# Coaching platforms for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

HR AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "employee coaching platform" and as "digital coaching marketplace", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://hr-ai-index.com/learning/coaching-platforms/smb/

**Standing:** Boon Health leads with 28% of first choices; verdict contested. 47 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boon Health | 28% | 4% | 28 |
| 2 | Risely | 17% | 0% | 25 |
| 3 | CoachHub | 9% | 57% | 37 |
| 4 | Exec | 4% | 8% | 12 |
| 5 | BetterUp | 2% | 76% | 34 |
| 6 | Simply.Coach | 0% | 0% | 12 |
| 7 | Coachello | 0% | 0% | 10 |
| 8 | Growthspace | 0% | 0% | 11 |
| 9 | UpCoach | 0% | 10% | 10 |

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: no first choice
- GPT-5.4 mini: Cloverleaf; alternatives BetterUp, Tandem
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Risely; alternatives 15Five, Boon Health, Gong, Highspot
- Perplexity Sonar: Boon Health; alternatives Exec, Risely
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Risely; alternatives Boon Health, Peoplebox
- Mistral Small: Boon Health; alternatives Risely
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Boon Health; alternatives Coachello, Exec, Growthspace, Risely
- Llama 4 Maverick: Boon Health, Risely
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: CoachHub; alternatives 15Five, Gong, MentorcliQ
- Kimi K2: Boon Health; alternatives Coachello, Risely, Valence
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Risely; alternatives 15Five, Boon Health
- MiniMax M2.5: Boon Health, Peoplebox; alternatives Coachello, Risely, Valence

## Sources the answers cite

66 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- boon-health.com: 37 answers, 48 citations
- coachstackhub.ai: 32 answers, 36 citations
- 360learning.com: 26 answers, 28 citations
- coachilly.com: 20 answers, 21 citations
- coachhub.com: 17 answers, 21 citations
- paperbell.com: 16 answers, 19 citations
- worldmetrics.org: 16 answers, 18 citations
- togetherplatform.com: 15 answers, 15 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://boon-health.com/learn/resources/best-enterprise-coaching-platforms (36 answers)
- https://coachstackhub.ai/compare/business-coaching-platforms (31 answers)
- https://360learning.com/blog/online-coaching-platforms (26 answers)
- https://coachhub.com/ (16 answers)
- https://togetherplatform.com/blog/best-online-platforms-for-employee-coaching (15 answers)
- https://circle.so/blog/best-coaching-platforms (14 answers)
- https://coachilly.com/coaching-software-review-2026 (14 answers)
- https://worldmetrics.org/best/employee-coaching-software (12 answers)
- https://delenta.com/blog/coaching-support-platforms (10 answers)
- https://exec.com/learn/best-leadership-coaching-platforms (10 answers)

## Warned against

- BetterUp: 26 of 34 labels negative. "What to Avoid on a Tight Budget - BetterUp, CoachHub, Torch, EZRA — these enterprise platforms typically run $300–$1,000+ per employee per year" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt)
- CoachHub: 21 of 37 labels negative. "Skip massive enterprise networks like BetterUp or CoachHub, which typically cost $3,000–$5,000+ per user per year" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, direct prompt)
- Lurn: 3 of 3 labels negative. "The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken action against companies like Lurn for making such false promises" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Profi: 3 of 5 labels negative. "Shut down on December 31, 2025... These platforms are not recommended" (Llama 4 Maverick, negative prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://hr-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://hr-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as HR AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, hr-ai-index.com.