Index › Core HR and payroll › September 2026 Edition

Payroll software

Asked as “payroll software”, and as “payroll provider”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 47 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.

Standing

Rippling

Contested

28% of first choices, contested.

ShowinginAll 50 categories →

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 business

Gusto57%Clear leaderStanding →Mid-market

Rippling28%ContestedThis page Enterprise

ADP30%ContestedStanding →

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.

ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant

Rippling5%44accepted challenger

Patriot Payroll14%21accepted challenger

Paylocity29%35criticized challenger

ADP29%28criticized challenger

Paycom25%24criticized challenger

Gusto13%45accepted challenger

ADP Workforce Now11%18accepted challenger

Paycor17%12accepted challenger

Show the five products at 0%, ordered by negative rate

Paychex Flex29%24criticized challenger

QuickBooks Payroll25%16criticized challenger

Workday17%12accepted challenger

Deel9%11accepted challenger

OnPay0%19accepted 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

Rippling vs Patriot Payroll Rippling vs Paylocity Patriot Payroll vs Paylocity

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 →

Accepted challengerEndorsed leader

0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%

Key

Rippling28%

Patriot Payroll23%

Paylocity17%

ADP11%

Paycom6%

Gusto4%

ADP Workforce Now4%

Paycor4%

OnPay0%

Deel0%

QuickBooks Payroll0%

Paychex Flex0%

Workday0%

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, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, 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.

Paylocity

29%

10 of 35 labels negative · 10 of 12 models · 7 hard negative

“here are the platforms you should be cautious about and why: ### 1. Paylocity ... claim the software causes significant errors in payroll processing” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt

ADP

29%

8 of 28 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 4 hard negative

“legacy/larger enterprise solutions like **ADP Workforce Now** or standard **ADP Payroll Services** ... high costs ... poor support accessibility” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt

Paychex Flex

29%

7 of 24 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 4 hard negative

“Recent data breaches (2024 incidents exposing SSNs, leading to negligence class actions)” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt

Paycom

25%

6 of 24 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 5 hard negative

“Platforms with Significant Complaints ... Paycom - Major Issues: Tax filing errors that have caused users "tears"” Kimi K2, 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

62 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. 5 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 717 links across 172 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

forbes.com

28 answers · 39 citations · 10 models

peoplemanagingpeople.com

vendor site · People Managing People24 answers · 37 citations · 10 models

workforce.com

vendor site · Workforce.com21 answers · 28 citations · 9 models

adp.com

vendor site · ADP18 answers · 24 citations · 9 models

paycom.com

vendor site · Paycom17 answers · 19 citations · 10 models

saasrat.com

16 answers · 18 citations · 10 models

deel.com

vendor site · Deel15 answers · 16 citations · 9 models

learn.g2.com

15 answers · 15 citations · 9 models

gusto.com

vendor site · Gusto14 answers · 30 citations · 10 models

omnihr.co

vendor site · Omni HR14 answers · 14 citations · 9 models

pcmag.com

14 answers · 14 citations · 8 models

reddit.com

vendor site · Reddit11 answers · 40 citations · 9 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-payroll-services

27 answers · 10 models

learn.g2.com/best-payroll-software

14 answers · 9 models

omnihr.co/blog/payroll-software-for-mid-sized-companies

14 answers · 9 models

paycom.com/resources/blog/best-payroll-for-midmarket-businesses

14 answers · 9 models

pcmag.com/picks/best-payroll-services

14 answers · 8 models

workforce.com/compare/best-payroll-companies

14 answers · 8 models

deel.com/blog/best-payroll-software-medium-business

13 answers · 8 models

saasrat.com/blog/best-payroll-software-for-mid-market

13 answers · 9 models

workforce.com/help-center/4051801/collections/4051801/articles/11168201-14-…

13 answers · 7 models

peoplemanagingpeople.com/services/best-payroll-services

11 answers · 9 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 payroll software for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which payroll provider would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top payroll platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best payroll software for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a payroll software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which payroll platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”

Claude Haiku 4.5Rippling

Two alternatives

Paycor, Paylocity

against: ADP Workforce NowPaycorChanged

Three alternatives

ADP Workforce Now, Gusto, Justworks

Gusto

Four alternatives

ADP RUN, Paychex Flex, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

Patriot Payroll

Two alternatives

Gusto, OnPay

no first choiceagainst: Patriot Payroll, Paylocity, Workday

GPT-5.4 miniRippling

Four alternatives

ADP Global Payroll, ADP Workforce Now / ADP Full Service Payroll, Deel, Paycom

Gusto, RipplingChanged

One alternative

ADP

Gusto

Five alternatives

ADP, OnPay, Paychex Flex, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

Payroll4Free

Two alternatives

Gusto, Patriot Payroll

no first choicenothing named

Gemini 3.5 FlashRippling

Three alternatives

ADP Workforce Now, Deel, Paylocity

RipplingHeld

Three alternatives

Deel, Paycom, Paylocity

against: ADP Workforce NowGusto

Five alternatives

ADP RUN, Patriot Payroll, Paychex Flex, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

Patriot Payroll

Five alternatives

Gusto, Square Payroll, SurePayroll, Wave Payroll, Zoho Payroll

Rippling

Four alternatives

ADP Workforce Now, Paycom, Paylocity, UKG Ready

against: ADP, Paychex Flex, Paycom, Paycor, Paylocity, QuickBooks Payroll

Perplexity SonarPaylocity, Rippling

Two alternatives

ADP Workforce Now, Paycom

ADPChanged

Two alternatives

Gusto, Paylocity

no first choiceagainst: Patriot Payroll, SurePayroll, Wave PayrollPatriot Payroll

Three alternatives

OnPay, Payroll4Free, Wave Payroll

no first choiceagainst: ADP, Deel, Patriot Payroll, Paychex Flex, Paylocity, Rippling

Grok 4.1 FastPaylocity, Rippling

Two alternatives

ADP Workforce Now, Paycom

against: GustoADP Workforce NowChanged

Four alternatives

Paychex Flex, Paycor, Paylocity, Rippling

against: GustoGusto

Seven alternatives

ADP, OnPay, Paychex Flex, Paycom, Paylocity, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

Patriot Payroll

Five alternatives

Gusto, OnPay, Payroll4Free, Square Payroll, Wave Payroll

Rippling

Three alternatives

ADP Workforce Now, Paycom, Paylocity

against: ADP, Complete Payroll Solutions, Employment Hero, Namely, Paychex Flex, Paycom, Paylocity, UKG Pro

Mistral SmallPaycom

Four alternatives

ADP, Gusto, Paylocity, Rippling

ADPChanged

Four alternatives

Gusto, Paychex Flex, Paycor, Rippling

ADPagainst: BambooHRPatriot Payroll

Three alternatives

Gusto, OnPay, Payroll4Free

no first choiceagainst: ADP, Namely, Paychex Flex, Paylocity, Rippling

DeepSeek V4 FlashPaylocity

Four alternatives

ADP Workforce Now, Paycom, Rippling, UKG Pro

PaylocityHeld

Three alternatives

ADP Workforce Now, Paychex Flex, Rippling

against: UKG Pro / DayforceGusto

Seven alternatives

ADP, OnPay, Papaya Global, Patriot Payroll, Paychex Flex, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

Patriot Payroll

Five alternatives

Gusto, OnPay, Payroll4Free, Square Payroll, Wave Payroll

against: TimeTrexno first choiceagainst: ADP, Paychex Flex, Paycom, Paylocity, QuickBooks Payroll

Llama 4 Maverickno first choicePaycomChanged

Three alternatives

Deel, Gusto, Justworks

Gusto

Three alternatives

OnPay, Papaya Global, Rippling

Patriot Payrollno first choiceagainst: Paycom, Paylocity

Qwen 3.7 FlashADP, Rippling

Three alternatives

BambooHR, Gusto, Zenefits

against: SAP SuccessFactors, WorkdayPaylocity, RipplingChanged

One alternative

ADP

Gusto

Six alternatives

ADP RUN, Deel, Justworks, Paycom, Paylocity, Rippling

Patriot Payroll

One alternative

Payroll4Free

against: GustoPaycor, Paylocity

Four alternatives

ADP Workforce Now, Dayforce, Rippling, Workday

against: BambooPay, Gusto, Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM, SAP SuccessFactorsagainst: ADP, Gusto, Paylocity, Zoho Payroll

Kimi K2Rippling

Three alternatives

ADP Workforce Now, Gusto, Paycom

ADP, GustoChanged

One alternative

Paychex Flex

Gusto

Seven alternatives

ADP, Paychex Flex, Paycom, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling, Square Payroll, SurePayroll

Patriot Payroll

One alternative

OnPay

against: TimeTrexno first choiceagainst: ADP, Gusto, Paycom, Paylocity, Zenefits

GLM 4.7 FlashXPaylocity, Rippling

Four alternatives

ADP Workforce Now, Paycor, UKG Pro, Workday

no first choiceChanged

Twelve alternatives

ADP Workforce Now, Deel, Gusto, Justworks, OnPay, Paycom, Paylocity, QuickBooks Payroll, RemoFirst, RemotePeople, Rippling, UKG Pro / Dayforce

Gusto

Nine alternatives

ADP, Deel, OnPay, Patriot Payroll, Paycor, QuickBooks Payroll, Remote, Rippling, Xero Payroll

against: HireGlobal, RemoFirstPatriot Payroll

Five alternatives

Gusto, OnPay, Payroll4Free, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling

no first choiceagainst: Paychex Flex, Paycom, Paycor, Paylocity, QuickBooks Payroll

MiniMax M2.5ADP Workforce Now, Paylocity

Two alternatives

Rippling, UKG Pro

ADP, PaycomChanged

Two alternatives

Gusto, Paylocity

Gusto

Seven alternatives

ADP, Dayforce, Paychex Flex, Paylocity, QuickBooks Payroll, Rippling, Workday

Patriot Payroll

Four alternatives

Gusto, Payroll4Free, QuickBooks Payroll, TimeTrex

no first choiceagainst: ADP, Paychex Flex, QuickBooks Payroll

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.

Prompt	Model	Version string	Time (UTC)	Searched	Sources	Latency
Direct recommendation	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 20:14	yes	9	8 s
Direct recommendation	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 19:25	yes	5	5 s
Direct recommendation	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 22:04	yes	18	42 s
Direct recommendation	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 18:49	yes	20	6 s
Direct recommendation	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 18:00	yes	28	17 s
Direct recommendation	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 19:12	yes	10	9 s
Direct recommendation	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 19:31	yes	8	14 s
Direct recommendation	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 19:40	yes	5	2 s
Direct recommendation	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 20:17	no	0	16 s
Direct recommendation	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 19:04	yes	14	24 s
Direct recommendation	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 18:49	yes	13	89 s
Direct recommendation	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 21:11	yes	10	28 s
Paraphrase	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 21:22	yes	9	8 s
Paraphrase	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 18:30	no	0	5 s
Paraphrase	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 22:02	yes	9	52 s
Paraphrase	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 21:20	yes	20	5 s
Paraphrase	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 18:15	yes	35	19 s
Paraphrase	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 21:10	yes	5	4 s
Paraphrase	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 21:34	yes	17	17 s
Paraphrase	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 19:33	yes	5	3 s
Paraphrase	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 21:05	no	0	31 s
Paraphrase	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 21:31	yes	10	17 s
Paraphrase	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 19:15	yes	13	47 s
Paraphrase	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 19:49	yes	9	32 s
Comparative	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 19:05	yes	9	6 s
Comparative	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 20:11	yes	6	9 s
Comparative	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 22:07	yes	17	47 s
Comparative	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 21:09	yes	20	10 s
Comparative	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 20:45	yes	14	11 s
Comparative	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 20:43	yes	5	9 s
Comparative	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 21:01	yes	10	17 s
Comparative	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 18:49	yes	5	2 s
Comparative	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 19:30	yes	5	19 s
Comparative	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 20:20	yes	10	28 s
Comparative	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 18:19	yes	19	47 s
Comparative	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 19:53	yes	20	32 s
Budget constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 18:18	yes	10	7 s
Budget constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 20:56	yes	2	4 s
Budget constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 19:31	yes	23	25 s
Budget constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 21:22	yes	20	5 s
Budget constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 20:40	yes	18	11 s
Budget constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 18:32	yes	5	5 s
Budget constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 18:06	yes	8	11 s
Budget constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 18:21	yes	5	3 s
Budget constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 18:25	yes	10	35 s
Budget constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 20:45	yes	5	14 s
Budget constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 19:47	yes	7	55 s
Budget constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 18:07	yes	5	10 s
Scale constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 18:00	no	0	7 s
Scale constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 18:13	no	0	6 s
Scale constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 18:04	no	0	16 s
Scale constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 18:50	yes	20	6 s
Scale constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 20:50	yes	14	12 s
Scale constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 21:45	no	0	7 s
Scale constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 20:06	no	0	16 s
Scale constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 21:29	yes	5	3 s
Scale constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 19:39	yes	9	58 s
Scale constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 18:59	yes	10	21 s
Scale constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 18:00	no	0	20 s
Scale constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 21:23	yes	5	17 s
Negative framing	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 20:30	yes	18	9 s
Negative framing	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 18:29	no	0	3 s
Negative framing	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 21:53	yes	13	34 s
Negative framing	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 20:17	yes	18	9 s
Negative framing	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 18:09	yes	43	17 s
Negative framing	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 20:14	yes	5	4 s
Negative framing	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 19:42	yes	20	18 s
Negative framing	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 18:27	yes	5	2 s
Negative framing	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 20:18	yes	15	34 s
Negative framing	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 18:55	yes	24	42 s
Negative framing	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 19:22	yes	28	140 s
Negative framing	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 21:18	yes	15	26 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

Ceridian (Dayforce) read as Dayforce

Deel Payroll read as Deel

Oracle read as Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM

Patriot read as Patriot Payroll

Patriot Software read as Patriot Payroll

Paychex read as Paychex Flex

RUN Powered by ADP read as ADP RUN

SAP read as SAP SuccessFactors

Workday HCM read as Workday

Unresolved, counted raw

ADP Workforce Now / ADP Full Service Payroll

BambooPay

Discontinued, still offered

No shut-down product was recommended here.

Payroll software

By buyer segment

01The standing

Recommended versus criticized

02What they warned about

03What they cite

Sites the answers cite

Pages the answers cite

04How they answered

05The record

Normalization in this category

Also in core hr and payroll