5 BambooHR Alternatives for 2022 (with Side-By-Side Comparison Chart)

Ever since the beginning of the pandemic, one of the critical areas of an organization that got most affected was human resources. As the employees worked remotely, it was challenging for the HR department to manage them efficiently. This made companies realize why replacing their old systems with modern HR software was necessary.

When we think about it, one option that comes straight to many minds is BambooHR - and for an obvious reason; it’s a well-known software. But while it may be regarded as a top-tier product by many, it may not suit all kinds of businesses.

As reported by many existing users, the primary issue is its high pricing. The software comes at a price enough to burn a hole in the pockets of small business owners or startups. Another problem with BambooHR is limited integration with other software. Besides, many users also complained about its reporting functionality, which is not so user-friendly and can be tedious for less tech-savvy users.

So whether it is price, ease of use, a specific need, or anything else you’re looking for, there are many other HR tools that may align better with your requirements. This blog lists the 5 best alternatives that closely match BambooHR in terms of functionality and features.

1. Grove HR

Best alternative to BambooHR for fast-growing companies

Grove HR is an all-in-one HR platform for modern companies who aim to empower employees to bring their authentic selves to work and express their full potential. Companies can manage their whole employee lifecycle in one single system and deploy a more Agile, Mobile, and Social way to do HR.

This HR software is a single central platform that allows you to manage everything from recruitment to onboarding, time tracking, employee records, performance review, and more. Grove HR is heavy on results and light on the pocket.

Automated hiring and onboarding

Grove HR's Recruitment and Onboarding features offer companies a dedicated career page, hiring pipeline, and onboarding checklist that simplifies and automates the overall hiring and onboarding process. These features are perfect for companies who need mass automated yet customized onboarding processes when scaling up, which makes it the best BambooHR alternative.

Employee Management

Employee management with manual methods like Google Sheets or Excel is time-consuming. With Grove HR, you can manage employee data, company documents, employee time off, and attendance. All in one place. Another plus is their customization features, as you can create custom fields, custom time-off policies, and more which reduces the effort required.

Performance Enablement

With the change in workforce dynamics, annual performance review practice is proving to be irrelevant and ineffective. Employees want to move away from ‘being graded’ to ‘growing.’

With Grove HR performance enablement features, employees and managers can perform 360 qualitative performance reviews to focus on developing employees themselves. Companies can conduct reviews across various dimensions - self, manager, peer, based on projects and organizational level. Conducting reviews is also made easier with the pre-designed review templates.

So, If you want to recruit and retain a modern workforce, this is a one-of-a-kind and must-have resource.

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is essential for long-term success. Grove's engagement app - Sprynkl is a digital workplace for peer-to-peer engagement. This tool allows companies to build a single company-wide newsfeed, interest groups, polls & pulse surveys, and peer feedback & recognition to encourage casual ideas and conversations.

Employee Mobile App

An on-the-go platform that allows employees to manage their data anytime and anywhere. From managing time-off requests, clock-in/out to accessing company directory, company news, document, and payslip, everything is available on the employee’s phone in just a few clicks.

Grove HR mobile app enables employees to perform self-service and self-onboarding, making data management automated, flawless, and convenient. It lets you manage all things HR round the clock.

💰Price

Forever free for up to 50 employees. For paid plans, it starts at $3 / employee/month

• 2. Freshteam

Freshteam is a cloud-based HR solution by Freshworks that helps you manage hiring, onboarding, employee data, time-off, and HR workflows – all in one place. Recruiters can use it as an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to find, screen, schedule, and employ candidates.

The software also allows you to create employee profiles, storing all employee information. With the Employee Self-Service Portal, employees can raise requests for leaves, which will give managers a consolidated view of all upcoming leaves.  

Recruiters can customize the functionality to add custom questions to application forms to make candidate screening more accessible. Freshteam also makes it easy to keep track of and manage applicant dialogues, which numerous people may access.

💰Price

Free for up to 50 employees. After that, starts at $1.20 employee/month billed monthly + $71 platform fee/month

3. Zenefits

Zenefits is a modern HRIS that handles end-to-end HR administration for small and medium enterprises. It aids businesses in streamlining HR operations, onboarding functions, payroll, and benefits, among other things. The easy setup makes it a perfect choice for small organizations.

The platform promises a speedy onboarding process — less than 10 minutes! All an HR needs to do is fill up five fields for new hires, and the employees can electronically sign the documents. Goal setting, 1:1 meetings, and performance evaluations are all techniques for enhancing employee performance.

💰Price

$8/month per employee – Essentials, $14/month per employee – Growth, $21/month per employee - Zen

4. Zoho People

Zoho is probably most popular for their customer relationship management tool but they also have HR software, called Zoho People. It provides you with an exhaustive list of features – ranging from onboarding, storing employee data to tracking attendance, and gathering 360-degree feedback.

The timesheet tracking and chat groups allow faster conflict resolutions. The Employee Self-Service portal gives freedom to employees to view and modify their records. With this HR software, recruiters can set goals and track their progress.

💰Price

Free plan for up to 5 users; after that, it starts at just $0.68 per employee/month billed annually.

5. Rippling

Rippling is another versatile HR management system designed to streamline HR operations and IT management. It is the first HR software that integrates with IT. It allows you to onboard new hires in 90 seconds and manages payroll, benefits, workflows, and IT – all in one place.

The software can be integrated with over 500 apps like Slack, T Sheets, Office365, etc., to automate administrative tasks, saving you 70+ hours per month. Rippling also has a mobile app where employees can request time off and manage their profiles. All data from this app automatically gets synced with the rest of the systems. Another great BambooHR alternatives businesses can try.

💰Price

Starts at $8 per user/ month

BambooHR alternatives comparison chart

Your checklist while choosing an HR software

Today, there are several HR management tools that SMBs can deploy to streamline their operations. After addressing the best BambooHR alternatives, just knowing the features is not enough. Below are some factors that would help you choose the right software service for your organization.

• A clean interface matters - Look for software with a simple and easy-to-use interface. It should be straightforward, engaging to the eye, and simple to use for anyone in the company.
• Know what you can afford – You need to consider your budget before choosing an HR software system. Some platforms have flexible price schemes, allowing you to choose a base package and add-on functionality as needed.
• Decide your ‘Must-Have’ features – Not all platforms will provide you with all of the functionality you desire in your HR system. Every system has its own set of capabilities. So, first, identify which features are essential and then narrow down your options.
• Customer Support - You must consider other things such as customer support in addition to the software features and benefits. To evaluate customer communication and response, go to each platform's help center and submit a question.

After you've considered all of the factors mentioned above, narrow down your choices to two or three. Then try out a demo or a free trial of each. You will gain a deeper understanding of their functionality and features after that hands-on experience. Allow personnel from various departments to test the software. You can go ahead and do it if it works well for everyone.

Finding the best HR platform for your team!

In this age of growing competition, having the right HR tool is critical for any company to thrive. Many SMBs face challenges such as price, software complexity, heavy installation process, etc. However, these roadblocks must not come in the way of establishing a smooth working environment.

Take the time to dive into what you, your HR team, and your company need. Narrow down your options. Then, it's simply testing and finding what fits most.