Softwr

All industries · head to head

BambooHR vs SmartHR

BambooHR logo

BambooHR

All industries

HR software with heart

From
$10/month per employee
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
SmartHR logo

SmartHR

HR & Recruiting

Japanese back-office cloud for labor management, payroll and talent management

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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; SmartHR pricing is not published for any of the three named plans (HR Strategy, HR Essential, Talent Management); the vendor states price varies by company size and requires a quote request form

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which BambooHR and SmartHR actually diverge.

Attributes where BambooHR and SmartHR differ
AttributeBambooHRSmartHR
Starting price$10/month per employeeOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, Ios, Android, ApiWeb
CategoryAll industriesHR & Recruiting
Founded2008Unknown

Identical on both: 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 SmartHR

Nothing recorded that BambooHR does not also cover.

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 SmartHR
  • Time off tracking and approvalsnot SmartHR
  • Applicant tracking and onboardingnot SmartHR
  • Performance reviews and 1:1s on the Pro tiernot SmartHR
  • Compensation planning and benchmarking on Elitenot SmartHR

SmartHR

No use cases recorded yet. See the SmartHR review.

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

SmartHR

  • Pricing is not published for any of the three named plans (HR Strategy, HR Essential, Talent Management); the vendor states price varies by company size and requires a quote request form
  • Many core functions (payroll, attendance tracking, hiring management, surveys) are separate paid add-on modules rather than included in the base plan price

Pricing, plan by plan

BambooHR

$10/month per employee

No published plan breakdown. See the BambooHR review.

SmartHR

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the SmartHR review.

Which should you pick?

Choose BambooHR if

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

Choose SmartHR if

Nothing in the data separates SmartHR from BambooHR on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

SmartHR review

Questions people ask

Is BambooHR or SmartHR better?
Neither clearly leads. BambooHR starts at $10/month per employee and SmartHR at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, BambooHR or SmartHR?
BambooHR starts at $10/month per employee and SmartHR at On request.
Does BambooHR or SmartHR run on more platforms?
BambooHR runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api. SmartHR runs on Web.
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 SmartHR is typically brought in for.
What can BambooHR do that SmartHR cannot?
BambooHR covers Employee database, Time-off management, Benefits tracking, Performance reviews.
ShareXLinkedInRedditWhatsAppEmail

Related pages

More on BambooHR

More on SmartHR

Keep looking

Other head to heads