5 best HR software for 2024: a guide for small businesses

HR departments used to wholly focus on managing employee records. Today, they’re more cross-functional. That’s why the best HR systems are all-rounders that can not only store data, but also track employee performance, recruitment, and benefits. Some even take care of payroll.

For large businesses, this functionality is great news. But for SMEs who may not need all these bells and whistles, it can feel overwhelming. In today’s economy, it’s also vital to spend less where you can.

I’ve researched the top HR software brands to find the best SME options for HR and compared them based on pricing, features, integrations, and support. Crucially, I’ll also explain how each platform differs, and if it’s right for your business.

Our top HR systems, at a glance:

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FEATURED PROVIDER
Rippling	BambooHR	Breathe HR	BrightHR	Deel
Verdict An all-in-one solution with great integrations, this platform is tailor-made for HR teams who prioritise convenience and efficiency.	Verdict BambooHR is a customisable HR platform for larger businesses with unique HR processes	Verdict BreatheHR is a simple and affordable HR software with a very low entry price-point; ideal for startups.	Verdict BrightHR is a user-friendly system that’s ideal for day-to-day HR needs. I recommend it for retail and hospitality businesses	Verdict Deel offers a free HR, but its real value lies in its paid-for payroll services, making it ideal for tech companies with a global workforce.

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BambooHR: best for larger teams with complex HR structures, such as professional services

BambooHR is a strong choice for firms that prioritise customisation. It has lots of ready-made integrations, so it can be fully embedded within your organisation, which is helpful if you’re an established businesses with lots of set processes and tools in place.

If you’re into that kind of thing, BambooHR also has an Open API. Less tech-savvy users may struggle to get the best out of this tool, though. To them, I’d suggest a more user-friendly option such as Rippling or BrightHR.

This view of the BambooHR portal demonstrates how customisable the platform is; you’re invited to ‘add your own’ logo to the top left corner / Image source: bamboohr.com

BambooHR users have full control over their HR processes. The app’s settings menu lets you edit access levels, approvals, email alerts, and holidays. This benefits those with complex HR processes, such as financial teams with lengthier onboarding and vetting needs, most. I’m also happy to report that you won’t need to look at any ugly provider logos in BambooHR; users can add their own brand logo and colour scheme to their portal.

Excitingly, BambooHR also has an Open API, which stands for Application Programming Interface. You can use it to connect with other API platforms and exchange data with multiple applications. Basically, you won’t need to worry about whether BambooHR can integrate with your payroll software; it can link with any API plus 120 specialist partners (although this is not as many as Rippling’s 500).

If you just want something that can manage basic HR tasks, BambooHR could quickly become confusing. It doesn’t have many reporting features (although that’s a sore point for all of the brands in this list). Finally, my research finds that BambooHR is not a low budget option, hence why we recommend it to larger, more established teams.

BambooHR’s pricing

Users will pay a monthly flat fee to access BambooHR. Pricing is not published online. However, we’re aware from SME users that it sits at the expensive end of the cost spectrum.

Rippling: best for scaling businesses that want an all-in-one platform

HR managers need to wear many hats. Particularly if they’re not actually the HR manager, but a CEO or other C-Suite executive who needs to take care of HR while the company scales up. Rippling is the ideal option for growing businesses that want to be able to manage everything relating to people in one easy-to-use platform.

This screenshot of the Rippling dashboard illustrates the range of modules available in Rippling’s vast library of add-ons.

Rippling Core spans essential HR tasks like workforce management and workflows for automations, which is useful if you don’t have a specialist people team in place yet. To get advanced features such as payroll, you’ll need to pay extra for Rippling’s add-ons. This makes it a scalable platform for SMEs – it’s affordable in the short-term, but you’re able to invest more if your HR tasks become more demanding.

‘All-in-one’ tools can be overwhelming with poorly designed interfaces, but I found Rippling easy to navigate. All of its functions are laid out in the sidebar, and I was able to escape swiftly if I menu-dived too far. I can’t overstate how important an organised dashboard is for managing payroll, employee benefits, and IT under one roof.

Despite this, users have reported frustrations with Rippling’s customer service team, which can be slow to respond. It also does not offer much help with onboarding. It’s also worth noting that Deel has more advanced compliance and assessment features for new hires than Rippling, which would make it a more suitable tool for those businesses that expect to undergo a big recruitment drive this year.

Rippling’s pricing

Rippling charges £7 per month, per user for its core Rippling platform. But, as mentioned, it has multiple add-ons that you can use to concentrate on a particular area of HR (similar to BambooHR’s customisable tools, but a bit easier to install). Available modules include:

• Advanced reporting: £2-£4 per user, per month
• Benefits management: £3-£5 per user, per month
• IT asset management: £1-£3 per user, per month

Breathe HR: best for startups in their early stages with basic HR needs

Value for money should be your main guide when researching software, but I can’t ignore that, for cash-strapped startups, a cheap price can trump all other decision factors.

Breathe HR targets small firms with basic HR needs at an entry-level price point. Pricing starts from £1.80 per user, per month for a team of 10, and it doesn’t scrimp on features.

Breathe HR says there’s more to life than admin. Its dashboard layout is designed to relay HR information at a glance to save time / Source: breathehr.com

Breathe HR is inarguably simple, but its generalist approach still gives you enough to get by on. For example, Breathe HR has the essential performance management tools – including organising appraisals and setting objectives – even if other, nice-to-have features are missing.

Even on the Micro tier, users can enter custom fields to build bespoke HR reports that reflect your unique processes. Let’s say a business has an Employee of the Month policy. Managers could enter this column into their Breathe HR annual report to be shown the 12 winning employee profiles at the end of the year.

There are some features that only larger teams can utilise, which could be an issue if you’re not planning on a hiring spree yet. Strangely, this includes Time Logs, which can only be accessed by teams of more than 11 people despite this being a valuable feature for agencies.

That said, with Breathe HR, you get what you pay for. Certainly, it is the most cost-effective HR software for startups, and additional modules can be added on if you want more than just basic HR capabilities. I’ll explain more about this below.

Breathe HR’s pricing

Excitingly, Breathe HR’s pricing is calculated per business, not per employee, so larger teams aren’t penalised with higher costs. Plus, the Micro, Starter, Regular, and Pro plans each come with a 15% discount, making it even cheaper. However, its tiers are capped with user limits, so you will need to upgrade at a certain point:

• Teams with 1-10 employees will pay £18 per month (Breathe HR Micro)
• Teams with 11-20 employees will pay £34 per month (Breathe HR Starter)
• Teams with 21-50 employees will pay £78 per month (Breathe HR Regular)
• And so on..

Similar to Rippling, you can purchase add-ons like Time and Attendance or Recruitment Tracking to build the perfect platform for your HR operations, each of which costs around £120 per year. That helps to keep costs down in the early stages without limiting your growth.

BrightHR: best for small brick-and-mortar businesses

Many HR brands brag about sophisticated interfaces and big feature libraries. But for retail and hospitality firms, most of which operate offline, this can be off-putting. When you’ll need to train a large team of staff to use it, an easy HR system is the most important factor.

This is where BrightHR excels. It’s a user-friendly system that prioritises staff management above all else, saving managers and admin staff at shops, bars, pubs, and restaurants a huge amount of time each week.

BrightHR gives managers real-time updates on employees, offering an at-a-glance view of the workforce / Source: brighthr.com

The BrightHR platform is a breeze to use. I think its rota planner is the standout feature for retail and hospitality firms – it offers preset tables that you are able to populate with shifts for the upcoming week or month. When managers add staff to a timeslot, they will be notified and are able to accept or decline the proposed shift. The holiday planner takes a similar approach.

BrightHR is great if you want to empower employees. Through the platform, staff can claim ‘open shifts’ if they’re on a zero-hours contract. Workers also have access to the Blip App on both desktop and mobile, which they can use to clock in and out of a shift. Managers can then view this information to track performance and monitor sickness and lateness.

One issue with BrightHR is that it doesn’t currently offer appraisal features. This can be added via an integration, but you’re limited to just Microsoft and Zapier. BrightHR also doesn’t perform brilliantly for benefit management, so I don’t recommend it to firms with a focus on improving employee engagement; BambooHR would be the better option here.

BrightHR’s pricing

BrightHR Core starts from £7.90 per employee, per month. You’ll need to have a minimum of two employees to sign up. However, as your team grows, this cost does drop:

• Teams with over 10 employees will pay £6.80 per employee, per month
• Teams with over 40 employees will pay £4.50 per employee, per month
• Teams with over 60 employees will pay £3.90 per employee, per month

There’s also the option to add on BrightHR’s Health and Safety module, which offers access to risk assessment and accident reporting. If you are a small contractor (or have a particularly clumsy team) this will cost around £5 per employee.

Deel: best for tech businesses hiring global talent

Deel’s HR offering is free for up to 200 workers. However, this is best thought of as a base to build from. Deel’s real incentive is its additional modules, which come at an extra cost, but can provide hugely valuable add-ons, particularly for the tech sector.

IT businesses or SaaS providers often boast a global presence, and so they need a HR platform with a focus on payroll and compliance. Deel’s international payroll services make it a convenient choice for businesses that hire remote workers or contractors from abroad.

Deel lays out all the important information you need to know about your employees, as well as useful extras like what equipment they’re using and which office they are based in. / Source: deel.com

Given how competitive the sector can be, Deel HR offers a compelling proposition for tech companies. Its free plan provides valuable insights into employee benefits trends and salary bands across 50 countries, a crucial consideration to attract top digital skills.

The platform’s strong data security measures, such as 24/7 SIEM SOC monitoring, are also a significant advantage for handling sensitive employee data. These features make Deel a valuable tool for tech businesses looking to ensure compliance with international regulations.

However, Deel doesn’t look far beyond this focus. Performance management and time tracking tools are entirely absent on Deel HR’s free tier. Users could upgrade to Deel Engage for employee surveys and L&D features but, in truth, Rippling has these for less.

I think tech firms will get the most out of Deel’s premium add-on services. For example, Deel EoR (Employer of Record) for remote work contracts, and Deel Contractor for employing local workers. Yes, they’re costly. But for specific uses, they’re invaluable.

Deel’s pricing

Deel HR is free to begin with. As explained above, SMEs will be best off upgrading from Deel HR to Deel Payroll. This gives you access to Deel’s array of global payroll tools.

This is not cheap – pricing starts from $29 (around £22) per employee, per month – but it’s worth the investment for tech firms that want to offer attractive compensation and hire global talent.

What to look for in an HR software

I’ve rummaged through the vast and confusing HR market to pull out the best five options that I would recommend to UK SMEs, based on specific criteria that I know small businesses need to consider. Now it’s your turn.

Once you know the best brands out there, it’s time to judge how well they align with your specific business needs – and I don’t just mean budget. Here are six things to think about before you buy HR software:

1. Does it meet your business objectives?

Think about your company targets. If you’ll be hiring this year, a scalable platform such as Breathe HR is suitable. Do you want to expand abroad? Deel can support international payroll. Ask yourself: do you think you’ll be using the system in 12 months’ time?

2. How easily could your HR team use it?

Steep learning curves can send your software plans crashing down to Earth. Think about how intuitive the software is, whether it is easy to navigate, and if the provider offers adequate training. Without a helping hand, your people team might come unstuck.

3. Will it integrate with your existing tools?

If your firm is reliant on one business tool, find HR software that integrates with it. This will save time and money, plus make data migration much simpler. Another area to consider here is customisation. Can the platform be tailored to match your unique HR processes?

4. Can you commit to it long-term?

Consider the total cost of ownership, including licensing fees, maintenance costs, and potential upgrades. Are the contract terms reasonable and flexible? If your cash flow is unpredictable, locking yourself into a £500-a-month contract is not the savviest move.

5. What support is there?

Given how important HR is, a system glitch or error must be dealt with swiftly. Vendors should provide support channels, such as live chat and phone support. This is also vital for onboarding and implementation. A friendly help desk can eliminate bumps in the roadmap.

6. How easily could your employees use it?

Self-service features, such as updating information or requesting time off, have saved HR teams hours in admin. An easy-to-use employee portal also ensures a positive experience for staff, which can have a direct impact on how they view the company as a whole.