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Index Spend and procurement Contractor payments › Deel vs Trolley
Contractor payments · September 2026 Edition

Deel vs Trolley

Four of twelve models named Deel first on the direct prompt; zero named Trolley. Deel was named by twelve of the twelve models and Trolley by ten and Deel carries 49 labels and Trolley 12, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Deel

accepted challenger

Named in three categories this edition.

Trolley

accepted challenger

Named in one category this edition.

First-choice share27%7%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate4%0%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#5A position in a field of 14; printed, not drawn.
Labels4912A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Deel reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Tipalti was named alongside these two in nine of the twelve direct answers. Deel vs Square Payroll · Deel vs Tipalti · Deel vs Rippling

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the contractor payments page.

By framing

How many of the twelve models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
DeelFirst choices, of twelve modelsTrolley
Direct40
Paraphrase73
Comparative90
Budget-constrained001 against Deel
Scale-constrained10
Negative201 against Deel
Bars are first choices, 0 to 12 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to twelve.

Every model, every framing

The seventy-two answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Deel and Trolley stood in it.
ModelDirectParaphraseComparativeBudget-constrainedScale-constrainedNegative
Claude Haiku 4.5
GPT-5.4 mini
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Perplexity Sonar
Grok 4.1 Fast
Mistral Small
DeepSeek V4 Flash
Llama 4 Maverick
Qwen 3.7 Flash
Kimi K2
GLM 4.7 FlashX
MiniMax M2.5
Deel Trolley first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Deel on the left and Trolley on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Deel and Trolley stood in it.

Deel first, Trolley not the choice

4 of 12 modelsTrolley was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
GPT-5.4 miniDeel alternatives: Gusto, Tipalti
Perplexity SonarDeel alternatives: Remote, Tipalti
GLM 4.7 FlashXDeel, Remote alternatives: Gusto, Oyster / Rippling Global, Routable
MiniMax M2.5Deel alternatives: Gusto, Tipalti

Neither was the first choice, one was named

6 of 12 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
Claude Haiku 4.5Worksuite alternatives: Deel, Tipalti
Gemini 3.5 FlashRippling alternatives: Deel, Remote, Tipalti, Wingspan
Grok 4.1 FastRippling alternatives: BILL, Deel, Gusto, Routable
Mistral SmallRoutable alternatives: Deel, Tipalti, Wingspan
DeepSeek V4 FlashTipalti alternatives: BILL, Deel, Routable, Wingspan, Worksuite
Qwen 3.7 FlashTipalti alternatives: Deel, Routable

Neither was named

2 of 12 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.
Llama 4 MaverickRoutable alternatives: BILL, Wingspan
Kimi K2BILL, Gusto alternatives: Routable, Tipalti, Wingspan

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Trolley leads by two points.
Trolley2%#– of 11
Deel0%#6 of 11
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
The order flips: Deel leads at mid-market.
Deel27%#1 of 14
Trolley7%#5 of 14
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
Deel leads by eight points.
Deel10%#4 of 11
Trolley2%#– of 11
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Deel

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of six in this category shown.

“While Deel gets mostly positive reviews overall (Trustpilot ~4.6), the documented problems are severe when they occur” DeepSeek V4 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“Need global payments or complex approvals: Tipalti/Deel, but budget rises quickly.” GPT-5.4 mini · budget prompt · soft negative
“Choose Deel if you are hiring highly-skilled talent globally and want to guarantee absolute compliance with local international labor laws.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
“My top pick for most mid-sized B2B companies: Deel strikes the best balance of features, ease of use, and compliance automation” Kimi K2 · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Deel stands out for comprehensive coverage. It's the only tool on this list that handles the full payment stack” Claude Haiku 4.5 · comparative prompt · first choice

What the models said about Trolley

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Three of four in this category shown.

“Trolley is a recommended freelancer payout software for mid-sized B2B companies” Llama 4 Maverick · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“I'd recommend Trolley as the best overall starting point” Perplexity Sonar · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Trolley is highly recommended for freelancer payouts” Mistral Small · paraphrase prompt · first choice
Also compared

Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.