Empower Retirement vs Principal
One of fourteen models named Empower Retirement first on the direct prompt; zero named Principal. Empower Retirement was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Principal by nine and Empower Retirement carries 38 labels and Principal 13, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in one category this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
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 401(k) providers page.
By framing
Empower RetirementFirst choices, of fourteen modelsPrincipal
Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, Empower Retirement and Principal were named in the same answer nineteen times, of the 88 answers naming Empower Retirement and the 30 naming Principal. In those answers Principal took the first choice one time and Empower Retirement three.
Every model, every framing
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | | | |
Empower Retirement Principal first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Empower Retirement on the left and Principal on the right.The direct prompt
Empower Retirement first, Principal not the choice
1 of 14 modelsPrincipal was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Neither was the first choice, one was named
9 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Neither was named
4 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.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
Empower Retirement0%#– of 9Principal0%#– of 9Empower Retirement7%#6 of 12Principal2%#8 of 12Empower Retirement7%#4 of 11Principal2%#8 of 11What the models said about Empower Retirement
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Three of four in this category shown.
“Mid-market B2B firms typically land on Fidelity or Empower for service/flexibility” Muse Glimmer 30B · direct prompt · first choice
“Empower Retirement - best for flexibility and negotiated pricing for mid-market” Muse Glimmer 30B · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“If it is Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab, or Empower, you are in safe territory” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · first choice
What the models said about Principal
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of five in this category shown.
“Common Examples: *Transamerica, Principal, John Hancock, Voya, Equitable, and Lincoln Financial*.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“Principal or Fidelity if you want comprehensive features, broad investment options, and strong institutional support” Claude Haiku 4.5 · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Principal Financial Group offers 401(k) recordkeeping mostly to small and mid-size businesses.” Claude Haiku 4.5 · direct prompt · alternative
“Want broad plan design options and employee engagement tools? Look at Principal.” GPT-5.4 mini · comparative prompt · alternative
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.