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Best BambooHR Alternatives for 2026

BambooHR sells the HR system, then charges extra for payroll, time tracking and billable hours. Work out which piece you need.

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Why people switch

Why people look for a BambooHR alternative

What it is

A BambooHR alternative is another HR or time tool you move to when BambooHR stops fitting your company. Cost is the usual reason, and the shape of it matters. BambooHR charges per employee per month, from $10 for Core up to $25 for the top tier, so the bill grows with every hire. Payroll, time tracking and billable hours are add-ons on top of that. Plenty of small companies bought it to hold staff records and run time off, then found they were paying HRIS prices for a leave calendar. Below we compare three alternatives, one for each half.

Who needs this

A service business that sells its people's time and needs to know, in real time, whether each client project is still making money.

Meet both products

Compare the two products at a glance

TimeTracker and this competitor cover the same job in different ways. Here is what each one includes.

Best fit

TimeTracker

Every task carries operational and financial context together. Tracked time, budget impact, and invoicing live in one connected system, so you know if a project is still profitable before it becomes a problem.

Best for
Agencies and consultancies of 2 to 50 people who bill clients for time and need to see project profit, not just hours.
Pricing
Free for up to 3 people, no credit card needed. Pro is $15 per user a month, or $12 per user a month billed yearly, with a 14-day trial.
  • One-click task timers
  • Timesheet submission and approvals
  • Effective-dated billing and cost rates
  • Live project budgets and profitability
  • Client invoicing and payments
  • Client portal with a cost firewall
  • Reports and dashboards
  • Expense tracking with billable markup
Start tracking free

BambooHR

The best known HR system for small and mid-size businesses. Staff records, onboarding, time off, performance and reporting sit in one tool that a non-specialist can run.

Best for
Companies of roughly 20 to 1,000 people that want one place for employee records, onboarding and time off.
Pricing
Core $10, Pro $17 and a top tier $25 per employee a month, with volume and non-profit discounts. Payroll, time tracking and 'Project Tracking & Billable Hours' are add-ons on top.
  • Employee records and self-service
  • Onboarding and offboarding
  • Time-off requests and balances
  • Performance reviews
  • Applicant tracking
  • HR reporting
Full comparison

See how the alternatives stack up

Pricing, best fit, and top strengths for TimeTracker and every tool in this comparison.

Comparison dimensionTimeTrackerBest fitBambooHRRUN Powered by ADPVacation TrackerDay Off
CategoryProject time trackingLeave managementTime and attendanceLeave managementLeave management
Best forAgencies and consultancies of 2 to 50 people who bill.Companies of roughly 20 to 1,000 people that want one.Small businesses with 1 to 49 staff that want payroll, tax.Teams that live in Slack or Microsoft Teams and want leave.Very small teams that want a free leave tracker with a.
Starting price$12/user/month$10/user/monthFree$1/user/monthFree
Top strengthTies every time entry to a task, so hours and money are.Genuinely easy for a company with no HR specialist to set.Files payroll taxes for you, which is the whole reason.Leave approval inside Slack or Teams is genuinely faster.A genuinely free tier for up to 10 people, not a trial

Pricing checked 2026-07-31. Confirm current pricing on each vendor's site.

Every option, in full

Each BambooHR alternative, and who it suits

Each tool below covers a different kind of team, so this is not a ranking. We list what each one does badly as well as what it does well, with the date we last checked its pricing.

TimeTrackerOurs

Best for

Agencies and consultancies of 2 to 50 people who bill clients for time and need to see project profit, not just hours.

Pricing

Free for up to 3 people, no credit card needed. Pro is $15 per user a month, or $12 per user a month billed yearly, with a 14-day trial.

Checked 13 July 2026

Every task carries operational and financial context together. Tracked time, budget impact, and invoicing live in one connected system, so you know if a project is still profitable before it becomes a problem. A service business that sells its people's time and needs to know, in real time, whether each client project is still making money.

Where it wins

  • Ties every time entry to a task, so hours and money are the same record instead of two systems to reconcile
  • Live budget and profitability rollups instead of a month-end spreadsheet
  • Timesheet approval locks numbers before they hit an invoice, so billed hours cannot silently drift
  • No screenshots, keystroke logging, or GPS tracking, by design

Where it falls short

  • Newer product than long-established time trackers, so its integration marketplace is still small
  • No native payroll run; timesheets export for an external payroll tool instead
  • Built for client-project delivery, not a general work OS, so it will not replace a wiki or a sprint board

BambooHR

Best for

Companies of roughly 20 to 1,000 people that want one place for employee records, onboarding and time off.

Pricing

Core $10, Pro $17 and a top tier $25 per employee a month, with volume and non-profit discounts. Payroll, time tracking and 'Project Tracking & Billable Hours' are add-ons on top.

Checked 30 July 2026

The best known HR system for small and mid-size businesses. Staff records, onboarding, time off, performance and reporting sit in one tool that a non-specialist can run. A 20 to 500 person company that needs real employee records, onboarding and performance reviews, not just a leave calendar.

Where it wins

  • Genuinely easy for a company with no HR specialist to set up and run
  • Publishes its tier prices, unlike ADP and Paychex
  • Covers records, onboarding, leave and performance in one place, so a small company needs fewer tools

Where it falls short

  • Billing is per employee, so the cost grows with every hire whether or not they use it
  • Payroll and time tracking are add-ons, so the tier price is rarely the whole bill
  • Billable hours and project tracking are a paid add-on, not part of any base plan
  • Expensive if all you really wanted was a way to book time off

RUN Powered by ADP

Best for

Small businesses with 1 to 49 staff that want payroll, tax filing and HR handled by the largest provider in the market.

Pricing

Not published. ADP's RUN product page shows no price at all, only a quote request and a sales phone number, so the cost depends on headcount, pay frequency and which package you are sold.

Checked 30 July 2026

More on RUN Powered by ADP

Runs payroll and files the taxes for you, with the compliance weight of the biggest payroll company in the United States behind it. Pricing is quote-only, so there is no published number to compare. A small business owner who wants payroll and tax filing off their desk entirely and will pay a premium for a provider that handles compliance.

Where it wins

  • Files payroll taxes for you, which is the whole reason most small businesses outsource payroll
  • Deep compliance coverage across every US state, which smaller rivals struggle to match
  • Scales into ADP's larger products as a business grows past 49 staff

Where it falls short

  • No published pricing, so you cannot compare it without talking to a salesperson
  • Widely reported as more expensive than newer rivals once add-ons are included
  • Time tracking is an add-on rather than part of the core product
  • Aimed at paying people, not at tracking what client work costs

Vacation Tracker

Best for

Teams that live in Slack or Microsoft Teams and want leave requests handled without leaving the chat window.

Pricing

Core $2/user/mo ($1 annual), with a minimum of $50 a month billed monthly or $25 billed yearly. Complete $4/user/mo ($3 annual), minimum $100 monthly or $75 yearly. Accruals need Complete. 14-day free trial, no free plan.

Checked 31 July 2026

More on Vacation Tracker

Built to run entirely inside Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Google Workspace. People request leave with a chat command and managers approve it in the same thread. A chat-first company of 15 people or more that needs proper leave policies and does not need to track billable or worked hours at all.

Where it wins

  • Leave approval inside Slack or Teams is genuinely faster than any web form
  • No cap on user numbers, so the plan does not force an upgrade as the team grows
  • Custom leave types and per-location holidays are deep for the price
  • Month to month with no minimum term, so cancelling is easy

Where it falls short

  • The monthly minimum means a 5-person team on Core pays $25, not $10
  • Tracks days off only. There is no time tracking, so it cannot tell you where working hours went
  • The Core plan caps you at 3 locations
  • No free plan, only a 14-day trial

Day Off

Best for

Very small teams that want a free leave tracker with a real mobile app and no card on file.

Pricing

Free forever for up to 10 users. Pro is about $2 per user a month with a $20/mo minimum, and takes unlimited employees.

Checked 30 July 2026

Free forever for up to 10 users, which is the most generous free leave-tracking tier on this list, with a mobile-first app rather than a chat plugin. A startup or small business under 10 people that wants leave off a spreadsheet today without paying anything.

Where it wins

  • A genuinely free tier for up to 10 people, not a trial
  • Mobile apps are the main way in, which suits teams not on Slack all day
  • Cheap to move up to once the team outgrows the free plan

Where it falls short

  • The Pro plan carries a $20/mo minimum, so 11 people pay $20 rather than $22
  • Leave only. No time tracking or billing
  • Smaller product with a shorter integration list than the bigger names
Why switch

Reasons teams switch

Popular features

PTO Tracking

PTO tracking that keeps every balance correct

Staff request vacation or sick leave in a few clicks and managers approve in one. Balances accrue on their own, and booked days show on the team schedule.

Explore PTO Tracking→
Timesheets

Timesheets your team submits on time

Hours build into a timecard as people work. Send the week for approval, lock it once it is signed off, and bill from a number that cannot quietly change.

Explore Timesheets→
Billing

Bill for every hour you earn

Mark each entry billable or non-billable while you work. Approved hours roll straight into reports you can bill from.

Explore Billing→
Use cases

Use cases this solves

More comparisons

Compare other tools

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Who are BambooHR's competitors?
Rippling and HiBob come up most, then Gusto and Zoho People for smaller companies, and ADP or Workday further up the market. For the time-off half specifically, dedicated leave tools like Vacation Tracker cost a fraction of an HRIS. See the Vacation Tracker alternatives for that side.
How much does BambooHR cost?
Its pricing page lists Core at $10, Pro at $17 and a third tier at $25 per employee per month, with volume and non-profit discounts. Payroll, time tracking and billable hours are add-ons on top. So the quoted tier is rarely the whole bill. Checked July 2026.
Does BambooHR track billable hours?
Only as a paid add-on. Its own pricing page lists 'Project Tracking & Billable Hours' under add-on solutions, so it sits on top of the per employee HRIS price. In TimeTracker, billable hours tracking is the product, not an extra.
What is the best free HR software?
There is no good free HRIS. The free tiers that do exist are leave trackers rather than HR systems: Day Off is free for up to 10 users and AttendanceBot for up to 5. If you need real employee records, onboarding and performance, expect to pay per employee.
Is BambooHR a Chinese company?
No. BambooHR is an American company, founded in 2008 and based in Draper, Utah. The name is just a name. It sells mainly to small and mid-size businesses in the United States.
Is Workday better than BambooHR?
Not for a small company. Workday is built for large enterprises, with the cost and setup effort to match. BambooHR is aimed at businesses of roughly 20 to 1,000 people and is far quicker to run. Bigger is not better here, it is just bigger.
What is the most used HR system?
By headcount covered, ADP and Workday lead, because they serve the largest employers. Among small and mid-size businesses BambooHR, Gusto and Rippling are the names that come up most. The right one depends on your size far more than on market share.
Does TimeTracker replace BambooHR?
Not as an HR system. There are no employee records, no onboarding, no performance reviews and no payroll, so if that is why you use BambooHR, keep it or move to Rippling or HiBob. What it does replace is the time-off half, with real leave and PTO tracking, plus the billable hours BambooHR charges extra for.
Can I use a leave tracker instead of an HRIS?
Many small companies do. If your real need is booking time off and seeing who is away, a leave tool or a time tracker with leave built in costs a lot less than $10 to $25 per employee a month. You only need an HRIS once records, onboarding and compliance become the job.
Which BambooHR alternative is right for me?
Replacing the whole HR system, look at Rippling, HiBob or Gusto, or ADP RUN if you want payroll from the same place. Only tracking time off, Vacation Tracker or Day Off cost far less. Billing clients for the hours as well as booking leave, TimeTracker, where time feeds project profitability directly.
A professional team working on a laptop at a warm wooden desk in an office.

Time off and billable hours in one place

If what you really need is booking time off and tracking hours on client work, start free and skip the per employee HR bill.

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