AkkenCloud vs. BambooHR®

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
AkkenCloud
Score 6.9 out of 10
N/A
AkkenCloud is a cloud-based ATS developed by Akken Inc in New Hampshire. This product offers the full suite of features typical of applicant tracking systems: A user-friendly interface and mobile device integration Batch or mass communication with potential candidates via multiple channels such as email or by leveraging its integration with social networking sites (e.g. LinkedIn) Instantaneous posting to multiple job boards Job alerts and category sorted…N/A
BambooHR®
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
BambooHR is an cloud-based human resources solution that provides onboarding, payroll, and benefits management. It also offers automated time-off management and employee self-service.
$250
per month
Pricing
AkkenCloudBambooHR®
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Core
$250
per month
Pro
Contact Sales
per month
Elite
Contact Sales
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AkkenCloudBambooHR®
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AkkenCloudBambooHR®
Considered Both Products
AkkenCloud
Chose AkkenCloud
At the time we purchased Akken, it was the least expensive on the market that met our needs. It was fairly intuitive, which is important, and we liked the idea that it was hosted remotely because we had had several instances with our inhouse system going down and nearly lost …
Chose AkkenCloud
This tool was the first of its kind that we implemented in our company. This tool has a vast variety of great features that have made my life so easy. The system has an inbuilt smart referral tracking
Chose AkkenCloud
I've used Sendouts, Bullhorn, Primepoint, and ADP's Workforce Now. If I had been here, I would have never selected Akken. It is truly the worst ATS I've ever seen and I can't believe they are in business. It blows my mind because they are really a horrible, horrible ATS.
Chose AkkenCloud
AkkenCloud was the first software I used in my career as a recruiter. Since using Akken, I have used TempWorks, Avionte, and JobScience/SalesForce. I do like Akken.
Chose AkkenCloud
I haven't used any similar Cloud products.
Chose AkkenCloud
I've used a few different CRM's in my career through different industries. AkkenCloud is as user friendly as any other one I have used.
Chose AkkenCloud
We preferred the ability to go with Mac computers. That was the number one selling point for us. Besides that we liked the ease of the product. The email interface looked exactly like Outlook. The calendar the same. The price was also a big selling point. It came in slightly …
BambooHR®
Chose BambooHR®
None. We used our own self made folders and spreadsheets prior to Bamboo.
Chose BambooHR®
scalability is an issue with BambooHR (missing lot of competent), integration with other tools (EDI feed, compliance etc)
Chose BambooHR®
BambooHR® is not in the same category as others that I have used. BambooHR is truly comprehensive and if you pay for all the extras, you wouldn't need anything else. The parts we use are great for us and the fact that we can add custom fields means that our unique needs are …
Chose BambooHR®
Lattice is much more oriented towards performance management. It includes many more advanced performance management features from building actual assessments to also performance development planning. BambooHR® for us was a place to centralize our data and build from within as …
Chose BambooHR®
In my experience, I prefer overall reporting and functionality of Rippling, Gusto, and Ease.
It is on par with Employee Navigator and Paycom (due to more user friendly design)
Prefer to Worklio, Paylocity, and ADP Workforce.
Chose BambooHR®
I used to use workday at a past company and BambooHR® is less extensive but very easy to use. Again, the features and functionality on the former were more fleshed out and readily available but the functions that I use most often are more easily accessible via BambooHR®.
Chose BambooHR®
Not as well as any of them. I am not a QBO Payroll fan either but they are better than BambooHR®.
Chose BambooHR®
We have tried other system, but they were less user friendly and they were doing so much other stuff that they were not fulfilling correctly our needs. BambooHR® is a really nice tool to use, user friendly, and just the functions we need from an HR tool. It's great for the …
Chose BambooHR®
Used them before and wanted to try something new, overall it was a much easier product to use and get a handle on.
Chose BambooHR®
Bamboo HR is so so much more user-friendly and easier to navigate on both the admin and employee side of things. This significantly helps reduce headaches and frustration when something needs correction. There is always something that will need to be fixed, so having a platform …
Chose BambooHR®
BambooHR is the best, but unfortunately, it doesn't currently have an adequate payroll module for our needs.
Chose BambooHR®
We switch our clients from the other HRIS platforms to BambooHR, because they do everything better and have amazing customer support.
Chose BambooHR®
Less expensive than ADP and much more up to date and efficient than Heartland
Chose BambooHR®
At my previous employer, I evaluated over 20 HRIS platforms before choosing and implementing BambooHR® (in 2019). I love it! The continuous improvements are promising and I actually feel like product feedback is reviewed and, at times, implemented.

With BambooHR®, it truly …
Chose BambooHR®
BambooHR® was able to provide excellent value for money when compared to the other options we looked at when we carried out a review of them. A previous member of the team had also used BambooHR® at another company and rated them highly which influenced our decision greatly. …
Chose BambooHR®
Different companies and each proved to be beneficial for the particular company that had it implemented.
Chose BambooHR®
The platform for both employees and employer were way easier to use and navigate. Additionally, VensureHR generated many errors which we did not see with BambooHR.
Chose BambooHR®
We moved to BambooHR time tracking from Clicktime once BambooHR's functionality improved and we prefer to have all functions on the same platform.
Features
AkkenCloudBambooHR®
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
AkkenCloud
7.7
Ratings
4% below category average
BambooHR®
7.8
Ratings
1% above category average
Job Requisition Management6.10 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Company Website Posting8.60 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Publish to Social Media8.60 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting8.70 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Resume Management9.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention9.20 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Candidate Search4.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Applicant Tracking7.50 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Collaboration4.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Task Creation and Delegation8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Email Templates8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
User Permissions9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts7.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Reporting8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
AkkenCloud
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
7.6
Ratings
3% below category average
Employee demographic data00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Employment history00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Job profiles and administration00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.00 Ratings7.50 Ratings
Organizational charting00 Ratings6.60 Ratings
Organization and location management00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)00 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
AkkenCloud
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
6.6
Ratings
19% below category average
Pay calculation00 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors00 Ratings5.90 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings6.10 Ratings
Benefit plan administration00 Ratings5.80 Ratings
Direct deposit files00 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Reimbursement management00 Ratings6.20 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
AkkenCloud
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
8.7
Ratings
8% above category average
Approval workflow00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Balance details00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
AkkenCloud
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
8.0
Ratings
1% below category average
View and generate pay and benefit information00 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Update personal information00 Ratings8.80 Ratings
View company policy documentation00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Employee recognition00 Ratings7.20 Ratings
View job history00 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
AkkenCloud
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
9.1
Ratings
12% above category average
Tracking of all physical assets00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
AkkenCloud
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
6.8
Ratings
10% below category average
Report builder00 Ratings6.60 Ratings
Pre-built reports00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data00 Ratings6.80 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
AkkenCloud
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
7.7
Ratings
3% below category average
New hire portal00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Manager tracking tools00 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
AkkenCloud
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
7.5
Ratings
5% below category average
Corporate goal setting00 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Individual goal setting00 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Performance tracking00 Ratings6.80 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
AkkenCloud
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
7.5
Ratings
4% below category average
Performance plans00 Ratings6.90 Ratings
Performance improvement plans00 Ratings6.80 Ratings
Review status tracking00 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Review reminders00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Multiple review frequency00 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
AkkenCloud
-
Ratings
BambooHR®
9.1
Ratings
15% above category average
Create succession plans/pools00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Candidate ranking00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Candidate search00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Candidate development00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AkkenCloudBambooHR®
Small Businesses
Breezy HR
Breezy HR
Score 9.1 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Breezy HR
Breezy HR
Score 9.1 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.9 out of 10
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AkkenCloudBambooHR®
Likelihood to Recommend
6.0
(0 ratings)
8.3
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.6
(0 ratings)
9.8
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(0 ratings)
8.3
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.3
(0 ratings)
Performance
6.0
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
2.0
(0 ratings)
8.8
(0 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.2
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
6.0
(0 ratings)
8.6
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.6
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.9
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.9
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AkkenCloudBambooHR®
Likelihood to Recommend
Akkencloud has worked extremely well as an ATS software for our recruiting firm. We deal with a huge volume of clients and candidates and it is difficult to track and manage the different orders and people we have in play. The statuses and on stop shop for requisition details have made things tremendously easy to give real time updates to our managers and client partners.
Read full review
I think if you're a small organization and you're trying to get out of paper, this is a really good first step to doing that. I've heard from other people that are in larger organizations where they have thousands of employees that there may be better platforms, but for smaller organization it's awesome.
Read full review
Pros
  • Notes about candidates are the most helpful because as a recruiter, we talk to so many people a day that it is common to forget the details of some conversations.
  • Being able to notify other people in the organization about notes that are put in is very beneficial if the note needs to be in the system and someone should know about it!
  • Being able to open "candidates" or "job orders" or something else in a new tab is great because then we can have the inbox open while also the candidate notes open, for example.
Read full review
  • BambooHR® allows you to preview as a user in a specific access level. This is VERY helpful for providing instructions to employees or double checking that information is secure.
  • BambooHR® customer support is unmatched. Any time I have a question, I can quickly get an answer as well as additional resources.
  • Employees are able to easily find their information without coming to HR for questions. This cuts down on the questions coming into HR departments, big and small.
Read full review
Cons
  • When a candidate applies via applicant tracking, there is a glitch that you have to submit that candidate a different way than other candidates by using the applied function, then submitting from there. That is a glitch that should be fixed. You should be able to submit the same way and allow the system to track that he was a candidate from applicant tracking.
  • The new alerts from notes works well. The only change I would make is it is rather slow to attach a note now since the new messages have been added to notes.
  • Email should be a bit quicker. Rather than going to the server every 5 minutes, it should pull much quicker. That ability is rather easy to fix. Especially since we receive emails on our phone much quicker than we receive from Akken.
Read full review
  • Notices for approving hours don't always coincide with pay periods well.
  • Payroll reports are by pay period without the ability to combine hours, etc. into a monthly report.
  • There is not an easy way to fix payroll errors. Must get it right the first time.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
There is no reason for us to make a switch. Everybody in the office is familiar with it and it allows us to get our work done faster. There are no pressing issues that would warrant a change at this point
Read full review
There's nothing wrong with this platform. I would recommend it to any business starting with more than 10 employees. I will continue to use the program for as long as I need to, hoping they continue being tremendous and finding other ways to incorporate more technology.
Read full review
Usability
Akken is quite easy to use however there are a few more complex functions or multi steps to go through to run reports and find historic information.
Read full review
BambooHR® is helpful, but I still handle some tasks manually due to missing features relevant to my needs. Certain processes require additional functionality, limiting full automation. While it streamlines HR operations, gaps in usability mean I must supplement workflows with manual efforts to ensure efficiency and meet specific business demands.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
Yes, there is a huge team in the back of the online platform or it looks like it because I have never been left without an answer when I have a question or waiting from a response on my chat .... There must be a huge team, this is so great and I always seem to have someone that is very knowledgeable too. So many times in the past I had to leave with customer service that would connect you with someone else because of the expertise, here everyone seems to be some kind of an expert in the HR function.
Read full review
Performance
It's an average tool. The calendar function isn't great, email is slow, and there always seem to be day-to-day issues. The functionality is mostly there for a staffing firm, but there are plenty of areas of improvement still needed
Read full review
I love BambooHR. Reports are easy to run and download and it usually covers any types of requests I get from the management team. You get excel or .csv downloads/reports and it is fast and simple, not too crowded so it is easy to read through. We don't integrate the tool yet but again, soon we will. we just did not had the time to utilize it yet but that's the plan.
Read full review
Support Rating
The best support we have received has been from sales. Customer success is pretty much a joke. We have been yelled at by customer success reps; been told to take a screenshot of something we are not seeing; been told there are no issues on there in when Akken hadn't been working for hours, only to have it magically fixed shortly after we reported the problem; and been told engineering was working on a problem for weeks without resolution. If you are going to be working with IT Staffing companies, you have to understand that we have a modicum of knowledge in IT, and you can't BS us. Honesty will get you a lot farther than stringing us along with BS.
Read full review
The support can be slow as they are a US based company and therefore we often have to wait for them to be online before we can speak to somebody and they are not particularly responsive to emails. The service itself has always been helpful and in most cases, the issue was resolved.
Read full review
In-Person Training
No answers on this topic
I didn't have in-person training besides teaching my managers how to use the program. However, I couldn't omit this question (maybe a system glitch).
Read full review
Online Training
No answers on this topic
As far as I can recall, everything went well with doing it online and got questions answered. Was thankful to work with a dummy file to get used to some practices prior to getting our own domain within bamboo to then place our personnel information in the system, this helped a lot!
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Encourage your team to watch the training videos available.
Read full review
We implemented bambooHR in Fall, 2023 then implemented Payroll 1/1/24. A vital piece of information was not known or missed in that we are exempt from State Unemployment Tax and have a Reimbursement Set-up, so bambooHR did not send Payroll Reports to the State. Those reports need to be sent regardless if we are exempt or not.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
At the time we purchased Akken, it was the least expensive on the market that met our needs. It was fairly intuitive, which is important, and we liked the idea that it was hosted remotely because we had had several instances with our inhouse system going down and nearly lost all of our CRM/ATS databases at one time.
Read full review
I needed a system that was easy to use from an admin level as well as employee level. We run a pretty simple operation as we do not have shift diffs or multiple approval levels. Some of the systems reviewed were too much for us and, as a result, too expensive. BambooHR® fit our needs and budget accordingly.
Read full review
Scalability
No answers on this topic
There is so much you can do with this platform, it is incredible and so welcoming. We don't utilize it 100% yet just because we are growing and the HR team has not been able to concentrate on other areas offered to us but but we will soon. Which is also why we got the product, specifically because what BambooHR can do to help us meet our growing business needs.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • The company has pumped enough money into trying to make Akken good that they aren't interested in changing again.
  • Seriously a terrible ATS which slows people down due to the useless functions.
  • More time lost from people needing to fix issues that arise due to the system requirements.
Read full review
  • HR team members have been saved thousands of hours over the 3.5 years we've had BambooHR®. It saved me personally several hours a day once BambooHR® was set up. Specifically, onboarding, offboarding, and a formal Hiring system are the major time savers.
  • Employee Information is much easier to access and is all centralized. Employees are empowered to update their information when applicable, and we have designed custom access levels for different positions and managers to ensure every individual is seeing the appropriate types of information about employees.
  • We saved significant money by switching from Lattice to BambooHR®'s Performance Management solution. This solution is less advanced, but the simplicity meets our needs perfectly fine, and it even saves time for managers and employees by BambooHR®'s standard questions, carefully designed to get to the heart of performance and improvement.
Read full review
ScreenShots

BambooHR® Screenshots

Screenshot of Job Info TabScreenshot of Onboarding TasksScreenshot of New Hire PacketScreenshot of Employee Performance ReportScreenshot of Employee Satisfaction (eNPS®)Screenshot of Open Enrollment