BambooHR Review
People-first HR software for mid-size companies. Best for: Mid-size companies (25–500 employees) focused on people and performance.
Prices verified July 2026. We may earn a commission.
BambooHR is the best HRIS for mid-size companies (25–500 employees) that need more than basic payroll. It excels at employee records, performance management, onboarding workflows, and time-off tracking. Pricing is custom — you must contact sales for a quote. A 7-day free trial is available. Payroll, benefits, and time tracking are add-ons, not included by default.
Our Verdict
BambooHR is our top pick for companies that have outgrown spreadsheets and need a true HRIS. Its performance management system — manager assessments, 360-degree peer feedback, goal tracking, and eNPS surveys — is the best we reviewed among standalone HR platforms. The interface is exceptionally clean, customer support is rated consistently excellent on G2, and the 150+ marketplace integrations cover most workflows. The main drawbacks: pricing is opaque (custom quotes only), payroll costs extra, and it is not designed for teams under 25 people or companies with complex international payroll needs.
Score Breakdown
Pros & Cons
✓What We Like
- ✓Industry-leading performance management: manager assessments, peer feedback, 360-degree reviews, and goal tracking in one system
- ✓Employee Satisfaction with eNPS (AI-powered survey tool) built in — measures and trends employee morale
- ✓Clean, intuitive dashboard that non-HR users can navigate without training
- ✓Onboarding workflows with e-signature and self-guided new-hire introduction emails
- ✓7-day free trial with a customized demo account — no credit card required
- ✓150+ marketplace integrations including Lattice, 15Five, Culture Amp, LinkedIn, and Greenhouse
- ✓Customer support consistently rated excellent: 9/10 on G2 for quality and responsiveness
✗What We Don't Like
- ✗Custom pricing — no published rates, must speak to sales for any estimate
- ✗Payroll is an add-on that costs extra (not included in Core, Pro, or Elite)
- ✗Time tracking and benefits administration are also add-ons to the base plans
- ✗Performance management features (goal tracking, 360 reviews) require Pro or Elite plan
- ✗Not designed for teams under 20 people — minimum effective size is roughly 25 employees
- ✗No global payroll or multi-currency support — best suited to US-based companies
Performance Management
BambooHR's performance management is the feature that consistently pushes it ahead of competing HRIS tools. The system uses a three-pronged approach: manager assessments, self-assessments, and peer feedback — all coordinated within the platform without requiring email chains or separate survey tools. Managers answer four structured questions designed to generate specific, actionable feedback for each employee. They can also add custom questions for role-specific areas. Review cycles can be set to run annually, semiannually, or quarterly, with the option to add informal 30-, 60-, or 90-day check-ins for new hires. Goal tracking is integrated directly: employees and managers set goals within BambooHR, and managers see a goal progress dashboard showing each team member's status at a glance. Performance management features are only available on Pro and Elite plans — the Core plan does not include them.
Employee Satisfaction and eNPS
BambooHR's Employee Satisfaction with eNPS (employee Net Promoter Score) feature is one of the most practically useful tools we found in any HR platform. Instead of lengthy annual engagement surveys that generate reports no one reads, eNPS sends short, recurring questions to employees anonymously. The AI-powered system categorizes responses as positive, neutral, or negative, and surfaces keyword trends from open-ended feedback. You can filter results by age, department, tenure, and employment status to identify which segments of your workforce are disengaged before turnover becomes a problem. The automated scheduling means you can send pulse surveys monthly without manual effort. Business News Daily (who rated BambooHR 9.4/10) specifically called out eNPS as a standout feature that does more than measure sentiment — it gives managers actionable data to improve retention.
Onboarding and Offboarding
BambooHR's onboarding is structured and thorough. When you create a new hire in the system, you assign a customizable onboarding checklist with due dates and automatic reminders. The new-hire packet handles all standard paperwork digitally with e-signature. One feature that stood out to us: BambooHR includes a self-guided 'Get to Know You' email template that introduces new employees to their team and prompts colleagues to respond — a small touch that creates personal connections during the often-isolating first week of a new job. We did not see a comparable feature in any other HRIS we reviewed. The applicant tracking system (ATS) is built in, with customizable email templates and candidate pipelines for the hiring phase. Offboarding is also automated with a reverse checklist that can trigger equipment returns, access revocations, and exit interviews.
Employee Records and Self-Service
The core of BambooHR is its centralized employee record, which stores all HR data in one secure location: personal information, job history, compensation, documents, benefits, training records, and custom fields you define. Custom viewing permissions ensure sensitive data (like salary information) is accessible only to authorized users. The employee self-service portal lets staff update their own personal details, view their PTO balance, submit time-off requests, access their pay stubs, and review their benefits enrollment — reducing routine HR inquiries significantly. The dashboard auto-populates with your most-used reports and surfaces who is out today, upcoming birthdays and anniversaries, and any pending approvals. The mobile app gives employees and managers access to most features from any device.
Integrations and Reporting
BambooHR's marketplace includes 150+ integrations covering payroll (Gusto, ADP, Payroll Harmony), hiring (Indeed, LinkedIn, Greenhouse), performance management (Lattice, 15Five, Culture Amp, PerformYard), and benefits (Ease, SimplyInsured, Human Interest for 401k). The open RESTful API allows custom integrations for businesses with their own IT teams. Reporting in BambooHR is strong: you can use pre-built reports or create custom ones combining any fields in the system. Standard reports cover head count, turnover rate, compensation analysis, department breakdowns, and benefits summaries. Custom reports are available with field-level permissions so different users see only the data relevant to their role. BambooHR does not include advanced workforce planning or predictive analytics — for those capabilities, Rippling is more appropriate.
Pricing
- ✓Employee records and profiles
- ✓Time-off tracking and approvals
- ✓Standard and custom reporting
- ✓Hiring and onboarding workflows
- ✓Employee self-service portal
- ✓Mobile app
- ✓Compliance intelligence by VirgilHR
- ✓Everything in Core
- ✓Performance management (manager, peer, self assessments)
- ✓Goal tracking and progress dashboard
- ✓Employee Satisfaction with eNPS
- ✓Employee community hub
- ✓Everything in Pro
- ✓Compensation management
- ✓Custom dashboards and advanced analytics
- ✓HR benchmarking data
- ✓Premium support services
Prices verified July 2026. Check the tool's official site for current rates.
Top Integrations
Who BambooHRIs (and Isn't) For
- •Companies with 25–500 employees that need a full HRIS beyond basic payroll
- •HR teams focused on improving performance management and reducing turnover
- •Companies wanting clean employee self-service without a complicated setup
- •Businesses already using tools like Lattice, Culture Amp, or Greenhouse that need a central HRIS to connect them
- •HR directors who want excellent support response times and a reliable platform
- •Small teams under 20 employees (Gusto is simpler and more affordable)
- •Companies with complex international or multi-currency payroll needs (Deel or Rippling are better)
- •Teams that want transparent pricing without talking to sales first
- •Businesses that need payroll included in the base price (payroll is an add-on)
Frequently Asked Questions
No — payroll is an add-on in BambooHR, not included in any of the three base plans (Core, Pro, Elite). You pay extra for the payroll module, which adds full-service payroll processing, tax filing, and direct deposit. If payroll is your primary need, Gusto includes it in all base plans starting at $39/month + $6/person and is significantly easier to set up.