Guides

Ten categories, walked product by product

A guide takes one category's standing from the October 2026 Edition and walks the top eight products in order: the share and rank each holds for each buyer, what the fourteen models said for and against it in their own words, and where the answer changes with the framing or the size of the company asking. Every figure is the category page's own; a guide adds no opinion, only the reading.

Core HR and payroll

HRIS and HCM platforms

Rippling leads at 26% of first choices, contested. The top eight of eleven ranked products, with what the models said for and against each.

Core HR and payroll

Payroll software

Rippling leads at 20% of first choices, contested. The top eight of nine ranked products, with what the models said for and against each.

Talent acquisition

Applicant tracking systems

Greenhouse leads at 40% of first choices, contested. The top eight of eight ranked products, with what the models said for and against each.

Learning and development

Learning management systems

TalentLMS leads at 51% of first choices, clear leader. The top five of five ranked products, with what the models said for and against each.

Performance and talent management

Performance management

Lattice leads at 43% of first choices, clear leader. The top seven of seven ranked products, with what the models said for and against each.

Onboarding and employee experience

Employee engagement surveys

Culture Amp leads at 37% of first choices, contested. The top eight of eight ranked products, with what the models said for and against each.

Core HR and payroll

Benefits administration

Gusto leads at 20% of first choices, contested. The top eight of nine ranked products, with what the models said for and against each.

Core HR and payroll

Time and attendance

Clockify leads at 12% of first choices, contested. The top eight of ten ranked products, with what the models said for and against each.

Onboarding and employee experience

Employee onboarding

Rippling leads at 25% of first choices, contested. The top eight of nine ranked products, with what the models said for and against each.

Compensation and total rewards

Compensation management

Pave leads at 18% of first choices, contested. The top eight of ten ranked products, with what the models said for and against each.

Why these ten

Guides are added a few categories at a time and measured before more follow. Every category has its standing, its warnings and every answer on its own page whether or not a guide exists for it yet.