Best HR Software in 2024

BambooHR is an integrated solution that manages all personnel matters, including recruiting and onboarding.

• Who It’s Best For: Small-to-mid-sized companies looking for a comprehensive HR solution that’s easy to set up and use without a ton of technical expertise
• Alternatives: If you want an HR platform that doesn’t require add-ons for core features, such as payroll and time tracking, you might look at ADP Workforce Now or another similar platform.

BambooHR is a comprehensive HR platform that employers can use to recruit and onboard new talent, pay employees and manage personnel data. Through testing the platform with the free trial, we noticed the straightforward navigation and accessible features. Even though it’s robust, it didn’t take long to familiarize ourselves with the layout. 

One standout feature of BambooHR is its applicant tracking system (ATS). Many HR solutions require an integration with a separate ATS to support recruiting and hiring. However, BambooHR has a built-in one that’s available in all plans. It supports the entire recruitment process, from posting jobs to extending offer letters. 

BambooHR has made it easy for administrators to add new employees to the system, as there is a prominent “New” button on the main dashboard to initiate this process. From there, HR staff can either enter the new hire’s data manually or send a new hire packet that the individual fills out on their own time. During this step, administrators can also set custom permissions for the new hire based on what HR information they need access to for their role. 

On the employee side, we like how easy BambooHR has made it to request time off, clearly displaying vacation and sick time totals on the dashboard.

View of a time-off widget in BambooHR (Source: free trial)

On the administrator side, they can approve or deny time-off requests in just one click from their inbox. We also like the thoughtful addition of listing all the other employees who will be out at the same time.

View of a time-off request in BambooHR (Source: free trial)

We found that even core features, such as the employee database, are straightforward yet comprehensive. By selecting an employee, you can view all associated information about them. There are various tabs along the top of the profile to switch between contact details, job responsibilities, enrolled benefits and more.

View of an employee profile in BambooHR (Source: free trial)

All in all, we like how feature-rich BambooHR is without feeling overwhelming. Though it may not have the most modern design, its ease of use speaks for itself.

Monday.com is a sleek platform with basic HR workflows that companies can customize.

• Who It’s Best For: Small companies and startups looking for a streamlined, modern solution to manage employee data and basic HR matters
• Alternatives: The platform could be limiting for growing organizations that require advanced features for employee benefits, payroll and more. If this is the case, a comprehensive solution, such as BambooHR or Sage HR, might be a better option.

Though monday.com is not a traditional HR system like many providers on our list, it offers customizable, scalable task management that businesses can use for employee management. Some of the key HR workflows monday.com can handle include recruiting, new hire onboarding, employee engagement and employee training. 

During our free trial, we saw how sleek and modern the design is. Though this helps with getting familiar with the platform, there is a slight learning curve, as it isn’t exclusively designed for HR purposes. However, monday.com does offer a number of HR-specific workspaces, which are pre-configured templates that you can tweak to suit your needs. One such template is for tracking employee time off.

View of the leave request template in monday.com (Source: free trial)

The platform’s core task management features can be useful for HR management. Administrators can use the custom fields to track the status, time spent and assignee of HR-related tasks.

View of the time tracking field in monday.com (Source: free trial)

Monday.com does not offer phone support, which might be a sticking point for some organizations. If you want to speak with a representative over the phone, you must request a call, and you can only use this time to discuss billing issues. However, the provider does offer robust online resources, including in-depth guides on how to use the platform for HR purposes. There is also a responsive chatbot, which makes up a bit for the lack of phone support. 

Notably, monday.com is missing some core HR features that many companies might look for. We surveyed over 100 HR software users, asking them to select from a list of HR features that they think are essential. Two-thirds of respondents selected compliance, and an even larger percentage, almost 80%, selected payroll. This could be a limiting factor for monday.com, as the platform can’t help with either function. 

Our takeaway is that even though monday.com is not a dedicated HR solution, its workforce management workspace offers enough HR features and templates to help small organizations and startups with basic HR tasks. The transparent and affordable pricing is also a bonus compared to other providers on this list.

ClickUp is a versatile productivity platform with use cases for HR and recruiting.

• Who It’s Best For: Small businesses looking to streamline and organize their HR functions and upgrade from documents and spreadsheets
• Alternatives: Growing companies that need more advanced HR features, such as payroll processing and benefits administration, might want to consider BambooHR or Sage HR.

ClickUp is not exclusively an HR software. It is a productivity platform that aims to be a one-stop shop for organizations to manage all of their work. With customizability at the forefront, users can adjust it to fit their workflows using custom fields, layouts and dashboards. Or, teams can choose from the more than 100 HR and recruiting templates that can handle onboarding, goal setting, performance management, development and training and more.

View of the people operations template in ClickUp (Source: free trial)

In our experience using ClickUp’s free trial, it’s easy to apply one of the HR templates to your workspace with a single click. From there, you can customize the template as needed. Because of the advanced customization options, we found there was a slight learning curve to get started with the platform, even with a template. It has a sleek design, but the menu isn’t always easy to navigate, especially as you build more workspaces.

View of the employee onboarding template in ClickUp (Source: free trial)

We think teams that are a bit more tech-savvy may like how flexible ClickUp is. Users can create custom workspaces, aka “Spaces,” to organize the platform by department. Then, they can use folders and lists to further break down tasks into manageable workflows. So, you might create a Space for HR with folders for recruitment, onboarding and performance goals and lists within each folder for individual tasks. 

Like with monday.com, ClickUp may lack some essential HR features, including payroll processing and benefits administration. However, we are impressed by the vast customization available on the platform. We feel like small businesses can adapt it to move basic HR matters, such as onboarding, from spreadsheets and documents into a streamlined tool.

Sage HR is a comprehensive HR solution with flexible plans and modules that companies can tailor to fit their needs.

• Who It’s Best For: Small- and medium-sized businesses that want more control over the HR capabilities they pay for
• Alternatives: Companies might want an all-in-one solution that doesn’t require them to pay for core features individually. For these businesses, platforms like BambooHR and Paycor might be better

Sage HR is a human resources management system (HRMS) that helps employers hire, manage and nurture talent from one comprehensive platform. The extensive Sage ecosystem of software solutions can be a bit confusing to navigate, though we like that they have solutions to fit varying company needs. 

The Sage HR platform specifically is a customizable system with a variety of add-ons or modules available. Users only pay for the specific functionality they need. They start with the core platform that has basic HR functions and add on performance management, time tracking, shift scheduling, expense management, recruitment and HR advice if needed. This gives companies more flexibility than pre-set packages or plans. 

Sage HR offers a more generous free trial than many other comparable platforms at 30 days, which gave us the opportunity to test the platform firsthand. However, we found that Sage HR doesn’t offer some of its functions in the free trial, which limited our ability to test it fully.  

Inside the platform, we noticed a clean and modern design with a dashboard containing key information, such as pending tasks, upcoming time off and current goals, inside widgets. The main menu on the left provides quick navigation to announcements, timesheets and other pages.

View of the main dashboard in Sage HR (Source: free trial)

We liked the convenience of the “Quick actions” button along the upper menu. It gives users the ability to quickly initiate a number of common tasks, including adding a new employee to the system or scheduling a one-on-one meeting.

View of the “Quick actions” button in Sage HR (Source: free trial)

The “Employee data” part of the platform is where the comprehensive employee profiles are stored. Each profile contains tabs to access the training, assets, documents, notes, time off and goals for the employee. There is also a tab along the main menu for reporting. It gives you a long list of pre-built reports to run as well as the option to create custom reports as needed.

View of the reporting dashboard in Sage HR (Source: free trial)

Overall, Sage HR offers a number of ways to customize the platform to fit your needs with various dashboard layouts, workflows, fields and more. One potential negative is Sage’s customer support. Specifically, there is no phone support, which may be limiting for users who want to speak to a live agent.

UKG Pro offers a comprehensive suite of HR functions with advanced AI tools for modern businesses to enjoy.

• Who It’s Best For: Growing or mid-sized companies that want an integrated HR solution with people-centered features to deliver a positive employee experience
• Alternatives: Smaller organizations may not need all of the advanced features that UKG Pro has to offer, preferring a more streamlined solution like Sage HR or BambooHR instead.

UKG Pro is a human capital management (HCM) suite with HR tools for employee data, time and attendance tracking, scheduling, payroll, talent management, employee self-service and more. 

It appears that UKG only offers live demos once a month, so we weren’t able to get too much hands-on experience with the platform. However, using the brief product tour, we could see that the platform has a modern and sleek appearance with enough features for medium and large businesses.

UKG Pro does have some unique features that you won’t find from most other HR platforms. For one, it uses an AI-enabled tool to gauge employee sentiment when they provide feedback. This feature could help organizations with larger headcounts derive insights from employee surveys.

View of headcount reports in UKG Pro (Source: public demo video)

We also like the AI-powered predictive feature within the learning platform that determines what type of training to provide to each employee and when. Much of the language surrounding UKG Pro on the website concerns taking a people-centered approach to company culture, which we think the unique AI features support. 

We think customer support is a clear differentiator for UKG Pro. In our survey of HR software users, 79% stated that they expect 24/7 customer support, which UKG Pro hits the mark on. You also get a variety of channels, including phone and live chat, as well as proactive help from a team of HR experts ahead of critical milestones and events. 

Across the board, user reviews state that there is a moderate learning curve and lengthy implementation process. However, the tradeoff is a platform with extensive features. We can appreciate that UKG Pro offers some of the more advanced AI-driven tools we’ve seen in HR solutions, though we wish we had gotten some hands-on experience testing them.

Paycor is an integrated payroll solution with some HR features to help businesses manage their workforce.

• Who It’s Best For: Small- and medium-sized businesses that want a robust payroll processing solution with a few core HR features
• Alternatives: Companies that want a payroll and compliance platform that is a bit more modern-looking might consider ADP Workforce Now.

Paycor offers payroll in all of its plans, which is pretty unique for HR software. Though payroll is its core offering, it offers a number of key HR capabilities, including new hire onboarding, expense management and compensation planning.  

It’s worth noting that many of the HR features are only available in the higher-tier plans, though pricing up does come with some added perks, such as one-on-one guidance from a certified HR professional. Even then, you need to pay extra for add-ons that help with time tracking, workers’ compensation, benefits administration and recruiting. 

Compared to other providers on this list, Paycor has an older design. However, this doesn’t get in the way of navigation. In fact, we found the platform to be pretty straightforward and easy to use when we tested it with the free trial. 

From the dashboard, Paycor gives you an overview of key functions, including onboarding and time-off.

View of the main dashboard in Paycor (Source: free trial)

Going deeper into the platform, we like how the employee profiles have key details on compensation, time off, performance and more. We didn’t notice a place to leave general notes about each employee, which is available in some other platforms, but the profiles are robust nonetheless.

View of an employee profile in Paycor (Source: free trial)

Another highlight of Paycor is that it supports compliance. The payroll processor automatically calculates and files payroll taxes and reports new hires to the state. It also helps with benefits compliance, such as workers’ compensation and disability.

Advanced customization and reporting are differentiating factors for Workday.

• Who It’s Best For: Global enterprises that want a comprehensive solution to manage a diverse workforce
• Alternatives: Smaller organizations with only domestic workers may not need the robust capabilities that Workday offers, though they can still find a comprehensive solution in BambooHR or ADP Workforce Now.

Workday is a leading HCM solution with a comprehensive set of features to help businesses manage personnel data, handle benefits compliance, track employee attendance and more. 

Workday HCM is part of the company’s comprehensive HR suite, which includes other products, such as Workday Financial Management, Workday Payroll and Workday Recruiting. These products work together to help enterprises with advanced HR needs, including career development and succession planning. They also have seamless data sharing, talking to each other so that you don’t have to input information multiple times. 

We got a glimpse into the platform with the brief demo provided on the website. Its simple layout is similar to what you might find with HR tools for small organizations, which we think makes it easy for employees to use. 

Still, the HR professionals and executives running the platform for their enterprises can make use of the flexibility and customizability. You can set up workflows using conditional logic, which automates tasks using if, then statements. You can also make multidimensional organizational charts that filter employee data based on geography, team and other metrics. 

Part of the customization of Workday extends to reporting and analytics. The platform supports custom configurations of reports, dashboards and scorecards using real-time data from across the Workday ecosystem. 

On the employee side, we like the self-service center. It offers basic features, such as requesting time off and accessing pay stubs. However, it also leverages machine learning to deliver a personalized experience with recommendations, tasks and search results tailored to each employee.

View of personalized recommendations in the Workday employee self-service dashboard (Source: public demo video)

The final function that makes Workday suitable for enterprises is its ability to support various types of workers across the world. It can track contractors, employees and retired team members in over 200 countries, territories and regions.

Rippling is an all-in-one solution for IT, HR and finance that streamlines business operations with automations.

• Who It’s Best For: Mid-to-large-sized companies looking for a way to manage key back-office operations from one platform
• Alternatives: Smaller organizations may not need the robust functionality that Rippling offers. However, they should consider Sage HR if they still want a platform that offers several plans at various price points.

Rippling is an HR, IT and finance platform that provides businesses with a single source of truth for employee data. The Rippling Unity product is specifically designed for workforce management with key features for onboarding, leave, compensation, document storage and compliance. The HR Cloud includes even more HR functionality through modules for U.S. and global payroll, time and attendance tracking, benefits administration, recruiting, performance management and more. 

Our team recently attended a live demo with Rippling’s sales team to test the features firsthand. It was immediately clear that data is at the backbone of the platform. There is seamless data sharing across various IT, HR and finance functions.

View of the main dashboard in Rippling (Source: live demo call)

Specifically for HR, we like the granular access permissions administrators can set. They can be pre-programmed for a specific role or job title within the company, making it easier to onboard new hires with the same permissions in the future. Another main feature that helps to streamline HR processes is the library of workflow automation templates. There are thousands of them to help with everything from sending offer letters to issuing corporate cards.

It’s also worth mentioning that Rippling offers global payroll for employees in more than 185 countries. Even the HR platforms that do offer payroll processing usually only support payments to domestic employees and maybe international contractors.

Rippling’s reporting and analytics capabilities are also noteworthy. The platform includes access to hundreds of “Report Recipes,” which are pre-built reports that you can customize to fit your needs. There is also a builder for custom reports and visuals. Results from our recent survey of HR software users indicate that 98% expect platforms to be highly or moderately customizable, and we believe that Rippling delivers on this expectation. 

Rippling pricing is opaque, as there is a starting price for the HR Cloud and no pricing information for Unity. However, the fact that there are four Unity plans suggests that Rippling accommodates various budgets.

ADP Workforce Now offers a robust platform with a standout mobile experience.

• Who It’s Best For: Companies that want an all-in-one tool for payroll processing, benefits administration, employee self-service and more
• Alternatives: Smaller teams may want a more streamlined platform with more control over the features they use and pay for. In which case, we recommend Sage HR.

ADP Workforce Now is a comprehensive HR and payroll solution with several plans to accommodate growing businesses. The lowest-tier plan includes nearly all platform features except benefits administration and workforce management. One standout feature that comes with all plans is HR Assist, which helps users with everything from regulatory compliance to recruiting. 

Another feature that comes with all plans is payroll processing. It’s not uncommon for payroll to be in a higher plan or an add-on with other providers, so the fact that all ADP users have access to it is a bonus. The payroll feature doesn’t just support payments to employees; it also includes automatic payroll tax filings from experts. Though this is expected from most dedicated payroll providers, it’s not as common in general HR platforms. 

Using the guided demo on ADP’s website, we were able to try the platform for ourselves. While this provided some basic information, we wish we had a free trial or live demo to get firsthand experience. We are also unable to share visuals from the demo due to privacy restrictions, though we do our best to describe our experience below. 

Our main callout from the demo was the in-depth employee onboarding process. Employees can enter their basic personal information as with most other onboarding tools. But, with ADP Workforce Now, employees can also get familiar with their team and the wider company. As the administrator, you can customize the onboarding experience. Some of the potential use cases include showing photos and descriptions of team members and playing a welcome video about the company.

All in all, the employee self-service aspect of ADP Workforce Now seems to be a main highlight of the software. Employees can use the app to access pay stubs, request time off and manage benefits selection. ADP even shares that there are 18 million mobile users of the platform, which is an impressive metric that speaks to how widely adopted this tool is.

TriNet offers both a DIY platform and an outsourced PEO service to serve the unique needs of various businesses.

• Who It’s Best For: Companies that want the choice between outsourcing HR and managing it themselves
• Alternatives: If benefits administration is not a key focus for your company, then you might want to select a more streamlined platform, such as BambooHR.

TriNet, previously Zenefits, is an all-in-one HR and payroll solution with a PEO service for outsourced HR. All users of the HR software get access to DIY new hire onboarding, time tracking, employee self-service and data analytics. More advanced features, including payroll, benefits administration and recruiting, are available as add-ons or included in higher-tier plans. 

We were able to try the TriNet platform through a product demo. The main dashboard has tiles for quick access to each of the various features of the platform, such as the company directory and payroll processor. This is also where you can access integrated apps, such as an expense tracker.

View of the main dashboard in TriNet (Source: public demo video)

The standout feature of this platform appears to be the native benefits marketplace. Users consistently highlight that TriNet allows them to access “big company benefits,” even as a startup or small business. When we looked into this feature for ourselves, we were impressed with the number of available options.

View of benefits administration in TriNet (Source: public demo video)

From the main benefits overview, you can see the monthly cost breakdown for the employee and the employer for each benefit type. Using the top menu, you can access additional information, such as each employee’s benefits selection and the available carriers and plans.

We also want to highlight TriNet’s transparent pricing, which not all HR software providers offer. With three packages to choose from and a number of add-ons available to customize those packages, we think TriNet’s platform could be a cost-effective, scalable solution for companies that want to manage HR in-house.