Comparison

WalnutsHR vs BambooHR for Small Business

BambooHR has been around for years, and it shows β€” in both good and bad ways. It's feature-rich, but it's also gotten bloated, expensive, and their pricing is hidden behind a 'contact us' wall. If you're a small or mid-size team that wants powerful HR without the enterprise overhead, here's how we compare.

Feature
WalnutsHR
BambooHR
Employee Directory
Time Off Management
Onboarding Checklists
Document Storage
Org Chart
Reporting & Analytics
Performance Reviews
Applicant Tracking (ATS)
Transparent Public Pricing
No Base Fee
Data Hosted in United States

Where WalnutsHR wins

  • Transparent pricing on the website β€” no quote needed, no sales calls required
  • No base fee β€” you only pay $6/employee, BambooHR starts at ~$250/month minimum
  • Cleaner, more modern UI that your team will actually enjoy using
  • Everything included in one plan β€” no feature gates or add-on upsells
  • Setup in 2 minutes, not 2 weeks
  • Purpose-built for teams of 5–200, not watered-down enterprise software

Where BambooHR is ahead

  • BambooHR has a larger integration marketplace with 120+ partner apps
  • BambooHR offers built-in performance reviews and applicant tracking
  • BambooHR has more enterprise features like custom approval workflows

Pricing comparison

BambooHR doesn't publish pricing β€” you need to talk to sales. Industry reports suggest it starts around $250 USD/month for small teams, with add-ons for payroll ($100+/mo), time tracking, and performance management. WalnutsHR costs $6 USD/employee/month with everything included.

For a team of 25

WalnutsHR

$150 USD/mo

BambooHR

~$350+ USD/mo

You save: ~$200 USD/mo ($2,400/year)

Cost calculator

See how much you could save with WalnutsHR vs BambooHR.

25 employees
5200

WalnutsHR

$150 USD/mo

25 x $6 USD/employee

BambooHR (est.)

$450 USD/mo

$250 base + $8/employee

Estimated annual savings

$3,600 /year

$300 saved each month

Data residency & compliance

Both WalnutsHR and BambooHR host data in the United States on SOC 2-compliant infrastructure. Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest with both platforms. The difference is transparency: we tell you exactly where your data lives and how it's protected. BambooHR's security page is mostly marketing.

Try WalnutsHR β€” the simpler BambooHR alternative

Free for up to 10 employees. No credit card required. Set up in minutes.

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