Introduction
Creating an effective onboarding process has always been challenging. With the number of forms to fill, people to meet and steps to learn, inefficient onboarding can quickly become a major source of stress for a new hire (and for the supervisors or team members trying to help).
Add in a remote or hybrid work environment, and things get even harder. New hires might feel more isolated and overwhelmed without the in-person support of shared office space.
For 2023 and beyond, teams need an onboarding process that is welcoming, comprehensive and accessible from anywhere. The easiest way to accomplish that is with onboarding software tools.
You don’t need a massive budget or HR team to manage onboarding software. Whether you’re a growing business or are just looking for a low-cost option to get started, here are some of the best free onboarding software tools in 2023.
What are the best free onboarding software platforms?
- Freshteam
- Grove HR
- Qualee
- Process Street
- Pipefy
- Wrike
- Involve.me
- Remote
- Sentrifugo
- Scribe
What is onboarding software?
Take into consideration three S’ when you think about onboarding software. Typically it should:
- Streamline,
- Simplify,
- Or otherwise strengthen the process for your team.
Often, onboarding software can centralize the paperwork, communication, tasks and resources a new hire needs. It houses everything from payroll information to training videos and knowledge base how-tos. In this context, both the hiring manager and new employee can easily access documents, check the status of a task or revisit forms and guides.
Onboarding software also provides a consistent experience for all employees. It automates part of the onboarding process — so your team doesn’t have to worry if they’ve forgotten to share important information, and your employee can rest easy knowing they have what they need to succeed at their new job.
How is onboarding software priced?
Onboarding software is typically priced per user, although some charge a flat fee with an option to pay to add additional users to the platform. While some can get pretty pricey (especially if you have a large team or you’re growing quickly), there are still many free (or freemium) options on the market.
What are the key features of onboarding software?
As with most software, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all tool that will work for every company, team and situation. While some onboarding software platforms come with a plethora of features and integrations (and typically a heavy price tag to match), other more bare-boned tools prioritize the essentials, like collecting documentation and providing quick and easy access to resources.
You’ll want to assess your team’s unique needs before deciding what tool is right for you, but here are some core features of onboarding software any team will want to keep an eye out for:
- User-friendly interface. The platform you choose should be easy to use with minimal training.
- Remote access. Team members should be able to log in from any location and any device.
- Secure documentation collection. Employees provide a lot of sensitive information during the onboarding process — make sure your onboarding software keeps it safe.
- In-app communication. Comments, feedback boxes or chat features enable new hires to get in touch when they have questions or need clarification.
10 Best Free Onboarding Software Tools in 2023
Here are the best onboarding software tools you can access for free.
1. Freshteam
G2 Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars
Capterra Rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars
Pricing: Free for up to 50 employees.
Features:
Freshteam is smart HR software for teams that are still growing. In addition to virtual onboarding, Freshteam offers an applicant tracking system, employee database, and even time off and holiday management in their premium pricing tiers.
As an onboarding platform, Freshteam automates the process with document sharing, email templates and digital welcome kits. Users can digitally sign and update documents to keep the onboarding process efficient (and eco-friendly), assign tasks and checklists (with due dates and reminders), and assign notifications to stakeholders who need to stay in the loop.
2. Grove HR
G2 Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars
Capterra Rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
Pricing: Free for teams under 50 employees
Features:
Grove HR was designed to prioritize people — not processes. It’s a mobile-friendly, feature-rich platform that creates personalized, easy-to-follow onboarding sequences for new hires without a heavy lift from your hiring team.
Create unique checklists for new hires, or use templates set for different groups of employees. Assign tasks to your new hires or even to existing team members, ensuring the entire onboarding process runs smoothly and efficiently. User information automatically syncs with employee records and profiles to stay up-to-date in real-time.
3. Qualee
G2 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Capterra Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Pricing: Free for up to 10 employees.
Features:
Qualee focuses on improving employee experiences through what they call “journeys.” Each journey is an automated flow that employees work through to learn company policies, engage with surveys or polls, or stay up-to-date on new needs or expectations.
Qualee gamifies micro-learning modules to keep them engaged and focused. Employees can securely upload documents and images, check the status of a particular task and even work through their onboarding journey from a mobile device. And for an added bonus — Qualee is available in 19 languages, so it’s easy to onboard global teams through the same platform.
4. Process Street
G2 Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars
Capterra Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars
Pricing: Unlimited free team members.
Features:
Process Street turns our workflows into manageable, actionable and collaborative checklists. Users can fill out forms, upload documents, answer questions and more without leaving the checklist. No-code automation and app integrations also make it easy to transfer data to other tools for long-term storage.
Process Street can also be a knowledge management system for new or existing employees. Pages let you share information on PTO policies, holidays, company history and more — and they’re always free and accessible to your team members.
5. Pipefy
G2 Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars
Capterra Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars
Pricing: Free for up to 10 users
Features:
Pipefy is a no-code workflow automation platform that you can use for many things — including employee onboarding. With Pipefy, you can create mandatory actions, automate emails and communication, send notifications and reminders, and keep sensitive employee information secure.
Set up stages of the onboarding process (or choose from their free templates), create checklists and requirements for each phase, and assign tasks to different users to involve necessary stakeholders. Integrate with the rest of your tech stack to prevent bottlenecks and keep everything running smoothly.
6. Wrike
G2 Rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars
Capterra Rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars
Pricing: Free
Features:
While Wrike is traditionally a project management tool, it can also manage employee onboarding. There is even a free onboarding template to get started. Assign each step of the onboarding process to new hires the same way you’d assign a project task. Hiring managers can track progress and store forms, documents and information as they complete each step.
Using Wrike as your onboarding software is an excellent option if you use the platform for project management. It gives new hires experience with the software they’ll use every day and makes it easy to find everything they need without having a dozen apps open.
7. Involve.me
G2 Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars
Capterra Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Pricing: Free up to 100 submissions per month
Features:
Involve.me creates customizable, interactive funnels to gather information, guide users to appropriate resources or collect feedback. Like a custom survey, Involve.me funnels are engaging and easy to follow, making it a great option for onboarding new hires (especially those without a ton of experience using apps or complex tools).
Involve.me has built-in automation tools to simplify onboarding. You can also integrate the user data storage tools you already use to store submission responses.
8. Remote
G2 Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars
Capterra Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Pricing: Free
Features:
Remote is an employee onboarding and management system designed for teams working with international employees and contractors. They automatically update contracts, currency and compliance requirements based on where the employee is, taking the pressure off you and your team when working with employees and partners worldwide.
Remote can give you some peace of mind when building an international team. Be proactive to avoid fines and ensure your contractor employees have a positive, personalized onboarding experience.
9. Sentrifugo
G2 Rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars
Capterra Rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars
Pricing: Free
Features:
Sentrifugo is an open-source human resource management system that offers all the features and customizations of the big name brands without the price tag. The platform manages all phases of the employee lifecycle, from onboarding to disciplinary action to offboarding. Employees can access and modify their information to keep it up-to-date. You can even track analytics, run background checks and create smart interview scheduling processes.
Because Sentrifugo is an open-source platform, you’ll need to host it on your own servers. Although this shouldn’t be an issue for small or even medium-sized businesses, it is an added cost to consider — especially if you’d like to stick to the free software options.
10. Scribe
G2 Rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars
Capterra Rating: N/A
Pricing: Free
Features:
Scribe creates step-by-step instructions and engaging guides from user-generated screen recordings, replacing that side-by-side guidance new hires get from in-person onboarding. With Scribe, enable employees to get up to speed on apps, processes and systems — or even train existing team members on tasks they’ve never completed before. The guide is then easily accessible if your team member needs to review later.
Scribe is a great supplemental tool to any onboarding process management tools mentioned above. It can enhance your existing onboarding workflows and clarify some of the growing complexity of our ever-evolving digital world.
Choosing the right free onboarding software tool for your organization
Selecting the right software can feel overwhelming. While it’s great there are so many free options out there, sometimes it just makes the choice harder. If you’re still stuck on what free onboarding tool is right for your team, here are some questions to consider:
- Who is my end-user? Your onboarding platform needs to be intuitive for your end-user (in this case, your new hires). Are they tech-savvy? Do they prefer to work from mobile devices? Where are they located? Choose software that fits their needs and expectations.
- Will my budget grow? Maybe your budget is small (or non-existent) right now, but do you expect that to change as your business grows? If you think you’ll someday look into premium app features, choose the free version of the tool you hope to use in the future, so you don’t have to change your process as you scale.
- What does my current onboarding process look like? Choose a tool that matches the needs of your current onboarding process. Do you primarily need to collect employee data and paperwork, or do you need to guide your new hire through dozens of steps in a handful of apps and tools? Prioritize the features that are most important to you and your team.
- What are my team’s onboarding goals? The onboarding software you choose should be able to grow with you. If your team is undergoing rapid growth, you’ll want to be sure to select a platform that can sustain that. Just like projecting where your budget might be in a few months or years, think about the targets your team wants to hit.
With the right software supporting you, you can develop an onboarding process that improves new hire satisfaction and employee retention. But don’t worry too much about getting it right the first time — with so many great free options available, take a few for a test run.
