Our favourite HR platforms of 2024

Introduction

An HRIS, or human resources information system, is a software platform for managing employee data. A typical HRIS might offer any of the following features:

• Applicant tracking
• Contract sending, signing, and storage
• Onboarding checklist
• Staff contact details
• Job descriptions & org charts
• Payroll & payslips
• Reimbursement requests
• Time off requests

You’ve likely interacted with an HRIS as a user when you’ve submitted a vacation request. And you may have interacted with an HRIS as an admin if you’ve run payroll or an expenses report.

Choosing your HRIS

There are dozens of well-reviewed HR platforms in the wild, and it can be difficult and time-consuming to identify one that suits the needs of your organization. Here’s how we recommend you approach it.

1. Identify priority features

Not all platforms offer the same sets of features, and not all features are implemented equally well. It’s worth identifying which features are deal-breakers for your organization, and potentially ranking features by priority.

When we analyze HR platforms, we’re typically interested in seeing which of the following features they support:

Here’s a template you can use to determine your priority features.

2. Determine budget

What’s the value of a good HRIS? This will depend on your budget, team culture and working preferences, and whether you’re already using other systems that overlap with the features of the HRIS. (For example, you may already be using a dedicated expense management system for reimbursements, which could make the value of the HRIS significantly lower.)

A typical pricing structure for an HRIS is on the order of $9 per user per month. However, there are notable exceptions. Deel HR, for example, is free (although specific modules, like global payroll, come at an extra cost). On the other hand, the more feature-rich and flexible solutions — like Rippling or HiBob — might set you back $20–$40 per user per month (exact pricing is often determined on a case-by-case basis.)

Here’s a template you can use to determine your budget.

3. Create a comparison spreadsheet

An HRIS touches many elements of an organization, from vacation requests to payroll. This means that there are often several stakeholders in play. It’s therefore useful to present the options you’ve considered — with summaries, pros and cons, expected costs, and the presence or absence of your priority features.

As you’re doing this, make sure to check out endorsements and see what users of the HRIS have to say about it. Look up ratings on Capterra and Trustpilot — a score of 4.5 and above (ideally based on 100+ reviews) is a good sign. Also, check out what other high-impact organizations are using. The EA Ops Slack workspace is full of recommendations; popular platforms include Deel, Rippling, Bamboo, and Personio.

Finally, see the platforms in action. There’s no substitute for a demo of the HRIS, to get a feel for the user experience, user interface, and the actual implementation of the features you’re interested in. You might begin your investigation by checking out third-party walkthroughs on YouTube — like these walkthroughs for Rippling, Bamboo, Sage HR, Personio, and Gusto. Most providers will have their own YouTube channels with first-party tutorials, but these are often less useful or impartial.

As you narrow down your list of contenders, register for demos or trial accounts with the providers directly.

Here’s a template you can use to highlight the differences among platforms, with some suggested platforms listed to get you started.

Our favourites

There’s no single best solution for an HRIS — it all depends on your needs, expectations, and budget. That said, we believe the following platforms score relatively well along the dimensions we’ve discussed above, so we’re happy to generically recommend these as worth exploring:

• Rippling
• Deel
• Justworks
• Remote
• Bamboo
• Sage

Before we dive into each, it’s worth noting that our particular criteria emphasize support for global teams. If this isn’t something that applies to your organization, then adjust your priority features as desired.

Rippling: A+

Pros	✅ Most flexible system (“the Salesforce of HR”): deeply customizable features, workflows, access levels, and integrations ✅ Supports audit trails, undoing changes, and smart enough to know that when one piece of data is changed (e.g. salary) others may need to be changed too (e.g. contract, policies) — and prompts you to do so ✅ Most useful mobile app — perhaps the only one that would be regularly used by both staff & admins
Cons	❌ Flexibility introduces some complexity, in terms of interface & pricing structure. Rippling is broken down into several cross-cutting “layers” (clouds, modules & apps); cost depends on configuration of these layers ❌ Steep implementation time of ~5 weeks
Pricing per employee (approx.)	Custom pricing. Likely ~$15–$20 per month, but depends on modules selected
User rating	4.9, based on a weighted average from Capterra and Trustpilot scores
Walkthrough	How to Use HR Features & Run Payroll with Rippling

Deel: A+

Pros	✅ Perhaps simplest & most intuitive system ✅ Implementation is almost instant and staff won’t really need to be trained  ✅ Originally exclusively an EOR: forward-looking, designed for a world where companies have a range of global employees & contractors
Cons	❌ HR offering is young and missing some basic features like expense category filters and an equipment inventory
Pricing per employee (approx.)	Deel HR: Free Payroll: $59 (but minimum $500 total) PEO: $99 per month EOR: $599 per month
User rating	4.8, based on a weighted average from Capterra and Trustpilot scores
Walkthrough	Deel for clients

Justworks: A

Pros	✅ Performs well on our list of features and is well-regarded in the EA community
Cons	❌ Expensive for non-US employees
Pricing per employee (approx.)	“Basic” (payroll): $59 “Plus” (PEO): $99 EOR: $599
User rating	4.6, based on a weighted average from Capterra and Trustpilot scores
Walkthrough	Justworks Review – Should You Use it Top Features, Pros and cons, Walktrough

Remote: A-

Pros	✅ Strong UX and well-reviewed
Cons	❌ Expensive EOR offering, and PEO requires custom Enterprise package
Pricing per employee (approx.)	HRIS: Free Payroll: $50 EOR: $699
User rating	4.6, based on a weighted average from Capterra and Trustpilot scores
Walkthrough	How to Onboard a New Employee: Remote Product Demos

Bamboo: B+

Pros	✅ Treads the line between customisability & simplicity well ✅ Nails the basics
Cons	❌ Doesn’t support contractors outside of the US, or include expense management
Pricing per employee (approx.)	Custom pricing, likely ~$12 per month
User rating	4.6, based on a weighted average from Capterra and Trustpilot scores
Walkthrough	BambooHR Tutorial For Beginners How To Use BambooHR For Newbies 2021

Sage: B+

Pros	✅ Intuitive to use and nails most of the basics
Cons	❌ Doesn’t support contractors. You either need to list contractors as “Employees on a contract” in the system, or track contractor data elsewhere (e.g. in Sheets)
Pricing per employee (approx.)	~$5 per month
User rating	4.4, based on a weighted average from Capterra and Trustpilot scores
Walkthrough	Sage HR Review – YouTube

While we generally endorse the above platforms, the best option for your organization will likely depend on its particulars, such as headcount, growth plans, and other systems in use.

The above platforms emphasize support for global teams. If this isn’t something that applies to your organization, then the following additional platforms have a number of advantages:

Humaans: B

• Newest HRIS on the block; prioritizes a smooth user experience more than any of the others. Strongly reviewed online, albeit few reviewers
• A very lightweight offering, without support for contractors or expenses, or even dashboards — all reporting exports directly to csv. Will likely continue to improve its offering as it attracts investment and/or clients with its forward-thinking UX
• “Starting up” plan for $7 per employee per month; “Growth” uses custom pricing

Personio: B-

• Intuitive and nails most of the basics
• Doesn’t support either contractors or expenses; lacks any form of customer support besides articles and a community forum (which fortunately sees a lot of activity)
• “Essential” plan for ~$4 per employee per month; “Professional” for ~$6

Gusto: B-

• Reasonably intuitive platform
• US-specific; quite costly given this significant downside
• “Simple” plan for $6 per employee per month (plus $40 per month); “Plus” for $9 (plus $60 per month); “Premium” uses custom pricing

HiBob: B-

• Pleasant interface & does the core employee management things well — a fairly middle-of-the-road offering
• Expensive
• Custom pricing, likely $16-$25 per employee per month

Getting support

At Impact Ops, we’ve helped a number of high-impact projects scope, determine, and implement HR platforms. Our mission is to solve critical operational bottlenecks for our clients, and we’re excited about offering system implementation as a service, so that teams can spend more time on their mission, strategy, and execution.

If you’d like support identifying or implementing an HR platform for your organization, please get in touch at hello@impact-ops.org.