BambooHR vs. BQE CORE

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BambooHR
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
BambooHR is an cloud-based human resources solution that provides onboarding, payroll, and benefits management. It also offers automated time-off management and employee self-service.
$10
per month per user
BQE CORE
Score 8.8 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
BQE CORE is a business management solution built specifically for professional service firms. BQE CORE is a combination of a billing assistant, project management, and accounting solution. CORE is designed to do the hard work of delivering actionable insights directly to the user's dashboards or inbox. BQE CORE replaces the products Engineeroffice, Archioffice, and BillQuick; the functionality of these applications is now found in BQE CORE.N/A
Pricing
BambooHRBQE CORE
Editions & Modules
Core
$10
per month per user
Pro
Contact Sales
per month
Elite
Contact Sales
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BambooHRBQE CORE
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BambooHRBQE CORE
Considered Both Products
BambooHR

No answer on this topic

BQE CORE
Chose BQE CORE
our team uses both the platforms and does not tie very well. bamboo does have a more pleasant to the eye interface comparatively. it is also a bit easier to navigate and not have to click too many times to reach any particular information on bamboo. BQE CORE does do visuals of …
Features
BambooHRBQE CORE
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.9
377 Ratings
4% below category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Employee demographic data8.3335 Ratings00 Ratings
Employment history8.1333 Ratings00 Ratings
Job profiles and administration8.1345 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.7.7312 Ratings00 Ratings
Organizational charting7.8354 Ratings00 Ratings
Organization and location management8.1332 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)7.4202 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.6
260 Ratings
7% below category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Pay calculation8.1194 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors7.0144 Ratings00 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment7.4143 Ratings00 Ratings
Benefit plan administration7.1202 Ratings00 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.3196 Ratings00 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management7.9210 Ratings00 Ratings
Reimbursement management7.6130 Ratings00 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.8
328 Ratings
7% above category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Approval workflow8.7327 Ratings00 Ratings
Balance details8.5313 Ratings00 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment9.2129 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.5
366 Ratings
3% above category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
View and generate pay and benefit information8.5251 Ratings00 Ratings
Update personal information8.9365 Ratings00 Ratings
View company policy documentation8.4317 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee recognition7.9236 Ratings00 Ratings
View job history8.8331 Ratings00 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
9.1
74 Ratings
12% above category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Tracking of all physical assets9.174 Ratings00 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.3
270 Ratings
4% below category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Report builder7.4264 Ratings00 Ratings
Pre-built reports7.5261 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data6.9198 Ratings00 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.2
301 Ratings
2% above category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
New hire portal8.4289 Ratings00 Ratings
Manager tracking tools7.9260 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.9
223 Ratings
3% below category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Corporate goal setting7.0165 Ratings00 Ratings
Individual goal setting7.9215 Ratings00 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility9.169 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance tracking7.6212 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.8
241 Ratings
2% below category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Performance plans7.3228 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance improvement plans7.3195 Ratings00 Ratings
Review status tracking8.697 Ratings00 Ratings
Review reminders8.1101 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple review frequency7.7216 Ratings00 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
9.1
81 Ratings
14% above category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Create succession plans/pools8.946 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate ranking9.067 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate search9.068 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate development9.359 Ratings00 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.9
245 Ratings
0% below category average
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Job Requisition Management7.6186 Ratings00 Ratings
Company Website Posting7.6201 Ratings00 Ratings
Publish to Social Media9.291 Ratings00 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting7.3196 Ratings00 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention7.588 Ratings00 Ratings
Applicant Tracking8.0218 Ratings00 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts8.1234 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BambooHRBQE CORE
Small Businesses
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.2 out of 10
Intuit Enterprise Suite
Intuit Enterprise Suite
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.1 out of 10
Intuit Enterprise Suite
Intuit Enterprise Suite
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 10.0 out of 10
Planview AdaptiveWork
Planview AdaptiveWork
Score 8.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BambooHRBQE CORE
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(396 ratings)
9.4
(167 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.9
(18 ratings)
7.0
(8 ratings)
Usability
8.7
(323 ratings)
9.6
(117 ratings)
Availability
9.3
(5 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Performance
8.7
(5 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(174 ratings)
7.4
(90 ratings)
Online Training
8.2
(5 ratings)
6.4
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.6
(6 ratings)
2.3
(6 ratings)
Configurability
7.4
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
8.4
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.6
(2 ratings)
4.5
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.9
(5 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
9.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.9
(4 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(4 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
BambooHRBQE CORE
Likelihood to Recommend
BambooHR
BambooHR works well for centralizing core hr processes like time-off management, org charts, and performance reviews in a mid-sized company where all employees need self-service access to these functions. Its ease of use and customization make it well-suited for organizations that want employees at all levels to interact with hr tools directly without heavy training.
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
I would recommend this for our industry: architecture, engineering, or construction. I would recommend this for any larger firm with many employees or high number of projects. I would particularly recommend this for a company with projects that have budget constraints and where time tracking and expense tracking is very important. I would not recommend this complicated software for a small firm with a small amount of income or number of projects.
Read full review
Pros
BambooHR
  • Ease of use for established staff and admins, all the way down to brand new hires.
  • Integrations, especially for posting and managing jobs during the hiring process.
  • Making regularly occurring things like meetings and assessments easy to customize and to action easily.
  • Being able to assign out tasks for onboarding and offboarding.
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
  • Invoice Collections within Billing is a great tool because of the ability to take notes and track contact.
  • Invoices are professional looking and easy for our clients to understand the overall progress within each phase of their project.
  • Dashboards are the best tool EVER!
  • The Contact List feature within Clients setup is the perfect way to track multiple project managers within a large company that also has multiple contracts with us.
Read full review
Cons
BambooHR
  • I think it could display PTO in number of days, as well.
  • I wish that the benefits page was easier to navigate.
  • I don't like that the pay stub area is hidden, since I am typically alone at home when I review that data.
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
  • Customizable Reporting
  • Linking Project to Payment all together
  • Assigning contacts to particular roles - such as Invoicing, Contracts, etc.
  • Accounting Functionality - they are basically a project management accounting software, so in my opinion, they could learn some things from other accounting software such as QuickBooks etc.
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Likelihood to Renew
BambooHR
There's nothing wrong with this platform. I would recommend it to any business starting with more than 10 employees. I will continue to use the program for as long as I need to, hoping they continue being tremendous and finding other ways to incorporate more technology.
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
We have been using Core for a few years now, and honestly started to look at other software systems to see what was out there. What we chose was a nightmare for migration so we never left Core. Now we have added invoicing and payments from Core instead of double entry with QBO. Still only a few cycles in but looks like it will be up to speed soon and working smoothly.
Read full review
Usability
BambooHR
I often have trouble finding where a setting or task I need should be. It's gotten better since we started using BambooHR®, but it's still hard to find things. Support chat is ALWAYS unavailable when I do have a question, even during their posted business hours.
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BQE Software Inc.
The foundation is awesome, like I have said before, however the house being built on it, the educational resources being provided to us (more of sales pitches that don't work), and flexible workflow opportunities, is making us look elsewhere for how much we will be spending on per user. It's crazy to think how flexible they are not when it comes to user settings. Lack of integration with other sources is awful.
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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.
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BQE Software Inc.
I can only remember a couple of times in 4 years that Core has been unavailable.
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.
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BQE Software Inc.
This is one area that does need some improvement. It can be slow at time, so we had our IT look at it from our side and we had no issues, so it has to be some slowness on their side.
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Support Rating
BambooHR
I think that the Bamboo customer support team is great. I've only had to contact them twice, but both times they were very easy to work with, assisted me quickly, and made sure I fully understood the solution and that it worked the way I needed it to.
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BQE Software Inc.
As a new employee and CORE user, I talk to support on a weekly basis. I have never had to wait for more than 3 min to get connect with a support rep, and all my questions have been answered. The support representatives are polite and eager to help no matter how simple your question is.
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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).
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BQE Software Inc.
No answers on this topic
Online Training
BambooHR
Overall this training was great and our implementation specialist was wonderful and very helpful. We felt really prepared once our training was completed, But we could get additional help immediately even when we were live. The continuation Support heros after implementation are wonderful and you can always get a LIVE person each time you call into their office.
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BQE Software Inc.
Make sure you have someone training you that fits your style of learning.
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Implementation Rating
BambooHR
We implemented bambooHR in Fall, 2023 then implemented Payroll 1/1/24. A vital piece of information was not known or missed in that we are exempt from State Unemployment Tax and have a Reimbursement Set-up, so bambooHR did not send Payroll Reports to the State. Those reports need to be sent regardless if we are exempt or not.
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BQE Software Inc.
It does take some time to understand the options and to find the best invoice template.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
BambooHR
These are the three that come to mind, and we use each program for different things. We stick to HR driven areas for Bamboo, as we haven't shifted to it for payroll or project management. I do find Bamboo to be the most user-friendly, with the smallest learning curve of all the other programs, though.
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
Deltek Vision is far more advanced, more encompassing and offers more flexibility with what you want to do. However, it's also quite difficult to use, whereas BQE CORE is intuitive and user friendly. The trade off is worth it in some arenas but overall it's not suited for a larger fast paced company. Great for smaller companies.
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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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BQE Software Inc.
No answers on this topic
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.
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BQE Software Inc.
This software works on a small and large scale.
Read full review
Professional Services
BambooHR
VERY professional!
Read full review
BQE Software Inc.
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
BambooHR
  • We were able to cancel our ATS monthly subscription with another provider to use the Hiring module with BambooHR®. We save on average $600 a month!
  • We cancelled another monthly subscription that we were using for time off tracking saving hundreds a month.
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BQE Software Inc.
  • Quick setup of new tasks under a parent project, with immediate hourly billing to it.
  • Monitoring of details of non-chargeable efforts in appropriate detail
  • Validation of hourly cost, billing cost, benefit cost, profitability by person and role
  • Company tracking of write-off's included in corporate and project reporting, no data is "lost"
  • Can track excessive work time as +PTO in lieu of pay for use as future vacation
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ScreenShots

BambooHR Screenshots

Screenshot of the Job Info tabScreenshot of Onboarding TasksScreenshot of a New Hire PacketScreenshot of an Employee Performance ReportScreenshot of Employee Satisfaction (eNPS®)Screenshot of Open Enrollment

BQE CORE Screenshots

Screenshot of Core powered by BQE SoftwareScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Dashboard ViewScreenshot of BQE CORE 360* Firm Performance ViewScreenshot of BQE CORE Reporting & AnalyticsScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Time EntryScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Expense Tracking