Finance AI Index
Index › Tax and compliance › Internal controls › Small business › September 2026 Edition

Internal controls and SOX for small business buyers

Asked as “SOX compliance software”, and as “internal controls management tool”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 49 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Complies.ai
Contested
14% of first choices, contested.
ShowinginAll 41 categories →

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.
Small businessComplies.ai14%ContestedThis pageMid-marketAuditBoard18%ContestedStanding →EnterpriseAuditBoard25%ContestedStanding →

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
01Vanta10%9%33accepted challenger
02Hyperproof10%19%21accepted challenger
03Drata8%9%35accepted challenger
04Mitti6%0%13accepted challenger
05QuickBooks4%0%11accepted challenger
06AuditBoard4%58%26criticized challenger
07Xero2%0%10accepted challenger
08Onspring2%8%12accepted challenger
09Workiva2%68%25criticized challenger
Show the four products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
13MetricStream0%75%12criticized challenger
12Archer0%50%10criticized challenger
11LogicGate Risk Cloud0%47%15criticized challenger
10Secureframe0%0%13accepted challenger
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.
Head to head
AuditBoard vs FloQastAuditBoard vs Diligent One PlatformFloQast vs Diligent One Platform

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
08
09
10
11
12
13
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative30%
Key
01Vanta10%
02Hyperproof10%
03Drata8%
04Mitti6%
05QuickBooks4%
06AuditBoard4%
07Xero2%
08Onspring2%
09Workiva2%
10Secureframe0%
11LogicGate Risk Cloud0%
12Archer0%
13MetricStream0%

02What they warned about

Zero of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. 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 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.
Workiva
68%
17 of 25 labels negative · 11 of 12 models · 5 hard negative
“Avoid enterprise-heavy platforms like **Workiva**, **AuditBoard**, or **IBM OpenPages**” Perplexity Sonar, budget prompt
AuditBoard
58%
15 of 26 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 5 hard negative
“Avoid enterprise-heavy platforms like **Workiva**, **AuditBoard**, or **IBM OpenPages**” Perplexity Sonar, budget prompt
Oracle GRC
100%
9 of 9 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 6 hard negative
“**Overly complex ERPs or enterprise-grade audit suites** (e.g., SAP, Oracle, expensive audit software) | • Prohibitively expensive for most small firms.” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt
SAP GRC
100%
6 of 6 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“Enterprise tools like Oracle GRC, SAP GRC, or ServiceNow GRC are generally too expensive, complex, and slow for small teams.” GLM 4.7 FlashX, comparative 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

64 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. 824 links across 211 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

worldmetrics.org
33 answers · 70 citations · 10 models
optro.ai
vendor site · Optro29 answers · 30 citations · 10 models
gitnux.org
24 answers · 45 citations · 10 models
netwrix.com
vendor site · Netwrix23 answers · 23 citations · 10 models
mitti.com
vendor site · Mitti20 answers · 29 citations · 10 models
checkthat.ai
18 answers · 18 citations · 9 models
gartner.com
17 answers · 18 citations · 10 models
zipdo.co
vendor site · Zipdo15 answers · 16 citations · 10 models
sprinto.com
vendor site · Sprinto13 answers · 17 citations · 9 models
v-comply.com
13 answers · 16 citations · 9 models
riskpublishing.com
13 answers · 13 citations · 8 models
highradius.com
vendor site · HighRadius12 answers · 16 citations · 7 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.

netwrix.com/en/resources/blog/sox-compliance-software
23 answers · 10 models
gartner.com/reviews/market/internal-controls-software
17 answers · 10 models
mitti.com/apps/sox-compliance-software
17 answers · 10 models
optro.ai/blog/best-internal-control-management-software
16 answers · 10 models
gitnux.org/best/internal-control-software
15 answers · 8 models
worldmetrics.org/best/internal-control-management-software
15 answers · 8 models
gitnux.org/best/internal-control-management-software
14 answers · 8 models
riskpublishing.com/best-sox-compliance-software-compared
13 answers · 8 models
worldmetrics.org/best/sox-compliant-software
13 answers · 9 models
highradius.com/resources/Blog/best-sox-compliance-tools
12 answers · 7 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 SOX compliance software for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which internal controls management tool would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top internal controls tools for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best SOX compliance software for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a SOX compliance software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which internal controls tools should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Mitti
One alternativeAuditBoard
against: WorkivaQuickBooks, XeroChangedDrata
Three alternativesGalvanize, Mitratech Alyne, Vanta
against: LogicGate Risk CloudEnvelop
Two alternativesLumiform, Strike Graph
against: Workivano first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniAuditBoard, Vanta
Two alternativesDrata, Secureframe
against: WorkivaTeamMate ControlsChanged
Two alternativesDrata, Vanta
Drata, Vantaagainst: AuditBoard, LogicGate Risk Cloud, MetricStream, OneTrust GRC, Optro, StandardFusion, ideagen Internal AuditVComply
One alternativePirani
against: AuditBoard, Comply, Hyperproof, LogicGate Risk Cloud, Onspringno first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashFloQast
Three alternativesAuditBoard, Drata, Vanta
against: Archer, ServiceNow Integrated Risk ManagementApprovalMaxChanged
Five alternativesBILL, FloQast, Keeper, Sprinto, Vanta
against: Optro/AuditBoard, WorkivaSprinto, Vanta
Five alternativesBILL, Drata, Mitti, Onspring, Ramp
Scytale
Five alternativesDrata, FlowRunner, Mitti, Screenata, Vanta
against: AuditBoard, MetricStream, WorkivaComplies.ai, Vanta
Four alternativesDrata, FloQast, Hyperproof, Secureframe
against: Archer, AuditBoard, MetricStream, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, Workivaagainst: Archer, AuditBoard, Diligent Compliance, Google Sheets, MetricStream, Microsoft Excel, NetSuite, Oracle GRC, SAP
Perplexity SonarSprinto
Three alternativesDrata, Onspring, Process Street
against: AuditBoard, SAP GRC, WorkivaHyperproofChanged
Two alternativesLogicGate Risk Cloud, Sprinto
Hyperproof
Six alternativesAuditBoard, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Suralink, Vanta, Workiva
against: MetricStream, SAP Process Control, ServiceNow Integrated Risk ManagementProcess Street
Two alternativesOnspring, Pathlock
against: AuditBoard, IBM OpenPages, Workivano first choicenothing named
Grok 4.1 FastDrata
Two alternativesHyperproof, Vanta
against: AuditBoard, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, WorkivaQuickBooksChanged
Three alternativesAscent Controls, LogicGate Risk Cloud, Xero
Sprinto, Vanta
Three alternativesDrata, Suralink, ZenGRC
against: Archer, Hyperproof, Oracle GRC, VComplyComplies.ai
Three alternativesComplianceStack, Mitti, SmartSuite
against: AuditBoard, Drata, Vantano first choiceagainst: Oracle GRC, SAP
Mistral SmallDrata, Onspring
Two alternativesHyperproof, Mitti
HyperproofChanged
Two alternativesArcher, Suralink
Hyperproof
Four alternativesDrata, Onspring, Secureframe, Vanta
Complies.ai, Mitti
One alternativeManageEngine EventLog Analyzer
AuditBoard
Four alternativesDrata, Planful, Secureframe, Vena
against: ComplyAdvantage, MetricStream, Oracle GRC, SAP GRC, Workivanothing named
DeepSeek V4 FlashVanta
Three alternativesAuditBoard, FloQast, Hyperproof
against: Diligent One Platform, MetricStream, Oracle GRC, SAP GRC, WorkivaSprintoChanged
Three alternativesHyperproof, Secureframe, Vanta
Drata, Vanta
Seven alternativesFloQast, Google Sheets / Excel, Hyperproof, Secureframe, Sprinto, Suralink, Workiva
against: Archer, AuditBoard, LogicGate Risk Cloud, MetricStream, ServiceNow Integrated Risk ManagementComplies.ai
Two alternativesMitti, Sprinto
against: Optro/AuditBoard, Workivano first choiceagainst: Microsoft Excel
Llama 4 MaverickDrataAscent ControlsChanged
Five alternativesHyperproof, Secureframe, Suralink, VComply, Vanta
VComply
One alternativeVanta
Workiva
Three alternativesComplies.ai, Drata, Process Street
no first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashVanta
One alternativeDrata
against: ComplianceStackProcess StreetChanged
Two alternativesVanta, Vibato
against: Oracle GRC, SAPDrata, Vanta
Three alternativesHyperproof, Secureframe, ZenGRC
against: MetricStream, SAP ArcherComplies.ai
Two alternativesMitti, Process Street
against: Asana, AuditBoard, SAP GRC, TrelloVComply
One alternativeAuditBoard
against: Diligent One Platform, Workivaagainst: Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel
Kimi K2FloQast
Three alternativesDrata, Hyperproof, Onspring
Hyperproof, VantaChanged
Three alternativesDrata, Suralink, ZenGRC
Secureframe, Vanta
Three alternativesDrata, Hyperproof, ZenGRC
Complies.ai
Two alternativesMitti, Vanta
against: AuditBoard, Drata, LogicGate Risk Cloud, WorkivaFloQast
Four alternativesDrata, Onspring, Vanta, Workiva
against: SAP GRC, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Managementagainst: Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, NetSuite, Oracle GRC, SAP
GLM 4.7 FlashXDrata
Three alternativesControlScan, Mitti, Vanta
against: AuditBoardVibatoChanged
Three alternativesDrata, LogicGate Risk Cloud, Secureframe
Drata, Vanta
Three alternativesDiligent One Platform, LogicGate Risk Cloud, Sprinto
against: Oracle GRC, SAP GRC, ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, WorkivaEnvelop, Mitti
Three alternativesManageEngine Log360, Probo, SolarWinds Security Event Manager
against: Drata, Hyperproof, LogicGate Risk Cloud, Optro, Vanta, WorkivaHyperproof
Three alternativesComplies.ai, NAVEX One, Optro
against: Google Sheets, Oracle GRC, SAP
MiniMax M2.5Hyperproof
Three alternativesDrata, FloQast, Onspring
Vibato, ZenGRCChanged
Two alternativesDrata, LogicGate Risk Cloud
LogicGate Risk Cloud
Three alternativesDrata, Vibato, ZenGRC
against: AuditBoardComplies.ai
One alternativeMitti
against: AuditBoard, Hyperproof, LogicGate Risk Cloud, Vanta, Workivano first choicenothing named
Bold 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.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:42yes98 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:33yes46 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 20:03yes1720 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 20:20yes205 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 18:04yes2917 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:10yes1111 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:16yes2623 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:39yes53 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:12yes1019 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:43yes1842 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:45yes21204 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:12yes1527 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 18:35no05 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 20:56yes25 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:52yes1121 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:16yes126 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 18:17yes3218 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 18:29yes79 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-17 18:22yes2153 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:57yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:50yes19119 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:25yes1750 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:59yes858 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:32yes520 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:35yes1411 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:27yes58 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 19:29yes1130 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 18:39yes1911 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 21:08yes2417 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:56yes911 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 18:07yes1925 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:13yes53 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:46yes838 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:13yes2642 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:08yes19178 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:36yes1546 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 18:47yes1410 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:30yes56 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 19:58yes1825 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 18:15yes206 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 18:22yes2619 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:14yes107 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 18:03yes1815 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:37yes53 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:20yes521 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:22yes2029 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:43yes1439 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:16yes1644 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:28no06 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:36no010 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 19:20yes721 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 21:03yes1810 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 20:01yes1612 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 18:30no012 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 19:58yes1821 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 19:09yes53 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:10no031 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:05yes1355 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 18:27yes885 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 18:50no056 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 19:27yes158 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 21:03no04 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 20:07yes1227 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:40yes197 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 18:35yes1611 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:38yes57 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:02yes1622 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:42yes53 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:09yes1454 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:38yes2746 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:34no052 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 18:46yes1798 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.com read as BILL
Diligent read as Diligent One Platform
Excel read as Microsoft Excel
Excel spreadsheets read as Microsoft Excel
LogicGate read as LogicGate Risk Cloud
Oracle read as Oracle GRC
QuickBooks Online read as QuickBooks
QuickBooks Online (QBO) read as QuickBooks
Sage read as Sage 50
ServiceNow read as ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
ServiceNow GRC read as ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management
Unresolved, counted raw
Appsmith
Bitwarden
ControlScan
CrowdStrike
Dashlane Business
Diligent Compliance
Dollarspot
Drata/Scy tale
FlowRunner (by Midnight Coders)
Google Docs
Keeper
Kira Systems
Lumiform
Microsoft Defender
Mitratech Alyne
NAVEE
Okta
OpenLane
Oversight
Pirani
Probo (open‑source)
Retool
SAP Archer
Screenata
Scrut
Softworx / ComplianceForge
SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
Strike Graph
TeamMate Controls
Thriver
ideagen Internal Audit
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in tax and compliance

The other categories of this function, with the leader in each.
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