Want to cut right to the case? The best HRIS systems right now are Rippling and ADP.
Human Resources is a very busy function that comes with a number of critical roles. As an HR professional, you may often feel like you’re doing the work of many. Managing all your responsibilities without an effective system is extremely difficult and time-consuming. HRIS systems will give you the tools you need to streamline and organize all your organization’s HR functions.
We’ve compiled a list of the top 10 best HRIS systems available on the market right now, along with the pros and cons of each, to help you pick the HRIS system best suited for your needs.
Top 11 Best HRIS Systems
- Rippling– Best for Automated Employee Management
- ADP – Best for Payroll Solutions
- Freshteam – Best for Talent Acquisition
- Workday – Best for Human Capital Management
- BambooHR – Best for Customizability
- UKG Pro – Best for Large Organizations
- Zenefits – Best for Small and Medium-Sized Organizations
- Sapling – Best for Distributed Teams
- Bridge – Best Employee Development Platform for Collaboration and Coaching
- Eddy – Best for Easy Customized Onboarding
- Homebase – Best for Employee Scheduling and Time/Clock Records
1. Rippling – Best for Automated Employee Management
Pricing: Rippling’s pricing plan starts at $8/month/user. To get a custom quote suited for your specific needs, please visit Rippling’s website.
Rippling offers a complete suite of employee management tools, helping recruiters automate a vast range of HR processes. Rippling offers intuitive usability and can easily integrate with over 500 other tools like Slack and Github. The software focuses on HR and IT. Some useful features include payroll, benefits, and talent management, attendance and time tracking, detailed and customizable reports, digital document management and signing, automated onboarding for new employees, and process automation and task management.
| Pros | Cons |
| Modern and intuitive user interface | Lacks performance and engagement modules |
| Onboarding modules sync all IT and HR tasks | Lacks configurability of workflows |
| Excellent integrations with third-party HR tools | Limitations on time tools |
| Payroll processing feature includes tax filing services | – |
| Integrated Learning Management System | – |
| Detailed and customizable reports | – |
2. ADP – Best for Payroll Solutions
Pricing: ADP doesn’t disclose pricing plans on its website. Contact ADP for pricing plans and to customize the options that best suit your needs. You can also request a demo of ADP’s services.
ADP is a pioneer in the field of payroll management software, with over 70 years of experience. ADP helps over 700,000 customers across the U.S. manage their HR needs with ease. Apart from being a payroll software, ADP also offers services like benefits administration and onboarding of new employees. ADP integrates with other business software. Some key features include applicant tracking and recruitment, employee data management, onboarding functionality, time tracking, employee benefits and payroll management, HR outsourcing and PEO, and a resource center for businesses of all sizes.
| Pros | Cons |
| Advanced payroll processing | Some undisclosed additional fees |
| Extended employee management | Integration with other software like Quickbooks not optimized |
| Full employee access | Issues with time-off policies at times |
| Full-range of payroll features | – |
| Excellent customer support | – |
| Video tutorials for guidance with the software | – |
| Fully optimized ADP mobile app available on iOS and Android mobile devices | – |
3. Freshteam – Best for Talent Acquisition
Pricing: Freshteam has a Free Forever plan that supports up to 50 employees. Freshteam’s paid plans start from $1.20 per employee per month + plus a $71 platform fee/month for the Growth plan. The Pro plan costs $2.40/employee/month, while the Enterprise plan costs $4.80/employee/month.
Freshteam is a leading HR solution by Freshworks that provides high-grade features and functionalities for businesses to source for and hire the best hands for their establishments. It offers multiple channels for attracting the best talents, integrates with various job boards and social media channels, and has a top-tier applicant tracking system that helps businesses improve and manage candidates’ databases.
Key features of Freshteam include comprehensive HR reports, employee database, virtual onboarding, and custom application forms.
| Pros | Cons |
| Intuitive and easy-to-use UI | Customer support can be poor |
| Efficient collaboration tools | Phone support is not 24/7 |
| Mobile-friendly career site | Mobile app experiences glitches. |
| Free plan for small businesses | |
| Customizable hiring process | |
| Seamless employee onboarding and offboarding | |
| Efficient time-off management system | |
| Secure employee database | |
| Process management and tracking features |
4. Workday – Best for Human Capital Management
Pricing: Workday doesn’t reveal pricing plans on the website. Please reach out to Workday’s sales team to get access to custom quotes.
Workday is a leading provider of enterprise cloud applications for Human Resources. By using Workday, you will gain more visibility into your workforce operations. Workday is a very efficient method of organizing staff and improving employee engagement by automating workflows to pay salaries, managing employee lifecycles, analyzing employee performance, and more. Workday is entirely cloud-based, and some key features include HR task management, detailed reporting and analytics, and an easy-to-use feedback management system.
| Pros | Cons |
| Automatic upgrades | No customizations |
| Customer Brainstorms | No custom security |
| Vast amount of built-in business processes | System lags at times |
| Single security model | – |
| Great and easy-to-navigate built-in organizational charts | – |
| Mobile support | – |
| User-friendly interface | – |
| Intuitive navigation | – |
5. BambooHR – Best for Customizability
Pricing: You can try BambooHR for free. To request a free demo and inquire about pricing options, please visit BambooHR’s website.
BambooHR is a highly customizable HRIS system geared for organizations of all sizes. Users can modify Bamboo HR according to their business needs. The system is also very easy to use and has a large number of apps that integrate with it. Some key features include options for employee self-service, custom reports, a dedicated manager view, automated onboarding, objective performance and employee satisfaction management, and customized workflows.
| Pros | Cons |
| Intuitive and user-friendly interface | Lacks custom report filters |
| Great leave and attendance management tools | Lacks in-house tool for payroll processing and management |
| Excellent employee self-service tool | No option to customize report filters |
| Automated workflows that make the onboarding experience simpler and faster | – |
| Secure software | – |
| Vast number of useful functions and features | – |
6. UKG Pro – Best for Large Organizations
Pricing: For pricing options best suited for your needs, please contact UKG Pro’s sales team.
UKG Pro has over 70 years of HR experience and is best suited for businesses with more than 100 employees. The software focuses on core HR management, but it can also be used as a Human Resources Management System. UKG Pro will help simplify your HR processes through customizable modules, payroll and benefits management, and applicant tracking. Some of UKG Pro’s key features are a comprehensive view of employee data, personalized recruiting, centralized and secure employee file management, robust workforce management, automated timing and scheduling, fully configurable compensation management, detailed performance review metrics, and on-demand people assistance.
| Pros | Cons |
| Strong employee recruiting, performance, and engagement tools | The software can be difficult to navigate |
| Highly configurable system | Customer service could be improved |
| Strong user experience for employees and administrators | Some features could be improved |
| Ability to mine for other cryptocurrencies | – |
| Predictive analytics | – |
| Ability to leverage AI and ML | – |
| Intuitive benefit administration | – |
7. Zenefits – Best for Small and Medium-Sized Organizations
Pricing: Zenefits offers three base plans. Customers can then choose a base plan that offers core HR features and then get add-ons for each plan. The Essentials plan is $8/month/employee, the Growth plan is $14/month/employee, and the Zen plan is $21/month/employee.
If you’re a small or medium-sized business looking to automate your HR processes, then look no further than Zenefits. Zenefits has a modern user interface and is very easy to use. The software helps users take care of multiple HR functions like payroll management, performance reviews, and on and off-boarding. Some useful features the software provides are end-to-end onboarding, payscale insights and workforce alignment, built-in performance management tools, documentation management, automated tax compliance, and integrated reporting tools. Zenefits will streamline your HR processes for the lowest possible costs.
| Pros | Cons |
| Affordable | No integrations with some mainstream software like Freshbooks |
| User-friendly software | Phone support by tickets rather than on-demand |
| Customizable onboarding process | – |
| Ability to mine for other cryptocurrencies | – |
| Seamless benefits management | – |
| Great customer service that listens to customer feedback | – |
| The service is constantly being improved | – |
8. Sapling – Best for Distributed Teams
Pricing: Sapling’s Onboarding plan is $4.92/user/month and their People Ops Platform plan is $6.99/user/month. For a customizable solution suited specifically for your needs, please contact a Sapling sales representative.
Distributed teams have recently become the norm. If your business works across multiple locations and offices, then Sapling might be the best choice for you. This cloud-based software automates the entire recruitment and onboarding process. It also lets users assign workflows, create, store and manage employee data and organizational charts. Sapling integrates with most applicant tracking, payroll system, and employee training system available. Sapling comes with a vast amount of useful features like unique employee record templates, fast e-signatures, bulk data changes, automated team management, smart emails, surveys, and webhooks.
| Pros | Cons |
| Very easy to use | Some features could be improved |
| Accurate tracking of important data | Occasional delays when editing tasks |
| Great customer support | The implementation process could be difficult at first |
| Clear and concise user interface | – |
| Unique employee record templates | – |
| Fast access to team member information | – |
| Ability to manage complicated time-off policies | – |
9. Bridge – Best Employee Development Platform for Collaboration and Coaching
Pricing: Bridge’s Learning plan is $3/user/month, the Learning + Performance plan is $9/user/month, and the Learning + Performance + Engagement plan is $12/user/month. Minimum contract sizes start at $12,500. For enterprise and custom solutions, please contact Bridge directly.
Bridge has an abundant amount of resources dedicated to training. Bridge is fully equipped with a learning management system, peer-peer video, and performance management tools. The software’s self-review and peer-review tools can be used to pinpoint skill goals for future use. HR teams can use Bridge’s analytic reports and dashboards to make strategic decisions. The software is extremely customizable and scalable, letting users custom fit learning paths to suit individual profiles. Bridge also integrates seamlessly with other industry-standard solutions.
| Pros | Cons |
| Scalable features | Some reporting tools could be updated |
| Easy to use | Navigation through course modules could be difficult at times |
| Wide integration | Initial implementation could be somewhat difficult |
| Multilingual support including German, Russian, Spanish, French, and Chinese | – |
| Simple user interface | – |
10. Eddy – Best for Easy Customized Onboarding
Pricing: Eddy pricing plans start at $8/employee/month plus a $49 base fee per month. Visit their website to get a free, custom price quote.
Eddy was founded in 2017 by former professional basketball player Travis Hensen. The software is a comprehensive HR solution that streamlines tedious HR processes. By using Eddy, you will be able to hire, onboard, manage, and pay employees from one platform. Some of Eddy’s most useful features are job posting management, a full-scale applicant tracking system, and incoming candidates tracker. HR managers can also create custom onboarding packages, assign tasks, and collect digital signatures quickly. Eddy’s core function is people management. Users can create custom PTO policies and access company directories to store important employee documents.
| Pros | Cons |
| Easy to use | No free plan or free trial |
| Intuitive user interface | Payroll and ATS cost extra |
| Robust self-serve help documentation | – |
| Low entry-level per-employee cost | – |
| Prompt and professional customer support | – |
11. Homebase – Best for Employee Scheduling and Time/Clock Records
Pricing: Homebase’s Basic plan is free. The Essential plan is $14/month/location, the Plus plan is $35/month/location, and the All in One plan is $70/month/location.
Homebase is a cloud-based solution that offers comprehensive scheduling, time tracking, and payroll features. By using Homebase, human resources personnel can more easily organize and manage various aspects of their tasks. Users can also build employee schedules using a drag-and-drop interface, send schedules to employees via text message or email, and get visibility into labor costs by tracking overtime and employee hours. Some other key features include automatic error reporting and various data export capabilities.
| Pros | Cons |
| Easy to set up and navigate | One location and one administrator for the free version |
| The software can handle an unlimited number of employees | Occasional mobile app glitches |
| Job posts, applicant tracking, employee scheduling, and more are included in the free plan | PIN with implementation does not always work |
| Flexibility with multiple permission levels | – |
| Excellent time recording tools | – |
| Great customer service | – |
Questions You Should Ask When Choosing an HRIS System
What are your most critical HR needs?
Fixing issues that are costing your business the most time and money is likely your greatest priority. Before you start browsing for a new HRIS system, think about what HR processes you want to streamline. This way, you can look for HRIS systems providers with expertise in solving your particular problems.
How user-friendly is your HRIS system?
Don’t let your employees waste time using a system that’s difficult to navigate. A great HRIS system will let your employees identify different sections based on their associated icons.
Does your HRIS system require integrations with other HR solutions?
You will need to understand what the system setup will look like. HRIS products may require integration with other HR systems, so check what technical support the provider offers for when it’s time to integrate.
Is your HRIS system customizable?
You need an HRIS system that molds to your particular needs. An excellent HRIS system will come with customization and configuration capabilities to meet your unique goals and challenges.