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Index Performance and talent management Skills intelligence › Skills Base vs Eightfold AI
Skills intelligence · September 2026 Edition

Skills Base vs Eightfold AI

Zero of twelve models named Skills Base first on the direct prompt; two named Eightfold AI. Skills Base was named by eight of the twelve models and Eightfold AI by twelve and Skills Base carries 12 labels and Eightfold AI 27, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Skills Base

accepted challenger

Named in one category this edition.

Eightfold AI

criticized challenger

Named in eleven categories this edition.

First-choice share17%4%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate0%59%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#7A position in a field of 16; printed, not drawn.
Labels1227A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Skills Base reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.TalentGuard was named alongside these two in nine of the twelve direct answers. TalentGuard vs Skills Base · TalentGuard vs Eightfold AI · Skills Base vs iMocha

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 skills intelligence page.

By framing

How many of the twelve models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Skills BaseFirst choices, of twelve modelsEightfold AI
Direct027 against Eightfold AI
Paraphrase004 against Eightfold AI
Comparative02
Budget-constrained803 against Eightfold AI
Scale-constrained002 against Eightfold AI
Negative00
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.

Every model, every framing

The seventy-two answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Skills Base and Eightfold AI stood in it.
ModelDirectParaphraseComparativeBudget-constrainedScale-constrainedNegative
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
Skills Base Eightfold AI first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Skills Base on the left and Eightfold AI on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Skills Base and Eightfold AI stood in it.

Eightfold AI first, Skills Base not the choice

2 of 12 modelsSkills Base was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
GPT-5.4 miniEightfold AI, SkillPanel alternatives: Fuel50, Retrain.ai, Workday Skills Cloud
Qwen 3.7 FlashEightfold AI alternatives: Clad.io, DeepSkill, Gloat, Lightcast Open Skills

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.
Perplexity SonarTalentGuard alternatives: INOP, SkillPanel, Skills Base, iMocha
DeepSeek V4 FlashFuel50, TalentGuard alternatives: MuchSkills, Skills Base
GLM 4.7 FlashXiMocha alternatives: MuchSkills, Skills Base, TalentGuard

Neither was named

7 of 12 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.
Claude Haiku 4.5TalentGuard alternatives: Amplemarket, iMocha
Gemini 3.5 FlashCareer Bird alternatives: Docebo, Fuel50, Workera
Grok 4.1 FastTalentGuard, iMocha alternatives: Fuel50
Mistral SmallTalentGuard, iMocha alternatives: Bryq, INOP
Llama 4 MaverickTalentGuard alternatives: Criteria Corp, Engagedly, iMocha
Kimi K2TalentGuard alternatives: 365Talents, Engagedly, Fuel50, TechWolf
MiniMax M2.5TalentGuard alternatives: 365Talents, Gloat

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
Skills Base leads by thirty-five points.
Skills Base35%#1 of 10
Eightfold AI0%#10 of 10
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
Skills Base leads by thirteen points.
Skills Base17%#2 of 16
Eightfold AI4%#7 of 16
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
The order flips: Eightfold AI leads at enterprise.
Eightfold AI33%#1 of 10
Skills Base2%#– of 10
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Skills Base

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

“the best practical choice is usually Skills Base if you want a dedicated skills management platform with strong value for SMBs” Perplexity Sonar · budget prompt · first choice
“Best Overall Value & "Spreadsheet Killer": Skills Base ... is the industry standard for budget-conscious companies” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · first choice
“Skills Base (starting at ~$2–$2.25 per user per month with a free tier) ... are the most practical entry points.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · budget prompt · first choice

What the models said about Eightfold AI

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

“Gloat and Eightfold AI ... bring enterprise-grade complexity, cost, and lengthy implementations that usually overkill mid-market budgets” DeepSeek V4 Flash · direct prompt · hard negative
“The Best All-Rounder (AI & Talent Acquisition) Eightfold AI Eightfold is widely considered the leader in the skills-based movement” Qwen 3.7 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
Also compared

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.