5 Best Free HR Software for Small Businesses

Businesses that need more robust functionalities or a more powerful all-in-one solution may be better served by paid HR software. Apart from providing essential solutions for managing your workforce, many paid options offer advanced reporting, audit trails, and survey solutions for assessing employee engagement at work. Some even allow you to add your company’s branding elements to its platform.

For an online HR software that’s reasonably priced, consider Gusto. Its core platform may be payroll, but it has a feature-rich HR solution suite that can help you manage hiring and even learning programs. Gusto is also designed to streamline and automate processes, saving you time from having to manually track employee information, onboarding requirements, payroll tax filings, staff attendance, and more.

• One-click job postings: You can post job listings to your company website, career site, and via Freshteam’s integrated job boards (such as ZipRecruiter, Indeed, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn) with just one click. You can even share job postings on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. Creating job postings is also made easy with its built-in library of over 50 job description templates.

Freshteam automatically shows job description templates that best match the position title of the job you’re hiring for.
(Source: Freshteam)

• Career site: You get a basic career site where you can post your open jobs. If you upgrade to a paid plan, Freshteam offers customization tools that allow you to add your company’s logo and branding elements. Both Homebase and OrangeHRM, which also have hiring functionalities, don’t offer a career site.
• Candidate management: Manage candidates as they go through the hiring pipeline with Freshteam’s resume screening, applicant tracking, and candidate engagement tools. You can sync your work email with Freshteam, which enables you to receive applications and correspond with candidates through its platform’s recruitment team inbox. It also parses resumes uploaded into its applicant tracking system (ATS), allowing it to scan and automatically populate relevant applicant information in candidate profiles.
• New hire onboarding: Freshteam is also great for paperless onboarding given its robust offer management and customizable online “welcome kits,” which include email notifications and online forms that need to be electronically signed (made possible through Freshteam’s integration with electronic signature tools like Signeasy). You can even create custom checklists and tasks to help you track each new hire’s onboarding progress.
• Recruitment automation: Similar to the other free HR software on our list, Freshteam comes with workflows you can customize to automate processes, such as moving candidates to the next stage if they get a certain grade in assessment tests. The recruitment workflow automation tools of Homebase and OrangeHRM aren’t as robust.

Most of the Freshteam reviews on third-party review sites (such as G2 and Capterra) are positive. Many users like its user-friendly platform and efficient applicant tracking tools. Some also commented that its HR tools make it easy for them to manage PTOs, update employee information, and communicate with team members given its online employee directory.

However, a few reviewers said that while they appreciate its free plan, the features included are very limited and lack customization options. Some users also wished for additional functionalities (such as time tracking) and a wider network of third-party software integrations.

• Staff scheduling and time tracking: Unlike OrangeHRM, which only has a time tracking solution, Homebase lets you monitor employee work hours, PTO, and staff work schedules. It comes with all the tools you need to manage staff attendance, such as overtime alerts, shift swaps, and geolocation and geofencing tracking for field employees. Similar to TimeTrex, it has facial recognition tools that allow you to verify whether the correct employee is clocking in—which helps prevent buddy punching.
• Hiring: Similar to Freshteam and OrangeHRM, Homebase includes hiring tools in its free plans. You can even add applicant screener questions to job listings and boost your job posts to ZipRecruiter and Craigslist to reach a wider pool of potential candidates. The other providers in this guide (except Connecteam) may also have applicant tracking and job posting functionalities, but these features are either part of paid plans.
• Employee feedback and performance matrix tracking: While Homebase lacks the capability to run employee performance reviews like OrangeHRM and TimeTrex do, it can monitor attendance-related performance data, such as the employees’ schedule adherence, shift trades, and on-time rates. Homebase also allows your workers to provide real-time feedback on how their work shifts went, enabling you to spot operational issues (like malfunctioning equipment) and gather insights to help assess employee morale.

Homebase can help track on-time rates, missed breaks, and other attendance-related matrices. (Source: Homebase)

As of this writing, Homebase earned top marks in G2 and Capterra, scoring more than 4 out of 5 on both third-party review sites. Users highlighted its ease of use, robust scheduling and time tracking tools, and feature-rich free plan as its best features. Some also commended its support team for their responsiveness. Others, on the other hand, dislike the occasional software bugs and mobile app glitches.

• Feature-rich free HR software: TimeTrex’s free-to-use Community Edition may have been developed by a network of volunteers from 50+ countries, but it has a feature-rich platform that provides nearly end-to-end HR management—from staff scheduling and tracking time to processing employee payments and conducting performance reviews. The closest free HR software on our list that it can compare to is OrangeHRM, although OrangeHRM lacks payroll capabilities (but its system can integrate with third-party payroll software).
• Multiple time clock apps: Similar to Homebase, TimeTrex has time clock apps that are compatible with computers, tablets, and smartphones. This enables you to capture staff clock-ins/outs from multiple devices—you can even control which devices employees can use, including the geolocation. What also sets TimeTrex apart from the other providers in this guide is its advanced facial recognition time clock solution, which can recognize and clock-in/out your employees even if they wear glasses, a hat, or have facial hair.

With TimeTrex’s advanced facial recognition time clock, employees only need to stand directly in front of the device’s camera to clock in/out. (Source: TimeTrex)

• Employee information management: Apart from providing you with a secure online database to store your workforce’s basic information, TimeTrex lets you attach documents to your workers’ profiles and create an employee hierarchy that shows reporting lines of supervisors and subordinates. While it may not have Connecteam’s training management solution with customizable course quizzes, TimeTrex can track your employees’ qualifications, skill proficiencies, and professional licenses (including identification numbers and issued/expiration dates).

TimeTrex reviews on G2 and Capterra are mostly positive. Users describe its platform as a simple yet powerful solution for tracking attendance and managing employees. They like that it is generally easy to use, although some commented that setting it up and navigating through its features can be intimidating. A few reviewers also noted that its interface looks outdated.

• Task management: Connecteam offers more than just an employee tasking solution, it comes with automation tools so you can easily set up recurring tasks, checklists, and even online forms. This is helpful for HR professionals who need to manage onboarding and training requirements. Business owners can also benefit from this if they want to stay on top of operational processes, such as morning shift preparations and inventory checklists. None of the free HR software we reviewed offers robust task management tools.

With Connecteam, you can create single or multiple tasks for one or more users. (Source: Connecteam)

• Scheduling and time tracking: Similar to Homebase, it has drag-and-drop functionality for moving planned work shifts from one employee to another. Tracking time is also made easy with its time clock app that supports PIN code time entries. For your remote and field workers, Connecteam’s mobile app comes with live GPS tracking, including geofencing that can be set to specific work locations, job types, projects, and clients.
• Learning while on the go: Aside from allowing you to create online courses, surveys, and quizzes, Connecteam lets your workers access training programs through their mobile devices. If you have new hires, you can add the required learning courses to their onboarding checklists. It even has a “Library” feature, which provides you and your employees with a fully-searchable database of your company policies, business forms, and staff handbook.

Users who left Connecteam reviews on G2 and Capterra find its platform highly intuitive. They also said that it is easy to set up and comes with online tools that are great for scheduling work shifts and communicating with employees. However, some users commented that its mobile app can be glitchy at times and that its paid plans can be pricey for small businesses.

• Feature-rich free HR software: OrangeHRM provides nearly everything that you need to manage basic day-to-day HR processes (except payroll, although it integrates with pay processing solutions like PayPro and Definitiv). It also comes with workflow automation tools to help you streamline tasks. You can even create custom roles for users (such as system administrators). Plus, you can select its cloud-hosted version or choose to install its software on-site—provided you have an in-house IT team to manage it.
• Hiring: Create, manage, and distribute job listings to multiple job boards with OrangeHRM’s recruiting tools. You can even design custom applicant forms and create ready-to-use templates. What sets OrangeHRM apart from the other providers in this guide includes its “Interview Assistant” feature that helps you identify which questions to add from the list of online pooled questions.
• Performance reviews: TimeTrex may offer a similar feature, but its performance reviews module isn’t as robust as OrangeHRM. And while its free version only comes with 180-degree performance reviews, this is sufficient enough for small businesses to conduct employee evaluations. One drawback is that you need its paid plan if you want to add custom review questions, track goals, conduct 360-degree evaluations, and electronically sign off performance reviews.
• Career development planning: Available in OrangeHRM’s paid version, this feature comes with a 9-box matrix that you can use to evaluate and see who your top performers are, including those who are underperforming or at risk of leaving the company. Apart from using this data to create a career path for your staff, you can use OrangeHRM’s “Individual Development Plan” to track development goals designed to help identified employees get ready for potential future roles in the company. Examples of development-related goals include attending certification courses and on-the-job exposure to specific tasks.

With OrangeHRM, you get an online 9-box matrix to help you identify top performers and create employee career paths.
(Source: OrangeHRM)

Many users who left positive OrangeHRM reviews on G2 and Capterra appreciate its wide range of HR solutions that make time tracking, learning management, and performance reviews easy for them. Others also like its ease of use and well-organized interface. However, some said that it looks a bit dated and has occasional glitches, such as software lags and password issues.