# Pave vs Salary.com CompAnalyst: which do AI models recommend for compensation benchmarkin, October 2026

HR AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, Compensation benchmarking data. Three of fourteen models named Pave first on the direct prompt; zero named Salary.com CompAnalyst. Page: https://hr-ai-index.com/rewards/compensation-benchmarking-data/pave-vs-salary-com-companalyst/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pave | 19% | #1 of 13 | 4% | 27 | 12 of 14 |
| Salary.com CompAnalyst | 9% | #4 of 13 | 4% | 24 | 12 of 14 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- Gemini 3.5 Flash: pave first (first choices: Pave) (alternatives: Figures, Payscale, Ravio, RepVue, Salary.com CompAnalyst)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: pave first (first choices: Pave, Payscale Ascent) (alternatives: Figures, Salary.com CompAnalyst)
- GPT-6 Luna: pave first (first choices: Pave) (alternatives: Mercer Total Remuneration Survey, Payscale, Radford)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither first, one named (first choices: Payscale) (alternatives: Comprehensive, Lattice, Pave, SalaryCube)
- Perplexity Sonar: neither first, one named (first choices: Ravio) (alternatives: CompUp, Pave, Payfactors, Payscale Ascent, Salary.com CompAnalyst)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: neither first, one named (first choices: SalaryCube) (alternatives: Payscale, Salary.com CompAnalyst)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Payscale) (alternatives: Pave, Salary.com CompAnalyst)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Lattice) (alternatives: Comprehensive, Deel HR, Pave, SalaryCube)
- Kimi K2: neither first, one named (first choices: Payscale, SalaryCube) (alternatives: Figures, Pave, Ravio, Salary.com CompAnalyst)
- MiniMax M2.5: neither first, one named (first choices: SalaryCube) (alternatives: CompUp, Lattice, Salary.com CompAnalyst)
- Muse Glimmer 30B: neither first, one named (first choices: SalaryCube) (alternatives: Pave, Salary.com CompAnalyst)
- GPT-5.4 mini: neither named (first choices: Payscale) (alternatives: Mercer Total Remuneration Survey, Radford, WTW)
- Mistral Small: neither named (first choices: Ravio, SalaryCube) (alternatives: CompUp, Figures)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither named

## What the models said about Pave

- "Pave is the most practical choice for many early-stage companies because it is explicitly called out as a free benchmarking option" (Perplexity Sonar, budget prompt, first choice)

## What the models said about Salary.com CompAnalyst

- "Avoid expensive enterprise solutions like PayScale (~$12,000+/year) or Salary.com" (MiniMax M2.5, budget prompt, hard negative)
- "Best all-around validated survey for mid-size: Compdata Max / Salary.com. Explicitly called out as best all-around for mid-sized companies." (Muse Glimmer 30B, paraphrase prompt, first choice)
- "Best Balance of Depth & Accessibility ... Salary.com or Mercer will give you the broad industry coverage you need" (Kimi K2, paraphrase prompt, first choice)

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. Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category. Published under CC BY 4.0; the output is the models' output, and nothing here is a recommendation by the index.