Best HR software for remote teams

How we chose for remote teams

The parent roundup, best HR software, ranks all five reviewed tools. This page keeps the tools whose reviews document a way to pay or hire people outside one state or one country. BambooHR lists global employment through Remote as an add-on, Gusto lists multi-state payroll from Plus and a partner route for international hiring, and Rippling lists global payroll and employer of record coverage. It leaves out Workday, which its review describes as strongest for large, people-centric enterprises, and Paylocity, which its review places with small to mid-sized employers that want payroll and HR on one platform. The order stays by overall score, so this list differs from the parent list by dropping those two tools and moving Gusto and Rippling up.

The 3 best HR software tools for remote teams ranked

1. BambooHR: 7.1/10

BambooHR lists global employment through Remote as an add-on, and customers can host data in the US, Canada or Ireland (vendor-sourced). Published plan prices run $10, $17 and $25 per employee per month (vendor-sourced). The catch is that the add-on prices are not published, and payroll and benefits administration are US only, according to the vendor.

2. Gusto: 6.7/10

Gusto's Plus plan adds multi-state payroll, so a remote hire in a second state moves a team off Simple, which covers payroll in one state only (third-party reported). International coverage is described inconsistently: one publisher reports employer of record capability through Remote in 2024, and another reports that since May 1, 2026 Gusto refers new customers to Remote, which employs the worker and sets its own price (third-party reported). The catch is that international hiring depends on that partner.

3. Rippling: 6.3/10

Rippling documents global payroll and employer of record coverage, with employer of record listed from $499 per employee per month depending on country and scope (third-party reported). Sources disagree on the reach. One says native global payroll runs in 10 countries, another says about 80 to 85 countries are served through employer of record, and a third says 160 or more. The catch is that coverage depends on local partners in some countries, and the Unity base is required before any module is added.

How we ranked these tools

Each tool is scored out of 10 on six criteria: proof of results at 30%, output quality at 25%, ease of use at 15%, pricing and value at 15%, customer support at 10% and security and compliance at 5%. The overall score is the weighted average, rounded to one decimal, and it is the same score shown on each review. The ranking follows the overall score, not the breadth of remote coverage, and ties are ordered by tool name. Scores come from desk research and aggregated public data, and every number carries its source type.

How to choose HR software for remote teams

• Your remote hires sit in several US states: Gusto, with Plus as the starting plan for multi-state payroll.
• You want published plan prices and may add global employment later: BambooHR, with the Remote add-on priced separately.
• You hire in other countries and want employer of record coverage in the same system: Rippling, where the reported country counts vary by source.
• Your remote team is all in one US state: Gusto on Simple covers payroll in one state.

What the scores show

The highest overall score and the widest documented reach belong to different tools. BambooHR leads the ranking at 7.1/10, while Rippling documents the largest global footprint at 6.3/10 and scores lowest of the three on pricing and value at 5.5, because modules are billed on top of a required base. Gusto's route to international hiring runs through a partner, and its price is set by that partner. Before you choose, list the countries and states where your people sit, price the employer of record or add-on route for each, and compare the totals rather than the entry prices.