Spend management platforms for small business buyers
Asked as “spend management platform”, and as “all-in-one spend control 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
06
07
08Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative70%
Key
01Ramp51%
Ramp51%02BILL Spend & Expense35%
BILL Spend & Expense35%03Zoho Expense6%
Zoho Expense6%04Brex4%
Brex4%05Spendesk2%
Spendesk2%06Expensify2%
Expensify2%07Airbase0%
Airbase0%08SAP Concur0%
SAP Concur0%02What they warned about
Five of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Perplexity Sonar, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 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.
SAP Concur91%
10 of 11 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 7 hard negative
“Smaller companies and startups often find Concur's costs prohibitively high, and it may be overkill for businesses with simpler spending needs.” Mistral Small, negative prompt
Brex29%
14 of 49 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“Abandoned SMB market: In 2022, Brex explicitly announced it would stop serving traditional small-to-medium businesses” MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt
Expensify27%
10 of 37 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“these are generally considered too clunky, administrative-heavy, and expensive compared to modern, card-first alternatives” Gemini 3.5 Flash, scale prompt
Coupa86%
6 of 7 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“Overkill Enterprise Suites (e.g., Coupa, SAP Ariba, Oracle) ... **Why to avoid:** They are incredibly expensive to implement” GLM 4.7 FlashX, 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
63 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. 5 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 838 links across 166 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.
vendor site · Emburse42 answers · 44 citations · 10 models
33 answers · 33 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Ramp30 answers · 58 citations · 9 models
30 answers · 45 citations · 9 models
25 answers · 28 citations · 10 models
vendor site · OFX22 answers · 23 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Spendesk21 answers · 30 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Zylo21 answers · 23 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Brex20 answers · 25 citations · 8 models
17 answers · 47 citations · 8 models
vendor site · BILL16 answers · 21 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Payhawk15 answers · 16 citations · 8 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.
42 answers · 10 models
33 answers · 10 models
25 answers · 10 models
23 answers · 9 models
21 answers · 9 models
21 answers · 8 models
20 answers · 9 models
19 answers · 8 models
17 answers · 10 models
14 answers · 6 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 spend management platform for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which all-in-one spend control software would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top spend management platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best spend management platform for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a spend management platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which spend management platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5RampRampHeldRamp, Zoho Expenseagainst: Coupa, SAP ConcurBILL Spend & Expenseno first choiceagainst: Brex, Expensify
Three alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, Brex, ExpensifyOne alternative
BILL Spend & ExpenseOne alternative
SpendeskTwo alternatives
Expensify, Zoho ExpenseGPT-5.4 miniRampRampHeldRampagainst: AirbaseRampagainst: Airbaseno first choicenothing named
Two alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, BrexOne alternative
BrexThree alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, Brex, PayhawkOne alternative
BrexGemini 3.5 FlashRampagainst: MercuryRampHeldagainst: BrexRampRampagainst: BrexRampagainst: Expensify, SAP Concuragainst: Airbase, Brex, Coupa, Expensify, Ramp, SAP Concur
Two alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, BrexTwo alternatives
Airwallex, BILL Spend & ExpenseFour alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, Brex, Expensify, Zoho ExpenseTwo alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, Zoho ExpenseThree alternatives
Brex, Mercury, RhoPerplexity SonarBILL Spend & Expense, RampRampChangedRampBILL Spend & Expense, Zoho Expenseno first choiceagainst: Airbase, Coupa, SAP Concur, Tipalti
Five alternatives
Brex, Emburse, Expensify, Pleo, Zoho ExpenseTwo alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, ExpensifyFour alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, Brex, Expensify, Zoho ExpenseTwo alternatives
Expensify, RampGrok 4.1 FastRampagainst: AirbaseRampHeldagainst: AirbaseBILL Spend & Expense, Rampagainst: ExpensifyBILL Spend & Expense, Rampagainst: BrexBrex, Rampagainst: BILL Spend & Expense, Coupa, Expensify, SAP Concur
Two alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, BrexTwo alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, BrexOne alternative
BrexOne alternative
Zoho ExpenseTwo alternatives
Precoro, SpendeskMistral SmallBILL Spend & Expense, BrexRamp, SpendeskChangedExpensify, RampBILL Spend & Expense, Zoho Expenseno first choiceagainst: SAP Concur
One alternative
TipaltiTwo alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, ExpensifyFour alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, Brex, PayEm, SpendeskDeepSeek V4 FlashRampBILL Spend & ExpenseChangedagainst: BrexExpensify, Rampagainst: BrexBILL Spend & Expense, Rampagainst: Brexno first choiceagainst: BILL Spend & Expense, Brex, Expensify, Ramp
Four alternatives
Airbase, BILL Spend & Expense, Brex, ExpensifyOne alternative
RampThree alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, Navan, PleoOne alternative
ExpensifyLlama 4 MaverickBILL Spend & Expenseno first choiceChangedno first choiceBILL Spend & Expense, Rampno first choiceagainst: BILL Spend & Expense, Expensify, Spendesk
Three alternatives
Brex, Spendesk, TipaltiFour alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, Expensify, Fraxion, SpendeskQwen 3.7 FlashRampRampHeldRampBILL Spend & Expense, Zoho Expenseno first choiceagainst: Oracle, SAPagainst: Amper, Avid Xchange, BILL Spend & Expense, Brex, Chase, Citi, Oracle NetSuite Financials, Ramp, SAP Concur, Wells Fargo, Workday
Three alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, Brex, SpendeskTwo alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, SpendeskThree alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, Brex, SpendeskOne alternative
RampKimi K2RampBILL Spend & ExpenseChangedRampagainst: ExpensifyBILL Spend & Expense, Rampagainst: Brexno first choiceagainst: BILL Spend & Expense, Brex, Expensify, Ramp, SAP Concur
Two alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, BrexTwo alternatives
Ramp, SpendeskTwo alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, BrexGLM 4.7 FlashXBILL Spend & ExpenseBILL Spend & Expense, ExpensifyChangedRampagainst: PayEmBILL Spend & Expenseno first choiceagainst: Airwallex, BILL Spend & Expense, Brex, Coupa, Moss, Oracle, Ramp, SAP Ariba
Six alternatives
Emburse, Expensify, Pleo, Ramp, Spendesk, XeroThree alternatives
Ramp, Spendesk, TipaltiSix alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, Brex, Expensify, Pleo, Spendesk, Zoho ExpenseTwo alternatives
Expensify, Zoho ExpenseMiniMax M2.5Rampagainst: Coupa, SAP ConcurBILL Spend & ExpenseChangedBrex, RampRampno first choiceagainst: Brex, Expensify, Ramp, SAP Concur
Three alternatives
Airbase, Brex, ExpensifyOne alternative
RampThree alternatives
PEX, Spendesk, Zoho ExpenseThree alternatives
BILL Spend & Expense, Brex, ExpensifyBold 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 19:01 | yes | 9 | 9 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 18:24 | yes | 3 | 5 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 18:56 | yes | 16 | 30 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 18:44 | yes | 20 | 6 s |
| Direct recommendation | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 21:02 | yes | 37 | 18 s |
| Direct recommendation | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 18:11 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Direct recommendation | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-09-17 18:46 | yes | 18 | 27 s |
| Direct recommendation | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 20:46 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Direct recommendation | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 18:26 | yes | 5 | 25 s |
| Direct recommendation | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 20:40 | yes | 7 | 20 s |
| Direct recommendation | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 18:24 | yes | 15 | 45 s |
| Direct recommendation | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 19:07 | no | 0 | 9 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 19:29 | yes | 9 | 8 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 20:59 | yes | 4 | 7 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 21:53 | yes | 10 | 71 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 20:43 | yes | 20 | 7 s |
| Paraphrase | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 19:25 | yes | 35 | 16 s |
| Paraphrase | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 18:45 | yes | 5 | 5 s |
| Paraphrase | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 18:31 | yes | 23 | 29 s |
| Paraphrase | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 19:40 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Paraphrase | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 17:56 | no | 0 | 28 s |
| Paraphrase | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 20:04 | yes | 19 | 26 s |
| Paraphrase | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 18:02 | yes | 15 | 37 s |
| Paraphrase | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 19:08 | yes | 10 | 37 s |
| Comparative | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 19:49 | yes | 9 | 10 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 18:32 | yes | 5 | 8 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 18:01 | yes | 14 | 24 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 21:03 | yes | 20 | 10 s |
| Comparative | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 20:51 | yes | 32 | 16 s |
| Comparative | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 20:20 | yes | 5 | 8 s |
| Comparative | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 17:58 | yes | 20 | 21 s |
| Comparative | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 18:51 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Comparative | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 19:56 | yes | 5 | 18 s |
| Comparative | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 19:42 | yes | 10 | 36 s |
| Comparative | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 18:36 | yes | 13 | 44 s |
| Comparative | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 18:24 | yes | 25 | 34 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 17:54 | yes | 9 | 7 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 20:52 | yes | 5 | 6 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 18:50 | yes | 16 | 19 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 20:53 | yes | 20 | 5 s |
| Budget constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 20:08 | yes | 34 | 17 s |
| Budget constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 19:45 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Budget constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 18:20 | yes | 9 | 12 s |
| Budget constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 20:20 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Budget constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 19:50 | yes | 5 | 25 s |
| Budget constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 20:38 | yes | 10 | 20 s |
| Budget constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 19:30 | yes | 30 | 43 s |
| Budget constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 20:34 | yes | 5 | 13 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 18:11 | no | 0 | 6 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 20:08 | no | 0 | 7 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 21:15 | no | 0 | 138 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 20:36 | yes | 20 | 9 s |
| Scale constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 19:16 | yes | 17 | 15 s |
| Scale constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 20:55 | no | 0 | 6 s |
| Scale constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 19:36 | yes | 9 | 18 s |
| Scale constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 18:21 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Scale constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 19:32 | yes | 15 | 53 s |
| Scale constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 19:15 | no | 0 | 47 s |
| Scale constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 20:17 | yes | 22 | 89 s |
| Scale constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 20:43 | no | 0 | 8 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 19:17 | yes | 17 | 9 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 17:53 | yes | 4 | 6 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 21:55 | yes | 22 | 63 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 20:37 | yes | 20 | 5 s |
| Negative framing | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 19:31 | yes | 40 | 20 s |
| Negative framing | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 18:35 | yes | 7 | 6 s |
| Negative framing | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-09-17 20:43 | yes | 25 | 67 s |
| Negative framing | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 20:53 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Negative framing | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 19:25 | no | 0 | 29 s |
| Negative framing | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 19:24 | yes | 28 | 37 s |
| Negative framing | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 21:07 | yes | 25 | 89 s |
| Negative framing | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 18:05 | yes | 24 | 36 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
BILL read as BILL Spend & Expense
Bill.com read as BILL Spend & Expense
Divvy read as BILL Spend & Expense
Divvy (by Bill.com) read as BILL Spend & Expense
Rippling read as Rippling Spend
Unresolved, counted raw
Amper
Avid Xchange
Oracle NetSuite Financials
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.