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Reviewed
Performance management software helps organizations manage employee performance. It allows managers to set goals and objectives, track progress and give feedback. Performance management software can also help with succession planning and performance reviews. To help you make the best decision, Forbes Advisor compiled a list of the best performance management software of 2024.
Featured Partners
1
Trakstar
Yes
Included
Not disclosed
2
HR Performance Solutions
Included
Included
Included
3
PerformYard
Yes
Included
$5-10 per person/month
The Forbes Advisor Small Business team is committed to bringing you unbiased rankings and information with full editorial independence. We use product data, strategic methodologies and expert insights to inform all of our content and guide you in making the best decisions for your business journey.
We reviewed the leading solutions using a detailed scoring process to help you find the 10 best performance management software for small businesses. Our ratings considered numerous factors, including the provider starting costs and range of pricing for its plans, number and depth of the features it offers, reviews by actual users of the performance management software and an analysis by our team of experts based on responses by those same users. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
| Company | Forbes Advisor Rating | Best for | Goal tracking | E-signatures | LEARN MORE | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Namely |  |
4.9 |  |
Best Overall | Yes | Yes | Learn more | Read Forbes' Review | |
| Lattice |  |
4.8 | |
Best Overall | Yes | Yes | View More | View more | |
| Synergita |  |
4.7 |  |
Best for Sentiment Analysis | Yes | Yes | View More | ||
| Paycor |  |
4.7 |  |
Best for Templates | Yes | Yes | Learn More | Read Forbes' Review | |
| Bamboo HR |  |
4.6 | |
Best for Its Mobile App | Yes | Yes | Learn More | On BambooHR's Website | |
| PerformYard |  |
4.5 | |
Best for Continuous Feedback | Yes | Yes | Learn More | On PerformYard's Website | |
| Workday |  |
4.3 | |
Best for Skills Management | Yes | Through a third-party tool | Learn More | Read Forbes' Review | |
| Engagedly |  |
4.2 |  |
Best for Integrations | Yes | No | View More | ||
| Reviewsnap |  |
4.2 | |
Best for Goal Setting | Yes | Yes | View More | ||
| Trakstar |  |
4.2 | |
Best for Coaching | Yes | Through a third-party integration | Learn More | On Trakstar's Website |
Performance management software helps managers evaluate how well an employee is performing their job. It provides a platform where managers and their employees can:
Performance management software helps employees set and track professional goals, which influences managerial decisions about bonuses and promotions. Conversely, it provides context to low-performing employees and can help managers figure out ways to better support these employees through training, reassignment or a performance improvement plan (PIP). In that sense, performance management software is a key component of employee engagement, satisfaction and, ultimately, retention in the organization.
The software also facilitates ongoing communication between employees and their managers by providing question prompts and allowing them to take notes directly in the system. This ensures that issues get addressed early on and both are on the same page. Performance management software solutions also often integrate feedback from not only the manager but also from team members to gauge an employee’s ability to work within a team.
To help you decide which performance management software is right for you, consider the most essential features, reporting functionality, whether it integrates into your tech stack and other factors.
Essential features of any performance management software include goal setting, structured check-ins, and various feedback mechanisms. Performance management software makes performance management more efficient by providing a central interface that houses real-time data on employee goals and their progress. Structured check-in prompts ensure that one-to-one conversations between managers and their employees remain focused on employee growth and success.
In addition, performance management software allows employees to receive feedback not only from their managers but from peers, customers and other stakeholders. Different ways of giving and receiving feedback in performance management systems include 360 reviews and one-to-one meeting notes.
Analytics and reporting tools track not only software usage but also an employee’s progress toward their goal(s). Usage reports help HR teams assess the usefulness of the performance management tool and whether the workforce can get more use out of it.
Progress reports keep employees motivated to achieve their professional goals. Managers can also better identify their top and low performers and find ways to provide extra support for them.
The performance management solution of choice needs to function and share information with other applications your employees frequently use, such as your learning management system. Otherwise, information can get duplicated or lost, and users might get frustrated with navigating across various tools.
Performance management software should be easy to use, otherwise, it distracts from and prolongs the processes that matter, such as annual employee reviews. For example, employees should be able to easily add and modify their goals, and new managers should be able to access notes from their employee’s previous manager.
Take advantage of demos and trials, if available, and inquire with the vendor about customer service and assistance with implementation. Customer reviews can provide more insight into whether and how the solution supports performance management processes.
Free performance management software usually offers bare minimum features that are limited to a certain number of users. Paid performance management software provides more sophisticated features, and the price may depend on the number of users as well.
Providers usually offer one or a combination of pricing models, from free to “freemium” to paid-only products. Free versions suit small companies that need basic features. However, as they grow they might want or need to upgrade to a paid version for access to more sophisticated features.
Pricing models for cloud-based performance management software can be further broken down into monthly or annual subscriptions for more cost savings, while on-premises software solutions typically incur a one-time licensing fee.
Featured Partners
1
Trakstar
Yes
Included
Not disclosed
2
HR Performance Solutions
Included
Included
Included
3
PerformYard
Yes
Included
$5-10 per person/month
Performance management software can cost anywhere from $0 to $1,000-plus per month. The price of performance management software depends on the features, integrations offered and number of users. Plus, some performance management software is integrated into a comprehensive platform, so it may require a bigger price commitment.
Some standalone performance management tools offer free versions:
Other standalone performance management software starts at around $4 per person per month.
For example, these performance management software vendors display their per-user prices:
The number of employees you have will be the most important factor when evaluating prices. Entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses may consider free performance management software options but crunch the numbers to see if paid software with more advanced features will fit into your budget. Depending on your company size and budget, it might be worth upgrading your current HRIS or HRMS to the tier that includes performance management or opt for the add-on, if available.
Performance management best practices include:
To determine the best performance management software of 2024, Forbes Advisor analyzed 13 of the leading solutions. After assigning weighted scores to 26 data points, we narrowed the field down to our top 10 based on features, pricing, ease of use and customer satisfaction. The software with the highest weighted score is our best overall performance management software, although the rest of our picks have their own merits and may be more suitable for your specific situation.
Here are the categories we used to rank the providers that made the top of the list.
For pricing, we considered whether a software provider offers a free trial or free version as well as the affordability of its lowest and highest price tiers. Companies that offer upfront pricing received higher ratings here than those that require potential customers to contact the provider for a quote. Pricing accounted for 10% of our weighted scoring.
We evaluated each vendor for its core features and unique features. Core features include feedback tools, OKR management, compliance management, organization management (or at least an org chart), progress and goal tracking tools, e-signatures and roles and permissions monitoring.
We gave higher scores to providers that offer features such as access to a mobile app (both iOS and Android), third-party software integrations, behavioral and skills tests, peer reviews, reminders, reports and analytics. We weighted features at a combined 50% of our total score.
We wanted to know what real consumers thought about their experiences using each software, so we reviewed leading third-party review websites, such as Capterra and G2. We gave higher rankings to the providers that had more reviews, especially those with 300 or more on each site as well as those that received positive reviews―scoring several reviews that were at least 3.5 out of 5 on each site.
We researched user reviews in this way to gain a more holistic understanding of what users think of the performance management software solutions. Reviews accounted for 10% of the total score.
While reviewing the products firsthand, our experts focused on key user experience elements that included ease of use, any standout features, popularity and value for the money. Those that did well in these four metrics fared well in our experts’ analysis, which made up 30% of the total score.
The performance management process can be done without performance management software but the software can automate and improve the performance management process. If your business wants to improve performance management, performance management software may be a good solution.
Integrations are connections that performance management software can make with other business systems, such as your HRIS or payroll software. These integrations can automate performance management processes and improve data accuracy.
Developers of cloud-based performance management software push frequent updates, such as security patches. This improves security to ensure that review notes and other information remains secure and confidential. Therefore, cloud-based performance management software is a safer alternative to paper or on-premises alternatives.
Performance management software is important because it gives structure to one-on-one meetings between employees and their managers, helps employees with goal setting, ensures employee goals are aligned with overall business objectives and aids managers in supporting their employees’ individual needs.
Common problems that users face with performance management software include underutilization, misuse, bias, lack of structure and access control. Conduct an annual or a semiannual review with frequent check-ins in between to make the most of your performance management solution and address performance problems early on. Managers should also guide employees to set effective goals to make sure the system tracks the right metrics. Employees and their managers should also take advantage of out-of-box or customized prompts to keep check-ins structured, so managers can identify patterns in performance over time. Finally, information should transfer between managers for continuity in the performance review process.
