anchored
Canadian CHRC Pay Equity Plan Toolkit
Composer
EDGE Certified Foundation
EU Pay Transparency Obligations Checker
Government-provided DIY toolkits (like Ontario's)
Green Mountain / Vermont Women's Fund Toolkit
KPMG's Pay Transparency Tool
OptionImpact / Vantage Point
OutSolve
RevEng Consulting
Salary Range Builder
SixFifty's Pay Transparency Policy Builder
TalentUp
The LEEP Toolkit
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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