Best onboarding software for small businesses in 2026
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Summary:
For small businesses under 30 people, CharlieHR is the best option for ease-of-use, affordability (from £20/month), and compliance. For larger teams with complex needs, consider BambooHR or Enboarder.
Finding the best onboarding software shouldn't take as long as actually onboarding someone, but it often does.
You’re looking for a solution, but you’re stuck comparing platforms while juggling hiring, planning, and the hundred other things on your plate. And the guides you find? Written for companies with HR teams and enterprise budgets, not small businesses like yours. With over 54% of employees reporting dissatisfaction with onboarding at their business, it’s crucial you get onboarding right.
In this guide, we'll show you which onboarding software actually works for small teams. We compare the best options on the market, break down who each tool is best for, describe the benefits of each feature, and talk to you about why CharlieHR is built specifically for businesses without dedicated HR.
A quick word on our methodology:
As a small business (around 40 team members), we built Charlie for people who don't have HR in their job title (like CEOs, founders, and managers). A part of it also includes research: testing other platforms, listening to sales calls, and reviewing competitors, which is what you’ll find here. We don't get paid for links or reviews and we try to update our onboarding guide every 6 to 12 months – this was updated in February 2026. If you have any questions, reach out at help@charliehr.com.
What is onboarding software?
Onboarding software helps you manage all the admin involved in bringing someone new onto your team: from the moment they accept your job offer to their first day and beyond.
Instead of juggling spreadsheets, emails, and manual reminders, onboarding tools let you:
- Automate onboarding checklists and processes.
- Collect and store team member data and documents securely.
- Share HR policies, contracts, and company information.
- Delegate tasks to the right people.
- Track progress for each new starter.
- Create a consistent onboarding experience every time you hire.
Small business tip:
According to Yasmin Lord-Pottinger, People and Talent Lead at CharlieHR, with more than ten years of experience building strong organisation design “Onboarding isn't just about admin-ticking boxes, it’s about the entire team making new hires feel welcome and ready to tackle challenges. Without this, there’s a big chance the business won’t be able to retain them. ” – you can learn more about how to make onboarding a success in our onboarding best practices guide.
What makes the best onboarding software for small businesses?
It depends on what you're looking for. Not all onboarding tools are built the same, but for small businesses, they usually include:
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Automated onboarding – Set up your onboarding process once, then let the software handle reminders, tasks, and deadlines for every new hire with no need for manual tracking.
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Self-service for new starters – New team members can complete tasks, upload documents, and access information without constantly messaging the person in charge of HR.
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Compliance support – Contracts, right-to-work checks, and HR policies in one secure place, helping you stay compliant from day one without needing to be a legal expert.
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Easy set up – Small businesses need systems that work fast. The best onboarding software is simple enough for anyone to use straight away — whether you're a founder, manager, or someone wearing multiple hats.
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Integrations – Your onboarding software needs to connect with the rest of your tools: payroll, ATS, databases, and more. One way to make this easier is to use all-in-one HR software like Charlie — check out what our employee onboarding software can do.
Best onboarding software – detailed feature comparison
BambooHR
Enboarder
ClickUp
Scribe
Employment Hero
Best for
Small businesses under 30
Midsize businesses with HR teams
AI-powered automation
DIY budget-conscious teams
Training documentation
Global/
multi-country teams
Pricing
From £20/month (£5 for <4 team members)
From £8.10/
employee (sales-led)
Not public (sales-led)
Free tier; paid from $7/
month
Free basic; from $12/seat
Not public (sales-led)
Setup time
Under 1 week (avg 3 days)
4-6 weeks
Not known
Can vary
Very fast
30 to 60 days
Ease of use (G2 rating)
Features available
Features available
Free trial
✅ 7 days
✅
⚠️ Demo only
✅
✅
⚠️ Demo only
Best for team size
1-30
100-500
100-1000+
1-50
Any (training focus)
10-1000+
CharlieHR (or Charlie) is the best onboarding software for small businesses that want easy, affordable, all-in-one HR with onboarding, compliance, and people management – all without an HR person and especially if it’s their first HR software. Charlie helps founders, CEOs, and managers (anyone without an HR background) onboard new hires with confidence from day one.
It goes without saying that we think Charlie is best (it's our software, after all), but we know it's not the right fit for everyone, so check out if it’s what you’re looking for:
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Start welcoming, stop chasing – New team members submit their documents and details through self-serve onboarding – no endless email threads or Slack messages.
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Set new hires up in seconds – you send an invite, they get on the platform, and you're done. Super simple.
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Stay compliant, keep your peace of mind – All your documents and data are stored securely with proper security certifications, so you don’t have to worry about it.
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Leave a long-lasting first impression – Give new hires a sleek, professional welcome so they’re ready from the start.
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Make room on your to-do list – Interactive checklists and automatic reminders to set due dates, tag team members and ensure everything gets done on time.
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No more copy pasting mistakes – Connect your favourite platforms for joined-up pipelines with integrations, so information goes automatically where it needs to go.
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Hire and onboard, all in one place – Go from hiring to onboarding without a break thanks to our applicant tracking system, Charlie Recruit.
Pros
Ideal for small businesses looking to buy their first HR software.
Perfect if you have no HR experience or you're a small HR team.
Super easy to set up and use.
Cons
Can't handle very complex onboarding flows.
Not recommended for large organisations.
Pricing
Charlie's pricing works in brackets as you grow, from as little as £20 per month. We offer a competitive price for very small businesses: £5 for up to 4 team members for the first six months, that's a 75% discount.
Choose Charlie if you’re looking for an easy, affordable, beginner-friendly tool.
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BambooHR is best suited for midsize organisations that need advanced HR workflows and have dedicated HR teams to manage onboarding at scale.
Bamboo makes room for powerful customisation, but can feel complicated, too US-centric and might be too expensive for smaller businesses (that's what we've heard from our customers who switched from Bamboo to Charlie, like Canvas here):
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Keep onboarding organised – Structured onboarding programmes with automated task assignments and reminders ensure nothing falls through the cracks.
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Reduce day-one admin bottlenecks – Send new hire packs with info, tax forms, bank details and team intros before their start date.
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Hiring without the manual work – Complete essential forms with e-signatures and automated document tracking.
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Encourage team connections – Introduce new hires to the entire organisation with automated welcome emails and "Get to Know You" questionnaires.
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Standardise your onboarding – Tailor onboarding by role, work mode (remote, hybrid, on-site), department, and location with pre-built templates that ensure every team follows the same standard.
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Get visibility across all new starters – Track the status of dozens of onboarding processes in one dashboard to spots delays and blockers.
Pros
Can handle very complex workflows.
Best for well-established HR teams with specific needs.
Cons
Can be too complex and expensive for small businesses (according to customers who switched from Bamboo to Charlie).
Pricing
Bamboo's website says pricing starts from £8.10 per month per team member, but the costs of their different packages (Core, Pro, and Elite) aren't available, and you'll need to contact their sales team for more information.
Choose Bamboo if you’re a seasoned HR professional looking for standardisation.
Enboarder is designed for companies that want highly personalised, automated onboarding journeys powered by AI and integrations with existing HR tools. It’s best used as part of a broader HR tech stack rather than a standalone solution:
- Custom onboarding in minutes, not weeks – AI analyses your documents and creates step-by-step templates with timelines and tasks for each new hire.
- Onboarding that’s always on point – Automated workflows trigger when someone's hired, update when details change, and help keep managers on track.
- Speed up new hire’s productivity – AI personalises training and resources by role, experience level, and location, so new hires only see what's relevant and ramp up quicker.
- Support internal moves – Automated journeys guide team members into new roles, support new leaders, and help returners transition smoothly.
- Human connection instead of manual coordination – Automated welcome messages, team intros, and buddy programs help new hires belong from day one.
- Engagement issues spotted on time – Real-time analytics and AI-powered insights show you where people are stuck or disengaged, so you can act on it.
Pros
Complete solution if you want to build complex onboarding workflows.
Integrates with the rest of your HR tech stack.
Cons
Not ideal if you're trying to reduce friction between systems.
Pricing
Enboarder doesn't have pricing available on their website, but they offer three packages with different inclusions.
Choose Enboarder if you’re an HR professional wanting to integrate AI in your processes.
ClickUp works well for teams that want a low-cost, do-it-yourself onboarding setup using a mix of templates, checklists, and task management. It's flexible but lacks HR-specific features like compliance.
ClickUp doesn't sell itself as onboarding software, but it can be a cheaper solution if you're looking for a project management tool combined with a DIY approach to your onboarding process:
- Fast setup with ready-made templates – Pre-built templates cover the first day, first week, and first 90 days, so you're not building onboarding from scratch.
- Stop being the bottleneck and delegate – Create checklists that delegate onboarding tasks to new hires and team members, so everyone knows what they're responsible for.
- Everything gets done on time – Add due dates and assign tasks, so people get tasks done on time.
- Make onboarding yours – Switch between List, Board (Kanban), Calendar, and Gantt views to track progress your own way.
- Track progress at a glance – Custom statuses and fields show you exactly where each person is onboarding and store key details like start date, department, job title, and salary in one place.
- Keep it accessible – Store employee handbooks, training materials, branding guidelines, and resources so new hires (and you) can find what they need straight away.
Pros
Free if you're looking to save money!
Can be used as a project management tool at the same time.
Can easily be customised.
Cons
Has lots of limitations compared to dedicated onboarding software.
Can still look a bit scrappy compared to onboarding software.
Pricing
With limited storage, ClickUp can be used for free. If you'd like more storage and features, packages start from $7 a month.
Choose ClickUp if you’re a small business looking for a free solution
Scribe is best for teams that want to scale onboarding training through automated documentation and step-by-step guides. It supports onboarding, but needs to be paired with another HR system for employee data and compliance.
You can use Scribe to pass knowledge onto hiring managers as well as train new hires, thanks to documentation built up over time by your team:
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Stop manually creating training docs – Scribe automatically creates visual how-to guides with screenshots and text annotations, so you're not spending hours documenting.
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New hires learn their way – Automatically turn any guide into a video, so visual learners and readers both get what they need.
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Spot where new hires get stuck – Track which guides people are viewing, how long they're spending, and completion rates.
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Get everyone on the same page – Standardise processes across all departments so everyone operates at the same level.
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No more repeating yourself – Create the guide once, then let new hires do the work so you can focus on other aspects of your work.
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Let AI build your documentation – Generate onboarding checklists, templates, SOPs, and knowledge-base articles using AI.
Pros
Helps boost productivity from day one.
Delivers the right training to the right people at the right time.
Cons
You'll still need another platform to store documents and data, and to welcome new hires.
Pricing
The basic plan for Scribe is free, and paid plans start from $12 per seat per month for more features.
Choose Scribe if you need a training documentation system
Employment Hero is best for businesses hiring internationally that need built-in compliance across multiple countries. Its extensive features make it a super powerful tool for onboarding that becomes more and more complex as you grow:
- Smoothly onboard remote hires – Team members complete forms, e-sign contracts, and access resources online from anywhere, so you're not coordinating documents across time zones.
- Stay compliant everywhere – Local employment laws, contracts, and tax requirements are automatically managed, no need to be an expert in international employment law.
- Get people’s onboarding info from anywhere – All your data is on one platform, accessible across regions, so you're not juggling different systems.
- No more manual work for each office – Tasks are assigned automatically by role, team, or country, ensuring consistency without you having to remember what's different for each region.
- Give everyone the same experience – onboarding journeys work for all hires regardless of where they are, so your London hire and your Sydney hire both feel welcome and prepared.
Pros
Great if you’re already present in other countries or want to expand.
Already compliant with the law for peace of mind.
Cons
Can be a lot for smaller teams, with lots of options to pick from.
Pricing
Employment Hero’s pricing is not available on their website, and you’ll need to contact their sales team. They do offer four packages with different inclusions, as well as a series of add-ons.
Choose Employment Hero if you have offices in different countries
Onboarding software pricing comparison 2026
Software
Starting price
Pricing model
What’s included
Hidden costs
Best value for
£5/month for first 6 months (up to 4 team members) then from £20/month
Bracket pricing by team size
Onboarding, time off, HR policies, document storage, and more
All features are included
Very small businesses (1-30 team members)
From £8.10 per employee per month
Quote (sales led)
Core HR, onboarding, employee database and more
Different packages for different inclusions
Midsize businesses with 100+ employees
Not public
Quote (sales led)
Not available
Not available
Companies with 100+ employees
Free (limited storage)
Freemium
Unlimited tasks, unlimited members, 60MB storage, basic views
Paid plans for: more storage, features, integrations, automations
Teams willing to DIY (1-50 team members)
Free (basic)
Freemium
Unlimited Scribes, basic editing, basic sharing
Paid needed for: custom branding ($12/seat), advanced analytics, AI features, team collaboration
Teams needing training documentation
£4/employee/month
Bracket pricing by team size
Onboarding, time off, ATS, and more.
Different features in different packages
Remote hiring
What's typically NOT included in the pricing (add-ons)
Software
Common add-ons or upgrades
All features included, except Charlie’s Applicant Tracking System
Inclusions depends on the package you choose, but add-ons include Time Tracking and Employer of Record
Inclusions depends on the package you choose, and add-ons are Compliance and Integrations
More storage, advanced automations, advanced permissions, priority support
Free (Custom branding, advanced analytics, AI features, team collaboration, SSO)
Payroll modules, benefits admin, learning module
Small business tip:
Yasmin Lord-Pottinger, People and Talent Lead at CharlieHR, shares a good way for you to see if you’ll get the return on investment you’re looking for: “Let’s say you or your team spend roughly 4 hours a week on HR tasks, including onboarding, at an average total cost of £33 per hour (salary + NI + overheads) and 46 working weeks in a year, that’s 4 hours × £33 × 46 weeks = £6,072. It quickly becomes obvious that you’ll need HR software” – simply work out the math for yourself, and you’ll see how much you can get from HR software.
Which pricing model is best for you?
Choose flat-rate pricing (like Charlie) if:
- You're a small team (under 30).
- You want predictable costs.
- You don’t hire very regularly or you do so in batches.
- You need everything in one place.
Choose per-employee pricing (like BambooHR & Employment Hero) if:
- You're growing fast and want costs to scale.
- You have 100+ employees.
- You have a large budget.
- You need advanced HR features and customisation.
Choose free/freemium (like ClickUp, Scribe) if:
- You’re tight on budget and need to minimise costs.
- You're happy to spend time customising.
- You only need basic features.
- You already have tools you can integrate with the platform.
Choose custom pricing (like Enboarder) if:
- You have 100+ employees.
- You need a high-level of customisation.
- You already have tools you can integrate with the platform.
How to pick the best onboarding software for your small business
After listening to calls featuring small businesses looking to buy onboarding software, we identified a process that’s easy to replicate:
- List three must-have features for your onboarding – for example, customisable onboarding slides, document storage, or checklists.
- Set a budget you're comfortable with.
- Do some research for onboarding software that has these features and fits your budget.
- Make a shortlist of 2-3 options.
- Check their customer support: are they responsive? Will they actually help you when you're stuck?
- Book a demo when possible to see it in action.
- Prepare questions before the demo so you don't forget what you actually need to know.
- Ask for a free trial to test it with your team.
- Make your choice and get started.
Small business tip:
According to Josh Hardy, sales manager at CharlieHR, it’s best to come prepared: “Before you book demos, write down the three onboarding tasks that currently stress you out the most (for me, it's always chasing and tracking who's done what). Then ask each platform: "How does your tool handle this specific thing?" Their answers will tell you everything you need to know.”
Not ready to make a choice yet?
Start a free trial with Charlie and see if we're the right fit.
Why Charlie is the best onboarding software for small businesses
We're experts in HR for small businesses. Here's what our customers tell us matters most about Charlie:
Easy to use
Platforms that take a long time to set up, have a boring interface and are difficult to use don’t work for small businesses. Charlie is easy to use and set up (under one week) so you can onboard new hires straight away (and export your existing team data onto it!).
“To me, Charlie has this ability to be simple, helpful and foundational to HR – it’s also a very joyous software that our team loves to use.”
Rachel Carrell, Founder & CEO @ Koru Kids (read their story)
Less admin, no HR person needed
Many small businesses don't have an HR department. The person doing HR is usually a CEO, COO, or someone juggling multiple roles.
That means complicated workflows and unclear guidance are a big problem. Charlie gives you the support you need to build solid onboarding foundations: an automated flow to help you scale, with compliance and automation built in.
“Charlie took all of that nonsense away. New team members can go through the onboarding steps themselves and I can track how much progress they made to completion. I feel everything is under control and it’s virtually impossible to forget anything.”
James Gill, CEO at GoSquared (check out their story)
The right HR foundations and support as you grow
Onboarding is just one piece of the HR puzzle. CharlieHR gives you everything you need to build strong foundations: time off, HR policies, employee database, performance management – but you don't have to tackle it all at once. Go at your own pace, knowing Charlie will have your back when you're ready to grow.
“CharlieHR was the first HR system we ever used, and we really enjoyed it from the get-go, so we stuck with it ever since.”
Valentina Milanova, CEO & Founder @ Daye (read their growth story)
Our recommendation? For small businesses under 30 people, CharlieHR offers ease of use, set up, compliance and processes – all in one place. For larger teams with complex needs or multi-country operations, consider BambooHR or Employment Hero.
Onboarding Software Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
It really depends. The best way to answer it is to ask yourself how much you can invest in onboarding software. For small businesses, where people often have to make decisions by themselves, it’s about how much time and headspace you’ll free up. A quick calculation based on the person responsible for HR’s wages, and you’ll quickly have a return on investment ready to present.
For teams under 10, the best onboarding software is one that is easy to set up, affordable, and doesn't require HR experience – Charlie, for example.
We also run an exclusive offer for businesses under 4 team members: £5 for the first six months, a 75% discount.
Yes, onboarding software is worth the cost for small businesses because it saves time, reduces errors, and helps new hires become productive faster.
Even low-cost onboarding tools can replace hours of manual admin, prevent compliance mistakes, and improve employee retention by creating a strong first impression.
No, onboarding software doesn’t replace an HR manager, but it can replace many manual HR tasks, especially in small businesses without dedicated HR roles.
Small businesses should prioritise ease of use, compliance support, employee self-service, and integrations. Super complex workflows can slow teams down instead of helping them onboard faster.
Most onboarding software can be set up in a few hours to a couple of days. It all depends on the complexity and level of customisation. Onboarding software like Charlie are usually up and running in less than a week (average of three days according to our customers).
If your onboarding involves multiple departments, countries, or super specific workflows, you'll need software that can handle that complexity.
That said, "complex" can mean different things. If you just need to:
- Customise onboarding by role or department
- Set up different checklists for remote vs. office-based hires
- Delegate tasks to multiple people across teams (check out how to do this here)
Check out our guide on rigorous onboarding at Charlie if you want to see how we can handle it.
Written by:
Jenny Tattum
Jenny is CharlieHR’s Product Lead. She has years of experience with product planning and development, and user research too – she put together this information by collecting all the data we have on customers, conversations with leads and competitors.
