18 categories · RankedGusto
813Judge labels
169First choices
123Negative labels
12 of 12Models named it
18Categories
September 2026 Edition. Every number here is derived from the raw labels under vendor table vv2026-09.1, every buyer segment counted.
Best standing
68% in Benefits administration for small business buyers
Rank 4 of 54 in the mid-market standingaccepted challenger
0 of 12 models made it the first choice on the direct prompt; 16% of its 37 labels there were negative.
By buyer segmentA small-business product: leader at small business, not named at enterprise.
Small business1 of 51
68%59 labels
endorsed leader
Mid-market4 of 54
18%37 labels
accepted challenger
Enterprise47 of 47
0%13 labels
criticized challenger
In benefits administration · each standing computed within its segment · bars are 0 to 100 · the accent bar is the product's own best reading
Standing by category
Every category where a model named Gusto for a mid-market B2B company. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.
| Category | Function | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Quadrant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benefits administration | Core HR and payroll | 18% | 4 of 54 | 16% | 37 | accepted challenger |
| HR compliance and policy management | Core HR and payroll | 12% | 2 of 84 | 8% | 26 | accepted challenger |
| Employee onboarding | Onboarding and employee experience | 7% | 5 of 104 | 8% | 25 | accepted challenger |
| HR AI assistants | Onboarding and employee experience | 6% | 8 of 119 | 0% | 8 | under 10 labels · led by Workativ Assistant at 12% |
| Pay equity | Compensation and total rewards | 5% | 8 of 60 | 20% | 5 | under 10 labels · led by Syndio at 17% |
| Payroll software | Core HR and payroll | 4% | 6 of 43 | 13% | 45 | accepted challenger |
| HRIS and HCM platforms | Core HR and payroll | 2% | 8 of 46 | 12% | 32 | accepted challenger |
| Compensation management | Compensation and total rewards | 1% | 28 of 189 | 22% | 9 | under 10 labels · led by Pave at 18% |
| Leave and absence management | Core HR and payroll | 0% | 30 of 89 | 27% | 11 | criticized challenger |
| Flexible benefits and lifestyle spending accounts | Compensation and total rewards | 0% | 23 of 76 | 25% | 8 | under 10 labels · led by Compt at 30% |
| HR help desk and case management | Onboarding and employee experience | 0% | 24 of 93 | 0% | 3 | under 10 labels · led by Zoho Desk at 26% |
| Performance management | Performance and talent management | 0% | 58 of 60 | 100% | 3 | under 10 labels · led by Lattice at 41% |
| Global payroll and employer of record | Core HR and payroll | 0% | 66 of 66 | 100% | 2 | under 10 labels · led by Deel at 22% |
| Frontline employee apps | Onboarding and employee experience | 0% | 39 of 97 | 0% | 1 | under 10 labels · led by Connecteam at 56% |
| People analytics | Workforce planning and analytics | 0% | 47 of 99 | 0% | 1 | under 10 labels · led by HiBob at 15% |
| Time and attendance | Core HR and payroll | 0% | 37 of 90 | 0% | 1 | under 10 labels · led by UKG Ready at 15% |
| Workforce management suites | Core HR and payroll | 0% | 63 of 95 | 0% | 1 | under 10 labels · led by ADP Workforce Now at 19% |
| Workforce planning | Workforce planning and analytics | 0% | 58 of 89 | 0% | 1 | under 10 labels · led by ChartHop at 31% |
Movement
This is the first edition on this tier, so no move can be computed for Gusto yet. From the next edition this section shows, per buyer segment, whether its share moved by more than the measured noise floor.
By model
How each model treated Gusto across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Twelve models, six prompts per category.
| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Negative | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 15 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 14 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 2 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 20 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 15 |
| Grok 4.1 Fast | 2 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 28 |
| Mistral Small | 4 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 14 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 3 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 22 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 2 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 27 |
| Kimi K2 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 18 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 3 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 19 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 17 |
By framing
Which of the six questions produced the naming. By model says how often; this says asked what. The first-choice count on the right carries the marks of the models that produced it.
FramingLabels by classFirst choices
Direct109 labels52
Paraphrase115 labels45
Comparative181 labels84not counted in share
Budget-constrained181 labels61
Scale-constrained76 labels11
Negative151 labels32not counted in share
First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative813 labels in all, every segment counted; 169 of the 285 first choices count toward share, since the comparative and negative framings do not. The bar is one segment per label class, to scale within the framing.
What the models said for it
Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.
“Gusto or PeopleHR are particularly well-suited because they provide comprehensive HR functions with built-in AI assistance at affordable, transparent pricing” Claude Haiku 4.5 · HR AI assistants · budget prompt · first choice
“Gusto is the most popular all\u2011round choice for small businesses, offering a polished employee experience and built\u2011in HR/benefits.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · Payroll software · comparative prompt · first choice
“For a limited budget, Gusto (if you already use it for payroll) or ExactHire (flat $130/mo) often give the best value per employee.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · Employee onboarding · budget prompt · first choice
“the platforms that most consistently earn positive feedback on simplicity and transparent pricing are Gusto (for small businesses)” DeepSeek V4 Flash · Payroll software · negative prompt · first choice
And against it
Verbatim evidence attached to negative labels. A warning on a product with few labels is a warning; on a product with many, it is one voice among them.
“What to avoid for a pure B2B mid-market company - Gusto / BambooHR — Great for small teams (<100 employees) but typically too limited as you scale.” DeepSeek V4 Flash · HRIS and HCM platforms · paraphrase prompt · hard negative
“Users report a lack of intuitive features within the performance module... Verdict: Avoid if you need actionable data” Qwen 3.7 Flash · Performance management · negative prompt · hard negative
“Payroll processing errors and delayed direct deposits - Unexpected charges and unauthorized withdrawals” GLM 4.7 FlashX · Compensation management · negative prompt · hard negative
“Best avoided if: Outside US/small teams (it's US-focused, not ideal for true global EOR)” Grok 4.1 Fast · Global payroll · negative prompt · hard negative
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Gusto, over the 802 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Gusto was named but was not.
ProductSame answerTook the first choice insteadHead to head
A head-to-head page exists where both products are in a category's top three. The other rows are the same fact without a page behind them, so they link to the product instead.
What carried it into the answer
The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Gusto. A fact about retrieval, not a lever on the model.
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list, four of the twelve in this edition, so these counts come from 658 of the 802 answers that named Gusto and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
peoplemanagingpeople.com274
gusto.comYour site256
forbes.com241
g2.com198
guideflow.com182
rippling.com159
firsthr.app147
fitsmallbusiness.com134
gartner.com129
learn.g2.com129
1,593 of the 1,849 domain citations in answers naming Gusto came from somebody else's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
Names read as Gusto
What the judge wrote, as written, with how often. The vendor table decides that these count as Gusto; a claim can dispute any of them.
Gusto (Gus AI) 1Gusto (Simple Plan) 1Gusto (including Gusto Global EOR) 1Gusto Payroll 1Gusto Premium 1Gusto Pro 1Gusto with "Gus" Assistant 1
Is this your product?
Claim this page
Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page shows a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes and when Gusto's standing changes by more than the noise floor; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as Gusto, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.
It does not get any change to labels, shares or verdicts, any preview, or any say over which quotes appear. A verification link goes to your work email; an address at gusto.com is approved on the spot, any other address is reviewed by hand.
Your name and company appear on the claimed page, or the company alone if you ask below. A title and a LinkedIn address appear there too if you give them, and are left off if you do not. Your email address is never published.