AI Indexes
HR AI Index
October 2026 Edition · The permanent record of this edition. The unqualified address always carries the latest edition.
Index › Compensation and total rewards › Earned wage access › Small business › October 2026 Edition

Earned wage access for small business buyers

Asked as “earned wage access provider”, and as “on-demand pay benefit”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 50 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, fourteen models each.
Standing · first-choice share
50%
Clear leader
50ZayZoon24Tapcheck12DailyPay14others

50% of first choices, clear leader.

Since September 2026▼−5Since September 2026: 55% → 50%, −5 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.ZayZoon held the lead, −5 points on 55%, inside the 13-point floor.

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.

The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all fourteen models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrantSince September 2026
01ZayZoon50%4%49endorsed leader▼−5Since September 2026: 55% → 50%, −5 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.55% → 50%
02Tapcheck24%0%40accepted challenger▲+6Since September 2026: 16% → 21%, +6 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.16% → 21%
03DailyPay12%28%47criticized challenger▼−2Since September 2026: 16% → 14%, −2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.16% → 14%
04EarnIn4%43%30criticized challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 3% → 5%, +2 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.3% → 5%
Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
05Payactiv0%19%37accepted challenger▼−3Since September 2026: 3% → 0%, −3 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.3% → 0%
07Branch0%7%14accepted challenger▼−3Since September 2026: 3% → 0%, −3 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.3% → 0%
06Rain0%0%18accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 13-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%

The floor is 13 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. Movement is read over the twelve models both editions asked; GPT-6 Luna, Muse Glimmer 30B joined this edition and are in the standing but not yet in the comparison. How the floor is measured

Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
All twenty-eight head-to-head pages: the top eight products, each against each

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
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative70%
Key
01ZayZoon50%
02Tapcheck24%
03DailyPay12%
04EarnIn4%
05Payactiv0%
06Rain0%
07Branch0%

What they warned about

Two of fourteen 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, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX, MiniMax M2.5 and GPT-6 Luna 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.
EarnIn
43%
13 of 30 labels negative · 12 of 14 models · 11 hard negative
“Small businesses should exercise caution with **direct-to-consumer (D2C) Earned Wage Access (EWA) providers** (e.g., apps like EarnIn, Dave, or Flex)... Providers to Avoid” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt
DailyPay
28%
13 of 47 labels negative · 10 of 14 models · 2 hard negative
“Also sued by the New York Attorney General in April 2025 for similar allegations—charging fees that amount to illegal high-interest loans.” Mistral Small, negative prompt
Dave
89%
8 of 9 labels negative · 8 of 14 models · 7 hard negative
“The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took action against the online cash app and neobank Dave, making similar allegations regarding how it advertises versus how it charges fees.” Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt
MoneyLion – Instacash
100%
8 of 8 labels negative · 8 of 14 models · 7 hard negative
“Sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James (April 2024)... Allegation: Expedited delivery fees and voluntary tips constitute excessive interest/usury violations” MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt

What they cite

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

Sites the answers cite

78 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 1065 links across 211 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. 32 of the 252 answers across every segment cited this index's own page for the category; the method page measures whether that reading tilts an answer.

vendor site · Guideflow56 answers · 58 citations · 12 models
vendor site · DailyPay41 answers · 63 citations · 14 models
39 answers · 45 citations · 13 models
34 answers · 38 citations · 12 models
32 answers · 47 citations · 12 models
vendor site · G230 answers · 59 citations · 11 models
30 answers · 35 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Tapcheck23 answers · 40 citations · 10 models
23 answers · 23 citations · 9 models
22 answers · 22 citations · 10 models
vendor site · ZayZoon20 answers · 42 citations · 10 models
18 answers · 19 citations · 9 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.

Search against answers

Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best earned wage access provider”, “earned wage access provider”, “earned wage access providers”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Company and productsShareOwn site citedName searches, GoogleAI search demand, est.Organic visitsPaid search a month, est.Google ads, last 30 daysBest Google position
ZayZoon zayzoon.com50%13390,50030439,8951
Tapcheck tapcheck.com24%12622,20042045,032167
DailyPay dailypay.com
DailyPay 12%, DailyPay for Small Business 2%, DailyPay Built-In™ 0%
14%205165,0003,329213,488$2,108562
Clair getclair.com4%3812,10091,2606,711
EarnIn earnin.com4%8890,5001,682181,12883
Immediate joinimmediate.com2%12246,000234,5061,204
Rainie2%
Payactiv payactiv.com0%190110,00070092,054$231133
Rain rainapp.com0%85246,000376,1156,43817
Branch branchapp.com0%6860,500203,93345,62088

Google's top ten for the three searches hold 12 sites; 3 of them are among the sites the models cited here (dailypay.com, enterprise.chime.com, tapcheck.com). The first result for “best earned wage access provider” is enterprise.chime.com.

How 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.
ShowHide
ModelDirect“What is the best earned wage access provider for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which on-demand pay benefit would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top earned wage access providers for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best earned wage access provider for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating an earned wage access provider. What should we look at?”Negative“Which earned wage access providers should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5ZayZoon
Two alternativesDailyPay, Tapcheck
no first choiceChangedTapcheck, ZayZoon
Two alternativesChime Workplace, Payactiv
ZayZoon
Three alternativesChime Workplace, FlexEarn, Tapcheck
no first choiceagainst: Dave, EarnIn
GPT-5.4 miniTapcheck
Two alternativesDailyPay, ZayZoon
Immediate, ZayZoonChanged
One alternativeTapcheck
Immediate
Three alternativesBranch, DailyPay, Payactiv
ZayZoon
Two alternativesPayactiv, Tapcheck
no first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashZayZoon
Five alternativesBranch, Clair, DailyPay Built-In™, Payactiv, Tapcheck
Clair, ZayZoonChanged
One alternativeTapcheck
Clair, ZayZoon
Two alternativesPayactiv, Tapcheck
Clair, Tapcheck, ZayZoon
Three alternativesClair On-Demand Pay, Gusto Cashout, Payactiv
no first choiceagainst: Brigit, DailyPay, Dave, EarnIn, Empower, MoneyLion – Instacash
Perplexity SonarZayZoon
Three alternativesEarnIn, Homebase Cash Out, Tapcheck
DailyPayChangedZayZoon
Four alternativesClair, Payactiv, Rain, Tapcheck
against: DailyPay
ZayZoon
Two alternativesHomebase Cash Out, Payactiv
no first choiceagainst: Dave, EarnIn
Grok 4.1 FastZayZoon
Three alternativesClair, DailyPay, Payactiv
against: FlexWage
DailyPayChanged
Two alternativesTapcheck, ZayZoon
ZayZoon
Five alternativesDailyPay, EarnIn, Payactiv, Rain, Tapcheck
Tapcheck
Three alternativesDailyPay, Homebase, ZayZoon
no first choiceagainst: Brigit, DailyPay, Dave, EarnIn, Flex, MoneyLion – Instacash, Payactiv
Mistral SmallZayZoon
One alternativeBranch
no first choiceChangedMyPayNow, ZayZoon
Two alternativesBranch, DailyPay
EarnIn, ZayZoonno first choiceagainst: DailyPay, EarnIn, MoneyLion – Instacash
DeepSeek V4 FlashZayZoon
One alternativeTapcheck
against: Branch, DailyPay, Dave, EarnIn
ZayZoonHeldagainst: DailyPay, PayactivHomebase, ZayZoon
Four alternativesDailyPay, Payactiv, Rain, Tapcheck
Tapcheck
Three alternativesEarnIn, Homebase, ZayZoon
against: DailyPay
no first choice
Two alternativesEarnIn, Tapcheck
against: DailyPay, EarnIn, Payactiv, ZayZoon
Llama 4 MaverickZayZoon
Two alternativesDailyPay, Payactiv
no first choiceChangedno first choiceEarnIn, ZayZoonno first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashDailyPay, Rainie
Three alternativesDayforce Wallet, UpFolio, Workday
against: Payactiv
ZayZoonChanged
One alternativeDailyPay
Tapcheck
Four alternativesDailyPay, EarnIn, Payactiv, ZayZoon
Tapcheck
Three alternativesDave, EarnIn, Payactiv
no first choiceagainst: DailyPay, EarnIn, Empower, MoneyLion – Instacash
Kimi K2DailyPay, ZayZoon
One alternativeTapcheck
TapcheckChanged
One alternativeDailyPay
ZayZoon
Three alternativesDailyPay, Homebase, Payactiv
ZayZoon
Two alternativesClair, Tapcheck
no first choiceagainst: Brigit, DailyPay, Dave, EarnIn, MoneyLion – Instacash, Payactiv
GLM 4.7 FlashXTapcheck
Three alternativesDailyPay, Rain, ZayZoon
DailyPayChangedZayZoon
Four alternativesBranch, DailyPay, Payactiv, Tapcheck
Tapcheck
Four alternativesDailyPay, EarnIn, Gusto Wallet, Payactiv
no first choiceagainst: Dave, EarnIn, MoneyLion – Instacash, Payactiv, ZayZoon
MiniMax M2.5Tapcheck, ZayZoon
Two alternativesChime Workplace, DailyPay
DailyPayChanged
Two alternativesEarnIn, Payactiv
EarnIn, ZayZoon
Two alternativesPaychex Flex, Rain
ZayZoon
Two alternativesEarnIn, Rain
no first choiceagainst: DailyPay, EarnIn, MoneyLion – Instacash
GPT-6 LunaDailyPay for Small Business
One alternativeClair On-Demand Pay
TapcheckChanged
One alternativeZayZoon
Tapcheck
Three alternativesBranch, DailyPay for Small Business, Payactiv
Tapcheck
One alternativeChime Workplace
no first choiceagainst: DailyPay, Dave, EarnIn, MoneyLion – Instacash
Muse Glimmer 30BZayZoon
Two alternativesDailyPay, Payactiv
ZayZoonHeld
One alternativeTapcheck
ZayZoon
Five alternativesChime Workplace, DailyPay, Homebase Cash Out, Payactiv, Tapcheck
Tapcheck, ZayZoon
Four alternativesChime Workplace, DailyPay, Homebase, Rain
ZayZoonagainst: DailyPay, EarnIn, Payactiv
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

The 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
Eighty-four rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 08:50yes148 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 09:36yes47 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 08:37yes1927 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 08:51yes172 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 10:05yes209 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 07:48yes53 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 10:41yes2126 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 09:22yes51 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 08:40no032 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 12:06yes913 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 09:06yes2162 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 09:01yes1422 s
Direct recommendationGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 07:54yes432 s
Direct recommendationMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 07:39yes1315 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 10:40no04 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 12:07yes35 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 10:06yes1926 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 09:46yes183 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 12:06yes207 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 08:28yes53 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 12:02yes2337 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 07:38yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 11:12yes20124 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 09:25yes2419 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 10:04yes1067 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 10:04yes556 s
ParaphraseGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 10:50yes215 s
ParaphraseMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 08:49yes1015 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 11:11yes1510 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 09:12yes710 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 11:25yes2329 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 09:36yes175 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 11:24yes1714 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 11:54yes1810 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 10:55yes2031 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 09:03yes51 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 11:07yes753 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 11:33yes1323 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 09:02yes2129 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 11:09yes1220 s
ComparativeGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 10:36yes630 s
ComparativeMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 07:29yes1429 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 12:03yes168 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 10:58yes35 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 11:18yes1621 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 11:44yes183 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 09:17yes218 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 10:18yes53 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 08:51yes2326 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 10:53yes52 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 07:51yes1070 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 08:17yes2022 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 11:19yes1929 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 08:00yes1224 s
Budget constrainedGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 08:20yes313 s
Budget constrainedMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 08:38yes1223 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 11:34no06 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 11:29no010 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 08:52yes1424 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 11:23yes208 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 08:54yes2010 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 11:36no06 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 08:18yes2239 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 12:04yes53 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 10:46no037 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 10:56yes723 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 11:12yes1540 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 09:02yes514 s
Scale constrainedGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 08:14yes132 s
Scale constrainedMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 09:03yes1234 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 08:49yes2512 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 10:57yes35 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 11:25yes2427 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 08:16yes206 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 10:08yes2110 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 09:07yes2012 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 10:09yes2451 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 10:07yes54 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 09:50yes1753 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 10:50yes2031 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 08:09yes24104 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 08:00yes927 s
Negative framingGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 08:30yes433 s
Negative framingMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 08:03yes2040 s

Normalization in this category

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

ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
Dayforce read as Dayforce Wallet
Gusto read as Gusto Wallet
MoneyLion read as MoneyLion – Instacash
MoneyLion (Instacash) read as MoneyLion – Instacash
Unresolved, counted raw
Chime SpotMe/MyPay
DailyPay Built-In™
Daybank
Flex
FlexEarn
Gusto Cashout
LeSalary
Rainie
UpFolio
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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