Accounting software for small business buyers
Asked as “accounting software”, and as “general ledger software”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 49 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
06Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative70%
Key
01QuickBooks Online51%
QuickBooks Online51%02Xero20%
Xero20%03Wave18%
Wave18%04Zoho Books8%
Zoho Books8%05FreshBooks0%
FreshBooks0%06Oracle NetSuite0%
Oracle NetSuite0%02What they warned about
Eight of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick and GLM 4.7 FlashX 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.
QuickBooks Online22%
13 of 59 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“QuickBooks has a concerning 1.1-star average on Trustpilot, with many users reporting poor customer service and technical issues.” Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt
FreshBooks21%
11 of 53 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“Primarily an *invoicing* tool, not a full accounting platform... Verdict: Avoid if you plan to take on investors” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
Wave28%
10 of 36 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“Avoid if you rely on bank feeds, need any customer support, or process payments... Do **not** trust it for serious reconciliation.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
Oracle NetSuite64%
7 of 11 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“users complain about NetSuite's high cost, particularly for small businesses, and the unintuitive user interface can be overwhelming.” Claude Haiku 4.5, 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
62 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. 730 links across 218 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.
29 answers · 31 citations · 9 models
23 answers · 33 citations · 10 models
23 answers · 24 citations · 9 models
16 answers · 16 citations · 10 models
16 answers · 16 citations · 8 models
14 answers · 14 citations · 6 models
13 answers · 15 citations · 8 models
13 answers · 13 citations · 7 models
13 answers · 13 citations · 8 models
12 answers · 21 citations · 7 models
11 answers · 16 citations · 6 models
10 answers · 11 citations · 6 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.
29 answers · 9 models
19 answers · 9 models
16 answers · 8 models
15 answers · 10 models
14 answers · 6 models
13 answers · 7 models
13 answers · 8 models
12 answers · 7 models
10 answers · 6 models
10 answers · 8 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 accounting software for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which general ledger software would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top accounting platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best accounting software for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating an accounting software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which accounting platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5QuickBooks OnlineQuickBooks OnlineHeldagainst: WaveXeroagainst: FreshBooksWaveno first choiceagainst: Oracle NetSuite, QuickBooks Online, Sage Online, Wave, Zoho Books
Four alternatives
FreshBooks, Wave, Xero, Zoho BooksThree alternatives
FreshBooks, Xero, Zoho BooksOne alternative
QuickBooksThree alternatives
FreshBooks, Sage, Zoho BooksGPT-5.4 miniQuickBooks OnlineQuickBooks Online, XeroChangedQuickBooks OnlineQuickBooksno first choicenothing named
Four alternatives
FreshBooks, Wave, Xero, Zoho BooksOne alternative
Sage 50Five alternatives
FreshBooks, Sage Accounting, Wave, Xero, Zoho BooksTwo alternatives
Xero, Zoho BooksGemini 3.5 FlashXeroQuickBooks OnlineChangedQuickBooks Online, XeroWave, Zoho Booksagainst: FreshBooks, QuickBooks Online, XeroQuickBooks Online, Xeroagainst: Oracle NetSuiteagainst: FreshBooks, Oracle NetSuite, QuickBooks, QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Solopreneur, SAP Business One, Sage Intacct, Wave
Three alternatives
FreshBooks, QuickBooks Online, Zoho BooksThree alternatives
FreshBooks, Xero, Zoho BooksThree alternatives
FreshBooks, Wave, Zoho BooksOne alternative
Quicken Business & PersonalOne alternative
Sage IntacctPerplexity SonarQuickBooks Onlineagainst: WaveQuickBooks OnlineHeldQuickBooks OnlineWave, Zoho Booksagainst: QuickBooks Onlineno first choiceagainst: FreshBooks, Oracle NetSuite, QuickBooks, Sage 50, Wave
Three alternatives
FreshBooks, Xero, Zoho BooksThree alternatives
Sage Intacct, Xero, Zoho BooksThree alternatives
FreshBooks, Xero, Zoho BooksGrok 4.1 FastQuickBooks OnlineQuickBooks OnlineHeldagainst: FreshBooksQuickBooks OnlineWaveagainst: QuickBooks OnlineQuickBooks Onlineagainst: BILL, QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, Sage, Wave
Three alternatives
FreshBooks, Xero, Zoho BooksTwo alternatives
Xero, Zoho BooksFour alternatives
FreshBooks, Wave, Xero, Zoho BooksThree alternatives
FreshBooks, Xero, Zoho BooksTwo alternatives
Xero, Zoho BooksMistral SmallQuickBooks Online, XeroQuickBooks Online, XeroHeldQuickBooks OnlineXeroQuickBooks Onlineagainst: Oracle NetSuiteagainst: Odoo, Sage Intacct
Three alternatives
FreshBooks, KashFlow, Zoho BooksTwo alternatives
FreshBooks, Zoho BooksTwo alternatives
FreshBooks, XeroTwo alternatives
FreshBooks, QuickBooks OnlineThree alternatives
FreshBooks, Xero, Zoho BooksDeepSeek V4 FlashQuickBooks OnlineQuickBooks OnlineHeldagainst: FreshBooksQuickBooks OnlineWave, Zoho Booksagainst: QuickBooks Onlineno first choiceagainst: AccountEdge, FreshBooks, Kashoo, QuickBooks Online, Sage, Wave, Xero, ZipBooks
Three alternatives
FreshBooks, KashFlow, XeroTwo alternatives
Xero, Zoho BooksFour alternatives
FreshBooks, Wave, Xero, Zoho BooksTwo alternatives
Akaunting, Patriot SoftwareOne alternative
XeroLlama 4 Maverickno first choiceXeroChangedQuickBooks Onlineno first choiceno first choiceagainst: QuickBooks Online
Four alternatives
FreshBooks, Wave, Xero, Zoho BooksQwen 3.7 FlashQuickBooks OnlineQuickBooks OnlineHeldagainst: Oracle NetSuiteQuickBooks Online, XeroWaveQuickBooks Online, Xeroagainst: SAPagainst: Acumatica, FreshBooks, Oracle NetSuite, QuickBooks Online, Sage, Wave
Three alternatives
FreshBooks, Xero, Zoho BooksTwo alternatives
Xero, Zoho BooksThree alternatives
FreshBooks, Wave, Zoho BooksThree alternatives
FreshBooks, TrulySmall Accounting, XeroThree alternatives
Oracle NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Zoho BooksKimi K2QuickBooks OnlineQuickBooks OnlineHeldXeroagainst: FreshBooksWaveQuickBooks Onlineagainst: FreshBooks, QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, Wave
Two alternatives
BILL, FreshBooksTwo alternatives
FreshBooks, XeroOne alternative
QuickBooks OnlineTwo alternatives
FreshBooks, Zoho BooksThree alternatives
FreshBooks, Xero, Zoho BooksGLM 4.7 FlashXXeroQuickBooks Online, XeroChangedQuickBooks OnlineWave, Zoho Booksagainst: QuickBooks Onlineno first choiceagainst: Akaunting, BUSY, FreshBooks, QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, Sage
Four alternatives
FreshBooks, KashFlow, QuickBooks Online, Zoho BooksThree alternatives
FreshBooks, Oracle NetSuite, Zoho BooksFour alternatives
FreshBooks, Wave, Xero, Zoho BooksOne alternative
FreshBooksMiniMax M2.5QuickBooks OnlineQuickBooks OnlineHeldQuickBooks Online, XeroWaveno first choiceagainst: BILL, Brex, Ramp, Wave
Two alternatives
KashFlow, Sage IntacctTwo alternatives
KashFlow, XeroThree alternatives
FreshBooks, Wave, Zoho BooksTwo alternatives
FreshBooks, QuickBooks SolopreneurBold 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 17:41 | yes | 9 | 7 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 17:41 | yes | 6 | 7 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 17:29 | yes | 14 | 22 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 17:43 | yes | 20 | 5 s |
| Direct recommendation | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 17:45 | yes | 13 | 16 s |
| Direct recommendation | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 17:40 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Direct recommendation | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-09-17 17:47 | yes | 14 | 27 s |
| Direct recommendation | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 17:53 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Direct recommendation | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 17:45 | no | 0 | 29 s |
| Direct recommendation | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 17:48 | yes | 10 | 23 s |
| Direct recommendation | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 17:36 | yes | 32 | 54 s |
| Direct recommendation | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 17:46 | yes | 6 | 20 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 17:41 | no | 0 | 5 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 17:26 | yes | 3 | 7 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 17:36 | yes | 8 | 22 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 17:30 | yes | 17 | 7 s |
| Paraphrase | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 17:43 | yes | 15 | 8 s |
| Paraphrase | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 17:49 | yes | 5 | 6 s |
| Paraphrase | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 17:30 | yes | 10 | 10 s |
| Paraphrase | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 17:29 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Paraphrase | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 17:29 | no | 0 | 28 s |
| Paraphrase | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 17:36 | yes | 15 | 23 s |
| Paraphrase | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 17:37 | yes | 8 | 72 s |
| Paraphrase | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 17:30 | yes | 14 | 41 s |
| Comparative | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 17:26 | yes | 10 | 7 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 17:27 | yes | 6 | 7 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 17:48 | yes | 20 | 22 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 17:36 | yes | 20 | 7 s |
| Comparative | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 17:38 | yes | 11 | 9 s |
| Comparative | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 17:43 | yes | 10 | 9 s |
| Comparative | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-09-17 17:41 | yes | 29 | 38 s |
| Comparative | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 17:41 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Comparative | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 17:33 | yes | 5 | 19 s |
| Comparative | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 17:40 | yes | 10 | 20 s |
| Comparative | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 17:46 | yes | 25 | 49 s |
| Comparative | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 17:45 | yes | 10 | 35 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 17:48 | yes | 9 | 9 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 17:26 | yes | 3 | 7 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 17:36 | yes | 9 | 21 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 17:39 | yes | 19 | 6 s |
| Budget constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 17:48 | yes | 19 | 9 s |
| Budget constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 17:47 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Budget constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 17:36 | yes | 10 | 13 s |
| Budget constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 17:27 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Budget constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 17:39 | yes | 5 | 21 s |
| Budget constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 17:29 | yes | 15 | 25 s |
| Budget constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 17:44 | yes | 15 | 65 s |
| Budget constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 17:34 | no | 0 | 6 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 17:41 | no | 0 | 7 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 17:29 | no | 0 | 9 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 17:46 | yes | 6 | 26 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 17:40 | yes | 20 | 6 s |
| Scale constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 17:38 | yes | 15 | 10 s |
| Scale constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 17:39 | no | 0 | 6 s |
| Scale constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-09-17 17:45 | yes | 10 | 32 s |
| Scale constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 17:33 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Scale constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 17:32 | no | 0 | 32 s |
| Scale constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 17:46 | yes | 9 | 25 s |
| Scale constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 17:40 | yes | 10 | 25 s |
| Scale constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 17:38 | no | 0 | 8 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 17:36 | yes | 29 | 12 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 17:36 | no | 0 | 6 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 17:34 | yes | 27 | 22 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 17:40 | yes | 20 | 7 s |
| Negative framing | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 17:29 | yes | 38 | 17 s |
| Negative framing | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 17:47 | yes | 5 | 18 s |
| Negative framing | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-09-17 17:40 | yes | 29 | 74 s |
| Negative framing | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 17:40 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Negative framing | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 17:46 | yes | 10 | 41 s |
| Negative framing | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 17:28 | yes | 30 | 45 s |
| Negative framing | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 17:42 | yes | 24 | 48 s |
| Negative framing | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 17:26 | yes | 13 | 31 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
Bench read as Bench Accounting
Bill.com read as BILL
Bill.com (now BILL) read as BILL
NetSuite read as Oracle NetSuite
NetSuite (Oracle) read as Oracle NetSuite
Odoo Accounting read as Odoo
Patriot read as Patriot Software
QuickBooks Online – Simple Start read as QuickBooks Online
Wave Accounting read as Wave
Unresolved, counted raw
BUSY
Sage Online
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.