# Workforce planning: what AI models recommend, September 2026

HR AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "workforce planning software" and as "headcount planning tool", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://hr-ai-index.com/planning/workforce-planning/

**Standing:** ChartHop leads with 31% of first choices; verdict contested. 52 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ChartHop | 31% | 3% | 37 |
| 2 | Homebase | 17% | 0% | 11 |
| 3 | Rippling | 10% | 8% | 26 |
| 4 | Workday Adaptive Planning | 8% | 21% | 39 |
| 5 | Planful | 8% | 4% | 23 |
| 6 | HiBob | 4% | 7% | 14 |
| 7 | Abacum | 4% | 0% | 11 |
| 8 | Visier | 2% | 22% | 27 |
| 9 | Pigment | 0% | 0% | 13 |
| 10 | Paylocity | 0% | 8% | 13 |
| 11 | Orgvue | 0% | 9% | 11 |
| 12 | ADP Workforce Now | 0% | 30% | 10 |

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

- Claude Haiku 4.5: ChartHop; alternatives Deel, HiBob, Paylocity, Pigment
- GPT-5.4 mini: HiBob; alternatives Anaplan, Rippling, Workday Adaptive Planning
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: ChartHop; alternatives Abacum, Mosaic, Pigment, Rippling
- Perplexity Sonar: Workday Adaptive Planning; alternatives Abacum, HiBob, Paylocity, Visier
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Rippling; alternatives ChartHop, Paylocity, Planful, Workday Adaptive Planning
- Mistral Small: Workday Adaptive Planning; alternatives ADP Workforce Now, HiBob, Paylocity, Planful
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Planful, Workday Adaptive Planning; alternatives ADP Workforce Now, ChartHop, Paylocity, Pigment
- Llama 4 Maverick: Workday Adaptive Planning; alternatives Abacum, HiBob, Paylocity, Planful
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Planful; alternatives Abacum, Orgvue, Paylocity, Visier
- Kimi K2: Rippling; alternatives ADP Workforce Now, HiBob, Paylocity, Pigment
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: HiBob; alternatives Planful, Visier
- MiniMax M2.5: Dayforce, Visier; alternatives Workday

## Sources the answers cite

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

- learn.g2.com: 36 answers, 42 citations
- guideflow.com: 31 answers, 36 citations
- peoplemanagingpeople.com: 30 answers, 36 citations
- selectsoftwarereviews.com: 26 answers, 26 citations
- hrtechsaas.com: 25 answers, 28 citations
- g2.com: 19 answers, 36 citations
- cubesoftware.com: 17 answers, 19 citations
- resources.rework.com: 17 answers, 18 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://learn.g2.com/best-workforce-planning-software (33 answers)
- https://peoplemanagingpeople.com/tools/best-workforce-planning-software (29 answers)
- https://selectsoftwarereviews.com/buyer-guide/workforce-planning-software (26 answers)
- https://hrtechsaas.com/blog/workforce-planning-software (24 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/workforce-planning-software (23 answers)
- https://cubesoftware.com/blog/workforce-planning-software (16 answers)
- https://articsledge.com/post/workforce-planning-software (14 answers)
- https://charthop.com/resource/best-headcount-planning-software (13 answers)
- https://resources.rework.com/tools/workforce-management/best-workforce-planning-software-2026 (13 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/workforce-planning (12 answers)

## Warned against

- Workday Adaptive Planning: 8 of 39 labels negative. "you do not need the extreme complexity, high licensing costs, and long implementation times of enterprise legacy tools like Anaplan or Workday Adaptive Planning" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, direct prompt)
- Anaplan: 15 of 34 labels negative. "Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) systems—such as Anaplan, Board, or IBM Planning Analytics... Why to be cautious: ... these tools can become a massive "spreadsheet on steroids" trap.:" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)
- Spreadsheets: 3 of 3 labels negative. "Avoid if: Your organization is beyond a small, stable team... Error-prone: Studies show up to 88% of spreadsheets contain errors" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Visier: 6 of 27 labels negative. "rather than a full enterprise suite like Visier (which is expensive and aimed at larger companies)" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget 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.