What is performance management software?
Performance management software helps HR departments and managers assess the performance of employees, ensuring alignment with company goals. This type of solution can be a standalone application that integrates with other HR systems, such as payroll, or it can be a module within a broader HR management platform.
Generally, performance management software offers features for setting employee goals and expectations, tracking employee performance in real time, coaching, conducting one-on-one meetings, collecting feedback, and recognizing employees’ accomplishments with rewards. After gathering performance data, managers can make more informed decisions about compensation and development at the individual level and across the organization as a whole.
We reviewed the top performance management software solutions on the market and narrowed them down to the best of the best:
Featured partners
Best/top performance management software
Overall score
Use case
Starting price
* For performance management tools.
- Feb. 14, 2025: Avery re-evaluated the software recommendations using an objective rubric. 15Five replaced BambooHR, Bob replaced Performyard, and the “best for” attributions were updated.
Below is a breakdown of the criteria I used to judge each software. Each category also includes my expert score, which considers the effectiveness of that area based on my personal usage.
Performance management features: 25%
For a performance management software comparison, it makes sense that performance management features would make up the bulk of the review score. I looked at whether they had frameworks for performance reviews, manager 1:1s, continuous feedback support, 360-degree reviews, and employee development plans. I also looked at the level of customization available for these functions and how much is included in each price plan.
Goal tracking features: 20%
Second only to performance management features, goal-tracking features make up 20% of the score. I looked at whether the platform had cascading goals, multiple goal views, OKRs and smart goals, and personal goals, as well as how customizable those goals and views were and how easy they were to manage.
Platform and interface: 15%
The effectiveness of the platform and interface makes up 15% of this score. First and foremost, I looked at ease of use and scalability across organization sizes. Other factors included security compliances and third-party integrations.
Reporting and analytics: 15%
How a platform presents information is almost as important as the information it tracks, so reporting and analytics make up 15% of the scoring. I looked at the customizability of reports and dashboards, report templates, sentiment analysis, and whether the reports and dashboards could combine with external sources.
Pricing: 10%
10% of the score is dedicated to pricing. I looked at whether free plans or trials were available, whether they required a long-term contract, and if discounts were provided, along with the actual prices. Lastly, I paid attention to pricing transparency; if I had to call to get a quote, then that software would score lower than one with clear pricing on its website.
Support: 10%
10% of a platform’s score is based on its customer support. I looked at support hours, whether it had phone, email, or live chat support, the presence of a knowledge base or forum, and whether or not customer support was behind a premium paywall.
User scores: 5%
User reviews from third-party sites G2, TrustRadius, and Capterra make up 5% of this score. I focused on software that had a 4 out of 5 or more on these sites, as those are the ones most users look on favorably.
15Five: Best overall performance management software
Overall Score
3.94/5
Performance management features
4.06/5
Goal tracking features
4.13/5
Platform/interface
4.8/5
Reporting and analytics
4.13/5
Pricing
2.06/5
Support
3.35/5
User scores
4.41/5
Pros
- Transparent pricing.
- Recommended actions function with in-app learning modules.
- Customizable weekly check-ins.
- Built-in career development features.
Cons
- Limited integrations.
- Slow customer support and lack of live chat feature.
- Most unique features are only available in the Total Platform plan.
Why I chose 15Five
I chose 15Five as the best overall because it has all the features you need for performance management software, and those features are integrated effectively with each other. What puts it over the top is its unique features, like its engagement options, HR dashboard, and AI-curated recommended actions that can connect you to its in-app learning hub.
In particular, its modules’ interconnectivity really impressed me. Everything in 15Five talks to everything else; objectives connect to feedback, feedback connect to performance reviews, and performance reviews connect to objectives. It all comes together on 15Five’s HR dashboard, which displays critical information like manager effectiveness, turnover, performance, and engagement and provides recommended actions to address any issues.
15Five stands out for its holistic approach to performance management, using the HR flywheel as a guideline. As such, its features are designed to address and connect all of the points on the wheel: outcomes, signals, insights, recommendations, and actions.
The software’s goal-setting features allow you to design and assign objectives and monitor progress on those objectives through weekly check-ins. All of that data is available to managers and admins, who receive AI-driven recommendations and action plans to facilitate employee development and goal achievement.
15Five offers both Engage and Perform products, with the former covering employee surveys and sentiment and the latter covering performance management tools. These are designed to work together, but you can purchase them separately.
While some of its best features are only available in the Total Platform plan, the Perform plan still gives you access to its cascading goal management features, 360-degree performance reviews, and employee feedback features, all of which have a robust suite of customization options. 15Five also has an Engage plan that offers an extended range of employee engagement tools like custom surveys, assessments, and action plans.
Outcomes dashboard
15Five’s outcomes dashboard prominently displays four major data points: manager effectiveness, engagement, performance, and turnover. You can filter those views right from the dashboard, giving you a snapshot of how different groups of employees are doing with these metrics. Further down the dashboard are more ways to visualize the data.
The true advantage of the dashboard, though, is that it provides easy pathways to other parts of the software. You can click around on a specific metric to get further details and insights, along with getting AI-assisted recommended actions that connect you to learning resources.
Weekly check-ins
15Five’s attention toward employee engagement shows through its weekly check-in feature. Managers can create custom check-in questions to assess sentiment, check goal progress, and answer questions, all through a short survey. These check-ins also offer space for employees to provide feedback to their managers and “high five” other employees to offer positive recognition.
Thanks to 15Five’s interconnectivity, these survey results are kept on record to address in 1:1s and performance reviews. Having long-term data like this is critical for mitigating bias in larger reviews; this means that not only are these check-ins useful to address issues at the moment, but they can also contribute to overall employee success.
Manager effectiveness indicator
The Manager Effectiveness Indicator is a unique tool that gives admins an overview of manager success within an organization based on a customizable set of objective and subjective criteria. 15Five pulls this data not only from surveys and reviews but also from manager performance in the software. It can track how often they review check-ins, how they organize goals, and more, depending on your customizations.
You can view this data as a timeline or broken down by skill or manager. Combined with the outcomes dashboard, administrators can draw insights and create action plans for any flagging skills or individuals.
15Five has easily the most transparent pricing on its website. Its plans are divided into three tiers, all billed annually: Engage, Perform, and Total Platform. It also offers add-ons for comp reviews, benchmarking, pay ranges management, and total rewards dashboards for $9 per person per month.
- Engage: $4 per user per month, which includes engagement surveys and analytics.
- Perform: $10 per user per month, which includes performance reviews, goal management, check-ins, 1:1 support, and general performance features.
- Total Platform: $16 per user per month, which includes everything from the first two tiers, along with the outcomes dashboard, management effectiveness indicator, AI tools, and access to microlearning modules.
While the Total Platform package is on the slightly more expensive side, its unique features mean you’re still getting an impressive bang for your buck. If you just want its interconnected performance management features, though, the Perform plan is reasonably priced in comparison to other platforms and will serve you just fine.
Leapsome: Best for employee coaching and development
Overall Score
3.84/5
Performance management features
4.06/5
Goal tracking features
4.13/5
Platform/interface
3.93/5
Reporting and analytics
4.13/5
Pricing
2.81/5
Support
3.05/5
User scores
4.09/5
Pros
- Available in 13+ languages.
- Functional, comprehensive AI tools.
- Single sign-on (SSO) capabilities with integrated apps.
- Modular pricing, with multi-module discounts available.
Cons
- Need to call for a price quote.
- Customer success teams’ services are limited to customers with a $6,000 annual contract.
- High learning curve.
Why I chose Leapsome
I chose Leapsome as the best option for employee coaching and development because of its data-driven, AI-guided frameworks and insights. Leapsome has the most superior AI tools I’ve seen in my research, which sets it apart when it comes to pulling and interpreting data. That data then integrates with its other systems to build a clear, achievable career development plan.
Leapsome’s fully customizable competency frameworks identify the skill benchmarks and objectives necessary for teams and individual positions. These tie into employee goals and performance reviews; Leapsome’s AI can identify skill gaps and connect individuals to the software’s learning hub to facilitate growth. Every one of these steps and integrations is designed to help employees along their desired path.
Leapsome is a dedicated performance management software without traditional HRIS capabilities like payroll, time tracking, or applicant tracking systems (ATS). However, Leapsome has significantly more advanced and customizable performance management features, such as:
- Objective and key results (OKR) management.
- One-on-one management meetings.
- 360-degree reviews.
- Engagement surveys.
Leapsome offers several modules, such as Reviews, Surveys, Goals, and Learning, to address every area of performance management, including employee-manager feedback, compensation management, and career planning and development. The modules are priced separately, so you can select them à la carte to address specific business needs or combine them for a holistic approach to performance management.
Moreover, Leapsome uses AI tools to drive insights, improve feedback, and create templates. It encourages users to check and customize all AI results; it uses AI as a tool, not a solution, which makes it much more effective overall.
Lastly, Leapsome’s competency frameworks act as the backbone for its performance management functions, informing goals, development plans, and feedback delivery. This feature provides a structure for career development; employees know exactly what skills are necessary to achieve their next goal, what benchmarks they need to hit in those skills, and the resources they can use to get there.
Competency frameworks
Leapsome’s competency frameworks are structured metrics of skill improvement. The software comes with pre-populated frameworks, as well as the option to add and edit your own. Each of these competencies comes with levels, showing what must be demonstrated to achieve each level of mastery. You can also sort them by team and category, making sure each competency is presented only to the relevant people.
You can then connect these competencies to goals and performance reviews. In addition, you can tie review questions and individual goals to specific competencies, keeping employees on their chosen development track. Finally, you can also link competencies to paths in Leapsome Learning; if an employee is struggling in one of these areas, they can be directed to ways to improve.
Instant feedback
Leapsome aims to cultivate a culture of continuous feedback through its Instant Feedback tool. With a few clicks, any employee can give feedback to anyone at any time. Givers can customize the comment’s visibility, and they have the option to tie the feedback to a competency framework.
The Instant Feedback feature makes clever use of Leapsome’s AI tools. Copilot AI can help make feedback language more constructive, and receivers of feedback can derive AI-driven insights from people’s comments. Feedback can also connect to 1:1s and goals, supporting an employee’s career development.
Leapsome starts at $8 per user per month, which includes its Competency Framework, Instant Feedback, and Meetings modules. You can add on the following modules for an additional per-user per month cost:
- Reviews.
- Goals.
- Surveys.
- Learning.
- Compensation.
Other things to note regarding Leapsome’s pricing:
- 14-day free trial available.
- Multi-module and volume discounts are available.
- Must contact sales for a quote on any added modules.
Leapsome’s base pricing includes its most helpful and unique features, and its modular nature allows for great customization. However, its lack of transparency means that it’s possible for prices to climb quickly if you’re not careful.
Bob: Best for global organizations
Overall Score
3.32/5
Performance management features
4.06/5
Goal tracking features
3.19/5
Platform/interface
3.95/5
Reporting and analytics
4.13/5
Pricing
0.5/5
Support
2.08/5
User scores
3.93/5
Pros
- Global mindset, with localized templates for various lifecycle stages.
- Truly comprehensive HR platform.
- Club view connects employees based on hobbies and interests.
Cons
- Mobile app lacks some features.
- Lack of pricing transparency.
- Relatively new to the market.
Why I chose Bob
Bob is a solid performance management software in its own right; it has strong customization options, performance review and goal-setting functions, recognition options, and compensation management tools. What sets it apart is its ability to tailor each of these tools to the work culture, employment regulations, and time zones of each employee’s location and combine them on one global platform. Having this information on hand is critical for mitigating bias in performance reviews and compensation, especially from a global perspective.
Bob is an HR platform that is tailored for large or widespread organizations. It offers a suite of features and workflows for onboarding, attendance management, compensation, people analytics, and performance management. Plus, its mobile app allows you to access most of those features, but it is not possible to do performance review tasks through the app.
What sets Bob apart is its ability to connect a global remote or hybrid workforce. Many of its features, including its Club View, which can sort employees by city, hobby, and other categories, help build connections with people scattered around the world. The software is available in 14 languages, and it can set up sites and workflows for specific countries that are all viewable through a global dashboard.
Bob is one of the newer platforms on the market, which is both an advantage and a disadvantage. It is constantly improving and responding to feedback, but it may not have the same level of polish and sophistication as some of its older competitors. On the other hand, its relative novelty makes it great if you want something different.
Global sites
Bob offers specific “sites” for the various cities and countries that make up an organization’s workforce. Employees in each country can be grouped into these sites, which contain a suite of templates and workflows for all stages of the employee life cycle. You can set them up on implementation, and then it just takes a click to make sure that an employee is receiving all of the correct data.
The local site feature creates a ripple effect through the whole platform. Bob’s compensation management tools, for example, will reflect local currency, markets, laws, and compliances. Time off and holidays will be tailored to each employee by country, and people analytics tools can be grouped by country as well. These sites are also viewable on a global dashboard, preventing them from seeming too separate.
Club view
Club View is a feature that is entirely unique to Bob and a great way to encourage relationship-building and drive employee engagement. This view allows you to group employees by demographic data, as well as things such as city, hobbies, superpowers, and any number of custom fields.
While this is not specifically a performance management feature, it allows managers to get a comprehensive view of their team members’ lives. In an era of remote and hybrid work, those connections are essential for fostering a culture of honest feedback and support to facilitate growth.
Unfortunately, Bob does not have any standard pricing information, although SelectHub records the base price as $16 per person per month. Instead, you have to call for a custom quote based on your needs. As a result, it’s difficult to actually determine value for money. However, its global focus is different from many other HR platforms, so it may be worth checking out if you have a particularly widespread workforce.
All of Bob’s plans include Core HR and Digital Admin functions, with additional costs for other features. This means that if you want its performance management functions, you will have to pay for the extra module.
Engagedly: Best for goal management
Overall Score
3.78/5
Performance management features
4.06/5
Goal tracking features
4.13/5
Platform/interface
4.35/5
Reporting and analytics
2.81/5
Pricing
3/5
Support
3.58/5
User scores
4.09/5
Pros
- Easy to use.
- Comprehensive, customizable goal-setting.
- Strong customer support.
Cons
- Does not offer a comprehensive HR solution.
- It can be cost-inefficient depending on company size.
Why I chose Engagedly
I chose Engagedly as the best for goal management because it allows admins to assign weights to objectives, which sets it apart from traditional “high/low” priority displays. On top of that, it’s the only platform I found that used gamification features, offering points and incentives as rewards for completing goals.
Engagedly’s goal management features also encourage alignment across the organization. Cascading goals mean that individuals and teams can see how their tasks contribute to the wider company and that a global perspective can drive engagement. Goal templates and automation also make it easier to set and sync these goals across the organization.
Engagedly is a dedicated talent management software that functions as an addition to an HR solution rather than a substitution. It includes features for real-time feedback, 360-degree reviews, 1:1 management, and more. It also contains additional modules for rewards, learning, and mentorship.
Within its rewards module lies a suite of gamification options to motivate employees. Managers can offer badges for particular successes, and employees can accumulate points to spend on more tangible rewards. This is the only software I could find with dedicated gamification features like this, which provides a unique spin on employee engagement.
Goal tracking
Engagedly’s CXO insights allow executives and HR leaders to get a holistic perspective on organizational performance. Its custom CXO dashboard displays your choice of data for talent and workforce management, and real-time AI insights derived from that data can help drive organizational strategy.
Using this dashboard, leaders can track goals across the organization and measure progress toward those goals. If there are roadblocks to these goals, Engagedly’s insights can help drive solutions.
Cascading goals
Engagedly’s cascading goals feature allows managers to add contributors and stakeholders to goals and show how each goal feeds into others. This can be within a team or outside it, from individual goals up to company-wide objectives.
Goal owners and contributors can view the hierarchy of their tasks as a tree, creating a clear understanding of how their work matters. They can also track the completion rate of the goals in that tree to get a holistic perspective on progress.
Engagedly’s plans start at $5,000, billed annually. Its base plan includes most of its performance management features. It also offers add-ons for rewards and recognition, growth and learning, and a mentoring suite, which all cost extra.
Engagedly is opaque with its pricing options and is already on the pricier side, given its minimum contract amount without adding on modules. It is difficult to determine the true price, as it requires a call with the sales team. However, Engagedly does include a free trial and a discount for high-volume purchasers. As such, it might be more useful for larger organizations that already have an HR solution and wish to enhance their performance management capabilities.
Lattice: Best for compensation management
Overall Score
3.24/5
Performance management features
2.94/5
Goal tracking features
2.88/5
Platform/interface
3.83/5
Reporting and analytics
4.13/5
Pricing
1.75/5
Support
3.35/5
User scores
4.48/5
Pros
- Customizable performance and compensation review cycles.
- Actionable insights from engagement surveys.
Cons
- Minimum annual contract is $4,000, billed annually.
- Difficult to navigate UI.
Why I chose Lattice
When it comes to compensation management, the most important things are transparency and equity. I chose Lattice as the best in this field because its features enable those two factors. Lattice includes market benchmarks based on role and location to drive pay equity and can connect its compensation frameworks to performance reviews to drive transparency.
Lattice is a top favorite performance management solution among employers and employees because it offers the most comprehensive selection of features, such as continuous feedback cadences similar to PerformYard, career development features like 15Five, and robust analytics like Leapsome.
However, Lattice is an expensive solution, with a minimum annual contract of $4,000 and a steep learning curve among administrators and employees alike. Therefore, it may not be the best option financially for teams with limited budgets or just starting with a performance management solution.
Despite this, Lattice is optimized to handle large, diverse teams while providing customized and granular insights into their performance. Notably, Lattice differentiates itself from the other solutions on this list by offering a Compensation product dedicated specifically to measuring performance to inform promotions and raises.
Besides setting up compensation review cycles, Lattice also allows users to create compensation guidelines and benchmarks to maintain consistent and fair practices among employees with similar roles, experience, and tenure. As such, Lattice may be perfect for organizations needing to implement equitable compensation strategies that directly correspond with employee performance-based metrics instead of a manager’s gut feelings.
Benchmarking data
During employee compensation reviews, Lattice allows managers to access compensation market data according to the employee’s role, location, and industry. You can remain competitive and reduce turnover by comparing an employee’s compensation to similar positions. Moreover, it helps you reduce internal pay disparities by ensuring employees in the same role follow similar pay schemes.
Lattice’s emphasis on benchmarking sets it apart from other performance management software. Benchmarking helps ensure that employees are not only being paid fairly within the organization but also competitively for the industry, which can improve overall retention.
Budget and spend tracking
Managers can review compensation changes over time to determine an individual employee’s return on investment. In addition, Lattice provides merit and promotion raise guidelines so you can easily tie employee performance with appropriate compensation changes while staying within budget.
Lattice allows managers to connect compensation and review cycles; its performance review features can guide managers toward fair compensation for an employee’s work.
Lattice’s Talent Management plan starts at $11 per user per month, with a minimum annual contract of $4,000. This plan contains its Performance and Goals & OKRs modules. It further offers the following add-ons to this plan:
- Engagement: $4 per person per month.
- Grow: $4 per person per month.
- Compensation: $6 per person per month.
If you want to access Lattice’s compensation features, you’re looking at $17 per person per month, which is only a dollar more than 15Five’s most comprehensive plan. However, its minimum annual contract means that it is not a budget option.
Find your new performance management software
Performance management software FAQs
Boosts morale and motivation
One of the most important elements of performance management software is facilitating performance reviews. Regular performance reviews let managers recognize individuals for their hard work, improving employee morale. Moreover, performance management software includes feedback features that support consistent communication between managers and employees.
Along the same lines, many performance management software solutions have employee recognition and rewards capabilities, enabling organizations to further show appreciation for employees’ work. When companies consistently praise workers for exceptional performance, this encourages other staff members to enhance their own performance.
Strengthens employee retention
Regular feedback sessions give employees opportunities to interact with their managers and raise concerns. You can then resolve said issues as soon as possible. Workers are more likely to stay loyal to the company when their concerns are swiftly addressed, improving employee retention. Performance management also helps in role clarity, expectations, and more consistent and fair compensation practices, which also lower the possibility of employees looking for work elsewhere.
Supports employee engagement
Performance management software’s continuous feedback and one-on-one manager meeting features make employees feel heard and included in the organization. Further, these mechanisms help your employees better understand what’s expected of them. When employees have clear guidance on day-to-day tasks, their efforts naturally achieve better outcomes.
Surfaces skill gaps and opportunities
With frequent performance check-ins, managers can better monitor and understand the skill sets and capacity of employees. HR teams can pinpoint individuals with skill gaps and introduce training to bridge the gap before it impacts productivity. At the same time, regular performance reviews also reveal which employees are ready for a promotion or increased responsibilities.
Encourages employee agency
Numerous performance management solutions let employees view their work progress and set business goals for themselves. Employees feel valued and more engaged because of their active involvement in the decision-making process and their focus on their own professional goals.
Performance review tools
Unsurprisingly, performance management software tends to have tools to facilitate performance reviews. This includes larger annual or quarterly performance reviews, along with structures for 1:1 meetings with managers, performance improvement plans, and other feedback. Many platforms will have 360-degree review capability, allowing reviews from yourself, your peers, and your managers.
Goal management tools
These tools include methods of assigning and setting goals, tracking progress, OKR management, and so on. Anything that involves measuring what an employee is doing and how far along they are can fall into this category. Goal management tools often integrate with review tools to provide objective measures of performance metrics.
Reports and dashboards
Performance review and goal management tools gather data, and reports and dashboards are for analyzing and displaying it. They can track performance over time, by team or manager, or highlight what skills need improvement. These displays are often customizable to specific organizational needs.
Performance review software
As the name suggests, performance review software lets managers evaluate the performance of their direct reports. The software usually measures employee performance on a set cadence throughout the year based on standardized metrics and/or self-evaluation. To be successful, the performance review process requires consistent communication between the manager and the employee.
KPI software
Key performance indicator or KPI software is a performance management tool that automatically tracks how well your organization, its departments, teams, or individual employees are performing against company goals and objectives. KPIs also work as an HR tool when used to support data-driven performance conversations with employees.
Similarly, goal setting and tracking solutions concentrate on setting work-related goals to inspire employees to improve their performance. Goal software also ensures that employee goals align with department and organization objectives.
360-degree feedback software
360-degree feedback software simplifies the performance review process by gathering feedback from multiple sources instead of focusing on only manager reviews. It provides each employee with a performance assessment based on the views of their colleagues, clients, and leaders.
Moreover, this software allows employees to provide assessments of their managers. Evaluation results are always confidential, but this software tends to be more successful when deployed in larger teams.
Employee recognition software
Employee recognition systems play a critical role in any performance management strategy. You can distribute rewards and recognition in the form of cash incentives or bonuses or via simple public acknowledgement of employees’ efforts and contributions. Regardless of the form it takes, recognizing high performance is key to maintaining morale and retaining top talent.
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