HiBob and Employment Hero are both HR platforms sold into Australia, but they sit at opposite ends of the market, so the question is which end you are at. Employment Hero averages roughly 6 to 7 users per business, which makes it a small-business platform. HiBob averages around 246 people per company and runs no Australian payroll.

Key takeaways

• Employment Hero reports 350,000 or more businesses and 2 to 2.5 million users, which works out at roughly 6 to 7 users each. It describes itself as serving “small and medium-sized businesses”, but that ratio describes a small-business customer base.
• HiBob reports 5,000 or more companies and 1,230,200 people using its platform, which works out at roughly 246 people per company.
• HiBob’s native payroll covers the United States and the United Kingdom only. In Australia, you connect an external provider yourself.
• The real decision is not feature count. It is whether payroll sits inside your HR system or beside it.
• Neither vendor publishes Australian per-employee pricing, so any cost comparison needs a written quote from both.

How should you compare HiBob and Employment Hero?

HiBob and Employment Hero both cover core HR competently, storing records, running approvals, and reporting on people, so a feature-by-feature comparison will not get you far. What separates them is who each one was built for and what each does about Australian payroll, and those two things turn out to be connected.

Customer size is the more useful signal, because the Australian market runs from sole traders to enterprises and a feature list looks much the same across all of them. Australia had 996,203 employing businesses at 30 June 2026, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The payroll question is structural rather than a feature comparison, because payroll carries its own obligations: pay rules, Single Touch Payroll lodgement with the Australian Taxation Office, super, and termination pay. So a platform that bundles payroll is making a different promise from one that reads and writes to the payroll you already run. Our guide to HRIS versus payroll software draws that line in full.

Keeping your existing payroll is the case neither vendor is built for. HiBob shares the payroll model but was not built around Australian conditions. Employment Hero is Australian but built around a much smaller customer. So four things decide it: who each vendor demonstrably serves, how Australian payroll works, and how deep the HR lifecycle runs. The fourth is what each one publishes, because a figure saved for a sales call cannot be checked.

HiBob vs Employment Hero compared for Australian buyers in 2026

1. Worknice

Best for: Australian organisations of 200 to 5,000 people that want HR depth, local compliance, and their own payroll left alone.

Typical customer size / segment: Australian mid-to-large organisations. That is a stated target rather than a published average, so weigh it differently from the two figures below.

Payroll approach: Integrates with existing payroll rather than running it. Direct integrations cover Xero, MYOB AccountRight, Micropay and KeyPay, which is Employment Hero Pay. Other systems connect through Zapier or the public API, which are different propositions worth separating when you ask.

Key strengths:

• It runs onboarding workflows, stores compliance documents, tracks certificate expiry, and keeps an org chart current for Australian conditions.
• Leave runs two ways with your payroll system. Staff request against the balances payroll already holds, an admin sends approved leave across in a batch, and changes made in payroll flow back.
• KeyPay is a direct integration, so Employment Hero’s payroll engine can sit underneath Worknice rather than competing with it.

Watch-outs: Worknice runs no payroll, no benefits administration, and no IT tooling. So if you want one vendor and one invoice, look at Employment Hero instead. It operates in Australia only. That rules it out if you employ across borders. Worknice publishes no price either.

Pricing: Not published. Contact Worknice for a quote.

2. HiBob

Best for: Mid-market and enterprise organisations that want strong people analytics and workforce planning, and run payroll in a separate system.

Typical customer size / segment: HiBob reports “5,000+ companies and 1,230,200 people using Bob” on its homepage, checked 21 September 2026. That implies an average of roughly 246 people per company, which is our calculation rather than a HiBob figure. Their own customer stories are segmented as Mid-Market and Enterprise.

Payroll approach: HRIS-only in Australia, so bring your own payroll. HiBob’s payroll page states you can choose “native payroll in the US or UK, integrated providers, or a hybrid approach”. Australian customers therefore connect an external provider through Payroll Hub. It names ADP WFN, Paylocity, Trinet and Xero among its connectors, plus a no-code wizard called Payroll Connect.

Key strengths:

• It holds the core HR record, runs workflows and approvals, signs documents, tracks time and attendance, and reports analytics in real time.
• Talent runs deep. HiBob reviews and calibrates performance, surveys the company, delivers learning programs, and analyses talent.
• Compensation and planning cover pay bands, compensation cycle workflows, and headcount planning with 150 or more metrics. HiBob acquired FP&A platform Mosaic in 2025 to build that out.

Watch-outs: There is no native Australian payroll. So local pay runs through an integration that you scope, build, and maintain yourself. HiBob also does not state which Xero payroll regions its connector supports, nor how deep that sync goes. Ask before assuming it matches an Australian-built integration. HiBob publishes no Australian pricing.

Pricing: Not published for Australia. Contact HiBob for a quote.

3. Employment Hero

Best for: Small businesses that want one vendor to recruit, onboard, pay, and look after staff.

Typical customer size / segment: Employment Hero reports 350,000 or more businesses worldwide. Its user figure changes depending which page you read. The about page says “2.5 million + Active users”, while its Capterra Australia listing says “2M users globally”. Both were checked on 21 September 2026, and they imply roughly 6 to 7 users per business. Active users are a subset of employees, so treat that ratio as a ceiling.

Payroll approach: All-in-one with bundled payroll, including native Australian payroll.

Key strengths:

• One platform recruits, onboards, pays, and rewards staff, so there is no payroll integration to maintain.
• The company passed A$300 million in annual recurring revenue in October 2025. It was also EBITDA positive year to date.
• An employee superapp carries payslips, leave balances, and wellness perks, which is unusual in this category.

Watch-outs: The implied average customer is very small, at 6 to 7 users per business. The company calls itself “a leading employment platform for small and medium-sized businesses”, but an organisation of several hundred people sits well outside the segment it was actually built around. On Capterra Australia it scores 4.4 from 239 reviews, with Customer Service its lowest subscore at 4.1. Employment Hero also positions against the HRIS category, calling its product “a system of action, rather than just a system of record”. That is a difference in philosophy rather than a flaw.

Pricing: No Australian dollar pricing appears on its own site. Its Capterra Australia listing shows USD 10.00 per month, usage based, checked 21 September 2026. Ask for a written quote.

Which should you choose, HiBob or Employment Hero?

The answer follows from where you sit on the size curve, not from a feature list. Choose Employment Hero if you are a small business and want payroll bundled with everything else. Choose HiBob if you are a mid-market or enterprise organisation that plans headcount, models compensation, and already has payroll sorted. Suppose instead you employ a few hundred Australians and want neither a payroll change nor an overseas system of record: a local HRIS that integrates fits better than either.

The bundled versus integrated question matters more than it first appears. Bundling removes an integration to scope, build, and maintain, which is a real saving. However, it also means your HR system and your payroll system change together, on the vendor’s timetable. Our buyer’s guide for mid-sized Australian companies works through that trade-off in more detail.

Frequently asked questions

Does HiBob include payroll in Australia?

No, not natively. HiBob’s payroll page states that native payroll covers the United States or the United Kingdom only. Elsewhere you use integrated providers or a hybrid approach, so Australian customers connect an external provider through Payroll Hub. Checked 21 September 2026.

What size company is Employment Hero best for?

Employment Hero describes itself as “a leading employment platform for small and medium-sized businesses”. It reports 350,000 or more businesses, and between 2 and 2.5 million users depending on the source. That works out at roughly 6 to 7 users each, so on its own numbers it is a small-business platform rather than a mid-market one.

Is HiBob bigger than Employment Hero?

Not by customer count. Employment Hero reports 350,000 or more businesses, while HiBob reports 5,000 or more companies. However, HiBob’s average customer is far larger, at roughly 246 people against Employment Hero’s 6 to 7 users. They serve different ends of the same market.

How much do HiBob and Employment Hero cost in Australia?

Neither publishes Australian per-employee pricing on its own site, and HiBob publishes nothing at all for Australia. Employment Hero’s Capterra Australia listing shows USD 10.00 per month, usage based, checked 21 September 2026. Both quote for larger teams, so get written quotes before you compare.

Can I use Employment Hero for payroll and a different system for HR?

Yes, and several Australian HR platforms do exactly that. Employment Hero Pay, formerly KeyPay, is sold as a payroll engine in its own right. Worknice integrates with it directly, so you can keep Employment Hero’s award interpretation and payroll while running a separate HRIS above it.

About the author

Graham Martin is Co-founder of Worknice, an Australian HRIS built for mid-to-large organisations. He has spent more than a decade working with Australian People and Culture teams on HR systems, compliance and payroll integration.

Related reading

• Best HRIS platforms for mid to large Australian organisations: the wider shortlist if you are comparing more than two vendors.
• HRIS vs payroll software in Australia: where the category boundary sits, and why it decides your shortlist.
• Managing HR across multiple entities: what changes when you run several ABNs or payroll files.
• Payroll integration: which payroll systems connect directly, and what each connection actually does.

Sources

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics. “Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, July 2022 to June 2026.” Released 18 August 2026. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/business-indicators/counts-australian-businesses-including-entries-and-exits/latest-release
2. Australian Taxation Office. “Single Touch Payroll.” Retrieved 21 September 2026. https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/hiring-and-paying-your-workers/single-touch-payroll
3. HiBob. “All-in-one HR software for people, payroll and finance.” Retrieved 21 September 2026. https://www.hibob.com/
4. HiBob. “Payroll designed for people, not just payments.” Retrieved 21 September 2026. https://www.hibob.com/platform/payroll/
5. HiBob. “Payroll Hub.” Retrieved 21 September 2026. https://www.hibob.com/platform/payroll/hub/
6. Employment Hero. “Employment Hero Surpasses A$300M ARR.” 8 October 2025. https://employmenthero.com/blog/employment-hero-surpasses-300m-arr/
7. Employment Hero. “About us.” Retrieved 21 September 2026. https://employmenthero.com/about-us/
8. Capterra Australia. “Employment Hero Cost and Reviews.” Retrieved 21 September 2026. https://www.capterra.com.au/software/144645/employment-hero