The Best Performance Management Software 2024

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The best performance management software will help streamline your employee review cycle and help you set clear and measurable goals for individual performance. For any growing business, it’s a great investment. As well as helping with the review cycle, it will also support providing frequent feedback and gathering key insights on the effectiveness of your performance goals.

Finding the right tool for your business will depend on the industry you work on, your goals, priorities, expenditure, and the size of your business. To make that decision easier, we reviewed and compared hundreds of the best performance management tools on the market to narrow down the best of the best, so you can see exactly what different vendors offer and find the right tool for your organization.

What is Performance Management Software?

The best performance management tools are designed to enhance overall business performance by improving key performance indicators, such as employee productivity, individual goals, and expectations.

It involves real-time tracking of employee progress and how this aligns with organizational objectives. Managers also collect feedback for continuous improvement and recognize employees’ accomplishments with rewards. The performance measurement tool aim to help managers evaluate employee performance, boosts employee engagement, and provide feedback tools to reinforce individual accountability and foster open communication.

The best performance management software will make this process significantly easier. In our testing, we narrowed it down to the best that meet most business needs.

  1. Deel — Best for Continuous Performance Feedback via 1:1 meetings
  2. Trakstar — Best for Connecting All Stages of the Employee Lifecycle
  3. Workleap Officevibe — Best for Gathering Continuous Feedback
  4. ClearCompany — Best for Simplifying and Automating HR Workflows
  5. Primalogik — Best for Collecting and Analyzing 360 Degree Feedback

How to Choose the Best Performance Management Software

The effectiveness of employee performance management software for your organization hinges on its compatibility with your workplace culture and business requirements. Here are the top factors to consider when choosing the ideal employee performance management system.

PriceFeaturesCompatibilityEase of UseUser Reviews and ReputationScalabilityCustomization

Price – It’s crucial to consider the price of employee performance evaluation software for various reasons. Firstly, it helps select software that fits your budget constraints to prevent overspending.

Secondly, it assists in evaluating the software’s overall value by determining whether the features and capabilities provided are worth the cost.

Moreover, understanding the pricing structure, including recurring fees or hidden charges, helps you make informed decisions and avoid unexpected expenses.

By weighing the software’s price, you can find a solution that meets your performance evaluation needs and fits comfortably within your organization’s financial resources.

Features  – The features offered by the software should match your specific needs. Look for capabilities like goal setting, 360-degree feedback, leave management, and employee self-assessments.

Assess whether the software can effectively handle your unique performance evaluation processes and objectives. Furthermore, selecting software with the right features allows you to:

  • Streamline performance evaluation workflows
  • Enhance employee engagement, and
  • Drive individual and team performance improvements

In short, analyzing the features on offer is pivotal in determining the software’s overall suitability and impact on your organization’s performance management practices.

Compatibility – The software must seamlessly work with your existing tech, including your HR management software, payroll systems, and other relevant tools. Incompatibility issues can lead to data discrepancies, inefficiencies, and increased IT costs.

By selecting a software solution compatible with your current technology stack, you can facilitate the efficient flow of data and processes, reduce the risk of disruptions, and enhance the overall effectiveness of your performance evaluation system.

This integration capability enhances data accuracy, reporting, and analytics, enabling HR teams to make data-driven decisions whilst facilitating collaboration with easy data sharing.

Ease of Use – A user-friendly interface makes it accessible to employees, managers, and HR staff, regardless of their technical proficiency. When it’s easy to use, it minimizes the learning curve, reducing the time and resources needed for employee training and onboarding.

Simplicity encourages broader engagement in performance evaluation, ensuring feedback is collected and acted upon efficiently. This leads to a more productive and collaborative work environment.

Ultimately, this allows employees and managers to focus on constructive discussions and development rather than struggling with complicated software interfaces.

User Reviews and Reputation – Third-party insights provide valuable perspectives on the software’s performance and reliability. To help with this, we took both user reviews and the product’s reputation into account when ranking our list and in our reviews.

This can help you make an informed decision, avoid potential pitfalls, and select a solution that matches your specific needs. User reviews also offer insights into the software’s ease of use, scalability, and adaptability to various industries and company sizes.

These factors allow you to avoid costly mistakes by selecting a solution that truly suits your requirements and ensures a smoother implementation process with a higher likelihood of success.

Scalability – Scalability is a crucial factor to consider when selecting employee performance evaluation software, ensuring that as the number of employees increases, the system can handle the increased data, user load, and performance demands without compromising efficiency.

Moreover, scalability enables the software to adapt to evolving evaluation processes and requirements for long-term viability and relevance.

Additionally, as businesses expand geographically, a scalable solution can integrate new teams and locations into the performance evaluation process, fostering consistency and standardization across the organization.

Customization  – Every business has distinct performance evaluation processes, criteria, and goals, and a one-size-fits-all approach rarely suffices. So, look for software that allows you to customize evaluation templates, performance criteria, and rating scales.

This flexibility enhances the accuracy and relevance of performance assessments and fosters employee engagement by reflecting the company’s values and goals in the evaluation process.

Moreover, as business dynamics evolve, the ability to adapt and customize the software enables organizations to stay agile and responsive to changing performance management needs.

Best Performance Management Software Pricing Compared

Provider Best For Starting Price Free Trial Onboarding Time Tracking
Deel Best for continuous performance feedback on a 1:1 basis $49/month for contractors, $599/month for EOR Deel HR is free for teams of up to 200 Yes Yes
Trakstar Best for connecting all the stages of the employee lifecycle Quote-based Demo Yes No
Workleap Officevibe Best for gathering continuous feedback including anonymous options $5/month per user Free plan Separate product No
ClearCompany Best for simplifying and automating HR workflows Quote-based Demo Yes No
Primalogik Best for collecting and analyzing 360 degree feedback $159/month 30-day trial No No
Paycor Best for efficient performance management solutions Not public Demo Yes Yes
PerformYard Best for customized performance review processes $5 to $10/month per user Demo No Yes
Leapsome Best for employee development-oriented performance management Quote-based Demo Yes No
Lattice Best for incorporating multiple feedback sources $11/month per user Demo Separate module No
Peoplebox Integrating goals and performance into employee workflow $7/month per user 14-day trial No No
Connecteam Employee engagement and recognition Free for up to 10 users 14-day trial Yes Yes
Insperity Custom, scalable HR solutions Quote-based N/A Yes Yes
15Five Measuring outcomes of HR initiatives $4/month per user 14-day trial No No
Profit.co Day-to-day task management $7/month per user Free up to 5 users No Yes
Mirro Ensuring company culture alignment in hybrid teams $6.50/month per user 14-day trial Yes No
PeopleFluent Ongoing feedback and rich people analytics Quote-based Demo Yes No
Bob KPI tracking and data-driven decision-making Quote-based Demo Yes Yes
WorkDove Talent acquisition and retention $5/month per user Demo Yes No
Ascender Creating custom SMART objectives and rating scales Quote-based Demo Yes Yes
Worktango (formerly Kazoo) Creating incentives and rewards for hitting milestones Not public Demo No No
Betterworks Unbiased performance calibration Quote-based Demo No No
Teamflect Boosting remote employee performance Quote-based Free up to 10 users Yes Yes
GoCo Document management and onboarding $5/month per user Demo Yes Yes
ClickUp Robust project and task management Free / $7/month per user Free plan Yes Yes
monday.com Monthly team planning and task tracking $8/month per user Free up to 2 users Yes Yes
Motivosity Pulse surveys and goal and challenge creation $2/month Demo No No
iSpring Learn Micro-learning and product and compliance training $4.08/month per user 30-day trial Yes No
Eden Workplace management for hybrid teams $2.25/month per user Demo No No
IntelliHR Employee engagement and talent retention Quote-based Demo Yes No
Kallidus Learn Empowering and upskilling your team Quote-based Demo Yes No

Best Performance Management Software Reviewed

To provide you with a comprehensive review of the best performance management software solutions on the market, we’ve tried and tested each tool to compare each solution based on their price, features, usability, automation, and third-party reviews to help you identify which tool is best for you. Read our full breakdown below.

1. Deel — Best for Continuous Performance Feedback via 1:1 meetings

Deel Logo

Best For Continuous 1:1 performance feedback
Free Trial Free plan available
Price From $49/month for contractors

$599/month for EOR

Top 3 Features Feedback capabilities, Goal setting and tracking, Data insights
Why We Picked It

Deel is an all-in-one HR platform that provides you with the tools you need to hire, onboard, and retain top performers. It also streamlines payroll and benefits administration, helps you automate your workflows, and offers a variety of HR tools that boost productivity and save time.

The platform can act as an Employer of Record (EOR), helping you compliantly hire the best candidates from around the world, regardless of their location.

Features

When it comes to employee evaluation and management, you’ll have a one-on-one tool at your disposal with Deel’s Slack integration to schedule and conduct reviews. HR leaders, managers, and employees will be able to access all the meeting notes from past evaluations and review goals ahead of time.

Additionally, you’ll be able to create and distribute Pulse Surveys to gather anonymous feedback from your team to gauge job satisfaction, overall alignment with company values, and the quality of communication and collaboration within your team.

The platform also acts as a central data repository, giving you quick and easy access to all the information on each employee. You’ll have a holistic view of employer costs and will be able to see your churn and retention rates at a glance.

That said, Deel doesn’t have a dedicated dashboard where you can monitor the performance of individual team members, and it doesn’t have a module to allow you to create and distribute learning materials. If you’re focused on learning and development, Trakstar may be a better choice.

Who's It Best For
Deel’s performance management software is best suited for HR teams and managers who prioritize continuous improvement through 1:1s with seamless onboarding, global compliance, and streamlined payroll.

Pros

  • Global HR solution
  • User-friendly platform
  • The software is scalable
  • Multiple automated processes

Cons

  • Limited customization
  • Integrates well in the Deel ecosystem but struggles with third-party integrations

Learn more in our Deel review

2. Trakstar — Best for Connecting All Stages of the Employee Lifecycle

trakstar-hire-logo

Best For Employee lifecycle
Free Trial Demo
Price From Custom pricing
Top 3 Features Performance reports, 360-feedback, Goal setting and tracking
Why We Picked It

Trakstar is a robust employee performance platform that helps you empower your workers, help them develop their skills, and guide them to become top performers. Building a rockstar team starts with hiring the right people for the job, and that’s where Trakstar comes in.

The platform takes a four-pronged approach to talent development, incorporating hiring, onboarding, learning, performance, and insights to deliver a full solution. It also streamlines and automates routine tasks, so you can spend more time training new hires and passing on your knowledge.

Features

Trakstar’s strongest suit is its Learning Management module. This allows you to create custom training systems and materials and develop effective learning paths. It also allows you to streamline your onboarding process and create engaging content that will help both new hires and existing employees sharpen their skills. This is why Trakstar is one of our highest-rated recruiting software solutions.

The software lets you create fully-fledged courses, including quizzes, assessments, presentations, and audio and video content alongside other learning materials. You can also use auto-enrolment to invite whole teams and departments or specific individuals.

To monitor this, you can create custom reports covering course completion rates, test scores, and time spent on programs to assess the progress of individuals and the success rates of courses.

With Trakstar, you’ll also be able to monitor the performance of each individual team member across over 100 competencies. The platform lets you provide 360-degree reviews, set measurable goals, outline improvement plans, and provide actionable coaching advice.

The platform also provides comprehensive workforce analytics, with insights into your team’s overall performance to help you make strategic, data-driven decisions. The tools may take some time to learn, but they’re an impressive feature set that covers the full employee lifecycle.

Who's It Best For
Trakstar is ideal for businesses focused on preserving talent through the entire employee lifecycle, offering robust features for recruiting, onboarding, learning management, and performance evaluation.

Pros

  • Custom performance reports
  • Comprehensive feedback system
  • Effective goal management
  • Easy platform for beginners

Cons

  • Limited mobile functionality
  • Can be more costly than competitors

3. Workleap Officevibe — Best for Gathering Continuous Feedback Including Anonymous OptionsWorkleap Logo

Best For Anonymous feedback
Free Trial Free plan available
Price From $5/month per user
Top 3 Features Peer recognition, Comprehensive performance reviews, Goal tracking
Why We Picked It

Workleap Officevibe is a great tool not just for measuring but for improving performance.

In practice, this means your HR leaders and department heads will have tools to develop continuous performance management processes, set goals and OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), provide regular, constructive feedback, and develop a culture of recognition.

Performance reviews conducted with Officevibe are designed to ensure managers and employees have access to a shared performance record. This includes active goals, historical performance, peer feedback, and employee commendations.

Features

Employees are encouraged to complete a self-review before one-on-one performance reviews with their superiors. This gives them the opportunity to share the accomplishments they’re most proud of, acknowledge their shortcomings, talk about areas of improvement, and discuss their career development path.

In addition to regular reviews, Workleap encourages continuous performance improvement via performance checkpoints. These allow you to discuss performance and expectations, define goals, review key responsibilities, and discuss behavioral expectations and alignment with company values.

Workleap also includes automated Pulse Surveys, which provide HR leaders and managers with insights regarding team morale and job satisfaction. The surveys can be completely anonymous, which promotes honest feedback from your team.

Good Vibes is another key Workleap feature. It encourages positive feedback and public recognition for good work, ensuring no good deed goes unnoticed. This will help foster a culture of positivity and peer-to-peer recognition, boost employee engagement, and significantly improve talent retention.

Who's It Best For
Workleap is best suited to medium-to-large organizations and provides a huge range of tools for tracking performance and employee engagement.

Pros

  • Promotes a culture of continuous improvement
  • Real-time analytics and reporting
  • Customizable performance reports

Cons

  • Can be a steeper learning curve compared to competitors

4. ClearCompany — Best for Simplifying and Automating HR Workflows

ClearCompany Logo

Best For Automating HR workflows
Free Trial Demo
Price From Custom pricing
Top 3 Features 360-feedback, Employee engagement, Ready-to-use templates
Why We Picked It

ClearCompany offers a performance management system and ready-made templates to help you develop and grow your team with consistent reviews, actionable feedback, effective goal-planning, and robust analytics.

You can customize the review cycle by selecting questions, review formats, and participant communication. The entire workflow is fully automated, with alerts and notifications, so your managers and employees know how and when to prepare for performance reviews.

Features

To prepare your team for success and boost employee engagement, ClearCompany offers a variety of tools to help with goal setting, define key priorities, and set success metrics. These tools enable employees to track their progress day-to-day and give them clear goals to work towards.

It also helps improve collaboration between employees and their direct superiors, facilitates feedback, and eliminates personal development roadblocks.

Performance analytics is another key ClearCompany feature. On the dashboard, you can access performance data from review cycles across the company or for departments, roles, or individual employees. This helps identify top performers, adjust expectations, ensure goal alignment, and map performance trends.

What ClearCompany lacks are tools for handling learning resources. It’s focused on monitoring performance, but unlike Trakstar, it doesn’t help with creating or distributing learning materials, courses, or assessments.

Who's It Best For
ClearCompany’s performance management system makes it ideal for organizations looking to streamline performance reviews, enhance employee development with actionable feedback, and leverage analytics for informed decision-making.

Pros

  • Improves collaboration
  • Easy-to-learn platform
  • Automated workflows

Cons

  • Does not include LMS

Learn more in our ClearCompany review

5. Primalogik — Best for Collecting and Analyzing 360 Degree Feedback

Primalogik Logo

Best For 360 Feedback
Free Trial 30-day trial
Price From $159/month
Top 3 Features Advanced reporting, Custom reviews, Goal-setting
Why We Picked It

Primalogik simplifies performance management by providing rich insights into each team member’s performance and growth. You can access individual and organization-wide charts and graphs to monitor organizational performance across fields, including communication, teamwork, integrity, and accountability.

Primalogik facilitates 360-degree feedback by giving you quick and easy access to key work performance data, allowing you to collect feedback from peers, managers, subordinates, and direct reports.

Features

Primalogik allows you to build custom reviews with both self and manager assessments so you can easily record everyone’s strengths and weaknesses and chart a clear course for personal development.

You’ll also be able to create and set clear, measurable goals and OKRs to boost task engagement, monitor progress in real-time, and reward your top-performing employees for hitting milestones.

With Primalogik, you’ll also know exactly how your team feels about the work environment and their day-to-day jobs, thanks to Engagement Surveys.

These are similar to the Pulse Surveys Deel and Officevibe offer but go a step further by prompting you to take concrete steps to improve employee satisfaction and show you how new initiatives and policies impact job satisfaction.

Primalogik’s analytics and reporting functionality, meanwhile, enables you to monitor the state of surveys, track goals, compare historical performance data with the current performance cycle, and identify patterns and trends to boost employee engagement.

You’ll also be able to develop advanced reports and measure the ROI of performance management programs and initiatives, so you’ll know what works and which approaches to repeat and expand upon.

That said, like ClearCompany, Primalogik doesn’t provide resources or templates for creating learning materials, so if you want to design courses to improve your team’s skills, Trakstar is a better option.

Who's It Best For
Primalogik is best suited for organizations seeking to streamline performance management through robust 360-degree feedback capabilities, enabling informed decision-making and continuous employee growth and engagement.

Pros

  • Employee engagement tools
  • User-friendly software
  • Customizable performance reviews
  • Real-time reporting

Cons

  • Limited integration options
  • No LMS available
Methodology

How We Review And Test HR Products

To provide our readers with accurate and well-informed recommendations, we test the most popular HR products on the market to find the best options for you. Our methodology consists of the following criteria:

  • Features: We examine each product’s features to determine what capabilities are offered, and how well it performs crucial HR management tasks, such as tracking a sick leave.
  • Integrations: We evaluate the integrations of each piece of HR software to determine how well it fits in with other key pieces in a business’s software stack, and whether its functionality can be expanded as required.
  • User Experience: Usability is paramount when it comes to HR software. That’s why we put ourselves in the shoes of a new user, testing each platform to gain a firsthand understanding if the platform is easy to use or requires onboarding.
  • Price and Value for Money: Our approach to pricing involves a thorough review of the structure and plans offered by each platform. Beyond just the initial cost, we delve into the details to assess affordability and value for money.
  • Security: We dig into the security policies of each company, interrogating the safeguards they have in place to ensure the software protects user data properly.
  • Compliance: A critical requirement for most HR departments, we assess HR software on whether it offers local compliance when it comes to payroll, taxes, and more.
  • Reporting and Documentation: We look at the reporting and documentation capabilities of each software to make sure they offer comprehensive data sets, takeaways, and collaboration options for documentation.

Performance Management Software Trends for 2024

In 2024, several key trends are emerging for performance management software, driven by advancements in technology and a deeper understanding of employee needs.

The following highlights the most significant trends in performance management tools for the coming years, providing insights into the future of workplace performance and development.

  • AI and Machine Learning Integration – AI is being used for predictive analytics and employee performance forecasting. Machine learning algorithms are also being introduced to personalize feedback and development plans.
  • Real-time Feedback Systems – Continuous, real-time feedback is replacing annual reviews. More businesses are also looking for tools that enable instant recognition and constructive criticism, which also encourages peer-to-peer reviewing.
  • Employee Well-being Focus – There has been a big shift in focus on mental health and well-being metrics. Businesses are now using tools that provide insights into employee burnout and stress levels.
  • Gamification and Social Features – More businesses are incorporating game-like elements to engage employees. They’re additionally using rewards, badges, and leaderboards to motivate performance.

Free vs Paid Employee Performance Management Tools

When comparing different solutions, it makes sense to investigate free options. After all, on average, a small to medium-sized business might expect to pay anywhere from $5 to $15 per employee per month for a basic employee evaluation system. More comprehensive solutions with advanced features could range from $15 to $50 per employee per month or more.

While software like Deel offers a free plan for teams of up to 200 people, paid options are typically more reliable. Although some of the best free HR software for performance management may offer free trials, they often lack the advanced features and comprehensive support found in paid versions. Investing in a paid option ensures access to robust functionalities, dedicated customer service, and ongoing updates, ultimately leading to more effective performance processes and outcomes.

Benefits of Performance Management Platforms

Here are the main benefits of using a performance management tool:

Streamlined HR

Streamlined HR – Human resources can get tedious. As paperwork piles up, the need for efficient organization becomes paramount.

With the advent of digital file management and searchable databases accessible from anywhere with an internet connection, employee performance management software empowers HR teams, managers, and employees to have a clear understanding of each individual’s role within the organization.

Motivated Employees and Individualized Insights

Motivated Employees and Individualized Insights – Knowing where your employees excel and where they need improvement can be a big motivator for employees. Real-time feedback through performance software ensures they receive consistent and granular feedback, boosting their performance.

Every employee has unique strengths and weaknesses. Another benefit here is that managers can use performance data to identify these strengths and place employees in roles that allow them to shine, leading to better outcomes.

Real-Time Feedback

Real-Time Feedback – Millennials thrive on immediate feedback. Performance management software facilitates instant communication, motivating employees, whether they work for established organizations or startups.

These solutions are also among the best online collaboration tools as they often borrow from social media interfaces, offering real-time feedback options that are mobile-friendly and user-centric, ultimately improving collaboration and interaction.

Streamlined Goal Setting

Streamlined Goal Setting – To boost productivity and performance, employees require a clear vision of their objectives and how they contribute to the company’s success.

Performance appraisal software facilitates collaborative goal setting, allowing employees and managers to align themselves with company objectives. Employees can track their progress and accomplishments, further enhancing clarity and accountability.

Insights Into Employee Performance

Insights Into Employee Performance – Employee evaluation software offer valuable insights by collecting real-time data on employee performance. This data helps identify top-performing employees, recognize achievements, and pinpoint areas for additional training or support. Recognizing and rewarding employees goes a long way in motivation and retention.

Efficiency and Time Savings

Efficiency and Time Savings – As organizations grow, manually managing and collating performance data for an expanding workforce becomes cumbersome, particularly when paper-based systems are involved.

Performance management software automates the review process, eliminates the need for form-filling, and reduces the risk of human error. Moreover, all relevant information is readily accessible at any time.

FAQs

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Aleksandar Stevanovic
Software Reviews Expert
Aleksandar Stevanovic
Software Reviews Expert

Aleksandar Stevanovic spent 10 years honing his craft as a freelance content writer. He has a degree in Economics, and extensive experience in software, crypto, and cybersecurity industries. He covers a multitude of topics, writing factual and informative articles, helping individuals better understand the intricacies of the online world. Over the last two years, his research focus shifted more towards tech and software content, as evidenced by his publications on CEX.IO, Business2Community, and Techopedia. He believes in simplifying complex topics and bringing them closer to like-minded individuals. His work is as detail-oriented as it is creative, and is designed to…