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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.
Why You Can Trust Forbes Advisor Small Business
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.
Best Overall – Namely – 4.9 / 5
Goal tracking
Yes
Career development tools
Yes
Editor’s Take
Namely performance management software is a great choice for midsized businesses that need an all-in-one HR solution. It has standard performance management features such as goal tracking and alignment, 360-degree feedback, performance reviews, competencies and appreciations. With job posting and syndication, applicant tracking, background checks and offer letters, it acts as a recruitment tool as well.
Learn More: Read our full Namely review.
Who should use it: Midsized businesses that need an all-in-one HR solution.
Pros & Cons
- Has a Facebook-like newsfeed for employees with Slack integration
- Recognition features
- Manage the entire employee life cycle from application to onboarding to exiting
- Pricing isn’t transparent
Best for Career Tracks – Lattice – 4.8 / 5
Goal tracking
Yes
Career development tools
Yes
Editor’s Take
Lattice is one of the leading performance management software programs on the market. It offers a comprehensive suite of features, including goal tracking, compensation reviews, analytics, continuous feedback, public celebrations, onboarding, surveys, competencies, development plans, career tracks and AI sentiment analysis. Performance management plans with OKRs and goals start at $11 per person, per month. Less comprehensive plans are available for $4 monthly per person.
Learn more: Read our full Lattice review.
Who should use it: Businesses of all sizes across multiple industries. It’s a well-rounded performance management software.
Pros & Cons
- Integrates with Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams and Outlook
- Each plan includes employee praise and recognition
- Has a mobile app
- Limited number of templates compared to some competition
- UI can be buggy
Best for Templates – Paycor – 4.7 / 5
Goal tracking
Yes
Career development tools
Yes
Editor’s Take
Best practices performance management templates from Paycor help you set goals, deliver performance reviews and give feedback that engages employees. You can also access performance data and analytics to identify trends and areas for improvement. Other features include team insights, coaching strategies based on employee ratings and one-on-one tools. Plus, it integrates with Outlook and Gmail.
Learn More: Read our full Paycor review.
Who should use it: Businesses that want performance management templates.
Pros & Cons
- Transparent pricing
- Free three-month trial
- Free setup
- On the higher end of pricing compared to some of its competition
Best for Sentiment Analysis – Synergita – 4.7 / 5
Goal tracking
Yes
Career development tools
Yes
Editor’s Take
Synergita performance management software is a great choice for businesses that want to use AI-driven sentiment analysis to improve employee performance. The software uses machine learning to analyze performance review and feedback data to identify issues early on. It also offers a suite of features, including performance goal setting, appreciation and peer recognition, one-on-one meetings, employee perception surveys, 360-degree feedback and development plans.
Who should use it: Businesses that want AI-driven sentiment analysis.
Pros & Cons
- Has a free trial
- Peer recognition
- Employee performance trends
- Reporting tools aren’t as robust as some of its competition
- No chat support
Best for its Mobile App – BambooHR – 4.6 / 5
Goal tracking
Yes
Career development tools
No
Editor’s Take
The BambooHR mobile app lets managers create, track and share goals for both individuals and teams. Notifications go out when there’s goal progress, a new comment and when a goal is complete. Managers can also see team progress at a glance right from a single screen. Plus, collect targeted feedback and get insights from peers.
Learn More: Read our full BambooHR review.
Who should use it: Businesses that want a performance management system with a mobile app.
Pros & Cons
- Peer feedback
- Company-wide performance reports
- App notifications upon goal update and completion
- Free trial
- Must get a quote for pricing
Best for Continuous Feedback – PerformYard – 4.5 / 5
Goal tracking
Yes
Career development tools
No
Editor’s Take
PerformYard performance management software is a solid choice for businesses that want to use continuous feedback to improve employee performance and engagement. The software makes it easy to collect and share feedback in real time, so performance issues can be addressed quickly. It also offers features such as goal management, reviews, reminders and dynamic objectives.
Who should use it: Businesses that want to use continuous feedback.
Read More: Check out our full Performyard review.
Pros & Cons
- Send feedback requests
- Track notes
- Transparent pricing
- No free trial
- Only 15 integrations
Best for Skills Management – Workday – 4.3 / 5
Goal tracking
Yes
Career development tools
Yes
Editor’s Take
Nurturing the talent you have is an important performance management strategy and Workday’s skills management tool makes it easy to do. With this tool, you can identify skill gaps, track employee progress toward goals and create development plans. You can also use the performance management and succession planning features to identify high-potential employees and create succession plans.
Learn More: Read our full Workday review.
Who should use it: Businesses that want performance management software with skills management.
Pros & Cons
- Identify skills within your own talent pool
- Job interest assessments
- Develop succession pools
- Pricing isn’t transparent
Best for Integrations – Engagedly- 4.2 / 5
Goal tracking
Yes
Career development tools
Yes
Editor’s Take
Engagedly performance management software is a good choice for businesses that want to use third-party integrations to manage employee performance and connect performance data to other business systems. These integrations include Google SSO, Okta, Personio, ADP Marketplace, Gusto, Slack, BizLibrary and Paylocity. Other features include performance reviews, goals, analytics and insights.
Who should use it: Businesses that want to use performance management software with integrations.
Learn more:
Read our full Engagedly review.
Pros & Cons
- Online learning (LMS)
- Gamification through points and badges
- Mentoring program
- No free trial
- Annual billing only
- Limited employee engagement tools included
Best for Goal Setting – Reviewsnap- 4.2 / 5
Goal tracking
Yes
Career development tools
No
Editor’s Take
Reviewsnap performance management software is a solid choice for businesses that want to use goal setting to improve employee performance. Assign values to SMART goals, add tasks to create a plan to achieve those goals, attach documentation supporting goal progress and get real-time data and analytics on goal performance. Other features include performance reviews and 360-degree feedback.
Reviewsnap is part of Trakstar, the next option on our list. According to the company’s website, branding will soon be changing to “Trakstar Perform.” At the time of publication, it’s unclear exactly what changes this will entail.
Who should use it: Businesses that want performance management software with goal setting.
Learn more:
Read our full Reviewsnap review.
Pros & Cons
- Continuous feedback
- Self-evaluations and peer feedback
- Ad hoc reports
- Pricing isn’t transparent
Best for Coaching – Mitratech Trakstar– 4.2 / 5
Goal tracking
Yes
Career development tools
Yes
Editor’s Take
Coaching is a performance management strategy that can help employees improve performance and reach their goals. Miratech Trakstar’s performance management software includes a coaching feature that first equips leaders with the skills they need to be great leaders, then the leaders can help their employees with their career plans. Other features include SMART goals, real-time reports, engagement surveys and continuous feedback.
Who should use it: Businesses that want performance management software with coaching tools.
Learn more:Read our full Miratech Trakstar review.
Pros & Cons
- Continuous feedback
- The tool adapts to workplace culture, not the other way around
- Pricing isn’t transparent
What Is Performance Management Software?
Performance management software helps managers evaluate how well an employee is performing their job. It provides a platform where managers and their employees can:
- Set goals collaboratively
- Track goal progress
- Give and receive feedback
- Communicate praise and concerns
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.
How To Choose the Best Performance Management Software
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
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
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.
Integrations
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.
Ease of Use
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.
Customer Support and Training
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 vs. Paid Performance Management Software
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.
How Much Does Performance Management Software Cost?
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:
- FlowyTeam for up to one user
- Charma for up to four users
- Profit.co for up to five users
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:
- Lattice ranges from $4-$11 per person per month
- 15Five ranges from $4-$16 per person per month
- Leapsome starts at $8 per person per month
- PerformYard ranges from $5-$10 per person per month
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
Performance management best practices include:
- Set clear goals: Employees, in collaboration with their managers, need to set SMART goals that align with team and business goals and can be easily measured and tracked.
- Use software: Software solutions help managers and their employees track goals and performance in a more structured and secure way.
- Conduct frequent check-ins: Managers and their employees should touch base at least on a bi-weekly basis between review periods to address performance problems early on.
- Incorporate 360-degree feedback: Gathering performance feedback from peers, direct reports, customers, and other stakeholders gives a manager more context to an employee’s performance by assessing it from a variety of angles rather. That way, the performance review isn’t based solely on what the manager sees. 360 feedback can also be used to steer the one-to-one performance review conversation.
Methodology
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.
Pricing
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.
Features
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.
Third-party Reviews
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.
Expert 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.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Does my company need performance management software?
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.
What are performance management software integrations?
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.
Is performance management software secure?
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.
Why is performance management important?
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.
What are some common problems with performance management systems?
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.
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Lauren Holznienkemper – Deputy Editor, SMB
Lauren (Hansen) Holznienkemper is a staff writer and deputy editor for the small business vertical at Forbes Advisor, specializing in reviewing and testing HR, payroll and recruiting solutions for small businesses. Using research and writing skills from her academic background, Lauren prioritizes accuracy and delivering the best answer to the audience. She has over 13 years of writing and editing experience, including 2.5 years producing content about HR software and HR-related topics.