BambooHR vs. Paylocity

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BambooHR
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
BambooHR is an on-line human resources solution that provides onboarding, payroll, and benefits management. It also offers automated time-off management and employee self-service.
$250
per month
Paylocity
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Paylocity provides 24/7 access to your online payroll and human resource data management. Paylocity offers highly customizable payroll functionality, as well as HR, benefits administration, and time and talent management programs.N/A
Pricing
BambooHRPaylocity
Editions & Modules
Core
$250
per month
Pro
$250
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BambooHRPaylocity
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsNo matter what HR looks like at your company, we have the perfect plan for you!
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BambooHRPaylocity
Considered Both Products
BambooHR
Chose BambooHR
Loved BambooHR and was looking to move to them with my last company until I decided to make a job change. Paylocity was very difficult to use and their customer service was abysmal. I did not use the payroll feature. The reporting with Trax was not as robust as we would have …
Chose BambooHR
We have BambooHR because of its great interface and user-friendly design. It meets our employees' needs as well as our employer's needs. We have integrations with some programs where Bonusly isn't able to cover.
Chose BambooHR
Although there are many products in the marketplace, there is no perfect system. BambooHR is the most economical HRIS for a small business, start-up, or business that has never had HR software. BambooHR was selected for its affordable functionality. However, if they continue …
Chose BambooHR
I used to use that software but couldn't meet up my demand. But in BambooHR workforce management platform features are really amazing than that. Platforms, content and overall everything of BambooHR is work-worthy.
Chose BambooHR
Other tools with a more unified platform (including a more mature payroll solution) have been much more robust in terms of their data and reporting capabilities. BambooHR, however, has the edge on having a flashier look that may be more appealing to some up-and-coming …
Paylocity
Chose Paylocity
BambooHR is built for small to medium businesses. Paylocity is more powerful, and it's what we need. Paylocity was in use before our company merged, so it was already running. Our employees like it and find it very helpful. BambooHR is great for what it is. It's like comparing …
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity is FAR better than Paycom, ADP, and Paychex. BambooHR is much more user friendly and "fun" but not quite as robust. I would say for companies over 250 employees that need an all in one, that Paylocity outperforms BambooHR.
Chose Paylocity
Paycom looked very dated but had decent functionality. BambooHR is for smaller companies. Paylocity was a great price and platform switching from ADP TotalSource. Used Paycor at another company I worked for an did not have great customer service experience.
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity has much more functionality than BambooHR. I think BambooHR was simpler to use and had a cleaner look, but it did not have integrated Payroll, and it could not report out at the level that Paylocity reports out on. BambooHR is too barebones for the needs of our …
Chose Paylocity
It is better for growing organizations due to its integrations with Bswfit and BambooHR. It saves time when we do not manually enter benefits, which we had to do while we were on Gusto.
Chose Paylocity
We were very close to selecting Proliant or Rippling. Proliant because their customer service was superior to any of the other platforms we looked at. They were so much more personable and ready to work with us. However, we chose Paylocity because Proliant didn't have many …
Chose Paylocity
Price Ease of system commitment to a long-term relationship.
Chose Paylocity
Pricing and ease of use were much better with Paylocity.
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity seems to have more functionality.
Chose Paylocity
All HRIS are clunky, some more than others. I like it better than Workday and ADP.
Chose Paylocity
I think it is an easy platform to use and navigate. Great customer service.
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity is so much easier to use and automates many of the daily HR functions allowing me to focus more on individual employees.
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity was the best "bang for our buck" in terms of what the system offered versus what the cost was of implementation and continuous use. We love the mobile features, and Paylocity is great for a company of our size (currently just under 100 employees). We also chose …
Chose Paylocity
I think Paylocity offers a lot more that those companies don't. I love community feature and I know when I used Kronos they had nothing like that and anything that they did have, it was effective or easy to use. A lot of team members struggled to use that system.
Chose Paylocity
We like the ease of use of the modules and how it connects with our Finance ERP. Paylocity is less expensive than some of the other options out there and the ROI has been invaluable. The implementation was the easiest I have been through and I have been through at least six …
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity is a nice middle ground between functionality and cost. You get everything you need and more for a reasonable amount per month. They also don't nickel and dime you for add-ons which we liked. I will say that for over 500 employees, I like UKG the best, but they are …
Chose Paylocity
ADP - HR Powersource and ProBusiness and report writer - doesn't compare to the report writing capabilities. Paylocity does have more functionality with payroll processing which I appreciate and the systems are connected which is helpful as well. SAP SuccessFactors - the …
Chose Paylocity
We selected Paylocity because it was very intuitive to use and at a good price for all the modules we received. The implementation process seemed very straightforward and I really liked my sales rep.
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity does not allow for easy employee file tracking. It doesn't create nice employee files that I can add information to in a functional way and notes in a time stamped way. It would be nice if these features improved as other systems to allow these functions and they are …
Chose Paylocity
Paylocity is more robust. It has everything in one site. Other sites we have used in the past there always seems to be something we need to use another site for, usually this is payroll that we have to have on another service. But paylocity has the payroll function and makes it …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
BambooHRPaylocity
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.1
122 Ratings
3% above category average
Paylocity
7.8
859 Ratings
0% below category average
Employee demographic data7.7104 Ratings8.5810 Ratings
Employment history8.7111 Ratings8.2791 Ratings
Job profiles and administration8.4108 Ratings7.8726 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.8.295 Ratings7.6739 Ratings
Organizational charting7.1107 Ratings7.1677 Ratings
Organization and location management8.098 Ratings7.8659 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)8.558 Ratings7.5565 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.1
78 Ratings
1% above category average
Paylocity
8.1
847 Ratings
1% above category average
Pay calculation8.252 Ratings8.6823 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors8.245 Ratings7.3390 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment8.030 Ratings8.5593 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.860 Ratings7.2564 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.459 Ratings8.9822 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.062 Ratings8.2650 Ratings
Reimbursement management6.731 Ratings7.9403 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.8
106 Ratings
9% above category average
Paylocity
7.6
710 Ratings
6% below category average
Approval workflow9.1104 Ratings7.9631 Ratings
Balance details8.997 Ratings7.4678 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment8.487 Ratings7.4528 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.7
117 Ratings
7% above category average
Paylocity
8.3
859 Ratings
2% above category average
View and generate pay and benefit information7.971 Ratings8.5836 Ratings
Update personal information9.2116 Ratings8.6850 Ratings
View company policy documentation8.996 Ratings8.0676 Ratings
Employee recognition8.678 Ratings8.3592 Ratings
View job history9.0109 Ratings8.3714 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.8
48 Ratings
1% above category average
Paylocity
7.5
240 Ratings
3% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets7.848 Ratings7.5240 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.7
93 Ratings
1% above category average
Paylocity
7.0
785 Ratings
8% below category average
Report builder8.189 Ratings7.0751 Ratings
Pre-built reports7.787 Ratings7.4765 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data7.463 Ratings6.5459 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.6
96 Ratings
7% above category average
Paylocity
8.2
731 Ratings
2% above category average
New hire portal8.792 Ratings8.3727 Ratings
Manager tracking tools8.683 Ratings8.0568 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.2
60 Ratings
1% above category average
Paylocity
7.4
381 Ratings
10% below category average
Corporate goal setting8.246 Ratings7.4289 Ratings
Individual goal setting8.258 Ratings7.4352 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility8.245 Ratings7.3250 Ratings
Performance tracking8.154 Ratings7.4354 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.9
66 Ratings
0% below category average
Paylocity
7.4
490 Ratings
7% below category average
Performance plans7.659 Ratings7.2439 Ratings
Performance improvement plans8.053 Ratings7.2364 Ratings
Review status tracking7.960 Ratings7.4451 Ratings
Review reminders8.261 Ratings7.5453 Ratings
Multiple review frequency7.857 Ratings7.6370 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.1
45 Ratings
10% below category average
Paylocity
7.1
225 Ratings
10% below category average
Create succession plans/pools5.831 Ratings6.7148 Ratings
Candidate ranking7.737 Ratings7.1183 Ratings
Candidate search7.139 Ratings7.4205 Ratings
Candidate development8.035 Ratings7.4165 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.1
79 Ratings
4% above category average
Paylocity
7.7
462 Ratings
1% below category average
Job Requisition Management8.055 Ratings7.8379 Ratings
Company Website Posting8.362 Ratings8.1405 Ratings
Publish to Social Media8.256 Ratings7.7312 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting8.259 Ratings7.7379 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention7.453 Ratings7.0317 Ratings
Applicant Tracking8.269 Ratings8.0424 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts8.672 Ratings7.9422 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BambooHRPaylocity
Small Businesses
Patriot Software
Patriot Software
Score 9.0 out of 10
Patriot Software
Patriot Software
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.5 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.3 out of 10
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BambooHRPaylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(126 ratings)
7.7
(894 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(10 ratings)
8.9
(85 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(53 ratings)
8.5
(59 ratings)
Availability
9.3
(5 ratings)
8.8
(9 ratings)
Performance
8.7
(5 ratings)
9.4
(9 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(50 ratings)
7.2
(80 ratings)
Online Training
9.2
(4 ratings)
8.3
(10 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.6
(3 ratings)
8.2
(34 ratings)
Configurability
8.6
(4 ratings)
8.3
(7 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
8.3
(3 ratings)
8.1
(4 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.6
(2 ratings)
6.6
(7 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.9
(5 ratings)
8.8
(8 ratings)
Professional Services
9.2
(2 ratings)
9.1
(4 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.9
(4 ratings)
7.3
(7 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(4 ratings)
9.0
(6 ratings)
User Testimonials
BambooHRPaylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
BambooHR
I think BambooHR is meant for companies that have more than 200 employees, because it is not cheap, but for what they are offering, it is a nice software with some easy UI to understand for everyone at a company. I think for a small company, it is way too big of a software and it is not that worth the price.
Read full review
Paylocity
Paylocity works well for our organization. Ease of use for our managers and employees is very important. Makes it easier for us in HR to manage. Time and attendance works very well. Efficient and effective. Payroll runs very smoothly. We appreciate the performance and compensation module for tracking employees performance, journals and getting feedback and annual compensation.
Read full review
Pros
BambooHR
  • Customer Service - The customer service is consistent and the team is always eager to help. They are polite, patient, and there are never terrible interactions.
  • Communication - BambooHR communication channels are simple. There are many different ways to communicate with the team. I prefer e-mail because it helps me keep track of the conversations and they respond within the appropriate time. Also, the e-mail reminders or notifications help tremendously and it's not overbearing.
  • User Interface - It's simple and easy to use!
Read full review
Paylocity
  • Customer Service is always helpful with little wait time.
  • Always improving; for example, the recent change to processing payroll. So much easier.
  • Onboarding makes it simple and the fact that the company can personalize the messaging to new hires allows us to make it more personalized.
  • Having an assigned account manager regardless of company size is definitely a plus.
Read full review
Cons
BambooHR
  • Reporting - I wish that you could choose a timeframe for all reports. There are times when I need to run a report for information at a point in time, but there is no functionality to complete this (maybe this is an add-on, but seems like it should be a basic function.)
  • ATS - Customizable notifications and making it easier to figure out how to change notification/email settings. I figured it out, but it was difficult to find. I wish you could choose to notify managers of candidates 1/week instead of every time someone applies.
  • Custom Holidays - being able to set up 2 different Holiday policies for different working groups. Some of our team gets a floating holiday, but we can't set that up without doing it for the entire company.
  • Being able to intercept a form that was signed by an employee but not the 2nd signer. We can't access onboarding forms that new hires signed after the 2nd signer left the company. Now we have to have our team resign all their onboarding forms because we cannot access the one with their signature.
  • Delegation for approvals - being able to delegate this when someone is on leave or time away so that Admins don't have to manage.
  • Org chart - being able to customize this feature
  • More broad or customizable EEO categories
Read full review
Paylocity
  • Recruiting piece/ATS could be improved.
  • A candidate being able to save progress on their application is really a must as they can't leave and come back to their application without having to restart, i.e. if they need to get a phone number for a reference for example.
  • Could use more room in entering the job for internal notes.
  • Quirky when doing cut and paste of job details that leaves spaces that aren't in the document being pasted.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
BambooHR
Overall we have not had any reason to discontinue our use of BambooHR. We have not found a better solution, and there is no pressing reason that we would want to move away from the product. If they should fail to continue to improve their features over time, I could see this changing down the road, but for now I would say we are very satisfied with them. We would definitely like to see continued growth of their product however.
Read full review
Paylocity
We have had many issues with the way our platform was set up at implementation that still continue to plague us. In addition, our benefits, in particular our FSA, have been mis-managed causing a balance due from an employee (and also a lot of work for our accounting and HR team, as well as stress for the employee). Our service rep continues to answer incorrectly on many fronts (original response is usually check out this paylocity article, vs. helping) and recently our COBRA management was mishandled (not adding Dental to a person on Cobra who had requested it). So- all in all...we are not particularly happy w/ Paylocity
Read full review
Usability
BambooHR
Is very easy to navigate. All processes once explained, you can actually create an implement process associated to your HR goals. It is like a digital file of your employees, with functionalities that let you be on track on onboarding, performance, information, among others process. Time off approvals are easy to navigate.
Read full review
Paylocity
Overall, in my experience, Paylocity has been easy to use for both staff and administrators. First, the staff has an application and inputting Paid Time Off is easy to do. I then get an alert on my app and I am able to approve it on the spot from my app that gives me access as an employee and an administrator without having to use multiple apps or logins. As an administrator I think the portal is easy to use, Paylocity did a great job showing me tools and rolling out training classes before rollout.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
BambooHR
Yes, there is a huge team in the back of the online platform or it looks like it because I have never been left without an answer when I have a question or waiting from a response on my chat .... There must be a huge team, this is so great and I always seem to have someone that is very knowledgeable too. So many times in the past I had to leave with customer service that would connect you with someone else because of the expertise, here everyone seems to be some kind of an expert in the HR function.
Read full review
Paylocity
Paylocity support is always available and I never have to wait endlessly on hold. If our dedicated account manage is not available, there is an entire team assigned to our account. Every one of them is knowledgeable about our organization and Paylocity's process.
Read full review
Performance
BambooHR
I love BambooHR. Reports are easy to run and download and it usually covers any types of requests I get from the management team. You get excel or .csv downloads/reports and it is fast and simple, not too crowded so it is easy to read through. We don't integrate the tool yet but again, soon we will. we just did not had the time to utilize it yet but that's the plan.
Read full review
Paylocity
pages load in an acceptable amount of time, reports come back quickly, but integration is very complicated and hasn't been possible
Read full review
Support Rating
BambooHR
I have used the help chat function several times and that is easy and great to use. There are also many articles, FAQs sections and an entire learning platform to learn on your own. I believe that is great. I also have used ChatGPT to ask how to do certain functions as well, which were accurately reported.
Read full review
Paylocity
Everyone wants immediate assistance. Awaiting a response from an email only to ask 2-3 more questions is time consuming. Within the first six months of setup, I would rather respond back to the instructors who provided me the training in each category of my contract.
Read full review
In-Person Training
BambooHR
I didn't have in-person training besides teaching my managers how to use the program. However, I couldn't omit this question (maybe a system glitch).
Read full review
Paylocity
No answers on this topic
Online Training
BambooHR
As far as I can recall, everything went well with doing it online and got questions answered. Was thankful to work with a dummy file to get used to some practices prior to getting our own domain within bamboo to then place our personnel information in the system, this helped a lot!
Read full review
Paylocity
The training was live online, but was with a group of other companies. We did not receive any personalized training with our team. Whenever we would ask for training, we would be sent a peak article link or a video. It felt like the reps we dealt with didn't know the answer to the questions.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
BambooHR
It was some work involved in moving all of our documents from a drive over to the correct folders and creating the system of what folders were needed and what got placed where
Read full review
Paylocity
I had gone through an implementation process of another HR platform (Paycom) in my previous job and was traumatized, it was painful. I was surprised how easy and fast it was with Paylocity, the team was very helpful and set us up for success
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
BambooHR
Although there are many products in the marketplace, there is no perfect system. BambooHR is the most economical HRIS for a small business, start-up, or business that has never had HR software. BambooHR was selected for its affordable functionality. However, if they continue to ingore the lack of functionality the pretty package will no longer have any value.
Read full review
Paylocity
We honestly had a program that only kept track of our Demographics, salaries, etc. then all of our Payroll was done on paper with paper leave slips etc. When I saw Paylocity, I was very excited about how easy it is/would be to use. [...] Our Paylocity rep that I spoke to was super GREAT in the explanation of Paylocity and I didn't even shop around much.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
BambooHR
Since my organization has dropped with employees, I always find ways to reduce costs. I thought there would be a cheaper option, but I was glad that my package included a lot for the price, and downgrading would cost more. The rep could have let me downgraded and taken me to a higher package. I am thankful that didn't happen.
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Paylocity
I wasn't involved in the sales process. I joined the organization after Paylocity was implemented.
Read full review
Scalability
BambooHR
There is so much you can do with this platform, it is incredible and so welcoming. We don't utilize it 100% yet just because we are growing and the HR team has not been able to concentrate on other areas offered to us but but we will soon. Which is also why we got the product, specifically because what BambooHR can do to help us meet our growing business needs.
Read full review
Paylocity
You have an account manager assigned to you on a daily basis but that person is barely available to you
Read full review
Professional Services
BambooHR
VERY professional!
Read full review
Paylocity
Support is quick and proffessional
Read full review
Return on Investment
BambooHR
  • It's been a great force multiplier for our HR staff, supplementing their skills to allow them to focus on more complex tasks.
  • Employees enjoy using it and have to talk to HR staff less with the self-service options.
  • You may find as your organization grows that you outgrow a module or BambooHR and will replace with a dedicated solution.
Read full review
Paylocity
  • Definitely more consistent processes. Everything is very user friendly and it reduces the amount of time it has taken us in the past before we started using Paylocity. Everything flows super smoothly.
  • We have an improved retention since we have used Paylocity. Before hand, many employees thought it was difficult to find anything like tax forms, pay stubs, benefit elections, etc. when we used other platforms before we implemented our data into Paylocity.
  • Costs have been reduced and the decision-making process has improved and got quicker. Before Paylocity, it would take at least a week to get a salary increase approved, or a job title change approved. Now, it take less than a day and is super easy.
Read full review
ScreenShots

BambooHR Screenshots

Screenshot of BambooHR's Reporting