HR AI Index
September 2026 Edition · The permanent record of this edition. The unqualified address always carries the latest edition.
Index › Core HR and payroll › Leave › Small business › September 2026 Edition

Leave and absence management for small business buyers

Asked as “leave management software”, and as “PTO tracking tool”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 53 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Timetastic
Contested
25% of first choices, contested.
ShowinginAll 50 categories in the September 2026 Edition →

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.
Small businessTimetastic25%ContestedThis pageMid-marketBambooHR28%ContestedStanding →EnterpriseWorkday37%ContestedStanding →

01The 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
01Timetastic25%5%39accepted challenger
02Vacation Tracker21%9%43accepted challenger
03LeaveBoard13%0%32accepted challenger
04Day Off6%4%26accepted challenger
05Gusto6%0%18accepted challenger
06PurelyHR6%0%10accepted challenger
07BambooHR6%36%39criticized challenger
08Calamari2%20%20accepted challenger
Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
11Rippling0%36%14criticized challenger
09Connecteam0%0%11accepted challenger
10actiPLANS0%0%11accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.
Head to head
BambooHR vs Vacation TrackerBambooHR vs RipplingVacation Tracker vs Rippling

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
09
10
11
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01Timetastic25%
02Vacation Tracker21%
03LeaveBoard13%
04Day Off6%
05Gusto6%
06PurelyHR6%
07BambooHR6%
08Calamari2%
09Connecteam0%
10actiPLANS0%
11Rippling0%

02What they warned about

Two of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Perplexity Sonar, 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.
BambooHR
36%
14 of 39 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“Unless you have massive scaling plans... avoid these. They are much more expensive and take weeks to set up” Gemini 3.5 Flash, comparative prompt
Workday
100%
9 of 9 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 7 hard negative
“Why to avoid:** These platforms are the industry gold standards for companies with thousands of employees, but they are highly toxic to small business efficiency.” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
UKG Ready
100%
6 of 6 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 6 hard negative
“Tools to **Avoid** (Generally Not Suitable for Small Businesses):- **Enterprise/HRIS Heavyweights like UKG Ready (formerly Kronos)” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt
ADP Workforce Now
100%
6 of 6 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“Enterprise HRIS | UKG Ready, ADP Workforce Now, Rippling | High setup cost, complexity, overkill features” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

64 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 791 links across 162 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

peoplemanagingpeople.com
vendor site · People Managing People40 answers · 45 citations · 10 models
forbes.com
39 answers · 40 citations · 9 models
employsome.com
37 answers · 37 citations · 10 models
attendancebot.com
vendor site · AttendanceBot25 answers · 30 citations · 9 models
connecteam.com
vendor site · Connecteam25 answers · 26 citations · 8 models
vacationtracker.io
vendor site · Vacation Tracker23 answers · 36 citations · 10 models
technologyadvice.com
23 answers · 23 citations · 8 models
actiplans.com
vendor site · actiPLANS19 answers · 29 citations · 7 models
charliehr.com
vendor site · CharlieHR19 answers · 19 citations · 8 models
blog.purelyhr.com
vendor site · PurelyHR17 answers · 18 citations · 9 models
tracefyhr.com
vendor site · TracefyHR17 answers · 17 citations · 9 models
apps365.com
16 answers · 20 citations · 8 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.

forbes.com/advisor/business/software/best-leave-management-systems
39 answers · 9 models
employsome.com/best/leave-management-software
37 answers · 10 models
peoplemanagingpeople.com/tools/best-leave-management-software
34 answers · 10 models
technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/leave-management-tools
23 answers · 8 models
attendancebot.com/blog/8-best-leave-management-software-for-small-businesse…
21 answers · 9 models
charliehr.com/best-leave-management-systems
19 answers · 8 models
tracefyhr.com/blog/best-leave-management-software-small-business-2026
17 answers · 9 models
articsledge.com/post/leave-management-software
15 answers · 7 models
connecteam.com/leave-management-system
12 answers · 6 models
connecteam.com/employee-pto-tracker
11 answers · 7 models

04How 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.
ModelDirect“What is the best leave management software for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which PTO tracking tool would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top leave management tools for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best leave management software for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a leave management software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which leave management tools should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5PurelyHR
Four alternativesGusto, Homebase, Timetastic, TracefyHR
BambooHR, Buddy PunchChanged
Two alternativesDay Off, Gusto
Timetastic
Three alternativesBambooHR, Gusto, PurelyHR
against: CalamariTimetastic
Three alternativesHomebase, Vacation Tracker, Zoho People
no first choiceagainst: HiBob, Timetastic
GPT-5.4 miniCalamari
Four alternativesBambooHR, Deputy, Vacation Tracker, Zoho People
Vacation TrackerChanged
Three alternativesCalamari, Day Off, TrackSmart Attendance
Timetastic, Vacation Tracker
Four alternativesBambooHR, Calamari, Factorial, Jibble
Vacation Tracker
Two alternativesCalamari, Homebase
against: Stiirano first choiceagainst: Pause
Gemini 3.5 FlashVacation Tracker
Five alternativesAttendanceBot, Gusto, LeaveBoard, Rippling, Timetastic
against: BambooHRVacation TrackerHeld
Four alternativesAttendanceBot, Calamari, Flamingo, Gusto
Vacation Tracker
Four alternativesAttendanceBot, Connecteam, PurelyHR, Timetastic
against: BambooHR, DeelAbsenca, BreezeLeave
Three alternativesDay Off, TalentHR, Timetastic
against: BambooHR, RipplingAttendanceBot, Vacation Tracker
Five alternativesAbsenca, BambooHR, Factorial, LeaveBoard, Timetastic
against: SAP SuccessFactors, Workdayagainst: ADP Workforce Now, AbsenceSoft, Cocoon, Excel, Google Sheets, Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM, Paychex, SAP SuccessFactors, Tilt, UKG Pro/Ready, Workday
Perplexity SonarTimetastic
Five alternativesBambooHR, Factorial, LeaveBoard, PurelyHR, Vacation Tracker
BambooHRChanged
Three alternativesGusto, Timetastic, Vacation Tracker
Vacation Tracker
Six alternativesBambooHR, Calamari, Factorial, Gusto, LeaveBoard, Timetastic
against: AbsenceSoftDay Off, LeaveBoard
Three alternativesAttendanceBot, Leave Dates, Vacation Tracker
no first choiceagainst: BambooHR, Deel, Flamingo, Homebase
Grok 4.1 FastVacation Tracker
Two alternativesBambooHR, Timetastic
Vacation TrackerHeld
Three alternativesAttendanceBot, Time Off Manager 365, Timetastic
LeaveBoard, Timetastic, Vacation Tracker
Two alternativesDay Off, actiPLANS
against: BambooHR, CalamariJibble
Four alternativesDay Off, LeaveBoard, Pebb, actiPLANS
against: TimeOff.Management, Vacation Trackerno first choiceagainst: ADP Workforce Now, BambooHR, Replicon, Rippling, UKG Ready, Vacation Tracker, Zenefits
Mistral SmallPurelyHR
One alternativeVacation Tracker
GustoChanged
Three alternativesBambooHR, Buddy Punch, Time Off Manager 365
Vacation Tracker
Three alternativesBambooHR, Buddy Punch, Day Off
LeaveBoard, Timetastic
Two alternativesDay Off, Vacation Tracker
no first choiceagainst: UKG Ready, Workday
DeepSeek V4 FlashBambooHR
Five alternativesCalamari, Connecteam, Day Off, LeaveBoard, Timetastic
TimetasticChanged
Three alternativesCalamari, LeaveBoard, Vacation Tracker
Timetastic
Three alternativesCalamari, LeaveBoard, Vacation Tracker
against: Day OffTimetastic
Four alternativesAbsenca, Connecteam, Gusto, LeaveBoard
against: Calamari, Vacation TrackerLeaveBoard, Timetastic, Vacation Trackeragainst: AbsenceSoft, BambooHR, Cocoon, Leapsome, Ripplingagainst: ADP Workforce Now, BambooHR, Calamari, Rippling, Timetastic, UKG Ready, Vacation Tracker
Llama 4 MaverickTimetastic
Two alternativesLeaveBoard, Vacation Tracker
no first choiceChangedno first choiceDay Off, SimpleLeave
Four alternativesLeaveBoard, Timetastic, TracefyHR, Vacation Tracker
no first choiceagainst: BambooHR, UKG Ready, Workday
Qwen 3.7 FlashTimetastic
Three alternativesBambooHR, Gusto, Timebook
against: Asana, Monday.com, TrelloGustoChanged
Three alternativesBambooHR, QuickBooks Time, Rippling
Deputy, When I Work
Three alternativesLeaveWise, Plannr, Zoho People
LeaveBoard, Timetastic
Three alternativesTracefyHR, Vacation Tracker, Zoho People
no first choiceagainst: Oracle PeopleSoft HCM, Workdayagainst: Excel, Google Sheets, Jira, SAP SuccessFactors, Trello, Workday
Kimi K2PurelyHR
Three alternativesBambooHR, Day Off, LeaveBoard
GustoChanged
Three alternativesBambooHR, Connecteam, OnTheClock
Day Off
Four alternativesAttendanceBot, LeaveBoard, Vacation Tracker, actiPLANS
LeaveBoard, Simple Leave
Three alternativesLeave Dates, TimeOff.Management, actiPLANS
LeaveBoard, Vacation Tracker
Three alternativesBambooHR, Buddy Punch, Connecteam
against: ADP Workforce Now, BambooHR, SAP SuccessFactors, UKG Pro, Workday, Zoho People
GLM 4.7 FlashXDay Off
Four alternativesBambooHR, Leave Dates, LeaveBoard, Timetastic
AttendanceBot, TimetasticChanged
Three alternativesConnecteam, Gusto, Jibble
Day Off, Vacation Tracker
One alternativeBuddy Punch
against: BambooHRVacation Tracker
Three alternativesClockify, Day Off, LeaveBoard
no first choiceagainst: ADP Workforce Now, BambooHR, Deel, Rippling, UKG Ready, Workday, Zoho People
MiniMax M2.5Timetastic, Vacation Tracker
Two alternativesLeaveBoard, TracefyHR
against: BambooHRTime Off Manager 365, TimetasticChanged
One alternativeClickUp
Vacation Tracker
Four alternativesBambooHR, Day Off, Deel, Timetastic
LeaveBoard, Timetastic
One alternativeZoho People
against: BambooHRno first choiceagainst: ADP Workforce Now, UKG Ready, Workday
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The 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.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:41yes97 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 21:15yes48 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:57yes1043 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:32yes207 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 18:36yes3818 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 17:57yes54 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 21:33yes1018 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 19:14yes53 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:18no024 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:59yes919 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 21:23yes2262 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:59yes1131 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 18:01yes98 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:46yes55 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 20:00yes1321 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:05yes206 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 18:04yes2514 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:12yes86 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 18:08yes1419 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 19:26yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:30no027 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:39yes1038 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 21:35yes27215 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:23yes637 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:17yes910 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:49yes611 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:53yes940 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:08yes1912 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 21:04yes2114 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:12yes56 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-17 18:04yes2565 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 19:29yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:20no027 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 21:17yes925 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 17:56yes2354 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 18:45yes2448 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:07yes97 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:43yes36 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:18yes3422 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:38yes205 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 18:27yes2515 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:42yes54 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:44yes1415 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 21:16yes52 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:20yes518 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:50yes1021 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:42yes25100 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 18:05yes512 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:41no06 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:57no07 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:39yes1125 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:03yes207 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 18:08yes139 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:13no06 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-17 18:32yes1850 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:09yes53 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:03no028 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:37yes973 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:14yes1760 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 18:43yes1024 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:24yes148 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 17:52yes56 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 22:08yes2653 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 18:16yes206 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 19:58yes3019 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:57yes89 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 21:16yes2433 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:55yes54 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:47no031 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 21:01yes1955 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:17yes2297 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 18:04yes1840 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings
Excel templates read as Excel
Oracle Cloud HCM read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM
PeopleSoft read as Oracle PeopleSoft HCM
SAP read as SAP SuccessFactors
Unresolved, counted raw
BreezeLeave
Evolia
LeaveWise
Papershift
Plannr
Simple Leave (UK-focused)
SimpleLeave
Timebook
TrackSmart Attendance
Vacancy (vacancy.io)
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in core hr and payroll

The other categories of this function, with the leader in each.
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