Head to head
Personio vs BambooHR
Both products assessed against the same checklist, with ratings drawn from 286 verified reviews.
- Rating gap
- 0.2
- Reviews behind this
- 286
- Priced on scope
- Quoted
- Features they share
- 1
Side by side
How they compare
Ratings computed from published reviews, and the specifications that change what a product costs to run. The washed column is the higher rated of the two.
| Compared on | Personio SE | Higher rated overall |
|---|---|---|
| What reviewers say | ||
| Overall rating | 4.1 | 4.3, higher |
| Ease of use | 4.0 | 4.2, higher |
| Value for money | 4.1 | 4.1 |
| Customer service | 3.9 | 4.0, higher |
| Functionality | 4.1 | 4.2, higher |
| Verified reviews | 88 | 198 |
| What it costs | ||
| Starting price | Custom pricingquoted on request | US$9per month, from |
| VAT basis | Excl VAT | Excl VAT |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Published plans | 1 | 2 |
| Vendor and support | ||
| Vendor | Personio SE | BambooHR LLC |
| Founded | 2015 | 2008 |
| Support channels | Email, Telephone, Implementation consultant, Knowledge base | Email, Telephone, Knowledge base, Implementation support |
| Integrations listed | 5 | 7 |
| Local bank feeds | 0 | 0 |
The local yardstick
South African compliance
Amber marks a gap rather than a feature. This is usually where the decision is actually made.
Personio
- BCEA leave requires manual policy configuration
- GDPR aligned controls that map closely to POPIA
- Granular access to special personal information
- Data hosted in the European Union
- No South African payroll integration
BambooHR
- BCEA leave requires manual policy configuration
- Employment Equity reporting by custom report
- POPIA operator agreement
- Data hosted in the United States
- Role based access controls
What they cost
Pricing, compared properly
Check the VAT basis on each. Vendors are not consistent, and the difference is 15%.
Personio
Listed excluding VAT
- Quoted
Quoted
Quoted in euros per employee per month with a minimum contract size and an implementation fee. No South African payroll integration.
BambooHR
Listed excluding VAT
- US$9/mo
Core
Per employee, minimum charge applies
- US$15/mo
ProPopular
Per employee, minimum charge applies
Billed in US dollars per employee per month on an annual commitment, with a minimum monthly charge. BCEA leave rules must be configured rather than selected.
Capability
The full feature matrix
Every feature either product offers, and whether the other one has it.
| Compared on | Personio SE | Higher rated overall |
|---|---|---|
| 22 features across both products | ||
| Absence and leave management | Included | Not included |
| Advanced reporting and analytics | Not included | Included |
| Applicant tracking | Not included | Included |
| Approval workflows | Included | Not included |
| Compensation management | Included | Not included |
| Configurable time off policies | Not included | Included |
| Document management with e signature | Included | Not included |
| Document storage and e signature | Not included | Included |
| Employee database | Not included | Included |
| Employee records with custom attributes | Included | Not included |
| Employee self service | Not included | Included |
| Employee wellbeing surveys | Not included | Included |
| Granular role based permissions | Included | Not included |
| Mobile app for iOS and Android | Not included | Included |
| Multi entity and multi country | Included | Not included |
| Onboarding and offboarding workflows | Not included | Included |
| Open API | Included | Included |
| Org chart | Not included | Included |
| Performance and development | Included | Not included |
| Performance management | Not included | Included |
| Recruitment and applicant tracking | Included | Not included |
| Reporting and analytics | Included | Not included |
Our verdict
Which one you should buy
We name a winner. Listing differences and leaving the decision to the reader is not a verdict.
We have not written a full verdict for this pairing yet, so here is the position from the data.
BambooHR holds the higher rating at 4.3 against 4.1, from 198 reviews against 88. Reviewers rate it 4.2 for ease of use and 4.1 for value for money, against 4.0 and 4.1.
Read the compliance comparison below before deciding on the rating alone. A product that scores well overall can still be missing the one statutory output your business cannot do without.
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