Index › Onboarding and employee experience › Employee onboarding › Small business › September 2026 Edition
Employee onboarding for small business buyers
Asked as “employee onboarding software”, and as “new hire onboarding platform”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 62 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing · first-choice share
34%
Contested · Gusto 21%
34BambooHR21Gusto08Rippling37others
34% of first choices, contested.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
The standing
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
Show the one product at 0%, ordered by negative rate
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
All ten head-to-head pages: the top five products, each against each
Recommended versus criticized
Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.
Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative50%
Key
01BambooHR34%
BambooHR34%02Gusto21%
Gusto21%03Rippling8%
Rippling8%04Zoho People5%
Zoho People5%05Connecteam5%
Connecteam5%06Homebase3%
Homebase3%07Trainual3%
Trainual3%08Deel3%
Deel3%09Workday0%
Workday0%What they warned about
Two of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Workday73%
8 of 11 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 6 hard negative
“Enterprise-Grade ATS/HCM Suites (e.g., Workday, Oracle Taleo) **Avoid these unless you have a dedicated HR operations team.**” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
SAP SuccessFactors100%
6 of 6 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 5 hard negative
“Enterprise HCM (Workday, SAP) | ❌ Avoid | Too complex, expensive, and slow for SMBs.” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
Gusto8%
5 of 61 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“small businesses should be cautious about or avoid the following onboarding platforms: 1. **Gusto** – Users frequently report poor customer support, payroll issues” Mistral Small, negative prompt
Rippling11%
5 of 47 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“enterprise tools (Rippling, ClearCompany, Greenhouse, Enboarder) require 4 to 12 weeks of implementation ... the wrong choice” Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt
What they cite
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: fourteen of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.
Sites the answers cite
75 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 983 links across 200 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.
47 answers · 63 citations · 12 models
45 answers · 75 citations · 12 models
36 answers · 39 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Gusto29 answers · 43 citations · 11 models
vendor site · G229 answers · 29 citations · 12 models
vendor site · FirstHR27 answers · 42 citations · 10 models
vendor site · HiBob27 answers · 30 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Zapier27 answers · 28 citations · 12 models
vendor site · HR Cloud27 answers · 27 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Personio23 answers · 23 citations · 8 models
vendor site · Rippling21 answers · 24 citations · 12 models
vendor site · G220 answers · 43 citations · 11 models
Pages the answers cite
The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.
35 answers · 11 models
35 answers · 10 models
34 answers · 10 models
27 answers · 11 models
27 answers · 12 models
25 answers · 10 models
25 answers · 11 models
23 answers · 8 models
19 answers · 7 models
19 answers · 7 models
Search against answers
Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best employee onboarding software”, “employee onboarding software”, “onboarding platforms”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
| Company and products | Share | Own site cited | Name searches, Google | AI search demand, est. | Organic visits | Paid search a month, est. | Google ads, last 30 days | Best Google position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BambooHR bamboohr.com | 34% | 1082 | 90,500 | 551 | 1,055,247 | $44,698 | 106 | 1 |
| Gusto gusto.com | 21% | 870 | 673,000 | 10,560 | 1,629,483 | 118 | ||
| Rippling rippling.com | 8% | 1260 | 301,000 | 17,886 | 712,399 | $42,013 | 115 | |
| Zoho parent site Zoho People 5% | 5% | 277 | 6,600 | 50 | ||||
| Connecteam connecteam.com | 5% | 573 | 49,500 | 288 | 312,449 | $13,504 | 120 | |
| Homebase joinhomebase.com | 3% | 404 | 201,000 | 3,839 | 472,253 | $793 | 120 | |
| Trainual trainual.com | 3% | 93 | 22,200 | 94 | 40,498 | 10 | ||
| Deel deel.com | 3% | 526 | 40,500 | 1,210 | 307,175 | $330,608 | 118 | |
| TalentHR talenthr.io | 3% | 47 | 480 | 1 | 89,831 | 32 | ||
| GoCo goco.io | 3% | 33 | 14,800 | 102 | 40,283 |
Google's top ten for the three searches hold 20 sites; 2 of them are among the sites the models cited here (hibob.com, zapier.com). The first result for “best employee onboarding software” is paycor.com.
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.ShowHide
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHideModelDirect“What is the best employee onboarding software for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which new hire onboarding platform would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top onboarding platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best employee onboarding software for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating an employee onboarding software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which onboarding platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5BambooHRGustoChangedGustoBambooHRno first choiceagainst: ADP RUN, ClearCompany, Elearnio, Enboarder, Freshteam, Gainsight, Greenhouse, Paycor, Precursive, Rippling, Rocketlane, Workday, Zoho People
Four alternatives
Gusto, Rippling, Trainual, WaybookThree alternatives
BambooHR, Rippling, Zoho PeopleFour alternatives
BambooHR, Rippling, WorkBright, Zoho PeopleThree alternatives
Guidepoint, Rippling, ZenefitsGPT-5.4 miniBambooHRGustoChangedGustoGusto, TalentHRagainst: ApplicantStack, BambooHRno first choicenothing named
Three alternatives
Gusto, Rippling, TrainualTwo alternatives
BambooHR, RipplingFour alternatives
BambooHR, Deel, Rippling, WorkBrightOne alternative
Zoho PeopleGemini 3.5 FlashGusto, RipplingTrainualChangedGustoDeelagainst: FreshteamGusto, Ripplingagainst: Enboarderagainst: ADP, Gusto, Insperity, Paychex Flex, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling, SAP SuccessFactors, TriNet, UKG Pro, Workday
Two alternatives
Deel, TrainualTwo alternatives
Gusto, RipplingSix alternatives
BambooHR, Connecteam, Deel, Doozy, Rippling, TrainualFour alternatives
Connecteam, Gusto, Homebase, Zoho PeopleTwo alternatives
BambooHR, SaplingPerplexity SonarGustoGustoHeldGustoGustono first choicenothing named
Three alternatives
BambooHR, Paycor, WorkBrightTwo alternatives
LaunchBay, OnRampFour alternatives
BambooHR, Deel, Homebase, RipplingOne alternative
Zoho PeopleGrok 4.1 FastBambooHRBambooHRHeldBambooHRHomebaseagainst: Google Workspace, NotionBambooHRagainst: ADP RUN, Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM, Paylocity, SAP SuccessFactors, UKG Pro, Workday
Two alternatives
Gusto, RipplingThree alternatives
Gusto, RUN by ADP, RipplingFour alternatives
Gusto, Homebase, Rippling, TrainualTwo alternatives
Connecteam, GustoTwo alternatives
Enboarder, RipplingMistral SmallBambooHRBambooHR, RipplingChangedRipplingGoCo, Homebaseno first choiceagainst: Gusto
Two alternatives
CharlieHR, PaycorOne alternative
CharlieHRFour alternatives
BambooHR, CharlieHR, Connecteam, HomebaseTwo alternatives
ADP RUN, BambooHRDeepSeek V4 FlashBambooHRBambooHR, GustoChangedagainst: HomebaseBambooHR, Gustoagainst: RipplingZoho Peopleno first choiceagainst: BambooHR, Enboarder, SAP SuccessFactors, Workday
Two alternatives
Gusto, RipplingThree alternatives
Enboarder, Trainual, WorkBrightFour alternatives
BambooHR, Connecteam, Freshteam, GustoLlama 4 Maverickno first choiceBambooHRChangedBambooHRZoho Peopleno first choicenothing named
Four alternatives
Gusto, HiBob, Paylocity, RipplingTwo alternatives
Arrows, ScribeThree alternatives
BambooHR, Gusto, HomebaseQwen 3.7 FlashBambooHR, GustoBambooHRChangedCharlieHRBambooHRDayrep, Enboarderagainst: ADP, Airtable, Monday.com, Notion, Oracle Taleo, SAP SuccessFactors, Wave, Workday
One alternative
DeelTwo alternatives
Gusto, TrainualThree alternatives
BambooHR, Gusto, RipplingTwo alternatives
Onboardbase, Zoho PeopleFour alternatives
BambooHR, Gusto, HiBob, RipplingKimi K2BambooHR, GustoBambooHRChangedGustoFreshteam, TalentHRagainst: GustoFactorial, FirstHR, GoCoagainst: ADP RUN, BambooHR, SAP SuccessFactors, Workday
One alternative
RipplingThree alternatives
FirstHR, Gusto, RipplingFive alternatives
BambooHR, Deel, Rippling, SweetProcess, TrainualTwo alternatives
Homebase, InnformGLM 4.7 FlashXBambooHRDockChangedBambooHRConnecteamno first choiceagainst: Onboard, Paycom, Paylocity
Four alternatives
Gusto, Rippling, Trainual, WaybookThree alternatives
Asana, HubSpot, ZiteFive alternatives
Click Boarding, Factorial, Gusto, Rippling, Workable HRThree alternatives
Homebase, TalentHR, Zoho PeopleMiniMax M2.5BambooHR, PersonioTrainualChangedRipplingConnecteam, Deelagainst: Homebaseno first choicenothing named
Two alternatives
CharlieHR, HiBobThree alternatives
BambooHR, Gusto, HomebaseFour alternatives
BambooHR, CharlieHR, Gusto, PersonioThree alternatives
ChiefOnboarding, Innform, TalentHRBold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against
The record
One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct recommendation | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 12:09 | yes | 9 | 7 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 10:44 | yes | 2 | 4 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 09:46 | yes | 14 | 24 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 10:10 | yes | 20 | 4 s |
| Direct recommendation | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 10:38 | yes | 21 | 10 s |
| Direct recommendation | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 11:48 | yes | 11 | 5 s |
| Direct recommendation | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 07:44 | yes | 22 | 22 s |
| Direct recommendation | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 07:36 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Direct recommendation | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 09:14 | yes | 9 | 27 s |
| Direct recommendation | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 11:59 | yes | 19 | 20 s |
| Direct recommendation | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 10:46 | yes | 20 | 30 s |
| Direct recommendation | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 11:08 | yes | 13 | 19 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 08:43 | yes | 9 | 8 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 08:05 | yes | 4 | 5 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 07:59 | yes | 9 | 22 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 08:16 | yes | 19 | 3 s |
| Paraphrase | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 10:03 | yes | 19 | 8 s |
| Paraphrase | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 10:32 | yes | 20 | 7 s |
| Paraphrase | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 11:35 | yes | 23 | 25 s |
| Paraphrase | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 11:46 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Paraphrase | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 11:53 | yes | 14 | 39 s |
| Paraphrase | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 09:19 | yes | 9 | 29 s |
| Paraphrase | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 08:38 | yes | 23 | 24 s |
| Paraphrase | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 11:11 | yes | 5 | 29 s |
| Comparative | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 11:58 | yes | 9 | 7 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 11:55 | yes | 3 | 7 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 10:13 | yes | 11 | 21 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 09:19 | yes | 20 | 4 s |
| Comparative | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 11:55 | yes | 18 | 13 s |
| Comparative | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 10:45 | yes | 7 | 9 s |
| Comparative | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 08:28 | yes | 23 | 43 s |
| Comparative | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 11:13 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Comparative | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 10:14 | yes | 10 | 30 s |
| Comparative | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 08:58 | yes | 13 | 29 s |
| Comparative | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 09:01 | yes | 14 | 59 s |
| Comparative | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 10:54 | yes | 14 | 22 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 10:24 | no | 0 | 5 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 11:13 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 08:02 | yes | 17 | 21 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 09:05 | yes | 20 | 4 s |
| Budget constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 07:52 | yes | 22 | 6 s |
| Budget constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 09:20 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Budget constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 11:09 | yes | 23 | 26 s |
| Budget constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 08:14 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Budget constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 07:57 | yes | 5 | 26 s |
| Budget constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 10:45 | yes | 10 | 13 s |
| Budget constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 09:53 | yes | 14 | 92 s |
| Budget constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 08:09 | yes | 9 | 12 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 09:50 | no | 0 | 5 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 11:41 | no | 0 | 5 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 10:17 | no | 0 | 15 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 09:33 | yes | 16 | 5 s |
| Scale constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 07:40 | yes | 17 | 12 s |
| Scale constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 08:47 | no | 0 | 6 s |
| Scale constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 08:37 | yes | 16 | 22 s |
| Scale constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 11:29 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Scale constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 09:57 | no | 0 | 31 s |
| Scale constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 11:02 | yes | 10 | 15 s |
| Scale constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 09:05 | no | 0 | 7 s |
| Scale constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 11:10 | no | 0 | 7 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-10-01 11:06 | yes | 17 | 9 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-10-01 11:29 | no | 0 | 4 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-10-01 08:06 | yes | 28 | 26 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-10-01 09:19 | yes | 20 | 5 s |
| Negative framing | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-10-01 10:50 | yes | 20 | 10 s |
| Negative framing | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-10-01 09:07 | yes | 12 | 9 s |
| Negative framing | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-10-01 11:05 | yes | 25 | 50 s |
| Negative framing | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-10-01 12:03 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Negative framing | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-10-01 11:16 | yes | 22 | 33 s |
| Negative framing | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-10-01 11:04 | yes | 21 | 28 s |
| Negative framing | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-10-01 08:24 | yes | 21 | 66 s |
| Negative framing | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-10-01 12:06 | yes | 5 | 16 s |
Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
Deel HR read as Deel
Oracle HCM read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM
Paychex read as Paychex Flex
RUN Powered by ADP read as ADP RUN
SAP read as SAP SuccessFactors
Workable read as Workable HR
Workday HCM read as Workday
Unresolved, counted raw
Dayrep
Elearnio
LaunchBay
Onboardbase
RUN by ADP
SureFire
Workday Onboarding HCM
Workday Raiser's Edge / Onbuka
Zite
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.