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Talent intelligence · October 2026 Edition

Phenom vs SeekOut

Zero of fourteen models named Phenom first on the direct prompt; one named SeekOut. Both were named by all fourteen models and Phenom carries 30 labels and SeekOut 31, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Phenom

criticized challenger

Named in six categories this edition.

SeekOut

accepted 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 rate40%10%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#7#8A position in a field of 13; printed, not drawn.
Labels3031A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Phenom reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Gem was named alongside these two in nine of the fourteen direct answers. Pin vs Phenom · Pin vs SeekOut · Gem vs Phenom

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen 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 talent intelligence page.

By framing

How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
PhenomFirst choices, of fourteen modelsSeekOut
Direct012 against Phenom
Paraphrase201 against Phenom
Comparative10
Budget-constrained003 against Phenom · 1 against SeekOut
Scale-constrained00
Negative006 against Phenom · 2 against SeekOut
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.

Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, Phenom and SeekOut were named in the same answer sixty-four times, of the 294 answers naming Phenom and the 224 naming SeekOut. In those answers SeekOut took the first choice three times and Phenom four.

Every model, every framing

The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Phenom and SeekOut 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
GPT-6 Luna
Muse Glimmer 30B
Phenom SeekOut first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Phenom on the left and SeekOut on the right.

The direct prompt

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

SeekOut first, Phenom not the choice

1 of 14 modelsPhenom was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
Kimi K2SeekOut alternatives: Findem, Gem

Neither was the first choice, one was named

8 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
GPT-5.4 mini365Talents alternatives: Fuel50, Phenom, SeekOut
Gemini 3.5 FlashGem alternatives: Findem, SeekOut, hireEZ
Perplexity SonarPin alternatives: Eightfold AI, Gem, Lightcast, SeekOut, hireEZ
Grok 4.1 FastGem, hireEZ alternatives: Bryq, Phenom, SeekOut
Qwen 3.7 FlashEightfold AI alternatives: Gem, RepVisor, SeekOut, ZoomInfo Talent
GLM 4.7 FlashXPin alternatives: Eightfold AI, SeekOut, hireEZ
MiniMax M2.5Metaview, hireEZ alternatives: Gem, SeekOut
Muse Glimmer 30BhireEZ alternatives: Gem, SeekOut

Neither was named

5 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.
Claude Haiku 4.5Arya, Pin alternatives: Engagedly, Lattice, iCIMS Talent Cloud
Mistral SmallGem alternatives: Eightfold AI, Neobrain
DeepSeek V4 FlashGem alternatives: Fuel50, Pin, hireEZ
Llama 4 Maverickno first choice
GPT-6 LunaSeekOut Recruit alternatives: Lightcast

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
SeekOut leads by two points.
SeekOut4%#7 of 16
Phenom2%#11 of 16
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
The order flips: Phenom leads at mid-market.
Phenom4%#7 of 13
SeekOut2%#8 of 13
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
The order flips: SeekOut leads at enterprise.
SeekOut6%#3 of 15
Phenom2%#6 of 15
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Phenom

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

“My default recommendation: Phenom, if you want one platform to support both external hiring and internal mobility” GPT-6 Luna · paraphrase prompt · first choice

What the models said about SeekOut

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

“18% negative sentiment noted. Seat-based model draws complaints on contact data accuracy, pricing, and ROI challenges” Grok 4.1 Fast · negative prompt · soft negative
“Users report it's "slower to reach ROI"” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · soft negative
“SeekOut – Best Overall for Mid-Market” Kimi K2 · direct prompt · first choice
“Choose a single-seat SeekOut Recruit Core plan to leverage enterprise-grade search filters without an enterprise contract.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · alternative
“Excellent for deep, diverse, and technical talent pools... though pricing has increasingly leaned toward enterprise budgets.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · scale prompt · alternative
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.