My top picks for the best human resources information system are:
Featured HR software partners
1 GoCo
Elevate your HR with a modern, easy-to-use HRIS designed for small businesses. GoCo is a secure, compliant hub for sending, digitally signing, and organizing your sensitive HR documents and data. Manage records, performance, time off, onboarding, benefits, and more – all in one place. With the best support in the industry, every GoCo customer is assigned a dedicated Customer Success Team that is readily available to provide guidance and ensure a smooth and reliable HRIS experience.
2 Paycor
Paycor’s HR software modernizes every aspect of people management, which saves leaders time and gives them the powerful analytics they need to build winning teams. Paycor provides a full suite of HCM solutions with a single source of truth for employee data, so users never have to switch platforms, log-in to multiple systems, re-key data or open multiple spreadsheets. Everyday processes become simplified, allowing organizations to focus on their most important work.
3 TalentHR
TalentHR is a fresh take on HRIS, an all-in-one tool built for HR success. It’s fully customizable and features time-off tracking, custom fields, employee onboarding, performance reviews, and job applicant tracking (ATS) that’ll alleviate all your HR analytics worries. Leave complex HR tools behind and focus on what matters most, your people. No IT skills required, all at a reasonable price. TalentHR is a product of Epignosis, the company that 11,000+ businesses trust for their HR and L&D needs.
4 Bob
Meet Bob, the modern HR platform for modern business. With Bob, HR teams get everything they need to operate efficiently and engage employees in one HRIS. Use automation and workflows to save hours on HR admin time. Connect employees from anywhere with a social media-like homepage that drives culture with communications, kudos, and recognition. Centralize all people data in one place for a holistic view. Share accurate reports for stronger insights and better decision-making.
5 ADP HR
ADP HR services that empower. Hiring. Onboarding. Managing HR compliance. Whether you've got urgent questions or need ongoing support, with ADP, you can get the HR services you need.
What kind of HR software do you need? Learn more in HRIS vs HRMS vs HCM: What is the Difference?
In this article...
What are the best HRIS systems?
| Standout feature | Expert rating | Starting price* | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rippling Unity | Customizable workflows. | 4.06 out of 5 | $8/employee/mo. | |
| GoCo | Customizable forms. | 3.82 out of 5 | $5/employee/mo. | |
| BambooHR Essentials** | Plug-and-play automations. | 3.76 out of 5 | $108/mo. (for up to 20 employees)+ | |
| ADP RUN Essential | Mobile payroll completion. | 3.76 out of 5 | Contact sales. | |
| TriNet Zenefits Essentials | Breadth of benefits offerings. | 3.68 out of 5 | $8/employee/mo. |
*Prices are based on annual billing.
**Please see the BambooHR pricing section below for an explanation of discounts.
Rippling Unity: Best HRIS overall
Pros
Cons
Our Rating: 4.06/5
Rippling Unity serves as the backbone of the entire Rippling platform. All customers must purchase Rippling Unity before accessing other modules in its HR, Finance, and IT cloud product lines. Unity also acts as Rippling’s core HRIS, including an employee directory and recordkeeping functions.
Surprisingly, looking solely at its HRIS capabilities, Rippling Unity did not rank the highest; that designation goes to GoCo and Bob. Instead, Rippling’s strength comes in its scalability, HR automation, and data analytics that overshadow its competition. This is likely a result of Rippling’s heavy IT focus as it looks for ways to integrate and access the workplace tools you use daily directly from its homepage.
Other clever features include:
- App provisioning and de-provisioning during onboarding and offboarding workflows.
- Compensation banding.
- Employee profiles that transform to capture the necessary data depending on their location.
These features help create a consistent employee experience during hiring and exiting processes. The program can even shorten ramp-up times for employees by helping HR and IT teams distribute and manage devices and apps directly within the program, often with little direct involvement from either department.
Despite this, Rippling Unity is not the best choice if this is your first HR software or if you simply want a place to store your employment data electronically. For example, you must manually establish approval workflows for things like paid time off (PTO) requests. Although Rippling offers “Recipes” or pre-built automation templates, the extra step of choosing and modifying the right recipe can be tedious for new HR software users. In this case, you would do better with BambooHR.
Plus, Rippling’s standard customer service options are relatively disappointing. As a first-timer, you might want to call and speak to customer service representatives to troubleshoot issues. Unless you purchase Rippling’s HR Help Desk module, professional employer organization (PEO), or employers of record (EOR) services, you’re limited to emailing or submitting a support ticket.
If you’re growing and want to layer on capabilities quickly without switching platforms, though, start with Rippling Unity first. You can scale Rippling Unity’s price tiers and add on modules, like headcount planning and performance management, as your people’s needs become more complex.
Want to learn more about Rippling’s capabilities? Check out our video overview below.
Workflow automation
Rippling Unity comes standard with Workflow Studio, a customizable automation builder. With it, you can automate processes for nearly every data field in the system.
Although GoCo offers something similar called Workflow Builder, it functions much more as a way to monitor task completion for a process among various collaborators. For example, it helps notify appropriate stakeholders when to perform tasks like reviewing promotions or completing reference checks.
In contrast, Rippling’s automation capabilities support “set it and forget it” workflows. For example, you can automatically assign training courses based on data like employee start date or role. Or you can automatically send reports to relevant stakeholders each month. This can make your HR staff much more efficient so they can focus on more strategic work, like improving employee retention.
Workforce insights
Rippling Unity allows you to customize reports and rich data visualizations, which is impressive compared to most basic HRIS platforms. Plus, as you upgrade to higher Rippling Unity plans or add on optional modules, its workforce analytics capabilities become more comprehensive and complex.
For example, Rippling lets you combine and manipulate data from three or more sources. This allows you to connect and draw insights about the data points that matter the most, like salary change trends relative to learning and development course completion. If you’re a spreadsheet whiz, you can use Excel-like formulas to construct your reports for even more granular conclusions.
Though Rippling’s analytics rival many human capital management (HCM) systems, they may be too complicated for some businesses. Rippling offers pre-configured report templates, but you must create the data visualizations you want yourself, which can take time to learn how to construct. On the other hand, GoCo forces you to start with a report template even if it would be easier to start from scratch.
PEO and EOR services
Rippling offers PEO and EOR services to support your business operations as they grow. While ADP and Deel HR also offer PEO and EOR services, Rippling differentiates itself by making these services more of a strategic choice for your immediate business needs rather than a long-term commitment.
For example, as a small business, you may only have one person looking after HR, accounting, and other administrative responsibilities. In that case, you can leverage Rippling’s PEO services to cover the tedious but necessary processes of HR, like payroll, without compromising labor law compliance.
As you grow and add more knowledgeable HR staff, however, you may no longer need Rippling’s PEO services. Rippling understands this and includes an easy on/off switch directly within the platform so you can sever PEO ties without any long-term contracts. This differs from other PEOs that rely on creating long-term partnerships with small businesses that have limited growth expectations.
The same flexibility extends to Rippling’s EOR services. For example, Rippling will help you transition to hiring, managing, and paying your international workforce once it makes sense for you financially to move these processes in-house. Rippling’s business model lets you transition between these different states, so you’re supported even when growth plans change.
Rippling Unity starts at $8 per employee per month (PEPM), but depending on your size and business needs, you may also have to pay an additional monthly base fee. Most third-party outlets indicate the base fee to be around $35 per month.
Rippling Unity offers several plans, with the main difference being access to advanced reporting, workflows, and its open API. The plans include Core, Pro, Unlimited, and Enterprise.
Rippling earned 2.88 out of 5 for pricing. It does well for scalability, including modules and services that you can easily add or remove to fit your needs. However, beyond noting a starting price for Rippling Unity, it lost points for not disclosing prices for any of its modules or services. Rippling also doesn’t offer a free trial, which is a drawback compared to other platforms.
Moreover, the starting price for its basic HRIS is quite high, despite lacking native payroll or time-tracking abilities. For example, Sage HR starts at $5.50 PEPM, while GoCo starts at only $5 PEPM. True, Rippling’s workflow, reporting, and compliance features certainly set it apart from traditional HRIS. However, it might be a little too much if you’re only looking to create an electronic system of record.
The chart below outlines Rippling Unity’s plans, add-on modules, and services.
Core
Includes:
- Global organizational chart.
- Global workforce analytics.
- Permissions and access control.
- Approval management.
- Document and policy management.
- Compliance management.
- Salary banding.
- PTO and leave management.
- Localization for 150+ countries.
- Customized workflows (for onboarding only).
Pro
Includes everything in Core, plus:
- Customized workflows (for any event).
- Up to 10 workflows.
- Up to 10 formula fields in reports.
- Up to 10 reports that join data from three or more sources.
- Integrate with Slack for approvals and sending messages.
- Integrate with Microsoft Teams for sending messages.
- Create and send calendar invites.
- Scheduled reports.
Unlimited
Includes everything in Pro, plus:
- Unlimited customized workflows.
- Unlimited formula fields.
- Unlimited advanced reports.
- Webhooks.
Enterprise
Includes everything in Unlimited, plus:
- Access to Rippling’s API.
If you want additional features outside Rippling’s core HRIS, you can add the following modules to Unity from its HR, finance, or IT clouds.
HR Cloud
- U.S. and global payroll.
- Benefits administration.
- Time and attendance.
- Flex benefits (FSA, HSA, and commuter).
- Recruiting.
- Learning management.
- Pulse (employee engagement).
- Headcount planning.
- Performance management.
IT Cloud
- App management.
- Device management.
- Inventory management.
Finance Cloud
- Corporate cards.
- Expense management.
Additional services
- ACA and COBRA administration.
- HR Help Desk (HR Support).
- PEO services.
- Global employer of record services.
*Note: Rippling currently offers a one-month free subscription if you sign up within six weeks. This is subject to end anytime, so please check its website for the latest.
With a 4.06 out of 5 score, Rippling Unity is the most versatile HRIS in my lineup. It can easily adapt to your business needs without relying on a patchwork of third-party HR applications or additional Rippling products to meet your requirements. However, Rippling’s HR, Finance, and IT cloud modules build upon and amplify Unity so it becomes more advanced as you grow.
That said, Rippling Unity lacks employee communication features that are critical to small businesses that don’t have budgets for apps like Slack. It doesn’t even include an in-app calendar for tracking employee days off; instead, it forces you to integrate with calendar apps like Google Calendar, Outlook, and iCloud Calendar to view this data.
As a result, Rippling Unity is best if you already have a collaboration tool of choice since it can integrate and even automate notifications within those platforms. This frees up time for lean administrative teams to juggle multiple priorities.
Learn more about Rippling
Rippling is also one of my favorite human resources management systems (HRMS) because it offers robust, native solutions and services to cover most HR needs without relying on third-party solutions and acquisitions.
You can explore some of the resources below to learn more about Rippling’s full range of capabilities.
GoCo: Best HRIS for employee record-keeping
Pros
Cons
Our Rating: 3.82/5
Focusing solely on HRIS features, GoCo was the clear winner among the platforms I tested. I was particularly impressed with the software’s auditable document tracking and collaboration features, which earned a perfect 5 out of 5 score.
Advanced onboarding features come standard with GoCo, unlike BambooHR Essentials. In addition to pre-built employee preboarding procedures like collecting I-9 and W-4 paperwork, you can also create custom fields that are uniquely relevant to your business. For example, you can gather uniform sizes for frontline workers or fun facts to use during orientation training.
If you lack other collaboration apps like Microsoft Teams, GoCo’s homepage is a centralized channel to send company-wide notifications about things like emergency closures and company events. And, if you add GoCo’s messages module, HR and office administrators can send emails and texts directly to employees within the app.
GoCo also anticipates and accommodates employees’ needs by allowing them to clock in and out of shifts, view upcoming holidays, and see PTO accruals directly from the homepage. Even its knowledge base AI assistant ensures employees don’t have to look through your company documentation to find your bereavement leave policy. No other platform I tested offers conversational AI capabilities.
Despite this, GoCo is very U.S.-centric, so you must invest in other platforms if you need to hire and pay international staff or contractors. Likewise, you will need to integrate with other platforms if you need payroll and recruitment functions, which could lead to difficult data silos long term.
Even so, GoCo is a strong choice for your first HRIS since it’s flexible enough to support teams in and out of the office.
Customizable documents
GoCo’s document management capabilities allow you to move away from paper processes by uploading paper documents and transforming them into fillable forms that collect legal eSignatures. You can even insert variable fields, like employee name and title, that populate dynamically for each person, reducing the time it takes to complete the form.
One of the most appealing features of GoCo’s Documents module is that you can drag and drop forms into its editor from multiple sources, including Google Drive. Even more unique, you can take a picture of your form and upload it directly within the platform — a helpful feature if you need to digitize old hard copies and don’t have access to a scanner.
Employee profiles
One of my favorite features in GoCo is employee profiles— specifically, its timeline feature. System administrators and managers can add shared or private notes, praise, or feedback within employee profiles to provide a historical record of their successes and stumbles.
You can even share notes with your manager in your profile, including personal achievements, challenges, and one-on-one meeting notes.
GoCo is not a full-fledged performance management or employee engagement platform. However, these elements make it easier to track employee development, complete performance reviews, and keep employees invested in their own success.
Customizable workspaces
If you’re a small business trying to create consistency in a work process, GoCo’s customizable “spaces” module provides a simple way to centralize a business operation in one place. For example, you might have a space dedicated to expense management procedures. Within the space, you can access the form to request expense reimbursement or start a workflow for managers to collect and review receipts for approval.
In my case, I created a space to help streamline workplace injury procedures. I added widgets to start a workers’ compensation claim, access injury forms, and view workflow process analytics. If managers constantly ask HR staff what to do in certain situations or if you have process documents stored in multiple locations, this is an efficient way to centralize the information.
GoCo’s pricing starts at $5 PEPM. Like Rippling, all customers start with its base platform, which includes onboarding, employee self-service, and document management. You can then add modules for benefits, payroll, and performance management.
|
GoCo
Starts at $5 PEPM for onboarding, employee self-service, and document management. + |
|---|
| Benefits. |
| Automated workflows. |
| Payroll. |
| Time off and time tracking. |
| Compliance. |
| Remote I-9. |
| Performance management. |
| Messages. |
| HR reports and insights. |
| HR support on demand. |
| Vaccine tracking. |
| COVID-19 paid leave. |
| White-glove implementation. |
GoCo scores 2.94 out of 5 for pricing. Although it is one of the most competitive on my shortlist for starting price, it falls short on scalability. As you add more people to GoCo, its features become unwieldy, and maintaining automated workflows becomes time-consuming. Its data analytics will also start to feel too basic as your processes become more complex.
However, GoCo is the most affordable to start with. If you have few employees and budgetary constraints, it’s the best choice.
GoCo modules
All GoCo plans include onboarding, employee self-service, and document management. You can add on the following modules for an extra PEPM price:
If your main goal is to move toward 100% electronic recordkeeping, GoCo is the best choice for digitizing paper files and creating a single source of truth for company processes. GoCo’s ability to automate employee data collection and self-service makes it second on my shortlist, scoring 3.82 out of 5.
While GoCo lost points for its lack of native payroll or recruitment features, they may not be issues if you have few employees, do your own payroll, or have limited hiring needs. You may also outsource your payroll and benefits administration already; if that’s the case, GoCo can be a great way to streamline those processes when sharing information with third-party providers.
BambooHR Essentials: Best HRIS for employee experience
Pros
Cons
Our Rating: 3.76/5
Writer’s note: BambooHR changed its pricing scheme after I completed my research and analysis. It replaced its Essentials and Advantage plans with new Core and Pro plans. As a result, its lowest tier Core plan has extra capabilities that its Essentials plan did not, like onboarding and recruitment.
As I learn more about BambooHR’s new subscription plans and features, I will revise and update its scoring accordingly.
BambooHR Essentials is BambooHR’s starter plan, with features like document retention, time-off management, and access to standard pre-built reports and analytics. Despite being more bare-bones in functionality than others in my roundup, its add-on features and intuitive interface make it one of the easiest HRIS for first-timers to learn.
One of the ways BambooHR does this is by giving managers and individual contributors access to almost all of its capabilities on its mobile app. This is great for HR teams that travel between multiple locations and need a way to complete HR processes on the go. I particularly like how employees can request time off directly from the app’s homepage, which immediately notifies their manager.
You might also like BambooHR Essentials pre-configured approval workflows, reports, and permission sets. Besides speeding up the implementation process, it means less hassle if you’re a small business without clearly defined processes. Essentials can help you learn best practices while standardizing your time-off approvals and other company policies.
The one drawback is that you must upgrade to BambooHR’s Advantage or integrate with a third-party platform just for onboarding and offboarding workflows. These come standard with the other platforms on my shortlist. As a result, Essentials is best if you only want to ditch your physical filing cabinets and start unifying employee data in one place.
Intuitive user interface
BambooHR is one of the easiest platforms to navigate as it uses a simple system of horizontal tabs to organize and access various people functions. It only takes one or two clicks to access the information you need. It also feels significantly less cluttered than alternatives like TriNet Zenefits and GoCo, which list every module and feature on the left rail without any meaningful categorization.
One of the best features of BambooHR is the ability to rearrange and edit your homepage with widgets meaningful to you. For example, if you want your company’s turnover report front and center, you can drag and drop it to where you want on your homepage.
Similar customization options are available in your employee profile, allowing you to move your various tabs — like Personal, Time Off, and Documents — in the order you want. If you have permission access, you can edit and add different fields within each tab, like your address, job, and salary fields in the Personal tab, to quickly access the information that applies to you.
See what BambooHR’s homepage looks like in the video overview below.
Employee self-service
BambooHR Essentials emphasizes employee self-service to free HR staff from completing mundane data entry tasks, like updating an employee address. Instead, BambooHR Essentials places the responsibility on employees to make these changes either on a desktop or within its mobile app.
If you purchase BambooHR’s Advantage plan or other add-on modules like time tracking, the number of self-service options employees can access increases. Moreover, employees can access many self-service features directly from BambooHR’s homepage, such as requesting time off or clocking in and out of shifts.
While this may seem small, it makes it much easier for employees to complete everyday tasks with less effort. In contrast, it takes at least three clicks in Rippling with its time and attendance module add-on to clock in for a shift on the desktop version. This adds unnecessary complexity to a common task, especially for tech-averse employees.
BambooHR includes two price plans to choose from: Essentials or Advantage. You pay a flat monthly fee for your first 20 employees; this changes to a PEPM structure for your 21st employee and over. If you choose the Essentials plan, volume discounts also kick in at 25 employees. Once you select a plan, you can add modules according to your HR needs, like payroll and time tracking.
Although BambooHR’s add-on modules for payroll, benefits administration, performance management, and time tracking mimic ADP RUN and GoCo’s pricing structures, they are still quite expensive. It lost points for value for money since its Essentials plan is very feature-light for what you pay.
At only 2.81 out of 5, BambooHR Essentials scored the lowest for pricing among my top picks. If you need little more than an employee database, you can save money with GoCo. But, if you expect to need more sophisticated features in the near future, it might be worth starting with BambooHR Essentials and adding modules with advanced capabilities like an internal applicant tracking system (ATS).
Below is a chart outlining BambooHR’s pricing structure.
Essentials+
- For up to 20 employees: $108 per month flat rate.
- For 21+ employees: $5.40 PEPM.
- Volume discount applies after 25 or more employees.
Advantage+
- For up to 20 employees: $180 per month flat rate.
- For 21+ employees: $9 PEPM.
- Volume discount applies after 30 or more employees.
Payroll (US only)*➤
- One-time implementation fee.
- For up to 20 employees: $150 per month flat rate.
- For 21+ employees: $7.25 PEPM.
- Volume discount applies after 21 or more employees.
Benefits administration (US only)*
- $5.25 PEPM.
- Volume discount applies after 30 or more employees.
Time tracking*
- $3.00 PEPM.
- Volume discount applies after 30 or more employees.
Performance management*
- $5.25 PEPM.
- Volume discount applies after 30 or more employees.
+ There is a one-time implementation fee for the Essential and Advantage plans and the Payroll add-on. If you have fewer than 20 employees, you can opt for the QuickStart implementation fee of $299.
* These are add-on modules that can be added to either the Essential or Advantage plan. Please add the prices of these add-ons to your selected plan to determine the total cost of your package.
➤ Additional factors, like the number of FEINs or the number of states you need payroll for, can affect this price. Please contact BambooHR for specific pricing quotes.
If you have both office and field employees with varying levels of digital literacy, BambooHR’s simple interface and quick access features make it stand out for the employee experience. Coming in with an overall score of 3.76 out of 5, BambooHR Essentials is an excellent HRIS for first-timers needing a single system of record for their people data.
BambooHR also scored consistently at a 3.5 or above in every category except pricing, illustrating its jack-of-all-trades HR feature set. While this makes BambooHR a highly accessible platform, it also means its various modules lack some of the features to support more complicated business scenarios, like global payroll.
But, if your goal is to implement and track your HR data processes, BambooHR is the easiest to start with.
Explore BambooHR further
You can learn more about BambooHR by visiting my full product review or our top product posts below.
ADP RUN Essential: Best HRIS for payroll
Pros
Cons
Our Rating: 3.76/5
If you need only an HRIS with payroll, then RUN powered by ADP is a great way to start paying and handling your people operations electronically. It includes a basic employee records database, self-onboarding, and payroll processing.
RUN’s Essential tier also offers employment verification and background checks, services you typically need to outsource or integrate with third-party providers. As you scale RUN’s price tiers, you can access more small-business-friendly features, like salary benchmarking, job costing, handbook creation, state-mandated sexual harassment training, and a simple ATS.
However, RUN’s heavy focus on payroll comes at the cost of core recordkeeping and communication features. For example, its homepage features several widgets to start payroll or view past payroll totals. But it doesn’t have quick access buttons for employee self-service functions, like requesting time off, viewing your paystub, or clocking in and out.
Beyond a simple task list, the platform doesn’t include internal communication features like company announcements or a newsfeed. Document creation and storage are also reserved for its Complete plan and up. As a result, RUN scored the lowest in our roundup for its HRIS alone, at 3.5 out of 5.
Despite this, RUN integrates with over 150 applications, including popular time-tracking, scheduling, and collaboration apps, which can fill these functionality gaps. ADP also offers PEO, EOR, and outsourcing services to handle your payroll process for your small or non-existent HR or accounting teams. This frees up time for you to focus on the money-making aspects of your business.
User-friendly, multi-state payroll
ADP RUN lets you complete payroll in two steps. In step one, you enter all payroll data, including regular and overtime hours, PTO, expenses, bonuses, or other deductions. RUN will then flag any issues you need to resolve, like missing time information or direct deposits, before step two: preview and finalization.
You can also speed up the payroll process by importing your time data from a third party or adding RUN’s time-tracking module. If you have workers that you pay the same number of hours for each payroll, like salary-exempt employees and contractors, you can enable “RUN & Done” to have RUN automatically process payroll for you.
What’s great about RUN Essential is its variety of payroll features within its lowest price tier compared to others.
For example, unlike Gusto Simple, Essential lets you pay multiple work types in more than one state. Essential deducts and files all federal, state, and local taxes for you, unlike Patriot’s Basic Payroll. And Essential can print and deliver paychecks, so you don’t have to force your workers to have direct deposits or sign up for paycards, especially if they have personal, cultural, or religious objections to electronic banking.
Source: ADP
General ledger connection
Because RUN Essential has access to ADP’s General Ledger Interface (GLI), you don’t have to manually enter your data into your general ledger (GL) or download a CSV file. Instead, RUN creates GL journal entries and exports them into QuickBooks, Xero, Wave, or Creative Solutions for you.
The one rather tedious thing is that you have to remember to do this process after every payroll, as it does not automatically do so. It can also take a moment for ADP to export the information from its database, depending on the complexity of your payroll. But compared to other HRIS that lack integrated GL exports, this can help keep your small business bookkeeping in order.
Like all of ADP’s products and services, RUN does not disclose its pricing. However, you can choose from four different price plans: Essential, Enhanced, Complete, and HR Pro.
ADP RUN’s pricing is based on the number of employees, your payroll frequency, and the add-on modules you need. ADP RUN will invoice you after each payroll run, with a price of somewhere between $4 and $6 per employee per payroll cycle. For 25 people with a weekly payroll, I was quoted $135 per payroll for Enhanced and $150 per payroll for HR Pro.
The price will be much less for the Essential plan since it is for companies with 1–10 employees. Most third-party sources indicate RUN averages at about $79 per month plus $4 PEPM.
With the above in mind, ADP RUN is more expensive than an HRIS with just employee recordkeeping features. Despite that, ADP earned a 3.13 out of 5 for pricing because it offers a first three months free promotion and you can easily scale within the ADP product family.*
Moreover, ADP offers more payroll features to start than Gusto or Patriot Payroll while being cheaper than Paycor Basic. So, if you want an employee roster and payroll in one, going with RUN is your best bet.
Essential
Includes:
- Multi-state payroll.
- Automatic tax calculations and filing.
- Employee self-onboarding.
- ADP Wisely Direct Debit card access.
- New hire reporting.
- Background checks.
Enhanced
Includes everything in Essential, plus:
- Garnishments.
- State unemployment insurance management.
- Job costing.
- Job posting via ZipRecruiter.
Complete
Includes everything in Enhanced, plus:
- Live HR support.
- Employee Handbook Wizard.
- Proactive compliance alerts.
- Job Description Wizard.
- Document creation and storage.
- Salary benchmarks.
HR Pro
Includes everything in Complete, plus:
- Proactive HR support team.
- Learning management system (LMS).
- ATS.
- Employee assistance program (EAP).
- Business, marketing, and legal tools and services.
Add-on modules
- Time and attendance.
- ADP-brokered retirement services.
- ADP-brokered health insurance.
- ADP-brokered workers’ compensation.
- Small business marketing toolkit by Upnetic.
*Note: ADP applies a credit to your invoice if you are in good standing with them after processing payroll for three months.
ADP RUN Essential is best if you have complicated payroll functions, like multiple payroll schedules, workers in numerous states, or various employee classifications. Its 24/7 customer service, add-on modules, huge integration library, and payroll services make it one of the most adaptable options for a new business.
Coming in at 3.73 out of 5, RUN Essential lost points for keeping most of its employee management features in its higher price tiers and for its lackluster analytics that are limited to payroll reports. However, its compliance-conscious features and ability to move between ADP products make it the best option if you expect your payroll needs to evolve significantly.
TriNet Zenefits Essentials: Best HRIS for benefits administration
Pros
Cons
Our Rating: 3.68/5
Writer’s note: TriNet issued a statement on December 19, 2023, announcing the end of the Zenefits brand. Effective immediately, the Zenefits platform was absorbed into TriNet’s portfolio of products and services.
Because this announcement came after I completed my research and analysis, the features I discuss below may or may not be identical to TriNet’s new HR Platform. Once I get updated access to the software and learn more about the change, I will revise this section accordingly. Stay tuned!
TriNet Zenefits’ HR software is for companies that prioritize effective benefits administration. It provides flexibility to use Zenefits-brokered benefits at no additional cost or bring-your-own-broker for an extra $5 PEPM. This is unlike others in my roundup, where benefits management is an optional add-on module.
Besides benefits administration, Zenefits Essentials offers a fair amount of features in its base plan that others do not, including time tracking, scheduling, and onboarding. As you upgrade your subscription, you gain access to functionalities such as compensation, performance, and employee engagement. This aligns with the HR features most companies need as they grow.
However, Zenefits ranks last in my shortlist for its user experience; in particular, the interface is unintuitive, the setup is complicated, and the controls are surprisingly basic.
For example, Zenefits does not organize its HR modules by theme for easy navigation on the left rail. Instead, you must read all the apps on the left rail, which often results in excessive scrolling to find what you need, adding unnecessary time to switch between HR processes.
You also cannot edit or create ad hoc eSignature documents within Zenefits Essentials beyond onboarding documents like offer letters, I-9 forms, and handbook acknowledgments. If your small business’s policies change frequently, you must use another application to create, distribute, and track fillable electronic forms.
And, while Zenefits’ people analytics are more holistic than ADP RUN’s, they are clunky to use. First, you can’t preview any pre-built or custom reports directly in Zenefits; you must download and open them in a separate program that reads .xlsx files, making for a rather cumbersome experience. Its predictive analytics to help forecast HR metrics like turnover also aren’t available until you’ve accumulated at least two years’ worth of data.
Still, if you need an employee database with benefits, payroll, scheduling, and time tracking for a non-exempt hourly workforce, Zenefits Essentials with the payroll add-on is an affordable option.
Benefits administration
Zenefits Essentials includes its brokered medical, dental, vision, commuter, 401(k), health savings accounts (HSAs), and flexible spending accounts (FSAs) at no extra cost. You can also shop for plans with popular carriers like UnitedHealthcare, Cigna, and Blue Cross Blue Shield through TriNet Zenefits’ Health Insurance Marketplace. There, you can even compare plans side-by-side and filter results that are compliant with the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
For additional fees, Zenefits can also manage COBRA and send benefit enrollment changes to carriers through electronic data interchange (EDI) feeds. These plus ACA employee eligibility monitoring can help your HR teams completely automate benefits administration and ensure you remain compliant.
Another convenient tool is the ability for employees to connect apps, like Uber and Lyft, to their Zenefits mobile app to submit claims for their commuter benefits easily. Meanwhile, managers can monitor commuter and FSA invoices directly within Zenefits to understand the value of these programs.
Time tracking and scheduling
Zenefits Essentials offers time tracking and time-off management tools that sync with payroll, benefits, and scheduling. Besides making employee time management more efficient, it provides managers visibility over who’s at work and when. Zenefits also includes features like geolocation and picture-taking on its mobile app to prevent buddy punching and time fraud.
Essentials’ scheduling tool is also rather unique for an HRIS. You can assign shifts, copy over schedules from previous weeks, and set up recurring shifts. This is great for small teams with basic shift schedules, but it is rudimentary if you manage multiple locations or require scheduling flexibility.
For instance, it lacks the ability to predict staffing needs based on historical data, and it cannot automatically schedule employees according to their availabilities, roles, or competency levels. And it doesn’t monitor breaks or shift lengths for employees who are minors, so you have to pay extra attention to ensure compliance with federal and state youth labor laws.
That said, if you want to consolidate your scheduling and time clock tasks in one system, Zenefits Essentials will standardize your processes to make them more reliable and efficient.
Source: TechnologyAdvice
Zenefits Essentials scored 2.94 out of 5 for pricing. While it can be affordable for payroll and time tracking, this is if you have fewer than 41 employees. Otherwise, you’ll pay less by purchasing Gusto Plus, which includes payroll, time tracking, recruiting, and performance management modules.
Zenefits also has a five-employee minimum requirement, meaning you pay at least $40 monthly even if you only have one or two employees. This is costly if you’re only looking for a more efficient way to manage your employee database. In this scenario, it’s better to go with GoCo.
Zenefits’ limited customization options and support for employees in multiple time zones make it less scalable than Rippling or ADP. Although this hurt its score for pricing, if you don’t expect to expand internationally, this might be a non-issue.
Zenefits offers three plans — Essentials, Growth, and Zen — plus several add-on modules. You can explore them below.
Essentials
Price (billed monthly): $10/employee/mo.
Price (billed annually): $8/employee/mo.
Includes:
- Onboarding.
- Employee management.
- Time off management.
- Scheduling and time tracking.
- Basic reporting and analytics.
Growth
Price (billed monthly): $20/employee/mo.
Price (billed annually): $16/employee/mo.
Includes everything in Essentials, plus:
- Customizable reports and analytics.
- Prediction trends.
- Compensation management.
- Performance management.
Zen
Price (billed monthly): $33/employee/mo.
Price (billed annually): $27/employee/mo.
Includes everything in Growth, plus:
- Employee engagement surveys.
- Company announcements and newsfeed.
- Task manager.
- Payroll.
Add-on modules
- Payroll: $6/employee/mo.
- Advisory services: $8/employee/mo.
- Benefits admin using own broker: $5/employee/mo.
- Recruiting: Starting at $35/mo.
At 3.68 out of 5, TriNet Zenefits Essentials is a great choice if you need basic coverage for core HR processes like recordkeeping, payroll, time tracking, and benefits at a competitive price. In particular, its ability to compare various benefits online at your convenience without going through a broker can save you time searching for competitive benefits elsewhere.
Compared to other HRIS, TriNet Zenefits includes its brokered benefits administration and ACA tracking in all its product tiers. If you want to provide your employees with benefits coverage at an affordable price and remain compliant with all relevant laws, Zenefits is one of the best options.
Honorable mentions
Many platforms I reviewed have great features that might better appeal to your particular needs. If the above platforms don’t quite fit, one of these might.
Gusto Simple: Best HRIS for new businesses
Alternative for: ADP RUN Essential and TriNet Zenefits Essentials
When to choose Gusto Simple: If you’re new to HR software or running payroll for the first time, Gusto Simple is a great entry point into people management software. The interface is lean and easy to navigate. Besides being one of the most affordable payroll vendors, Gusto can also help you register your business in the states where you employ workers.
Why it didn’t make the list: Gusto’s core employee database is weak compared to others. For example, you can only store and send documents in Gusto Simple. Employees also can’t access an employee roster and organization chart unless you purchase Gusto’s Plus tier or higher.
Read a deeper comparison: Zenefits vs. Gusto
Our Rating: 3.65/5
Deel HR: Best HRIS for global HR management
Alternative for: Rippling Unity
When to choose Deel HR: If you’re on a budget, have fewer than 201 employees, and are expanding internationally, consider Deel HR since it’s free to start. Like Rippling Unity, Deel HR localizes employee profiles for over 150 countries. You can even automate task lists and notification workflows similar to GoCo.
Why it didn’t make the list: Deel HR’s platform is much less feature-rich than competitors like Rippling. In particular, Deel HR lacks native time-tracking solutions, forcing you to integrate with third-party solutions. It also does not support project tracking for your contingent workforce.
Our Rating: 3.49/5
Bob: Best HRIS for employee recognition and support
Alternative for: BambooHR
When to choose Bob: Choose Bob if you already have a payroll provider but want a user-friendly system that fosters employee engagement across distributed teams. I love Bob’s configurable homepages with an employee recognition newsfeed, a place to learn fun tidbits about coworkers, and an area to submit anonymous concerns to HR.
Why it didn’t make the list: Bob is elusive about its pricing and lacks native payroll and benefits administration functions. Although it has a stellar HRIS, you may pay more for your HR tech stack overall since you need to integrate with third parties to cover core HR and compliance functions.
Our Rating: 3.29/5
Human resources information system FAQs
How to choose the best HRIS systems
Several HRIS solutions are available today, making it tough to decide which one is the right fit. However, consider the below to help with your purchasing decision:
Not ready to buy yet? Check out our comprehensive HR Software Guide to compare more HRIS solutions.
About the author
