Best HR software of 2025
Manage your employees better

We’ve highlighted some of the best HR software platforms for different cases, designed to simplify and streamline all aspects of managing employees at every different level.
For many businesses, HR software removed the burden of having to handle complex payroll, compliance and employee administration manually. Every type of company could benefit from this – this includes international enterprises with multiple sites and operations, as well as startups who may not have dedicated HR teams.
Today, HR platforms go well beyond payroll. Some focus on recruitment and application tracking, others focus on onboarding, training and performance management. Many even combine these, and more, for a more comprehensive solution.
Ultimately, the HR software you choose will depend upon your business needs, and you'll have to figure out exactly which HR tasks you need to be automated or streamlined. We've picked out the best HR software currently available for a wide range of tricky tasks, looking at how well it solves the business need it sets out to address.
We've picked out the best HR software currently available for a wide range of tricky tasks, looking at how well it solves the business need it sets out to address.
Below we list what we think are the best HR software services currently available.
We've also featured the best time management apps of 2025.
Quick List
Best for small businesses
Paycor provides small and mid-sized businesses with a comprehensive HR platform covering payroll management, expenses, and talent development. The on-demand pay option is a unique feature, allowing employees flexibility in payment frequency. Positioned between a payroll application and HRIS, Paycor offers a solid solution for smaller businesses. Pricing plans cater to various company sizes, with occasional discounts enhancing affordability.
Pros
- Choice of tiers
- Trials and discounts can be available
- Good support
Cons
- Limited hours of support
- Confusing plans and no pricing
Best overall
Gusto stands out as a top HR software offering comprehensive solutions for various HR tasks. Its full-service payroll, time tracking, and benefits management streamline operations, including compliance and legal requirements. It provides a range of benefits such as medical, dental, and vision coverage, alongside managing HSAs, FSAs, 401Ks, and more.
Pros
- Intuitive and easy to use
- Good automation
- Unlimited payroll
Cons
- Response could be slicker
- Costs have risen a lot
Best for versatility
Rippling caters to the dynamic needs of modern businesses with its versatile HR solutions. Offering remote laptop management and instant tax registration, it enables seamless management of distributed teams. Rippling provides top-tier benefits and personalized expert support. Scalable and flexible, it adapts to evolving business needs with ease, offering flat per-employee billing.
Pros
- Excellent interface and UX
- Great app integration
- Easy to expand
Cons
- Costs can add up
- Support could be better
The best HR software of 2025 in full:
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Best HR software overall
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Gusto is one of the best HR software products on the market if you need a solution to handle several of the significant human resources tasks in your business.
This tool offers a full-service payroll solution alongside time tracking, tools to handle health insurance and employee's financial benefits, and modules that can help companies keep up to date with compliance and legal requirements. Gusto can streamline the hiring and onboarding of staff, and Gusto also has a team of HR experts to provide guidance in unexpected situations.
Gusto provides medical, dental, and vision benefits and can manage HSAs, FSAs, 401Ks, and college savings, and it can also supply life and disability coverage. In this way, it functions similarly to an HR outsourcing company and can provide small businesses with the kind of benefits that they wouldn't usually be able to access.
Read our full Gusto review.
Best HR software for small businesses
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Paycor looks to offer small and mid-sized businesses one platform where they can undertake all of their HR tasks. This covers payroll management, expenses, and even talent development. As with other premium providers, the main employee portal allows you to manage your organization, post news, updates, and manage the onboarding process. Moreover, you can even run payroll from the same portal, though we didn’t find it as user-friendly as some other premium solutions in this list.
One of the stand-out features offered by Paycor, which is usually not part of HR solutions is the on-demand pay feature. With this, the employees can decide when they get paid (weekly, monthly, etc.). Conversely, Paycor tries to walk a thin line between a payroll application and a human resource information system. While it is not the best in class in either of these areas, it does offer a solid blend for small to mid-sized businesses.
If you’re a company below 50 employees the pricing plans are divided into Complete, Core, Essential, and Basic plans. If you’re a larger company, you will need to contact the firm directly to get a quote. It is not the cheapest option on the market, but from time to time they offer a 50% discount for the first 6 months, which makes it an attractive option.
Read our full Paycor review.
Best HR software for versatility
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Lots of businesses are moving to flexible, remote ways of working, and plenty of companies are growing quicker than ever. Rippling is the ideal HR provider if you need a company that can cope with the versatility of modern business.
Rippling offers remote laptop management and instant local tax registration, so you can manage staff no matter where they're located. It also provides a slick, straightforward dashboard that you can use to evaluate data, manage employees, pay salaries and alter employee benefits.
Rippling is eminently scalable, too: it's easy to upgrade or downgrade your services to match your business needs, and it's simple to stop using Rippling if you want to bring HR in-house. Services are billed using a flat per-employee rate, too, and it’s perfect for remote and flexible working setups.
Read our full Rippling HCM review.
Best HR software for large businesses
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Remote Payroll is easy to scale, so it’s an easy choice for large businesses that operate across multiple regions or countries. Employer of Record is covered, as are payroll processing, tax compliance and benefits administration, all within local guidelines.
The company’s new AI tools help streamline payroll helping to reduce delays, but you can also use the software to tap into Remote’s recruitment tools, benefits management and compliance administration for seamless global HR workflows.
It’s not just focused on the company, though, because a strong employee self-service portal offering makes it easy to access payslips, request leave and upload documents. So enterprises looking for reliable, compliant and international payroll should certainly consider Remote.
Read our full Remote Payroll review.
Best all-in-one HR software
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
BambooHR aims to bring the human touch to human resources, and it does this by collecting information about your employees and delivering personalized insights and functionality.
BambooHR collects all employee information in a single database and provides businesses with an all-in-one software portal that can view and manage employee records, track job applications, view and analyze your staff performance and automate tedious administrative tasks. There's a mobile app, too, so you can keep on top of HR while you're on the move. It handles payroll and vacation requests, too.
BambooHR's software is available in two packages – Essentials and Advantage. The former only includes entry-level HR management and self-serve employee options, while the latter adds hiring and onboarding abilities, advanced workflows, customization and branding options, and better support. You'll also have to pay extra for payroll, time tracking, and performance management options.
Read our full BambooHR review.
Best HR software for integrations
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Zoho People earns the title of best for integrations thanks to its seamless connectivity not just with third parties (of which there are more than 1,000), but also the broader Zoho ecosystem. It’s an expansive portfolio of business software, including payroll, customer management and project tracking.
Plans start at low prices for the basics, and you can scale with higher tiers as needed. Or, forget that entirely and buy into the entire ecosystem with the all-inclusive Zoho One membership.
Support options are strong, with knowledge bases and ticketed assistance available. While premium customers may get better help, we love the webinars and online training which makes it easy to get to know the whole software suite.
Read our full Zoho People review
Best quick HR software
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Although Breathe HR is aimed more at the small business community, that doesn't mean that it’s lacking in any department. In fact, Breathe HR is literally bursting with lots of features and functions, all within the framework of a simple to use system.
It lets you tackle all of those everyday HR tasks including leave and absence, rotas and shift planning, people and employee management, time tracking and wider HR management. The software can also be integrated with the Breathe API and Xero Payroll, which broadens both its reach and appeal still further.
Drill down inside those core features and you’ll find that Breathe HR can facilitate quick and easy staff and holiday planning, track employees holidays and monitor absenteeism. There’s scheduling for working out rotas, team management tools and a way of forecasting salaries too. You can also manage payroll, track performance and carry out both location and Covid 19 management as and when it’s needed.
Read our full Breathe HR review.
Best powerful HR software
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Not just your average HR tool, Deel has an extensive package with a huge amount of features and functions that come in handy for any business. To name a few, there are tools for onboarding, tools that facilitate paying employees, and more. In addition, it is simple to use and works regardless of the physical location of your employees.
Deel comes in a range of sizes suitable for small and medium-sized businesses and those with fewer employees. On the other hand, if you have plenty and want more, you can also contact the sales team and ask for a quota.
Whatever you choose, even the most basic plans have payroll tools, compliance documentation, payslips, and all of the other documents needed to ensure an employee has all bases covered.
Read our full Deel review.
Best simple HR software
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Workable is another HR software product that simplifies and improves the recruitment process. When a business is only as good as its staff, it makes loads of sense to make your hiring as effective as possible.
Workable can post your job adverts to more than 200 job boards simultaneously, so you'll attract applications quickly. You can use this tool to anonymously screen job applicants and view essential data about candidates, even benefitting from AI to speed up the process.
If you want a specialist tool to help you find, interview, and hire the best candidates for vacant positions, there aren't many better than Workable. As with many of the best HR software products, though, you'll have to pay for a higher tier of access if you want more features, and pricing is only available on request.
Read our full Workable review.
Best HR software for mobile
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
PeopleHR’s intuitive dashboard can automate dozens of tasks, from employee turnover reports and sickness tracking to approving holiday requests, and it can also track new job applicants and list job vacancies on top recruitment websites.
PeopleHR supplies loads of data that can show exactly how much time you've saved by switching to this system, and it recommends the best way forward for your decisions by showing you how other companies have acted in similar situations. There's a slick performance management system that can manage employee reviews and 360-degree feedback, and this software works on PCs, laptops, tablets, and smartphones so that you can work flexibly.
PeopleHR has a team of experts to guide you through the software, and it's easy to learn. Combine this with its clear pricing, where cost is based on the number of employees covered per month, and PeopleHR becomes a top choice for anyone who is not familiar with HR software.
Read our full PeopleHR review
Best for enterprises
11. Staffology Payroll by IRIS
Our expert review:
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Staffology Payroll is an IRIS product, and it’s been designed with scalability and automation at its core so it’s instantly a hit with bigger companies that have a lot of plates spinning.
It’ll do all the core tasks, like pay run calculations, tax submissions and pension enrolment, but more importantly for bigger setups, it also handles other types of work like ad-hoc workers, contractors and other complex payroll scenarios.
Ease of use is supported by a clean interface with simple dashboards. Employee portals and a decent mobile off round things off, but if you ever get stuck, know that IRIS ranks well for support too.
Read our full Staffology Payroll review
Best HR software for features
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
The BrightHR platform is packed full of advanced HR management features. It offers an excellent selection of staff management tools, including a neat holiday planner. On top of this, you can record absences and sick leave in just a few seconds. Documentation, including medical certificates, can be scanned directly into the system, and you will receive notifications when team members are due to return to work.
The BrightHR system also tracks various metrics to help you with payroll calculations, reducing the time you need to spend on admin processes. This includes overtime tracking, a complete record of paid and unpaid absences, and information about bonuses or other extra payments that you owe employees.
Another noteworthy feature is BrightHR’s unlimited cloud storage. This is designed to help businesses go paperless and features a range of tools to help you store, manage, and share digital files. In addition, files can be accessed from anywhere through the neat mobile app, which is available for both Android and iOS devices.
Read our full BrightHR review
Also consider these HR solutions
There are a wide range of HR software solutions available for all sorts of situations – some of them supply the full range of HR options while others focus on single tasks.
Namely is a full-service HR software platform that deals with issues from onboarding to training, to payments and benefits. You can monitor and review employee training, cover time and attendance, and allow employees to manage their own progress and development using a self-service portal.
JobDiva focuses on the applicant recruitment and training process. It primarily features candidate searching and matching modules alongside career development tools, and it integrates with popular Vendor Management System tools like Workday, Beeline, Vizient and Medica.
Ciphr provides an easy-to-use platform to manage most aspects of HR. Key features include onboarding, timekeeping, payroll, compliance, and self-service options for employees. Configurable dashboards provide analytics and data to help you set up automated, intelligent workflows, so you can use Ciphr to make your entire business more efficient.
We've also featured the best employee experience tools.
HR software FAQs
What is HR software?
HR software exists to help businesses oversee all aspects of employee management from a central dashboard. Many programs on our list offer an all-in-one HR solution that handles recruitment, onboarding, payroll, tax, and more. Others specialize in managing one or more of these tasks.
How to choose the best HR software for your business
Choosing the best HR software package should revolve around your business needs. If you have a small company and have no specific requirements, one of the do-it-all programs will likely be an excellent fit for your organization.
Conversely, if you have a specific pain point in your HR workflow, software tailored to that use case will be far more helpful. Recruitment and payroll are both examples of processes with dedicated solutions. Larger companies should consider enterprise-level HR software.
How we tested the best HR software
Where possible, we sign up for every HR software product that we review. We review how easy it is to get started and enter data to see what the program is like to use. Every key feature is put to the test and compared to what's offered in competing products.
We research a range of other factors, including data security, ongoing support, and pricing models, looking at free versions where available. If we can't physically test the best HR software, we base our verdict on information found on the company's site, peer reviews, and user testimonials.
Read how we test, rate, and review products on TechRadar.
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Nicholas Fearn is a freelance technology journalist and copywriter from the Welsh valleys. His work has appeared in publications such as the FT, the Independent, the Daily Telegraph, The Next Web, T3, Android Central, Computer Weekly, and many others. He also happens to be a diehard Mariah Carey fan!