401(k) providers · RankedPrincipal
Principal is a 401(k) provider that offers retirement plan services to employers, including recordkeeping and HR-system integration · principal.com ↗
Read the same way at every company size.
The standing depends on who is buying. Every model is asked the same questions for each company size.
Guideline is first at 25%.
Human Interest is first at 27%. 0 of 14 models made it the first choice when asked directly.
Fidelity Investments is first at 48%.
Why models recommend it
“Often positioned for mid-market employers wanting insurance, annuities and wellness tie-ins.”Muse Glimmer 30B · Comparative question · alternative
“Best for a traditional, broad-service provider: Fidelity, Principal, or Empower”GPT-5.4 mini · Comparative question · alternative
“Good alternatives when the company needs broader plan-design flexibility”Perplexity Sonar · Paraphrase question · alternative
“Include it if you want another established provider to quote”GPT-6 Luna · Direct question · alternative
What gives them pause
“I find our 401k plan with Principal to be lacking. The target date funds carry a 0.86% fee”Muse Glimmer 30B · Negative question · warning
“often score lower for mid-market due to higher potential fees, less transparency, or more manual work”Grok 4.20 · Direct question · warning
Also on the shortlist
The products named in the same answers as Principal, over the 41 answers that named it, and how often each was the first choice instead.
| Product | Named together | Picked instead | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | 3 | View → | |
| 28 | 3 | View → | |
| 26 | 6 | View → | |
| 26 | 2 | View → | |
| 18 | 5 | View → | |
| 14 | 0 | View → | |
| 13 | 2 | View → | |
| 13 | 0 | View → | |
| 11 | 1 | View → | |
| 11 | 0 | View → |
What the models named instead of Principal →
A side-by-side page exists where both products are among a category's top eight.
At a glance
Stated on Principal's own site, not checked by Gane.
- For
- For individuals; For businesses; For financial professionals
How this is measured
Fourteen AI models from 12 labs are asked the same buying questions six ways, for three company sizes. Standings refresh every edition.
Gane sells AI visibility software. No company can pay to change a result.
Read the method →Sources returned with these answers
Fourteen of the fourteen models returned a source list in this edition: five return the pages they cited and nine the search results they consulted. These counts come from 36 of the 41 answers that named Principal and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
119 of the 119 domain citations in answers naming Principal came from a third party's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
By model
| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Grok 4.20 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
What it publishes
| Kind | Pages | Last 90 days | 2025-11 to 2026-10 | Latest | Categories named |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glossary or explainer | 147 | 2 | 2026-08-31 | ||
| Blog | 124 | 3 | 2026-09-10 | ||
| News or press | 81 | 9 | 2026-10-01 | Benefits administration | |
| Template or tool | 8 | 0 | 2026-04-30 | ||
| Webinar or virtual event | 4 | undated | |||
| Case study | 3 | 3 | 2026-07-29 | ||
| Comparison | 3 | 0 | 2026-03-25 | ||
| Conference or event | 1 | 0 | 2025-01-16 |
Most recent
- 2026-10-01Principal announce third quarter 2026 financial results news or press
- 2026-09-10Clearly communicating tpa value recordkeepers part 2 2 blog
- 2026-09-01Principal completes acquisition beam benefits news or press
- 2026-08-31How spot imposter scams and protect your money glossary or explainer
- 2026-08-26Principal expands featured partner program support private market news or press
- 2026-08-25Four trends reshaping retirement plan investment strategies blog
How it is countedHide how it is counted
Every page principal.com exposes, subdomains included. Kind is read from the address and title. The last 90 days, the latest date and the twelve months count pages by when they were published, from the site's feeds, a date in the address, or the page's own publication date, read from up to a hundred of its most recently changed pages; a page that says only when it last changed is counted in its kind but not in when, so the recent counts are a floor, and a kind none of whose pages gives a publication date reads undated. An event counts as online when its address or title says so (webinar, on demand, virtual or online summit); a conference, summit, trade show, expo or roadshow that does not say so is counted as a conference or event, which on a vendor's site is mostly in person. Read October 5, 2026.