Best Employment Hero
alternatives Australia 2026
Looking to switch from Employment Hero? We tested the top alternatives for Australian businesses — comparing rostering, time and attendance, award interpretation, HR tools, pricing, support, and Xero integration quality.
· 12 min read
Written by
Steve Harris
Steve Harris
Workforce management specialist with 10+ years experience in Australian HR tech. Former operations manager in hospitality.
Edited by
Georgia Morgan
Georgia Morgan
Senior editor and compliance researcher. Background in employment law and Fair Work regulations.
Why do businesses leave Employment Hero?
Employment Hero is a comprehensive "all-in-one" HR platform — but based on our experience helping customers migrate, it's not the right fit for every business. While many adopt it for its broad capabilities, some find the platform difficult to navigate or too rigid for specific operational needs. For many small businesses, it can also be very costly and overkill for what they actually need.
Here are the primary reasons we see businesses switch away from Employment Hero:
System rigidity and complexity
Users report inflexible workflows for clock-in/out times and breaks. The platform struggles to accommodate unique company rules, and many find the interface non-intuitive — requiring multiple clicks for simple tasks.
Integration and ecosystem limitations
API access is now behind higher paywalls, preventing seamless integration with other tools. This forces users into Employment Hero's ecosystem, limiting customisation for contracts and specific HR processes.
Customer support frustrations
Users cite frustration with support response times, especially when resolving complex payroll or technical issues. WA businesses and those operating outside AEST hours struggle with availability.
Can be expensive
The pay-per-module system means costs grow significantly as you add features. Advanced functionality is locked behind higher tiers, increasing overall expenditure beyond initial expectations.
Performance and reliability issues
As a cloud-based platform, users have experienced occasional system downtime and glitches that disrupt payroll processing and HR operations at critical times.
Complex implementation and setup
Configuring the system to match specific company requirements can be time-consuming. Users report broken documentation, non-functional tutorials, and a steep learning curve during onboarding.
When do businesses typically switch? Migration often occurs when a company outgrows the platform's capabilities, requires deeper customisation, or needs better integrations with third-party tools.
Not sure if you should switch? Read our full Employment Hero review to understand its strengths and weaknesses in detail.
Which kind of Employment Hero alternative do you need?
"Employment Hero alternative" covers two different shortlists, and mixing them is why comparisons get confusing. Employment Hero bundles rostering, time and attendance, payroll and HR together — so the question is really which part of that bundle you are actually replacing. Answer that first and the shortlist gets short.
You roster shift workers
Hospitality, retail, healthcare, aged care, security. The deciding factors are roster building, award interpretation and whether approved hours reach payroll without retyping. This is the shortlist below.
You manage salaried staff
No rosters, no penalty rates — you want onboarding, contracts, policies and records. RosterElf sells the HR Hub on its own for $3/user/month annual ($4 monthly), against Employment Hero's $$10/employee/month HR entry tier.
You are replacing payroll
If it is the pay run itself you want to move, the decision is a payroll product decision — and the rostering layer that feeds it is a separate, later choice.
RosterElf does replace the HR side too — for less
This is worth being blunt about, because the assumption runs the other way. RosterElf's HR Hub covers digital onboarding, employment contracts, policies with acknowledgement tracking, certificates and permits with expiry alerts, leave, training, culture surveys, offboarding and employee records — with WorkWise AI answering HR questions on top. It is documented across 26 knowledge-base articles, not a roadmap promise.
The price comparison is the part most people get wrong. RosterElf Full Suite is $7/user/month on annual billing, plus GST, and includes rostering, time and attendance, award interpretation and the full HR Hub. Employment Hero's entry tier, HR Essentials, is $10/employee/month and is HR only — no rostering, no payroll. Want HR on its own? That is $3/user/month annual, a third of Employment Hero's HR-only price. On published rates you get more of the job done for less.
Where Employment Hero genuinely goes further: it runs its own payroll engine, where RosterElf feeds Xero and MYOB instead; and it sells Employer of Record global hiring, employee benefits and earned wage access, which RosterElf does not. If those are what you are buying, it is the right product.
What are the best Employment Hero alternatives for shift-based teams?
Based on our hands-on testing, here are the best alternatives depending on your business priorities:
9.2 /10
Best for rostering-first businesses
Purpose-built for Australian SMEs with native award interpretation, intuitive rostering and Xero/MYOB integration — plus a full HR Hub covering onboarding, contracts, policies and certifications. Ideal for hospitality, healthcare and retail with 5-200 staff.
Pros
- Rostering-first design with live labour budgeting
- Full HR Hub — onboarding, contracts, policies, certifications
- Australian-based support team
- Simple award interpretation setup
Cons
- Less suited for 500+ employee enterprises
- Feeds Xero or MYOB rather than running payroll itself
- No Employer of Record for global hiring
vs Employment Hero: Better for rostering and award interpretation, simpler setup, and cheaper — Full Suite includes the HR Hub for less than Employment Hero charges for HR alone.
8.3 /10
Best for large enterprises
Global workforce management platform with comprehensive features. Strong for multi-country operations and large enterprises with dedicated admin resources.
Pros
- Comprehensive feature set
- Strong multi-country support
- Large integration marketplace
- Demand forecasting tools
Cons
- Complex pricing with required add-ons
- Support response times vary
- Overkill for small businesses
vs Employment Hero: Better for scheduling at scale, similar pricing complexity. Less HR depth.
7.7 /10
Best for time tracking accuracy
Australian workforce management platform with strong time and attendance features. Excels at clock-in controls, geofencing, and compliance reporting.
Pros
- Strong time tracking with geofencing
- Comprehensive reporting tools
- Good security features
- Australian-based company
Cons
- Modular pricing hard to predict
- Sales-led onboarding (no instant trial)
- Support limited to AEST hours
vs Employment Hero: Better time tracking, similar support hours limitation. Less HR functionality.
7.2 /10
Best budget option
All-in-one employee app with rostering, communication, and training. Strong value for budget-conscious businesses with deskless teams.
Pros
- Affordable per-hub pricing
- Strong communication features
- Employee training tools
- Free plan for up to 10 users
Cons
- Limited Australian award support
- Xero export covers hourly staff only
- Support team not Australian-based
vs Employment Hero: Much cheaper, simpler to use. No Australian award interpretation.
How do the features compare with Employment Hero?
How the top alternatives compare to Employment Hero on key features:
| Feature | RosterElf | Deputy | Tanda | Connecteam | Employment Hero |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rostering | |||||
| Drag-and-drop roster builder | |||||
| Staff list view | |||||
| Live labour cost budgeting | |||||
| Auto-scheduling | |||||
| Shift swap management | |||||
| Time & attendance | |||||
| GPS clock-in | |||||
| Photo verification | |||||
| Geofencing | |||||
| Kiosk/tablet mode | |||||
| Break tracking | |||||
| Compliance & payroll | |||||
| Australian award interpretation | |||||
| Xero integration | |||||
| MYOB integration | |||||
| Built-in payroll | |||||
| STP reporting | |||||
| HR features | |||||
| Employee onboarding | |||||
| Document management | |||||
| Leave management | |||||
| Performance reviews | |||||
| Digital contracts | |||||
Drag-and-drop roster builder
Staff list view
Live labour cost budgeting
Auto-scheduling
Shift swap management
GPS clock-in
Photo verification
Geofencing
Kiosk/tablet mode
Break tracking
Australian award interpretation
Xero integration
MYOB integration
Built-in payroll
STP reporting
Employee onboarding
Document management
Leave management
Performance reviews
Digital contracts
Feature availability based on our testing in January 2026. Check with providers for current features.
What do Xero App Store reviewers say?
We analysed every Xero App Store review for each platform, examining common positive and negative feedback patterns. We chose to weight Xero ratings heavily for two reasons:
- Verified reviews — Xero requires users to log in with their Xero account, ensuring reviews come from actual customers, not fake accounts
- Critical integration — Xero is the accounting backbone for most Australian SMEs, making the quality of this integration a key success factor
93 reviews
93 reviews
View on Xero →
147 reviews
147 reviews
View on Xero →
51 reviews
51 reviews
View on Xero →
50 reviews
50 reviews
View on Xero →
17 reviews
17 reviews
View on Xero →
Ratings as of January 2026. Click to view current ratings on Xero App Store.
What Xero reviewers say
RosterElf
Reviewers consistently praise the seamless Xero integration, with timesheets flowing directly into payroll without manual data entry. Customer support receives frequent mentions, with users highlighting responsive, Australia-based help. Some users note occasional GPS clock-in issues and a learning curve during initial setup, though most describe the transition from spreadsheets as worthwhile. The 94% five-star rating reflects strong satisfaction among hospitality and retail businesses.
Deputy
Deputy's Xero integration receives mixed feedback. Positive reviews highlight time savings on payroll processing and appreciate the feature set for larger teams. However, a notable number of reviewers report integration difficulties, with some stating it "never worked" and criticising offshore support responsiveness. Users with complex award requirements note setup can be involved. The polarised ratings (many 5-star and 1-star reviews) suggest experiences vary significantly based on business complexity and support needs.
Tanda
Tanda's Xero integration is generally well-regarded, with reviewers praising the automatic timesheet sync and award interpretation accuracy. The platform's Australian focus resonates with local businesses, though some users note the modular pricing structure can be confusing when estimating total costs. Support receives mixed feedback — responsive when available, but limited to AEST business hours which can frustrate businesses operating outside standard hours. Time tracking features receive consistent praise, particularly the geofencing and kiosk mode.
Connecteam
Connecteam earns praise for its generous free tier (up to 10 users) and user-friendly mobile app. Reviewers appreciate the all-in-one approach combining rostering, communication, and time tracking. The main limitation flagged is the lack of native Australian award interpretation — users must manually configure pay rules, and some report hours not always syncing correctly to Xero. As a US-based platform, some defaults and terminology follow US conventions, though support is documented as 24/7 and geofence distances are given in metres.
Employment Hero
Reviews are notably polarised, with the lowest Xero rating among the five platforms. Positive reviewers praise the comprehensive HR and payroll suite when it works, with one noting the Xero integration is "seamless once set up." However, critical reviews cite complex setup processes, difficulty reaching support, and leave calculation errors. Several reviewers with extensive payroll experience describe it as unnecessarily complicated. The rostering module receives less focus than the core HR/payroll features.
Need a deeper Xero comparison? See our Xero payroll sync guide for detailed testing of how accurately each app sends timesheet data to Xero, including award calculations and manual correction time.
Which alternative is best for your use case?
Rostering-focused businesses
Hospitality, retail, healthcare — where scheduling is the daily priority.
Best choice: RosterElf
Large enterprises (200+ staff)
Multi-site operations with dedicated admin and complex workflows.
Best choice: Deputy
Time tracking priority
Businesses where accurate attendance and compliance reporting is critical.
Best choice: Tanda
Budget-conscious teams
Small businesses needing basic scheduling without compliance complexity.
Best choice: Connecteam
What do the alternatives cost compared with Employment Hero?
| Platform | Published starting price | 20 users/month | What that price covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| RosterElf | $6/user/month | ~$120/month | Rostering, time & attendance and award interpretation. Full Suite at $7 adds the whole HR Hub. Plus GST. |
| Deputy | $6.75/user/month (Lite) | ~$175/month (Core) | Scheduling only. Payroll, HR, messaging and analytics are separate add-ons. Excludes GST. |
| Tanda | $12.80/user/month | ~$256/month | Bundle covering HR, payroll and workforce management, plus GST. Modules are quote-on-request. |
| Connecteam | US$29/month per hub | US$29/month (one hub) | Per hub, not per user — first 30 users included, but each hub is charged again. Priced in USD. |
| Employment Hero | $10/employee/month (HR Essentials) | ~$200/month | HR only. Payroll is included solely in Employment Unlimited, which is custom-priced, so no published per-seat figure covers payroll. |
Every figure above is read from our pricing data, checked against each vendor's own published pricing page on 2026-08-25. The 20-user column multiplies the published per-user rate and is a like-for-like comparison only where the plans cover the same thing — they mostly do not, which is the point of the last column. Connecteam is per hub rather than per user, so its figure does not scale with headcount. Employment Hero also publishes HR Engage at $14/employee/month; its payroll-inclusive tier is not published at all.
How do you switch from Employment Hero?
Export your data
Download employee information from Employment Hero via CSV export. Include names, contact details, positions, and pay rates.
Set up your new platform
Import staff data, configure award rates, and connect your Xero or MYOB integration. Most platforms offer free onboarding support.
Run parallel for one pay period
Complete your current pay period in Employment Hero, then start fresh with the new platform. Compare outputs to ensure accuracy.
Keep Employment Hero for records
Maintain access to your Employment Hero account for historical HR records, documents, and compliance data.
Need help switching? RosterElf offers free onboarding support including data migration assistance, award configuration, and staff training. Book a demo to discuss your migration.
Ready to switch from Employment Hero?
Start a free 15-day trial of RosterElf. No credit card required. Our team will help you migrate your data and get set up.
Our review methodology
Learn how we evaluate workforce management platforms through hands-on testing and verified user feedback.
Feature comparisons are checked against each vendor's public documentation at the time of writing. Assessments of usability, fit and value are our reviewers' opinions, not statements of fact, and products change often. We'd encourage you to trial both platforms and judge for yourself. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll correct it .
Employment Hero alternatives FAQ
- It depends on whether you use the bundle. Employment Hero is an all-in-one HR, payroll and rostering platform, and its value case rests on replacing several tools at once. If you genuinely use the HR, payroll and hiring modules together, that consolidation is the point. If you bought it mainly to build rosters and the rest of the suite goes unused, you are paying for a platform to do one job that a dedicated rostering product does more directly — which is the most common reason the businesses we speak to start looking.
- Among the platforms on this page, RosterElf and Tanda are both Australian-built and support staff from Australia. That matters more than it sounds for award interpretation: modern awards, penalty rates and allowances are Australian instruments, and a platform built elsewhere generally treats them as a configuration problem rather than a first-class feature. Connecteam is US-built and does not interpret Australian awards. Deputy is Australian in origin but now operates globally.
- Employment Hero is positioned at small and mid-sized businesses, and enterprises tend to weigh it against dedicated HR information systems. If you are running several hundred salaried staff with no rosters, compare it against those platforms — our HR software and HRIS comparison covers that shortlist. If a large part of your workforce is rostered, the calculation changes: award interpretation and getting approved hours into payroll usually costs more time and money than the HR module does, which is what this page compares.
- There is no single answer, because "HR software" covers everything from an employee-records system to a full HCM suite. For shift-based businesses the deciding factor is usually whether the platform interprets your modern award and passes approved hours to payroll; for salaried teams it is onboarding, contracts and reporting. We compare the main Australian options, including where each one stops, in our HR software and HRIS buying guide.
- Often yes, and it is a common way to de-risk a move. Rostering and payroll are separable: you can replace the rostering and time-and-attendance layer while payroll stays where it is, provided the new platform can export approved timesheets in a format your payroll accepts. Confirm the specific export path before you commit, because that hand-off is where switching costs actually appear.
- The best alternative depends on your priorities. For rostering-focused businesses, RosterElf offers simpler scheduling with better labour budgeting tools. For large enterprises, Deputy provides comprehensive workforce management. For budget-conscious teams, Connecteam offers affordable flat-rate pricing. For businesses focused on time tracking and compliance, Tanda provides strong award interpretation.
- Common reasons include: rostering features that feel basic compared to dedicated platforms, complex pricing with module add-ons, support only available during AEST hours (problematic for WA businesses), and challenging payroll setup with outdated documentation. Businesses focused primarily on rostering often find dedicated scheduling platforms more intuitive and cost-effective.
- On published rates, yes — but the tiers do not cover the same thing, so compare what you get rather than the headline. RosterElf is $6/user/month on annual billing with every feature included, which is about $120/month for 20 people. Employment Hero publishes HR Essentials at $10/employee/month and HR Engage at $14/employee/month, so 20 people is about $200/month at the entry tier — but that tier is HR only. Payroll sits in Employment Unlimited, which is custom-priced and not published, so no listed per-seat figure covers a full rostering-to-payroll workflow.
- Yes. You can export employee information from Employment Hero including names, contact details, and positions. Most alternatives accept CSV imports for staff data. Historical HR records and documents stay in Employment Hero for compliance. Plan to run both systems in parallel for a pay period to ensure continuity.
- Yes, and more than people expect. The RosterElf HR Hub covers digital onboarding, employment contracts, policy management with acknowledgement tracking, certificates and permits with expiry alerts, employee records and reporting, leave, training, culture surveys and offboarding, with the WorkWise AI assistant answering HR questions on top. All of it is documented in our HR Hub knowledge base. Full Suite bundles that with rostering, time and attendance and award interpretation for $7/user/month annual — less than Employment Hero's $10/employee/month HR-only entry tier. Employment Hero goes further on global hiring through Employer of Record, employee benefits and earned wage access, and it runs its own payroll engine where RosterElf feeds Xero or MYOB.