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Coaching platforms · September 2026 Edition

Risely vs BetterUp

Zero of twelve models named Risely first on the direct prompt; zero named BetterUp. Risely was named by nine of the twelve models and BetterUp by eleven and Risely carries 18 labels and BetterUp 38, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Risely

accepted challenger

Named in one category this edition.

BetterUp

criticized challenger

Named in five categories this edition.

First-choice share4%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.

Negative rate11%55%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.

Rank in category#6#7A position in a field of 10; printed, not drawn.

Labels1838A count; the two differ.

The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Risely reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Torch was named alongside these two in twelve of the twelve direct answers. Growthspace vs Risely · Growthspace vs BetterUp · Boon Health vs Risely

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 coaching platforms page.

By framing

How many of the twelve models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.

RiselyFirst choices, of twelve modelsBetterUp

Direct007 against BetterUp

Paraphrase011 against Risely · 5 against BetterUp

Comparative03

Budget-constrained207 against BetterUp

Scale-constrained001 against Risely · 1 against BetterUp

Negative011 against BetterUp

Bars are first choices, 0 to 12 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to twelve.

Across every category in the September 2026 Edition, Risely and BetterUp were named in the same answer forty-three times, of the 60 answers naming Risely and the 138 naming BetterUp. In those answers BetterUp took the first choice eight times and Risely fourteen.

Every model, every framing

The seventy-two answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Risely and BetterUp stood in it.

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

Risely

BetterUp

first choice

named as an alternative

argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Risely on the left and BetterUp on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Risely and BetterUp stood in it.

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.

GPT-5.4 miniLattice alternatives: BetterUp, CoachHub, Growthspace, Torch

Perplexity SonarBoon Health alternatives: BetterUp, CoachHub, Exec, Growthspace, Torch

GLM 4.7 FlashXBoon Health alternatives: CoachHub, Exec, Growthspace, Risely, Torch

Neither was named

9 of 12 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.

Claude Haiku 4.5Torch alternatives: Avoma

Gemini 3.5 FlashExec, Growthspace alternatives: Boon Health, Torch

Grok 4.1 FastExec alternatives: Boon Health, Growthspace, Torch

Mistral SmallExec, Growthspace alternatives: Boon Health, Torch

DeepSeek V4 FlashBoon Health, Growthspace alternatives: CoachHub, Torch

Llama 4 MaverickBoon Health alternatives: Exec, Growthspace, Torch

Qwen 3.7 FlashBoon Health alternatives: Exec, Growthspace, Hone, Torch

Kimi K2Boon Health, Growthspace alternatives: CoachHub, Exec, Torch

MiniMax M2.5Boon Health, Growthspace alternatives: Exec, Lattice, Torch

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

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.

Small business

Risely leads by fifteen points.

Risely#2 of 9

BetterUp#5 of 9

The full small business standing →

Mid-marketThe figures above

Risely leads by two points.

Risely#6 of 10

BetterUp#7 of 10

The full mid-market standing →

Enterprise

The order flips: BetterUp leads at enterprise.

BetterUp#1 of 11

Risely#3 of 11

The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Risely

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of six in this category shown.

“Under ~50 employees: Boon, Risely (lightweight, AI)... one built for startups may not scale to your needs.” DeepSeek V4 Flash · scale prompt · soft negative

“Valence/Risely are AI-only, which may be limiting” DeepSeek V4 Flash · paraphrase prompt · soft negative

“Choose Rocky.ai or Risely if you want to provide on-demand, automated individual coaching to employees at the lowest possible monthly rate.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · first choice

“For the tightest budgets: Start with Risely's free trial or Boon's usage-based model” Kimi K2 · budget prompt · first choice

“Offers public, tiered pricing ($59/user/month for individual...) It provides AI-augmented coaching at an accessible price point” DeepSeek V4 Flash · budget prompt · alternative

What the models said about BetterUp

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.

“Avoid per-seat enterprise platforms — BetterUp ($500–$2,000/seat/year) ... charge for every employee whether they use it or not” DeepSeek V4 Flash · budget prompt · hard negative

“Avoid per-seat pricing from larger platforms (BetterUp, CoachHub) as they can be prohibitively expensive” MiniMax M2.5 · direct prompt · hard negative

“Avoid premium platforms like BetterUp ($300-$1,000+ per employee) unless absolutely necessary” MiniMax M2.5 · budget prompt · hard negative

“Better Alternatives: Use directories specifically designed for professional coaching, such as ICF Credential Registry, BetterUp, or iCoachWorld.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · first choice

“Choose BetterUp if: You need the largest coach network and want a proven, research-backed platform for broad workforce development.” Kimi K2 · comparative prompt · first choice

“As the pioneer of the digital enterprise coaching space, BetterUp has the largest global network of vetted human coaches.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice

Also compared

Growthspace vs Risely Growthspace vs BetterUp Boon Health vs Risely Boon Health vs BetterUp Exec vs Risely Exec vs BetterUp Torch vs Risely Torch vs BetterUp CoachHub vs Risely CoachHub vs BetterUp All twenty-one head-to-head pages and the full coaching platforms standing

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.