Best payroll software (search query)

We asked 10 models: best payroll software for small business Each named its own top 10.

Asked 4 ways: List request · Buyer asking for advice · Search query · Worth paying for?. Share of voice pools every wording.

Agreement between models

81%

Same model, run twice

89%

Different picks

19

When agreement between models is well below a model's agreement with itself, the split reflects real differences in taste rather than randomness.

The consensus

Each cell is the position that model gave the pick; blank means it left the pick off. Click a row for each model's reasoning.

#	Pick	Score	Listed by	Claude Haiku 5.5	GPT-6 Luna	Gemini 4 Argon	Qwen 3.8 Flash	DeepSeek V4 Pro	GLM-5.3	Kimi K3	MiniMax M3	Mistral Large 4	Nemotron 3 Ultra
1	Gusto		10/10	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
2	QuickBooks		10/10	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	2
3	ADP		10/10	3	3	6	2	4	3	3	3	4	3
4	Paychex		10/10	5	6	5	3	5	6	8	4	3	4
5	OnPay		9/10	6	4	4	6	3	4	4	7		5
6	Rippling		9/10	4	7	3	5	10	8	5		9	6
7	Square Payroll		9/10	7	8	7	7	6	5	6	6		8
8	Patriot Software		8/10	8	5	8		7	10	7	8		7
9	Wave Payroll		8/10	9	9	10	8	8		9	5	7
10	SurePayroll		5/10		10			9	9	10			9
11	Deel		1/10									5
12	Paylocity		1/10									6
13	Papaya Global		1/10						7
14	Justworks		2/10			9					9
15	ADP Workforce Now		1/10									8

4 lower-scoring picks are not shown; every ballot below lists them in full.

Every ballot

Hover a pick to find it on the other ballots. Marked picks appear on no other ballot.

Claude Haiku 5.5

1. Gusto
2. QuickBooks
3. ADP
4. Rippling
5. Paychex
6. OnPay
7. Square Payroll
8. Patriot Software
9. Wave Payroll
10. Paycor

95% with consensus · 82% self-consistent

GPT-6 Luna

1. Gusto
2. QuickBooks
3. ADP
4. OnPay
5. Patriot Software
6. Paychex
7. Rippling
8. Square Payroll
9. Wave Payroll
10. SurePayroll

93% with consensus · 90% self-consistent

Gemini 4 Argon

1. Gusto
2. QuickBooks
3. Rippling
4. OnPay
5. Paychex
6. ADP
7. Square Payroll
8. Patriot Software
9. Justworks
10. Wave Payroll

87% with consensus · 85% self-consistent

Qwen 3.8 Flash

1. Gusto
2. ADP
3. Paychex
4. QuickBooks
5. Rippling
6. OnPay
7. Square Payroll
8. Wave Payroll
9. Paycor
10. Homebase

84% with consensus · 87% self-consistent

DeepSeek V4 Pro

1. Gusto
2. QuickBooks
3. OnPay
4. ADP
5. Paychex
6. Square Payroll
7. Patriot Software
8. Wave Payroll
9. SurePayroll
10. Rippling

89% with consensus · 92% self-consistent

GLM-5.3

1. Gusto
2. QuickBooks
3. ADP
4. OnPay
5. Square Payroll
6. Paychex
7. Papaya Global
8. Rippling
9. SurePayroll
10. Patriot Software

90% with consensus · 92% self-consistent

Kimi K3

1. Gusto
2. QuickBooks
3. ADP
4. OnPay
5. Rippling
6. Square Payroll
7. Patriot Software
8. Paychex
9. Wave Payroll
10. SurePayroll

93% with consensus · 91% self-consistent

MiniMax M3

1. Gusto
2. QuickBooks
3. ADP
4. Paychex
5. Wave Payroll
6. Square Payroll
7. OnPay
8. Patriot Software
9. Justworks
10. Zenefits

91% with consensus · 98% self-consistent

Mistral Large 4

1. Gusto
2. QuickBooks
3. Paychex
4. ADP
5. Deel
6. Paylocity
7. Wave Payroll
8. ADP Workforce Now
9. Rippling
10. BambooHR

79% with consensus · 78% self-consistent

Nemotron 3 Ultra

1. Gusto
2. QuickBooks
3. ADP
4. Paychex
5. OnPay
6. Rippling
7. Patriot Software
8. Square Payroll
9. SurePayroll
10. BambooHR

98% with consensus · 95% self-consistent

Who agrees with whom

Overlap between two models' lists, weighted toward the top · 100 means identical · Color runs from 71 (lightest) to 94 (darkest)

	Claude Haiku 5.5	GPT-6 Luna	Gemini 4 Argon	Qwen 3.8 Flash	DeepSeek V4 Pro	GLM-5.3	Kimi K3	MiniMax M3	Mistral Large 4	Nemotron 3 Ultra
Claude Haiku 5.5		90	90	84	86	87	92	88	76	92
GPT-6 Luna	90		85	77	90	91	94	85	74	92
Gemini 4 Argon	90	85		74	85	83	87	80	71	85
Qwen 3.8 Flash	84	77	74		74	75	79	79	73	82
DeepSeek V4 Pro	86	90	85	74		89	90	86	77	88
GLM-5.3	87	91	83	75	89		91	85	73	89
Kimi K3	92	94	87	79	90	91		85	72	91
MiniMax M3	88	85	80	79	86	85	85		80	89
Mistral Large 4	76	74	71	73	77	73	72	80		78
Nemotron 3 Ultra	92	92	85	82	88	89	91	89	78