People who look past HiBob mostly want a number before they talk to sales, or payroll that is not split between two native countries and a connector hub. The list below runs from small independent vendors with published prices to a few larger suites, and says which of them keep payroll in-house.
Short answer: The first three alternatives to HiBob in our HR software ranking are Humaans, Kenjo and AlexisHR. Our rule for order: vendors outside the big brands go first, and the largest names are not placed in the top three. Choose Humaans if you want a lean people database that your ops team shapes through the API. Below are 11 alternatives, each taken from the Best HR Software in 2026 ranking, with its main difference from HiBob.
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Built for: A scale-up that cares about engagement as much as administration
Not for: A company that only needs records and absence
01
Why buyers look past HiBob
01
The pricing page is a demo form
The page at hibob.com/pricing that we read lists no plan names and no figures. It offers a free demo, and the form asks which of twelve areas you want to see, from Core and Hiring to Sandbox and Workforce Planning. Nothing there says which of those are separate line items. A finance lead who needs a budget figure before a call has to book the call.
02
Native payroll stops at two countries
HiBob's payroll page describes US Payroll with federal and state tax filing and UK Payroll with HMRC recognition and IR-35 contractor support. For every other country the Payroll Hub connects an outside provider. A company paying staff in Germany, France or Spain therefore keeps a local payroll vendor and a sync between the two, and has someone who owns that sync.
03
The integration catalogue is API-first
HiBob's integrations page shows 24 partner logos, refers to a public HR API and webhooks, and says integrations are primarily API-based. That suits a team with a developer or an automation specialist. A small HR team without one may find that each connection to expenses or accounting is a project of its own, so the list of connections should be written down before signing.
your staff are mostly in the United States and you want US payroll attached
#13
03
What each one does differently
1
Humaans
United Kingdom · On request
Humaans sells an employee record with an API and keeps everything else as add-ons: AI Companion, Performance Management, Headcount and Compensation Planning, DE&I analytics. Its FAQ says the infrastructure is EU-hosted, with ISO 27001, SOC 2 and GDPR compliance. The plans page shows no prices and offers a demo rather than a trial, which is the same buying route as HiBob.
Switch from HiBob if you want a lean people database that your ops team shapes through the API.
Kenjo lists Starter at €6 and Growth at €10 per employee per month, with Connect on request and 10% off for annual billing. Its price calculator adds a €400 onboarding fee, and DATEV setup costs €600 once, from Growth. Shift planning has stated caps, such as 15 active shift employees on Starter, and a 14-day free trial is offered.
Switch from HiBob if you want to read the cost off a page and have staff who work in shifts.
AlexisHR answers the module question by putting everything into one quote: directory, workflows, e-signing, whistleblowing, performance and salary reviews, goals and OKRs, equal pay, recruitment and handbooks. The pricing page promises no hidden costs and gives no figures. Its integration pages name Fortnox and Teamtailor, so a Nordic stack feels at home.
Switch from HiBob if you would rather negotiate one package than decide module by module.
Sympa is a Finnish HR system with a core, competence management, learning, performance, salary review and time-off areas, plus integrations with Teamtailor and 360learning. Our category notes say the quoted rate covers setup and onboarding. The pricing page we read offers a personalised quote and an ROI calculator rather than a rate, and the company points to 20 years of Nordic experience.
Switch from HiBob if your payroll provider sits in the Nordics and you want setup folded into the price.
Breathe is a British product organised by company size, with pages for 1 to 10, 11 to 50 and 51 to 250 employees. The site lists absence, holiday planning, rotas, time logs, expenses, performance and a Xero payroll integration, and invites you to try it free. We could not read its price table, so check the bands there.
Switch from HiBob if you have fewer than 250 people, work from the UK and want to start with a trial.
Treams from the Netherlands is a performance tool rather than a core HR record. Flow costs €6.50 and Momentum €9 per user per month, Compound is on request, and volume discounts start at 100 employees. Momentum brings 360 feedback; Flow connects to the HR system, Slack, Teams, Outlook and Gmail. It is ISO 27001 certified and is sold through a demo.
Switch from HiBob if the HR record is fine where it is and you only want a review and feedback layer.
Zoho People has a Free edition for up to five users, then Essential HR, Professional, Premium and Enterprise, each with a 30-day trial that falls back to Free afterwards. Paid editions need at least five users, and the Dutch pricing page we opened showed a saving of over 20% for annual billing but no figures. Above 500 users it asks for a quote.
Switch from HiBob if you are a very small team, or already pay for other Zoho products.
Factorial states that prices start at $8 per user per month and then builds a quote from modules grouped under Time, Talent, Finance and IT. Every plan carries the Core: directory, onboarding and offboarding, payslip distribution, bulk document sending and legal e-signature. Module prices are not listed on the page we read there.
Switch from HiBob if you want time tracking, shifts and expenses bought from the same vendor as the HR record.
Personio's own pricing pages refused our automated requests, so we cannot quote a plan or figure from them. Our category notes describe a per-employee quote that climbs with modules, and a fit for European companies of 50 to 1,000 people with firm compliance content. Ask for the full module list in writing before you compare it with anything on this page.
Switch from HiBob if hard European compliance matters more to you than a friendly interface.
Employment Hero publishes UK tiers: HR Essentials at £6 and HR Engage at £9 per employee per month, each marked as subject to conditions. Engage adds recruitment, expenses and performance reviews, and rotas with time and attendance can be added for £2 per employee. Managed payroll, health insurance and an employee assistance programme sit among the upgrades.
Switch from HiBob if you are a UK employer who wants contracts, benefits and payroll under one roof.
BambooHR prints three tiers in dollars: Core about $10, Pro $17 and Elite $25 per employee per month, and a flat monthly alternative of $250, $425 or $650 for firms of up to 25 staff. Payroll and benefits administration are for US employees only, and a separate Global Employment add-on exists for hiring abroad.
Switch from HiBob if your staff are mostly in the United States and you want US payroll attached.
You want a price on the page before you talk to anyone
Kenjo: Starter is €6 and Growth €10 per employee per month, with 10% off for annual billing and a 14-day trial; onboarding starts at €400 as a one-time fee.
02
You want a lean people database to build on
Humaans: It offers an API, EU-hosted infrastructure and add-ons such as performance and compensation planning; prices are given in a demo.
03
You want every module in one negotiation
AlexisHR: The pricing page says everything is included and prices are quoted per organisation, covering performance, salary reviews, goals and whistleblowing.
04
You are five people or fewer and want to start at no cost
Zoho People: The Free edition covers up to five users; paid editions begin with a 30-day trial and need at least five users.
05
You only need reviews and feedback on top of the HR system you have
Treams: Flow costs €6.50 and Momentum €9 per user per month, and Momentum includes 360 feedback; it is sold by demo.
04
When HiBob is still the right choice
HiBob is still a good fit for a mid-sized company that wants an employee record people open, with payroll attached in the US or UK and connected elsewhere. Its security page states ISO 27001:2022, ISO 27018:2025 and SOC 2 Type II, with AWS hosting in Ireland and a backup in Germany. The home page cites more than 5,500 companies, and the Payroll Hub, Time and Hiring modules exist for those who want them. If the quote already fits and your payroll countries match, a move costs more than it returns.
05
What moving off HiBob involves
01
Make a list of the modules you switched on
The demo form names Core, Compensation, Hiring, Learning, Payroll Hub, Time and Attendance, Workforce Planning and others. Write down which ones your people used last quarter, so you replace those and drop the rest on purpose.
02
Decide who owns payroll before anything else
If you run UK or US payroll inside HiBob, the new system either takes that over or a provider does, and the first run needs a parallel check. If you use the Payroll Hub, the provider connection has to be rebuilt against the new vendor's API.
03
Export history and test the import with real data
Ask for a full export of employee records, documents and review history before the contract ends. Load a genuine extract into the candidate system, and let one team run a month on it before everyone moves.
06
Questions about replacing HiBob
6 answers
Does HiBob publish its prices?
The pricing page we read has a free demo form and no figures. Kenjo (€6 and €10), BambooHR ($10 to $25), Employment Hero (£6 and £9 in the UK) and Treams (€6.50 and €9) publish theirs. HiBob lists no free trial on that page.
Which HiBob alternative should a small independent team look at first?
Humaans and Kenjo come first in our order. Kenjo prints plans from €6 per employee per month with a 14-day trial, while Humaans sells an API-led record and quotes through a demo. AlexisHR and Sympa follow for Nordic stacks.
Where does HiBob host its data?
The security page says AWS data centres in Ireland as the main site and Germany as backup, with disaster recovery in Frankfurt. It lists ISO 27001:2022, ISO 27018:2025 and SOC 2 Type II, and offers the reports under NDA.
Does HiBob run payroll itself?
It does for the United States and the United Kingdom. For other countries its Payroll Hub connects an outside payroll provider. Employers outside those two markets should ask which provider connections exist for their country.
Is there a HiBob alternative with a free plan?
Zoho People has a Free edition for up to five users, and its paid editions include a 30-day trial. Breathe invites a free trial, and Kenjo offers 14 days. The other tools on this page start with a demo or a quote.
Which alternative suits shift workers best?
Kenjo includes shift planning on every plan, with caps of 15 active shift employees on Starter and 100 on Growth, and unlimited on Connect. Employment Hero adds rotas for £2 per employee in the UK, and Breathe lists rotas as a feature.
Founder of The Knowledge Engineers and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page on this site; research and drafting are AI-assisted.
Checked and edited by Sebastiaan Smits, last on 3 November 2026. The editorial process explains the method.
