Rippling vs Gusto
Eight of twelve models named Rippling first on the direct prompt; zero named Gusto. Both were named by all twelve models and Rippling carries 44 labels and Gusto 45, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in twenty-eight categories this edition.
Named in eighteen categories this edition.
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; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the payroll software page.
By framing
RipplingFirst choices, of twelve modelsGusto
Across every category in the September 2026 Edition, Rippling and Gusto were named in the same answer 453 times, of the 1168 answers naming Rippling and the 802 naming Gusto. In those answers Gusto took the first choice 150 times and Rippling fifty-three.
Every model, every framing
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | | ||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | | ||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | |||
| Grok 4.1 Fast | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | | | ||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | | |
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | ||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | | |
| Kimi K2 | | | | | ||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | | ||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | | |
Rippling Gusto first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Rippling on the left and Gusto on the right.The direct prompt
Rippling first, Gusto an alternative
8 of 12 modelsGusto was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Neither was the first choice, one was named
3 of 12 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Neither was named
1 of 12 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
Gusto57%#1 of 10Rippling5%#3 of 10Rippling28%#1 of 13Gusto4%#6 of 13What the models said about Rippling
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. One of one in this category shown.
“Experts warn against using Rippling if you have fewer than 100 employees, as it is considered overkill and can be very costly for smaller businesses.” Mistral Small · negative prompt · soft negative
What the models said about Gusto
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Two of two in this category shown.
“Gusto is the most popular all\u2011round choice for small businesses, offering a polished employee experience and built\u2011in HR/benefits.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · comparative prompt · first choice
“the platforms that most consistently earn positive feedback on simplicity and transparent pricing are Gusto (for small businesses)” DeepSeek V4 Flash · negative prompt · first choice
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.