Index › Compensation and total rewards › Earned wage access › Small business › September 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. 38 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
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 small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
Show the two products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
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
08Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative70%
Key
01ZayZoon55%
ZayZoon55%02Tapcheck16%
Tapcheck16%03DailyPay16%
DailyPay16%04Payactiv3%
Payactiv3%05Branch3%
Branch3%06EarnIn3%
EarnIn3%07Chime Workplace0%
Chime Workplace0%08Rain0%
Rain0%02What they warned about
Three of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity Sonar, Mistral Small, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, 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.
EarnIn46%
13 of 28 labels negative · 10 of 12 models · 8 hard negative
“Providers to Approach with High Caution or Avoid: - **EarnIn (primarily direct-to-consumer/D2C model)**... Not ideal for controlled SMB payrolls.” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt
MoneyLion100%
9 of 9 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 6 hard negative
“**Verdict:** **Avoid.** Do not promote, mention, or partner with any D2C cash-advance app that isn't integrated with your payroll.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
DailyPay41%
17 of 41 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 5 hard negative
“**Verdict:** **Avoid.** The company is actively fighting the suit, but the reputational and legal risk is not worth it for a small business.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
Brigit100%
6 of 6 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 5 hard negative
“**Why small businesses should avoid:** Brigit markets to employees directly, but the legal exposure and predatory pricing model create significant compliance and ethical concerns.” Kimi K2, negative 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
66 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. 920 links across 188 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.
vendor site · Guideflow44 answers · 44 citations · 11 models
40 answers · 54 citations · 11 models
vendor site · FitGap34 answers · 37 citations · 11 models
vendor site · DailyPay24 answers · 38 citations · 11 models
22 answers · 47 citations · 8 models
21 answers · 21 citations · 8 models
20 answers · 24 citations · 8 models
vendor site · Tapcheck19 answers · 43 citations · 8 models
17 answers · 24 citations · 6 models
17 answers · 17 citations · 10 models
vendor site · HRTechSaaS15 answers · 17 citations · 8 models
15 answers · 15 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.
43 answers · 11 models
39 answers · 11 models
34 answers · 11 models
20 answers · 8 models
20 answers · 8 models
17 answers · 10 models
15 answers · 9 models
15 answers · 8 models
14 answers · 6 models
12 answers · 10 models
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 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 4.5Payactivno first choiceChangedZayZoonZayZoonno first choiceagainst: EarnIn
Two alternatives
GoDo, TapcheckThree alternatives
DailyPay, Payactiv, TapcheckTwo alternatives
DailyPay, TapcheckGPT-5.4 miniZayZoonagainst: EarnInDailyPayChangedDailyPay, PayactivTapcheckno first choicenothing named
Two alternatives
Rain, TapcheckOne alternative
PayactivTwo alternatives
Payactiv, ZayZoonGemini 3.5 FlashTapcheckClair, ZayZoonChangedClairZayZoonno first choiceagainst: Payactivagainst: Brigit, Cleo, DailyPay, Dave, EarnIn, MoneyLion, Tilt
Five alternatives
Clair, Gusto Wallet, Immediate, Payactiv, ZayZoonOne alternative
TapcheckThree alternatives
Payactiv, Tapcheck, ZayZoonThree alternatives
Clair, Payactiv, TapcheckOne alternative
ZayZoonPerplexity SonarZayZoonDailyPayChangedZayZoonZayZoonno first choiceagainst: Brigit, DailyPay, Dave, EarnIn, Empower, MoneyLion
Three alternatives
Branch, Gusto Wallet, TapcheckThree alternatives
EarnIn, Payactiv, TapcheckTwo alternatives
Branch, EarnInGrok 4.1 FastZayZoonagainst: DailyPay, EarnIn, PayactivZayZoonHeldTapcheck, ZayZoonagainst: DailyPayEarnInagainst: DailyPayTapcheckagainst: EarnInagainst: DailyPay, EarnIn, MoneyLion
Two alternatives
Clair, TapcheckThree alternatives
DailyPay, Payactiv, TapcheckThree alternatives
Chime Workplace, Clair, PayactivFour alternatives
Chime Workplace, Rain, Tapcheck, ZayZoonFive alternatives
Branch, Chime Workplace, DailyPay, Payactiv, RainMistral SmallBranch, ZayZoonno first choiceChangedZayZoonZayZoonno first choiceagainst: Brigit, Dave, EarnIn, Empower, MoneyLion
One alternative
Juice FinancialTwo alternatives
EarnIn, Juice FinancialDeepSeek V4 FlashZayZoonZayZoonHeldagainst: DailyPayZayZoonagainst: DailyPayZayZoonagainst: DailyPay, Rainno first choiceagainst: Branch, Brigit, DailyPay, Dave, EarnIn, MoneyLion, Payactiv
Two alternatives
Payactiv, TapcheckThree alternatives
Branch, Payactiv, TapcheckTwo alternatives
Payactiv, TapcheckOne alternative
TapcheckLlama 4 MaverickZayZoonDailyPayChangedZayZoonZayZoonno first choicenothing named
Three alternatives
DailyPay, EarnIn, PayactivFour alternatives
Chime Workplace, EarnIn, Juice Financial, TapcheckQwen 3.7 FlashGusto WalletDailyPayChangedTapcheck, ZayZoonZayZoonno first choiceagainst: DailyPay, MoneyLion
Five alternatives
Immediate, Modern EWA, Rain, Tapcheck, ZayZoonTwo alternatives
Even, Gainful / Rain TechnologiesFour alternatives
Chime Workplace, DailyPay, EarnIn, PayactivTwo alternatives
DailyPay, TapcheckKimi K2ZayZoonagainst: DailyPay, EarnIn, RainZayZoonHeldTapcheck, ZayZoonZayZoonno first choiceagainst: Brigit, DailyPay, Dave, EarnIn, MoneyLion
Three alternatives
Branch, Payactiv, TapcheckOne alternative
EarnInFour alternatives
Branch, DailyPay, EarnIn, PayactivTwo alternatives
Branch, DailyPayGLM 4.7 FlashXTapcheckagainst: DailyPayDailyPayChangedTapcheck, ZayZoonagainst: DailyPayTapcheckno first choiceagainst: Brigit, DailyPay, EarnIn, MoneyLion
Three alternatives
Chime Workplace, Payactiv, ZayZoonOne alternative
PayactivThree alternatives
Branch, EarnIn, PayactivTwo alternatives
Chime Workplace, ZayZoonMiniMax M2.5ZayZoonDailyPayChangedTapcheck, ZayZoonTapcheck, ZayZoonno first choiceagainst: DailyPay, EarnIn, MoneyLion
Two alternatives
Branch, EarnInTwo alternatives
EarnIn, PayactivFour alternatives
Branch, DailyPay, EarnIn, PayactivThree alternatives
Clair, DailyPay, EarnInBold 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.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct recommendation | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 18:07 | yes | 9 | 7 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 21:41 | yes | 4 | 7 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 18:58 | yes | 12 | 21 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 18:51 | yes | 20 | 20 s |
| Direct recommendation | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 20:55 | yes | 26 | 22 s |
| Direct recommendation | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 18:22 | yes | 16 | 12 s |
| Direct recommendation | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 20:54 | yes | 10 | 19 s |
| Direct recommendation | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 19:10 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Direct recommendation | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 18:12 | yes | 7 | 36 s |
| Direct recommendation | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 17:57 | yes | 26 | 34 s |
| Direct recommendation | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 17:55 | yes | 29 | 34 s |
| Direct recommendation | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 19:18 | yes | 21 | 32 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 19:50 | no | 0 | 5 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 21:05 | yes | 2 | 4 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 21:58 | yes | 16 | 54 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 18:05 | yes | 20 | 5 s |
| Paraphrase | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 19:56 | yes | 32 | 17 s |
| Paraphrase | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 19:31 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Paraphrase | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 21:09 | yes | 21 | 30 s |
| Paraphrase | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 20:59 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Paraphrase | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 20:36 | yes | 5 | 41 s |
| Paraphrase | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 20:12 | yes | 10 | 17 s |
| Paraphrase | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 18:19 | yes | 24 | 130 s |
| Paraphrase | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 21:36 | yes | 18 | 63 s |
| Comparative | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 19:27 | yes | 12 | 11 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 20:45 | yes | 6 | 8 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 22:06 | yes | 21 | 53 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 21:46 | yes | 16 | 9 s |
| Comparative | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 21:46 | yes | 16 | 14 s |
| Comparative | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 19:22 | yes | 18 | 11 s |
| Comparative | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 19:32 | yes | 25 | 36 s |
| Comparative | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 20:17 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Comparative | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 18:29 | yes | 7 | 45 s |
| Comparative | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 19:41 | yes | 24 | 41 s |
| Comparative | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 19:52 | yes | 15 | 32 s |
| Comparative | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 20:42 | yes | 5 | 20 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 20:24 | yes | 15 | 9 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 20:42 | yes | 4 | 6 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 19:42 | yes | 15 | 21 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 20:43 | yes | 20 | 5 s |
| Budget constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 20:47 | yes | 35 | 18 s |
| Budget constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 19:58 | yes | 5 | 6 s |
| Budget constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 20:54 | yes | 28 | 26 s |
| Budget constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 18:27 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Budget constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 19:35 | yes | 9 | 17 s |
| Budget constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 18:20 | yes | 15 | 33 s |
| Budget constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 18:13 | yes | 28 | 45 s |
| Budget constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 19:25 | yes | 8 | 21 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 20:24 | no | 0 | 6 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 18:48 | no | 0 | 9 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 20:11 | yes | 18 | 22 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 20:16 | yes | 20 | 9 s |
| Scale constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 19:25 | yes | 20 | 12 s |
| Scale constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 19:07 | no | 0 | 5 s |
| Scale constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 19:41 | yes | 15 | 24 s |
| Scale constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 21:34 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Scale constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 19:09 | no | 0 | 29 s |
| Scale constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 21:39 | yes | 15 | 26 s |
| Scale constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 20:01 | yes | 14 | 62 s |
| Scale constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 20:37 | no | 0 | 8 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 20:51 | yes | 24 | 11 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 20:31 | yes | 3 | 6 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 22:00 | yes | 27 | 64 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 21:18 | yes | 20 | 9 s |
| Negative framing | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 19:17 | yes | 36 | 17 s |
| Negative framing | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 18:17 | yes | 5 | 7 s |
| Negative framing | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 21:10 | yes | 24 | 41 s |
| Negative framing | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 21:32 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Negative framing | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 17:59 | yes | 9 | 42 s |
| Negative framing | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 20:11 | yes | 27 | 74 s |
| Negative framing | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 20:48 | yes | 27 | 97 s |
| Negative framing | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 18:03 | yes | 15 | 33 s |
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
CloudPay read as CloudPay NOW
Gusto read as Gusto Wallet
Juice (Juice Financial) read as Juice Financial
Unresolved, counted raw
Gainful / Rain Technologies
GoDo
Modern EWA
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.