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Charlie and HiBob are both HR software tools designed to help you manage human resources in a more effective way. While they can both do similar things, they are best suited to slightly different audiences. In this guide we’ll compare the two so you can decide which works best for you.
We’ve done the research to bring you this comprehensive comparison on CharlieHR vs HiBob. No need to read through sales pages or sit through demos — we have all the details you need right here, in one easy-to-read guide.
As a product manager at Charlie, it’s part of my job to understand what other HR software tools offer. I spend a lot of time researching software, understanding what’s missing, and learning how we can improve Charlie so it’s even more of a perfect fit for UK small businesses.
Here’s what the process behind creating this guide involved:
With so many hours spent on research, it seems a shame not to share it with you. After all, my goal is to help you find the best HR software for your needs. I’m confident that Charlie offers the best features and experience for small businesses, but it’s important to compare it against other options too.
HiBob and Charlie both offer a similar set of features, giving leaders and HR teams an easier way to manage HR operations. Let’s take a look at both in a little more detail.
Charlie has everything you need to automate your HR processes and save hours on HR admin every week. Our goal is to make HR feel effortless for leaders — so you can remove friction, save time, and turn your focus back to your primary role.
We’re a startup too, so we know what it’s like when you’re trying to do everything yourself. That’s why we’ve thoughtfully designed Charlie with small businesses in mind, with essential features and a user-friendly experience.
Charlie’s key features include:
The main benefits of choosing Charlie as your HR software include:
With just the right mix of features and a user experience that was built with UK small businesses in mind, Charlie is an ideal match for busy leaders looking for a user-friendly HR software tool.
HiBob is an HR information system (HRIS) tool designed for fast-growing, modern businesses. The platform includes the core HR features you’d expect, alongside the ability to manage payroll, workforce planning, and compensation.
As you explore HiBob’s offering, it becomes clear it’s built for businesses that have a high number of employees across different regions. Its strength lies in supporting global companies as they navigate growth, rather than helping you onboard one of your very first employees.
HiBob’s main features include:
HiBob’s highlights include:
There’s no shortage of features within HiBob, which makes it great for growing and larger businesses — but small businesses may find some of the functionality unnecessary or distracting.
HiBob’s range of features can be “too much” for many busy small business leaders who simply want to streamline HR tasks. This feeling is mirrored in the advisor-led setup process too, with customers suggesting that setup and training can take over a month — and it comes with an extra fee too.
With
Charlie, it’s as simple as signing up and getting started. You can get started straight away, with no need to wait for a platform walkthrough or a complicated setup process. Your team will find it just as easy to use too, meaning no need for formal training sessions. This smooth, user-friendly onboarding experience means there’s also no setup fee.
More features than you can imagine might sound like a bonus, but the reality is that platforms like HiBob can become overwhelming and daunting quickly — especially for your employees. The last thing you want is to invest in software that your team members aren’t comfortable using.
At Charlie, we’ve listened to our
small business customers and built with you in mind. Our focus is on core HR functions like time-off management, employee data collection and storage, onboarding, and performance reviews. With Charlie you can smoothly transition from doing things manually to letting automation do the heavy lifting.
Every time I recommend CharlieHR to a fellow startup founder I insist that it’s never too soon. If you have any intention of hiring, it’s going to save you so much time and energy."
Manually tracking time off requests is tiring and open to user error, so having a HR tool that allows you to streamline the process is essential. With HiBob, users can submit a time off request and wait for management approval. There’s also support for applying custom policies in bulk, which is useful if you have lots of employees.
Charlie’s time-off management system is designed to be as hands-off as possible. Requests automatically get routed to the right team member and the team calendar is updated instantly. Public holidays sync automatically, and you can integrate with your favourite calendar app for easy access. Get an overview of upcoming time off, and see a snapshot of today’s attendance both in Charlie and in your chosen Slack channel.
Onboarding is key to retaining your new hires and setting them up for success in their role, which is why both Charlie and HiBob offer:
Charlie’s employee onboarding experience makes it easy for you to give your new starters a warm welcome. The self-service step-by-step process takes them through setting up a profile, adding their personal details, confirming payroll details, uploading documents, and getting to know the team.
Store your employee handbook and HR policies within Charlie so your new employees can explore them when it suits them best. And with legally-compliant hiring, you can have peace of mind that you’re meeting your obligations as an employer.
CharlieHR saved our bacon! As a business owner, I was completely overwhelmed by HR paperwork.
HiBob offers performance reviews—including 360-degree reviews—but they can be complicated to use. The feature works best if you already have a system in place, as you choose a workflow that most closely matches your existing process. While this works well for big companies, if you’re new to performance management this can feel overwhelming.
At Charlie, we approached this differently. Performance management with Charlie is a simple three-step process that’s user-friendly, impactful, and can be rolled out automatically. Team members submit self-assessments, managers share feedback, and review meetings take place. You can also enable others to contribute with our 360-degree feedback feature.
Alongside this, you get access to tips from industry experts — giving you and your team members insightful advice on how to get the most from your performance reviews.
As a small business, you often don’t have the relationships and connections to negotiate top-tier discounts and deals with other businesses. Luckily, you don’t have to — as they’re included for free as standard with Charlie.
Enjoy access to more than 30,000 discounts and perks at well-known brands, all in one place. Charlie is the only HR software on the market to offer this, and we’re proud to be able to bring these perks to small businesses across the UK.
Both Charlie and HiBob give you opportunities to celebrate your team members’ hard work and achievements — a must-have for bringing people together and creating a supportive employee experience.
HiBob has “Kudos”, a feature where team members can recognise someone else’s success by posting an appreciation message on the platform’s homepage. Charlie has a similar feature called “Shoutouts”, where you can also share the message to Slack — giving people even more ways to celebrate with you.
Charlie is central to creating an amazing culture – enabling us to hire the best people.
Understanding what matters to your employees is crucial if you want them to feel happy, supported, and empowered. Both Charlie and HiBob make it easy for you to send engagement surveys to seek feedback and help you foster your company culture, with features like built-in templates, custom questions, and anonymous results.
Charlie takes it one step further and enables you to send weekly micro polls to your employees. This helps build a feedback habit at the heart of your business, with user-friendly, one-touch polls that allow you to easily identify trends. Plus, our templates were designed in collaboration with industry experts to make them more effective and engaging.
Charlie and HiBob both give you the opportunity to introduce your new hires to your employee experience from the start of the hiring process.
HiBob’s recruitment tool supports high-growth startups and global companies, with features like:
At Charlie, we’ve focused our applicant tracking system
Charlie Recruit (ATS) and recruitment tool on what small businesses need the most, including:
Charlie’s hiring features are part of Charlie Recruit, which you can add from as little as £55 per month. As HiBob’s pricing plans aren’t available publicly, you’ll need to contact their sales team to understand what their recruitment tool costs.
Customers who switched from HiBob to Charlie mentioned that they’d often get referred to HiBob’s FAQs instead of getting a personalised response to their issue.
At Charlie, our approach to support is different. Our customer support team is highly responsive, and will investigate your problem personally. They’re happy to help you troubleshoot issues and understand how to use the system to its fullest.
They are extremely responsive when you need urgent support and are willing to create new templates and processes to support you.
HiBob takes a custom approach to its pricing plans, so they’re not listed online. Instead, you need to get in touch with their sales team for a quote. This means you can’t easily compare HiBob with other alternatives, and you risk getting stuck in a sales process that you’re not ready for.
The lack of transparency means we can’t bring you a definitive answer on how much HiBob costs. Speaking to ex-customers, they suggested they used to pay around £10 per employee per month — but other companies may receive discounts based on volume.
As a fellow small business, we know how important it is to know exactly what you’re potentially signing up for in terms of costs. That’s why Charlie’s pricing plans are transparent and our approach to pricing is easy to understand.
Pricing starts at just £5 per month for all our HR features, and scales depending on the number of employees. Charlie Recruit is available as an optional extra, starting at £55 per month.
1-4 team members
£5 per month
5-14 team members
£40 per month
15-29 team members
£100 per month
30-49 team members
£170 per month
50-99 team members
£300 per month
100-149 team members
£400 per month
150-199 team members
£500 per month
200-249 team members
£600 per month
250+ team members
£700 per month
There are many reasons why small companies choose CharlieHR over HiBob:
If you’re still not sure whether CharlieHR is fit for your small business or startup, you can try it free for 7 days. No credit card required.
With Charlie, you have everything you need to manage your team and craft your culture – no HR experience required.
It’s clear that Charlie and HiBob are both thoughtfully designed with their ideal customers in mind. But which one is the best choice for you?
HiBob has an impressive range of features and plenty of options that make it a great choice for big businesses and fast-growing startups. For small businesses, our top pick is still Charlie.
For us, Charlie feels like the obvious winner for small businesses. It’s built to be easy to use, user-friendly, and straightforward — with no distractions, complications, or unnecessary features.
Charlie empowers small businesses to create streamlined, effective, legally-compliant HR processes — without having to be an expert in HR. Get the basics right with core HR, simplify your onboarding process, keep your employees engaged, and build high-performing teams — all from one affordable HR platform.
We believe Charlie is ideal for small businesses, but the best way to find out is by exploring the software yourself. Take a 7 day free trial and see how Charlie can help you streamline your HR operations. No locked features, and no credit card required.
