BambooHR® vs. SmartRecruiters

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BambooHR®
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
BambooHR is an cloud-based human resources solution that provides onboarding, payroll, and benefits management. It also offers automated time-off management and employee self-service.
$250
per month
SmartRecruiters
Score 9.7 out of 10
N/A
SmartRecruiters’ Talent Acquisition Suite is a cloud-based recruitment marketing and collaborative hiring platform. It features an open marketplace for third party recruitment services. SmartRecruiters also offers talent sourcing and screening as add-on features.N/A
Pricing
BambooHR®SmartRecruiters
Editions & Modules
Core
$250
per month
Pro
Contact Sales
per month
Elite
Contact Sales
per month
Corporate
Varies, per FTE
Billed annually
Global
Varies, per FTE
Billed annually
SmartStart
Free
up to 10 active job postings
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BambooHR®SmartRecruiters
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptional$1,000
Additional DetailsThe software subscription is determined by the number of a company's full time employees. There is a one time cost to set up software, including customizations, integrations, data migration and training.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BambooHR®SmartRecruiters
Features
BambooHR®SmartRecruiters
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR®
7.6
Ratings
3% below category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
Employee demographic data8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Employment history7.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Job profiles and administration7.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.7.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Organizational charting6.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Organization and location management8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)7.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR®
6.6
Ratings
19% below category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
Pay calculation7.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors5.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment6.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Benefit plan administration5.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Direct deposit files7.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management7.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Reimbursement management6.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR®
8.7
Ratings
8% above category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
Approval workflow8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Balance details8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment9.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR®
8.0
Ratings
1% below category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
View and generate pay and benefit information7.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Update personal information8.80 Ratings00 Ratings
View company policy documentation8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee recognition7.20 Ratings00 Ratings
View job history8.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR®
9.1
Ratings
12% above category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
Tracking of all physical assets9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR®
6.8
Ratings
10% below category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
Report builder6.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Pre-built reports7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data6.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR®
7.7
Ratings
3% below category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
New hire portal8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Manager tracking tools7.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR®
7.5
Ratings
5% below category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
Corporate goal setting6.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Individual goal setting7.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility9.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance tracking6.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR®
7.5
Ratings
4% below category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
Performance plans6.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance improvement plans6.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Review status tracking8.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Review reminders8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple review frequency7.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR®
9.1
Ratings
15% above category average
SmartRecruiters
-
Ratings
Create succession plans/pools8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate ranking9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate search9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate development9.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR®
7.8
Ratings
1% above category average
SmartRecruiters
8.6
Ratings
7% above category average
Job Requisition Management7.40 Ratings9.80 Ratings
Company Website Posting7.40 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Publish to Social Media9.30 Ratings7.50 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting7.20 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention7.60 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Applicant Tracking8.00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts8.00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Customized Application Form00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Resume Management00 Ratings5.60 Ratings
Candidate Search00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Collaboration00 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Task Creation and Delegation00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Email Templates00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
User Permissions00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Reporting00 Ratings1.70 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BambooHR®SmartRecruiters
Small Businesses
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Breezy HR
Breezy HR
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Breezy HR
Breezy HR
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.9 out of 10
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BambooHR®SmartRecruiters
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(0 ratings)
7.9
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.8
(0 ratings)
6.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.3
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.3
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.7
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.8
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.6
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.7
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.6
(0 ratings)
7.1
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.9
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.9
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BambooHR®SmartRecruiters
Likelihood to Recommend
I think if you're a small organization and you're trying to get out of paper, this is a really good first step to doing that. I've heard from other people that are in larger organizations where they have thousands of employees that there may be better platforms, but for smaller organization it's awesome.
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SmartRecruiters has allowed us to enable our hiring managers to self-service their requirements for recruitment, simplifying our internal processes. We have visibility of recruitment requirements and significantly improved our approvals process using the software. We have been able to configure our hiring processes relevant to different areas of the business. Collaboration for our hiring teams (managers and business partners) is simple and effective. Candidate experience is enhanced and engaging. The platform has brought many benefits to our Resourcing business partners and hiring managers. We have visibility and insightful data which has integrity, allowing us to make informed business decisions. Our offer process has seen significant improvements and provides an engaging candidate experience, previously this was a labour-intensive process that is now streamlined and automated. The recently launched Community for collaboration amongst customers is very helpful and insigtful for how other people are using the software and exploring ideas with each other
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Pros
  • BambooHR® allows you to preview as a user in a specific access level. This is VERY helpful for providing instructions to employees or double checking that information is secure.
  • BambooHR® customer support is unmatched. Any time I have a question, I can quickly get an answer as well as additional resources.
  • Employees are able to easily find their information without coming to HR for questions. This cuts down on the questions coming into HR departments, big and small.
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  • Job Referrals - can easily refer others to a job posting and view the status
  • Job Postings - can easily search for job openings and read job description and criteria
  • Application online - Can easily apply for the job directly and see who the hiring manager and hiring recruiter is
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Cons
  • Notices for approving hours don't always coincide with pay periods well.
  • Payroll reports are by pay period without the ability to combine hours, etc. into a monthly report.
  • There is not an easy way to fix payroll errors. Must get it right the first time.
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  • Not having feature of referral data, who has referred
  • Another problem is that in [the] emails section it shows 'company name' field will show as Smartrecruiters vs. the name of our agency that will make confuse to [candidates]
  • Major problem of this is that it does not support api in the free version
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Likelihood to Renew
There's nothing wrong with this platform. I would recommend it to any business starting with more than 10 employees. I will continue to use the program for as long as I need to, hoping they continue being tremendous and finding other ways to incorporate more technology.
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I thoroughly enjoy using SmartRecruiters and have shared this feedback with those responsible, however I am not a decision maker in the process. I understand that at the moment there are lots of factors affecting the economy and business outcomes, so I cannot comment with certainty on the renewal of SmartRecruiters at this time, not involved in the confirmation of renewal.
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Usability
BambooHR® is helpful, but I still handle some tasks manually due to missing features relevant to my needs. Certain processes require additional functionality, limiting full automation. While it streamlines HR operations, gaps in usability mean I must supplement workflows with manual efforts to ensure efficiency and meet specific business demands.
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I would give this rating as overall it a great combo of all your problems. With just one click you can get away with all your problems such as recruitment, candidate update, Interview scheduling, updating candidates, reports of a job perspective, and recruiters perspective. Usability is worth of SmartRecruiters. The dashboard is also very attractive and once you open you will love working on this platform again and again. I would say it is the best platform to use once for smooth work in your organization.
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Reliability and Availability
Yes, there is a huge team in the back of the online platform or it looks like it because I have never been left without an answer when I have a question or waiting from a response on my chat .... There must be a huge team, this is so great and I always seem to have someone that is very knowledgeable too. So many times in the past I had to leave with customer service that would connect you with someone else because of the expertise, here everyone seems to be some kind of an expert in the HR function.
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Rarely is there an issue and if the product is down, it typically is restored quickly.
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Performance
I love BambooHR. Reports are easy to run and download and it usually covers any types of requests I get from the management team. You get excel or .csv downloads/reports and it is fast and simple, not too crowded so it is easy to read through. We don't integrate the tool yet but again, soon we will. we just did not had the time to utilize it yet but that's the plan.
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I have no complaints about performance. The system works virtually flawless.
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Support Rating
The support can be slow as they are a US based company and therefore we often have to wait for them to be online before we can speak to somebody and they are not particularly responsive to emails. The service itself has always been helpful and in most cases, the issue was resolved.
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Response is normally very fast. There are times, however, when the response is not useful. It is difficult to work with the reporting and the offer letter templates, and the front line support agents usually are not very knowledgeable. Second, if there are any issues with integrations, the regular support agents will not be able to help you. You'll have to create that ticket and ask them to escalate it to an integration specialist.
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In-Person Training
I didn't have in-person training besides teaching my managers how to use the program. However, I couldn't omit this question (maybe a system glitch).
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Quick and easy to learn.
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Online Training
As far as I can recall, everything went well with doing it online and got questions answered. Was thankful to work with a dummy file to get used to some practices prior to getting our own domain within bamboo to then place our personnel information in the system, this helped a lot!
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
We implemented bambooHR in Fall, 2023 then implemented Payroll 1/1/24. A vital piece of information was not known or missed in that we are exempt from State Unemployment Tax and have a Reimbursement Set-up, so bambooHR did not send Payroll Reports to the State. Those reports need to be sent regardless if we are exempt or not.
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It really was a painless and easy process to switch to SmartRecruiters.
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Alternatives Considered
I needed a system that was easy to use from an admin level as well as employee level. We run a pretty simple operation as we do not have shift diffs or multiple approval levels. Some of the systems reviewed were too much for us and, as a result, too expensive. BambooHR® fit our needs and budget accordingly.
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We previously used SnapHire which required a different account for each of our brands, and SmartRecruiters has been a vast improvement for our business in integrating our brands onto one applicant tracking site. This improves both the recruiter and hiring manager experience, and is much more user-friendly for tracking job approvals and postings, and tracking candidates through their applications.
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Scalability
There is so much you can do with this platform, it is incredible and so welcoming. We don't utilize it 100% yet just because we are growing and the HR team has not been able to concentrate on other areas offered to us but but we will soon. Which is also why we got the product, specifically because what BambooHR can do to help us meet our growing business needs.
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No explanation really, just a great product.
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Return on Investment
  • HR team members have been saved thousands of hours over the 3.5 years we've had BambooHR®. It saved me personally several hours a day once BambooHR® was set up. Specifically, onboarding, offboarding, and a formal Hiring system are the major time savers.
  • Employee Information is much easier to access and is all centralized. Employees are empowered to update their information when applicable, and we have designed custom access levels for different positions and managers to ensure every individual is seeing the appropriate types of information about employees.
  • We saved significant money by switching from Lattice to BambooHR®'s Performance Management solution. This solution is less advanced, but the simplicity meets our needs perfectly fine, and it even saves time for managers and employees by BambooHR®'s standard questions, carefully designed to get to the heart of performance and improvement.
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  • SmartRecruiters has unified the approach of my recruiting team, so everyone is processing their jobs the same way, which gives me the confidence that my payroll system will be loaded correctly.
  • SmartRecruiters has offered me integrations with electronic signatures, background checks, and job boards so that I don't have to manage multiple platforms to see recruitment/hiring information.
  • SmartRecruiters has given me the ability to see at-a-glance how we are doing in recruiting and our application volume to see how well our efforts are working.
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ScreenShots

BambooHR® Screenshots

Screenshot of Job Info TabScreenshot of Onboarding TasksScreenshot of New Hire PacketScreenshot of Employee Performance ReportScreenshot of Employee Satisfaction (eNPS®)Screenshot of Open Enrollment

SmartRecruiters Screenshots

Screenshot of a candidate experience to  reach, engage, and connect with talent wherever they are.Screenshot of engaged hiring managers empowered by collaboration tools and applicant tracking to drive better hiring decisions.Screenshot of digital offer management, onboarding, and reporting deliver a seamless journey for new hires and recruiters.Screenshot of how SmartRecruiters eases the burden of juggling multiple open roles and hiring large volumes.Screenshot of an example of the routine task automation that frees up hiring teams to focus on making great hires and delivering a better candidate experience.Screenshot of where to find and discover qualified talent while getting the most from the advertising budget.