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All industries · head to head

BambooHR vs Freshservice

BambooHR logo

BambooHR

All industries

HR software with heart

From
$10/month per employee
Rated
-
Freshservice logo

Freshservice

Customer Support

Modern IT service management

From
$19/month
Rated
-

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: BambooHR organisations of 25 or fewer employees pay a flat rate starting at $250 a month, so a very small team pays far more per head than the listed per-employee price; Freshservice change, problem and release management require the Pro plan at $99 per agent per month, so core ITIL processes sit two tiers up
  • They diverge on capability: BambooHR covers Employee database, Freshservice covers Incident management.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which BambooHR and Freshservice actually diverge.

Attributes where BambooHR and Freshservice differ
AttributeBambooHRFreshservice
Starting price$10/month per employee$19/month
PlatformsWeb, Ios, Android, ApiWeb, Ios, Android
CategoryAll industriesCustomer Support
Founded20082010

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in BambooHR

  • Employee database
  • Time-off management
  • Benefits tracking
  • Performance reviews
  • Onboarding
  • Reporting & analytics
  • Mobile access
  • Document management

Only in Freshservice

  • Incident management
  • Asset management
  • Change management
  • Knowledge base
  • Automation
  • Reporting
  • Microsoft Teams
  • AWS

Both cover

  • Slack
  • SOC2
  • ISO27001
  • GDPR

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

BambooHR

  • HR system of record with employee data and documentsnot Freshservice
  • Time off tracking and approvalsnot Freshservice
  • Applicant tracking and onboardingnot Freshservice
  • Performance reviews and 1:1s on the Pro tiernot Freshservice
  • Compensation planning and benchmarking on Elitenot Freshservice

Freshservice

  • IT service management and internal help desk ticketingnot BambooHR
  • Asset management and change control for IT teamsnot BambooHR

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

BambooHR

  • Organisations of 25 or fewer employees pay a flat rate starting at $250 a month, so a very small team pays far more per head than the listed per-employee price
  • Per-employee pricing starts at 26 employees, from $10 on Core
  • Performance management, 360 reviews and recognition all require Pro at $17 per employee per month
  • Compensation management, salary benchmarking and advanced analytics are Elite only at $25 per employee per month
  • Compliance training is rationed by tier, at 1 course on Core against 300 on Elite

Freshservice

  • Change, problem and release management require the Pro plan at $99 per agent per month, so core ITIL processes sit two tiers up
  • Every plan includes only 100 ITAM asset units, with more sold separately regardless of tier
  • Orchestration transactions are metered monthly, from 1,000 on Starter to 20,000 on Enterprise, with extra packs at $250 per 1,000
  • The Freddy AI copilot is a $29 per agent per month add on on top of Pro or Enterprise
  • Sandbox and audit logs are Enterprise only, which carries no published price

Pricing, plan by plan

BambooHR

$10/month per employee

No published plan breakdown. See the BambooHR review.

Freshservice

$19/month
  • Starter$19/month
    • Incident management
    • Knowledge base
    • Self-service portal
  • Growth$49/month
    • Asset management
    • Approval workflows
    • SLA management
  • Pro$95/month
    • Problem management
    • Change management
    • Release management
  • Enterprise$119/month
    • Freddy AI
    • Audit logs
    • Custom SSL

Which should you pick?

Choose BambooHR if

  • You need employee database.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
  • You also want time-off management.

Choose Freshservice if

  • You need incident management.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want asset management.

Questions people ask

Is BambooHR or Freshservice better?
Neither clearly leads. BambooHR starts at $10/month per employee and Freshservice at $19/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, BambooHR or Freshservice?
BambooHR starts at $10/month per employee and Freshservice at $19/month.
Does BambooHR or Freshservice run on more platforms?
BambooHR runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api. Freshservice runs on Web, Ios, Android.
What is BambooHR best used for?
BambooHR is most often used for hr system of record with employee data and documents, time off tracking and approvals, applicant tracking and onboarding, performance reviews and 1:1s on the pro tier. Of those, hr system of record with employee data and documents and time off tracking and approvals are not what Freshservice is typically brought in for.
What can BambooHR do that Freshservice cannot?
BambooHR covers Employee database, Time-off management, Benefits tracking, Performance reviews. Freshservice covers Incident management, Asset management, Change management, Knowledge base. Both handle Slack, SOC2, ISO27001, GDPR.

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