BambooHR

The published price, and what sits outside it

Three tiers, all charged per employee per month: Core $10, Pro $17, Elite $25. BambooHR describes this as “one low monthly payment” with automatic volume discounts, and the footnote under the plans adds that volume and non-profit discounts are available, so larger organisations and charities should expect to pay less than list.

What the tier price does not include is payroll and benefits administration. Those are separate per-employee charges quoted on request, and they are the reason a BambooHR bill often exceeds the figure people budget from the pricing page. If you intend to run payroll here, get that quote before comparing against anyone else.

Note also that the published rates carry an asterisk on Bamboo’s own page, which is a reliable signal that the number depends on terms.

A time-limited payroll offer was running when we checked

Re-checked on 19 August 2026, the pricing page advertised Payroll free until January 2027 for customers who buy BambooHR Payroll together with the Elite plan on a minimum 12-month agreement, for purchases made between 1 and 31 August 2026. The per-employee fees are waived through 31 December 2026. Implementation, multi-state and additional payroll service fees were excluded, and customers who had previously been billed for Payroll or Elite were not eligible.

The window closes on 31 August 2026 and BambooHR has published no extension beyond it. We checked the terms again on 19 August specifically to see whether the offer had been rolled into September, as monthly promotions often are, and it had not. If Payroll on Elite is a purchase you were going to make anyway, the date is the deciding factor rather than the discount.

We record it because it materially changes first-year cost, and we date it because it expires. If you are reading this after August 2026, assume it has gone and ask what has replaced it. The terms are listed with their source under Provenance below, recorded as what was offered during that window rather than as a live offer.

Where the ceiling is

BambooHR is built for the range where an HRIS should be simple: employee records, time off, onboarding, reviews and reporting done well, with a mobile app employees will actually open. Somewhere around 500 employees, requirements usually shift towards workforce planning, complex compensation structures and multi-entity payroll, and that is Workday territory rather than Bamboo’s.

Going the other direction, a very small US company whose real problem is running payroll correctly may find a payroll-first product a better fit than an HRIS with payroll attached.

Against Rippling

Rippling does considerably more, joining HR to device management and spend, and publishes no prices at all. BambooHR does less, does it simply, and tells you what it costs. For a company that wants an HR system rather than a platform strategy, that trade is usually the right one.