What is BambooHR? 2026 Features, Pricing & Limits

BambooHR is an HR Information System (HRIS) for small and mid-size businesses that want one home for employee records, onboarding, time off, performance, benefits, and US payroll. Its time tracking is a paid add-on aimed at tracking hours for payroll and attendance, not client billing. 

Key Takeaways about BambooHR BambooHR is an HR system; its time tracking is a paid add-on built for hours-for-payroll. Pricing starts at about $10/employee/mo, with a floor of $250/mo for teams of 25 or fewer. Reviewers praise the ease of use, mobile app, and onboarding; the friction is opaque pricing for add-ons, renewal increases, and limited reporting. If you have hours to bill a client or show project margin, that cannot be done in BambooHR.

 

 

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What is BambooHR & Who is it Built For (2026)?

BambooHR is a cloud HRIS from a company with the same name, BambooHR. Founded in 2008 in Lindon, Utah, by Ben Peterson and Ryan Sanders, it now serves tens of thousands of companies, mostly small and mid-size US businesses.

Category	Details
Provider	BambooHR
Product type	HR platform / HRIS: records, onboarding, PTO, performance, benefits, ATS; time tracking as an add-on
Pricing	$10 (Core) per employee per month $17 (Pro) per employee per month $25 (Elite) per employee per month Custom solutions require sending a quote request.
Small-team floor	~$250/mo for 25 employees or fewer (Check the FAQ on its pricing page)
Free plan	No
Trial	Free trial available for 7 days; no Credit Card required
Time entry/capture	Manual clock in/out, timesheets, geolocation (mobile); no automatic desktop activity capture
Automatic capture	No; attendance-based, not desktop activity capture-based
Employee monitoring	No; not a monitoring or screenshot tool
Platforms	Web, iOS/Android app, iPad kiosk time clock; no desktop time-capture app
Deployment	Cloud (SaaS)
Time tracking status	Paid add-on (Time & Attendance) for all plans
User rating	G2 about 4.4/5 (6.7k+ reviews); Capterra about 4.6/5 (3.5k+ reviews)
Best for	US-based SMBs (about 25 to 500) wanting a simple, easy-to-use HR system
Less suitable for	Teams whose core job is billable/project time and profitability; non-US teams for payroll

 

BambooHR acts as the single source of truth for HR records for your people. It holds employee profiles and documents, runs hiring and onboarding, tracks time off, manages performance and benefits, and ensures HR compliance. You can also add US payroll, US benefits administration,  time and attendance, and global hiring as paid add-on modules. 

It is built for growing HR teams of businesses with roughly 25 to 500 employees, who wish to switch from spreadsheets to an SMB-friendly system, not a watered-down version of an enterprise suite.

That focus explains both its strengths and its ceiling: it is an HR platform first, and a time tracker only in a narrow, payroll-specific way.

How Does BambooHR Work?

BambooHR runs as a cloud platform you set up once and then let your team use it day to day:

1. Set up your people: Add employee data and set permissions, so managers, HR, and staff each see the right things.

2. Turn on self-service: Employees update their profile, read documents, and request leave from the web or mobile app.

3. Route approvals: Leave requests are routed to the right manager and time-off balances update automatically.

4. Add time tracking if you need it: With the Time and Attendance add-on, employees clock in and out, and fill timesheets.

5. Connect payroll: Approved data flows into the BambooHR Payroll add-on (US only).

What does BambooHR do well, and where does it fall short?

BambooHR earns its reputation on ease of use. Across G2 (4.4/5, 6,780 reviews) and Capterra (4.6/5, 3605 reviews), the most common praise is that HR staff and ordinary employees both find it clean and simple, with little training needed to use. 

Reviewers also single out its mobile app, the guided onboarding and e-signatures, the tidy central record, and strong day-to-day adoption.

 

But reviewers also point to rigid reporting and workflow customization and renewal increases that catch teams off guard.

Some reviewers report occasional glitches, an AI assistant that is not always helpful, and friction syncing with an outside payroll.

The AI assistant was not available in the free trial, so I cannot say anything about it, but the time tracking is also basic next to a dedicated tracker.

How does BambooHR handle PTO and time-off tracking?

BambooHR manages PTO and time-off tracking through automated requests, approvals, leave balance visibility, and team calendars. As the HR manager you can build leave policies, set accrual rules, and let employees request time off in a few taps. Employees can send PTO and leave requests through their self-serve portal and get notified of approvals. 

Requests route to a manager, balance updates automatically, and a shared “Who’s Out” calendar shows who is away, with a PTO calculator alongside. Remember that PTO and time-off tracking is part of the HR core.

Does BambooHR do time tracking, and what does it cover?

Yes, BambooHR tracks time through the Time and Attendance add-on. These are some of the features you get:

• Manual clock in and out
• Add time entry
• Timesheets
• Breaks
• Shift differentials
• Multiple pay rates
• Mobile geolocation
• Overtime across all 50 US states

Employees can tag hours to a project or task at clock-in, and you can run physical kiosks, including an iPad time clock with badge, face, or fingerprint entry. All the data collected syncs to BambooHR Payroll.

BambooHR tracks time for payroll and attendance, not for billing.

BambooHR does not provide: 

• billable rates,
• client invoicing,
• project budgets,
• profitability calculations.

It records hours and can tag them to a project for payroll, but it does not turn those hours into an invoice or a margin figure.

It also doesn’t capture time automatically; it relies on clock-in and clock-out and geolocation.

If your tracked hours need to become client invoices or show project profitability, you need a dedicated time tracker such as TimeCamp. TimeCamp has a BambooHR integration that syncs your employee directory and org structure, so you can run TimeCamp for billable time alongside BambooHR.

Note: I had to enable Time & Attendance from Settings during my free trial. That added a new tab – Timesheets – to the My Info page and Time & Attendance option in the left navigation bar. Although the help said that the timesheet should have the option to Clock In, I only had the Add Time Entry option, where I could add the hours worked manually.

What Are The Pros and Cons of BambooHR?

Pros	Cons
One central, reliable employee record	Quote-based pricing for add-ons
Clean, intuitive interface that is easy to use	Renewals reported to rise 15 to 30 percent
Strong onboarding, e-signatures, and mobile app	Limited report and workflow customization
PTO and time-off tracking with a shared team calendar	No billable rates, invoicing, or project profitability
US payroll and benefits administration available as add-ons	Payroll and benefits administration are US-focused
	Time tracking is a paid add-on and basic for billing needs

Who is BambooHR For, And Who Should Outgrow it?

BambooHR fits some teams cleanly and challenges others. A high-level view of who it is for.

Profile	BambooHR fit
SMB (25 to 500) wanting a simple HR system for records, onboarding, PTO	Yes
US company wanting payroll tied to HR	Yes (add-on)
Team whose time must bill a client or show project margin	No
Company needing automatic time capture instead of clock in and out	No
Non-US organization for payroll	No (payroll is US-only)

Choose BambooHR when 

You want one friendly HR system for records, onboarding, PTO, and US payroll. 

Reach for a dedicated time tracker when 

Your hours have to become invoices, show project margin, or record themselves automatically.

If you need to capture billable hours automatically or calculate project profitability, you need a dedicated time tracker such as TimeCamp. Many teams run it alongside BambooHR rather than instead of it.

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How much does BambooHR cost in 2026?

BambooHR publishes its plan pricing only for core plans, not add-ons. To get pricing for add-ons you need to request price quote using the form on their Pricing page.

Plan	Reported per employee per month	Scope
Core	$10	Records, onboarding, PTO, reporting, self-service
Pro	$17	Core plus performance management, employee community, more compliance
Elite	$25	Pro plus strategic compensation and premium support

 

A few more numbers:

• The floor is about $250 per month for 25 employees or fewer.
• US-only Payroll & US-only Benefits Administration come to around $3 to $6 per employee per month
• Time Tracking is around $2 to $4 per employee per month 
• Global Employment is quoted separately; implementation runs roughly 5 to 15 percent of the annual contract.
• BambooHR gives a 15 percent discount when you bundle Payroll and Benefits with any plan.

Frequently asked questions about BambooHR

Is BambooHR free? 

No, BambooHR does not offer a free plan. However, you can sign up for its free seven-day trial; it does not need any credit card details. It also has a Self serve demo where you can take a look at those features of BambooHR that you are interested in.

Is BambooHR time tracking included or an add-on? 

BambooHR time tracking is a paid add-on, part of Time and Attendance Module. All the three plans (Core, Pro, and Elite) support the module. So, for any BambooHR plan you can purchase the Time and Attendance module.

Does BambooHR track billable hours or generate invoices?

No. It records hours for payroll and attendance. It does not track billable hours that can be converted to client invoices or used to calculate project profitability.

Does BambooHR monitor employees or take screenshots? 

No, BambooHR is an HR system and does not double as a monitoring tool. Its time tracking is based on clock in and out and geolocation.

Does BambooHR do payroll? 

Yes, BambooHR does payroll but only as an add-on, and that too for US businesses only.

What happens when we outgrow BambooHR’s time tracking? 

If BambooHR’s HRIS offering still fits but you need billable and project profitability calculations too, you need a dedicated time tracker such as TimeCamp. Businesses typically run it alongside BambooHR.

Bottom line: Is BambooHR the right choice?

For a small or mid-size US company that wants one friendly system for records, onboarding, time off, and payroll, BambooHR is straightforward to recommend. 

Where BambooHR stops being useful is time-based work: billing a client, proving project margin, or capturing time automatically. For these tasks you need a dedicated time tracking software.

So if your hours need to become client invoices or show project profitability, a dedicated tracker such as TimeCamp, running alongside BambooHR is perfect. For the full head-to-head comparison, see TimeCamp vs BambooHR. 

When hours must be billed and prove profit

Keep BambooHR for HR, and let TimeCamp handle billable rates, invoicing, and project profitability.

Get started free

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Sources

https://www.timecamp.com/how-we-review-software/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BambooHR
https://www.bamboohr.com/pricing/
https://www.bamboohr.com/platform/time-and-attendance
https://www.bamboohr.com/signup/
https://www.g2.com/products/bamboohr/reviews
https://www.capterra.com/p/110968/BambooHR/reviews/
https://www.capterra.com/p/110968/BambooHR/#Capterra___7202555 
https://www.g2.com/products/bamboohr/reviews/bamboohr-review-13462691 
https://checkthat.ai/brands/bamboohr/pricing
https://www.g2.com/products/bamboohr/reviews/bamboohr-review-10961090 
https://documentation.bamboohr.com/reference/time-tracking
https://www.timecamp.com/integrations/
https://tinyteam.io/blog/bamboohr-pricing/
https://www.pin.com/blog/bamboohr-pricing/
https://www.usecarly.com/blog/bamboohr-pricing/

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Markdown

Shweta Shweta is a B2B SaaS writer with 15 years of experience covering HR, business, cybersecurity and productivity software. She has written for publications and businesses including Forbes Advisor, HR Cloud, Orkes and Prove. She is the author of 24 Hours Are Enough, a book on time management. Between client drafts, she co-runs three food outlets and a resort, so timesheets are a daily reality for her, not just a blog topic.

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