BambooHR pricing: official price page, September 2026
BambooHR publishes its list prices: a flat rate starting at $250 USD a month for 25 or fewer employees, and from $10 (Core), $17 (Pro) and $25 (Elite) per employee per month above 25, checked 28 September 2026.
BambooHR’s pricing page, checked 28 September 2026, lists a flat rate starting at $250 USD a month for companies with 25 or fewer employees. Above 25 employees it charges per employee per month, starting at $10 for Core, $17 for Pro and $25 for Elite.1 Payroll, benefits administration, time and attendance and global employment are add-ons with no published price.1 The figure you pay comes from a quote, because volume discounts apply automatically by headcount.
TL;DR
- At exactly 25 employees, the $250 flat rate works out to $10 a head, Core’s listed rate. At 10 employees it’s $25 a head.1
- Pro’s listed rate is 70% above Core’s, and Elite’s is 150% above.1
- At list, 100 employees cost $12,000 a year on Core, $20,400 on Pro and $30,000 on Elite, before discounts, add-ons and implementation.1
- Payroll covers US employees only and has no published price. Eligible buyers on a 12-month minimum pay $0 in payroll subscription fees until 31 December 2026, so the free stretch shrinks every month a buyer waits.1
- Third-party pages that say BambooHR keeps its prices private, or quote $10 to $22 per employee, don’t match the pricing page on the checked date.2,3
- Ask for an itemised quote: the plan rate after volume discount, each add-on and any implementation charge.
How this ranking was built
We captured BambooHR’s US pricing page on 28 September 2026 and took every price exactly as listed, in US dollars, following Glamdring’s research standard.1 The ranked field is the listed starting price per employee per month, which the page labels per employee/month. The page doesn’t say whether tax is included.
The inclusion rule is every HR software plan with a listed price. That gives three plans: Core, Pro and Elite. The small-company flat rate sits outside the ranking because it’s a monthly amount for the whole company, not a per-employee rate. Four add-ons (Payroll, Benefits Administration, Time & Attendance and Global Employment) are excluded because the page gives no price for them.1
Every cost projection below is our arithmetic on those listed rates. None of it includes the automatic volume discounts, because BambooHR doesn’t publish the discount schedule.
BambooHR plans ranked by listed price
Core is the cheapest plan at $10 per employee per month. Elite is the most expensive at $25.1
| Rank | Plan | Listed price (USD per employee per month, from) | Applies to | What the plan adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Core | $10 | Companies with more than 25 employees | Employee records, reports, time-off management, applicant tracking, 1 compliance training course |
| 2 | Pro | $17 | Companies with more than 25 employees | Everything in Core, plus performance management, employee community, recognition and rewards, 15 compliance training courses |
| 3 | Elite | $25 | Companies with more than 25 employees | Everything in Pro, plus compensation management, custom dashboards, HR benchmarks, premium services, 300+ compliance training courses |
Prices and plan contents are from BambooHR’s pricing page, checked 28 September 2026.1 Each plan price carries an asterisk that points to one note: volume and non-profit discounts are available.1
Companies with 25 or fewer employees pay a monthly flat rate starting at $250 USD instead.1 The page doesn’t say which plan that rate buys.
What does BambooHR cost with 25 or fewer employees?
BambooHR charges companies with 25 or fewer employees a monthly flat rate starting at $250 USD.1
The flat rate turns headcount into the variable that matters. Divided across the team, $250 a month is $10 per employee at 25 people, $25 at 10 and $50 at 5. At 25 employees the flat rate equals Core’s listed per-employee price exactly. Below that, every person you don’t have raises the cost per head.
The word “starting” matters here. The pricing page gives no flat-rate figure for Pro or Elite and doesn’t say whether $250 covers Core features only.1 A company of 12 that wants performance reviews or compensation planning should ask for the flat rate on that plan before assuming $250.
What do Core, Pro and Elite cost above 25 employees?
Above 25 employees, BambooHR’s listed prices start at $10 per employee per month for Core, $17 for Pro and $25 for Elite.1
Those are starting prices. The page says volume discounts are applied automatically based on headcount and increase as headcount rises.1 The listed rate opens the quote. It isn’t the contract figure.
At list, before any discount, the monthly and annual cost looks like this:
| Employees | Core per month | Pro per month | Elite per month | Core per year | Pro per year | Elite per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | $260 | $442 | $650 | $3,120 | $5,304 | $7,800 |
| 50 | $500 | $850 | $1,250 | $6,000 | $10,200 | $15,000 |
| 100 | $1,000 | $1,700 | $2,500 | $12,000 | $20,400 | $30,000 |
The step from 25 to 26 employees is where the model changes. A company at 25 pays from $250 a month on the flat rate. At 26 on Core list, it pays $260.
What does each plan add for the extra money?
Pro adds people-management tools to Core, and Elite adds compensation and analytics tools to Pro.1
Core covers the HR record system: employee records, a custom report builder, workflows and approvals, dashboards, job posting, time-off management and benefits tracking. It also includes an AI assistant for HR data questions, compliance guidance powered by VirgilHR and one compliance training course.1
Pro adds $7 per employee per month to Core’s listed rate. For that, it adds 360° review cycles, 1:1s, an employee community, recognition and points-based rewards, and 15 compliance training courses.1 The feature comparison also raises applicant tracking from 5 job openings on Core to 25 on Pro.1
Elite adds another $8 per employee per month over Pro. It brings compensation planning with Mercer salary benchmarks, job levels and salary bands, customisable dashboards, HR benchmarks for turnover, age, gender and employee satisfaction, and 300+ compliance training courses.1 Its premium services are 2 hours a year of data integrity services, 2 new-administrator training sessions a year, dedicated customer support and insider webinars.1 Applicant tracking rises to 50 job openings.1
The decision changes when one module is the reason for buying. A company that needs compensation planning is buying Elite, and pays Elite’s rate for every employee, not only for the managers who run pay reviews.
What does BambooHR Payroll cost?
BambooHR doesn’t publish a price for Payroll. It’s an add-on to the HR plans, and the pricing page marks it for US employees only.1 BambooHR’s homepage describes it as its own add-on payroll system with full-service tax filing.4
The listed features are direct deposit, flexible pay schedules, federal and state tax filing, a single source of data and a specialised support team.1 BambooHR says a dedicated payroll project manager sets the system up and runs the first payroll with the customer.1
Three sets of terms change the payroll bill:
- Launch offer. Between 1 August and 31 December 2026, eligible customers who buy qualifying Payroll offerings and commit to a minimum 12-month agreement may receive Payroll subscription fees at $0 through 31 December 2026.1
- Eligibility. With the Elite plan, the offer covers a new purchase or an eligible upgrade made at the time of the Payroll purchase, and the customer must not have been billed for Payroll or Elite before. With Managed Payroll Services, it covers new customers and existing customers adding both services; existing Payroll customers aren’t eligible.1
- Bundle discount. Combining Payroll and Benefits Administration with any plan brings a 15% discount, currently for US-based employees only.1
The launch offer ends on a fixed date, not after a fixed number of months. A customer who signs on 1 October 2026 gets three months at $0 (October, November and December) and is committed for nine more months at a price the page doesn’t show. Sign later and the free share of the 12 months falls.
The offer terms as captured stop mid-sentence at “Implementation, multi-state filing, and additional payroll…”.1 They name implementation and multi-state filing as separate items, but the visible text doesn’t say how they’re charged. Get both priced in writing.
Which discounts does BambooHR publish?
BambooHR publishes three discounts: automatic volume discounts, 15% off for registered nonprofits and a 15% bundle discount.1
- Volume. Applied automatically to all accounts based on headcount, rising as headcount rises, with no request or negotiation needed. The schedule isn’t published.1
- Nonprofit. An additional 15% off for registered nonprofit organisations.1 On Core’s $10 listed rate, 15% off is $8.50 per employee per month.
- Bundle. 15% off when Payroll and Benefits Administration are combined with any plan, for US-based employees.1
The page says “additional” for the nonprofit discount but doesn’t say how the three combine. Ask the quote to show each discount as its own line.
Why do other sites quote different BambooHR prices?
Third-party pricing pages disagree with BambooHR’s own page on several points. On the checked date, BambooHR published starting prices for all three plans and the small-company flat rate.1
People Managing People says BambooHR’s pricing details “aren’t readily available online” and need a sales quote, though it also gives the $10 Core figure.3 It says the Pro plan includes compensation planning; BambooHR’s page puts compensation planning in Elite.3,1 It also says specific discounts for nonprofits aren’t widely advertised, while BambooHR’s pricing page states 15% off for registered nonprofits.3,1
OutSail puts BambooHR at “$10 and 22 PEPM” in its article body and “$12 to 22 PEPM” in its own FAQ.2 Neither range matches the $10, $17 and $25 on BambooHR’s page. OutSail also applies the $250 flat fee to companies “with fewer than 25 employees”, where BambooHR’s page says 25 or fewer.2,1
The company page is the authority on BambooHR’s list price. It’s still BambooHR’s statement about its own offer, not evidence of what customers pay after discounts.
What the ranking cannot tell you
The ranking shows list prices. It can’t show the contract price, because BambooHR doesn’t publish its volume discount schedule.1
It also leaves these open:
- Add-on prices. Payroll, Benefits Administration, Time & Attendance and Global Employment (powered by Remote) carry no price on the page.1
- Implementation. The pricing page lists no implementation fee for the HR plans. People Managing People says there’s a one-time implementation fee.3 OutSail estimates it at about 5% to 15% of annual software fees.2 That’s an adviser’s estimate, not a BambooHR price.
- Tax. The page doesn’t say whether prices include tax.
- Other countries. These are US-site prices in US dollars. BambooHR runs separate Canada and UK sites, which we didn’t check.1
- Change over time. This is our first capture of the page, so it can’t show what changed since an earlier version. The next change to bamboohr.com/pricing triggers a refresh.
Glamdring’s other software pricing and comparison work sits in our published research.
Frequently asked questions
Is BambooHR free to use?
No. The pricing page lists no free plan. The cheapest listed option is the $250 USD monthly flat rate for companies with 25 or fewer employees.1 BambooHR offers a free trial through a “Try it free” link.1 People Managing People puts the trial at 7 days.3 The only $0 price on the page is the Payroll subscription offer, which requires a minimum 12-month agreement and ends on 31 December 2026.1
Does BambooHR charge an implementation fee?
BambooHR’s pricing page lists no implementation fee for its HR plans, but its Payroll offer terms name implementation as a separate item.1 People Managing People and OutSail both say a one-time implementation fee applies.3,2 OutSail estimates it at 5% to 15% of annual software fees.2 On $12,000 a year of Core at list for 100 employees, that estimate works out to $600 to $1,800. Confirm the figure in the quote.
Can I pay BambooHR monthly?
Yes. BambooHR offers month-to-month terms or an extended term.1 Monthly customers can pay by credit card or ACH. Customers paying annually upfront can also pay by wire transfer or cheque.1
Does BambooHR’s price change as the company grows?
Yes. BambooHR says pricing adjusts automatically as a company scales, and that the volume discount increases with headcount.1 A company that crosses 25 employees also moves from the monthly flat rate to per-employee pricing.1
Sources checked
Company-owned pages establish what a company says. They do not prove a market conclusion. Each source is dated so readers can judge each claim.
