GTM AI Index
September 2026 Edition · The permanent record of this edition. The unqualified address always carries the latest edition.
Index › Revenue operations › Commissions › Small business › September 2026 Edition

Sales commissions and incentive compensation for small business buyers

Asked as “sales commission management platform”, and as “incentive compensation management tool”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 54 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
QuotaPath
Clear leader
54% of first choices, clear leader.
ShowinginAll 73 categories in the September 2026 Edition →

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 businessQuotaPath54%Clear leaderThis pageMid-marketEverstage25%ContestedStanding →EnterpriseCaptivateIQ17%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
01QuotaPath54%5%60endorsed leader
02Commissionly15%2%43accepted challenger
03EasyComp6%0%22accepted challenger
04Qobra4%0%30accepted challenger
05Visdum4%0%25accepted challenger
06Sales Cookie4%0%17accepted challenger
07Salesforce Spiff4%52%33criticized challenger
08CaptivateIQ4%68%37criticized challenger
09Everstage2%61%18criticized challenger
Show the one product at 0%, ordered by negative rate
10Xactly0%100%23criticized 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
Everstage vs CaptivateIQEverstage vs QobraCaptivateIQ vs Qobra

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
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative70%
Key
01QuotaPath54%
02Commissionly15%
03EasyComp6%
04Qobra4%
05Visdum4%
06Sales Cookie4%
07Salesforce Spiff4%
08CaptivateIQ4%
09Everstage2%
10Xactly0%

02What they warned about

Five of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, 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.
Xactly
100%
23 of 23 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 15 hard negative
“Frequently criticized for complex implementation needing third-party consultants, clunky/outdated UI, poor reporting/customization, and high costs” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt
CaptivateIQ
68%
25 of 37 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 11 hard negative
“Don't buy enterprise tools like **Xactly** or **CaptivateIQ** unless you have complex, multi-country compensation needs” Qwen 3.7 Flash, comparative prompt
Salesforce Spiff
52%
17 of 33 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 7 hard negative
“ecosystem-locked tools with connector fees (Salesforce Spiff)... a hidden-cost trap if you're not” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
Everstage
61%
11 of 18 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 8 hard negative
“What to Avoid: Enterprise platforms like Xactly, Everstage, or CaptivateIQ (overkill for small teams)” Mistral Small, direct prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: four of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

22 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 4 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. 186 links across 53 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. The other 8 models searched through a gateway that returned no source list on this edition.

visdum.com
vendor site · Visdum10 answers · 13 citations · 2 models
captivateiq.com
vendor site · CaptivateIQ9 answers · 12 citations · 3 models
everstage.com
vendor site · Everstage8 answers · 14 citations · 2 models
qobra.co
vendor site · Qobra7 answers · 23 citations · 2 models
forma.ai
vendor site · Forma.ai7 answers · 9 citations · 2 models
quotapath.com
vendor site · QuotaPath7 answers · 8 citations · 3 models
g2.com
6 answers · 9 citations · 3 models
learn.g2.com
6 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
technologyadvice.com
6 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
croclub.com
4 answers · 8 citations · 1 model
getcentify.com
4 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
guideflow.com
vendor site · Guideflow4 answers · 5 citations · 2 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.

visdum.com/blog/best-sales-commission-software
8 answers · 2 models
everstage.com/10-best-sales-commission-software
6 answers · 2 models
forma.ai/resources/article/commissions-software
6 answers · 2 models
learn.g2.com/best-sales-compensation-software
6 answers · 2 models
qobra.co/blog/top-sales-commission-tools
6 answers · 2 models
captivateiq.com/blog/best-sales-compensation-software
5 answers · 2 models
croclub.com/tools/best-sales-commission-software-for-small-business
4 answers · 1 model
getcentify.com/best-sales-commission-software
4 answers · 2 models
qobra.co/blog/best-sales-commission-tracking-software
4 answers · 1 model
repordermanagement.com/blog/sales-commission-software
4 answers · 2 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 commission management platform for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which incentive compensation management tool would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top sales commission management platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best sales commission management platform for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a sales commission management platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which sales commission management platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5EasyComp
Two alternativesForma.ai, QuotaPath
against: PerformioEverstageChanged
One alternativeVisdum
QuotaPath
Two alternativesSalesforce Spiff, Visdum
against: CaptivateIQQuotaPath
Two alternativesCommissionly, Sales Cookie
no first choiceagainst: Nice SPM, SAP Commissions, Salesforce Spiff
GPT-5.4 miniQuotaPath
Two alternativesCaptivateIQ, Sales Cookie
against: XactlySalesforce SpiffChanged
One alternativeXactly Incent Core
QuotaPath
Three alternativesCaptivateIQ, Salesforce Spiff, Visdum
against: Xactly IncentQuotaPath
One alternativeVisdum
against: Salesforce Spiffno first choiceagainst: QuotaPath, Varicent
Gemini 3.5 FlashQuotaPath
Three alternativesCommissionly, Qobra, Visdum
against: Salesforce Spiff, Varicent, XactlyQuotaPathHeld
Three alternativesEasyComp, Pipedrive, Qobra
against: Salesforce SpiffSales Cookie
Four alternativesDriven, ElevateHQ, Palette, QuotaPath
against: CaptivateIQ, Salesforce Spiff, XactlySales Cookie
Three alternativesCommissionly, Quota Queue, QuotaPath
against: CaptivateIQ, Salesforce Spiff, XactlyQuotaPath
Three alternativesCentify, EasyComp, Sales Cookie
against: CaptivateIQ, Salesforce Spiff, Varicent, Xactlyagainst: CaptivateIQ, Highly Custom Google Sheets / Excel Templates, Salesforce Spiff, Varicent, Xactly
Perplexity SonarQuotaPath
Three alternativesCommissionly, Sales Cookie, Visdum
QuotaPathHeld
Three alternativesCaptivateIQ, Commissionly, Salesforce Spiff
QuotaPath
Four alternativesCommissionly, Qobra, Sales Cookie, Visdum
Commissionly
Two alternativesQuotaPath, Sales Cookie
no first choiceagainst: CaptivateIQ, Everstage, Oracle HCM, SAP Commissions, Salesforce Spiff, SuiteCRM, Xactly Incent
Grok 4.1 FastQuotaPath
Three alternativesCommissionly, EasyComp, Qobra
against: CaptivateIQ, Everstage, Salesforce SpiffQuotaPathHeld
Two alternativesCommissionly, Sales Cookie
against: CaptivateIQ, XactlyCommissionly, QuotaPath
Three alternativesEasyComp, Qobra, Visdum
against: CaptivateIQ, XactlyCommissionly, QuotaPath, Sales Cookieagainst: CaptivateIQ, Monday.com, XactlyQuotaPath
Four alternativesEverstage, Qobra, Salesforce Spiff, Visdum
against: CaptivateIQ, Xactlyagainst: Anaplan, CaptivateIQ, Core Commissions, Iconixx, Javelin, Model N, NetCommissions, Performio, SAP Commissions, Visualbonus, Xactly
Mistral SmallQuotaPath
Four alternativesCommissionly, EasyComp, Qobra, Visdum
against: CaptivateIQ, Everstage, XactlyQuotaPathHeld
One alternativeSalesforce Spiff
against: XactlyQuotaPath
Four alternativesCommissionly, EasyComp, Qobra, Visdum
against: CaptivateIQ, Everstage, Salesforce Spiff, XactlyCommissionly
Two alternativesQuotaPath, Sales Cookie
QuotaPath
Three alternativesCommissionly, EasyComp, Qobra
against: CaptivateIQ, Core Commissions, Easy-Commission, Model N, NetCommissions, Salesforce Spiff, Varicent, Xactly Incent
DeepSeek V4 FlashEasyComp, QuotaPath
Two alternativesCommissionly, Qobra
against: CaptivateIQ, Everstage, Performio, XactlyQuotaPathChanged
Two alternativesCommissionly, EasyComp
against: CaptivateIQ, Everstage, Salesforce Spiff, Xactly IncentQuotaPath
Three alternativesEasyComp, Qobra, Visdum
against: CaptivateIQ, Commissionly, Everstage, Salesforce Spiff, XactlyCommissionly
One alternativeSales Cookie
against: CaptivateIQ, Performio, QuotaPath, Salesforce Spiff, XactlyQuotaPath
Two alternativesEasyComp, Qobra
against: CaptivateIQ, Everstage, Performio, Salesforce Spiff, Xactlyagainst: Anaplan, CaptivateIQ, Everstage, Javelin, Model N, SAP Commissions, Salesforce Spiff, Xactly Incent
Llama 4 MaverickQuotaPath
Three alternativesCommissionly, EasyComp, Qobra
Qobra, QuotaPathChangedQuotaPath
Four alternativesCommissionly, EasyComp, Qobra, Visdum
CommissionlyEasyComp, QuotaPath
Two alternativesCentify, Qobra
against: CaptivateIQnothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashToplyne
Three alternativesCaptivateIQ, Commisyon.io, Gainsight Pay
QuotaPathChanged
Two alternativesEasyComp, Qobra
QuotaPath
Three alternativesCommissionly, Salesforce Spiff, Visdum
against: CaptivateIQ, XactlyCommissionly
One alternativeSales Cookie
against: QuotaPathCaptivateIQ, Compport, Salesforce Spiffagainst: Provisio, Veeva, Xactlyagainst: Easy-Commission, Javelin Gridstone, Model N, NetCommissions, QCommission, SAP Commissions, incentX
Kimi K2QuotaPath
Two alternativesCaptivateIQ, Salesforce Spiff
QuotaPathHeld
Three alternativesCaptivateIQ, Centify, Salesforce Spiff
QuotaPath
Three alternativesCommissionly, Qobra, Visdum
Carvd, QuotaPath
Three alternativesCommissionly, Everstage, Sales Cookie
QuotaPath
Four alternativesCommissionly, Qobra, Sales Cookie, Visdum
against: CaptivateIQ, Xactlyagainst: Anaplan, CaptivateIQ, Performio, SAP Commissions, Xactly Incent
GLM 4.7 FlashXQuotaPath
Two alternativesCaptivateIQ, Salesforce Spiff
VisdumChanged
Three alternativesCommissionly, Qobra, Salesforce Spiff
QuotaPath
Three alternativesCaptivateIQ, Commissionly, EasyComp
against: EverstageCommissionly
Three alternativesPipedrive, QuotaPath, Zoho CRM
Qobra
Four alternativesCaptivateIQ, Centify, QuotaPath, Salesforce Spiff
against: Oracle Incentive Compensation, Varicent, Xactly
MiniMax M2.5QuotaPath
Two alternativesCommissionly, Qobra
CaptivateIQ, VisdumChanged
Two alternativesCore Commissions, Everstage
QuotaPath
Four alternativesCommissionly, EasyComp, Qobra, Visdum
against: Everstage, Varicent, XactlyCommissionly
Two alternativesQobra, Visdum
QuotaPath
Three alternativesCommissionly, EasyComp, Qobra
nothing 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-4-5-202510012026-09-15 00:28yes88 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 02:56yes35 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 01:20yes2323 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 02:20yes196 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 02:25yes09 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 02:54yes07 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 02:27yes069 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 02:22yes02 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 04:44no033 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 05:02yes025 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 04:12yes040 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 01:25yes016 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 01:35yes88 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 04:55yes24 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 01:02yes1822 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 03:46yes205 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 02:22yes08 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 02:43yes07 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 00:06yes032 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 04:26yes01 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-14 23:49yes025 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 04:21yes035 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 02:54yes022 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 04:19yes015 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-14 22:57yes79 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 04:22yes39 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 02:35yes2427 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 01:22yes209 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 01:11yes011 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 04:25yes010 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-15 01:42yes041 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 04:38yes02 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-14 23:30yes042 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 02:26yes035 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 02:42yes033 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 00:16yes010 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-15 04:50yes129 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 01:47yes24 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-14 23:56yes2424 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-14 22:52yes205 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 04:49yes06 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-14 22:59yes07 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 00:24yes015 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 04:57yes07 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-15 01:47yes030 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 05:04yes029 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-14 23:48yes0119 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 03:51yes012 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-14 22:58no05 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-14 23:30no07 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 01:43yes1023 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-15 03:05yes207 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-14 23:18yes07 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 01:40yes06 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 05:07yes022 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 02:45yes03 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-14 23:29no030 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 04:34yes031 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 03:14yes018 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 03:32yes016 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-14 23:46yes1911 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-15 02:44yes35 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-15 03:18yes1421 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-14 23:31yes207 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-15 02:43yes08 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-15 01:29yes010 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-15 03:54yes026 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-15 04:25yes02 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-14 22:59yes043 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-15 04:02yes045 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-15 00:35yes059 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-15 02:41yes030 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
None. Every name in this category resolved on its own.
Unresolved, counted raw
Commisyon.io
Compport
Driven
FileDrop Template
Gainsight Pay
Google Sheets + Templates
Highly Custom Google Sheets / Excel Templates
Javelin Gridstone
Monday.com / Trello free tiers
Nice SPM
Provisio
Remuner
Salesforce (Spiff) ICM
SimpleRev
Toplyne
Vena Solutions Excel Template
Xactly Incent Core
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in revenue operations

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