Sales tax automation for small business buyers
Asked as “sales tax compliance software”, and as “sales tax calculation and filing tool”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 48 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 five 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
08
09
10
11
12Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01TaxJar29%
TaxJar29%02TaxCloud27%
TaxCloud27%03Avalara AvaTax19%
Avalara AvaTax19%04Zamp8%
Zamp8%05Zoho Books6%
Zoho Books6%06Anrok4%
Anrok4%07Kintsugi4%
Kintsugi4%08Quaderno0%
Quaderno0%09Stripe Tax0%
Stripe Tax0%10Numeral0%
Numeral0%11Sovos0%
Sovos0%12Vertex0%
Vertex0%02What they warned about
Two of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, 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.
Avalara AvaTax46%
23 of 50 labels negative · 11 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“**Avoid:** Avalara and enterprise solutions - they're overkill and overpriced” Kimi K2, budget prompt
Vertex50%
11 of 22 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“for small and mid-sized businesses, it's usually overkill — expensive to license, complex to implement, and far more than most sellers need” Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt
TaxJar17%
9 of 53 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“Tools/Approaches to Be Cautious About ### 1. **TaxJar** (Now owned by Stripe) **Why be cautious:** - **Severe customer support issues**” Kimi K2, negative prompt
Sovos30%
3 of 10 labels negative · 3 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Enterprise Giants (Avoid: e.g., Avalara, Vertex, Sovos)” Gemini 3.5 Flash, 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
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. 819 links across 111 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.
vendor site · TaxCloud43 answers · 78 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Zamp40 answers · 68 citations · 10 models
vendor site · TaxJar36 answers · 54 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Quaderno31 answers · 39 citations · 10 models
31 answers · 31 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Galvix29 answers · 31 citations · 9 models
29 answers · 29 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Avalara23 answers · 51 citations · 8 models
vendor site · Guideflow21 answers · 28 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Taxwire20 answers · 28 citations · 9 models
16 answers · 18 citations · 9 models
15 answers · 17 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.
31 answers · 9 models
29 answers · 9 models
28 answers · 9 models
27 answers · 9 models
25 answers · 9 models
21 answers · 9 models
15 answers · 8 models
15 answers · 9 models
14 answers · 7 models
14 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 sales tax compliance software for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which sales tax calculation and filing tool would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top sales tax tools for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best sales tax compliance software for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a sales tax compliance software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which sales tax tools should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Kintsugiagainst: TaxJarAvalara AvaTax, TaxJarChangedno first choiceTaxCloudagainst: Avalara AvaTaxno first choiceagainst: Avalara AvaTax, QuickBooks Sales Tax, Vertex
Two alternatives
Anrok, ZampTwo alternatives
Taxwire, ZampGPT-5.4 miniTaxJarAvalara AvaTaxChangedTaxJaragainst: Avalara AvaTax, Sovos, VertexTaxJaragainst: Avalara AvaTaxno first choicenothing named
One alternative
Avalara AvaTaxOne alternative
TaxJarOne alternative
Stripe TaxOne alternative
Stripe TaxGemini 3.5 FlashAnrokAnrok, ZampChangedagainst: Avalara AvaTax, Stripe Tax, TaxJarLemon SqueezyTaxCloudagainst: Avalara AvaTax, VertexTaxValet, Zampagainst: Avalara AvaTaxagainst: Avalara AvaTax, Sovos, Stripe Tax, TaxJar, Vertex
Five alternatives
Avalara AvaTax, Galvix, Prophit.ai, Stripe Tax, TaxwireOne alternative
TaxValetSix alternatives
Anrok, Paddle, Quaderno, Stripe Tax, TaxCloud, TaxJarFour alternatives
Lemon Squeezy, Paddle, Quaderno, TaxJarPerplexity SonarTaxJaragainst: Avalara AvaTaxTaxJarHeldTaxJaragainst: Avalara AvaTaxTaxCloudno first choicenothing named
One alternative
TaxCloudTwo alternatives
Anrok, ZampSix alternatives
Anrok, Galvix, Quaderno, Stripe Tax, TaxCloud, ZampTwo alternatives
Quaderno, TaxJarGrok 4.1 FastAvalara AvaTaxTaxJarChangedagainst: VertexTaxCloud, TaxJarTaxCloudagainst: TaxJarTaxJaragainst: Vertexagainst: Avalara AvaTax, Numeral, TaxCloud, TaxJar
Two alternatives
TaxCloud, TaxJarOne alternative
Avalara AvaTaxTwo alternatives
Avalara AvaTax, NumeralFour alternatives
DAVO, Kintsugi, Quaderno, Zoho BooksTwo alternatives
Avalara AvaTax, TaxCloudMistral SmallKintsugi, Zampagainst: TaxwireZoho BooksChangedTaxJaragainst: Avalara AvaTaxTaxCloud, Zoho Booksno first choiceagainst: Avalara AvaTax
One alternative
TaxJarOne alternative
KintsugiFour alternatives
Anrok, Numeral, TaxCloud, Zoho BooksOne alternative
NumeralOne alternative
TaxJarDeepSeek V4 FlashAvalara AvaTaxAvalara AvaTaxHeldTaxJaragainst: Anrok, Avalara AvaTax, VertexTaxCloudagainst: Avalara AvaTax, VertexAvalara AvaTax, TaxCloud, TaxJaragainst: Vertexagainst: Avalara AvaTax, Numeral, Shopify Tax, Squarespace, Stripe Tax, TaxJar
Five alternatives
Anrok, Stripe Tax, TaxCloud, TaxJar, ZampTwo alternatives
TaxJar, ZampFour alternatives
Quaderno, Stripe Tax, TaxCloud, Zoho BooksFour alternatives
Stripe Tax, TaxJar, Xero Tax, Zoho BooksThree alternatives
Galvix, Stripe Tax, ZampLlama 4 MaverickZoho Booksno first choiceChangedno first choiceTaxCloudno first choicenothing named
One alternative
QuadernoTwo alternatives
Kintsugi, TaxJarQwen 3.7 FlashZampagainst: Avalara AvaTaxAvalara AvaTaxChangedTaxJarTaxJaragainst: Avalara AvaTaxTaxJaragainst: Oracle, Vertexagainst: TaxJar/Stripe Tax
Two alternatives
ACTSOLV, Zoho BooksThree alternatives
Quaderno, Stripe Tax, TaxJarThree alternatives
Numeral, Quaderno, TaxCloudFour alternatives
Shopify Tax, Sincera Tax, TaxCloud, WooCommerceTwo alternatives
Avalara Breezeway, JetBoostKimi K2TaxCloud, TaxJarTaxJarChangedTaxCloud, TaxJarTaxCloudagainst: Avalara AvaTax, TaxJarno first choiceagainst: Avalara AvaTax, TaxJar
Two alternatives
Avalara AvaTax, Zoho BooksTwo alternatives
Avalara AvaTax, ZampFive alternatives
Anrok, Kintsugi, Numeral, Quaderno, Zoho BooksTwo alternatives
Stripe Tax, Zoho BooksGLM 4.7 FlashXTaxCloud, TaxJaragainst: Avalara AvaTaxAvalara AvaTaxChangedTaxJaragainst: VertexTaxCloudno first choiceagainst: Anrok, Avalara AvaTax, QuickBooks Sales Tax, Sovos, TaxCloud
Three alternatives
Anrok, Quaderno, ZampThree alternatives
Kintsugi, Quaderno, ZampFive alternatives
Anrok, Avalara AvaTax, DAVO, Quaderno, TaxCloudThree alternatives
Numeral, TaxJar, Zoho BooksMiniMax M2.5TaxJarAvalara AvaTaxChangedTaxJar, Zoho BooksTaxCloudno first choiceagainst: Avalara AvaTax, TaxJar
Three alternatives
Avalara AvaTax, Quaderno, ZampThree alternatives
Quaderno, Sovos, TaxCertsFour alternatives
Avalara AvaTax, Prophit.ai, Shopify Tax, Stripe TaxThree alternatives
Numeral, Quaderno, Software AdviceBold 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 20:20 | yes | 9 | 9 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 20:13 | yes | 2 | 6 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 19:37 | yes | 19 | 26 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 18:35 | yes | 20 | 7 s |
| Direct recommendation | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 19:23 | yes | 31 | 20 s |
| Direct recommendation | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 20:23 | yes | 9 | 9 s |
| Direct recommendation | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 20:44 | yes | 17 | 17 s |
| Direct recommendation | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 20:33 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Direct recommendation | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 20:34 | yes | 10 | 38 s |
| Direct recommendation | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 20:57 | yes | 10 | 20 s |
| Direct recommendation | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 19:28 | yes | 26 | 57 s |
| Direct recommendation | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 20:44 | yes | 19 | 45 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 20:24 | no | 0 | 4 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 20:41 | yes | 3 | 5 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 18:34 | yes | 20 | 25 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 19:22 | yes | 20 | 6 s |
| Paraphrase | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 18:50 | yes | 28 | 14 s |
| Paraphrase | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 20:58 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Paraphrase | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 18:14 | yes | 23 | 21 s |
| Paraphrase | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 21:05 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Paraphrase | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 21:05 | no | 0 | 30 s |
| Paraphrase | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 20:00 | yes | 15 | 23 s |
| Paraphrase | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 21:00 | yes | 30 | 96 s |
| Paraphrase | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 19:18 | yes | 13 | 30 s |
| Comparative | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 18:23 | yes | 13 | 12 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 20:59 | yes | 5 | 9 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 19:47 | yes | 13 | 25 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 18:22 | yes | 20 | 10 s |
| Comparative | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 19:32 | yes | 38 | 15 s |
| Comparative | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 18:25 | yes | 8 | 11 s |
| Comparative | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 20:39 | yes | 10 | 11 s |
| Comparative | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 17:56 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Comparative | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 18:28 | yes | 9 | 38 s |
| Comparative | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 18:56 | yes | 8 | 36 s |
| Comparative | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 18:24 | yes | 11 | 37 s |
| Comparative | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 20:57 | yes | 8 | 25 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 18:45 | yes | 9 | 11 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 19:54 | yes | 3 | 6 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 21:55 | yes | 14 | 58 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 18:26 | yes | 20 | 4 s |
| Budget constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 17:55 | yes | 25 | 15 s |
| Budget constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 20:35 | yes | 5 | 5 s |
| Budget constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 18:57 | yes | 7 | 12 s |
| Budget constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 18:03 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Budget constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 19:28 | no | 0 | 29 s |
| Budget constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 20:06 | yes | 14 | 25 s |
| Budget constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 18:51 | yes | 19 | 159 s |
| Budget constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 20:52 | yes | 5 | 18 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 20:21 | no | 0 | 5 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 20:17 | no | 0 | 7 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 21:16 | yes | 10 | 46 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 20:10 | yes | 20 | 8 s |
| Scale constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 19:11 | yes | 16 | 12 s |
| Scale constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 18:25 | no | 0 | 8 s |
| Scale constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 20:39 | yes | 8 | 19 s |
| Scale constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 18:23 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Scale constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 19:20 | no | 0 | 25 s |
| Scale constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 20:45 | no | 0 | 56 s |
| Scale constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 19:36 | yes | 13 | 141 s |
| Scale constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 19:27 | yes | 5 | 17 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-17 20:36 | yes | 9 | 6 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-17 20:02 | yes | 6 | 6 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-17 19:39 | yes | 19 | 23 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-17 18:57 | yes | 20 | 8 s |
| Negative framing | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-17 19:38 | yes | 40 | 21 s |
| Negative framing | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-17 19:51 | yes | 5 | 5 s |
| Negative framing | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-17 19:59 | yes | 29 | 30 s |
| Negative framing | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-17 19:25 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Negative framing | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-17 19:38 | yes | 10 | 24 s |
| Negative framing | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-17 18:05 | yes | 30 | 39 s |
| Negative framing | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-17 20:00 | yes | 27 | 89 s |
| Negative framing | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-17 17:58 | yes | 24 | 37 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
Avalara read as Avalara AvaTax
Avalara (AvaTax + ECM Pro) read as Avalara AvaTax
Avalara (AvaTax) read as Avalara AvaTax
Avalara (AvaTax/Select) read as Avalara AvaTax
Avalara (Avatax) read as Avalara AvaTax
Oracle Tax read as Oracle
QuickBooks read as QuickBooks Sales Tax
Shopify read as Shopify Tax
Stripe read as Stripe Tax
Xero read as Xero Tax
Unresolved, counted raw
ACTSOLV
AccurateTax
Avalara Breezeway
Avior
JetBoost
Sincera Tax
Software Advice (Sales Tax Software)
Squarespace
TaxCerts
TaxComplete
WooCommerce (Jetpack Pro)
Zonos
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.