# Segment: Mid-market

# HR AI Recommendation Index, run mai-20260918-0021-calibration_b-2

60 prompts, 12 models, 4,090 raw judge labels, 4,111 scored labels after normalization. Published weights: first choice +3, alternative +2, mention +1, soft negative -2, hard negative -3.

Scored under vendor alias table version 2026-10.7. Raw judge labels are the permanent record; the numbers below are derived from them and are regenerated for every run whenever the alias table changes, so the whole series is always scored under one table version. Resolution of raw names: 3,477 by alias or canonical name, 370 by category-scoped alias, 45 from combined answers split into their products, 8 from combined answers counted once for their first product, 0 excluded by rule, 208 unresolved and counted under the raw name.

## Paraphrase stability

Share of categories where a model's first choice set on the direct prompt equals its set on the paraphrase.

| Model | Same | Different | Stability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 9 | 0% |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 2 | 8 | 20% |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 4 | 6 | 40% |
| Perplexity Sonar | 2 | 8 | 20% |
| Grok 4.1 Fast | 3 | 7 | 30% |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 10 | 0% |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 4 | 6 | 40% |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 9 | 0% |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 1 | 9 | 10% |
| Kimi K2 | 2 | 8 | 20% |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 2 | 8 | 20% |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 1 | 9 | 10% |

A looser measure, whether a direct first choice survives as a first choice or alternative on the paraphrase, is in the appendix.

## Standing by category

First choice share across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts and all 12 models. The top product's share is published alongside the label: contested means the top share is at or below 40%, and a category just above the line is not meaningfully different from one just below it. Consensus means every model's direct-prompt first choice is the same single product.

| Category | Top product | Top share | First choices | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Workable | 22% | 45 | contested |
| benefits-administration | Gusto | 23% | 44 | contested |
| coaching-platforms | Growthspace | 27% | 48 | contested |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Payscale | 33% | 49 | contested |
| contingent-workforce-management | SimpleVMS | 22% | 55 | contested |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Culture Amp | 42% | 45 | clear leader |
| employee-onboarding | Rippling | 32% | 44 | contested |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Deel | 24% | 51 | contested |
| learning-management-systems | TalentLMS | 50% | 44 | clear leader |
| performance-management | Lattice | 43% | 46 | clear leader |

**ai-recruiting-assistants**: Workable 22%, Manatal 16%, GoPerfect 11%, Pin 9%, TheHireHub.AI 7%

**benefits-administration**: Gusto 23%, Employee Navigator 20%, PlanSource 20%, Rippling 18%, ADP Workforce Now 5%

**coaching-platforms**: Growthspace 27%, Boon Health 15%, Exec 12%, Torch 8%, Bravely 6%

**compensation-benchmarking-data**: Payscale 33%, Pave 18%, CompData Surveys 6%, SalaryCube 6%, Mercer Total Remuneration Survey 4%

**contingent-workforce-management**: SimpleVMS 22%, Worksuite 15%, Conexis VMS 11%, TalentDesk.io 11%, VectorVMS 9%

**employee-engagement-surveys**: Culture Amp 42%, FeedbackPulse 11%, Workleap Officevibe 11%, 15Five Engage 9%, Lattice 9%

**employee-onboarding**: Rippling 32%, BambooHR 25%, Zoho People 14%, FirstHR 5%, Gusto 5%

**global-payroll-and-employer-of-record**: Deel 24%, RemoFirst 16%, Remote 12%, Hire with Columbus 10%, Oyster 10%

**learning-management-systems**: TalentLMS 50%, LearnUpon 14%, Absorb LMS 9%, Docebo 5%, Moodle 5%

**performance-management**: Lattice 43%, Effy AI 11%, 15Five 9%, HiBob 7%, Small Improvements 7%

## Anti-recommendations

Products most often labeled soft or hard negative, with the number of models that did so at least once in the category, and the share of that product's labels in the category that were negative. 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.

- **ai-recruiting-assistants**: HireVue (9 models, 8 hard; 14 of 29 labels negative), Eightfold AI (8 models, 6 hard; 10 of 25 labels negative), Workday Recruiting (7 models, 5 hard; 8 of 8 labels negative), Lever (4 models, 2 hard; 4 of 12 labels negative)
- **benefits-administration**: Benefitfocus (7 models, 3 hard; 7 of 28 labels negative), PlanSource (5 models; 5 of 37 labels negative), Workday HCM (5 models; 6 of 16 labels negative), ADP Workforce Now (4 models; 4 of 30 labels negative)
- **coaching-platforms**: BetterUp (8 models, 3 hard; 15 of 31 labels negative), CoachHub (6 models, 2 hard; 9 of 37 labels negative), Profi (5 models, 5 hard; 5 of 5 labels negative), Coach.me (4 models, 4 hard; 4 of 5 labels negative)
- **compensation-benchmarking-data**: Mercer Total Remuneration Survey (9 models, 4 hard; 16 of 37 labels negative), Radford (8 models; 13 of 27 labels negative), Glassdoor (6 models, 3 hard; 9 of 11 labels negative), Willis Towers Watson (5 models, 2 hard; 6 of 14 labels negative)
- **contingent-workforce-management**: SAP Fieldglass (11 models, 5 hard; 24 of 45 labels negative), Beeline (10 models, 4 hard; 16 of 39 labels negative), Workday VNDLY (7 models, 2 hard; 8 of 20 labels negative), Upwork (5 models; 5 of 19 labels negative)
- **employee-engagement-surveys**: Qualtrics EmployeeXM (5 models, 2 hard; 9 of 14 labels negative), Workday Peakon Employee Voice (4 models, 1 hard; 4 of 9 labels negative), Culture Amp (3 models, 1 hard; 4 of 39 labels negative), Lattice (3 models; 3 of 32 labels negative)
- **employee-onboarding**: BambooHR (6 models, 2 hard; 9 of 55 labels negative), Workday (6 models, 2 hard; 9 of 19 labels negative), Rippling (4 models; 4 of 42 labels negative), ADP (2 models, 1 hard; 2 of 2 labels negative)
- **global-payroll-and-employer-of-record**: Deel (8 models; 10 of 52 labels negative), Remote (5 models, 1 hard; 9 of 46 labels negative), Papaya Global (4 models, 1 hard; 5 of 36 labels negative), Rippling (4 models; 4 of 31 labels negative)
- **learning-management-systems**: Moodle (7 models, 2 hard; 10 of 31 labels negative), Blackboard Learn (6 models, 4 hard; 8 of 15 labels negative), Canvas LMS (5 models; 5 of 17 labels negative), D2L Brightspace (4 models, 2 hard; 4 of 10 labels negative)
- **performance-management**: BambooHR (9 models, 2 hard; 10 of 29 labels negative), 15Five (6 models, 2 hard; 6 of 44 labels negative), Lattice (6 models; 7 of 48 labels negative), Workday HCM Performance Management (4 models, 2 hard; 10 of 20 labels negative)

## Leadership and criticism

First-choice share and negative label rate are independent, so every product with at least 10 labels in a category is placed on both axes. Cutoffs: leader at 30% or more of first choices, criticized at 25% or more negative labels. An endorsed leader is recommended and not criticized; a criticized default is recommended while the models list its problems; a criticized challenger is named mostly to be warned against.

| Category | Product | First-choice share | Negative rate | Labels | Quadrant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Workable | 22% | 9% | 23 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Manatal | 16% | 0% | 17 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | GoPerfect | 11% | 0% | 14 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Gem | 4% | 0% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Zoho Recruit | 4% | 0% | 15 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Ashby | 4% | 20% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Greenhouse | 2% | 27% | 22 | criticized challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Lever | 2% | 33% | 12 | criticized challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Eightfold AI | 2% | 40% | 25 | criticized challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | HireVue | 2% | 48% | 29 | criticized challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | SeekOut | 0% | 0% | 13 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | hireEZ | 0% | 0% | 15 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Truffle | 0% | 0% | 11 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Juicebox | 0% | 9% | 11 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Paradox | 0% | 9% | 11 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | Gusto | 23% | 21% | 33 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | Employee Navigator | 20% | 5% | 37 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | PlanSource | 20% | 14% | 37 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | Rippling | 18% | 2% | 44 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | Paycor | 5% | 5% | 21 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | ADP Workforce Now | 5% | 13% | 30 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | Paylocity | 2% | 4% | 23 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | Ease | 2% | 10% | 21 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | bswift | 0% | 10% | 20 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | TriNet Zenefits | 0% | 18% | 11 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | Benefitfocus | 0% | 25% | 28 | criticized challenger |
| benefits-administration | BambooHR | 0% | 27% | 22 | criticized challenger |
| benefits-administration | Workday HCM | 0% | 38% | 16 | criticized challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Growthspace | 27% | 0% | 28 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Boon Health | 15% | 0% | 21 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Exec | 12% | 0% | 24 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Torch | 8% | 0% | 22 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | CoachHub | 6% | 24% | 37 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Risely | 4% | 0% | 11 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | BetterUp | 2% | 48% | 31 | criticized challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Coachello | 0% | 0% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | CoachAccountable | 0% | 0% | 13 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Thinkific | 0% | 10% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Kajabi | 0% | 20% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Payscale | 33% | 10% | 30 | endorsed leader |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Pave | 18% | 0% | 32 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | SalaryCube | 6% | 0% | 12 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Ravio | 4% | 4% | 28 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Salary.com CompAnalyst | 4% | 10% | 20 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Mercer Total Remuneration Survey | 4% | 43% | 37 | criticized challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Comprehensive.io | 2% | 0% | 14 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Radford | 2% | 48% | 27 | criticized challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Aon's Radford McLagan Compensation Database | 0% | 30% | 10 | criticized challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Willis Towers Watson | 0% | 43% | 14 | criticized challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Glassdoor | 0% | 82% | 11 | criticized challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | SimpleVMS | 22% | 0% | 19 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Worksuite | 15% | 3% | 30 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Conexis VMS | 11% | 0% | 16 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | TalentDesk.io | 11% | 4% | 23 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | VectorVMS | 9% | 0% | 23 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Deel | 5% | 5% | 21 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | SimplifyVMS | 4% | 6% | 17 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Beeline | 4% | 41% | 39 | criticized challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Remote | 2% | 0% | 14 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Worksome | 2% | 14% | 14 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Magnit | 2% | 21% | 24 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Fiverr | 2% | 25% | 16 | criticized challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Upwork | 2% | 26% | 19 | criticized challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Workday VNDLY | 2% | 40% | 20 | criticized challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | SAP Fieldglass | 2% | 53% | 45 | criticized challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Coupa Contingent Workforce | 0% | 27% | 11 | criticized challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Culture Amp | 42% | 10% | 39 | endorsed leader |
| employee-engagement-surveys | FeedbackPulse | 11% | 0% | 13 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Workleap Officevibe | 11% | 6% | 33 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | 15Five Engage | 9% | 3% | 32 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Lattice | 9% | 9% | 32 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Leapsome | 2% | 7% | 14 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Google Forms | 0% | 20% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Qualtrics EmployeeXM | 0% | 64% | 14 | criticized challenger |
| employee-onboarding | Rippling | 32% | 10% | 42 | endorsed leader |
| employee-onboarding | BambooHR | 25% | 16% | 55 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | Zoho People | 14% | 0% | 11 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | HiBob | 5% | 7% | 27 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | Gusto | 5% | 8% | 24 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | Enboarder | 2% | 5% | 20 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | Deel | 2% | 6% | 17 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | Trainual | 0% | 0% | 11 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | ClearCompany | 0% | 0% | 11 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | Workday | 0% | 47% | 19 | criticized challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Deel | 24% | 19% | 52 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | RemoFirst | 16% | 5% | 22 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Remote | 12% | 20% | 46 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Oyster | 10% | 6% | 32 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Rippling | 8% | 13% | 31 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Papaya Global | 8% | 14% | 36 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Remote People | 4% | 8% | 13 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Multiplier | 4% | 8% | 25 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | G-P | 0% | 21% | 14 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | TalentLMS | 50% | 4% | 54 | endorsed leader |
| learning-management-systems | LearnUpon | 14% | 0% | 27 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | Absorb LMS | 9% | 6% | 34 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | Docebo | 5% | 23% | 35 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | Moodle | 5% | 32% | 31 | criticized challenger |
| learning-management-systems | 360Learning | 2% | 0% | 27 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | iSpring Learn | 2% | 8% | 12 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | SAP Litmos | 0% | 17% | 18 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | Cornerstone OnDemand | 0% | 29% | 17 | criticized challenger |
| learning-management-systems | Canvas LMS | 0% | 29% | 17 | criticized challenger |
| learning-management-systems | D2L Brightspace | 0% | 40% | 10 | criticized challenger |
| learning-management-systems | Blackboard Learn | 0% | 53% | 15 | criticized challenger |
| learning-management-systems | Google Classroom | 0% | 60% | 10 | criticized challenger |
| performance-management | Lattice | 43% | 15% | 48 | endorsed leader |
| performance-management | 15Five | 9% | 14% | 44 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | HiBob | 7% | 0% | 24 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | Zoho People | 7% | 0% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | Small Improvements | 7% | 9% | 11 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | Betterworks | 2% | 0% | 25 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | Leapsome | 2% | 3% | 31 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | Teamflect | 2% | 30% | 10 | criticized challenger |
| performance-management | Culture Amp | 0% | 0% | 18 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | ThriveSparrow | 0% | 0% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | PerformYard | 0% | 14% | 21 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | Rippling | 0% | 20% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | BambooHR | 0% | 34% | 29 | criticized challenger |
| performance-management | Workday HCM Performance Management | 0% | 50% | 20 | criticized challenger |
| performance-management | SAP SuccessFactors | 0% | 69% | 13 | criticized challenger |

## Treatment of lab-affiliated products by model

Self-preference is only measurable with a control group: how the lab's own model treats its products compared with how every other model treats the same products. Anthropic, OpenAI have no products in the covered categories with enough labels to measure, so nothing is claimed about them.

**Google products** (4 products, 24 labels). Cells are positive/negative/all labels.

| Product | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Classroom |  |  | 0/2/2 |  | 1/2/3 |  | 0/2/2 |  |  | 2/0/2 | 1/0/1 | 1/0/1 |
| Google Forms |  |  | 1/0/1 | 0/1/1 | 1/1/2 | 1/0/1 | 1/0/1 |  | 1/0/1 | 1/0/1 | 1/0/1 | 1/0/1 |
| Google Sheets |  |  |  |  | 0/1/1 |  |  |  | 1/0/1 |  |  |  |
| Google Gemini |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 1/0/1 |  |

Mean label weight on Google products: Gemini 3.5 Flash -1.00 over 3 labels; the other 11 models +0.43 over 21 labels. Weights run from +3 (first choice) to -3 (hard negative). A gap under about half a point on this few labels is not a finding.

## Discontinued products recommended

None in this run.

## Normalization

Unresolved, 208 labels counted under the raw name, for human review:

Fabric in ai-recruiting-assistants (2), FlentisPRO in contingent-workforce-management (2), Kallidus Sapling in employee-onboarding (2), LinkedIn Salary in compensation-benchmarking-data (2), Oneteam in employee-onboarding (2), Paradox.ai in ai-recruiting-assistants (2), Remunance in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record (2), Simplero in coaching-platforms (2), The Happiness Index in employee-engagement-surveys (2), The Life Coach School in coaching-platforms (2), 360Learning Team Plan in coaching-platforms (1), ADP's international solutions in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record (1), Acvian in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record (1), Alison for Business in learning-management-systems (1), Allegis in contingent-workforce-management (1), Amazon's old internal recruiting tool in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Amazon’s internal recruiting tool in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), AnandTech/Tom's Hardware in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Anra in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Anthology in learning-management-systems (1), A·Minds Candidate Screening AI Assistant in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), BAPCo / Sysmark in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), BDO Mid-Market Compensation Trends Report in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), BLS OES in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Blue Marble in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record (1), Borderless in contingent-workforce-management (1), Borderless in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record (1), Brattle in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), BrightOnboarding in employee-onboarding (1), Browserbase in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Bunch.ai in coaching-platforms (1), Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment Statistics in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), CWS in contingent-workforce-management (1), Castlight in benefits-administration (1), Catapult HR Wage & Salary Survey in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Ceipal in employee-onboarding (1), Chatbot Arena in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Checkoff in employee-onboarding (1), Chronus Mentoring in coaching-platforms (1), CleverLMS in learning-management-systems (1), Co-Active Training Institute in coaching-platforms (1), CoMetrics in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Coach by CareerVillage in coaching-platforms (1), CoachLogix in coaching-platforms (1), Coacheroes in coaching-platforms (1), Comptryx in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), CoreAchieve in learning-management-systems (1), DataAnnotation.tech in contingent-workforce-management (1), Day 1 Life in employee-onboarding (1), DeepInfra in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Digital Foundry in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Edmodo in learning-management-systems (1), Eleven VMS in contingent-workforce-management (1), Employers Association / local industry surveys in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Epoch AI in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Fireworks (via OpenRouter) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), FitPros in coaching-platforms (1), Forrester Wave in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), GMICloud in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), GPT-4 in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Gamers Nexus in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Gartner's Magic Quadrant in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), GeneBench in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Gig Worker Solutions in contingent-workforce-management (1), Groundwork1 in learning-management-systems (1), HR Plus (formerly Zenefits) in benefits-administration (1), Harrison Survey in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), HireLab.io in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), IBM AI Fairness 360 in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Incogneato in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Indeed Salary Search in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Inpulse in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Jazz in performance-management (1), Jobvite Onboard in employee-onboarding (1), Jotform Bronze in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Justworks Benefits in benefits-administration (1), Kelly in contingent-workforce-management (1), Kennedy Information in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Kforce in contingent-workforce-management (1), Kula in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), LM Arena (Chatbot Arena) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), LMArena in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), LMSYS Arena in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Learn365 (formerly LMS365) in learning-management-systems (1), Legacy/On-Premise VMS Solutions in contingent-workforce-management (1), Lessann in coaching-platforms (1), Life Coach Hub in coaching-platforms (1), LifeCoach.com in coaching-platforms (1), Lifted in contingent-workforce-management (1), LinkedIn Job Ads in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Lumity in benefits-administration (1), MYA (by Mya Systems) in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Mancer in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Maven in coaching-platforms (1), MyPTHub in coaching-platforms (1), Mya (Paradox) in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), NERA in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Newfield Network in coaching-platforms (1), Odoo Appraisals in performance-management (1), OptionImpact in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Outlier.ai in contingent-workforce-management (1), PPI Group in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Paradox™ (Olivia) in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Parasail in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), PassMark in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Pave's Market Data Lite in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Pavilion GTM Compensation Benchmarks in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Paycor Perform in performance-management (1), PaymentWorks in employee-onboarding (1), Payslip in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record (1), Planhat in employee-onboarding (1), Pontoon in contingent-workforce-management (1), Prentus in coaching-platforms (1), ProProfs Survey Maker in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Procom in contingent-workforce-management (1), Prosperix VMS Network in contingent-workforce-management (1), Provade VMS in contingent-workforce-management (1), Puck in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Puget Systems in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Pulse Feedback in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Qualtrics Employee XM in employee-engagement-surveys (1), QuickCoach in coaching-platforms (1), Radford Global Technology Survey (by Aon) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Remotasks in contingent-workforce-management (1), Resume Coach in coaching-platforms (1), Retorio in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Riseguide.com in coaching-platforms (1), S&P Global in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), S&P Global Mobility in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), SAP’s SuccessFactors Sales Performance Management in performance-management (1), SHRM CompAnalyst (Salary.com-powered) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Salco in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), SecondBody in coaching-platforms (1), Seesaw in learning-management-systems (1), ServiceNow Benchmarks in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Shor in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record (1), Showpad Coach in coaching-platforms (1), SiliconFlow in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), SimplePerf in performance-management (1), SimplePerf (BuddiesHR) in performance-management (1), SiriusXM\u2019s AI Screening in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Skima.AI in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Smart Track VMS in contingent-workforce-management (1), Spoke in coaching-platforms (1), Spook Luke's GCR/Grand Champ Road Map in coaching-platforms (1), Spott in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Squirrel Data in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), StaffingNation in contingent-workforce-management (1), Strove in coaching-platforms (1), Success Factors in learning-management-systems (1), SurveyLegend in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Swoon in contingent-workforce-management (1), Synergy in contingent-workforce-management (1), Tabu.hr (Tabu Benchmark with Companies) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Taito.ai in performance-management (1), Teachme.to in coaching-platforms (1), Teamazing AI Coaching in coaching-platforms (1), Teamgantt / Glint (now part of LinkedIn/Shrm) in employee-engagement-surveys (1), TechSpot in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Tend in contingent-workforce-management (1), Tenzo AI in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Textio Loop in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), The Alexander Group (Sales Compensation Survey) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Tlancy / Talentlyft in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Towers Watson in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Trafft in coaching-platforms (1), TrainHeroic in coaching-platforms (1), TrainerBuilds in coaching-platforms (1), TriNet Perform Reviews in performance-management (1), TrustRadius in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Tutor LMS in learning-management-systems (1), Twilio Segment in employee-engagement-surveys (1), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) – OEWS in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) – Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), UKG Pro Benefits Hub in benefits-administration (1), Unacademy in coaching-platforms (1), UpGlide in contingent-workforce-management (1), VeraCode in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Verista in contingent-workforce-management (1), Vervo e in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), VirtualSpeech in coaching-platforms (1), Waggle in coaching-platforms (1), WebCT in learning-management-systems (1), Welcome.ai in employee-onboarding (1), Welocalize in employee-onboarding (1), Willis Towers Watson [WTW] in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), WorkForce Staffing in contingent-workforce-management (1), Workforce Benefits in benefits-administration (1), Worksome VMS in contingent-workforce-management (1), WorldatWork Salary Data Center in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Xor.AI in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Zencal in coaching-platforms (1), dLocal in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record (1), iMercer in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), iPEC in coaching-platforms (1), iTutorGroup's AI screener in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), inFeedo AI in employee-engagement-surveys (1), thecoachme.com in coaching-platforms (1)

Category-scoped resolutions, 370 labels. A bare vendor name was read as that vendor's product for the asked category, which assigns specificity the model did not write; each one is listed so the assumption is visible:

15Five in employee-engagement-surveys read as 15Five Engage (32), Mercer in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey (32), Boon in coaching-platforms read as Boon Health (18), TalentDesk in contingent-workforce-management read as TalentDesk.io (18), Workday in performance-management read as Workday HCM Performance Management (15), Qualtrics in employee-engagement-surveys read as Qualtrics EmployeeXM (12), Oyster HR in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Oyster (11), Salary.com in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Salary.com CompAnalyst (11), RemotePeople in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Remote People (10), Aon in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Aon's Radford McLagan Compensation Database (8), Litmos in learning-management-systems read as SAP Litmos (8), Workday in benefits-administration read as Workday HCM (8), Zenefits in benefits-administration read as TriNet Zenefits (8), ADP in benefits-administration read as ADP Workforce Now (7), Cornerstone in learning-management-systems read as Cornerstone OnDemand (7), Officevibe in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workleap Officevibe (7), Workday in ai-recruiting-assistants read as Workday Recruiting (7), Canvas in learning-management-systems read as Canvas LMS (6), Culpepper in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Culpepper Compensation Surveys (6), Absorb in learning-management-systems read as Absorb LMS (5), Blackboard in learning-management-systems read as Blackboard Learn (5), Korn Ferry in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Korn Ferry Pay (5), Salary.com (CompAnalyst) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Salary.com CompAnalyst (5), Workleap in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workleap Officevibe (5), Workleap (formerly Officevibe) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workleap Officevibe (5), Canvas (by Instructure) in learning-management-systems read as Canvas LMS (4), Eightfold in ai-recruiting-assistants read as Eightfold AI (4), HiBob HRIS in performance-management read as HiBob (4), Workday Peakon in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workday Peakon Employee Voice (4), Workleap in performance-management read as Workleap Officevibe (4), ADP GlobalView in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as ADP GlobalView Payroll (3), Atlas in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Atlas HXM (3), Canvas (Instructure) in learning-management-systems read as Canvas LMS (3), Carta Total Comp in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Carta Total Compensation (3), Conexis in contingent-workforce-management read as Conexis VMS (3), Coupa in contingent-workforce-management read as Coupa Contingent Workforce (3), Officevibe (Workleap) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workleap Officevibe (3), Workday Benefits in benefits-administration read as Workday HCM (3), ADP Global Payroll in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as ADP GlobalView Payroll (2), Aon (Radford) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Aon's Radford McLagan Compensation Database (2), Glint in employee-engagement-surveys read as Microsoft Viva Glint (2), Moodle Workplace in learning-management-systems read as Moodle (2), Peakon in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workday Peakon Employee Voice (2), ProProfs in learning-management-systems read as ProProfs Training Maker (2), Workable in employee-onboarding read as Workable HR (2), Workday in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Workday Payroll (2), Workday Human Capital Management in benefits-administration read as Workday HCM (2), Workleap (Officevibe) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workleap Officevibe (2), ADP (Workforce Now/Run) in benefits-administration read as ADP Workforce Now (1), ADP Workforce Now Benefits Administration in benefits-administration read as ADP Workforce Now (1), Bain in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Bain & Company (1), Blackboard (Anthology/Blackboard Learn) in learning-management-systems read as Blackboard Learn (1), Blackboard (Blackboard Learn/Ultra) in learning-management-systems read as Blackboard Learn (1), Blackboard (Ultra) in learning-management-systems read as Blackboard Learn (1), Blackboard (now Anthology) in learning-management-systems read as Blackboard Learn (1), Bob in performance-management read as HiBob (1), CompData in compensation-benchmarking-data read as CompData Surveys (1), Cornerstone (formerly CSOD) in performance-management read as Cornerstone OnDemand (1), Deel HR in employee-onboarding read as Deel (1), EdApp in learning-management-systems read as SC Training (1), Freelancer in contingent-workforce-management read as Freelancer.com (1), Glint (LinkedIn) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Microsoft Viva Glint (1), HiBob HRIS in employee-onboarding read as HiBob (1), Litmos (now SAP Litmos) in learning-management-systems read as SAP Litmos (1), Mercer (US General Industry Database) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey (1), Mercer (WTW) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey (1), Mercer (and Radford/Aon) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey (1), OfficeVibe in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workleap Officevibe (1), Oracle HCM Cloud in performance-management read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM (1), Papaya in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Papaya Global (1), Paychex in benefits-administration read as Paychex Flex (1), Paychex in employee-onboarding read as Paychex Flex (1), Paychex in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Paychex Flex (1), Paylocity Global Payroll in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Paylocity (1), Peakon (Adobe) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workday Peakon Employee Voice (1), Peakon (now part of Workday) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workday Peakon Employee Voice (1), SAP in employee-onboarding read as SAP SuccessFactors (1), Sana in learning-management-systems read as Sana Learn (1), TopSource Worldwide in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as TopSource (1), Tovuti in learning-management-systems read as Tovuti LMS (1), Workday in learning-management-systems read as Workday Learning (1), Workday (HCM Suite) in performance-management read as Workday HCM Performance Management (1), Workday (HiredScore) in ai-recruiting-assistants read as Workday Recruiting (1), Workday (Mid‑Market) in performance-management read as Workday HCM Performance Management (1), Workday Performance in performance-management read as Workday HCM Performance Management (1), Workday Performance & Talent Management in performance-management read as Workday HCM Performance Management (1), Workday Performance Management in performance-management read as Workday HCM Performance Management (1), Workleap (formerly OfficeVibe) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workleap Officevibe (1), Zenefits (TriNet Zenefits) in benefits-administration read as TriNet Zenefits (1), Zenefits (now TriNet HR) in benefits-administration read as TriNet Zenefits (1), iCIMS Talent Cloud in ai-recruiting-assistants read as iCIMS (1), iSolved People Cloud in benefits-administration read as isolved (1), isolved People Cloud in benefits-administration read as isolved (1)

Combined answers split into one label per product: 3DMark/Cinebench, ADP Workforce Now / ADP Benefits, ADP Workforce Now / ADP Benefits Administration, BLS/Indeed, Fieldglass/SAP, G-P / Safeguard Global, Glint / Viva Engage (Microsoft), Glint/Peakon, Google Forms / Microsoft Forms, Guidepoint/Paychex, JazzHR/Breezy, Lever / Greenhouse, Mercer / Radford, Mercer/Radford/WTW, Paycor/Paycom, Payscale / Payscale Ascent, Practice / CoachVantage, RemoFirst/RemotePeople, RemotePeople / Rivermate, TalentDesk/Worksome, Upwork / Fiverr, Velocity Global / Pebl, Velocity Global/Pebl, WTW/Radford

## Appendix: loose paraphrase stability

- Claude Haiku 4.5: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 2 of 9 categories (22%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, employee-onboarding, learning-management-systems, performance-management
- GPT-5.4 mini: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 4 of 10 categories (40%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems, performance-management
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 7 of 10 categories (70%); differing under the strict rule: coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems
- Perplexity Sonar: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 7 of 10 categories (70%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems
- Grok 4.1 Fast: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 8 of 10 categories (80%); differing under the strict rule: benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, performance-management
- Mistral Small: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 5 of 10 categories (50%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems, performance-management
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 9 of 10 categories (90%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems
- Llama 4 Maverick: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 2 of 9 categories (22%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems, performance-management
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 5 of 10 categories (50%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems, performance-management
- Kimi K2: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 9 of 10 categories (90%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 6 of 10 categories (60%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, performance-management
- MiniMax M2.5: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 7 of 10 categories (70%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems


# Segment: Enterprise

# HR AI Recommendation Index, run mai-20260918-0021-calibration_b-2

59 prompts, 12 models, 3,839 raw judge labels, 3,860 scored labels after normalization. Published weights: first choice +3, alternative +2, mention +1, soft negative -2, hard negative -3.

Scored under vendor alias table version 2026-10.7. Raw judge labels are the permanent record; the numbers below are derived from them and are regenerated for every run whenever the alias table changes, so the whole series is always scored under one table version. Resolution of raw names: 3,177 by alias or canonical name, 428 by category-scoped alias, 49 from combined answers split into their products, 8 from combined answers counted once for their first product, 0 excluded by rule, 191 unresolved and counted under the raw name.

## Paraphrase stability

Share of categories where a model's first choice set on the direct prompt equals its set on the paraphrase.

| Model | Same | Different | Stability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 2 | 8 | 20% |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 10 | 0% |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 2 | 8 | 20% |
| Perplexity Sonar | 1 | 9 | 10% |
| Grok 4.1 Fast | 0 | 10 | 0% |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 10 | 0% |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 1 | 9 | 10% |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 9 | 0% |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 3 | 7 | 30% |
| Kimi K2 | 1 | 9 | 10% |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 1 | 9 | 10% |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 10 | 0% |

A looser measure, whether a direct first choice survives as a first choice or alternative on the paraphrase, is in the appendix.

## Standing by category

First choice share across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts and all 12 models. The top product's share is published alongside the label: contested means the top share is at or below 40%, and a category just above the line is not meaningfully different from one just below it. Consensus means every model's direct-prompt first choice is the same single product.

| Category | Top product | Top share | First choices | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Eightfold AI | 28% | 47 | contested |
| benefits-administration | ADP Workforce Now | 26% | 42 | contested |
| coaching-platforms | BetterUp | 34% | 44 | contested |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Mercer Total Remuneration Survey | 36% | 61 | contested |
| contingent-workforce-management | SAP Fieldglass | 39% | 51 | contested |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Qualtrics EmployeeXM | 28% | 50 | contested |
| employee-onboarding | Workday | 41% | 39 | clear leader |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Remote | 22% | 46 | contested |
| learning-management-systems | Docebo | 43% | 47 | clear leader |
| performance-management | Workday HCM Performance Management | 33% | 43 | contested |

**ai-recruiting-assistants**: Eightfold AI 28%, HireVue 13%, GoPerfect 11%, Workable 6%, Greenhouse 4%

**benefits-administration**: ADP Workforce Now 26%, bswift 24%, Workday HCM 19%, Benefitfocus 7%, Businessolver 7%

**coaching-platforms**: BetterUp 34%, CoachHub 27%, EZRA 7%, Exec 7%, Risely 7%

**compensation-benchmarking-data**: Mercer Total Remuneration Survey 36%, Radford 13%, Salary.com CompAnalyst 7%, Willis Towers Watson 7%, Pave 5%

**contingent-workforce-management**: SAP Fieldglass 39%, Beeline 22%, Worksuite 10%, WorkMarket 8%, Workday VNDLY 8%

**employee-engagement-surveys**: Qualtrics EmployeeXM 28%, Culture Amp 20%, Workday Peakon Employee Voice 20%, Microsoft Viva Glint 10%, CultureMonkey 6%

**employee-onboarding**: Workday 41%, Rippling 31%, Enboarder 8%, BambooHR 5%, Deel 3%

**global-payroll-and-employer-of-record**: Deel 22%, Remote 22%, ADP GlobalView Payroll 17%, Papaya Global 11%, ADP 9%

**learning-management-systems**: Docebo 43%, Cornerstone OnDemand 11%, LifterLMS 11%, Continu 6%, Absorb LMS 4%

**performance-management**: Workday HCM Performance Management 33%, Betterworks 30%, Lattice 19%, PerformYard 5%, SAP SuccessFactors HCM 5%

## Anti-recommendations

Products most often labeled soft or hard negative, with the number of models that did so at least once in the category, and the share of that product's labels in the category that were negative. 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.

- **ai-recruiting-assistants**: Workday Recruiting (9 models, 4 hard; 9 of 23 labels negative), HireVue (7 models, 3 hard; 7 of 35 labels negative), Eightfold AI (6 models, 2 hard; 7 of 41 labels negative), iCIMS (5 models, 1 hard; 6 of 17 labels negative)
- **benefits-administration**: Gusto (9 models, 7 hard; 10 of 10 labels negative), PlanSource (8 models; 8 of 29 labels negative), Benefitfocus (7 models, 2 hard; 9 of 37 labels negative), Rippling (7 models, 1 hard; 9 of 37 labels negative)
- **coaching-platforms**: BetterUp (9 models, 2 hard; 13 of 56 labels negative), CoachHub (6 models, 2 hard; 9 of 57 labels negative), Exec (3 models, 1 hard; 3 of 28 labels negative), Torch (3 models, 1 hard; 3 of 26 labels negative)
- **compensation-benchmarking-data**: Payscale (6 models, 2 hard; 9 of 27 labels negative), Salary.com CompAnalyst (5 models, 2 hard; 6 of 23 labels negative), Glassdoor (3 models, 1 hard; 3 of 4 labels negative), Pave (3 models, 1 hard; 4 of 17 labels negative)
- **contingent-workforce-management**: SAP Fieldglass (7 models, 1 hard; 7 of 49 labels negative), Beeline (5 models; 5 of 46 labels negative), Fiverr (4 models, 1 hard; 4 of 10 labels negative), Upwork (3 models, 1 hard; 3 of 15 labels negative)
- **employee-engagement-surveys**: Lattice (7 models, 2 hard; 7 of 22 labels negative), Culture Amp (6 models, 2 hard; 8 of 43 labels negative), Qualtrics EmployeeXM (6 models, 2 hard; 8 of 42 labels negative), 15Five Engage (5 models, 2 hard; 5 of 14 labels negative)
- **employee-onboarding**: BambooHR (7 models, 3 hard; 13 of 30 labels negative), Gusto (5 models, 3 hard; 5 of 8 labels negative), Workday (5 models, 1 hard; 5 of 55 labels negative), SAP SuccessFactors (4 models, 1 hard; 5 of 34 labels negative)
- **global-payroll-and-employer-of-record**: Papaya Global (8 models, 3 hard; 9 of 45 labels negative), Oyster (5 models, 2 hard; 5 of 14 labels negative), Deel (5 models, 1 hard; 6 of 49 labels negative), Rippling (4 models, 2 hard; 5 of 31 labels negative)
- **learning-management-systems**: Moodle (6 models, 2 hard; 7 of 19 labels negative), Cornerstone OnDemand (5 models, 3 hard; 8 of 48 labels negative), TalentLMS (5 models, 1 hard; 7 of 17 labels negative), Docebo (4 models, 2 hard; 4 of 51 labels negative)
- **performance-management**: 15Five (10 models, 2 hard; 10 of 30 labels negative), Lattice (10 models, 1 hard; 13 of 46 labels negative), SAP SuccessFactors (8 models, 1 hard; 12 of 40 labels negative), Workday HCM Performance Management (7 models; 9 of 49 labels negative)

## Leadership and criticism

First-choice share and negative label rate are independent, so every product with at least 10 labels in a category is placed on both axes. Cutoffs: leader at 30% or more of first choices, criticized at 25% or more negative labels. An endorsed leader is recommended and not criticized; a criticized default is recommended while the models list its problems; a criticized challenger is named mostly to be warned against.

| Category | Product | First-choice share | Negative rate | Labels | Quadrant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Eightfold AI | 28% | 17% | 41 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | HireVue | 13% | 20% | 35 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | GoPerfect | 11% | 0% | 11 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Paradox | 4% | 7% | 28 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Greenhouse | 4% | 17% | 24 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Workday Recruiting | 4% | 39% | 23 | criticized challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Gem | 2% | 0% | 11 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | SeekOut | 2% | 0% | 11 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Phenom | 2% | 12% | 17 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | iCIMS | 2% | 35% | 17 | criticized challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | SmartRecruiters | 0% | 8% | 12 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | ADP Workforce Now | 26% | 9% | 47 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | bswift | 24% | 5% | 40 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | Workday HCM | 19% | 12% | 50 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | Businessolver | 7% | 0% | 14 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | Rippling | 7% | 24% | 37 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | Benefitfocus | 7% | 24% | 37 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | PlanSource | 2% | 28% | 29 | criticized challenger |
| benefits-administration | UKG Pro | 2% | 29% | 17 | criticized challenger |
| benefits-administration | Alight Solutions | 0% | 10% | 20 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | Employee Navigator | 0% | 45% | 11 | criticized challenger |
| benefits-administration | Gusto | 0% | 100% | 10 | criticized challenger |
| coaching-platforms | BetterUp | 34% | 23% | 56 | endorsed leader |
| coaching-platforms | CoachHub | 27% | 16% | 57 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Exec | 7% | 11% | 28 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | EZRA | 7% | 11% | 37 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Risely | 7% | 17% | 18 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Coachello | 5% | 0% | 19 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Growthspace | 2% | 0% | 23 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Torch | 2% | 12% | 26 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Boon Health | 0% | 8% | 24 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Valence | 0% | 18% | 17 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Mercer Total Remuneration Survey | 36% | 5% | 44 | endorsed leader |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Radford | 13% | 5% | 22 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Willis Towers Watson | 7% | 11% | 18 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Salary.com CompAnalyst | 7% | 26% | 23 | criticized challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Pave | 5% | 24% | 17 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Korn Ferry Pay | 3% | 8% | 12 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Ravio | 3% | 21% | 14 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Payscale | 3% | 33% | 27 | criticized challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Deloitte | 0% | 0% | 12 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Bain & Company | 0% | 0% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Gartner | 0% | 25% | 12 | criticized challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | SAP Fieldglass | 39% | 14% | 49 | endorsed leader |
| contingent-workforce-management | Beeline | 22% | 11% | 46 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Worksuite | 10% | 7% | 15 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | WorkMarket | 8% | 0% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Workday VNDLY | 8% | 3% | 33 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Magnit | 4% | 9% | 34 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Upwork | 4% | 20% | 15 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | SimplifyVMS | 2% | 0% | 16 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Deel | 2% | 10% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Fiverr | 2% | 40% | 10 | criticized challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Coupa Contingent Workforce | 0% | 0% | 14 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Qualtrics EmployeeXM | 28% | 19% | 42 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Workday Peakon Employee Voice | 20% | 3% | 31 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Culture Amp | 20% | 19% | 43 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Microsoft Viva Glint | 10% | 0% | 22 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | CultureMonkey | 6% | 0% | 17 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Lattice | 2% | 32% | 22 | criticized challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | 15Five Engage | 0% | 36% | 14 | criticized challenger |
| employee-onboarding | Workday | 41% | 9% | 55 | endorsed leader |
| employee-onboarding | Rippling | 31% | 8% | 49 | endorsed leader |
| employee-onboarding | Enboarder | 8% | 0% | 20 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | BambooHR | 5% | 43% | 30 | criticized challenger |
| employee-onboarding | Deel | 3% | 8% | 13 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | SAP SuccessFactors | 3% | 15% | 34 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | Click Boarding | 0% | 0% | 12 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | UKG Pro | 0% | 0% | 15 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | ServiceNow HR Service Delivery | 0% | 0% | 12 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM | 0% | 13% | 15 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Remote | 22% | 9% | 47 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Deel | 22% | 12% | 49 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | ADP GlobalView Payroll | 17% | 19% | 16 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Papaya Global | 11% | 20% | 45 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | G-P | 7% | 12% | 32 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Rippling | 2% | 16% | 31 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Atlas HXM | 2% | 17% | 12 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Velocity Global | 2% | 20% | 20 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Safeguard Global | 2% | 36% | 11 | criticized challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Multiplier | 0% | 23% | 13 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Oyster | 0% | 36% | 14 | criticized challenger |
| learning-management-systems | Docebo | 43% | 8% | 51 | endorsed leader |
| learning-management-systems | Cornerstone OnDemand | 11% | 17% | 48 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | Absorb LMS | 4% | 7% | 45 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | SAP Litmos | 2% | 0% | 19 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | Moodle | 2% | 37% | 19 | criticized challenger |
| learning-management-systems | TalentLMS | 2% | 41% | 17 | criticized challenger |
| learning-management-systems | 360Learning | 0% | 8% | 26 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | SAP SuccessFactors Learning | 0% | 12% | 25 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | Workday Learning | 0% | 22% | 18 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | Workday HCM Performance Management | 33% | 18% | 49 | endorsed leader |
| performance-management | Betterworks | 30% | 6% | 49 | endorsed leader |
| performance-management | Lattice | 19% | 28% | 46 | criticized challenger |
| performance-management | Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM | 2% | 25% | 16 | criticized challenger |
| performance-management | SAP SuccessFactors | 2% | 30% | 40 | criticized challenger |
| performance-management | Culture Amp | 0% | 18% | 17 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | Leapsome | 0% | 29% | 21 | criticized challenger |
| performance-management | 15Five | 0% | 33% | 30 | criticized challenger |

## Treatment of lab-affiliated products by model

Self-preference is only measurable with a control group: how the lab's own model treats its products compared with how every other model treats the same products. Anthropic, OpenAI, Google have no products in the covered categories with enough labels to measure, so nothing is claimed about them.

## Discontinued products recommended

None in this run.

## Normalization

Unresolved, 191 labels counted under the raw name, for human review:

A.T. Kearney in compensation-benchmarking-data (2), Adobe Experience Cloud in employee-engagement-surveys (2), Appical in employee-onboarding (2), BIPO in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record (2), BambooHR Onboarding in employee-onboarding (2), Bentek in benefits-administration (2), Cornerstone Performance in performance-management (2), ERI Economic Research Institute in compensation-benchmarking-data (2), Halogen in performance-management (2), LinkedIn Salary in compensation-benchmarking-data (2), Remote& in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record (2), SaaS Talent in ai-recruiting-assistants (2), Workday Talent Acquisition Agent in ai-recruiting-assistants (2), ADP Comprehensive Services (ASO) in benefits-administration (1), ADP Enterprise HR / ADP Vantage in benefits-administration (1), ADP Workforce Now® in benefits-administration (1), ADP suites in performance-management (1), Adobe Experience Cloud / Adobe Journey Optimizer in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Alexander Group Sales Compensation & Productivity Survey in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Allegis Global Solutions in contingent-workforce-management (1), Almanac Group (Radford) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Amazon's in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Amazon's scrapped AI recruiting tool in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Aon Total Remuneration Survey in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Apty in employee-onboarding (1), Arize AI in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Avasant in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Averity in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), BAPCo in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), BOLDLY in coaching-platforms (1), Beneffocus in benefits-administration (1), Bennie in benefits-administration (1), BetterCloud in employee-onboarding (1), Betts in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), CIS (Center for Internet Security) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Capterra in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Captivate Talent in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Caspio in employee-onboarding (1), Chatbot Arena in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Cielo in contingent-workforce-management (1), ClearCompany Learning in learning-management-systems (1), Coaching Workspace in coaching-platforms (1), Collective Health in benefits-administration (1), Confident AI (DeepEval) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Connecture in benefits-administration (1), CrossKnowledge in learning-management-systems (1), CrossSphere in employee-onboarding (1), CrowdFlower (now Chorus.ai) in contingent-workforce-management (1), Culpepper Sales Compensation Surveys in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Culture Monkey in employee-engagement-surveys (1), D2L Performance+ in learning-management-systems (1), Dayforce Onboarding in employee-onboarding (1), Descartes in employee-onboarding (1), Drift in employee-engagement-surveys (1), ESM (Executive Compensation) Survey by Pearl Meyer or FW Cook in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Ecaia in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Efficient Hire in employee-onboarding (1), Ellevate Network in coaching-platforms (1), Ennova in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Equifax/CURA in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Equilar in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Equilar (Top 50 / TrueView) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), ExactHire in employee-onboarding (1), G2 Crowd in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Gallagher in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Gallup Q12 in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Genesys Cloud CX in employee-engagement-surveys (1), GoGloby in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), HR Datahub / SalaryCube-style in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Hay Group in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), HireArt in contingent-workforce-management (1), HireDNA in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Honestly in employee-engagement-surveys (1), HubSpot Marketing Hub Enterprise in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Hunt Scanlon Media Compensation Data in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Hyperbound in coaching-platforms (1), IBM Consulting in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), ICONIQ in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Indeed Insights in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Ivalua External Workforce Management (EWM) in contingent-workforce-management (1), KORE1 in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Kona in performance-management (1), LEK Consulting in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), LMArena in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Learn:Up/WorkRamp in learning-management-systems (1), LearnTube / Lessonly in learning-management-systems (1), Lifted in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record (1), LimeLight (Coaching.com) in coaching-platforms (1), Madita in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Magnit Global's VMS in contingent-workforce-management (1), ManpowerGroup Solutions in contingent-workforce-management (1), Mentra in coaching-platforms (1), Mercer Digital & Technology Compensation Survey in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Mercer TRS in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Microsoft Glint (LinkedIn) in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Moodle open-source in learning-management-systems (1), Moxo in employee-onboarding (1), Mya in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), NPS Prism in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), New Bamboo in employee-onboarding (1), OPEXEngine in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Okta in employee-onboarding (1), Oliver Wyman in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Omdia in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), OnboardIQ in employee-onboarding (1), OpenAI GPT in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Optymyze in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Oracle CX in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Oracle Customer Experience / CX in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM Onboarding in employee-onboarding (1), Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM Performance Management in performance-management (1), Oracle Fusion Cloud Recruiting (with Recruiting Booster) in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Oracle eRecruit/Oracle HCM On-Premise in performance-management (1), Oracle-based portals in employee-engagement-surveys (1), OrgVitality in performance-management (1), Paidwork in contingent-workforce-management (1), Pave's Market Data Pro in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Payscale or Salary.com in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), People in AI in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Peoplelytics in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Phenom Human Experience Platform (HXP) in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), PitchMonster in coaching-platforms (1), Porsline in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Qualtrics Employee Pulse in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Quip in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Radford (Aon) Compensation Database in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Radford Global Technology Survey in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Radford Global Technology Survey (by Aon) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Randstad Sourceright in contingent-workforce-management (1), Recruiting from Scratch in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Recruitment Management 365 in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Retorio in coaching-platforms (1), Riviera Partners in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), S&P Global Mobility in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) Planning in performance-management (1), SAP Customer Experience in employee-engagement-surveys (1), SAP Enable Now in learning-management-systems (1), SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Onboarding in employee-onboarding (1), SAP SuccessFactors Employee Onboarding in employee-onboarding (1), SailPoint in employee-onboarding (1), SalaryIQ in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Salsberg in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Scale AI (Scale Labs) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), ServiceNow Employee Onboarding in employee-onboarding (1), ServiceNow Enterprise Onboarding and Transitions in employee-onboarding (1), SmartRecruiters for SAP SuccessFactors in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Soplinx in employee-onboarding (1), SumTotal Learn in learning-management-systems (1), TMAK in contingent-workforce-management (1), Talentfoot in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Talentsoft in contingent-workforce-management (1), Tenzo in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), The Alexander Group (Sales Compensation Surveys) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), The Futurum Group in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), The Happiness Index in employee-engagement-surveys (1), TinyTeam in employee-onboarding (1), ToolBook in learning-management-systems (1), TrustRadius in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), UKG One View (formerly Immedis) in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record (1), Ultimate Software (UKG) in benefits-administration (1), UpRaise in performance-management (1), WTW Sales Compensation and Design Survey in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Willis Towers Watson (WTW) General Industry Surveys in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Willis Towers Watson (WTW) Global Compensation Survey in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Willis Towers Watson (WTW) Salary Surveys in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Willis Towers Watson Global Technology Survey in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), WorkSpark in performance-management (1), Workday LMS in learning-management-systems (1), Workday Paradox in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Workday Strategic Workforce Planning in contingent-workforce-management (1), Workday's screening tools in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Workwize in employee-onboarding (1), WorldatWork Survey in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Xactly Benchmarking in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Yellow.ai in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Zoom's Workvivo in employee-engagement-surveys (1), umwelt.ai in employee-engagement-surveys (1)

Category-scoped resolutions, 428 labels. A bare vendor name was read as that vendor's product for the asked category, which assigns specificity the model did not write; each one is listed so the assumption is visible:

Mercer in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey (32), Workday in performance-management read as Workday HCM Performance Management (29), Boon in coaching-platforms read as Boon Health (23), 15Five in employee-engagement-surveys read as 15Five Engage (14), Workday Peakon in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workday Peakon Employee Voice (14), Workday in benefits-administration read as Workday HCM (13), Workday HCM in employee-onboarding read as Workday (12), Salary.com in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Salary.com CompAnalyst (11), ADP Global Payroll in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as ADP GlobalView Payroll (10), Qualtrics in employee-engagement-surveys read as Qualtrics EmployeeXM (10), Workday in ai-recruiting-assistants read as Workday Recruiting (10), Korn Ferry in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Korn Ferry Pay (9), Moodle Workplace in learning-management-systems read as Moodle (9), Litmos in learning-management-systems read as SAP Litmos (8), Oyster HR in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Oyster (8), Cornerstone in learning-management-systems read as Cornerstone OnDemand (7), Oracle HCM Cloud in employee-onboarding read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM (7), Workday Performance in performance-management read as Workday HCM Performance Management (7), ADP in benefits-administration read as ADP Workforce Now (6), Aon in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Aon's Radford McLagan Compensation Database (6), SAP SuccessFactors in learning-management-systems read as SAP SuccessFactors Learning (6), Workday HCM in performance-management read as Workday HCM Performance Management (6), Absorb in learning-management-systems read as Absorb LMS (5), Alight in benefits-administration read as Alight Solutions (5), Oracle HCM in performance-management read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM (5), Oracle HCM Cloud in performance-management read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM (5), Workday Benefits in benefits-administration read as Workday HCM (5), Atlas in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Atlas HXM (4), Bain in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Bain & Company (4), Coupa in contingent-workforce-management read as Coupa Contingent Workforce (4), Eightfold in ai-recruiting-assistants read as Eightfold AI (4), Oracle HCM in employee-onboarding read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM (4), SAP SuccessFactors in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll (4), Salary.com (CompAnalyst) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Salary.com CompAnalyst (4), Workday in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Workday Payroll (4), Workday Performance Management in performance-management read as Workday HCM Performance Management (4), ADP GlobalView in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as ADP GlobalView Payroll (3), Board in performance-management read as Board International (3), Officevibe in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workleap Officevibe (3), Oracle Cloud EPM in performance-management read as Oracle Fusion Cloud EPM (3), TalentDesk in contingent-workforce-management read as TalentDesk.io (3), Workleap in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workleap Officevibe (3), Zenefits in benefits-administration read as TriNet Zenefits (3), Blackboard in learning-management-systems read as Blackboard Learn (2), Carta Total Comp in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Carta Total Compensation (2), Cornerstone in performance-management read as Cornerstone OnDemand (2), Culpepper in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Culpepper Compensation Surveys (2), HiBob HRIS in performance-management read as HiBob (2), McKinsey in compensation-benchmarking-data read as McKinsey & Company (2), Oracle Fusion HCM in employee-onboarding read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM (2), Oracle HCM Cloud in benefits-administration read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM (2), Paychex in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Paychex Flex (2), SAP in benefits-administration read as SAP SuccessFactors (2), ServiceNow in employee-onboarding read as ServiceNow HR Service Delivery (2), TopSource Worldwide in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as TopSource (2), Workday in learning-management-systems read as Workday Learning (2), Workday Performance & Talent Management in performance-management read as Workday HCM Performance Management (2), Workleap in performance-management read as Workleap Officevibe (2), Workleap (formerly Officevibe) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workleap Officevibe (2), ADP (Workforce Now / TotalSource) in benefits-administration read as ADP Workforce Now (1), ADP Benefits in benefits-administration read as ADP Workforce Now (1), ADP Benefits Administration in benefits-administration read as ADP Workforce Now (1), ADP Benefits Administration (Lyric/Workforce Now) in benefits-administration read as ADP Workforce Now (1), Aon (Radford) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Aon's Radford McLagan Compensation Database (1), Aon (including Radford for technology/life sciences) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Aon's Radford McLagan Compensation Database (1), Avature in contingent-workforce-management read as Avature VMS (1), Canvas (by Instructure) in learning-management-systems read as Canvas LMS (1), Canvas by Instructure in learning-management-systems read as Canvas LMS (1), Ceridian Dayforce in performance-management read as Dayforce (1), Cornerstone (OnDemand / Cornerstone LMS) in learning-management-systems read as Cornerstone OnDemand (1), Cornerstone Galaxy in learning-management-systems read as Cornerstone OnDemand (1), Coupa Contingent in contingent-workforce-management read as Coupa Contingent Workforce (1), D2L in learning-management-systems read as D2L Brightspace (1), Empyrean Benefit Solutions in benefits-administration read as Empyrean (1), Freelancer in contingent-workforce-management read as Freelancer.com (1), Gallup in employee-engagement-surveys read as Gallup Access (1), Glint (LinkedIn/Microsoft) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Microsoft Viva Glint (1), Glint (Microsoft Viva Glint) in performance-management read as Microsoft Viva Glint (1), Glint (by LinkedIn) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Microsoft Viva Glint (1), Korn Ferry (Hay Group Methodology) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Korn Ferry Pay (1), Litmos (Saba Cloud) in learning-management-systems read as SAP Litmos (1), Litmos (by SAP) in learning-management-systems read as SAP Litmos (1), Mercer (Comptryx) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey (1), Mercer (Global Census) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey (1), Mercer (Mercer Benchmark Database) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey (1), Mercer (Total Remuneration Survey - TRS) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey (1), Mercer (Total Remuneration Survey / Benchmark Database) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey (1), Mercer (WIN) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey (1), Oracle Cloud HCM in employee-onboarding read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM (1), Oracle HCM in benefits-administration read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM (1), Papaya in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Papaya Global (1), Paychex in employee-onboarding read as Paychex Flex (1), Payoneer in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Payoneer Workforce Management (1), Peakon (now part of Workday) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workday Peakon Employee Voice (1), RemotePeople in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Remote People (1), SAP SuccessFactors (Employee Central Payroll) in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll (1), SAP SuccessFactors (formerly SAP Litmos) in learning-management-systems read as SAP SuccessFactors Learning (1), Salary.com (CompAnalyst/PayFactors) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Salary.com CompAnalyst (1), Salary.com (SalaryIQ / CompAnalyst) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Salary.com CompAnalyst (1), ServiceNow (HR Service Delivery) in employee-onboarding read as ServiceNow HR Service Delivery (1), ServiceNow HRSD in employee-onboarding read as ServiceNow HR Service Delivery (1), SogoEX in employee-engagement-surveys read as Sogolytics (1), Strada (formerly Alight) in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Alight (1), Totara in learning-management-systems read as Totara Learn (1), Velocity in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Velocity Global (1), Workable in employee-onboarding read as Workable HR (1), Workday (AI-assisted recruiting features) in ai-recruiting-assistants read as Workday Recruiting (1), Workday (Native Performance Module) in performance-management read as Workday HCM Performance Management (1), Workday (featuring Paradox & HiredScore) in ai-recruiting-assistants read as Workday Recruiting (1), Workday (with HiredScore) in ai-recruiting-assistants read as Workday Recruiting (1), Workday HCM (Onboarding module) in employee-onboarding read as Workday (1), Workday Peakon (Employee Voice) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workday Peakon Employee Voice (1), Workday Talent Acquisition in ai-recruiting-assistants read as Workday Recruiting (1), Workday Talent Acquisition (with HiredScore AI) in ai-recruiting-assistants read as Workday Recruiting (1), Workplace in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workplace from Meta (1), isolved People Cloud in benefits-administration read as isolved (1)

Combined answers split into one label per product: Alight Solutions / bswift, Forma / Benepass, Glassdoor/Indeed, Glint/Workday, Guidepoint/Lessonly, Mercer / Radford, Mercer / Willis Towers Watson, Moodle / Moodle Workplace, Moodle Workplace / Totara Learn, Officevibe/Workleap, Payscale/CompAnalyst, Payscale/Salary.com, Perceptyx / Orgvue, Radford / Aon, Ravio / Figures, Saba / Saba Cloud, Safeguard Global / Papaya Global, Sana Labs / Sana Learn, TalentDesk / Worksuite, VNDLY/Talroo, Velocity Global / Pebl, Velocity Global/Pebl, WEX Health/WEX Benefits, Workday HCM / Workday Benefits, Workday Recruiting / Workday AI Agents, X/Twitter

## Appendix: loose paraphrase stability

- Claude Haiku 4.5: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 3 of 10 categories (30%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems, performance-management
- GPT-5.4 mini: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 4 of 10 categories (40%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems, performance-management
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 7 of 10 categories (70%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record
- Perplexity Sonar: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 7 of 10 categories (70%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, performance-management
- Grok 4.1 Fast: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 4 of 10 categories (40%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems, performance-management
- Mistral Small: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 2 of 10 categories (20%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems, performance-management
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 8 of 10 categories (80%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, performance-management
- Llama 4 Maverick: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 3 of 9 categories (33%); differing under the strict rule: benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems, performance-management
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 7 of 10 categories (70%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems, performance-management
- Kimi K2: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 8 of 10 categories (80%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems, performance-management
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 6 of 10 categories (60%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, performance-management
- MiniMax M2.5: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 6 of 10 categories (60%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems, performance-management


# Segment: Small business

# HR AI Recommendation Index, run mai-20260918-0021-calibration_b-2

60 prompts, 12 models, 3,878 raw judge labels, 3,897 scored labels after normalization. Published weights: first choice +3, alternative +2, mention +1, soft negative -2, hard negative -3.

Scored under vendor alias table version 2026-10.7. Raw judge labels are the permanent record; the numbers below are derived from them and are regenerated for every run whenever the alias table changes, so the whole series is always scored under one table version. Resolution of raw names: 3,316 by alias or canonical name, 312 by category-scoped alias, 38 from combined answers split into their products, 12 from combined answers counted once for their first product, 1 excluded by rule, 216 unresolved and counted under the raw name.

## Paraphrase stability

Share of categories where a model's first choice set on the direct prompt equals its set on the paraphrase.

| Model | Same | Different | Stability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 1 | 8 | 11% |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 2 | 8 | 20% |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 3 | 7 | 30% |
| Perplexity Sonar | 4 | 6 | 40% |
| Grok 4.1 Fast | 4 | 6 | 40% |
| Mistral Small | 1 | 9 | 10% |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 4 | 6 | 40% |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 1 | 8 | 11% |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 5 | 5 | 50% |
| Kimi K2 | 3 | 7 | 30% |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 2 | 8 | 20% |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 1 | 9 | 10% |

A looser measure, whether a direct first choice survives as a first choice or alternative on the paraphrase, is in the appendix.

## Standing by category

First choice share across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts and all 12 models. The top product's share is published alongside the label: contested means the top share is at or below 40%, and a category just above the line is not meaningfully different from one just below it. Consensus means every model's direct-prompt first choice is the same single product.

| Category | Top product | Top share | First choices | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Manatal | 27% | 45 | contested |
| benefits-administration | Gusto | 76% | 42 | clear leader |
| coaching-platforms | Boon Health | 38% | 52 | contested |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Pave | 21% | 58 | contested |
| contingent-workforce-management | SimpleVMS | 32% | 53 | contested |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Workleap Officevibe | 39% | 51 | contested |
| employee-onboarding | BambooHR | 39% | 46 | contested |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Deel | 40% | 48 | contested |
| learning-management-systems | TalentLMS | 74% | 47 | clear leader |
| performance-management | Effy AI | 19% | 48 | contested |

**ai-recruiting-assistants**: Manatal 27%, Pin 18%, Workable 16%, Zoho Recruit 16%, Hirevire 7%

**benefits-administration**: Gusto 76%, Rippling 12%, BambooHR 2%, Ease 2%, Employee Navigator 2%

**coaching-platforms**: Boon Health 38%, Risely 13%, CoachHub 8%, Peoplebox 6%, Simply.Coach 6%

**compensation-benchmarking-data**: Pave 21%, Salary.com CompAnalyst 10%, Payscale 9%, SHRM Compensation Data Center 5%, BLS OEWS 3%

**contingent-workforce-management**: SimpleVMS 32%, TalentDesk.io 9%, VectorVMS 9%, Deel 8%, Conexis VMS 6%

**employee-engagement-surveys**: Workleap Officevibe 39%, FeedbackPulse 25%, 15Five Engage 8%, Matter 6%, SurveyMonkey 4%

**employee-onboarding**: BambooHR 39%, Gusto 20%, Zoho People 9%, FirstHR 7%, Rippling 7%

**global-payroll-and-employer-of-record**: Deel 40%, RemoFirst 21%, Remote 15%, Hire with Columbus 6%, Oyster 6%

**learning-management-systems**: TalentLMS 74%, Zoho Learn 9%, GoSkills 6%, ProProfs Training Maker 6%, Absorb LMS 2%

**performance-management**: Effy AI 19%, ThriveSparrow 15%, Lattice 12%, 15Five 10%, Small Improvements 8%

## Anti-recommendations

Products most often labeled soft or hard negative, with the number of models that did so at least once in the category, and the share of that product's labels in the category that were negative. 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.

- **ai-recruiting-assistants**: Eightfold AI (5 models, 5 hard; 5 of 6 labels negative), Workday Recruiting (4 models, 3 hard; 4 of 4 labels negative), HireVue (3 models, 3 hard; 3 of 7 labels negative), Paradox (2 models, 1 hard; 2 of 11 labels negative)
- **benefits-administration**: PlanSource (8 models, 4 hard; 9 of 10 labels negative), Benefitfocus (6 models, 4 hard; 7 of 11 labels negative), ADP Workforce Now (6 models, 2 hard; 8 of 18 labels negative), Rippling (6 models; 8 of 48 labels negative)
- **coaching-platforms**: BetterUp (6 models, 5 hard; 21 of 30 labels negative), CoachHub (6 models, 5 hard; 19 of 31 labels negative), Lurn (4 models, 4 hard; 4 of 4 labels negative), EZRA (3 models; 4 of 7 labels negative)
- **compensation-benchmarking-data**: Mercer Total Remuneration Survey (8 models, 3 hard; 14 of 17 labels negative), Glassdoor (6 models, 2 hard; 8 of 16 labels negative), Radford (6 models, 2 hard; 8 of 12 labels negative), WTW (4 models, 2 hard; 4 of 5 labels negative)
- **contingent-workforce-management**: SAP Fieldglass (11 models, 15 hard; 33 of 42 labels negative), Beeline (10 models, 10 hard; 28 of 39 labels negative), Fiverr (6 models, 1 hard; 7 of 14 labels negative), Upwork (6 models; 6 of 22 labels negative)
- **employee-engagement-surveys**: Culture Amp (5 models, 3 hard; 9 of 18 labels negative), Outreach (5 models, 3 hard; 6 of 6 labels negative), SalesLoft (5 models, 3 hard; 6 of 6 labels negative), Qualtrics EmployeeXM (4 models, 3 hard; 5 of 5 labels negative)
- **employee-onboarding**: Workday (6 models, 4 hard; 7 of 7 labels negative), Rippling (6 models, 1 hard; 9 of 37 labels negative), Rocketlane (4 models, 2 hard; 5 of 8 labels negative), Precursive (3 models, 1 hard; 4 of 5 labels negative)
- **global-payroll-and-employer-of-record**: Papaya Global (9 models, 3 hard; 11 of 27 labels negative), Oyster (8 models, 1 hard; 8 of 34 labels negative), G-P (5 models, 4 hard; 5 of 6 labels negative), Remote (5 models, 2 hard; 7 of 46 labels negative)
- **learning-management-systems**: Docebo (10 models, 3 hard; 14 of 19 labels negative), Moodle (9 models, 5 hard; 13 of 23 labels negative), Cornerstone OnDemand (6 models, 7 hard; 8 of 9 labels negative), Absorb LMS (6 models, 5 hard; 11 of 15 labels negative)
- **performance-management**: Workday HCM Performance Management (7 models, 7 hard; 8 of 10 labels negative), Lattice (7 models, 1 hard; 16 of 48 labels negative), SAP SuccessFactors (6 models, 6 hard; 6 of 6 labels negative), BambooHR (6 models, 1 hard; 7 of 43 labels negative)

## Leadership and criticism

First-choice share and negative label rate are independent, so every product with at least 10 labels in a category is placed on both axes. Cutoffs: leader at 30% or more of first choices, criticized at 25% or more negative labels. An endorsed leader is recommended and not criticized; a criticized default is recommended while the models list its problems; a criticized challenger is named mostly to be warned against.

| Category | Product | First-choice share | Negative rate | Labels | Quadrant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Manatal | 27% | 0% | 38 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Pin | 18% | 0% | 28 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Zoho Recruit | 16% | 0% | 24 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Workable | 16% | 8% | 25 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Breezy HR | 4% | 0% | 18 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Juicebox | 0% | 0% | 13 | accepted challenger |
| ai-recruiting-assistants | Paradox | 0% | 18% | 11 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | Gusto | 76% | 7% | 60 | endorsed leader |
| benefits-administration | Rippling | 12% | 17% | 48 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | Justworks | 2% | 5% | 22 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | BambooHR | 2% | 8% | 36 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | Employee Navigator | 2% | 12% | 24 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | TriNet Zenefits | 2% | 14% | 29 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | Ease | 2% | 20% | 15 | accepted challenger |
| benefits-administration | Paylocity | 0% | 30% | 10 | criticized challenger |
| benefits-administration | ADP Workforce Now | 0% | 44% | 18 | criticized challenger |
| benefits-administration | Paychex Flex | 0% | 50% | 10 | criticized challenger |
| benefits-administration | Benefitfocus | 0% | 64% | 11 | criticized challenger |
| benefits-administration | PlanSource | 0% | 90% | 10 | criticized challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Boon Health | 38% | 0% | 33 | endorsed leader |
| coaching-platforms | Risely | 13% | 0% | 28 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | CoachHub | 8% | 61% | 31 | criticized challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Simply.Coach | 6% | 8% | 12 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Exec | 4% | 14% | 14 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | CoachVantage | 2% | 0% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Growthspace | 2% | 5% | 19 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | 15Five | 2% | 10% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | BetterUp | 2% | 70% | 30 | criticized challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Valence | 0% | 0% | 11 | accepted challenger |
| coaching-platforms | Coachello | 0% | 0% | 15 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Pave | 21% | 0% | 24 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Salary.com CompAnalyst | 10% | 20% | 25 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Payscale | 9% | 18% | 28 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Ravio | 3% | 9% | 22 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Glassdoor | 3% | 50% | 16 | criticized challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Comprehensive.io | 2% | 0% | 16 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Levels.fyi | 2% | 9% | 11 | accepted challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Radford | 0% | 67% | 12 | criticized challenger |
| compensation-benchmarking-data | Mercer Total Remuneration Survey | 0% | 82% | 17 | criticized challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | SimpleVMS | 32% | 0% | 24 | endorsed leader |
| contingent-workforce-management | VectorVMS | 9% | 7% | 15 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | TalentDesk.io | 9% | 10% | 21 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Deel | 8% | 11% | 19 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Conexis VMS | 6% | 0% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Upwork | 6% | 27% | 22 | criticized challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Rippling | 4% | 0% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Worksuite | 4% | 5% | 19 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Remote | 4% | 8% | 13 | accepted challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Worksome | 2% | 25% | 12 | criticized challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Fiverr | 0% | 50% | 14 | criticized challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Magnit | 0% | 58% | 12 | criticized challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | Beeline | 0% | 72% | 39 | criticized challenger |
| contingent-workforce-management | SAP Fieldglass | 0% | 79% | 42 | criticized challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Workleap Officevibe | 39% | 2% | 44 | endorsed leader |
| employee-engagement-surveys | FeedbackPulse | 25% | 0% | 23 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | 15Five Engage | 8% | 6% | 33 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Matter | 6% | 0% | 12 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | ThriveSparrow | 2% | 0% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Google Forms | 2% | 45% | 11 | criticized challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Bonusly | 0% | 0% | 12 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Connecteam | 0% | 8% | 13 | accepted challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Jotform | 0% | 30% | 10 | criticized challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Lattice | 0% | 33% | 15 | criticized challenger |
| employee-engagement-surveys | Culture Amp | 0% | 50% | 18 | criticized challenger |
| employee-onboarding | BambooHR | 39% | 4% | 53 | endorsed leader |
| employee-onboarding | Gusto | 20% | 5% | 56 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | FirstHR | 7% | 0% | 15 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | Rippling | 7% | 24% | 37 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | Deel | 2% | 0% | 12 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | WorkBright | 2% | 0% | 12 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | Homebase | 2% | 15% | 13 | accepted challenger |
| employee-onboarding | Trainual | 0% | 6% | 16 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Deel | 40% | 15% | 52 | endorsed leader |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | RemoFirst | 21% | 9% | 32 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Remote | 15% | 15% | 46 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Oyster | 6% | 24% | 34 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Rippling | 2% | 8% | 24 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Multiplier | 0% | 14% | 28 | accepted challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Papaya Global | 0% | 41% | 27 | criticized challenger |
| global-payroll-and-employer-of-record | Gusto | 0% | 50% | 10 | criticized challenger |
| learning-management-systems | TalentLMS | 74% | 0% | 59 | endorsed leader |
| learning-management-systems | Zoho Learn | 9% | 0% | 16 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | GoSkills | 6% | 0% | 23 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | Trainual | 2% | 11% | 18 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | Absorb LMS | 2% | 73% | 15 | criticized challenger |
| learning-management-systems | Connecteam | 0% | 0% | 24 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | LearnWorlds | 0% | 0% | 12 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | Thinkific | 0% | 0% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | iSpring Learn | 0% | 4% | 26 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | 360Learning | 0% | 5% | 21 | accepted challenger |
| learning-management-systems | LearnUpon | 0% | 27% | 15 | criticized challenger |
| learning-management-systems | Moodle | 0% | 57% | 23 | criticized challenger |
| learning-management-systems | Docebo | 0% | 74% | 19 | criticized challenger |
| performance-management | Effy AI | 19% | 0% | 40 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | ThriveSparrow | 15% | 0% | 23 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | Lattice | 12% | 33% | 48 | criticized challenger |
| performance-management | 15Five | 10% | 9% | 35 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | Zoho People | 8% | 4% | 23 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | Small Improvements | 8% | 18% | 28 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | AssessTEAM | 6% | 10% | 10 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | Teamflect | 4% | 8% | 12 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | BambooHR | 4% | 16% | 43 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | Leapsome | 4% | 27% | 26 | criticized challenger |
| performance-management | PerformYard | 0% | 0% | 25 | accepted challenger |
| performance-management | Culture Amp | 0% | 50% | 12 | criticized challenger |
| performance-management | Workday HCM Performance Management | 0% | 80% | 10 | criticized challenger |

## Treatment of lab-affiliated products by model

Self-preference is only measurable with a control group: how the lab's own model treats its products compared with how every other model treats the same products. Anthropic, OpenAI have no products in the covered categories with enough labels to measure, so nothing is claimed about them.

**Google products** (4 products, 23 labels). Cells are positive/negative/all labels.

| Product | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Forms |  | 1/0/1 | 0/3/3 |  | 2/0/2 | 0/1/1 | 2/0/2 |  | 1/0/1 | 0/1/1 |  |  |
| Google Classroom |  |  | 1/0/1 |  | 2/0/2 |  |  | 1/0/1 | 1/1/2 | 1/0/1 | 0/1/1 | 1/0/1 |
| Google Workspace |  |  |  |  | 1/0/1 |  |  |  | 1/0/1 |  |  |  |
| Google Business Profile |  |  |  |  |  |  | 1/0/1 |  |  |  |  |  |

Mean label weight on Google products: Gemini 3.5 Flash -1.25 over 4 labels; the other 11 models +0.84 over 19 labels. Weights run from +3 (first choice) to -3 (hard negative). A gap under about half a point on this few labels is not a finding.

## Discontinued products recommended

None in this run.

## Normalization

Unresolved, 216 labels counted under the raw name, for human review:

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) in compensation-benchmarking-data (3), Knit People in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record (3), LinearB in compensation-benchmarking-data (3), Swarmia in compensation-benchmarking-data (3), Adobe Marketo Engage in employee-engagement-surveys (2), Bench Accounting in compensation-benchmarking-data (2), Pavilion in compensation-benchmarking-data (2), Typo in compensation-benchmarking-data (2), Workleap LMS in learning-management-systems (2), 2025 National Sales Compensation Survey (EAA) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), 2026 State of B2B Sales Compensation – SalesCookie in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), ABC Trainerize in coaching-platforms (1), Access PeopleHR in employee-onboarding (1), ActiveCampaign in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Acvian in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record (1), Allstacks in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Amazon's internal hiring tool in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Aon Radford McLagan in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Bark in coaching-platforms (1), Bench.co in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Benchmark Business Sales & Valuations in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Benchmark International in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Betterleap in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Betterworks Team Edition in coaching-platforms (1), Betts Recruiting in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Blueprint to Wealth in coaching-platforms (1), Bobcares in benefits-administration (1), Bridge Group's Annual Survey in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Brilliant Assessments in performance-management (1), Broadleaf in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Bunch.ai in coaching-platforms (1), Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Burtch Works in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Business Coach Academy in coaching-platforms (1), CE VMS in contingent-workforce-management (1), Catch in benefits-administration (1), Causal in performance-management (1), Census in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Checkbook in contingent-workforce-management (1), Clarityflow in coaching-platforms (1), Clay/Zapier in employee-onboarding (1), Clear Company in performance-management (1), ClearMatch ATS in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), CoachEasily.com in coaching-platforms (1), CodePulse in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Compare.com / Comparably in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Compete HR in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Contractbook in contingent-workforce-management (1), Core HR in performance-management (1), Cumbersome OnDemand in learning-management-systems (1), DigitalBusinessPrograms.net in coaching-platforms (1), Docebo Shape (lite) in learning-management-systems (1), ERI Salary Assessor in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), EaseCentral in benefits-administration (1), EasyWebinar in coaching-platforms (1), Elitecoachinghub in coaching-platforms (1), Emplicit in coaching-platforms (1), Engageplan in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Equitable Work in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), FieldNation in contingent-workforce-management (1), Fixnhour in contingent-workforce-management (1), Flex Surveys in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Flowlu in contingent-workforce-management (1), Frontline Coach in coaching-platforms (1), Gerson Lehrman in contingent-workforce-management (1), Gigwalk in contingent-workforce-management (1), Glassdoor Economic Research / Indeed Hiring Lab in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Glofox in coaching-platforms (1), GoHighLevel in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Google Analytics Benchmarks in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Google Form in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Grog in benefits-administration (1), Groundwork1 in learning-management-systems (1), HEYGURU in coaching-platforms (1), Handy in contingent-workforce-management (1), HireArt in contingent-workforce-management (1), HireScreen.ai in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Hirefly in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Hirevive in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Hoovers in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), HubSpot free tier in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Hubdoc in contingent-workforce-management (1), IQN in contingent-workforce-management (1), Indeed One in benefits-administration (1), Indeed Salary in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Indeed Salary Insights in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Intercom’s Advanced Tiers in employee-onboarding (1), JOP (Joy of Performing) in performance-management (1), Jupiter One in benefits-administration (1), JustInTime in employee-onboarding (1), Kenari in contingent-workforce-management (1), KitaHQ in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Klearskill in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Knot in benefits-administration (1), Lessie.ai in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Lifted (An Upwork Company) in contingent-workforce-management (1), LinkedIn AI targeting in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), LinkedIn Recruiter AI in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), LinkedIn Salary in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Lynxify in performance-management (1), ManyChat in employee-engagement-surveys (1), MapleLMS in learning-management-systems (1), Mentenify in coaching-platforms (1), Mercer Contact/Call Center Compensation Survey (U.S.) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Mercer Salary Surveys (iMercer) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Mercer Total Remuneration in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Mercer's Remuneration Survey for SMEs in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Moxo in employee-onboarding (1), MyB2BNetwork in coaching-platforms (1), MyHospitalNow in contingent-workforce-management (1), NaviHealth in benefits-administration (1), Noomii Corporate Directory in coaching-platforms (1), Open Benchmark in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Optymyze in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Oracle Eloqua in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Oracle Fieldglass in contingent-workforce-management (1), PassMark in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Path LMS in learning-management-systems (1), Pave's Market Data Lite in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Payoneer Workforce in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record (1), Performance in performance-management (1), Performspark in coaching-platforms (1), Pivotal in employee-onboarding (1), Pluralsight Flow in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Podium in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Prelude™ in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), PrepLounge in coaching-platforms (1), Prolifiq Account Manager Salary Benchmarks (2025) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Prosperix in contingent-workforce-management (1), Pry in performance-management (1), Pulsy (by BuddiesHR) in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Ravio’s Compensation Benchmarking Tools in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), ResumeCoach in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Rippling Global Payroll in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record (1), Risk Management Association (RMA) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Riviera (formerly Gartner) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), SAP Proculus in contingent-workforce-management (1), SBA in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), SCORE Mentoring in coaching-platforms (1), SCORE mentoring in coaching-platforms (1), SHRM Salary Data Service in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Saberr in coaching-platforms (1), SafetySkills in learning-management-systems (1), Sales Gravy / The Sales Development Report in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Sandbox in employee-onboarding (1), Service Provider Pro in employee-onboarding (1), SimpleKPI in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Sleuth in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), SnapEval® in performance-management (1), Spott in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), Square Personnel in employee-onboarding (1), Stackpack in contingent-workforce-management (1), Staffhub in contingent-workforce-management (1), StaffingNation in contingent-workforce-management (1), Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA) in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Stride Health in benefits-administration (1), Stuart Andrews in coaching-platforms (1), Superpowers.io in coaching-platforms (1), Superprof in coaching-platforms (1), SurveyLegend in employee-engagement-surveys (1), TCWGlobal in contingent-workforce-management (1), Taito.ai in performance-management (1), TalentLMS AI Coach in coaching-platforms (1), Talstack in coaching-platforms (1), Taro in performance-management (1), Textio Loop in ai-recruiting-assistants (1), The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) & O*NET in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Thera in benefits-administration (1), Thera in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record (1), Threads in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Tony Robbins / Robbins Research International in coaching-platforms (1), TopTalent in coaching-platforms (1), Trafft in coaching-platforms (1), Trainery.ai in coaching-platforms (1), TriNet Perform in performance-management (1), Variable Income Survey (VIS) by Xerox in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Varisource in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Vendorapp in contingent-workforce-management (1), Verifint in contingent-workforce-management (1), Vista Social in employee-engagement-surveys (1), WTW Salary Surveys in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), WageAccess in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Wealthery.com in coaching-platforms (1), Wellfound B2B Startup Customer Service Data in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Wethos (Wethos Team) in contingent-workforce-management (1), Willis Towers Watson (WTW) Salary Surveys in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Wingspan in contingent-workforce-management (1), Workday HCM contingent workforce in contingent-workforce-management (1), Workday LMS in learning-management-systems (1), Workday VMS in contingent-workforce-management (1), Workforce/Bamboo alternatives in employee-onboarding (1), Workleap Onboarding in employee-onboarding (1), WorldatWork CompAnalyst in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Xactly 2024 Sales Compensation Survey in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), XactlyCorp's Sales Compensation Survey in compensation-benchmarking-data (1), Xena in contingent-workforce-management (1), YouTube Shorts in employee-engagement-surveys (1), Zapro in contingent-workforce-management (1), Zapro.ai in contingent-workforce-management (1), Zoho Creator in employee-onboarding (1), Zoho Invoice + Zoho Projects in contingent-workforce-management (1), oboloo in contingent-workforce-management (1), re:cap in compensation-benchmarking-data (1)

Excluded by rule, 1 label not scored:

Outsource Accelerator (1; a publisher of software roundups and rankings, cited as a source and named as if it were a product; it sells nothing it ranks)

Category-scoped resolutions, 312 labels. A bare vendor name was read as that vendor's product for the asked category, which assigns specificity the model did not write; each one is listed so the assumption is visible:

15Five in employee-engagement-surveys read as 15Five Engage (33), Boon in coaching-platforms read as Boon Health (31), TalentDesk in contingent-workforce-management read as TalentDesk.io (17), Mercer in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey (13), Salary.com in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Salary.com CompAnalyst (13), Zenefits in benefits-administration read as TriNet Zenefits (13), Oyster HR in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Oyster (11), ADP in benefits-administration read as ADP Workforce Now (10), Workday in performance-management read as Workday HCM Performance Management (9), Officevibe in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workleap Officevibe (8), Workleap (formerly Officevibe) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workleap Officevibe (7), Absorb in learning-management-systems read as Absorb LMS (6), Litmos in learning-management-systems read as SAP Litmos (6), RUN Powered by ADP in employee-onboarding read as ADP RUN (6), Zenefits (TriNet Zenefits) in benefits-administration read as TriNet Zenefits (6), Officevibe (Workleap) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workleap Officevibe (5), Qualtrics in employee-engagement-surveys read as Qualtrics EmployeeXM (5), RemotePeople in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Remote People (5), Workday in benefits-administration read as Workday HCM (5), Cornerstone in learning-management-systems read as Cornerstone OnDemand (4), Coupa in contingent-workforce-management read as Coupa Contingent Workforce (4), Culpepper in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Culpepper Compensation Surveys (4), Korn Ferry in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Korn Ferry Pay (4), Paychex in benefits-administration read as Paychex Flex (4), SAP SuccessFactors in learning-management-systems read as SAP SuccessFactors Learning (4), Canvas in learning-management-systems read as Canvas LMS (3), Carta Total Comp in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Carta Total Compensation (3), Conexis in contingent-workforce-management read as Conexis VMS (3), Paychex in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Paychex Flex (3), Salary.com (CompAnalyst) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Salary.com CompAnalyst (3), Workday in ai-recruiting-assistants read as Workday Recruiting (3), Workleap (Officevibe) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workleap Officevibe (3), Zenefits (TriNet) in benefits-administration read as TriNet Zenefits (3), Deel HR in employee-onboarding read as Deel (2), Glint in employee-engagement-surveys read as Microsoft Viva Glint (2), Oracle Cloud HCM in performance-management read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM (2), Oracle HCM in performance-management read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM (2), Totara in learning-management-systems read as Totara Learn (2), Workable in employee-onboarding read as Workable HR (2), Workleap in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workleap Officevibe (2), iSpring LMS in learning-management-systems read as iSpring Learn (2), ADP (RUN Powered by ADP / Workforce Now) in benefits-administration read as ADP Workforce Now (1), ADP (specifically Workforce Now) in benefits-administration read as ADP Workforce Now (1), ADP GlobalView in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as ADP GlobalView Payroll (1), Alight in benefits-administration read as Alight Solutions (1), Atlas in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as Atlas HXM (1), Canvas (by Instructure) in learning-management-systems read as Canvas LMS (1), Ceridian Dayforce in performance-management read as Dayforce (1), Compdata in compensation-benchmarking-data read as CompData Surveys (1), Cornerstone in performance-management read as Cornerstone OnDemand (1), EdApp in learning-management-systems read as SC Training (1), Eightfold in ai-recruiting-assistants read as Eightfold AI (1), Google Forms + Looker Studio in employee-engagement-surveys read as Google Forms (1), Google Forms + Looker Studio (or Sheets) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Google Forms (1), HiBob HRIS in performance-management read as HiBob (1), McKinsey in compensation-benchmarking-data read as McKinsey & Company (1), Mercer (Select) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Mercer Total Remuneration Survey (1), Officevibe in performance-management read as Workleap Officevibe (1), Officevibe (by Workleap) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workleap Officevibe (1), Officevibe (formerly Workleap) in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workleap Officevibe (1), Oracle Cloud EPM in performance-management read as Oracle Fusion Cloud EPM (1), Oracle Cloud HCM in employee-onboarding read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM (1), Oracle HCM in benefits-administration read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM (1), Oracle HCM in employee-onboarding read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM (1), Paychex in employee-onboarding read as Paychex Flex (1), Peakon in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workday Peakon Employee Voice (1), ProProfs in learning-management-systems read as ProProfs Training Maker (1), QuickBooks in contingent-workforce-management read as QuickBooks Online (1), SALARY.com in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Salary.com CompAnalyst (1), SAP in employee-onboarding read as SAP SuccessFactors (1), Salary.com (CompAnalyst for Small Business) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Salary.com CompAnalyst (1), Salary.com (basic) in compensation-benchmarking-data read as Salary.com CompAnalyst (1), TopSource Worldwide in global-payroll-and-employer-of-record read as TopSource (1), Workday in learning-management-systems read as Workday Learning (1), Workday (especially HiredScore features) in ai-recruiting-assistants read as Workday Recruiting (1), Workday Benefits in benefits-administration read as Workday HCM (1), Workday Peakon in employee-engagement-surveys read as Workday Peakon Employee Voice (1), Workday Performance in performance-management read as Workday HCM Performance Management (1), Workleap in performance-management read as Workleap Officevibe (1), Zenefits (Now TriNet HR Platform) in benefits-administration read as TriNet Zenefits (1)

Combined answers split into one label per product: Calendly + Zoom Pro, Cornerstone / Saba / SumTotal, Employee Navigator / Ease, Employee Navigator/Ease, Facebook/Instagram (Meta), Glassdoor/Indeed/ZipRecruiter, Indeed/ZipRecruiter, Paycor / Paylocity, Paylocity / Paychex, Radford / Aon, Radford/Mercer/WTW, SAP SuccessFactors / Oracle, TriNet / Zenefits (TriNet HR Plus), Velocity Global / Pebl, Workleap / Small Improvements, Zenefits / TriNet, Zenefits/TriNet

## Appendix: loose paraphrase stability

- Claude Haiku 4.5: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 3 of 9 categories (33%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems, performance-management
- GPT-5.4 mini: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 3 of 10 categories (30%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, employee-onboarding, learning-management-systems, performance-management
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 7 of 10 categories (70%); differing under the strict rule: benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, performance-management
- Perplexity Sonar: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 4 of 10 categories (40%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-onboarding, performance-management
- Grok 4.1 Fast: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 7 of 10 categories (70%); differing under the strict rule: coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, performance-management
- Mistral Small: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 6 of 10 categories (60%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems, performance-management
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 6 of 10 categories (60%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-onboarding, performance-management
- Llama 4 Maverick: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 1 of 9 categories (11%); differing under the strict rule: benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems, performance-management
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 6 of 10 categories (60%); differing under the strict rule: coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, performance-management
- Kimi K2: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 6 of 10 categories (60%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, performance-management
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 6 of 10 categories (60%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-onboarding, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems
- MiniMax M2.5: a direct first choice kept as first choice or alternative in 8 of 10 categories (80%); differing under the strict rule: ai-recruiting-assistants, benefits-administration, coaching-platforms, compensation-benchmarking-data, contingent-workforce-management, employee-engagement-surveys, global-payroll-and-employer-of-record, learning-management-systems, performance-management