Gusto vs Square Payroll
One of fourteen models named Gusto first on the direct prompt; zero named Square Payroll. Gusto was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Square Payroll by nine and Gusto carries 42 labels and Square Payroll 11, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in one category this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen 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
GustoFirst choices, of fourteen modelsSquare Payroll
Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, Gusto and Square Payroll were named in the same answer twenty-eight times, of the 129 answers naming Gusto and the 31 naming Square Payroll. In those answers Square Payroll took the first choice nine times and Gusto nine.
Every model, every framing
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | | | ||||
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | |||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | |
Gusto Square Payroll first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Gusto on the left and Square Payroll on the right.The direct prompt
Gusto first, Square Payroll not the choice
1 of 14 modelsSquare Payroll was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Neither was the first choice, one was named
7 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Neither was named
6 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.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
Gusto42%#1 of 13Square Payroll10%#2 of 13Gusto8%#4 of 13Square Payroll8%#5 of 13Gusto0%#10 of 13Square Payroll0%#– of 13What the models said about Gusto
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Avoid platforms with: Chronic poor customer support (Gusto, Deel Payroll, Remote)” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · hard negative
“Worth considering if you may add employee payroll later, but likely not the cheapest for contractor-only use.” GPT-6 Luna · budget prompt · soft negative
“simple and well regarded, but typically better if you can spend a bit more than the absolute minimum” Perplexity Sonar · budget prompt · soft negative
“It's the most straightforward pick for a domestic small business; it's not the strongest choice for managing a large, varied international workforce.” GPT-6 Luna · comparative prompt · first choice
“Gusto’s contractor-only plan, depending on whether you want the cheapest standalone tool or a more polished payroll experience” GPT-5.4 mini · budget prompt · first choice
“Gusto - offers a solution tailored for small to medium-sized businesses that require efficient contractor management” Llama 4 Maverick · direct prompt · first choice
What the models said about Square Payroll
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of five in this category shown.
“Platforms to use with caution: Stripe, Square, PayPal Business.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“Square Payroll's Contractor-Only plan stands out as the best option for a company on a limited budget” Grok 4.1 Fast · budget prompt · first choice
“Square Payroll is my budget pick if you want payments and 1099-NEC filing in one place” GPT-6 Luna · budget prompt · first choice
“Square Payroll if you only care about paying contractors as cheaply as possible” Perplexity Sonar · budget prompt · first choice
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.