Pricing, Features, Pros and Cons

BambooHR is an all-in-one HR platform designed for small and midsize businesses, and it’s great for growing companies looking to upgrade from a more limited HRIS system. But while BambooHR offers many advantages, it’s not the right choice for every company.

We examine BambooHR’s pricing, features, pros and cons to help you device if it’s the best HR software for your needs. We also offer some suggestions for alternatives in case you decide to look into other options beyond BambooHR.

BambooHR pricing

BambooHR does not disclose their pricing information on their website — you have to contact the sales team for a custom quote for both their plans and any add-ons:

• Core plan: Includes HR data and reporting, hiring, onboarding, time off and benefits tracking, along with access to BambooHR’s marketplace of pre-built integrations.
• Pro plan: Includes everything in the Core plan, plus performance management, employee experience, employee rewards and employee community.
• Add-ons: Payroll (U.S. employees only), benefits (U.S. employees only) and time tracking can be added to either the Core or Pro plans. And you can get a 15% discount if you bundle HR, payroll and benefits.

Companies with less than 25 employees are charged a monthly flat rate, and companies with more than 25 employees are charged a per-employee, per-month rate. BambooHR also doesn’t require an annual contract, so you won’t be locked in if you decide to switch later.

As a plus, volume discounts are automatically applied as you hire more employees, and if you’re a registered nonprofit organization, you’re entitled to an additional 15% off discount.

A free trial and free demo is available, so you can try out the software before you commit.

BambooHR’s key features

HR reporting

BambooHR offers 49 built-in reports to choose from so that you can visualize your HR data and use it to make evidence-informed decisions. Some examples from the library of reports include headcount, workforce metrics and approval packages.

With the upgraded plan, you can create your own templates and generate customer reports, and each user can customize their dashboard to show the analytics modules that matter the most to them. BambooHR also comes with an employee database that provides a safe way to track and report on employee data, such as tax documents.

Hiring and onboarding

BambooHR comes with a built-in applicant tracking system (ATS) to help you post your job openings widely, collect resumes and interview candidates.

Once you’ve identified someone you want to hire, you can quickly generate an offer letter thanks to the customizable templates and use the onboarding software to help the new employees complete paperwork quickly. BambooHR also comes with tools to support quick and efficient offboarding whenever employees decide to leave your company.

Time management

Both the Core and Pro plans come with paid time off management. BambooHR will automatically alert managers whenever an employee puts in a PTO request, making it easy to quickly check for calendar conflicts and then approve the request.

However, the time and attendance features are an extra paid add-on. This feature allows employees to log hours to specific projects or clients and differentiate between billable and non-billable hours. The mobile app lets employees clock in and out while they are on the go, and BambooHR will automate overtime tracking to assure compliance.

Performance management

Performance management is included as part of the Pro plan. BambooHR comes with both self assessments and manager assessments built in to encourage more frequent check-ins than just an annual review. You can use the out-of-the-box performance reviews and cycles or customize them with your own specific questions and scheduling.

For instance, you can set up new hires for a check in every 30 days or sync up assessments to work anniversaries. The system will automatically remind both managers and employees and include links to assessments in the reminders.

Employee experience and rewards

BambooHR includes the popular eNPS employee experience survey, which is inspired by Net Promoter Scores. It also includes a more open-ended approach to feedback with AI analysis of the results to deliver an instant satisfaction score. These surveys help you figure out how to improve employee well-being and satisfaction by using quantitative results and anonymous suggestions.

BambooHR also comes with multiple ways to award employees, including compensation analysis and information about equity offerings. These reward statements can be activated for some or all of your employees, and you can also decide which approved people can see each statement to protect privacy and sensitive data.

Payroll

BambooHR offers an optional payroll add-on in U.S. states only. Data from time tracking, time off and benefits will automatically be imported into the payroll module to make calculations accurate and fast. BambooHR will also automatically calculate and file all federal, state and local taxes for your workers to ensure compliance. The employee self-service portal makes it easy for workers to access pay stubs and update their information without help from someone in HR.

Benefits administration

Benefits administration is the other optional add-on that is available in U.S. states only. BambooHR comes with automatic carrier connections built in, which simplifies syncing enrollment data from your insurance providers to the HR software. The HR team can quickly create an enrollment window in BambooHR, whether it’s for a new hire or qualifying, life event or open enrollment. You can also review every employees’ enrollment status in a single view and approve elections and send sign-up reminders.

BambooHR pros

• All-in-one HR system for small and midsize businesses.
• Easy-to-navigate interface.
• Implementation team helps with set up.
• Employee self-service abilities.
• Built-in applicant tracking system.
• Many HR reports to choose from.

BambooHR cons

• Pricing is not transparent.
• Payroll and benefits administration available in the U.S. only.
• Time tracking is a paid add-on.

If BambooHR isn’t ideal for you, check out these alternatives

While BambooHR is a robust HR solution that includes payroll and compliance, it may not be the best fit for your business in some instances. If you’re looking to outsource your HR department completely, or if you operate internationally and need to meet compliance in different countries, you might be better off looking into BambooHR´s competitors, such as Justworks, Gusto, Rippling or Papaya Global.

Justworks

In contrast to BambooHR, which is an in-house software solution for small businesses, Justworks is a fully outsourced PEO solution. It has two plans, one that focuses on payroll, hiring, onboarding and other employee management features, and one that adds employee benefits administration. Unlike the majority of PEOs, Justworks lists its transparent pricing upfront: Plans start at $59 per employee per month.

Read our full Justworks review to learn more.

Gusto

Gusto is a close competitor to BambooHR, offering many of the same features. It’s known for its payroll platform but also offers an entire host of HR tools, such as hiring and onboarding, benefits administration, performance management, time and attendance and HR reporting. Pricing plans start at $40 a month plus $6 per employee paid per month.

Read our full Gusto review to learn more.

Rippling

Rippling is an all-in-one platform that combines payroll, benefits, HR, IT and compliance. The platform is designed to automate and streamline the administrative tasks of managing a workforce. Rippling is more comprehensive than BambooHR and can integrate with over 500 apps. Rippling’s cost starts at $8 per person per month — contact the sales team to get a more comprehensive pricing quote.

Read our full Rippling review to learn more.

Papaya Global

If you run international operations with strict global compliance and payroll demands, you should look into Papaya Global. The platform is a global payroll and workforce management solution that helps companies hire and pay employees across 160 countries. Papaya Global is more flexible and scalable than BambooHR and can handle multiple currencies and languages. However, it does not offer advanced HR features like BambooHR does, such as employee self-service and HR reporting. Payroll-only plans start at $15 per month per employee.

Read our full Papaya Global review to learn more.

Review methodology

To write our review and evaluate BambooHR’s features, we consulted user reviews and product documentation. We also reviewed demos on vendor sites and test drove the software when possible. We considered factors such as pricing, customer support and user interface design. We also considered features such as HR reporting, hiring and onboarding tools, performance management, employee experience, payroll and benefits administration.

FAQs

Does BambooHR include payroll?

BambooHR’s main pricing plans do not include payroll, but payroll is available as an add-on in U.S. states only.

Does BambooHR have a free version?

BambooHR does offer a free trial, but it does not provide a forever free version of the software. Check out our recommendations for the best free HR software to find an alternative.

Does BambooHR integrate with Quickbooks?

BambooHR does not offer a native pre-built integration for Quickbooks. However, you can use Zapier to connect the two software together.

Does BambooHR integrate with ADP?

BambooHR does not offer a native pre-built integration for ADP. However, the ADP marketplace does offer an integration with Bamboo created by Flexspring that is available for purchase.