Today there are 568 different HRIS systems to centralize all your HR data with. We spent 150 hours comparing the top 50 to find the seven best you can use to increase your HR workflow.
What is the Best HRIS System?
1. Rippling
Our Verdict — Best Of The Best
Price: Starts at $8/user/month
Rippling delivers solid, comprehensive employee management features at a surprisingly reasonable price. It gets our gold medal as the best HRIS software out there.
It syncs all your HR data with payroll at a click of a button… and it’s done in 90 seconds! Bye-bye, manual tasks and manual data entry!
Rippling is perfect for companies that need a robust HRIS, with tons of integrations between their different systems, and comprehensive reports.
If you’re looking for something simpler, or if your company is small, go with Gusto instead.
(30-day money back guarantee)
Best For
Rippling is best for businesses with 10 or more employees.
What We Like
- Payroll management is extra flexible. Rippling allows you to run unlimited payrolls, and you can set separate pay schedules, as you wish. Salaried, hourly, contractors… it doesn’t matter. You can even keep a cash balance for an overnight payroll, if you ever need it.
- Quicker work, less mistakes. With their Workflow Automator, you can set basic automations to trigger actions every time a condition is met. The coolest thing is that you can automate any buttons you’d have to click inside the software. For example, you might want to send an alert to a sales manager when an agent has more than 100 open support tickets, or send an entire “welcome package” to newly onboarded employees.
- Bigger, stronger, faster. Rippling has got a massive list of integrations. You can integrate with Quickbooks, Slack, Zoom and 500+ other tools, to grant you the fastpass. Some tools integrate so well that you can access them with a single sign-on.
What We Don’t Like
- Pricing isn’t publicly available. In order to know how much you’re going to have to pay, you will have to request a quote. Their prices vary for every customer it seems.
- Their sales process is too rigid. There’s no free trial, and it’s reported that the minimum contract is for one year. You’ve only got a 30 minute product demo call to decide if you’re going to sign the contract. If you don’t like it, you’ll have to sit on it until you’re finished with your year… or pay penalty fees.
- Benefits administration can get complex and pricey. Rippling can work as your benefits broker for free in 25 US states, but if you have people working in other states, you may have to pay extra fees. You can always manually set up health insurance or retirement plans in Rippling, and those will flow through to Payroll.
Try Rippling today with a 30-day money back guarantee
2. Gusto
Our Verdict — Best For Small Businesses
Price: Starts at $39/month + $6/user/month
Gusto excels at usability. It’s got top-notch payroll setup, processing, reporting, and HR tools. The mobile access is noteworthy, as well. It’s so easy to use that even non HR professionals can make it run smoothly.
Get it if you’re running a small business with up to 25 employees.
If you need to manage health insurance benefits for your employees, and you’re in one of the 11 states where Gusto doesn’t have it available… go with Zenefits, instead.
(30-day free trial)
Best For
Best for small businesses with up to 25 employees.
What We Like
- The easiest payroll setup in the industry. Every payroll tool out there is kind of a pain in the butt. Gusto is the smoothest one out there. You can set it all up on your own, or you can ask employees to fill in a part of the info themselves. Their unlimited chat, email, and phone support are always there, if you ever need a hand putting it all together.
- Easy-peasy benefits management. You can transfer your existing benefits providers’ management to Gusto, or you can get their help to choose the best plan for your needs. Gusto will work with absolutely any broker you choose. They have standard retirement plans, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, disability coverage… and even more modern benefits, like commuter benefits, charity matching, gym membership, and so on. You can even create your own custom benefits!
- It takes care of your employees, while it saves you time. No matter what time-zone your employees or contractors are, they will get taken care of with Gusto. Automated pay runs, seamless onboarding, electronic tax payments… stop paying your team and track the taxes manually, and let the autopilot take over!
What We Don’t Like
- Support isn’t 24/7, like other competitors offer. If you’re looking to get your questions answered whenever you need, Gusto might not be your best option. Their live support is only available between 7am and 4pm PST.
- Health insurance is only available in 39 states, so if you or an employee is in a state which is not covered… tough luck. You’ll either have to take care of it manually, or go with a different HRIS instead.
- No document e-sign capabilities means you’ll still need to use a service like Docusign in order to sign documents. That’s an extra step that can get a little annoying.
Try Gusto today with a 30-day free trial.
Our Verdict — Best For Aggressive Recruiting
Price: Free — $4.80/employee/month
Freshteam recruitment features are incredible, especially when you consider its price tag. They offer a free plan for up to 50 employees.
Get it if you’re running highly active recruitment processes so you can track applicants and onboard new hires. Its other features include time-off management and an employee information system.
If you need more advanced features, including integration possibilities, go with Rippling instead.
(21-day free trial)
Best For
Freshteam is best for companies that want to centralize HR processes in one system, and have very active recruitment processes.
What We Like
- Incredible free plan that covers up to 50 employees. You also get time-off management, team collaboration tools, a basic career site with up to three published job postings, and applicant tracking. This is one of the most generous free plans you’ll find.
- Automate onboarding processes with its custom forms and workflows, document management functionalities, custom reports, and electronic signature tools. It also lets you create and send online welcome kits, allowing you to capture your new hires’ basic details while providing them with the necessary information about their roles.
- It runs your entire recruitment processes from posting your job ads to tracking applicants on kanban boards. You can track paid time-off requests (PTO), monitor employee leaves… and my personal favorite, the automated onboarding processes. Send automatic online welcome kits and make the whole onboarding process so much easier.
What We Don’t Like
- Their integration portfolio is weak, lacking some pretty major software like Google Suite, QuickBooks, Paychex, and so on. You’ll need to use an automation service like Zapier if you need to integrate your systems.
- Lacks some basic HR features, especially payslip management and income tax proof submission. Their reports aren’t really the best, either, and not very flexible... you can't do a whole lot with customizable reports. It's best if used as a recruiting software.
- The software looks dated. You know that feeling you have when you walk into Aunt Gertrudes’ living room? FreshTeam gives me that feeling, like I’m in 2004, running on Windows XP.
Try FreshTeam today with a 21-day free trial.
4. HomeBase
Our Verdict — Best Free Plan
Price: Free — $80/location/month
Homebase has the most amazing free plan for single-location companies.
Even the paid plans are affordable, with reliable employee scheduling and time tracking. Its hiring and HR features are solid, which makes this software a great choice on its free or paid plans.
Get it if your business works from a single-location, and you’re looking to test a HRIS system for free.
If you need a free plan with more solid recruitment capabilities, go with FreshTeam, instead.
Best For
HomeBase is best for companies that need a solid, free Human Resources Information System, independent of their business size.
What We Like
- Superb free plan that includes time tracking, team messaging, applicant tracking features, and more (including unlimited number of employees).
- Handles an unlimited number of employees on every plan. They charge a fixed price per location — they consider a “location” any storefront, office, warehouse, or other place that your business operates from. Incredibly cost-effective.
- Powerful integrated payroll add-on for any US-based small businesses. It works wonderfully for hourly employees who work various shifts. As it syncs up with the time tracker, you automatically convert time sheets into wages, pay your employees and all taxes (the only exception is Nevada).
What We Don’t Like
- Not too many integrations are on the menu. It’s still a little better than FreshTeam, but HomeBase lacks direct integration with a lot of major business tools out there.
- Internal communication isn’t their strongest suit. For example, if you cancel a shift, HomeBase won’t automatically notify the employee that their schedule has been canceled.
- The payroll add-on plan kind of defeats their pricing strategy, and can quickly add up if you have a lot of employees. It costs a $35 base fee + $5 per month per employee, which can quickly add up.
Try HomeBase today with their free plan.
5. Zenefits
Our Verdict — Best For Benefits Management
Price: Starts at $8/employee/month
Zenefits is the best HRIS for benefits management and group insurance.
It covers almost all benefits administration needs of startups, small and mid-sized companies, in an easy to manage platform. A payroll add-on can serve companies with advanced HR needs.
Get it if you’re looking for a solid HR solution to help you manage the entire employee lifecycle.
If you need to pay overseas employees and contractors, go with Rippling instead.
Best For
Zenefits is best for companies looking for the best benefits management capabilities.
What We Like
- Superior benefits management capabilities. You can browse the Zenefits Health Insurance Marketplace to find the best insurance plans for your business, request a quote through one of their certified insurance brokers, who will even help you manage your benefits plan — for free, on any plan you choose. Employees can also get a Zenefits commuter benefits card to pay for Uber rides.
- Incredible time tracking tool. Zenefits’ time tracking features are second to none. While most payroll software solutions include limited time tracking capabilities, and even charge extra for it, Zenefits have included this tool on every one of their plans. Monitor schedules, attendance, schedule changes, project hours... it even has a mobile app to make it extra-easy.
- Flexible payroll capabilities. Take care of payments for your employees and contractors, all under the same roof. Zenefits will take care of all tax calculations, remit tax payments, and file the applicable tax forms for you.
What We Don’t Like
- Limited support hours. You can only get live support Monday through Friday, from 7am to 4pm PST.
- You can’t pay international salaries. Even though you can onboard international workers, you won’t be able to pay their salaries.
- You’ll have to pay extra if you want to integrate your existing insurance broker: USD $5 per employee per month.
Try Zenefits with a 14-day free trial.
6. BambooHR
Our Verdict — Best For Customizability
Price: Starts at $4.95/employee/month
BambooHR is a solid all-in-one HR software system that covers almost everything a HR professional might need to do, including applicant tracking, benefits administration, employee onboarding processes, HR reporting, time-off tracking, and employee performance management.
One of the most notable features is that you can set customizable employee self-service access levels, so your HR admin can feel confident employees, managers, and executives have access to the appropriate data.
Get it if you’re looking for an intuitive software that allows employees to access and update their own information.
If you need more robust benefits administration and payroll capabilities, go with Rippling instead.
Best For
BambooHR is best for companies that need a solid HRIS system with customizable employee self-service access levels.
What We Like
- The butter-smooth user interface makes it a breeze to navigate. You’ll find yourself instinctively understanding how to do the most basic tasks, such as employee onboarding. It offers a much cleaner look than most HR software out there, and that’s something worth mentioning!
- Improve your team’s performance with BambooHR’s customizable management solution. With quick assessments, you can identify strengths and highlight skills that need development. You’ll get higher engagement, more accurate reflections of employee experience and performance, and more chances to address problems right in the moment, instead of six months from now.
- Eliminate duplicate data entries with the centralized employee database. Everything you input into the HR database will automatically flow to all modules, including integrations. It gets your work done faster.
What We Don’t Like
- Pricing is unclear. You can get a free demo, you can get a price quote… but you can’t get clear pricing. Having to go through a web form, then jumping on a call might be something lots of people are not interested in doing if all they’re trying to do is find out how much it’s going to cost.
- Lots of add-ons. Payroll, time tracking, and performance management are all extra paid add-ons, and all have custom prices, as well.
- Payroll is handled through a partner. If you want to integrate payroll into BambooHR, you’ll need to do it through their partner, TRAXPayroll… and that comes with a separate price tag.
Try BambooHR today free for 7 days.
7. Zoho People
Our Verdict — Best For Remote Teams
Price: Starts at $0.83/user/month
Zoho People is the tool of choice for businesses that want to improve their remote employees’ performance.
Get it if you need to manage a lot of hourly, shift-based, field-based, or remote employees.
If you need a more robust payroll system for your remote employees, go with Rippling instead.
Best For
Zoho People is best for companies that manage a lot of remote employees.
What We Like
- Keep track of your remote employees. Zoho’s remote workforce management software hits two birds with one stone, as you can schedule shifts and track productivity with the one tool.
- Generous free plan that comes with outstanding features, like time and leave management, time and attendance tracking, customizable forms, and even real-time collaboration capabilities.
- Mobile app that makes remote workers’ lives easier. You can quickly access company information with a few clicks. Workers can check-in and out with their modern version of the “punch-clock system,” aka the Kiosk tool.
What We Don’t Like
- The free plan is a bit feeble. It only accepts up to five users, with an almost laughable 250mb of document storage. It’s probably meant to be more of a free trial to see what it looks like, rather than being a usable free plan.
- It lacks some important modules, such as performance management, employee engagement tools, and employee benefits options.
- There are no payroll capabilities for companies outside of India.
Try Zoho People today on the free plan.
Our Three Top Picks
Here’s a quick summary of our top three picks:
- Rippling — best of the best
- Gusto — best for small businesses
- FreshTeam — best for aggressive recruiting
Here’s a quick comparison of our top seven picks:
Tool | Entry Offer | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
Rippling | 30-day money back guarantee | Starts at $8/user/mo |
Gusto | 30-day free trial | Starts at $39/mo + $6/user/mo |
FreshTeam | 21-day free trial | Free — $4.80/employee/month |
HomeBase | Free plan | Free — $80/location/mo |
Zenefits | 14-day free trial | Starts at $8/employee/month |
BambooHR | 7-day free trial | Starts at $4.95/employee/month |
Zoho People | Free plan | Starts at $0.83/user/month |
Here are the top 50 HRIS systems we considered in this review:
- Rippling
- Gusto
- FreshTeam
- HomeBase
- Zenefits
- BambooHR
- Zoho People
- ADP Workforce Now
- Oracle HCM Cloud
- UKG Pro
- Workday HCM
- Paycom
- HiBob
- Ceridian DayForce
- greytHR
- Proliant
- Personio
- Paychex
- Justworks
- GoCo
- Ease
- Breathe
- APS Core
- intelliHR
- Factorial
- Keka
- Mirro
- NetSuite
- Employment Hero
- Akrivia
- OnPay
- Sage HR
- Darwinbox
- Oracle Peoplesoft
- Namely
- factoHR
- Epay
- Sapling
- Netchex
- HR-One
- 247HRM
- PeopleStrong
- ZenHR
- flair.hr
- Grove HR
- Flock
- EmployWise
- ELMO
- OnePoint
- CloudSuite
The Bottom Line
Here are our top picks for the best HRIS systems to try this year:
