Best of
Best HR management software for small and mid-sized teams
HR management software keeps employee records, time off, onboarding and reviews in one place, so the spreadsheet and the shared drive can retire. The best human resource management software for a small business is the one that fits its payroll, because payroll is where most HR systems start or stop. This list says which do payroll and which do not.
Side by side.
Facts a reader can check on each vendor’s own site. No prices.
| Free plan | No seat minimum | Payroll | Time off | Performance reviews | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gusto | US only | Higher plans | |||
| BambooHR | Quoted | Add-on, US only | Pro package | ||
| Zoho People | Separate app | Higher plans | |||
| Rippling | Quoted | Add-on | |||
| HiBob | Quoted | US and UK native | |||
| Sage HR, Sage HRMS and Sage HCM | Quoted | Sage HRMS and Sage HCM | |||
| Spodus | |||||
| Oracle PeopleSoft | Quoted | ||||
| ServiceNow HR Service Delivery | Quoted |
Checked on , against each vendor’s public plan pages.
The list
Each one, plainly.
What it is, who it suits, and where it stops.
Gusto
Payroll first, with HR built around it.
Gusto is payroll first, with HR added around it: hiring documents, time off, benefits and, on the higher plans, performance reviews. It is used by small US companies that want payroll and HR from one vendor. Payroll is US only. There is no free plan.
Best for: A small US company that wants payroll to be the centre of its HR.
BambooHR
The best-known HRIS for small and mid-sized companies.
BambooHR is the best-known HRIS for small and mid-sized companies: employee records, onboarding, time off and reporting in the Core package, with performance reviews in Pro. Payroll and benefits are add-ons, and payroll is US only. It is sold by quote.
Best for: A company of fifty to five hundred that wants the HRIS first and payroll second.
Zoho People
The HR app in the Zoho suite, with a free plan.
Zoho People is the HR app in the Zoho suite, with a free plan for up to five users. Records, time off, attendance and shift schedules are in; performance reviews arrive on the higher plans. Payroll is a separate Zoho product and is only sold in some countries.
Best for: A small company already on Zoho, or a team of five or fewer that wants a free HRIS.
Rippling
HR, payroll, IT and finance on one employee record.
Rippling is an HRIS joined to payroll, IT and finance: one employee record drives payroll, devices, apps and expenses. It suits companies that want HR and IT admin from one system. Performance reviews are an add-on. It is sold by quote, and payroll is native in a handful of countries.
Best for: A growing company that wants HR, IT and payroll to share one employee record.
HiBob
An HR platform for mid-sized companies, called Bob.
The HiBob HRIS, called Bob, is an HR platform for mid-sized companies with a modern interface, workflows and people analytics. Payroll is native in the US and the UK and runs through partners elsewhere. It is sold by quote and is aimed at companies with a few hundred people, not a few.
Best for: A company of a few hundred people across more than one country.
Sage HR, Sage HRMS and Sage HCM
Four HR products under one brand.
Sage sells four HR products under one name. Sage HR is the small-business app, for teams up to a few hundred; Sage HRMS is the older HR and payroll suite for North America, Sage HCM is the newer North American line, and Sage People is the mid-market HCM built on Salesforce. They share a name, not a codebase, so growing from one into another is a migration. All are sold by quote except Sage HR.
Best for: A company already on Sage accounting that wants HR from the same vendor.
Spodus
HR basics beside the customers, deals and invoices. No payroll.
Spodus is a client-operations workspace with an HR module inside it: employee records, an org chart, time off, onboarding and reviews. It has no payroll and no benefits. It fits a service business that wants the team's records beside its customers, deals and invoices rather than a standalone HRIS. There is no free plan and no seat minimum.
Best for: A service business that keeps payroll with its accountant and wants HR records in the same workspace as its customers.
Oracle PeopleSoft
Oracle's enterprise HR system.
PeopleSoft HCM is Oracle's enterprise HR system. Universities, governments and large companies run it, often on their own hardware, for payroll, benefits, time and reviews. It is sold by quote with an implementation project. It is not a small-business product.
Best for: A large organisation with a PeopleSoft team already in the building.
ServiceNow HR Service Delivery
HR case management, not an HRIS.
ServiceNow HR Service Delivery is not an HRIS. It is a case and request system for HR teams at large companies: employees ask for things, HR works the queue, and the record system stays in Workday, SAP or PeopleSoft. It is sold by quote. It holds no payroll and no leave balances of its own.
Best for: An HR department at a large company that already runs ServiceNow for IT.
How we chose
We started with the HR software companies people search for by name, from the small-business apps to the enterprise suites, and added the ones a small team is most likely to be offered. Then we read each vendor's public plan pages on the date above. The columns are facts, not scores: whether there is a free plan, whether a seat minimum applies, and whether payroll, time off and performance reviews are in the product. Best HR systems lists usually rank by feature count; a small business is better served by asking who runs its payroll.
Questions, answered.
What is the best HR for small business?
HRIS, HRMS or HCM: what is the difference?
Which are the top 10 HRIS systems?
Who are the main HR software companies?
What is the best small business HR software without payroll?
See the whole workspace, not one row of it.
More best-of lists.
The same table, dated the same way, for the other categories a service business buys.
Best of
Best CRM software: a list of CRM systems, compared on factsSee the listBest of
Best CRM for small business, compared on factsSee the listBest of
Best helpdesk system for small support teamsSee the listBest of
Best invoice software for small business, compared on factsSee the listBest of
Best agency management software, compared on factsSee the listBest of
Best project management software, compared on factsSee the listHead to head
Spodus against one tool at a timeAll comparisons