Choosing the right HR tool can be the difference between simply managing processes and truly driving change. The best platforms don’t just handle payroll or performance reviews. They give HR leaders the evidence, efficiency and insights to make fair, confident decisions that shape the future of work.
In this guide, we’ve highlighted some of the leading HR tools on the market today. Each one earns its place on the list for how it helps organisations simplify people management, strengthen workforce strategy, and create better outcomes for employees and the business.
Why it made the list: It gives HR leaders live, UK-specific pay data to make fair, confident decisions.
HR Datahub is a UK-specific salary benchmarking tool that taps into over 30 million live job postings, pulling fresh pay data daily from across the country, including niche roles and local trends, so you always have the most accurate and current market insight.
HR Datahub gives you data-led confidence, helping you make salary decisions that are equitable, defensible, and strategically sound, whether you're closing gender pay gaps, planning budgets or preparing for pay reviews.
Why it made the list: For offering large organisations a powerful, scalable system that seamlessly combines HR, payroll, finance, planning, and analytics in a single platform.
Workday is a cloud enterprise platform designed to put people and your bottom line at the centre of business operations. Built on a foundation of modern architecture, Workday unifies human capital management, financial management and planning, so you gain faster, data-driven insights and smoother cross-functional workflows.
Workday is ideal for large organisations looking to unify HR, finance, and analytics under one roof to create a single "system of work" that drives organisational clarity, collaboration and agility.
Why it made the list: Simplifies core HR tasks such as payroll, compliance, benefits and onboarding into a single, intuitive platform.
Gusto is a modern, cloud‑native HR platform that puts people first by automating and streamlining your payroll, benefits and HR in one refreshingly easy-to-use system with access to licensed benefits advisors and (on Concierge) certified HR pros. It’s particularly well-suited for small and medium-sized businesses that want enterprise-grade functionality without complexity or hidden costs.
Gusto is perfect for small to mid-sized businesses that want a single platform to handle everything from paying teams and offering benefits to managing compliance and HR basics.
Why it made the list: Makes corporate training approachable and impactful by helping HR and L&D leaders deliver meaningful learning experiences with minimal friction.
TalentLMS is a cloud-native Learning Management System (LMS) that empowers organisations to launch training rapidly, equip learners across teams or regions, and measure outcomes with clarity and ease. It’s built for internal learning, compliance training, onboarding, partner education and skill development.
TalentLMS is a solid choice for HR professionals and L&D teams who want to accelerate learning, boost learner engagement and drive measurable development, without losing control or visibility.
Why it made the list: Gives organisations a comprehensive, AI-powered platform that streamlines HR, payroll, scheduling and workforce analytics.
UKG offers a robust Human Capital Management (HCM) and workforce management suite valued by more than 80,000 organisations worldwide – from small businesses to large global enterprises.
UKG is an integrated suite that blends strategic workforce planning, AI-led insights, and culture-led design. It's an ideal choice for HR leaders aiming to unify people, purpose, and processes.
Seturon empowers organisations with a scalable platform that streamlines course creation, content delivery, access control, and the learning process.
Seturon is a cloud-native SaaS platform built to simplify digital learning.
Seturon is ideal for fast-scaling companies, training providers, and enterprises seeking a unified platform with a mobile-first experience and affordable pricing that doesn't compromise control or quality.
Calamari offers productivity tools for high-performing teams. We improve and automate collecting and sharing information about people and their work. Choose what you need and pay only for the tools you use—each solution saves time while delivering an excellent user experience.
Serving teams in 100+ countries, we provide:
Works where your team works—with Calamari integrations for No.1. Slack HR Tools, World Class Microsoft 365 Integration, Google Workspace, JIRA, and mobile apps.
Manatal is an AI-native applicant tracking system and recruitment CRM built for recruitment agencies and in-house HR teams. It utilises AI to streamline hiring, expedite processes, and enhance collaboration.
Key features include:
Manatal is intuitive, easy to implement, and scales from startups to enterprises. A 14-day free trial is available today.
hireEZ is an AI-first recruiting platform that helps teams source, match, engage, and manage talent up to 75% faster using Agentic AI. Companies around the globe trust hireEZ to unify their recruiting tools, elevate candidate quality, and achieve complete transparency throughout the hiring process.
hireEZ is ideal for mid-market and enterprise organizations that want a single, intelligent recruitment platform to drive sourcing, screening, engagement, and analytics, supporting strategic hiring at scale.
PeopleGoal is a fully customizable performance management software that enables HR teams to design workflows tailored to their unique culture. With a dedicated app store, it supports everything from OKRs and SMART goals to 360-degree feedback and engagement programs. Real-time dashboards and analytics give leaders the visibility they need to offer custom onboarding, track progress, improve alignment, and boost productivity.
PeopleGoal stands out for HR leaders who want more than OKR tracking. It delivers a fully customizable performance management system that connects goal setting with growth, engagement, development, and measurable productivity gains.
Recruit CRM is an AI-powered ATS and CRM platform built for staffing and recruitment agencies to streamline sourcing, client management, and hiring workflows in one system. Agencies worldwide use Recruit CRM to automate manual tasks, improve candidate quality, and scale their businesses with ease.
Recruit CRM is ideal for recruitment agencies of all sizes looking to optimize their processes, improve collaboration, and scale faster with a single AI-driven platform.
Happily.ai is a culture enablement platform that helps small and medium-sized businesses build healthier, more productive workplaces. Instead of relying on outdated annual reviews, it makes feedback a regular part of work and gives real-time insights into how people are feeling. The result is employees who feel heard and supported, and managers who can lead with more confidence.
Happily.ai is ideal for small and medium-sized businesses looking to move beyond traditional HR tools and foster a culture of engagement, productivity, and measurable improvement.
Wrenly keeps recognition and feedback simple. Right inside Slack, Microsoft Teams, or email, employees can give kudos, share feedback, and complete reviews in just a click. It tracks patterns, generates insights, and nudges managers at the right moments—whether it’s celebrating wins, addressing issues early, or supporting rising talent.
Wrenly is ideal for companies that want to improve engagement, recognition, and feedback by embedding HR processes directly into the tools teams already use.
The Talent Games is an award-winning HR technology company. With its flagship product, C-Factor.AI, a talent assessment and development platform, the company helps organizations attract, evaluate, and develop future leaders through gamified assessments.
The Talent Games is an award-winning HR tech company. Its flagship platform, C-Factor.AI, uses gamified assessments to help organizations attract, assess, and develop future leaders.
The Talent Games is ideal for enterprises seeking a modern, science-backed solution to both hiring and talent development, while boosting employer brand and workforce readiness.
ClayHR is a full-spectrum Human Capital Management (HCM) platform built to connect people strategy with business outcomes. With modules for core HR, recruiting, performance, learning, succession, compensation, and workforce management, it automates the employee lifecycle and surfaces insights to power smarter decisions. More than 1,400 organisations — from municipal governments to tech and healthcare — rely on ClayHR to deliver agility, compliance, and a better employee experience.
ClayHR is ideal for organisations
Pulse Feedback is a simple yet powerful employee survey tool. It helps organisations listen effectively, act quickly, and build stronger teams. It makes it easy to create surveys, gather insights, and drive improvements for HR professionals, leaders, and employees. Trusted by over 45,000 users, it goes beyond metrics to boost performance and create a positive work environment.
Pulse Feedback is ideal for companies of all sizes that want to measure engagement, capture feedback, and drive workplace improvements. It’s free to try without limitations for three weeks, making it easy to see the impact firsthand.
Equip helps recruiters speed up hiring by focusing on top candidates instead of wading through endless resumes. With AI-driven interviews, resume ranking, skill assessments, and phone screening, Equip makes candidate evaluation seamless from anywhere. The platform has proven effective in large campus drives and high-volume remote hiring, delivering efficiency, scalability, and fair assessment at scale.
Equip is designed for recruitment teams running high-volume or large-scale hiring processes who want a faster, fairer, and more reliable way to evaluate and select top talent.
Engagedly is a talent management platform that brings performance, engagement, and workforce intelligence together in one place. Powered by Marissa, its Agentic AI SuperAgent, the platform goes beyond analytics by nudging managers to take meaningful action—whether it’s checking in with underperformers, recognising high performers, or recommending successors and career growth paths.
Engagedly is ideal for companies that want an AI-first, easy-to-implement platform that drives both employee success and business outcomes.
Team Engine is an AI-driven HR automation platform designed to cut down on manual, time-consuming processes. Its text-first software automates hiring, onboarding, and employee communication, giving leaders tools to outcompete for talent, retain employees, and build stronger connections across the workforce. Trusted by hundreds of growing businesses, Team Engine helps overcome the engagement challenges of managing distributed teams.
Team Engine equips businesses with the speed and communication tools they need to manage field-based teams more effectively and keep operations moving.
TheySaid is an AI survey and interview platform that transforms routine feedback into meaningful conversations. Designed for HR leaders, it helps organizations uncover authentic insights employees rarely share in traditional engagement surveys and interviews.
TheySaid empowers HR leaders to connect people insights with business outcomes, strengthening retention, engagement, and long-term growth.
Intervue is an on-demand interview platform designed for fast-growing tech companies to scale engineering hiring without draining internal bandwidth. Talent and engineering leaders use Intervue to run structured, on-demand technical interviews with calibrated external panels and cheat-proof infrastructure.
Intervue is ideal for companies looking to reduce time-to-hire, improve interview quality, and protect engineering bandwidth.
Testlify is an AI-powered talent assessment and video interviewing solution that helps companies identify the right talent quickly and objectively. Designed for small to medium-sized businesses as well as scaling enterprises, it streamlines every stage of candidate evaluation — from skills testing to live interviews — in one unified workspace. With over 1000+ ready-to-use test templates, customizable assessments, and integrated analytics, it makes hiring faster, fairer, and more data-driven.
Testlify is ideal for startups and SMBs that want to hire smarter — combining skill testing, video interviews, and analytics into one cohesive platform that saves time, reduces bias, and enhances candidate experience.
Cangrade offers an AI-driven platform that transforms how companies screen, assess, and hire talent. It's Jules AI Copilot automates resume screening, creates custom skills assessments, and structured interview flows. Trusted by organisations like Wayfair, FDNY, and Lamar Advertising, Cangrade helps HR teams surface top candidates and make fairer, faster hiring decisions.
Cangrade is ideal for organisations that want to save time, streamline talent workflows, improve talent quality, and reduce biased hiring, while ensuring decisions are data-backed and equitable.
ERIN is an employee-powered hiring and engagement platform used by organisations across healthcare, manufacturing, and more. It simplifies and scales referrals, automates workflows, and drives adoption with a mobile-first experience, delivering measurable results for talent teams.
ERIN empowers HR and talent teams to hire smarter, retain longer, and strengthen engagement—all through a single, intuitive platform.
The best HR tools keep the wheels turning and empower HR leaders to make fairer, smarter decisions and create workplaces where people thrive. From payroll to performance, each tool on this list has its own strengths. But when it comes to pay decisions, HR Datahub gives you something unique: real-time salary benchmarking that turns fair pay into a competitive advantage.
Ready to see how your pay stacks up? Explore HR Datahub’s features today and sign up for a free trial.