Small businesses are the heart of the United States’ economy. They bring in revenue, employ local residents, and provide the community with valuable services. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 87% of small businesses increased their efficiency due to technology. Owning a small business requires you to wear multiple hats. You’re a leader, a fixer-upper, an HR manager, and a problem-solver all in the timespan of 24 hours. That’s why it’s vital to have the right tools to support you and your team. To help you, we’ve compared the 4 best human resource management software for small business.
What is HR Management Software?
HR management software, or simply put, HR software, is a digital solution that automates HR processes. Utilizing HR software eliminates the need to complete repetitive, manual processes. Essentially, making your team more efficient and freeing up your team’s time to focus on making a more meaningful impact. Moreover, HR management software offers small businesses tools to store company documents safely, generate reports, and enhance necessary workflows, such as employee onboarding.
Small businesses and HR professionals can benefit from using the right HR system by streamlining admin tasks, including time off requests, ensuring compliance, and completing the hiring process. Ultimately, these HR tools were designed to enhance a business’s efficiency and simplify HR operations for small businesses.
Best HR Management Software for Small Businesses
Let’s take a look at the top 4 HR management software for small businesses. We outline their key features and price to help you make a well-informed decision about what’s the best HR software for your team.
Factorial: All-in-one Business Management Software
Factorial is a top software for small business management. It offers a comprehensive suite to manage all your HR tasks, including performance reviews and payroll. With Factorial, you can customize your dashboard to see what’s most important to you at a glance. Also, your workflows can easily be customized to fit your team’s needs, from PTO approvals to employee onboarding and more.
It’s a popular cloud-based HR software due to its competitive pricing plans, user-friendly interface, and advanced integrations. This allows small businesses to connect their existing tools to Factorial and centralize their multiple tools into a single, unified platform.
🛠️ What can Factorial do?
Time tracking & shift scheduling:
- With Factorial, employees can conveniently record their working hours via the mobile app or the desktop version. Thanks to geolocation and QR code scanning, time tracking is flexible and accurate.
- Factorial’s customizable and visual dashboard gives managers a clear overview of their team’s working hours.
- In addition to the time off tracking software, Factorial’s shift management allows for simple shift planning and automatically notifies employees of changes. This ensures smooth shift scheduling.
- Employees can request to swap shifts using Factorial’s shift management system. Managers can then approve all requests in just a matter of a few clicks.
Time off requests & attendance tracking:
- All PTO and absence requests are also centralized via a dashboard, making them easy to approve with just one click.
- Employee absences are synchronized in a central calendar so that companies can keep track of their workforce at all times.
- Employees can submit time off requests straight from their self-service portal without having to fill in paperwork or loop in HR professionals.
Digital document management & e-signature:
- Factorial also offers document management functions and an electronic signature software for hr. This allows your team to securely store employee data, company SOPs, and contracts in one centralized location. Moreover, managers can request that documents be electronically signed directly on the platform.
- The employee self-service portal also allows employees to edit their documents and data themselves at any time. This reduces the amount of administrative tasks managers and HR professionals have to do.
Applicant Tracking System (ATS) & onboarding:
- Factorial offers a powerful applicant tracking software, customizable career pages, and automated processes for efficient recruitment. Additionally, it comes with built-in AI features that automate the filtering process to find the best-matched candidates.
- Whether you are prepping a new hire to join your team or if you’re transitioning an employee to leave the company, Factorial’s got you covered with its onboarding and offboarding software. This HR feature ensures you don’t miss any steps when it comes to on/off-boarding.
- The HR software also digitizes performance management processes such as 360-degree feedback, surveys, goal setting, and KPI tracking. Furthermore, reports can be automatically generated to analyze employee performance and make informed decisions.
Expense management:
- Corporate expenses can now be managed easily and efficiently with Factorial. Travel expenses such as daily and mileage allowances can be recorded with just a few clicks – without any paperwork.
- The right HR system will ensure you are staying within your budget and providing you with valuable insights into your company’s spending. Furthermore, Factorial automatically categorizes your expenses so you can see what areas need more resources.
Payroll through integrations:
- Thanks to seamless integrations with Cimplx, Sage, PayCaptian, and more companies can efficiently manage payroll and send it to the right employees without errors. By automating payroll processes, companies reduce errors, save time, and ensure smooth payroll processing in accordance with current tax regulations.
💡 Tip: With the Factorial app, you can seamlessly track working hours, request absences, and access important company information at any time. You can securely upload, sign, and manage your documents, while the integrated expense report makes submitting your expenses much easier. Thanks to the clear calendar and task functions, employees and managers can maintain an overview and manage processes efficiently – anytime, anywhere.
💶 How much does Factorial cost?
Factorial plans start at $8 per month per employee (PEPM). You can even receive a custom quote that’s tailored to your needs. Learn more about Factorial’s pricing plans here.
Best of all, Factorial adapts to your company’s needs, so you’ll find the ideal solution for your industry, company size, and growth goals.
👉 Check out the best HR software for small businesses today. Get your free demo to see the platform for yourself.
BambooHR
BambooHR is similar to Factorial. It is a complete HR software solution for small businesses that offers employee management features. As well as talent management, PTO tracking, and automation tools to simplify HR tasks. It is a great option for small businesses looking for a centralized platform to manage their HR functions.
📌 Want to see how BambooHR compares to other HR systems? Check out these top BambooHR alternatives.
🛠️ What can BambooHR do?
BambooHR is known for being a comprehensive HR software solution with a user-friendly interface and a wide range of functionalities. While it is particularly strong in employee data management and time-off tracking, its performance management and talent development features are a bit more basic compared to other platforms like Factorial.
- Time off tracking & employee hours: BambooHR’s system for requesting and approving time off is straightforward. Its time management tools even allow you to track employee hours with a simple clock-in/out process via mobile or desktop.
- Payroll processing: You can automate your payroll processing and ensure tax compliance straight from BambooHR. Also, your employee timesheets are synced to your payroll to eliminate the need for duplicate work.
- Global recruitment: Grow your team from anywhere in the world. With BambooHR’s EOR feature, you can hire, pay, and onboard employees without having to set up local entities.
💶 How much does BambooHR cost?
BambooHR pricing is based on a tiered model that depends on the number of employees in your organization. You must contact BambooHR directly to receive a custom quote that’s based on your company’s needs. Additional features cost extra, which puts it at the more expensive end for small businesses looking for advanced features.
👤 Who is BambooHR suitable for?
BambooHR is a great option for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) looking to grow their team. As the platform covers a wide range of HR functions, payroll, and EOR services, BambooHR can meet small business owners’ needs well.
However, BambooHR is best suited for companies that aren’t looking for advanced performance or talent management systems. Particularly for small businesses that are focused on employee development, BambooHR may not provide the right tools to assist in career progression or assessing performance at a deeper level.
Deel
Deel offers a robust HR system for recruiting top talent, centralizing employee data, and even processing payroll. It is a top HR management software for small businesses that want to grow and expand to other markets. Moreover, Deel is particularly useful for the global hiring process and ensuring businesses are compliant.
🛠️ What can Deel do?
- Recruiting globally: Deel was designed to help companies hire, pay, and manage global teams. It enables companies to find top talent and expand their business across the globe while maintaining compliance. Deel’s EOR services handle the hiring and onboarding processes from one centralized location, along with your other key HR functions.
- Compliance: While using Deel’s platform to hire internationally, your company will stay fully compliant with local labor laws and tax regulations. It simplifies complicated tasks like creating contracts, identifying worker classification, and obtaining tax documentation. This speeds up the process to welcome both contractors and full-time employees to join your team.
- IT management: With Deel’s IT management module, you can streamline the way you manage your devices. This service covers everything from repairing, recovering, and storing hardware so you don’t have to worry about maintaining your technological devices. This eases your team’s workload from shipping equipment to new hires, repairing essential tools, and retrieving laptops from employees who are leaving the company.
💶 How much does Deel cost?
Deel’s pricing is based on the module you would utilize, whether that is payroll, HR, or other tools. Their plans range from $9 – $325 per user per month. Additionally, they provide custom quotes depending on the feature you wish to use.
👤 Who is Deel suitable for?
Deel is perfect for companies looking to expand their reach into new markets across the world. The platform excels in fast, global hiring while maintaining compliance with local employee regulations. This is a great HR system that offers additional modules for IT and payroll at an extra cost. Whether you’re trying to automate your HR tasks or add new members to your team, Deel provides features to streamline your processes.
Personio
Personio positions itself as an all-in-one solution in the HR software comparison and markets itself as being specifically designed for small and medium-sized businesses. The platform combines recruiting, talent development, compensation, and administration functions into a single system. Although Personio is a popular option in Europe, it is slowly penetrating the market in the United States. In 2023, Personio opened a New York City office to have a bigger presence in North America.
🛠️ What can Personio do?
- Recruitment with ATS: With Personio, you can automate the recruitment process to save time. Job postings can be made across multiple channels with minimal effort and just a few clicks. Moreover, new employees can then sign their contracts easily and legally using an electronic signature.
- Centralized storage and document management: Documents like onboarding files, performance reviews, and employee records can be found in one centralized location. Personio’s HR system even allows employees to update their personal data themselves. This makes finding company files a breeze for employees and managers alike.
- Integration and automation tools: Personio’s platform also allows you to create workflows, set up templates, and perform analyses. Integration options with various software tools and platforms are also available to centralize your tech stack.
💶 How much does Personio cost?
Prices vary depending on the number of active employees, the chosen plan, and any additional add-ons purchased. The platform is primarily aimed at small and medium-sized businesses. However, the Enterprise plan can also meet the needs of larger companies. Compared to alternatives, Personio is in the higher price range for HR software.
👤 Who is the HR software suitable for?
Personio is primarily designed for small to medium-sized businesses. Although the software supports a capacity of up to 1,000 users, its feature set is considered limited for companies of this size. It may not offer advanced features to support larger companies and address their key pain points.
Final thoughts of the Best HR Software for Small Businesses in 2025
After taking a close look at various HR software providers such as Factorial, BambooHR, Deel and Personio, it becomes clear that each of these HR programs has its own strengths and focuses.
BambooHR is primarily characterized as an all-in-one HR tool with customization capabilities. However, its interface can be clunky and difficult to navigate, which can make it a challenge during the adoption phase.
Deel offers customized solutions, especially for larger companies, with a focus on global payroll and hiring. While the platform covers a wide range of HR management functions, including recruitment and onboarding, its HR tools are more basic compared to other platforms.
Personio is an HR system for small businesses. With functions for recruiting, employee development, compensation, and administration. This HR management software aims for user-friendliness and comprehensive digitalization. Personio is a recommended solution for efficient HR management for small businesses.
Factorial stands out from other HR software solutions thanks to its comprehensive features in time tracking, talent management, and expense management . Built-AI features for shift scheduling and recruiting save your HR team valuable time. Additionally, Factorial’s advanced features for HR reports & analytics provide your leaders with in-depth insights to make data-driven decisions to grow your people and company.
👉 See Factorial in action. Get your free demo today.
Compared to other HR management systems, Factorial’s smart mobile app, with its practical features, stands out from similar products from other providers, as the app is integrated into significantly more products than its competitors. Factorial can be easily adapted to individual company needs and offers solutions for every industry, employee size, and corporate goals. With a clear focus on digitizing HR processes, user-friendly applications, and a high level of employee integration, Factorial offers a holistic solution for the requirements of the modern, future-proof HR department. Choosing the right HR software can be hard, but Factorial makes the decision easy.
The information presented on this page is based on public available sources, including but not limited to the websites, help centers, and publicly accessible materials of the respective software providers. The comparisons made between Factorial and other providers are for informational purposes only and aim to objectively illustrate essential, relevant, verifiable, and representative features, such as pricing, functionalities, and integrations of software tools that serve similar purposes.Please note that all information regarding features, pricing, and integrations is subject to change without notice. While we strive to ensure the accuracy and relevance of the content, Factorial cannot guarantee its completeness, accuracy, or timeliness. We recommend consulting the official websites or contacting the respective providers directly to confirm the most up to date information.
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