BambooHR
A straightforward HRIS for small and mid-sized companies, with published prices.
- HR
- Productivity
- from $10/mo
BambooHR is a human resources information system for small and mid-sized organisations, covering employee records, time off, onboarding, performance and reporting, with payroll and benefits available as additions. It is deliberately simpler than the enterprise platforms and, unusually for HR software, publishes a per-employee price.
BambooHR: the short answer
Every line below is drawn from facts verified on 9 August 2026.
- What it is
- A straightforward HRIS for small and mid-sized companies, with published prices
- Best for
- Companies between roughly 20 and 500 employees
- Starts at
- Core $10 per employee/month; Pro $17; Elite $25
- Free option
- No free plan, 7 days trial
- Biggest strength
- Publishes per-employee prices, unlike most HR platforms
- Biggest drawback
- Payroll and benefits are separately quoted add-ons
- Closest alternative
- Rippling - Far broader platform covering IT and spend, but quote-only
- True annual cost
- from $120 a year at the cheapest paid tier
BambooHR at a glance
| Best for | Companies between roughly 20 and 500 employees, Teams replacing spreadsheets with a real HR record, Buyers who want a published price and a fast implementation |
|---|---|
| Category | HR, Productivity |
| Starting price | Core $10 per employee/month; Pro $17; Elite $25 |
| Free plan | No |
| Free trial | 7 days |
| Pricing model | subscription |
| Company | BambooHR LLC |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Headquarters | Draper, Utah, United States |
| Founders | Ben Peterson, Ryan Sanders |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android |
| Public API | Yes |
| Browser extension | No |
| Mobile apps | iOS + Android |
| Self-hosting | No |
| Affiliate programme | No |
| Data source | Vendor pricing page and public records |
| Last checked | August 2026 |
BambooHR pricing
Prices below were read from the vendor's own pricing page on 9 August 2026. Pricing model: subscription. Free trial: 7 days.
| Plan | Price | Billing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core | $10 | per month | per employee - Foundational HR records, time off, reporting and AI assistant |
| Pro | $17 | per month | per employee - Adds company policies and documents, deeper AI answers |
| Elite | $25 | per month | per employee - Adds benchmarks and advanced insights |
| Payroll and benefits | Add-on | per month | Quoted separately, per employee per month, on top of the HRIS plan |
What BambooHR actually costs over a year
A monthly price is not the same thing as a monthly contract. These are the plans above multiplied out to twelve months, per seat or unit where the plan is charged that way.
| Plan | Monthly | Over 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| Coreper employee | $10 | $120 |
| Proper employee | $17 | $204 |
| Eliteper employee | $25 | $300 |
Which BambooHR plan should you buy?
| Your situation | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You are replacing spreadsheets with a real HR record | Core | $10 per employee covers records, time off, onboarding and reporting. Enough for most. |
| You need performance reviews and policy management | Pro | $17 per employee, and performance management is the usual reason to step up. |
| You need compensation management and benchmarks | Elite | $25 per employee. Bought for the analytics rather than the HR basics. |
| You intend to run payroll here | Get the payroll quote before comparing | Payroll and benefits are separate per-employee charges on top of the tier price, and are the reason bills exceed the budgeted figure. |
| You have more than about 500 employees | Consider Workday instead | Workforce planning and multi-entity payroll are past BambooHR's ceiling. |
Verdict by who you are
Company of 20 to 500 employeesYes
Fast to implement, published pricing, and employees actually use it. This is the range it was built for.
Small US business needing payrollCompare first
Payroll is a quoted add-on here. A payroll-first product may be cheaper if HR records are secondary.
Large enterpriseNo
No serious workforce planning or complex multi-country payroll. You will outgrow it.
Company wanting HR, IT and spend on one platformNo
That is Rippling's proposition. BambooHR is deliberately narrower.
Should you buy BambooHR?
Buy BambooHR if…
- Companies between roughly 20 and 500 employees
- Teams replacing spreadsheets with a real HR record
- Buyers who want a published price and a fast implementation
Do not buy BambooHR if…
- Large enterprises needing deep workforce planning
- Companies wanting HR, IT and spend on one platform
- Organisations with complex multi-country payroll
Key features
- Single employee record with documents and history
- Time-off requests, approvals and accrual policies
- Onboarding workflows with e-signature
- Performance reviews and goal tracking
- Applicant tracking included rather than sold separately
- Reporting and headcount analytics
- Ask BambooHR, an assistant answering policy questions
- Employee self-service through web and mobile
Integrations
- Slack and Microsoft Teams
- Google Workspace and Microsoft 365
- QuickBooks and Xero
- Greenhouse, Lever and Indeed
- BambooHR API
BambooHR screenshots
Captured by us in August 2026 at 1440px, unedited. Interfaces change, so these show the product as it looked on the date we verified this profile. Vendors localise pricing by visitor region, so a pricing screenshot may display a different currency to the USD figures recorded above.
Our assessment
BambooHR is the sensible choice for a company that has outgrown spreadsheets and does not want a platform project. Implementation is measured in weeks, the interface is genuinely pleasant for employees rather than only for HR, and applicant tracking is included where competitors charge extra. Published per-employee pricing is a real courtesy in a category that mostly refuses to quote. Its limits are the flip side of that simplicity: workforce planning, complex international payroll and deep compensation modelling are not what it does, and payroll and benefits are separately quoted add-ons rather than part of the price you see. Companies past roughly 500 employees usually start feeling the ceiling.
What works in BambooHR
- Publishes per-employee prices, unlike most HR platforms
- Fast to implement and easy for employees to actually use
- Applicant tracking included rather than a paid add-on
- Volume and non-profit discounts available below list price
What doesn't
- Payroll and benefits are separately quoted add-ons
- Limited workforce planning and compensation modelling
- Not built for complex multi-country payroll
- Companies above roughly 500 employees tend to outgrow it
EveryAny Decision Score
Scored by dimension rather than averaged into one number, because the trade-offs are the useful part. 2 of these 7 dimensions are calculated from verified facts by published formula; the rest are editorial judgement, labelled as such. How each score is calculated.
- Portability5/10
derivedpublic API
- Subscription flexibility6/10
derivedfree trial, subscription, monthly billing
- Feature depth6/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- Ease of learning9/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- Collaboration7/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- AI capability6/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- Professional adoption8/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
What leaving BambooHR would cost
moderate lock-in
Calculated as 10 minus a portability score of 5, built from four signals (self-hosting, a public API, open-source licensing and a documented export path) . BambooHR scores on: public API. Formula.
BambooHR competitors and alternatives
| Alternative | Why you might pick it instead |
|---|---|
| Rippling | Far broader platform covering IT and spend, but quote-only. |
| Gusto | Better if payroll is the primary need rather than HR records. |
| HiBob | Similar mid-market positioning with stronger culture features. |
Rippling
HR
HR, IT and finance on one employee record, priced only by quote.
Workday
HR
Enterprise HR and finance on one system of record.
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
On 9 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. Implementation, multi-state and additional payroll service fees were excluded.
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.
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.
BambooHR questions, answered
- Is BambooHR worth it?
- BambooHR is the sensible choice for a company that has outgrown spreadsheets and does not want a platform project.
- How much does BambooHR cost?
- Core $10 per employee/month; Pro $17; Elite $25. The cheapest paid tier we recorded works out at $10 a month, or $120 over a year. Verified against the vendor's pricing page.
- Does BambooHR have a free plan or free trial?
- BambooHR has no free plan. A free trial is available: 7 days.
- What is the best BambooHR alternative?
- It depends on the job. Rippling: Far broader platform covering IT and spend, but quote-only. Gusto: Better if payroll is the primary need rather than HR records. HiBob: Similar mid-market positioning with stronger culture features.
- Can I self-host BambooHR?
- No. BambooHR is a hosted service only, so your data lives on the vendor's infrastructure.
Provenance and freshness
When each fact was last checked
- Pricing ·
- Plans ·
- Free trial
- Features
- Platforms
- Integrations
- Affiliate programme
- Company details
What has changed
-
August 2026
- Per-employee pricing verified, including the volume and non-profit discount footnote
- Recorded a payroll promotion that expires 31 August 2026
- Added plan picker and verdicts
Sources & verification
Facts on this page were read from the sources below on the dates shown. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, we record it as not disclosed rather than estimating it.
- BambooHR pricing - checked 9 August 2026
Spotted something out of date? Email [email protected] and we will re-check it. Corrections are logged on the page.
