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BambooHR vs IBM Kenexa comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

BambooHR
Ranking in Benefits Administration
8th
Ranking in Talent Management
13th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
33
Ranking in other categories
Cloud HCM (9th)
IBM Kenexa
Ranking in Benefits Administration
13th
Ranking in Talent Management
15th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Applicant Tracking and Recruiting Software (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Talent Management category, the mindshare of BambooHR is 2.3%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Kenexa is 1.6%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Talent Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
BambooHR2.3%
IBM Kenexa1.6%
Other96.1%
Talent Management
 

Featured Reviews

Ram-Mohan - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at Align Technology
Pre-built adapters simplify CI/CD processes but monitoring improvements are needed
If Bamboo can provide a dashboard with tool health, such as whether the master or instance has the required space, it would be beneficial. Sometimes, when I trigger a build, it ends with no space on the agent machine where the agents are installed. If Bamboo can create an internal monitoring mechanism and display the tool's health status on the landing page or homepage, it would help end users and DevOps Engineers like me.
Karan Grover - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Suitable for larger-scale companies aiming to streamline and automate their processes digitally
The deployment of the solution took between six to eight months. When we introduced BrassRing at my company, we encountered several challenges. First, moving data from our old system to BrassRing was tough because it needed reformatting. Second, connecting BrassRing with our HR data was tricky due to manual processes for roles and departments. Third, setting up the workflow in BrassRing was complex. Fourth, configuring user access and approval levels was a detailed task. We also had to manage the change process, including running both old and new systems in parallel, communicating changes, and training users. Lastly, monitoring and reporting were needed to ensure data accuracy and proper system usage once everything was in place. We had a team of six to eight people managing the project from our side during the BrassRing deployment. I'm not sure about the size of the BrassRing team, and we also had our own technical team, which had three to four members. The solution required maintenance, particularly from my side as the administrator. Maintenance responsibilities were divided into two parts: some tasks we, as end-users, could control, while others were the responsibility of the BrassRing team. Payment-related tasks were a regular part of our responsibilities. I wasn't the only person maintaining the solution. There were three power users from Infosys, each responsible for a specific geography. My counterpart managed it in the US, and I, along with my colleague in India, managed it for other geographies.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The product is user-friendly."
"We use this solution for our end to end HR needs from onboarding and hiring to learning."
"The scalability of BambooHR is good."
"Honestly, all of the features are valuable to me."
"The HR metrics that this solution provides has been most useful. We also really like the fact that employees have the ability to be self sufficient and manage their own information."
"I like that it keeps everything easily accessible, from signed documents to outlines of our benefits plans, etc. It is really a one-stop shop."
"I would advise others to implement it as it is a very helpful people management tool."
"I can easily go to BambooHR to search for any staff member in the company."
"The most valuable features are that we can upload documents and download them on demand, whether it is joining documents, employment screening, or your employment history, and it's easy enough to upload, find, and retrieve whatever you are looking for."
"I think one of the biggest benefits that Kenexa brings is the scalability."
"I like how we can copy a req as we have many duplicates, which saved a lot of time when opening reqs."
"For us in particular, I love how configurable the system is; I can use the same technology for different parts of my business."
"IBM Kenexa is fairly stable, and we don't have any downtime."
"Overall, from a recruiter's perspective, it is an excellent product and is probably one of the best recruitment products out there in terms of usability, ease of understanding, and management of large applicant pools."
"Scalability is great, as we use the system for everything from a very low-volume, high-touch corporate recruiting model to our tax office, high-volume approach, which is 80-100,000 people each season."
"BrassRing, the applicant tracking system, has brought a high level of automation, specifically for our mass-volume hourly processes."
 

Cons

"If Bamboo can create an internal monitoring mechanism and display the tool's health status on the landing page or homepage, it would help end users and DevOps Engineers like me."
"BambooHR could be improved by managing leave in a way that transfers remaining days at the end of the annual year to the following year."
"If Bamboo can provide a dashboard with tool health, such as whether the master or instance has the required space, it would be beneficial."
"We have encountered stability issues. The product can be unstable at times."
"They are deliberately not the most sophisticated version of anything that they do, but it is like 80/20."
"In the BambooHR performance management annual evaluations we have some limits to the questions. We can only add four extra questions, and they already have three basic questions, this is not easy for us. We would like to have more flexibility with the questions."
"The performance could be improved. When you save some documents, it takes longer to store them in BambooHR's systems than it used to. Something needs to be upgraded or fixed in the code. Alow, we provide services to other companies, so Bamboo isn't able to help us in many areas because of the way we work."
"However, if we compare the accrual balance days from Bamboo versus real days, sometimes we have to reconcile it by manual adjustment."
"I would not recommend IBM Kenexa to others."
"Improvements can be made from the back end, with the workbench."
"There were functions we couldn't customize and needed to."
"I get a real sense of frustration when you see the kind of customer insight teams and what they can do and then you look at the colleague insights teams, which I'm leading on as well, and seeing there's a gap and we need to close that gap."
"2xO was created by brain-damaged monkeys in front of keyboards."
"Improved integrations: There are all kinds of issues with integrations, hires failing."
"My rating is not higher because of the support, honestly; the global service center model."
"There are tools that actually are not there where clients need them, especially the survey analytics to analyze verbatim in different languages."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It was definitely cheaper than some of the larger systems."
"Price-wise, the solution is in the middle compared to other tools offering similar functionalities."
"I rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten."
"We pay a monthly subscription to use the solution. The subscript model is based on how many employees we have active."
"Kenexa was fairly priced. However, in 2019, before I left my previous organization, they significantly increased their pricing. It can be affordable, but their pricing is going up. It is not just licensing; it is how many applicants you have in your system on the database side."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Construction Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business22
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise28
 

Questions from the Community

What advice do you have for others considering BambooHR?
Organizations of all sizes, especially those that are experiencing rapid growth, want to have a way to effectively manage their HR operations. Our organization feels that BambooHR is an HR manageme...
What needs improvement with BambooHR?
If Bamboo can provide a dashboard with tool health, such as whether the master or instance has the required space, it would be beneficial. Sometimes, when I trigger a build, it ends with no space o...
What is your primary use case for BambooHR?
I am a DevOps Engineer and I mostly deal with the Bamboo CI/CD automation part. I facilitate my team by providing the environment to run their tests. Generally, I create the pipelines that take the...
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Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
IBM Smarter Workforce, Outstart
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Stance, SoundCloud, Reddit, Shopify, 99designs, Stitcher, Disqus, Beans & Brews, Stacy and Witbeck, Vino Farms, MokiMobility, SecurityMetrics
Sweet Spot International (SSI), Leo Burnett Worldwide (LBW), Sika AG, Legacy Health, Apollo Group Inc., Regeneron, Transurban Group, National Health Service, New Zealand Police, Overland Footwear, Yealands, Johnson Controls, Allscripts, Kerry Foods, Masterpet, AMD, Balfour Beatty
Find out what your peers are saying about BambooHR vs. IBM Kenexa and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.