A free BambooHR alternative, and the other options
Why companies look past BambooHR, how five alternatives compare on price and fit, and what moving your records across takes.
Why companies look past BambooHR
BambooHR combines HR records with options for recruiting, benefits and US payroll. If you are comparing it with another system, start with the modules you use and the total price at your headcount.
- The price climbs with every employee. Its US pricing page lists three plans at $10, $17 and $25 per employee a month. A 40-person company on the middle plan pays about $680 a month before any add-on, and prices outside the US are quoted on request.
- There’s no free plan. A small company gets a 7-day trial, then pays like everyone else.
- Payroll stops at the US border. Payroll is an add-on for US employees only. Everyone else runs payroll somewhere else and keeps two systems in step.
Compare the HR work, payroll coverage and setup support you need before choosing an alternative.
The alternatives compared
| Squadra HR | BambooHR | Personio | HiBob | Factorial | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, up to 3 employees | No, a 7-day trial | No, a 14-day trial | No, a demo | No, a 14-day trial |
| Price | €4 per employee a month, €6 from 100 | $10, $17 or $25 per employee a month (US) | Quote after a demo | Custom proposal, per employee | From $8 per employee a month, otherwise a quote |
| Minimum contract | None | Month to month or longer | 12 months, plus a setup fee | Not stated | Not stated |
| Payroll | Excel export for your provider | Add-on, US only | Germany only | UK and US, a hub for other providers | Integrations with local tools in seven countries |
| Two-factor sign-in | Required for everyone | Admins can require it | Admins can turn it on | Through your SSO provider | Admins can enforce it |
| Set up for you | Yes, in a day | Self-serve | Setup project, with a fee | Not stated | Not stated |
Our column follows what Squadra HR ships today. The rest comes from each vendor’s own public pages, and our comparison pages list the source for every fact.
Who each one suits
- Squadra HR, if you want connected records, leave approvals and reports, with setup done for you, published pricing and a choice of EU or US data storage.
- BambooHR, if you’re a US company that wants payroll, benefits and recruiting from one vendor.
- Personio, if you have 50 or more people and run payroll in Germany.
- HiBob, if you run payroll in the UK or US, work across many countries, or want hiring, learning and compensation modules.
- Factorial, if you want HR, expenses, procurement and IT management from one vendor, or shift management with time clocks.
What Squadra HR includes
The product includes:
- People records: one record per person, with contracts, documents, emergency contacts, pay history and visas.
- Time off: counted in hours against each person’s schedule and public holidays, with nightly accrual, carry-over and approvals from the phone.
- The org chart, built from each person’s manager and exported as a PDF.
- Reports: people and leave reports you build and export, plus an audit log of every change and every look at pay or ID data.
- Pay transparency for employers in the EU: pay bands, pay requests and the gender pay gap report.
- Sign-in with Microsoft or Google, and a second factor required for everyone.
See the full product or the pricing.
Moving from BambooHR
You don’t retype anything. Squadra HR connects to BambooHR with an API key and brings across your people, their managers, their leave balances and your leave history. Before anything is saved, you see every change it will make, and you can undo the whole import afterwards.
The BambooHR import guide shows the steps. The move usually takes a day, and you can keep both systems running in parallel until you’re sure.