Small business▲+1Since September 2026: 16% → 17%, +1 point. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
17%from 16% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 12 pointsRank 3 of 47, unchanged
Zoho · 16 categories · RankedZoho People
286Judge labels
96First choices
18Negative labels
14 / 14Models named it
16Categories
October 2026 Edition. Every number here is derived from the raw labels under vendor table v2026-10.7, every buyer segment counted.
Best standing
24% in HRIS and HCM platforms for mid-market buyers
Rank 2 of 66 in the mid-market standingaccepted challenger
0 of 14 models made it the first choice on the direct prompt; 0% of its 13 labels there were negative.
What the models named instead of Zoho People →By buyer segmentStrongest at mid-market.
Small business3 of 48
19%23 labels
accepted challenger
Mid-market2 of 66
24%13 labels
accepted challenger
Enterprise47 of 52
0%1 label
under the label threshold
In hris and hcm platforms · each standing computed within its segment · bars are 0 to 100 · the accent bar is the product's own best reading
Standing by category
Every category where a model named Zoho People for a mid-market B2B company. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.
| Category | Function | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Quadrant | Since September 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HRIS and HCM platforms | Core HR and payroll | 24% | 2 of 66 | 0% | 13 | accepted challenger | ▲+1Since September 2026: 22% → 23%, +1 point. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| Employee onboarding | Onboarding and employee experience | 15% | 3 of 87 | 0% | 11 | accepted challenger | ▼−3Since September 2026: 18% → 14%, −3 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| HR compliance and policy management | Core HR and payroll | 13% | 3 of 97 | 0% | 9 | under 10 labels · led by Rippling at 19% | ▲+11Since September 2026: 2% → 13%, +11 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| Workforce management suites | Core HR and payroll | 11% | 4 of 78 | 7% | 15 | accepted challenger | ▲+1Since September 2026: 11% → 11%, +1 point. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| Performance management | Performance and talent management | 11% | 3 of 85 | 0% | 11 | accepted challenger | ▲+6Since September 2026: 2% → 8%, +6 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| HR help desk and case management | Onboarding and employee experience | 4% | 7 of 108 | 0% | 8 | under 10 labels · led by Zoho Desk at 19% | ▲+2Since September 2026: 2% → 5%, +2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| Workforce planning | Workforce planning and analytics | 4% | 10 of 98 | 0% | 7 | under 10 labels · led by ChartHop at 37% | ▲+2Since September 2026: 2% → 4%, +2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| HR AI assistants | Onboarding and employee experience | 2% | 13 of 142 | 0% | 3 | under 10 labels · led by MeBeBot at 21% | ▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| Succession planning | Performance and talent management | 2% | 15 of 93 | 0% | 3 | under 10 labels · led by Lattice at 28% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 2% now. |
| People analytics | Workforce planning and analytics | 2% | 10 of 114 | 0% | 4 | under 10 labels · led by Crunchr at 22% | ▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| Leave and absence management | Core HR and payroll | 0% | 18 of 95 | 0% | 18 | accepted challenger | =heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| Benefits administration | Core HR and payroll | 0% | 62 of 67 | 100% | 1 | under 10 labels · led by Gusto at 20% | |
| Coaching platforms | Learning and development | 0% | 72 of 128 | 0% | 1 | under 10 labels · led by Growthspace at 20% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now. |
| Org charts and org design | Workforce planning and analytics | 0% | 84 of 95 | 0% | 1 | under 10 labels · led by ChartHop at 30% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now. |
| Payroll software | Core HR and payroll | 0% | 37 of 58 | 0% | 1 | under 10 labels · led by Rippling at 20% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now. |
| Skills intelligence | Performance and talent management | 0% | 67 of 127 | 0% | 1 | under 10 labels · led by Skills Base at 18% | =heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
Movement
Since September 2026, Zoho People held within the floor in all sixteen categories: no change cleared 13 points.
Best category · HRIS and HCM platforms · by segment
Mid-market▲+1Since September 2026: 22% → 23%, +1 point. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
23%from 22% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 12 pointsRank 2 of 57, unchanged
EnterprisegoneNot named this edition; 0% in September 2026.
0%from 0% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 13 pointsNot ranked
All categories · Mid-market
| Category | September 2026 | Now | Change | Reading | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HR compliance | 2% | 13% | ▲+11Since September 2026: 2% → 13%, +11 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 12 → 3 of 97 |
| Performance management | 2% | 8% | ▲+6Since September 2026: 2% → 8%, +6 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 11 → 3 of 85 |
| Employee onboarding | 18% | 14% | ▼−3Since September 2026: 18% → 14%, −3 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 3 of 87, unchanged |
| HR AI assistants | 0% | 2% | ▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 65 → 13 of 142 |
| HR help desk | 2% | 5% | ▲+2Since September 2026: 2% → 5%, +2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 10 → 7 of 108 |
| Workforce planning | 2% | 4% | ▲+2Since September 2026: 2% → 4%, +2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 10 of 98, unchanged |
| People analytics | 0% | 2% | ▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 30 → 10 of 114 |
| Succession planning | 0% | 2% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 2% now. | New this edition | Rank 15 of 93, unchanged |
| HRIS and HCM platforms | 22% | 23% | ▲+1Since September 2026: 22% → 23%, +1 point. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 2 of 66, unchanged |
| Workforce management sui | 11% | 11% | ▲+1Since September 2026: 11% → 11%, +1 point. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 4 of 78, unchanged |
| Leave | 0% | 0% | =heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 27 → 18 of 95 |
| Benefits administration | 0% | 0% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now. | New this edition | Rank 62 of 67, unchanged |
| Coaching platforms | 0% | 0% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now. | New this edition | Rank 72 of 128, unchanged |
| Org charts | 0% | 0% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now. | New this edition | Rank 84 of 95, unchanged |
| Payroll software | 0% | 0% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now. | New this edition | Rank 37 of 58, unchanged |
| Skills intelligence | 0% | 0% | =heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 115 → 67 of 127 |
Shares here are read over the models both editions asked, so they can differ by a point or two from the standing above, which counts every model in this edition.
The floor is 13 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. Movement is read over the twelve models both editions asked; GPT-6 Luna, Muse Glimmer 30B joined this edition and are in the standing but not yet in the comparison. How the floor is measured · The editions
By model
How each model treated Zoho People across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.ShowHide
By model
How each model treated Zoho People across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.
ShowHide| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Negative | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 9 |
| Grok 4.1 Fast | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| Mistral Small | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| Kimi K2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 11 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 10 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
By framing
Which of the six questions produced the naming. By model says how often; this says asked what. The first-choice count on the right carries the marks of the models that produced it.
FramingLabels by classFirst choices
Direct32 labels4
Paraphrase20 labelsNone
Comparative30 labels2not counted in share
Budget-constrained173 labels92
Scale-constrained10 labelsNone
Negative21 labelsNone
First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative286 labels in all, every segment counted; 96 of the 98 first choices count toward share, since the comparative and negative framings do not. The bar is one segment per label class, to scale within the framing.
What the models said for it
Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.
“Zoho People is widely considered the most affordable option.... Choose Zoho People if you want to cut costs while retaining advanced automation features.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · Employee onboarding · budget prompt · first choice
“Zoho People – cheapest per-user HRIS with compliance modules ... It is the lowest per-employee cost of the mainstream compliance-capable HRIS options.” Muse Glimmer 30B · HR compliance · budget prompt · first choice
“It is the cheapest full-featured HRIS on the market... If you have 15+ desk employees and a tight budget: Choose Zoho People ($1.25/user).” Gemini 3.5 Flash · HRIS and HCM platforms · budget prompt · first choice
“The best workforce management software for a company with a limited budget is Zoho People, as it is considered the best for businesses on a budget” Llama 4 Maverick · Workforce management sui · budget prompt · first choice
And against it
Verbatim evidence attached to negative labels. A warning on a product with few labels is a warning; on a product with many, it is one voice among them.
“Suites to be cautious about: BambooHR, Zoho People ... often lack the heavy lifting required for true workforce management.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · Workforce management sui · negative prompt · soft negative
“While its benefits module is lighter than Gusto/Zenefits, it is useful for budget-conscious companies” Muse Glimmer 30B · Benefits administration · budget prompt · soft negative
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Zoho People, over the 286 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Zoho People was named but was not.ShowHide
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Zoho People, over the 286 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Zoho People was named but was not.
ShowHideProductSame answerTook the first choice insteadHead to head
A head-to-head page exists where both products are among a category's top eight. The other rows are the same fact without a page behind them, so they link to the product instead.
What carried it into the answer
The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Zoho People. A fact about retrieval, not a lever on the model.
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list, five of the fourteen in this edition, so these counts come from 277 of the 286 answers that named Zoho People and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
peoplemanagingpeople.com171
forbes.com135
firsthr.app115
guideflow.com87
fitsmallbusiness.com79
joinhomebase.com79
g2.com72
technologyadvice.com67
capterra.com59
gusto.com55
919 of the 919 domain citations in answers naming Zoho People came from somebody else's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
Search and answers
Where Zoho People stands in Google search beside where it stands in the models' answers.ShowHide
Search and answers
Where Zoho People stands in Google search beside where it stands in the models' answers.
ShowHideIn search
Google, US estimates- Searches for its name, Google
- 6,600 a month (“zoho people”)
- AI search demand for its name, est.
- 50 a month
- Its own site
- It sits on Zoho's site (zoho.com), so there are no site figures for it alone
In answers
This editionShare of first choices
24%
rank 2 of 66 in HRIS and HCM platforms
Segment leader
26%
Rippling
- First choices
- 96 across its categories
- Named in
- 286 answers
- Its own site cited
- in 277 of the answers that named it
Search figures are US estimates from DataForSEO, read September 28, 2026; AI search demand is its modeled, directional estimate, not a count of queries to any assistant. The answers are this edition's. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Names read as Zoho People
What the judge wrote, as written, with how often. The vendor table decides that these count as Zoho People; a claim can dispute any of them.
Zoho People Premium 2
Follow Zoho People
An email the morning each edition publishes: where this product moved, where it held, and by how much against the noise floor. One address, confirmed by a click; a stop link in every email.
Already following? Everything you follow, with a stop for each.
The company
Zoho is the company behind Zoho People.ShowHide
The company
Zoho is the company behind Zoho People.
ShowHideOn record
Company records- Also from Zoho
- Zoho Analytics, Zoho Bookings, Zoho CRM, Zoho Cliq, Zoho Connect, Zoho Desk, Zoho Desk + Zoho People, Zoho Learn and 5 more
In its own words
Stated by the vendor, not checked- Positioning
- AI-first HR software for every business
- For
- every business
- Price stated
- flexible, per-user pricing plans zoho.com/people
- Starting price
- 1.5 zoho.com/people
- Free plan or trial
- 30-day free trial on all plans zoho.com/people
- Integrations claimed
- 8 zoho.com/people
- Certifications
- デジタル化・AI導入補助金2026 対象ツール
- Hosting
- USデータセンター
- Customers named
- 中普恒（北京）咨询有限公司（Ecovis）浙江大学国际联合学院亚提斯Q7Technology特定非営利活動法人フロー
What Zoho People's own pages state, read September 28, 2026: zoho.com/people, zoho.com.cn/people, zoho.com/fr/people, zoho.com/de/people, zoho.com/jp/people. A claimed page can correct any of them.
Is this your product?
Claim this page
Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page shows a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes and when Zoho People's standing changes by more than the noise floor; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as Zoho People, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.
What a new claim receivesHide what a new claim receives
A new claim receives the current edition's vendor brief for Zoho People by email, built from the raw record of the edition. It shows:
- where Zoho People is named, by buyer and by framing, and which cells hold its first choices;
- the claims the models make when they name it, ranked, with the strongest and the weakest quoted;
- its vocabulary against the segment leader's, and the pages the models cited;
- who was chosen in the answers that did not name Zoho People, and every reason the record gives;
- a battlecard for each top rival: the head-to-head split, why they win, and the reservation quoted against them;
- one page of published figures cleared to show a buyer.
Badges
Wins only: a badge exists where Zoho People is ranked in a category's top three this edition. Three sizes, one file each, light and dark; the code is under each.ShowHide
Badges
Wins only: a badge exists where Zoho People is ranked in a category's top three this edition. Three sizes, one file each, light and dark; the code is under each.
ShowHideHRIS and HCM platforms
Zoho People is among the products AI models recommend first in HRIS and HCM platforms this edition. Each badge says so in the buyer's words, names the edition, and links to the standing. The next edition issues a new badge; this one stays true as a record of October 2026.
Wide · 320 × 104 Website, beside other badges
Square · 240 × 240 LinkedIn, slides
Compact · 200 × 56 Email signature, footer
Employee onboarding
Zoho People is among the products AI models recommend first in Employee onboarding this edition. Each badge says so in the buyer's words, names the edition, and links to the standing. The next edition issues a new badge; this one stays true as a record of October 2026.
Wide · 320 × 104 Website, beside other badges
Square · 240 × 240 LinkedIn, slides
Compact · 200 × 56 Email signature, footer
HR compliance and policy management
Zoho People is among the products AI models recommend first in HR compliance and policy management this edition. Each badge says so in the buyer's words, names the edition, and links to the standing. The next edition issues a new badge; this one stays true as a record of October 2026.
Wide · 320 × 104 Website, beside other badges
Square · 240 × 240 LinkedIn, slides
Compact · 200 × 56 Email signature, footer
Performance management
Zoho People is among the products AI models recommend first in Performance management this edition. Each badge says so in the buyer's words, names the edition, and links to the standing. The next edition issues a new badge; this one stays true as a record of October 2026.
Wide · 320 × 104 Website, beside other badges
Square · 240 × 240 LinkedIn, slides
Compact · 200 × 56 Email signature, footer
Badges read on light and dark pages. Alt text carries the claim, the category, the edition and the index, so it stays a citation where the image does not load.