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Index › Core HR and payroll › Benefits administration › Gusto vs ADP Workforce Now
Benefits administration · October 2026 Edition

Gusto vs ADP Workforce Now

Zero of fourteen models named Gusto first on the direct prompt; four named ADP Workforce Now. Both were named by all fourteen models and Gusto carries 44 labels and ADP Workforce Now 50, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Gusto

criticized challenger

Named in twenty-four categories this edition.

ADP Workforce Now

accepted challenger

Named in nineteen categories this edition.

First-choice share20%18%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate25%14%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#2A position in a field of 13; printed, not drawn.
Labels4450A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Gusto reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Rippling was named alongside these two in eight of the fourteen direct answers. Gusto vs Employee Navigator · Gusto vs Rippling · Gusto vs PlanSource

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the benefits administration page.

By framing

How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
GustoFirst choices, of fourteen modelsADP Workforce Now
Direct043 against Gusto
Paraphrase252 against Gusto
Comparative04
Budget-constrained801 against ADP Workforce Now
Scale-constrained00
Negative106 against Gusto · 6 against ADP Workforce Now
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.

Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, Gusto and ADP Workforce Now were named in the same answer 131 times, of the 926 answers naming Gusto and the 616 naming ADP Workforce Now. In those answers ADP Workforce Now took the first choice fourteen times and Gusto twenty-two.

Every model, every framing

The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Gusto and ADP Workforce Now stood in it.
ModelDirectParaphraseComparativeBudget-constrainedScale-constrainedNegative
Claude Haiku 4.5
GPT-5.4 mini
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Perplexity Sonar
Grok 4.1 Fast
Mistral Small
DeepSeek V4 Flash
Llama 4 Maverick
Qwen 3.7 Flash
Kimi K2
GLM 4.7 FlashX
MiniMax M2.5
GPT-6 Luna
Muse Glimmer 30B
Gusto ADP Workforce Now first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Gusto on the left and ADP Workforce Now on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Gusto and ADP Workforce Now stood in it.

ADP Workforce Now first, Gusto an alternative

4 of 14 modelsGusto was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
Perplexity SonarADP Workforce Now alternatives: Forma, Paycor, Paylocity, Rippling
Grok 4.1 FastADP Workforce Now alternatives: Paycor, Paylocity, PlanSource
Mistral SmallADP Workforce Now, Paycor alternatives: Gusto
MiniMax M2.5ADP Workforce Now, BambooHR alternatives: Businessolver

Neither was the first choice, one was named

7 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
Gemini 3.5 FlashRippling alternatives: ADP Workforce Now, Employee Navigator, Paycor, Paylocity, PlanSource
DeepSeek V4 FlashRippling alternatives: ADP Workforce Now, PlanSource
Qwen 3.7 FlashPaylocity alternatives: ADP Workforce Now, Dayforce, Rippling
Kimi K2Rippling alternatives: ADP Workforce Now, BambooHR, Gusto
GLM 4.7 FlashXPlanSource alternatives: ADP Workforce Now, Benefitfocus, Employee Navigator, Rippling
GPT-6 LunaEmployee Navigator, Rippling alternatives: ADP Workforce Now, PlanSource
Muse Glimmer 30BPlanSource alternatives: ADP Workforce Now, BambooHR, Businessolver, Employee Navigator, Justworks, Namely, Paycor, Paylocity, Rippling

Neither was named

3 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.
Claude Haiku 4.5no first choice
GPT-5.4 miniEase, Employee Navigator alternatives: PlanSource, bswift
Llama 4 Maverickno first choice

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Gusto leads by sixty-two points.
Gusto62%#1 of 14
ADP Workforce Now0%#11 of 14
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
Gusto leads by two points.
Gusto20%#1 of 13
ADP Workforce Now18%#2 of 13
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
The order flips: ADP Workforce Now leads at enterprise.
ADP Workforce Now30%#1 of 12
Gusto0%#12 of 12
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Gusto

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Two of two in this category shown.

“Poor Customer Support: Limited communication options and difficulty reaching representatives” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · hard negative
“Gusto stands out as one of the top recommendations for benefits administration, especially among small businesses” Grok 4.1 Fast · budget prompt · first choice

What the models said about ADP Workforce Now

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. One of one in this category shown.

“ADP leads the global Benefit Administration software market in 2024 with a 10.3% share, driven by its Workforce Now and enterprise benefits solutions.” Muse Glimmer 30B · comparative prompt · first choice
Also compared

Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.