HR AI Index
Index Workforce planning and analytics September 2026 Edition

Contingent workforce management

Asked as “vendor management system for contingent workers”, and as “freelancer management platform”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 46 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Contested
35% of first choices, contested.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.

01The standing

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. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01SimpleVMS35%0%22endorsed leader
02Worksuite11%3%30accepted challenger
03Deel9%4%25accepted challenger
04TalentDesk.io7%0%19accepted challenger
05Conexis VMS7%0%11accepted challenger
06Worksome4%0%19accepted challenger
07Fiverr4%25%16criticized challenger
08VectorVMS2%5%20accepted challenger
09Magnit2%20%25accepted challenger
10Upwork2%24%21accepted challenger
11Workday VNDLY2%17%18accepted challenger
12Beeline2%32%40criticized challenger
13SimplifyVMS2%14%14accepted challenger
14SAP Fieldglass2%51%43criticized challenger
Show the two products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
16Coupa Contingent Workforce0%8%12accepted challenger
15Remote0%0%17accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative50%
Key
01SimpleVMS35%
02Worksuite11%
03Deel9%
04TalentDesk.io7%
05Conexis VMS7%
06Worksome4%
07Fiverr4%
08VectorVMS2%
09Magnit2%
10Upwork2%
11Workday VNDLY2%
12Beeline2%
13SimplifyVMS2%
14SAP Fieldglass2%
15Remote0%
16Coupa Contingent Workforce0%

02What they warned about

Zero of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. 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 and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
SAP Fieldglass
51%
22 of 43 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 7 hard negative
“**Avoid Enterprise-Heavy Solutions**: SAP Fieldglass and some large enterprise VMS platforms may have "implementation complexity and cost structures that price out most mid-market buyers"” Kimi K2, scale prompt
Beeline
32%
13 of 40 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 5 hard negative
“Enterprise options like SAP Fieldglass or Beeline are **not recommended** for limited budgets” Grok 4.1 Fast, budget prompt
Magnit
20%
5 of 25 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“usually not cost-effective for a budget-constrained company” DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt
Upwork
24%
5 of 21 labels negative · 4 of 12 models
“Rather than standard hiring marketplaces like Upwork or Fiverr, you need a dedicated **Freelancer Management System (FMS)**” Gemini 3.5 Flash, paraphrase prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

68 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 964 links across 249 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

vendor site · TalentDesk42 answers · 56 citations · 10 models
vendor site · HRTechSaaS36 answers · 36 citations · 10 models
33 answers · 55 citations · 10 models
20 answers · 35 citations · 9 models
20 answers · 20 citations · 11 models
19 answers · 23 citations · 10 models
vendor site · People Managing People18 answers · 18 citations · 8 models
17 answers · 17 citations · 9 models
16 answers · 16 citations · 9 models
15 answers · 43 citations · 7 models
13 answers · 28 citations · 6 models
13 answers · 13 citations · 8 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ModelDirect“What is the best vendor management system for contingent workers for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which freelancer management platform would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top contingent workforce platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best vendor management system for contingent workers for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a vendor management system for contingent workers. What should we look at?”Negative“Which contingent workforce platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5SimplifyVMS
Four alternativesConexis VMS, FlentisPRO, VectorVMS, Worksuite
YunoJunoChanged
Three alternativesDeel HR, TalentDesk.io, Worksome
Worksuite
Six alternativesBeeline, Deel, Remote, Rippling, SAP Fieldglass, Worksome
Beeline
Three alternativesConexis VMS, VectorVMS, Worksuite
no first choiceagainst: Instawork, Qwick, Tend
GPT-5.4 miniSAP Fieldglass
Two alternativesBeeline, Worksome
WorksomeChanged
Two alternativesDeel, Upwork
no first choiceSimpleVMS
One alternativeVendorapp
against: symplr Contingent Talent Management
no first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashConexis VMS
Five alternativesDeel, Rippling, SimpleVMS, VectorVMS, Worksuite
against: Beeline, SAP Fieldglass, Workday VNDLY
WorksuiteChanged
Three alternativesDeel, TalentDesk.io, Worksome
against: Fiverr, Upwork
Magnit
Eight alternativesBeeline, Deel, Remote, Rippling, SAP Fieldglass, Upwork, WorkMarket, Worksuite
SimpleVMS
Four alternativesConexis VMS, TalentDesk.io, VectorVMS, Worksuite
against: Beeline, SAP Fieldglass, Workday VNDLY
Workday VNDLY
Eight alternativesBubty, Deel, Oyster, Prosperix, Rippling, SimplifyVMS, VectorVMS, Worksuite
against: Beeline, SAP Fieldglass
against: Beeline, Deel, Field Nation, Fiverr, Freelancer.com, SAP Fieldglass, Upwork, WorkMarket
Perplexity SonarMagnit
Three alternativesConexis VMS, Workday VNDLY, Worksuite
against: Gatekeeper, Procurify, SAP Fieldglass
WorksomeChanged
Three alternativesDeel, TalentDesk.io, Worksuite
no first choiceSimpleVMS
One alternativeMagnit
against: Beeline, SAP Fieldglass
no first choicenothing named
Grok 4.1 FastSimpleVMS
Three alternativesConexis VMS, VectorVMS, Worksuite
against: Beeline, Magnit, SAP Fieldglass
UpworkChanged
Three alternativesDeel, Fiverr, Worksuite
no first choiceagainst: Manpower, RandstadSimpleVMS
One alternativeVectorVMS
against: Beeline, Connecteam, SAP Fieldglass
no first choiceagainst: CXC Global, Job&Talent, ManpowerGroup, Robert Half
Mistral SmallSimpleVMS, Worksuiteagainst: SAP FieldglassDeel, FiverrChanged
One alternativeRemote
Magnit
Ten alternativesBeeline, Coupa Contingent Workforce, Deel, Fiverr, Remote, SAP Fieldglass, TalentDesk.io, Upwork, Worksome, Worksuite
SimpleVMS
Two alternativesBeeline, Conexis VMS
no first choiceagainst: Beeline, SAP Fieldglass
DeepSeek V4 FlashSimpleVMS
Three alternativesBeeline, VectorVMS, Worksuite
against: Beeline, SAP Fieldglass
TalentDesk.ioChanged
Six alternativesDeel, Fiverr, Upwork, Worksome, Worksuite, YunoJuno
Magnit
Ten alternativesBeeline, Deel, Fiverr, Remote, SAP Fieldglass, TalentDesk.io, Toptal, Upwork, WorkMarket, Worksome
SimpleVMS
One alternativeConexis VMS
against: Beeline, Magnit, QuickBooks Online, Ramp, SAP Fieldglass, SimplifyVMS, Workday VNDLY
no first choice
Four alternativesConexis VMS, Magnit, SimplifyVMS, Workday VNDLY
against: Beeline, SAP Fieldglass
against: Amazon Flex, DoorDash, Favor, Fiverr, Freelancer.com, Handshake AI, Instacart, Lyft, Microworkers, Shipt, Truelancer, Uber, Upwork, Wonolo
Llama 4 MaverickConexis VMS, Gatekeeper, Procurify, SimpleVMS, WorksuiteFiverrChangedno first choiceTalentDesk.io
Six alternativesBeeline, Deel, Remote, SAP Fieldglass, Worksome, Worksuite
no first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashSimpleVMS, Worksuite
Two alternativesDeel, Rippling
against: SAP Fieldglass
DeelChanged
Four alternativesFiverr, TalentDesk.io, Upwork, Worksome
Magnit, SAP Fieldglass
Four alternativesCoupa Contingent Workforce, TalentDesk.io, VectorVMS, WorkMarket
SimpleVMS
One alternativeBountyJobs
against: Levo, SAP Fieldglass
no first choiceagainst: Oracle HCM Cloud, SAP Fieldglass, VectorVMS, Workday
Kimi K2Conexis VMS
Three alternativesSimpleVMS, Workday VNDLY, Worksuite
against: Beeline, SAP Fieldglass
DeelChanged
One alternativeWorksome
Magnit
Nine alternativesBeeline, Deel, Remote, SAP Fieldglass, TalentDesk.io, Ubeya, VectorVMS, Workforce.com, Worksome
SimpleVMS
Two alternativesField Nation, VectorVMS
against: Beeline, Magnit, SAP Fieldglass, SimplifyVMS
no first choiceagainst: SAP Fieldglassagainst: Amazon Flex, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Coople, DoorDash, Fiverr, Freelancer.com, Instacart, Lyft, Randstad, Shipt, Staffing Match, Staffline Group, Uber, Upwork
GLM 4.7 FlashXBridge VMS
Three alternativesSimpleVMS, Workday VNDLY, Worksuite
against: Coupa Contingent Workforce, Magnit, SAP Fieldglass
TalentDesk.ioChanged
Four alternativesDeel, Remote, WorkMarket, Worksome
Magnit
Seven alternativesBeeline, Deel, Ivalua, Remote, SAP Fieldglass, Worksome, Worksuite
SimpleVMS
One alternativePrecoro
no first choiceagainst: Bullhorn, Magnit, SAP Fieldglass, Upwork, Worksuite
MiniMax M2.5SimpleVMS, Worksuiteagainst: SAP FieldglassDeelChanged
One alternativeRemote
Magnit
Five alternativesBeeline, SAP Fieldglass, SimplifyVMS, VectorVMS, Workday VNDLY
SimpleVMS, VectorVMS
Two alternativesConnecteam, Field Nation
no first choiceagainst: Amazon DSP (Delivery Service Partner) Program, DoorDash, Grubhub, Handy, Instacart, Lyft, Outlier AI, Postmates, Uber
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:31yes189 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:13yes46 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 22:00yes1455 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:41yes207 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 19:58yes4723 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:31yes55 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:46yes2021 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 21:19yes52 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:01yes533 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 21:08yes1626 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:31yes1543 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:34yes721 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 18:54yes179 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:13yes35 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:55yes1024 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:07yes206 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 21:14yes3519 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 21:42yes53 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 19:18yes1622 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:23yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 21:42yes617 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:39yes1432 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:45yes2786 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:42yes1530 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 21:28yes98 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:06yes810 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:58yes2050 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:14yes2010 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 21:00yes2916 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 21:12yes910 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:15yes1820 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:01yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:25yes1017 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:45yes921 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:23yes3364 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:57yes1134 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:55yes179 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:04yes35 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:57yes2253 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:53yes205 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 18:48yes3019 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 17:56yes117 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 21:30yes2015 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:02yes52 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:16yes835 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:47yes2132 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:58yes2656 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 21:41yes1237 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 18:16no08 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:17no08 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:57yes851 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:20yes208 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 21:46yes149 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:28no010 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 21:47yes1921 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:44yes53 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 21:13yes530 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:07yes927 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:32yes2857 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:12no09 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:32yes188 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:49yes67 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:54yes1947 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 20:46yes207 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 18:41yes3816 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 20:16yes56 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 19:21yes3027 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 19:21yes54 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:38yes1542 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 21:18yes2938 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:29yes2958 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 21:37yes1026 s

Noise floor in this category

Flips between the edition run and its calibration repeat. Six prompts per model is a small sample; the index-wide floor is the number to trust.

Claude Haiku 4.5
4 of 4 flipped
GPT-5.4 mini
4 of 4 flipped
Gemini 3.5 Flash
3 of 5 flipped
Perplexity Sonar
2 of 3 flipped
Grok 4.1 Fast
3 of 5 flipped
Mistral Small
1 of 4 flipped
DeepSeek V4 Flash
3 of 5 flipped
Llama 4 Maverick
2 of 3 flipped
Qwen 3.7 Flash
3 of 5 flipped
Kimi K2
4 of 5 flipped
GLM 4.7 FlashX
3 of 4 flipped
MiniMax M2.5
4 of 4 flipped

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings
Avature read as Avature VMS
Conexis read as Conexis VMS
Coupa read as Coupa Contingent Workforce
Freelancer read as Freelancer.com
QuickBooks read as QuickBooks Online
TalentDesk read as TalentDesk.io
Unresolved, counted raw
Amazon DSP (Delivery Service Partner) Program
Coople
FlentisPRO
Handshake AI
Handy
IQNavigator
IQVIA
Job&Talent
Kissflow Procurement
Levo
MBO
Manpower
ManpowerGroup
Microworkers
Nextdev
Outlier AI (Scale AI)
Postmates
ProcureThink
Prosperix
Qwick
Staffing Match
Staffline Group (UK)
TalentNet
Tend
Truelancer
Ubeya
Vendorapp
Wand
Zapro AI
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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