16 categories · RankedPaycor
229Judge labels
29First choices
52Negative labels
12 of 12Models named it
16Categories
September 2026 Edition. Every number here is derived from the raw labels under vendor table vv2026-09.1, every buyer segment counted.
Best standing
27% in Succession planning for small business buyers
Rank 7 of 46 in the mid-market standingcriticized challenger
0 of 12 models made it the first choice on the direct prompt; 44% of its 16 labels there were negative.
By buyer segmentRead the same way at every buyer size.
Small business47 of 48
0%8 labels
under the label threshold
Mid-market7 of 46
5%16 labels
criticized challenger
Enterprise45 of 48
0%8 labels
under the label threshold
In hris and hcm platforms · 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 Paycor 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HRIS and HCM platforms | Core HR and payroll | 5% | 7 of 46 | 44% | 16 | criticized challenger |
| Payroll software | Core HR and payroll | 4% | 8 of 43 | 17% | 12 | accepted challenger |
| Workforce management suites | Core HR and payroll | 4% | 9 of 95 | 0% | 9 | under 10 labels · led by ADP Workforce Now at 19% |
| Workforce scheduling | Core HR and payroll | 4% | 9 of 94 | 0% | 3 | under 10 labels · led by Deputy at 26% |
| Succession planning | Performance and talent management | 4% | 9 of 99 | 22% | 9 | under 10 labels · led by Lattice at 31% |
| Benefits administration | Core HR and payroll | 2% | 6 of 54 | 11% | 28 | accepted challenger |
| Leave and absence management | Core HR and payroll | 2% | 9 of 89 | 0% | 5 | under 10 labels · led by BambooHR at 28% |
| HR compliance and policy management | Core HR and payroll | 2% | 11 of 84 | 0% | 8 | under 10 labels · led by Rippling at 16% |
| Time and attendance | Core HR and payroll | 2% | 15 of 90 | 0% | 3 | under 10 labels · led by UKG Ready at 15% |
| People analytics | Workforce planning and analytics | 2% | 15 of 99 | 0% | 2 | under 10 labels · led by HiBob at 15% |
| Employee onboarding | Onboarding and employee experience | 0% | 15 of 104 | 0% | 8 | under 10 labels · led by BambooHR at 29% |
| Flexible benefits and lifestyle spending accounts | Compensation and total rewards | 0% | 19 of 76 | 0% | 5 | under 10 labels · led by Compt at 30% |
| HR AI assistants | Onboarding and employee experience | 0% | 28 of 119 | 0% | 4 | under 10 labels · led by Workativ Assistant at 12% |
| Compensation management | Compensation and total rewards | 0% | 172 of 189 | 67% | 3 | under 10 labels · led by Pave at 18% |
| Applicant tracking systems | Talent acquisition | 0% | 39 of 50 | 100% | 1 | under 10 labels · led by Greenhouse at 47% |
| Workforce planning | Workforce planning and analytics | 0% | 48 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 Paycor 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 Paycor 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 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 14 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| Grok 4.1 Fast | 0 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 15 |
| Mistral Small | 1 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 12 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 10 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 2 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 15 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
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
Direct51 labels9
Paraphrase37 labels8
Comparative43 labelsNone
Budget-constrained20 labels8
Scale-constrained29 labels4
Negative49 labelsNone
First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative229 labels in all, every segment counted; 29 of the 29 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.
“the best choice is often Paycor if you want a low-cost, all-in-one HR platform with succession planning built in” Perplexity Sonar · Succession planning · budget prompt · first choice
“or Paycor if you want a broader HCM suite with especially practical mid-market analytics and predictive features” Perplexity Sonar · People analytics · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Paycor - Paycor is an HCM software provider designed for mid-market and enterprise organizations” Claude Haiku 4.5 · Payroll software · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“If you want a dedicated HR platform with integrated payroll: 👉 Paycor” GLM 4.7 FlashX · Leave · paraphrase 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.
“Multiple sources indicate significant concerns: Customer service issues: Described as "awful,"” Kimi K2 · HRIS and HCM platforms · negative prompt · hard negative
“Poor customer support as the top complaint ... Unexpected hidden fees and price increases.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · Payroll software · negative prompt · hard negative
“Frequently called out in "crappy HRIS" discussions... "Paycor is absolute trash"” DeepSeek V4 Flash · HRIS and HCM platforms · negative prompt · hard negative
“Notorious for bad support (long waits, unhelpful reps), hidden fees/price hikes” Grok 4.1 Fast · HRIS and HCM platforms · negative prompt · hard negative
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Paycor, over the 229 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Paycor 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 Paycor. 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 208 of the 229 answers that named Paycor and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
guideflow.com72
peoplemanagingpeople.com72
g2.com69
gartner.com66
firsthr.app58
forbes.com45
capterra.com44
talentguard.com42
worldmetrics.org42
learn.g2.com39
549 of the 549 domain citations in answers naming Paycor came from somebody else's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
Names read as Paycor
What the judge wrote, as written, with how often. The vendor table decides that these count as Paycor; a claim can dispute any of them.
Paycor Onboarding 2Paycor / Paylocity 1Paylocity / Paycor 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 Paycor'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 Paycor, 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 paycor.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.