HR Software Buying Checklist for Small Business

Before you shop

• Write down the three HR jobs that waste the most of your time.
• Count your employees today, and guess how many you'll have in two years.
• Count the people who need to log in: owner, managers, office staff, employees.
• Decide whether you're keeping your payroll company.
• Note what you must have, and what would just be nice.

Price

• Is the price flat, or per employee or per user?
• What's the monthly total at your headcount today? At double?
• Are there setup, training or data-import fees?
• Which features need a higher plan?
• What costs extra as you use it, such as texting or background checks?
• Is there a contract? How do you cancel?
• Is a promotional price or included feature going to change at some date?

Hiring

• Can you post a job and collect applicants on one list?
• Can you set different hiring steps for different jobs?
• Can you text and email applicants, and see the whole conversation?
• Can applicants book their own interview from your calendar?
• Can interviewers rate everyone on the same questions?
• If it uses AI, who makes the decision? It should be you.

Onboarding

• Can a new hire finish forms on a phone?
• Which government forms does it guide, such as the I-9, W-4 and your state's withholding form?
• Can you see who is on track and what is overdue?
• Can you add your own items and pick who owns each one?
• Does a hire's information carry over, or does someone retype it?

Employee records, time off and benefits

• Is there one record for each person, with their job details and files?
• Can you import your people from a spreadsheet?
• Can you control who opens which files?
• Can you set your own time off policies, balances and approvals?
• Can employees request time off and see their balance themselves?
• Can it run benefits enrollment, with dependents and beneficiaries?
• If you need a punch-in time clock, is one included?

Payroll

• Does this product pay people and file taxes, or does a payroll company do that?
• Does it work with your payroll company? How?
• What goes in the file, and what has to be typed by hand?
• Can you check the numbers before they go out?
• Can you get reports on hours, overtime and benefits?

Not sure how these fit together? Read HRIS vs payroll.

Everyday use

• Does it work well on a phone? Try it yourself.
• Can a manager do the common jobs without training?
• Can employees look up their own information?
• When you have a question, who answers, and how fast?
• Is it available where you operate? Check each feature if you work in more than one country.

Security and your data

• Does it offer two-step sign-in? Can it be required?
• Who can see pay and Social Security numbers?
• Are files private, or can anyone with a link open them?
• Can you turn off someone's access the moment they leave?
• Can you get your data out if you leave? In what format?
• If you have security questions or need documents for a customer, ask what the company can actually show you.

Run a real trial

A demo shows the best of a product. A trial shows what your Tuesday will be like. Try these with a real job and made-up people:

1. Post a job and add a test applicant.
2. Text them and book an interview.
3. Hire them and send the new-hire forms to your own phone.
4. Upload a file and check who can open it.
5. Request a day off as the employee, then approve it as the manager.
6. Export a list of your people.

If those feel easy, you've probably found a good fit.

How HRGP answers

Here are the big ones for us:

• Price: one flat $99 a month, no per-seat fees, no long-term contract and a 14-day free trial. Payroll preparation is included through June 30, 2027. AI interviews and texting are billed separately. See pricing.
• Payroll: we don't pay people or file taxes. Your payroll company does, and HRGP prepares the file.
• Time clock: we don't have a punch-in time clock. You record hours by pay period.
• Where it works: the United States and Canada. Onboarding, government new-hire forms and payroll preparation are for US businesses.
• Security: see two-step sign-in and security.

See HRGP as an HRIS, read about HR software for small business or compare your options.

Common questions about buying HR software