CiteLadder asked Claude Sonnet 5.5 20 buyer questions about small business accounting software, three times each, through the Anthropic API. We ran three conditions: from memory, with web search available, and told to search first. Xero, QuickBooks, Wave, FreshBooks and Zoho made up the top five in every condition. The order shifted when Claude searched. This page reports what Claude said. It is not a ranking of which product is best, and API results can differ from the Claude apps.
What we asked Claude
The 20 prompts covered five kinds of buyer intent. Some asked for the best overall pick. Some described a specific buyer or use case. Others focused on budget or free options, on a single feature, or on a comparison shortlist.
Examples:
- "What's the best accounting software for a small business right now?"
- "Good bookkeeping software for a construction contractor tracking job costs?"
- "Is there any genuinely free accounting software for small businesses?"
Each prompt ran three times per condition, which gave 60 answers per condition. The requests did not include a current date. A separate model listed the brands each answer named, and code did the counting.
Brands Claude named from memory
With no tools, Claude named 82 distinct brands across 60 answers, an average of 6.2 per answer. Five brands appeared far more often than the rest:
- Xero, in 85% of answers
- QuickBooks, in 80%
- Wave, in 65%
- FreshBooks, in 55%
- Zoho, in 50%
Xero appeared most often. QuickBooks was named first most often, in 30 answers, with an average position of 1.9. Xero was named first in 4 answers, with an average position of 2.8. Sage followed the top five at 17%.
The answers were fairly consistent across runs. Run agreement was 64.3%. Xero was named in every run for 15 of the 20 prompts, QuickBooks for 12 and Wave for 11. The top three brands took 37.1% of all mentions.
The counts treat product names as separate brands. "Zoho Books" (10%) is counted apart from "Zoho", and "QuickBooks Online" (8%) apart from "QuickBooks".
How often Claude searched when it could
When web search was available but not required, Claude rarely used it. Only 3 of 60 answers involved a search, with 3 searches in total. Nearly all answers in this condition still came from the model's own knowledge.
The results looked close to the memory results. Xero again appeared in 85% of answers. QuickBooks appeared in 70%, and Wave and FreshBooks each in 65%. Answers named more brands here, 96 distinct brands and 7.2 per answer on average.
What changed when Claude was told to search
When the system prompt told Claude to search before answering, every answer searched. The same five brands stayed in the top five. No brand left the top five and none entered it.
The leader changed. From memory, Xero led. When told to search, QuickBooks led. QuickBooks and Xero each appeared in 68% of answers, and QuickBooks was named first in 23 answers to Xero's 5. Wave stayed close at 63%. FreshBooks fell to 45% and Zoho to 27%.
Answers got shorter on brands. Claude named 66 distinct brands, an average of 5 per answer. The top three took 39.9% of mentions. Run agreement fell to 52%, so the brands named varied more between runs.
Product names showed up more often. "QuickBooks Online" appeared in 20% of answers and was named first in 7. "Zoho Books" appeared in 23%. Niche tools also surfaced for specific use cases. Aplos, for example, appeared in 5% of answers and was named first in 2.
What Claude searched for
Claude ran 280 searches across the 60 answers. Half of the queries contained the word "best". Many repeated the buyer's question almost word for word. Others compared named products or asked about pricing:
- "best accounting software construction contractors job costing 2025"
- "QuickBooks vs Xero vs FreshBooks ease of use comparison"
- "Xero payroll multi-currency pricing 2025"
Of all queries, 42.2% included a year. The year 2025 appeared in 111 queries and 2026 in 8. The requests gave no current date, so the year in a query reflects the model's own assumption.
None of the 60 answers included inline citations.
Sites Claude's searches returned
A small group of review and comparison sites came back again and again:
- nerdwallet.com, returned for 52 answers (87% of searched answers)
- thecfoclub.com, for 27 answers (45%)
- bookkeeping-services.com, for 25 answers (42%)
- fitsmallbusiness.com, for 22 answers (37%)
- forbes.com, for 21 answers (35%)
Accounting firm and fintech sites also appeared, including acculinkcpa.com and usehaven.com. So did business.com, softwareconnect.com and en.wikipedia.org. Vendor sites do not appear in this top ten.
What a brand in this category can take from this
From memory, Claude already has a stable picture of this category. Five brands appear in at least half of answers. Getting into that picture takes time and broad coverage. Searching did not change the top five.
Search does change the order and the details. When told to search, Claude's answers leaned on the pages its searches returned. Those were mostly third-party review and listicle sites. If your brand is absent from nerdwallet.com, thecfoclub.com or fitsmallbusiness.com, it is less likely to appear in a searched answer.
Use-case pages matter too. Prompts about contractors, nonprofits or law firms produced queries like "best accounting software construction contractors job costing". Those queries surfaced specialist tools. Clear, current pages about specific buyers and features give a brand a better chance to match them.
Queries often carried a year. Content that names the current year and current pricing may match more of these searches. CiteLadder tracks these answers over time so you can see how your brand's share moves.
Brand shares in each condition
Share of the 60 answers (20 prompts, three runs) that named each brand. "Prompts named in every run" counts the prompts where the brand appeared in all three runs from memory.
| Brand | From memory | Prompts named in every run | Told to search |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xero | 85% | 15 | 68.3% |
| QuickBooks | 80% | 12 | 68.3% |
| Wave | 65% | 11 | 63.3% |
| FreshBooks | 55% | 8 | 45% |
| Zoho | 50% | 7 | 26.7% |
| Sage | 16.7% | 1 | 13.3% |
| Zoho Books | 10% | 0 | 23.3% |
| QuickBooks Online | 8.3% | 0 | 20% |
| Invoice Ninja | 8.3% | 1 | not in top 15 |
| Gusto | 8.3% | 1 | not in top 15 |
| Bench | not in top 15 | 6.7% | |
| Aplos | not in top 15 | 5% |
Sites Claude's searches returned
When told to search. Share of answers whose searches returned at least one page from the site.
| Site | Answers | Share of searched answers |
|---|---|---|
| nerdwallet.com | 52 | 86.7% |
| thecfoclub.com | 27 | 45% |
| bookkeeping-services.com | 25 | 41.7% |
| fitsmallbusiness.com | 22 | 36.7% |
| forbes.com | 21 | 35% |
| acculinkcpa.com | 20 | 33.3% |
| usehaven.com | 19 | 31.7% |
| business.com | 18 | 30% |
| softwareconnect.com | 17 | 28.3% |
| en.wikipedia.org | 17 | 28.3% |
The 20 prompts
- What's the best accounting software for a small business right now? (best overall)
- Which small business bookkeeping software do accountants actually recommend most? (best overall)
- Top rated accounting apps for small companies with a few employees? (best overall)
- Most reliable cloud accounting platform for a growing small business? (best overall)
- Best accounting software for a freelancer who sends lots of invoices? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- What accounting tool works best for a small ecommerce store selling online? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Good bookkeeping software for a construction contractor tracking job costs? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Which accounting software is easiest for a nonprofit with no finance staff? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Best accounting software for a restaurant owner managing inventory and payroll? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- What should a small law firm use for accounting and trust accounts? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Accounting software recommendations for a startup planning to raise funding soon? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Simple accounting app for a sole proprietor with zero bookkeeping experience? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Is there any genuinely free accounting software for small businesses? (budget or free)
- Cheapest accounting software that still handles invoicing and expense tracking? (budget or free)
- Best low cost bookkeeping software for a tiny side business? (budget or free)
- Which small business accounting software has the best bank feed syncing? (feature-led)
- Accounting software with built-in payroll and multi-currency support for small teams? (feature-led)
- What accounting software has the best mobile app for snapping receipts? (feature-led)
- Compare the top three small business accounting platforms for ease of use. (comparison shortlist)
- Shortlist of accounting software worth switching to from spreadsheets, pros and cons? (comparison shortlist)
Frequently asked questions
Which accounting software does Claude name most often for small businesses?
From memory, Claude named Xero in 85% of answers and QuickBooks in 80%. QuickBooks was named first most often. When told to search, QuickBooks and Xero each appeared in 68% of answers, with QuickBooks named first more often. This shows what Claude said, not which product is best.
Does Claude search the web for these questions on its own?
Rarely. With search available but not required, Claude searched in 3 of 60 answers. Most answers came from its own knowledge.
Which websites did Claude's searches rely on?
nerdwallet.com was returned for 52 of the 60 searched answers. thecfoclub.com, bookkeeping-services.com, fitsmallbusiness.com and forbes.com followed.
Will the Claude app give the same answers?
Not necessarily. This study used the Anthropic API at low effort, with no current date in the request. The Claude apps can use different settings and give different results.
Track how Claude recommends your brand
CiteLadder tracks how often ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews mention your brand, where you appear in the answer and which competitors are named beside you. Every result is tied to its recorded answer, so you can check exactly what was said.
Visibility over time
| Series | 8 Sep | 15 Sep | 22 Sep | 29 Sep | 6 Oct | 13 Oct | 20 Oct | 27 Oct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acme Analytics | 27.9% | 29.6% | 30.2% | 31.8% | 32.5% | 33.1% | 34.2% | 38.4% |
| Northwind | 46.0% | 45.2% | 45.8% | 44.6% | 44.1% | 43.5% | 42.9% | 41.7% |
| Lumen | 30.4% | 31.0% | 29.8% | 30.6% | 29.9% | 29.2% | 28.8% | 27.5% |
412 answers to 120 prompts across 4 engines, week of 27 Oct – 2 Nov 2026
Brands
| Brand | Visibility | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Northwind | 41.7% | down 1.2 pts |
| Acme Analytics | 38.4% | up 4.2 pts |
| Lumen | 27.5% | down 1.3 pts |
| Fathom Labs | 16.9% | down 0.2 pts |
Acme Analytics by engine