How to choose HR software: requirements, questions to ask and when not to buy
Most selection advice is written by vendors and reads like it. This is too - so it names the tricks, including the ones that would favour us, and gives you a method that works whoever you end up buying from.
List the jobs you need done, ignore feature counts, price the whole first year, and ask the exit questions before you sign. A 20-150 person company buys HR software for six or seven concrete jobs - not two hundred features. Write yours down first, trial two or three products against that list, and treat any vendor who cannot answer "how do we leave?" in one sentence as having answered it.
Start from the jobs, not the features
Feature grids exist to make long lists look like value. The honest starting point is the short list of jobs your company actually needs done - for most UK employers of 20 to 150 people it is some mix of: holiday requests and balances that agree with themselves, sickness recorded without a spreadsheet, one place for employee records and documents, right-to-work and other compliance dates that chase themselves, expenses that reach payroll without retyping, and some way of hearing how people are doing before the exit interview. Write your own version of that list, in your own order, before you look at a single product. Every demo you sit through afterwards should be measured against it - and anything a product does that is not on your list is decoration, whatever the salesperson calls it.
The HR software requirements checklist
Split the list three ways and be ruthless about the middle column:
- Must have - the jobs above, plus your UK non-negotiables: statutory leave types handled properly (maternity, paternity, carer's leave, bereavement - not "custom leave type" workarounds), a right-to-work register with expiry dates, GDPR tooling you can operate yourself (subject access export, retention rules), and permissions that reflect how your company works, so a line manager sees their team and not the payroll of the person next to them.
- Should have - things you will genuinely use in year one. Be honest: if nobody owns performance reviews today, a review module will not create an owner.
- Ignore for now - everything else. You can revisit in a year; you cannot un-pay for a suite.
Sector quirks belong on the must-have list too - agencies bill time against clients, care and education need DBS tracking, manufacturers live by rotas. Our sector pages walk through what each shape of company tends to need.
How to compare HR software pricing
UK pricing is usually quoted per person per month, and the advertised rate is the start of the arithmetic, not the end. Three things move the real number: seat minimums (a "£5 per person" product with a 25-seat minimum costs a 12-person company more than double the headline), per-module pricing (the core is cheap; leave, expenses and performance arrive as add-ons), and implementation fees, which some vendors quote only after you are emotionally committed. The only comparable figure is the total first-year cost for your actual headcount, everything included, in writing. Our guide to what HR software costs works through the models, and our comparison pages note where each major UK platform's pricing has sharp edges. For what it is worth, our own pricing is flat per-person with every module included - which is a fact, not proof we are right for you; run us through the same arithmetic.
Questions to ask HR software vendors
The demo shows you the product at its best. These questions show you the company:
- "How do we leave?" - the single most revealing question. You want a one-sentence answer: you export everything, in usable formats, yourself, at any time - including after you stop paying. Hesitation here is a forecast of your exit.
- "What happens if you shut down?" - young vendors (us included) should expect this and answer it in the contract, not the demo. Our answer is 90 days' written notice with the service and export tooling staying up throughout, committed in the subscription agreement. Ask every vendor for their equivalent, in writing.
- "Who answers when something breaks?" - a person, a chatbot, or a ticket queue with a 48-hour SLA? Ask for the median response time, not the target.
- "Where does our data live, and who at your company can see it?" - the answer should name a jurisdiction and describe access controls on their side, not just yours. A vendor whose support staff can browse your records at will has told you something.
- "What don't you have?" - every product has gaps. A vendor who names theirs unprompted is a vendor whose other claims you can believe; our security page keeps a "what we don't have" list for exactly this reason, and you should demand the same candour from everyone on your shortlist.
When not to buy HR software
Two honest cases. Under roughly 15 people, a well-kept spreadsheet and a shared calendar are usually fine - the admin does not yet hurt enough to repay a subscription, and our spreadsheets comparison says so at length. And no software fixes a process problem: if managers do not approve leave promptly, or nobody records sickness at all, the same behaviour continues inside nicer screens. Fix the habit first, then buy the tool that makes the habit cheap.
Switching from an existing HR system
Switching is easier than staying with the wrong product, but plan three things: the export - get your data out of the old system early and check what is actually in it, because you learn a lot about a vendor at export time; a parallel month - run old and new side by side for one payroll cycle so balances and records can be reconciled before anyone depends on the new numbers; and the cut-over list - leave balances as at the switch date, open requests, documents, and the compliance dates (right-to-work, training, probation ends) that must not fall between the systems. Whoever you are leaving, do it at a quiet point in your leave year, not the week before Christmas requests land.
Frequently asked questions
How long should choosing HR software take?
For a company of 20 to 150 people, four to six weeks is realistic: a week to agree requirements, two or three weeks to trial a shortlist of two or three products against them, and a week for the decision and contract. Selection projects that run for months usually mean the requirements were never written down.
How much should HR software cost?
UK pricing is typically per person per month, and the advertised rate is rarely the whole answer - seat minimums, setup fees and per-module extras decide the real budget. Price the full first year for your actual headcount before comparing vendors. Our guide to HR software cost works through the arithmetic.
Do we need a consultant to choose HR software?
At 20 to 150 people, usually not. The work a consultant would do - writing requirements, shortlisting, running trials - is a few days of structured effort, and nobody knows your processes better than the person who runs them. A consultant earns their fee when you are consolidating several systems or running payroll integration across entities.
Should AI features affect which HR software we choose?
Judge AI features by their output and their privacy handling, not by the label. Useful questions: what data does the AI see, is anything individual or sensitive kept away from it, and does the product still work if the AI is switched off? A feature that fails those tests is a liability whatever it is called.
Worth reading alongside
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Apply this checklist to us first
The demo is open - no form, no call. Bring your must-have list, try the jobs on it, and ask us the exit questions. If we fail your checklist, you have lost ten minutes and gained a method.