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Our criteria: How we chose the best vendors
We take our research seriously and want to make sure we are presenting our readers with the very best solutions in a given software category. Here's how we select vendors to be in our buyer guides:
- Product: We want to have a deep understanding of a vendor's product before recommending it. This usually means getting a demo by a senior executive (their CEO, head of product, etc), and/or using the product ourselves to make sure it has a solid UI, intuitive workflows, and the features to make it a best in class offering.
- User feedback: We do our best to understand what users say when they experience this product. User input allows us to accomplish a more thorough due diligence of products, put new vendors on our radar, and generally make sure we are presenting the right products to our readers.
- Financial metrics: We are very much finance nerds and so use a product's retention rates, growth, profitability, and scale to understand whether or not it is truly best in class.
- Best for a use case: Sometimes the best solution is the cheapest, the best tool for international companies, or the best for startups. We try to include a diversity of solutions so that our readers can find the tool that is best for what they need.
Here's more detail if you want to read further on how we research vendors.
In this guide you'll find
Almost 30% of job seekers say they have left a position within their first 90 days. Therefore, it is important to properly engage your workforce at the very beginning of their journey with your company to ensure a high retention rate. Onboarding tools prepare them for success in their new roles, empower them to set high expectations for themselves, and even encourage them to stick around longer.
Employee turnover is costly, especially if those costs come immediately after new employee hiring expenses. Despite that, many small businesses and startups still might not be able to fit an onboarding platform in their budget. As such, we put together a list of the best free onboarding solutions, including free trials and free forever options. Our aim is to help small businesses empower new hires and create high-growth teams while also saving money and valuable time.
This guide outlines the best free employee onboarding systems, either those that have free trials or are actually free depending on your company size. You can also check out our landscape on the top employee onboarding solutions.
Featured in
Top Free Employee Onboarding Software Platforms — 2022
We track thousands of HR Tech solutions. Here are the best free employee onboarding software as of 2022.
Why we love it
:
Eloomi has a built-in employee onboarding platform that lets you create, track and manage the entire employee onboarding process. It also comes with a free onboarding ebook that helps new employees enjoy an effective onboarding process and get up to speed quickly.
- Eloomi is quite comprehensive, with modules for onboarding, training/learning, performance management, employee engagement, and recognition.
- The platform comes with a library of ready-to-use templates to help you create online training faster. It also has a mobile app for your employees to access training materials on the go.
- Their surveys are customizable and private, helping you get specific and honest feedback from employees.
- You can request other members of the organization to provide feedback on certain skills of employees.
- You can make use of Eloomi’s micro-sized online training content to prevent overwhelming onboarding experiences.
- Because of the sheer number of features Eloomi offers, there’s a steeper learning curve for the average user to get the hang of the platform and understand it to its fullest.
- A few users reported experiencing bugs and speed issues when generating reports, especially ones with a large volume of data, but have noted that Eloomi’s customer support team is quick to resolve such issues.
- The platform’s pricing isn’t transparent and free trials aren’t available at this time.
eloomi
Review:
With Eloomi’s employee onboarding solution, you can make your onboarding process reflective of your company’s culture. The entire training process can be broken into bite-sized pieces to make it easier for your new hires to grasp all of the new information you share with them about your company and their role in it. You can also track their progress through the onboarding and training phase in real time and have conversations with them around it. To learn more about how you can improve the experience of your new hires further, you may want to check out Eloomi’s onboard ebook, available to all customers for free.
eloomi
Customers:
Eloomi’s customer list includes BONUS Vorsorgekasse AG, Breakout Games, Carne Group, ElectricBrands, Nufarm, Domino’s, and more.
Eloomi’s customer list includes BONUS Vorsorgekasse AG, Breakout Games, Carne Group, ElectricBrands, Nufarm, Domino’s, and more.
eloomi
Stats:
When Kompan, one of the largest playground manufacturers, trained more than 1000 employees using Eloomi, only 1% of them reached out for help, although the platform was new to around 80% of them.
When Kompan, one of the largest playground manufacturers, trained more than 1000 employees using Eloomi, only 1% of them reached out for help, although the platform was new to around 80% of them.
eloomi
Pricing:
Eloomi offers custom pricing, so the best way to find out how much it costs is to request a demo.
Eloomi offers custom pricing, so the best way to find out how much it costs is to request a demo.
Best For
Eloomi is for HR leaders and managers of mid-sized and large businesses to make onboarding easier for employees, engage them through frequent feedback, and track the progress of their personal development.
Why we love it
:
Not only is Freshteam a complete HR suite that's highly thought of by all sorts of professionals, they're also the makers of a breadth of widely-acclaimed business solutions.
- Freshteam is very user-friendly, with an intuitive UI that’s easy to navigate. It features a customizable, Kanban-style view of the full hiring process from initial contact to offer sending. Drag and drop mechanism makes it easy to move candidates around as they progress through the different stages.
- Freshteam is affordable for SMBs to use while still having a comparable feature set to more expensive solutions.
- Freshteam is quite scalable. With four plans to choose from, customers can start out with the free plan, then upgrade to more features as their business grows.
- While Freshteam has a free-forever plan that small companies can use, the plan is limited in features and allows for only 3 published job postings. That said, Freshteam’s paid plans are quite affordable, and can be used by small businesses - should they need to - without breaking the bank.
- Freshteam might not be suitable for enterprises and agencies that do volume hiring and are in need of advanced applicant tracking, candidate sourcing, and relationship management capabilities.
Freshteam
Review:
Freshteam offers a 21-day free trial of their employee onboarding software solution. It allows you to put together and send an onboarding kit of documents, forms-to-fill, and handbooks to sign so it can all be taken care of before the first day. Whenever something is missed, the system sends out reminders. Some of the additional features Freshteam offers include task tracking, open API’s, and employee offboarding.
It is typically packaged as a part of their greater HR software package, of which they offer a free-forever plan called. Unfortunately, onboarding functionality is not included in the free plan at this time.
Freshteam
Customers:
Daimler, Nissan, JCDecaux, SAP, University of Pennsylvania
Freshteam is one of the most widely used HR suites out there with over 7,000 customers including Monster, PharmEasy, Ocado, Reaktor, Nissan, SAP, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Freshteam
Stats:
- Used by 5,000 customers worldwide
Freshteam customers have seen the following results:
- Gogoprint, an online printing company operating out of South East Asia, managed to fill positions 20% faster through Freshteam’s job post distribution feature, hiring workflow customization, and more.
- SunPower, a family-owned solar company in Northern California, managed to reduce their average time spent on recruiting and onboarding by 75% with the help of Freshteam’s job posting automation, multi-channel candidate sourcing, and paperless onboarding.
- Physicians Choice Dialysis, a dialysis management company, managed to reduce their recruiting costs by 50% using Freshteam as it helps automate job post distribution and candidate onboarding, two processes that would otherwise require a lot of manual labor and time.
Freshteam
Pricing:
Freshteam is free for up to 50 employees. Their onboarding solution is offered with their Pro and Enterprise plans. The former starts at $2.40 per user per month plus a monthly $119 platform fee. That being said, you get two months free if you go for the annual plan.
Freshteam has 4 pricing plans. When billed annually, they cost as follows:
- Free: This plan is free of charge for up to 50 active employees and is limited to 3 published job postings.
- Growth: Costing $1 per employee per month + $59 platform fee per month, the Growth plan is ideal for small companies looking to handle their basic HR needs more effectively.
- Pro: For $2 per employee per month + $99 platform fee per month, the Pro plan comes with several added features to automate workflows and manage HR data.
- Enterprise: For $4 per employee per month + $169 platform fee per month, the Enterprise plan is Freshteam’s most premium offering, providing users with access to all features in previous plans with the addition of advanced customizations, reporting, and more.
Best For
Freshteam is a good bet for businesses large and small. However, those looking specifically for a free onboarding solution may not find a good fit here, as it offers so much more but onboarding is a part of the paid offering only.
Why we love it
:
BambooHR helps you save countless man hours in onboarding processes. It comes with built-in electronic signatures, onboarding templates, automatic sending of onboarding tasks to new employees, and customizable pre-boarding packages.
- Flexible packaging and custom pricing is the way they roll. You can pick out one or two packages and pick other modules as add-ons based on your needs.
- Very simple and straightforward tool, easy to use.
- Flexible packaging and custom pricing is the way they roll. You can pick out one or two packages and pick other modules as add-ons based on your needs.
- Very simple and straightforward tool, easy to use.
- Payroll is only available for US-based employees
- Customer support is only offered during US business hours.
- Some modules like time tracking, performance management, and surveys are only available as add-ons.
- Payroll is only available for US-based employees
- Customer support is only offered during US business hours.
- Some modules like time tracking, performance management, and surveys are only available as add-ons.
BambooHR
Review:
BambooHR's software spans across the entire employee lifecycle, as they also have recruiting and performance management in addition to the core HRMS functionality. Their onboarding and offboarding features, while available only for some of their custom plans, are easy to use and made for saving time and keeping employees engaged.
BambooHR
Customers:
Among the 20,000+ companies that use BambooHR, you’d find names like Quora, Universal Group, Reddit, Asana, Change.org, University of Maryland, Grammarly, Stance, Postmates, Wistia, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and ZipRecruiter.
BambooHR
Stats:
- Over 20,000 active client organizations
- Millions of employees active on their system
- 45,000+ new hires onboarded per month, on average
BambooHR
Pricing:
Pricing is not disclosed upfront, but they do offer a free trial of their all-in-one software and then go out of their way to find a version that will suit you. Before they come up with a personalized quote that will align with your budget, however, they are also likely to extend your free trial upon request or even give you a free demo of the advanced features.
Best For:
BambooHR is a good fit for companies looking for a very customizable HR product, with pricing that reflects their needs. It’s also popular among teams that are partially or even fully remote.
Why we love it
:
WebHR is free if you have 5 employees or less in your organization. Its base module includes onboarding tools, which are designed for new hire self-service.
WebHR
Review:
With WebHR, employees can use any device to fill out paperwork, sign and upload documentation, choose benefits plans, and complete training modules. Even if you need to upgrade from the free plan, WebHR's options are pretty inexpensive; as little as $2/month per staff member. That makes it an ideal employee management system for small businesses.
WebHR
Customers:
Chevrolet, Nissan, Infiniti, WaterAid, GMC, and Budget.
WebHR
Stats:
- Available in 30 languages
WebHR
Pricing:
WebHR's pricing after the free version depends on the amount of modules you add. As mentioned above, it can be as little as $2 per user per month for all the base modules.
Best For:
Small businesses looking for a simple solution with all the necessary features.
Why we love it
:
Zenefits offer top-notch product experience with a self-service ethos for most of their products. That has worked for thousands of companies because their products are so easy to use.
- It’s one of the top names in HR tech and payroll software for American small businesses.
- Their platform is one of the best-looking and easiest to figure out among the sector.
- Zenefits can grow with you. Its pricing plans allow you to pay and tweak as you go, add certain modules when you need them, or get rid of them if you don’t.
- As oriented to small businesses as the tool is, it doesn’t give you the chance to create a custom bundle of the services and/or modules you’d like to have. For instance, Zenefits does not offer a standalone ACA module. Therefore, you will need to purchase an entire HRIS plan if you want to access that offering.
- In addition, Zenefits focuses on small to mid sized companies. If you're an enterprise organization, you may want to consider another option.
- Zenefits is also rather focused on the US market at this point. So, if your team is mostly in another country and you need more of a local know-how, it might not be the best bet for certain modules like payroll and benefits.
Zenefits
Review:
Zenefits offers a two week free trial of their Hiring & Onboarding software. Zenefits Hiring & Onboarding software is entirely online and mobile friendly, and allows employees to self-onboard, saving your organization lots of time. The solution follows the entire onboarding process from making the offer to managing employees once they’re fully assimilated. It connects automatically to the rest of their HR suit as well, making it ideal if you’re already a Zenefits customer.
Zenefits
Customers:
Quora, Goals for Autism, Universal Group, Reddit, Asana
Zenefits
Stats:
- Over 11,000 customers in 35 different industries
- 80% of the new hires they onboard complete the process before their first day
- 50% less time onboarding new employees
- Some cases can complete new hire onboarding in under 10 minutes
Zenefits
Pricing:
After the free trial, Zenefits starts with the Essentials plan at $8 per month per employee.
Best For:
Smaller teams (<50) that want to save time by streamlining their HR services with an intuitive platform that lets them pay and tweak as they go.
Why we love it
:
Leapsome offers a modern approach to onboarding and other HR processes, all united by great UX and support.
Leapsome
Review:
Employee engagement and performance management software company Leapsome offers a 14-day free trial of their product. It has a robust onboarding solution that lets you craft a step-by-step learning program and quiz your new hire on what they learned at each step.
Leapsome
Customers:
Leapsome is used by Babbel, Mercedes-Benz, Trivago, and Spotify, among others.
Leapsome
Stats:
- 1.2M unique pieces of feedback shared
- 99% customer satisfaction
Leapsome
Pricing:
Leapsome starts at a 14-day free trial. Once that is over, pricing will depend on the number of employees you'll have using the tool and the modules you'd like to use. Their modular pricing starts at 7 USD user/month if billed annually.
Best For:
All sorts of company sizes could make good use of Leapsome.
Why we love it
:
Sentrifugo is one of the top open-source HRMSs out there. Whether you're a small business or a large organization, it can be configured to fit your exact needs.
Sentrifugo
Review:
Sentrifugo is a free open-source HRMS, which includes an onboarding module in its feature set. If your company is looking for a little bit of everything on top of onboarding, Sentrifugo is a great option. However, because it’s open source you have to save all of your data on your own servers. For a small to medium sized business, that shouldn’t end up being an issue.
Sentrifugo
Customers:
Sentrifugo
Stats:
Sentrifugo
Pricing:
Sentrifugo is completely free, but you need to take into consideration the cost of hosting it yourself.
Best For:
Small and medium-sized companies that want to explore the open-source route.
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Final Advice on Free Onboarding Software
When looking for a free software, you’re not going to be able to get everything on your list. Narrow down the list of features you want into “must-haves” and “nice-to-haves” and pursue the offering that fits as much of the must-haves as possible.
As your company grows, you’ll be able to branch out to the full version of these vendors, or even seek out a different one. We have an entire landscape dedicated to the best employee onboarding software when you’re ready to make the jump. In the meantime, use this page to find the best possible solution.
Top Free Employee Onboarding Software
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