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
134 Ratings
3% above category average
Paylocity
7.8
861 Ratings
1% below category average
Employee demographic data7.7113 Ratings8.5812 Ratings
Employment history8.7121 Ratings8.2792 Ratings
Job profiles and administration8.4119 Ratings7.8728 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.8.2106 Ratings7.6741 Ratings
Organizational charting7.3118 Ratings7.1679 Ratings
Organization and location management8.1108 Ratings7.8661 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)8.664 Ratings7.5567 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.0
86 Ratings
0% below category average
Paylocity
8.1
849 Ratings
1% above category average
Pay calculation8.259 Ratings8.6825 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors8.249 Ratings7.3392 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment8.036 Ratings8.5595 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.865 Ratings7.2566 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.564 Ratings8.9824 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.068 Ratings8.2652 Ratings
Reimbursement management6.735 Ratings7.9405 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.9
115 Ratings
10% above category average
Paylocity
7.6
712 Ratings
6% below category average
Approval workflow9.2113 Ratings8.0633 Ratings
Balance details8.9105 Ratings7.4680 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment8.494 Ratings7.4530 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.6
128 Ratings
6% above category average
Paylocity
8.3
861 Ratings
2% above category average
View and generate pay and benefit information8.280 Ratings8.5838 Ratings
Update personal information9.0127 Ratings8.6852 Ratings
View company policy documentation8.7106 Ratings8.0678 Ratings
Employee recognition8.484 Ratings8.3594 Ratings
View job history8.7119 Ratings8.3716 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.7
51 Ratings
1% below category average
Paylocity
7.5
241 Ratings
4% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets7.751 Ratings7.5241 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.7
103 Ratings
1% above category average
Paylocity
7.0
787 Ratings
8% below category average
Report builder8.198 Ratings7.0753 Ratings
Pre-built reports7.797 Ratings7.4766 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data7.470 Ratings6.5461 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.6
106 Ratings
7% above category average
Paylocity
8.2
732 Ratings
2% above category average
New hire portal8.7101 Ratings8.3728 Ratings
Manager tracking tools8.693 Ratings8.0569 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.2
65 Ratings
0% above category average
Paylocity
7.4
383 Ratings
10% below category average
Corporate goal setting8.249 Ratings7.4290 Ratings
Individual goal setting8.263 Ratings7.4354 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility8.248 Ratings7.3252 Ratings
Performance tracking8.159 Ratings7.3356 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.8
71 Ratings
2% below category average
Paylocity
7.4
492 Ratings
7% below category average
Performance plans7.563 Ratings7.2441 Ratings
Performance improvement plans7.856 Ratings7.2366 Ratings
Review status tracking7.965 Ratings7.4453 Ratings
Review reminders8.166 Ratings7.5455 Ratings
Multiple review frequency7.862 Ratings7.6372 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.1
53 Ratings
11% below category average
Paylocity
7.1
227 Ratings
11% below category average
Create succession plans/pools5.734 Ratings6.7149 Ratings
Candidate ranking7.743 Ratings7.1184 Ratings
Candidate search7.146 Ratings7.4207 Ratings
Candidate development7.940 Ratings7.4166 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.1
87 Ratings
3% above category average
Paylocity
7.7
463 Ratings
2% below category average
Job Requisition Management8.063 Ratings7.8380 Ratings
Company Website Posting8.369 Ratings8.1405 Ratings
Publish to Social Media8.261 Ratings7.7312 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting8.265 Ratings7.7380 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention7.459 Ratings7.0318 Ratings
Applicant Tracking8.277 Ratings8.0425 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts8.680 Ratings7.9423 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BambooHRPaylocity
Small Businesses
Patriot Software
Patriot Software
Score 9.1 out of 10
Patriot Software
Patriot Software
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.6 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.6 out of 10
Enterprises
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.2 out of 10
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BambooHRPaylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(138 ratings)
7.7
(896 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(12 ratings)
8.9
(87 ratings)
Usability
8.6
(65 ratings)
8.5
(60 ratings)
Availability
9.3
(5 ratings)
8.8
(9 ratings)
Performance
8.7
(5 ratings)
9.4
(9 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(59 ratings)
7.2
(82 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
9.2
(4 ratings)
8.2
(10 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.9
(5 ratings)
8.2
(35 ratings)
Configurability
8.6
(4 ratings)
8.3
(7 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
8.3
(3 ratings)
8.5
(5 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)
9.3
(5 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.9
(4 ratings)
7.7
(8 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(4 ratings)
9.2
(7 ratings)
User Testimonials
BambooHRPaylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
BambooHR
I think it is well suited for organizations that are doing large-scale hiring and have large teams to keep track of. It might be less necessary for smaller teams. However, I think most orgs can benefit from Bamboo HR because it makes staying organized accessible.
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
  • The Applicant Tracking System is pretty good. Has a couple flaws but over all it's a really great module.
  • The HR management system works really well and we love how much we can customize things we need.
  • The Reporting feature is one of my favorite things about BambooHR. I can create any report I want and I love that.
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
  • The performance feature is a little clunky and not adjustable, so I would love to have more customizable options.
  • When a candidate signs an offer letter, it would be great if it could show up under the documents tab. Right now, it gets a little buried.
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
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
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
Overall, the system is quite easy to navigate and use. This was a major reason we went with BambooHR over others. Our C-suite wanted to be sure that they could see every person at our company using the majority of the system without too much assistance. BambooHR does this quite well, and they seem to strongly emphasize it whenever I meet with a product manager.
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
When I started using BambooHR as a main manager 4 months ago, it had a good thing with that chat that responded very quickly and helped to fix easy and quick issues. Sadly, it stopped working and now we need to send an email every time we want to solve a problem, even when it is a small one, and it takes almost a day (sometimes more) to give a proper answer.
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
I didn't have in-person training, but I'm sure it was just as great as any other training/assistance Paylocity provides. Paylocity customer service is always available. You never have to be on hold and their answers are always accurate and timely. Documents in the help section are helpful as well.
Read full review
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
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.
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
BambooHR was already in place when I started. BambooHR has much better intuitive navigation than any of the other systems but not as much customizability as something like Workday
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.
Read full review
Paylocity
Include more services in the packages they offer.
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
We started with approximately 100 employees and have grown to over 500. Paylocity is able to handle an organization's growth in terms of headcount as well as level of benefits offered.
Read full review
Professional Services
BambooHR
VERY professional!
Read full review
Paylocity
Support is quick and proffessional
Read full review
Return on Investment
BambooHR
  • Self Service is great to free up time for Admin.
  • Self-Service/ Tracked PTO and sick days are easy to use and track very well. This frees up Admin time and is transparent for all employees.
  • Easy to use Job postings with very trackable sourcing reports.
  • Easy to use. Easy to onboard and user friendly interface. Requires minimal training.
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