6 most helpful tools for HR in 2023
HR software not only makes work more manageable, it also gives you the data you need to improve your processes. It can simplify workforce planning, automate recruiting and onboarding, and make candidate interviews more comfortable and productive.
But what about employees? Team members are more interested in how software can transform their work experience with transparent promotion and compensation processes, unbiased performance reviews, and development opportunities.*
The best tools don’t just make life easier for HR teams — they make work better for everyone. And we’ve put together a selection of platforms that can help you do both.
In our list of the best HR software in 2023, we hope to save you hours of research by comparing and breaking down top solutions based on use case, features, and pros and cons.**

Best HR tools breakdown
Leapsome: For overall employee enablement & engagement
Learnerbly: For personalized, professional development
Rippling: For streamlined HR, IT, and Finance processes
MyInterview: For more efficient candidate interviews
Blueboard: For unique employee rewards
Goosechase: For dynamic onboarding
Why use HR software?
HR software simplifies time-consuming, labor-intensive processes like recruitment, onboarding, and workforce planning for organizations of all sizes. HR platforms are also designed to gather data and insights automatically, allowing you to see exactly where you need to improve and optimize.
But HR software also plays an important role in employee enablement because it helps develop talent and reduce turnover rates with:
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5 features to look for in an HR tool
There are so many HR solutions on the market. But knowing what features to prioritize in your search will help you narrow down your options:
- An intuitive interface — An easy-to-navigate platform user interface (UI) is easy to incorporate into your workflow and saves you time and resources. A well-designed UI also makes it simpler for teams to learn and implement a new tool, which boosts adoption rates.
- Reporting and analytics — Whether you’re measuring employee engagement or updating your performance review processes, reports and analytics help you make more data-guided decisions and save you from sifting through endless spreadsheets.
- Effortless integrations — The right HR platform for your business should sync seamlessly with the third-party tools you use for communication, engagement, and project management so you don’t have to do any double data entry.
- Customization — Every organization has a unique way of doing business. So, the more customizable a platform is, the easier it will be for teams to adapt it to their preferences.
- Scalability — Growing businesses require scalable software to handle the increase in data, users, and workflow updates. And highly scalable platforms also let you add and remove features to accommodate company changes and transitions.

Many companies work globally. Software that can handle multiple languages and work across various locations is ideal.

If you want your people to use your tool, it must be user-friendly. Does the software offer a great user experience?

Great software integrates with other tools to make everyone’s lives easier (e.g., notifications via Slack or MS Teams).
The 6 most useful tools for HR
The six tools we’ve featured in this list help with various HR processes and initiatives — from team engagement to candidate interviews. Let’s look at the main features, best use cases, and pros and cons that set each apart.
1. Leapsome
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Dedicated to making work fulfilling for everyone, Leapsome’s people enablement platform helps you engage, motivate, develop, and align employees with your company’s mission and values.
Leapsome offers five modules, all of which integrate for seamless internal processes:
- Reviews
- Goals
- Surveys
- Learning
- Compensation
Although they work best together, customers can use one or two modules on their on, which is great for organizations that are just starting to invest in people enablement. And all five products come with Leapsome’s Instant Feedback and Meetings modules to help build a more collaborative and encouraging work culture.
Main features
- Performance review templates for more objective, transparent assessment cycles
- Engagement and pulse surveys with best-practice question library and automated action plan suggestions
- Customizable templates for 1:1 and team meetings
- Competency framework tools to help employees grow
- Instant feedback and praise features to build a culture of honesty
- Learning paths and courses for onboarding and development
- Tools for more unbiased promotion and compensation decisions

Pros & cons
Pros
👍 Intuitive user interface (UI)
👍 Features and modules integrate with each other
👍 Award-winning support team
👍 Great for goals and key performance indicator (KPI) tracking
👍 Makes meetings more productive
👍 Helps build a positive work culture
👍 Scalable and customizable
Cons
👎 No mobile app yet
👎 Due to the variety of features, some training may be required at first
Pricing
You can explore Leapsome’s platform with a free demo. If you decide it’s right for you, our modular pricing starts at US$8 per user per month. Your plan's total cost depends on your organization’s size and the features you need.
The best places to work trust Leapsome
We have customers all over the world.
See what some of them have to say:
Leapsome helps you engage, motivate, and reward employees with tools for engagement surveys, performance reviews, and data-driven compensation decisions.
Book a demo today2. Learnerbly

Employee development and professional learning are essential topics to discuss in any organization and are oftentimes part of a people ops team’s responsibility.
Learnerbly is a professional development and employee training platform designed to help companies support the growth and development of their employees. As a curated learning marketplace for professionals, Learnerbly offers books, courses, podcasts, and elearning resources. A Learnerbly account lets you allocate a personal learning budget to all your employees, allows them to check how much they have left to spend, and provides tailored learning recommendations to you based on preferences.
One of the main benefits of using Learnerbly is that it provides employees with personalized learning experiences tailored to their specific needs and career goals. The platform uses different data-driven tools and assessments to identify areas for development and recommends learning resources that are most relevant to the individual.
Main features
- Personalized learning paths
- Access to expert coaches
- Curated library of learning resources
- Skill assessment and feedback tool
- Progress tracking
- Integration with a wide range of HR tools
- Analytics and reporting
Pros & cons
Pros
👍 Offers a wide range of personalized learning content
👍 Constantly expanding their library of content
👍 Offers knowledge exchange and feedback between users
Cons
👎 UI can be hard to navigate
👎 Learning content offered on the platform can be more costly compared to other providers
Pricing
Learnerbly offers different pricing plans depending on the size of your organization. A detailed breakdown of cost is not readily available.
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3. Rippling

Rippling lets you easily manage your employees’ payroll, benefits, expenses, devices, apps & more—in one place.
Rippling is a cloud-based HR management platform designed to streamline and automate employee data and processes. The tool can be classified as an HRIS (human resources information system) and offers a range of features to help businesses manage their HR functions in one place, including payroll, benefits, onboarding, offboarding, time and attendance tracking, and more.
Main features
- Payroll and benefits administration
- Onboarding and offboarding automation
- Time and attendance tracking
- Employee directory and data management
- Compliance management
- Employee directory and data management
- Compliance management
- Employee self-service portal
- Customizable workflows and approvals
- Third-party integrations (e.g., G-Suite, Slack, Zoom)
Pros & Cons
Pros
👍 easy to use due to very intuitive UI
👍 has a phone application
👍 supported onboarding
Cons
👎 customer support can be slow to respond at times
👎 some customers need more customizability and automations
Pricing
Ripling’s pricing starts at $US8 per User per month + if you use Rippling in combination with Leapsome, you may be eligible for a partner discount.
4. MyInterview

MyInterview takes the tedium out of the recruitment process with candidate videos, also known as “one-way interviews.”
When you post a job opening through MyInterview’s platform, applicants answer questions via video, so you don’t have to comb through CVs and resumes to ensure they have the skills and experience you’re looking for. It also removes an extra stage from the interview process, as candidates have to provide key information before moving on to the next step.
Main features
- Job posting
- Automated candidate shortlisting
- One-way interview videos
- Text or SMS interview invitations
- Candidate management Kanban board
- Customizable workflows
Pros & cons
Pros
👍 Saves time during the interview process
👍 Simple to use
👍 Easy-to-reach customer support
Cons
👎 Lacks integrations with popular HR tools
👎 No custom tags for easier candidate sorting
Pricing
MyInterview has a free Starter plan that gives you access to ten one-way interviews per month. Its paid plans include:
- Growth — For 30 candidate interviews at US$59 per month.
- Individual — For unlimited one-way interviews for businesses with up to 49 employees at US$129 per month (billed monthly).
- Professional — For unlimited one-way interviews and live interview scheduling, with custom pricing.
5. Blueboard

Employees often feel disappointed with lackluster rewards programs, which defeats their purpose as motivational tools. But with Blueboard, companies can amp up their rewards and offer exciting experiences to celebrate every type of achievement.
When you send a reward with Blueboard, staff can choose from a selection of hand-picked experiences, ranging from VIP tickets to see their favorite band to a family trip to Disney World.
And the best part? Blueboard’s concierge team handles the logistics and planning, so you don’t have to.
Main features
- Hand-curated rewards experiences
- Integrates with Slack and Microsoft Teams for easier communication
- Automated surveys to get feedback on rewards
- Real-time insights and updates about rewards completion
- Dedicated concierge team
Pros & cons
Pros
👍 People love Blueboard-curated experiences
👍 Easy-to-use platform
👍 Concierge team handles planning
Cons
👎 Some rewards recipients may prefer cash bonuses
👎 Requires some work on the employee end to coordinate plans
Pricing
Blueboard pricing isn’t readily available.
6. Goosechase

Goosechase is an interactive experience platform that helps gamify team-building and onboarding processes. Rather than asking new hires to work through a checklist on their first day, Goosechase lets users design interactive “Missions” and collect points as they complete each orientation task.
Using Goosechase also means you’ll have access to detailed insights to easily determine what new team members enjoy and what onboarding tasks need to be updated.
Main features
- Interactive experiences
- Customizable templates
- Live participant leaderboard
- User insights and dashboards
Pros & cons
Pros
👍 Boosts morale and engagement
👍 Quick to set up and implement
👍 Exceptional customer service
Cons
👎 An expensive option
👎 Users occasionally experience issues with the app crashing
Pricing
Goosechase has a free plan for up to three teams in Team mode and up to three participants in Solo mode. Otherwise, the pricing plans include:
- Department-wide — US$850 per month for up to 250 creator accounts and unlimited live simultaneous experiences.
- Enterprise — This plan offers access to unlimited creator accounts with custom pricing.
- Non-profit — Goosechase has special pricing for nonprofit groups.
Choosing the best HR software for your company
Your company will have different software needs at every stage of growth, so the platform you’re eager to use today may not have the tools you require in a few years. That’s why there’s no one catch-all solution when it comes to HR.
We designed Leapsome to handle your most critical people enablement and engagement processes — and to scale with you as you grow. But you may still need a platform like MyInterview to simplify the recruitment process for your hiring managers. Or you may be looking for a platform like Blueboard to liven up your rewards program.
As you find a combination of software that works for you, remember: It takes people working together — not just tools — to make work better for everyone.
**The information above is based on our research on tools for HR. All user feedback referenced in the text has been sourced from independent software review platforms such as G2 and Capterra in February and March 2023**
FAQs about tools for HR
HR teams can use software to streamline many of their routine tasks and make data-driven decisions, including:
- Recruiting and interviewing — Recruiting platforms use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to post jobs, screen resumes and applications, and set up interviews. Some solutions also allow you to conduct virtual interviews, which is especially useful for remote teams.
- Onboarding — Onboarding software means HR can automate everything from recent hire paperwork to orienting new employees with e-courses and video training.
- Performance management — People ops leaders use performance management tools to schedule performance reviews, give asynchronous feedback, and track employee goals and key performance indicators (KPIs).
- Engagement surveys — Engagement platforms let HR teams automate surveys throughout the year to get ahead of issues like employee turnover and dissatisfaction.
- Rewards and recognition (R&R)— R&R software streamlines staff appreciation with monetary and non-monetary awards, eliminating the need for continuous brainstorming about how to make people feel valued.
Some popular HR software options for small and medium-sized businesses include:
- Leapsome — For overall people enablement and engagement
- Learnerbly — For personalized professional development
- Rippling — For streamlined HR, IT, and Finance processes
- MyInterview — For more efficient virtual candidate interviews
- Blueboard — For innovative employee rewards
- Goosechase — For dynamic team building
Analytics and data visualization tools are designed to automatically gather information, spot trends, and display findings in clear, easy-to-understand formats, so HR teams don’t have to spend time wading through quantitative and qualitative findings.
For example, Leapsome’s Surveys module turns engagement survey results into heatmaps and charts so HR professionals can quickly identify what they’re doing well and what they need to improve.
Yes, there are platforms that HR professionals can use to conduct and track employee performance reviews. Software like Leapsome makes it simple to schedule and hold in-person evaluations with meeting agenda templates. You can also use Leapsome to monitor staff performance with goal-tracking and instant feedback features that gather 360-degree input from team members’ peers and colleagues.