Best Employee Onboarding Software Tools & Systems Compared

While the interview stage is the first chance for a new employee to create a great impression, the onboarding process is the best time for a company to create a good first impression. To hit it off early with your employees, having the best employee onboarding software at your disposal is a must. 

Picking an Onboarding solution for your new employees might be a hassle, so we've done the difficult work of scouring the internet for the best employee onboarding software out there, and here are our top picks for you. So sit back, grab a drink, and let's begin.  

Onboarding employee software systems & tools comparison chart (top 10 highest rated)

You don't have to look further for employee onboarding systems that work for you. We have handpicked 13 great employee onboarding tools for you, but in the table below, we briefly overview our top 10 picks at a glance.  

What is employee onboarding software & what does it do?

Every time a company brings in new hires and tries to help them adjust to the company system in the company, the employee onboarding process is facilitated. In times past this responsibility was a daunting one as it fell primarily on HR to sort out new members of the company, but this is no longer the case. 

With the advancement in technology and an improvement in the overall onboarding system, we have seen the rise of many recruitment and onboarding software. So, what exactly are these onboarding tools?

Employee Onboarding Software refers to online onboarding software solutions used by companies to make the entire onboarding process for your new hires easy, such that they can hit the ground running without feeling left out of the company's culture. Due to its prevalence in the hiring field, Onboarding solutions are often considered HR software.

It is often easy to overlook the fact that the onboarding process also includes the hiring stage.

What does onboarding software do?

• Generally it enhances the onboarding experience for new hires. 
• It makes the work of hiring managers easier and increases their productivity.
• It increases the chances of new hires staying for longer periods.
• It improves company synergy between new employees and old workers
• It can help new hires be productive right from day one.

If you need software for managing employee engagement activities and similar things, we suggest exploring some of the best CSR software on the market.

What is the best employee onboarding software? Here’s our top 13 list:

Getting a great onboarding tool doesn't have to be a challenge. While many believe they’re the best employee onboarding software, the functionality of each tool would appeal to people differently. And that’s exactly why we’ve prepared this employee Onboarding Software reviews for you. If you work in HR, keep reading!
 

1. Gusto (Best employee automated onboarding software overall)

Gusto is our pick for the overall best employee onboarding software. Gusto is arguably the dream HR platform for any human resource manager. Understanding that the employee lifecycle starts with the onboarding process, Gusto has integrated all HR processes' important stages and needs into one platform. 

With Gusto, you can screen new hires, collect and collate employee data, and store the necessary documents of the new hires while automating the payroll system for everyone on the same platform.

Besides its many perks above, Gusto is one of the top onboarding automation software solutions for hybrid workflow. Gusto also helps facilitate effective communication between human resource staff and new hires. 

Gusto is actually better suited for startups and small companies as it helps to automate some processes and relieves your HR unit of some stress.

Pros:

• Effective payroll system
• Easy-to-use for both employees and HR 
• Personalized welcome mail sequences
• A streamlined and better-organized onboarding platform
• Makes the process easy for new hiring managers.

Cons:

• It might not be suitable for large and mid-sized businesses.

Pricing:

• $40 plus $6 per employee 
• $60 plus $9 per employee 
• Custom plan and price.

Visit Gusto
 

2. ADP Workforce Now (Top employee onboarding system for small companies)

Are you searching for an onboarding tool that has seamless workflow and is accessible on mobile and desktop devices? Then ADP Workforce Now is the right software for you. ADP Workforce 

Now is one of the best cloud-based onboarding management systems that will ensure you and your new hires have a beautiful experience during the onboarding process. ADP Workforce Now, like Gusto offers a top-of-the-shelf HR experience combined with a fully stacked payroll system. 

This software has a lot of onboarding features, including helping you find talents for specific roles via ZipRecruiter, using machine learning to generate reports that will give you insights on your new hires and current market trends, helping you attend to their current needs and predict possible behaviors that will lead to higher retention rates. 

To top it off, the ADP Workforce Now team provides custom deployment for your company. They stock your company's hiring needs and current payroll system and help customize the software to benefit you and solve your problems. ADP Workforce Now allows your old and new workers access to its platform, allowing team members to edit their information by themselves.   

While it has a lot of benefits, its major issue is a lack of obvious pricing on its official website. While current customers place their starting price at $62 per month, it is difficult to calculate the actual price plus the promo effect and other factors.

Pros:

• Custom deployment
• Easy-to-use system
• Provides a full HR suite
• Accessible from multiple devices
• Provides detailed reports

Cons:

• Steep plans
• Unclear pricing

Pricing:

Pricing is unclear, as it is not displayed on the company’s website. 

• Current customers place their starting price at $62 per month.
• Quote from the company: 50 employees $400 per month.

Visit ADP Workforce 
 

3. Paycor (Great employee onboarding platform for easy compliance)

Paycor is an excellent, well-rounded HR management onboarding solution. It provides a lot of features that help impact a company's onboarding process. Its analytics and reporting are amongst the best in the industry, giving deep data regarding how new hires and old team members work. 

Its data is so deep it can be essential to decipher which new hire is likely to quit earlier and what can be done to improve their experience. Its payroll system has automatic calculations and compliance tools to make payment easier. 

You can carry out employee surveys that can help improve employee engagement and improve the onboarding experience for new hires which will result in a higher retention rate. It has features for proper workflow management, including time tracking, task scheduling, and other important features. 

Paycor's team is dedicated to deploying its system for its consumers to ensure a hitch-free experience. While it takes longer to fully deploy, taking between 6 weeks to 6 months, you can rest assured that your onboarding program is being done well. 

The team also shares training resources, including videos and documents, to help hr managers access the full benefits of using Paycor. Paycor has a functional customer support system, and they can be reached via email, live chat, or phone. The support hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

Pros:

• It has a strong analytics and reporting onboarding feature.
• Its customer support systems are top-notch.
• Available on mobile and desktop versions.
• Functions as a time-tracking tool.
• Very suitable for mid-sized to large businesses.
• It has a highly customizable reporting feature
• It is user-friendly with an intuitive user interface.

Cons:

• Not suitable for small-sized businesses.
• Takes a longer time to implement compared to competitors.

Pricing:

• Basic: $99 per month plus $6 per employee. 
• Essential: $159 per month plus $9 per employee.
• Core: $199 per month plus $12 per employee.
• Complete: $299 per month plus $16 per employee.

Visit Paycor
 

4. Namely HR (Best onboarding solution for New Hire Data)

Namely HR is considered a hidden gem, a one stop shop for all your HR needs including the onboarding process. While it does not lay claim to world-class Onboarding features, it prices its functionality across the various key features above others. 

While each onboarding software solution has a special strong suite that boosts its reputation, Namely focuses on ensuring all its features work fine. It does not present a steep learning curve, and its features are not complicated to use. 

Its onboarding process is smooth and caters to various types of employees, from full-time new hires to contractors and even directors. Its formula follows that of every other onboarding solution where you email the new hire, they create their account, and you can start their process from them. It takes stock of local regulations and ensures documentary compliance. It has a standard electronic signature functionality that ensures you don't have paperwork cluttering your HR office. 

Its performance management feature allows you to set goals and monitor the progress of individuals and teams in achieving their goals, you can set up quizzes and employ other information-gathering techniques to improve employee data. Its setup allows team members to also check off tasks completed and monitor their own work progress. If you are looking for something simple, basic, and easy to use, 

Namely HR has you covered. Management can use its add-on Jazz HR solution to research and recruit fresh talents into the company.

Pros:

• A coordinated platform 
• Easy to use intuitive interface
• It integrates the payroll system into its Hr software
• It has a balanced feature functionality 
• Talent recruitment add-on

Cons:

• The website does not provide an easy-to-access price plan.
• Its time and attendance functionalities are not customizable.

Pricing:

• Its website doesn't include a pricing option, but industry sources suggest:
• $15-$30/month per employee 
• one-time implementation fee of $50-$80 per employee.

Visit Namely HR 
 

5. Lessonly (Top option for learning management)

Having new hires learn the ropes quickly and adapt to the company culture is an important part of the onboarding process and top onboarding software that simplifies this process is Lessonly. Lessonly has a reputation for team training and excels at sales customer service training. 

Lessonly is completely cloud-based and has a great mobile UI too. It is especially effective if you are looking to onboard a group of new hires and create an employee experience that would boost retention and help facilitate quick adaptability. 

There are no company size restrictions regarding Lessonly, as it works for small businesses, mid-sized companies, and large organizations too. Lessonly is simple to deploy and simple to use, and it is packed with some great onboarding features that make learning easier for new employees. 

You can organize live training sessions or build courses from scratch for team members to access. You can organize quizzes and other assessment options to test the progress of new hires and if need be, further modify the learning experience to their benefit. 

Pros:

• Quizzes are easy to create on Lessonly.
• It focuses on one aspect of the onboarding process and executes it seamlessly.
• Simple to use User interface
• Hands-on skill learning and adaptability.
• Easy to learn company culture and flow.

Cons:

• No free trial.
• Price is not available except on demand

Pricing:

• Pricing info is unavailable, but there are two known packages:
• Pro package for teams with more than 25 users. 
• Pro + Coaching package

Visit Lessonly 
 

6. Zenefits (Best employee onboarding app and best benefit management system.)

Zenefits sounds like a play on the word benefits and its features tow that line. While it's not fixated on just one area like Lessonly, it has a strong benefit administration system. 

Zenefits is an all round HR onboarding and management software, it is user-friendly and its features are well executed. 

Zenefits helps employees shop for favorable insurance plans, employee retirement benefits, health and dental plans, and other benefits for smooth working. A proper focus on benefits will certainly affect the long-term retention of new hires, and Zenefits gives you a way to stay ahead of the game. 

With the multiplicity of choices of benefits, Zenefits simplifies the process for employees using an intuitive user interface, and price-to-price comparison on its platform. It also allows HR management to integrate their own benefit plans into the mix.

Zenefits covers startups that are yet to get their benefits management under control. 

While Zenefits works for most companies, it could be a hassle for really small companies. One of its major stand out perks is its mobile app. Its app works best for employee usage, and it stands out as one of the best employee onboarding application as a result.

Pros:

• Offers a free trial of 14 days
• It has a good mobile app usable by employees.
• Able to easily collate robust client records.
• Deep Business Intelligence reporting 
• Good user interface 

Cons:

• The mobile app might not be the best for admin controls.
• It could be tedious for very small companies.

Pricing:

• Free trial period 14 days
• Essentials $10 or $8 per month per employee
• Growth $18 or $14 per month per employee
• Zen level $27 or $21 per month per employee

Visit Zenefits 
 

7. BambooHR (Great for Customization)

BambooHr is a well-known onboarding software with many features to boot. Among its features are integrated applicant tracking, onboarding tools, e-signatures, employee databases, and performance management. These features are available for other hr onboarding systems, but BambooHR shines in the depth of its content and webinar libraries.

BambooHR is quite suitable for mid-sized companies looking to onboard new hires easily. BambooHR helps provide new hire packets that you can customize and tasks that can be sent automatically to new hires. The HR managers can fix submission time and other important information. This is one level of task management that many competing HR onboarding solutions do not offer. 

There are two major packages available with BambooHR, namely Essentials, and Advantage. With the Essentials Package, you get three major features, HR management, employee self-service, and email support. Advantage expands on the three available features adding onboarding and offboarding features, applicant tracking, customized workflows, advanced reporting, and phone support.

The bottom line is that BambooHR has an all-in-one package that works for mid-sized companies.

Pros:

• Onboarding and offboarding features
• Customizable new hire packages
• Gives a centralized employee database
• Provides eSignature option
• Attendance and time tracking feature
• Deep content and webinar libraries 

Cons:

• Does not have a provision for contractors
• Sending emails is not a smooth experience
• There is an open API, but it is not user-friendly

Pricing:

While it has two packages, Essentia and Advantage, the price for each package is unavailable on the website. You get a 7-day free trial or demo to test out its features.

Visit BambooHr 
 

8. ClearCompany (Best for an adaptable paperless & mobile-friendly onboarding experience)

ClearCompany is user-friendly and feature-rich. Its inviting user interface is a welcome sight for new hires when they sign up for their onboarding process. They also get a personalized portal ready with the needed documentation and information from day one. 

ClearCompany is perfect for small and mid-sized businesses and helps them in recruiting, onboarding, performance management, and goal-tracking stages. It allows managers to manage the entire employee life cycle with the software’s intuitive dashboard.

ClearCompany also excels in the customer support department and provides a well-stocked library of resources to help HR managers. 

Pros:

• It provides detailed analytics to improve decision-making
• Customizable templates that let you control your first impression with your new employees.
• Impressive customer support is available via mail, phone, and chat.
• Industry-leading helpful resources for HR managers
• Not restricted to any industry 

Cons:

• Limited reporting capabilities

Pricing:

Provides two pricing plans:

• ClearCompany Platform Access - $7 per employee per month.
• ClearCompany Modular Access - No fixed price.

Visit ClearCompany
 

9. monday.com (Best free onboarding software for collaborative onboarding workflows)

monday.com markets itself primarily as a workflow solution for expanding a company, but it also has some HR capabilities, notably ones for onboarding. It is not purely an HR tool but a handy tool covering many of the fundamentals. It can be considered a free employee onboarding software because of its 2 seats free plan which no other onboarding solution here provides.

monday.com simplifies the onboarding process, making an often complex process simple. The software provides HR managers with pre-built onboarding templates that can be quickly altered and modified as the process unfolds. 

Besides onboarding, the software streamlines the recruiting process, leads staff training, and assists HR managers in developing employee wellness plans. A major plus is that it is a free web-based employee onboarding system

Integrations for project management tools such as Slack, Google Drive, Gmail, Google Calendar, Jira, GitHub, Trello, Dropbox, Typeform, and many more are available on monday.com through a commercial Zapier membership.

Pros:

• It offers in-app automation,
• Free 14-day trials, 
• A lot of integration options,
• Offers an intuitive UI

Cons:

• Plans and pricing are unnecessarily confusing

Pricing:

• Free for 2 seats,
• Basic plan: $9/seat/month,
• Standard plan: $12/seat/month,
• Pro plan: $19/seat/month.
• A custom enterprise plan is also available.

monday.com review

Visit monday.com
 

10. Bambee (Best small business onboarding software for complete HR management.)

Bambee should not be confused with Bamboo, as they have separate areas of focus while providing onboarding services via their software. Bambee is an onboarding software for small business that can assist organizations with their HR needs, such as developing new employment practices, establishing ACA-compliant employee benefits, and handling delicate HR processes such as employee termination. 

Bambee provides you with access to highly trained HR specialists who simplify the fundamental parts of your organization's HR department. Bambee's HR expert and digital platform do an excellent job of simplifying the otherwise complex procedures of employee onboarding and offboarding.

Bambee also assists your firm with smooth payroll handling, unique HR policies, and guaranteeing compliance through efficient staff training and assistance.

Pros:

• Provides help for small companies without HR managers
• Helps to navigate dicey labor regulations
• Simplifies employee onboarding and offboarding
• Provides effective training for employees
• Only software that assists in creating and writing company policies

Cons:

• No mobile app is available.

Pricing:

• 1-4 employees: $299 per month plus a one-time $500 setup fee
• 5-19 employees: $399 per month plus a one-time $500 setup fee
• 20-49 employees: $699 per month plus a one-time $1,500 setup fee
• 50-99 employees: $1,299 per month plus a one-time $2,000 setup fee
• 100-149 employees: $2,499 per month plus a one-time $2,500 setup fee
• 150-249 employees: $3,699 per month plus a one-time $3,500 setup fee
• 250+ employees: Custom pricing

Visit Bambee
 

11. Trakstar (Great for its custom learning management platform)

Trakstar Learn is a cloud-based employee onboarding platform that allows companies to manage the onboarding process through an LMS fast and effectively. By automating numerous administrative activities connected with onboarding, it helps to ease the process of integrating new hires into a company. 

It also streamlines the procedures overseen by your administrators, saving them time and allowing them to focus on more vital activities to fulfill your company's strategic goals. 

The app provides real-time feedback and optional peer-to-peer contact to help you complete year-round journals on schedule. It also allows you to customize workflows to match your organization's needs and generate bespoke forms for your evaluations. 

Pros:

• Offers real-time reporting. 
• Effective training for employees.
• It Provides customization options
• Easy to use
• Effective goal-setting mechanism.

Cons:

• You cannot run multiple processes at the same time

Pricing:

Pricing is not available on the website.

Visit Trakstar
 

12. Workday (Best HR onboarding software)

Workday provides a comprehensive suite of HR services and is an onboarding tool that encourages self-service. This onboarding program gives companies oversight over the new hire's entire hiring, onboarding, and offboarding lifecycles.  

Workday’s recruiting tool is especially sought after, as it is effective for sourcing, screening, and recruiting top talent for various positions. Recruiters enjoy the various HR onboarding solutions that make it easy to organize and coordinate the onboarding process for the new hire. 

Workday has one of the most thorough and advanced analytics and reporting tools. With this feature, HR can do the proper background checks on new hires, monitor their data up to date, and use this data to set up employee training sessions that are focused on employee engagement. This has a positive correlation with higher retention rates for companies.

Workday comes with a free trial that allows companies to understand the bargain they would be getting and this makes it stand out among other HR onboarding systems.

Pros:

• Intuitive user interface in the paid version
• Easy and adequate integration options
• Effective customer support 

Cons:

• The pricing system is not transparent 

Pricing:

• $99 per user, per month

Visit Workday
 

13. Sapling (Great for mid-sized companies)

Sapling is one of the best onboarding tools you’ll find for mid-sized companies. It comes with a host of onboarding features that allow human resource managers to manage the data of new hires, create work profiles for them, and include them in the company process. 

With Sapling, HR managers can build automated workflows allowing team members to be assigned tasks based on their work experience, location, and other factors. 

By integrating natively with leading software systems, Sapling offers seamless integration with applicant tracking, payroll, time tracking, and other workforce management apps.

Pros:

• Easy native integration
• Affordable 
• Effective time-tracking feature

Cons:

• Backend navigation can be complex.
• Profile editing can be a bit difficult. 

Pricing:

• The onboarding module price starts at $4.92/user/month
• The Full core HRIS experience starts at $6.99/user/month based on 100 users.

Visit Sapling  

What is the best onboarding tool for my company? Our conclusion

Now that we’ve examined 13 of our best onboarding tools, here are our conclusions. Picking onboarding software for your company might be the single most important decision to creating a long-lasting relationship with your employees, new and old. Making this decision might still feel like a heavy burden. We encourage you to try out some onboarding software options with a free trial option to see what they offer.