# Ironclad vs ContractWorks: which do AI models recommend for CLM, September 2026

GTM AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, Contract lifecycle management and e-signature. Four of twelve models named Ironclad first on the direct prompt; zero named ContractWorks. Page: https://gtm-ai-index.com/revops/contract-lifecycle-management-and-e-signature/ironclad-vs-contractworks/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ironclad | 12% | #3 of 16 | 31% | 48 | 12 of 12 |
| ContractWorks | 4% | #8 of 16 | 9% | 11 | 8 of 12 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- Claude Haiku 4.5: ironclad first (first choices: Ironclad) (alternatives: Juro, LinkSquares, SpotDraft)
- GPT-5.4 mini: ironclad first (first choices: Ironclad) (alternatives: Conga CLM, DocuSign CLM)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: ironclad first (first choices: Ironclad, Juro) (alternatives: Gatekeeper, LinkSquares, SpotDraft, Stackpack)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: ironclad first (first choices: Ironclad, Juro) (alternatives: Concord, DocuSign CLM, LinkSquares, SpotDraft)
- Perplexity Sonar: neither first, one named (first choices: Juro) (alternatives: Ironclad, LinkSquares, SpotDraft)
- Mistral Small: neither first, one named (first choices: LinkSquares) (alternatives: DealHub, Ironclad, Juro)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Juro) (alternatives: Concord, Conga CLM, DocuSign CLM, Ironclad, PandaDoc, Salesforce Service Cloud, SpotDraft)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Malbek) (alternatives: Conga CLM, Gatekeeper, Ironclad, Zoho Contracts)
- Kimi K2: neither first, one named (first choices: Juro, SpotDraft) (alternatives: Bind, Concord, Ironclad, PandaDoc)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: neither first, one named (first choices: Concord, Juro) (alternatives: Agiloft, Ironclad)
- MiniMax M2.5: neither first, one named (first choices: LinkSquares) (alternatives: Contractbook, Ironclad)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither named

## What the models said about Ironclad

- "Avoid enterprise platforms (Ironclad, DocuSign CLM) - typically start at $20,000-50,000/year" (Mistral Small, budget prompt, hard negative)
- "Enterprise tools like Ironclad/DocuSign CLM start at $20K+/yr, so avoid for budgets." (Grok 4.1 Fast, budget prompt, hard negative)
- "Avoid enterprise CLMs like Ironclad, DocuSign CLM, Agiloft, or ContractPodAi" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt, hard negative)
- "The standard for fast-growing mid-market companies. Incredible, visual, drag-and-drop workflow designer and best-in-class Salesforce integration." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, scale prompt, first choice)
- "focus your search on no-code, collaborative, and AI-native CLMs (such as Ironclad, Juro, LinkSquares, or ContractSafe)" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt, first choice)
- "Ironclad is a leader in AI-powered contract lifecycle management, particularly for mid-market and enterprise legal teams." (Claude Haiku 4.5, direct prompt, first choice)

## What the models said about ContractWorks

- "described as repositories or document tools that do not manage the full lifecycle" (Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "The best contract lifecycle management platform for a company with a limited budget is ContractWorks" (Llama 4 Maverick, budget prompt, first choice)
- "pick ContractWorks for the best balance of affordability and usability" (Perplexity Sonar, budget prompt, first choice)
- "ContractWorks is a budget-friendly option for simple storage needs" (Llama 4 Maverick, comparative prompt, alternative)

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. Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category. Published under CC BY 4.0; the output is the models' output, and nothing here is a recommendation by the index.