The best HR software for small businesses in 2025

I've always dreaded filling out the paperwork that comes with starting a new job: tax withholding, direct deposit forms, I-9s, benefits enrollment, the list goes on. But it's worth remembering that someone has to send, review, and process all of those documents for every single hire. And that only scratches the surface of what HR entails. 

At mid-sized and larger companies, these responsibilities might be handled by a crack team of specialists. But for small businesses, HR is more likely to be a one-person job—and that one person is probably you. Good news: I've done my research and testing and put together a list of the best HR software for small businesses that'll help lighten your load.

The 6 best HR apps for small businesses

• BambooHR for all-around HR software

• Gusto for payroll

• Zoho People for affordability

• GoCo for ease of use

• Homebase for hourly teams

• Deel for startups

What makes the best HR tool for small businesses?

Not every small business has the same HR needs, but as soon as you start hiring full-time employees, there are certain tasks you have to be able to do: payroll, benefits administration, onboarding, scheduling, and time-off management. Some of these things can technically be done via email and spreadsheets, but some (like payroll) will become a major headache without dedicated software. After all, taxes are a thing.

If you're a small business owner, you may be handling the lion's share of these duties on your own. This means you're going to want an all-in-one HR app that excels in these key areas: 

• User experience: For managers or small business owners, HR tools need to be easy to set up and use without dedicating weeks to learning the ropes. HR apps should also give employees access to an intuitive self-service portal where they can view their paystubs, time and attendance, and other key information.

• HR features: Small businesses need HR software that can do a lot and do it cheaply. Key HR functions like employee management, scheduling, and basic metrics should be included out of the box, and add-ons should be available to unlock additional features. 

• Payroll and benefits: These are complicated processes that often require dedicated software, so I looked for apps that let you manage payroll and benefits as part of an all-in-one HR platform or reasonably priced add-ons.

• Integrations: HR apps should seamlessly connect with other business tools, including accounting software, CRMs, project management software, email marketing tools, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and other no-code integrations through Zapier. 

To evaluate these apps, I tested them myself, pored over hundreds of user reviews, and spoke to management experts who know what a small business HR app needs to pass muster.

The best small business HR software at a glance

Best all-around HR software for small businesses

BambooHR (Web, iOS, Android)

BambooHR pros:

• Comprehensive HR toolkit

• Clean, easy-to-use interface

• Automates repetitive tasks

BambooHR cons:

• Some features cost extra

BambooHR's main selling point is that it's feature-rich but simple to set up and use, which means fewer hours spent learning, implementing, and troubleshooting the software. For small business owners who wear multiple hats, this is a huge plus. 

You may even be your company's entire HR department, so the less time it takes you to onboard employees, field time-off requests, and manage benefits, the better. BambooHR simplifies these tasks by giving managers a centralized hub for employee records, reports, and payroll—and by giving employees self-service dashboards that let them do things like check their PTO balance, access paystubs, and upload documents. You'll be able to set up automated HR workflows, too, for repetitive tasks like approving requests or alerting employees when it's time for a performance review. 

BambooHR is also excellent as an applicant tracking system, making it easy to screen, filter, and communicate with candidates from the Hiring dashboard. And because it's an all-in-one HR platform, you can move anyone you hire directly into onboarding without having to switch apps or transfer records.

Brooke Webber, head of marketing at Ninja Patches, told me: "BambooHR allows new hires to complete everything—contracts, tax forms, and even shirt sizes for uniforms—before their first day. I would estimate that we cut onboarding time by 60%, and employees arrived ready to work instead of filling out paperwork in the breakroom."

It's worth noting that payroll, benefits administration, and time tracking are paid add-ons. Pricing for BambooHR is by request only, and users say it can get fairly expensive if you want the full HR package. But they do offer a discount if you bundle payroll and benefits—and it's worth it to know everything is taken care of.

With more than 125 pre-built integrations, BambooHR covers a lot of bases. But you'll be able to cover even more if you connect BambooHR with Zapier, which lets you do things like automatically add time-off requests to Google Calendar or post new employees to Slack channels. Learn more about how to automate BambooHR, or get started with one of these pre-made workflows.

BambooHR pricing: By request

Best small business HR app for payroll

Gusto (Web, iOS, Android)

Gusto pros:

• Automated tax filing

• Unlimited payrolls 

• Can be expanded with more HR features

Gusto cons:

• Limited features on the basic plan

Gusto has carved out a niche for itself in the payroll system space, but small businesses need HR apps that can do more than just manage tax filing and direct deposits. That's probably why Gusto has expanded to include benefits administration, time and attendance, hiring and onboarding, and performance tracking. 

Still, Gusto is primarily a payroll app, and you'll have to upgrade to higher-tier plans to get access to the full employee management suite. On the Simple plan, you get unlimited payrolls and automated tax filing for a single state, plus a self-service portal where employees can access paystubs and health insurance administration. For almost everything else—including time tracking, PTO requests, and onboarding—you'll either have to purchase add-ons or jump to the Plus and Premium plans. 

But Gusto still packs in a lot of value for small businesses, as its user-friendly, full-service payroll system is a huge time-saver. Michael Nemeroff, co-founder and CEO of RushOrderTees told me that, before Gusto, he was "manually processing payroll and constantly worrying about whether we were filing taxes correctly and getting paychecks out on time."

"Gusto processes federal, state, and local filings automatically," Michael added. "We reduced payroll time by at least 75%, which allowed me to concentrate on running the business rather than chasing paperwork." And you won't pay extra for these tax services so long as you're only filing in one state.

Gusto doesn't connect with Zapier yet, but it integrates natively with apps like Xero, QuickBooks, Clover, and nearly 150 others. 

Gusto pricing: From $49/month for the Simple plan

Best affordable HR software for small businesses

Zoho People (Web, iOS, Android)

Zoho People pros:

• Affordable pricing model

• Basic free plan for five users

• AI assistant helps with HR tasks

Zoho People cons:

• Hiring and payroll require separate Zoho apps

Software giant Zoho has an offering for pretty much any app class you can think of, and HR is no exception. Zoho People is their employee management solution, and it's one of the most affordable apps in this space.

When I say affordable, I'm talking a monthly cost of $1.50 per user for the Essential HR plan, with no other fee attached (and no minimum number of users). There's also a free plan that gets you access to a basic employee database and time-off management functionality for up to five users. 

While Zoho People won't do everything an app like BambooHR does—no benefits administration, for one—it still gets you a pretty impressive feature set even at the cheapest tier, covering onboarding, time-off, shift and document management, and reports. Plus, you'll be able to use Zoho's AI assistant, Zia, which can assist with HR tasks like time-off requests and answer employee questions.

Kevin Liu, VP of products at Octoparse, likes the app for its automation capabilities. "Tasks, like leave tracking, attendance management, and performance reviews, are fully automated, cutting down on tedious admin work. For businesses with limited HR staff, this can be very beneficial," he told me.

Upgrading to higher plans costs as little as $1 or $2 per user and will net you tools like attendance management and timesheets (on the Professional plan) or performance tracking, advanced analytics, and compensation management (on the Premium plan).  

However, it's important to note that Zoho People isn't built for payroll or hiring. Instead, it integrates with other apps—Zoho Payroll and Zoho Recruit—which you'll have to pay for separately. Depending on your needs and the size of your business, this may not be an issue, but it does mean that Zoho People can't serve as an all-in-one HR platform on its own.

As with other apps in the Zoho ecosystem, you can connect Zoho People with Zapier and integrate with the tools you use on a daily basis. This lets you automate tasks like adding new Zoho People records to Google Sheets. Try out one of these Zap templates.

Zoho People pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $1.50/user/month for the Essential HR plan

Best small business HR tool for ease of use

GoCo (Web, iOS, Android)

GoCo pros:

• Highly accessible

• Time-saving workflow templates

• Dedicated customer support team

GoCo cons:

• Add-ons can get expensive

Being easy to use is a prerequisite for any HR app on this list, but GoCo distinguishes itself by being incredibly streamlined from sign-up to setup to daily use. And it's one of the few apps that gives small businesses a dedicated (and fully human) support team to walk them through the ins and outs of the software. 

GoCo does pretty much everything an HR app can do: benefits, payroll, time and attendance, hiring, onboarding, and analytics—all from a clean, readable interface that keeps this feature set from being overwhelming.  

Automating GoCo is easy, too, as you'll get access to a marketplace of pre-made workflow templates you can use to send surveys to employees, request documents or IT access, run performance reviews, and even build reports with data like hiring trends and turnover rates. These templates are a major time-saving tool that most HR apps simply don't offer, and you can request new ones if you don't see what you need on the marketplace.

GoCo's pricing is by request only, and even if you shell out for the highest tier, you'll have to purchase features like payroll, benefits, and attendance management as add-ons. Some users report that this can get fairly costly, especially if you plan to use GoCo as an all-in-one HR solution.

As far as integrations go, GoCo connects with quite a few apps, including payroll, benefits, time tracking, hiring, and accounting software. So, you don't necessarily have to pay for GoCo add-ons if you already use another app for any of these tasks.  

And to really make it fit seamlessly into your tech stack, you can connect GoCo with Zapier and automate HR tasks like adding new employees to Google Sheets or posting GoCo time-off requests to Slack channels. Get started with one of these pre-made workflows.  

GoCo pricing: By request

Best small business HR app for hourly teams

Homebase (Web, iOS, Android)

Homebase pros:

• Easy-to-use time clock and timesheets

• Tracks labor law compliance

• Free plan for up to 10 employees

Homebase cons:

• Limited integrations

Homebase is an HR app with a specific focus on small businesses—especially those with hourly teams. If your employees clock in and out of their shifts, you'll appreciate Homebase's easy-to-use schedule and time clock, which can be accessed from the mobile app. On top of this, it can handle payroll processing, hiring and onboarding, and even team communication with a built-in messaging tool.

What features you get will depend on what plan you subscribe to, but if you just need employee scheduling and time tracking, you can use Homebase's generous free plan for up to 10 team members. There's no time limit and no catch, and if your team grows, you can jump to the Essentials plan and invite unlimited employees. 

Homebase shows you when employees clock in, when they start and end breaks, and when they sign off for the day—all in a handy time card view that can be accessed on desktop, mobile, or POS (point of sale) devices. Your employees will see the same view, and they'll even get alerts if their schedule changes or if they miss breaks (which is important for labor law compliance). 

Homebase generates timesheets automatically for every pay period, and if you purchase the payroll add-on, your team can get paid automatically, too. This add-on will cost you an extra $39 per month base fee plus $6 per month per employee paid. Or, you can sync Homebase timesheets with a separate payroll app that handles payment processing and taxes, like Gusto or ADP.

To expand its functionality, Homebase connects with a range of POS systems, payroll software, and job boards. But as of right now, it isn't compatible with Zapier.

Homebase pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $30/month for the Essentials plan

Best small business HR software for startups

Deel (Web, iOS, Android)

Deel pros:

• Compliant with labor laws in more than 150 countries

• Automated international tax filing 

• Free HR platform

Deel cons:

• Can be costly

Deel services a lot of big-name enterprise companies. But it's also a super compelling platform for distributed startups, with a special emphasis on global hiring and HR management.

Deel is an all-in-one HR platform that can handle the same tasks as the other apps on this list: payroll, time and attendance, employee management, and so on. And it does these things well, with automated onboarding that can be set up in as little as five minutes, options to build training courses and employee surveys, and detailed performance tracking, to name a few highlights.

What's unique about Deel is its international focus. It allows you to manage employees from more than 150 countries, all while staying compliant with local labor laws. On top of letting you onboard and track attendance for workers across the globe, you can also use Deel to hire contractors or full-time employees and run their payrolls with automated tax filing and currency conversions.

Of course, not every small business needs to hire people from around the world, but for startups with aggressive growth strategies, it can be a useful way to bring in top talent. If that sounds like something your business would benefit from, Deel may be the HR tool for you.

If you do decide to hire and run payroll internationally, Deel can be on the pricey side (although prices are lower if all your employees live in the U.S.). But its HR plan is 100% free and surprisingly comprehensive. No catches, either.

Deel has integrations with a range of accounting, productivity, and other software, but you can connect it with Zapier and get access to thousands more. Zapier lets you do things like automatically create Airtable records and Trello cards from new Deel contracts. Here are a few more workflows to get you started.

Deel pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $20/employee/month for the Deel Engage plan and $29/employee/month for Global Payroll

Automate HR workflows with Zapier

When it comes to picking the right HR software for your small business, nobody knows better than you what your needs are. Still, this list should help you narrow down your options from 100+ to a handful. 

Zapier can streamline your HR workflows even more by integrating the apps you use every day, so you can focus more on keeping your employees happy than filling out paperwork. You could even leverage Zapier Interfaces to build a custom employee portal that automates new hire setup, or use Zapier Tables to store and manage employee records. Get started with one of these templates.

Employee Onboarding Manager Template

Kickstart an onboarding process with a button from a centralized employee directory.

Try it

Employee Directory Template

Centralize employee contact and personal information with automatic reminders for work anniversaries and birthdays.

Try it

Employee Onboarding Template

New team member onboarding portal with tasks, resources, and forms with a custom chatbot.

Try it

Related reading:

• How to create an onboarding system with Zapier

• What is HRIS?

• The best AI recruiting tools

• The best employee onboarding software