The Top HR Software Companies To Consider for Your Company

If you’ve been thinking about automating some of your HR tasks to ease the burden on your staff and improve employee satisfaction, you have a lot of choices today. With so many options available, it can be difficult to know which vendors to consider and how they stack up. To help you find the best solution, we’ve put together a list of the top HR software companies and compared them in several key areas. After reading this, you’ll have a good understanding of where to start to find the right fit for your business.

As you look through this list, you may be wondering why we didn’t include Complete Payroll Solutions. We know we’re not necessarily the right provider for everyone, and believe it’s more important that you find the HR software company that will enable you to best manage your workforce.

8 Best HR Software Companies

As a vendor, we’re often asked about our opinion of other HR technology vendors. To help you with your research, here are the top options to consider when you investigate HR software companies, listed in alphabetical order.

ADP

Features: Depending on your company size, ADP offers 3 different options: Workforce Now, which offers mid-size businesses an all-in-one platform to manage payroll, talent, benefits, time, people, and analytics; Vantage HCM, for large, multinational companies who want to manage their workforces and make strategic decisions on key growth drivers; and Next Gen HCM, which helps expanding businesses adapt to changing environments and people requirements.
Integration: ADP’s HRIS solutions integrate seamlessly with one another, with popular business software applications and with leading payroll, HR and financial systems, including most Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. You can see some of the applications it connects with and add-ons in the ADP Marketplace.
Implementation: ADP doesn’t provide a timeframe but states that, throughout implementation, you’ll have the full support of its expert team to maintain data integrity and ensure that everything goes smoothly.
Cost: Pricing is not available online.
Additional Offerings: Payroll, time and attendance, benefits and insurance, recruiting and hiring, compliance services, and a PEO.
Support: ADP offers an ADP client community, online support, and a Help Center you can contact.

BambooHR

Features: Bamboo’s two packages are BambooHR Essentials, a system for managing employee records, workflows and approvals, reporting and analytics, and PTO tracking, and BambooHR Advantage, which includes all of Essentials plus applicant tracking, onboarding, employee satisfaction, training tracking, offboarding, employee satisfaction and more.
Integration: BambooHR is compatible with a number of payroll and benefits providers, which you can review in their marketplace.
Implementation: It generally takes between 4 and 6 weeks to fully implement BambooHR. Companies with less than 20 employees can use a QuickStart process that relies on a series of videos to guide you through account set up. Most customers choose BambooHR’s implementation service, which provides you an assigned implementation specialist.
Cost: Pricing is not available online.
Additional Offerings: Payroll, time tracking, and performance management
Support: BambooHR has a support team available 6 a.m. – 6 p.m. MT Monday through Friday or through its help center.

Gusto

Features: Gusto is an all-in-one HR platform. You have your choice of 3 plans: Core, which is for smaller businesses; Complete, for employers with complex hiring, payroll, and team management needs; and Concierge, which is for businesses with more sophisticated HR, policy, and compliance needs.
Integration: Gusto’s payroll seamlessly integrates with the leading accounting services, employee time tracking software, and more. The company offers a directory of software and apps it works with.
Implementation: Gusto doesn’t list an implementation timeframe on its website.
Cost: The costs for Gusto’s plans are: $39/month for Core plus $6/month per person; $39/month for Complete plus $12/month per person; and Concierge is $149/month plus $12/month per person.
Additional Offerings: Payroll, time tracking, and employee benefits
Support: The Core, Complete and Concierge plans all include unlimited phone, email and chat support. Gusto also has a self-help center.

Namely

Features: Namely’s two offerings are HR Fundamentals (required), which features functions such as onboarding, an employee directory, time-off tracking, performance and goal tracking, a compliance database, and company news feed, and HR Complete that includes everything from HR Fundamentals plus payroll, benefits administration, compliance advice, time and attendance support, and a platform for recruiting.
Integration: Namely offers pre-built integrations with a roster of partners, or you can build your own integration through Namely’s secure API.
Implementation: Implementation typically takes 6-8 weeks.
Cost: Pricing is not available online
Additional Offerings: Managed benefits and managed payroll.
Support: Namely offers hands-on help migrating data from your current platform to supporting ongoing questions with a dedicated service pod and Help Community.

Paychex

Features: The Paychex Flex platform is an all-in-one software that allows you to streamline payroll, benefits, workforce management, talent management, and the employee experience. There are three different bundled packages depending on your needs: Paychex Flex Essentials, which includes payroll and an HR library and business forms; Paychex Flex Select, which adds a learning management system; and Paychex Flex Pro, which includes everything in Essentials and Select and also features onboarding, employee screening, and a handbook builder.
Integration: Paychex’s open APIs connect popular HR, productivity, and financial tools so you can share data between Paychex Flex and other software solutions and reduce the need to manually re-enter data.
Implementation: Once you sign up, you’ll be assigned an implementation team to help you set up your account and import all your existing employees and information. Paychex doesn’t include any information on its website about the timeframe for getting up and running.
Cost: Pricing for Essentials is $39/month plus $5 per employee; Select and Pro costs are not available online so you’ll need to request a quote.
Additional Offerings: Payroll, employee benefits, time and attendance, business insurance, and a PEO.
Support: You can contact Paychex support by chat, phone, or at more than 100 office locations across the US.

Paycor

Features: At the Basic level, you get payroll and HR management and compliance support. Essential adds features that allow you to manage compliance and enhance new hire productivity. At Complete, you get deeper insights to drive your business forward. Finally, with HCM, you have access to everything you need to attract, retain, and develop teams.
Integration: Paycor has a marketplace of partners and products it can use to meet your business needs.
Implementation: Paycor doesn’t provide a timeframe for implementation but says that it provides hands-on guidance, expert support and tools needed to ensure a seamless transition.
Cost: Pricing for companies with fewer than 50 employees is available online. Those costs are $19/month plus $12 per employee per month (PEPM) for its HCM plan, $199/month plus $7 PEPM for Complete, $149/month plus $6 PEPM for Essential, and $99/month plus $5 PEPM for Basic.
Additional Offerings: Talent management, workforce management, employee experience, and benefits administration.
Support: Paycor offers a knowledge base and a Support Center for contacting them with questions. Phone support is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. EST.

Paylocity

Features: Paylocity's HR software automates tasks like leave tracking, OSHA safety tracking and reporting, and more. You can also track headcount and status for positions, view data to drive business decisions, collect employee documents, and more, all in one place.
Integration: With 300+ integration partners across 20 product categories, Paylocity’s architecture allows you to streamline payroll and HR data management across other business platforms.
Implementation: Paylocity doesn’t list an implementation timeframe but notes that its implementation experts will listen to your unique needs and configure a foundation that’s right for you and your business
Cost: Pricing for Paylocity’s software isn’t available online so you’ll need to call for a quote.
Additional Offerings: Payroll, benefits, and time and attendance.
Support: Paylocity offers self-service resources and also allows you to get in touch by phone or email.

Zenefits

Features: Zenefits offers three types of plans: Essentials, which offers onboarding, time-off tracking, scheduling, and employee management; Growth, which includes all of Essentials plus compensation and performance management; and Zen, that adds well-being, engagement surveys, and a people hub.
Integration: Zenefits gives you the ability to integrate with other day-to-day software solutions. A list of popular apps Zenefits integrates with is on its website.
Implementation: The setup process will depend on how long it takes you and your implementation team to import your company's information and policies into Zenefits. For smaller companies, that can be as little as a couple hours. For larger companies, this takes on average, a couple of weeks.
Cost: Essentials is $8 per employee per month (PEPM); Growth is $14 PEPM; and Zen is $21 PEPM.
Additional Offerings: Payroll, benefits, and compliance
Support: Zenefits has a Help Center where you can search for articles as well as a support team you can access.

How to Choose the Next HR Software Company

There’s no way to compile a definitive list of the “best” HR software companies. It really comes down to what your unique needs are. As you evaluate potential partners, you may be wondering why we didn’t include ourselves on this list. That’s because we know that Complete Payroll Solutions isn’t right for everyone. However, we are a good fit if you’re looking for:

Industry-leading technology that can scale to accommodate future growth
An experienced, dedicated implementation team
To be able to contact support directly and not get routed to a call center
The ability to access additional HR outsourcing services from the same vendor

We know that choosing an HR software company is a big decision. Review our list of factors to consider when choosing a provider to help make the best choice for your business.