CakeHR Visit Website
Core features include Leave Management, Attendance Tracking, Performance Reviews, Employee Directory, Reporting & Analytics. Unique capabilities: User-friendly interface, Mobile accessibility, Customizable workflows.
Description
CakeHR is a human resources management software that helps businesses streamline HR processes including leave management, attendance tracking, performance reviews, and employee data management. It was acquired by Sage in 2019.
Key Features
- Leave Management
- Attendance Tracking
- Performance Reviews
- Employee Directory
- Reporting & Analytics
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Reviews
Overall
As a department head managing a team of 25, CakeHR has significantly improved our HR operations over the past eight months. The platform offers an intuitive interface that required minimal training for both myself and team members. The leave management system has been particularly valuable, eliminating the confusion of our previous email-based request system and providing clear visibility into team availability at any given time. The reporting capabilities have proven useful for tracking attendance patterns and planning departmental resources, though I occasionally find myself wanting more customization options for specific departmental metrics. The performance review module streamlines our quarterly assessment process, but lacks some flexibility for tailoring to our specific feedback methodology. Since Sage's acquisition, we've noticed improved stability and more regular updates, suggesting positive development direction. From a department head's perspective, the ROI has been evident in time savings alone - I estimate I spend about 70% less time on routine HR administrative tasks compared to our previous systems. The mobile accessibility means I can approve requests and check team status even when away from my desk, which has proven invaluable during busy periods.
Overall
As a small business owner who needed to upgrade from spreadsheets to a proper HR system, CakeHR has been a welcome addition to our operations. The platform strikes a good balance between functionality and ease of use, allowing us to manage employee data, time off, and attendance without the complexity or cost of enterprise-level solutions. The implementation was relatively painless, taking about a week to configure and import our existing data, and my team adapted to the interface quickly with minimal training. The reporting capabilities have given me insights into attendance patterns and leave trends that were previously invisible, helping with staffing decisions and policy adjustments. Since Sage's acquisition, I've noticed improved stability and more regular updates, though the pricing has increased slightly. The mobile app is convenient for on-the-go approvals, but it doesn't have full feature parity with the desktop version, which can be limiting when I'm away from the office. For a business of our size (23 employees), the ROI has been clear - we've reduced the time spent on HR administration by approximately 70%, allowing our office manager to focus on more strategic tasks. The automated leave calculations and approval workflows have eliminated several recurring disputes we used to face, and employees appreciate the transparency of the system. While it's not perfect, CakeHR has proven to be a reliable backbone for our HR operations at a reasonable price point.
Features
As a startup founder who's worn the HR hat along with countless others, CakeHR has been a welcome relief for managing our growing team. The core features - particularly leave management and attendance tracking - work seamlessly out of the box with minimal configuration. The employee directory has become our single source of truth for team information, which has eliminated the scattered spreadsheets we previously maintained. The reporting capabilities deserve special mention, as they've provided insights that directly impacted our decisions around hiring and team structure. Setting up performance reviews was straightforward, though I found the templates somewhat rigid for our informal startup culture - we ended up customizing heavily. Since Sage's acquisition, I've noticed improved stability and more regular updates, though the interface still feels dated in some areas. The pricing structure is startup-friendly, scaling with your headcount rather than requiring large upfront investments. Implementation took about a week of part-time effort, mainly around configuring policies and importing employee data. The ROI became evident within the first month as we reclaimed hours previously spent on manual HR tasks. For startups without dedicated HR staff, CakeHR effectively bridges that gap until you're ready to build out a proper HR function.
Features
As a small business owner, I've found CakeHR to be a valuable tool for streamlining our HR processes. The leave management feature is particularly impressive, allowing my team to request time off through a simple interface while automatically calculating balances and preventing scheduling conflicts. The employee directory and attendance tracking have eliminated our previous spreadsheet-based system, saving several hours each week on administrative tasks. The reporting and analytics functionality provides useful insights into attendance patterns and leave usage, though it could offer more customization options. I appreciate how the performance review system has standardized our evaluation process, though setting up the initial templates required some time investment. Since Sage's acquisition, I've noticed steady improvements in the platform's stability and feature set. At the pricing point of $5.50-$7.00 per employee monthly, CakeHR delivers good value for small businesses like mine. The interface is intuitive enough that I didn't need extensive training to get my team onboarded. While it lacks some advanced features of enterprise-level HRIS systems, it covers all the essential HR functions that a growing business needs without overwhelming complexity.
Pricing
As a Department Head managing a team of 25, I've found CakeHR to be a surprisingly affordable solution for handling our day-to-day HR processes. At $5.5-$7.0 per user monthly, it represents excellent value compared to enterprise alternatives that often charge double or triple for similar functionality. The pricing structure is straightforward with no hidden fees, and the difference between Standard and Professional tiers is clearly justified by additional features like performance management tools that I've found essential for quarterly reviews. What particularly impresses me from a budgeting perspective is the ROI we've achieved. Before implementing CakeHR, I spent approximately 5-7 hours weekly managing leave requests, tracking attendance, and maintaining employee records manually. The automation has reduced this to about 1-2 hours, freeing up significant time for strategic work. For departments with tight budget constraints, the Standard tier provides core functionality that covers 80% of typical needs, while the Professional tier adds valuable tools that justify the modest $1.50 premium per user. The Sage acquisition has maintained pricing stability while adding enterprise-grade security and compliance features that would typically command premium pricing. However, I would appreciate more flexibility in scaling pricing for smaller teams or departments, as the per-user model can become less competitive when managing very small teams of 5-10 people. Additionally, some advanced reporting features that would benefit department heads are only available in custom enterprise plans that require negotiation beyond the published rates.
Pricing
As an Enterprise IT Manager, I've found CakeHR's pricing structure to be refreshingly transparent and economical compared to many enterprise HR solutions. At $5.5 per user monthly for the Standard plan and $7.0 for the Professional tier, it represents excellent value, especially when implementing across hundreds or thousands of employees. The per-user pricing model makes budgeting predictable and scales reasonably as the organization grows. What's particularly appealing from an IT perspective is that there appear to be no hidden costs or complex licensing structures that often plague enterprise software. The modest price difference between tiers ($1.50) makes it easy to justify the Professional plan for the additional features. However, I would caution that enterprise-specific needs like advanced security configurations, custom integrations with legacy systems, or extensive customizations may incur additional costs not reflected in the base pricing. From an ROI standpoint, CakeHR delivers solid value. The automation of leave management, attendance tracking, and performance reviews alone can significantly reduce administrative overhead. For large enterprises, the modest per-user fee translates to substantial HR process efficiency gains without the premium pricing that many competing enterprise-grade solutions demand.
Support
As a Department Head managing a team of 15 professionals, I've been using CakeHR for approximately 8 months to streamline our HR processes. The support experience has been mixed, with some bright spots but also notable gaps that impact daily operations. The initial onboarding support was comprehensive, with responsive representatives guiding us through setup and providing basic training materials. However, ongoing support has been inconsistent when addressing more complex departmental needs. The knowledge base is reasonably detailed for common issues, which allows for some self-service troubleshooting. However, when dealing with department-specific scenarios like customizing performance review cycles or setting up specialized attendance tracking for hybrid teams, the support team often provides generic responses that don't fully address our unique situations. Response times vary considerably—sometimes within hours, other times stretching to 2-3 business days, which can be problematic when dealing with time-sensitive HR matters. The lack of weekend support has occasionally created bottlenecks when preparing for Monday morning onboarding sessions. While the chat support is convenient for quick questions, the more substantial support tickets often require multiple follow-ups to reach resolution. I've found that the support team is more adept at handling technical issues than providing strategic guidance on how to best implement CakeHR for departmental management purposes. For the price point, the support is adequate but falls short of exceptional, particularly for department heads who need to configure the system to match their team's specific workflows.
Support
As a startup founder who implemented CakeHR to manage our growing team's HR needs, I've found the support experience to be a mixed bag. After Sage's acquisition, there have been noticeable changes in the support structure. While basic queries are handled efficiently through their ticketing system, more complex implementation issues often require multiple follow-ups and escalations, which can be frustrating when you're trying to move quickly. The knowledge base and documentation are reasonably comprehensive, which helps reduce the need for direct support. However, the lack of dedicated account managers for smaller pricing tiers means that startups often have to rely on generic support channels. Response times during European business hours are acceptable (typically within 4-6 hours), but if you're operating in other time zones, expect delays that can stretch into days. The onboarding support deserves special mention - it's structured and helpful for getting teams up and running. However, once you're past the initial setup phase, the support becomes more reactive than proactive. For a startup where HR isn't anyone's full-time job, this means you'll occasionally find yourself spending more time than you'd like figuring out workarounds or waiting for support to resolve issues that impact your team's experience.
Integration
As a startup founder who implemented CakeHR, I found its integration capabilities to be somewhat of a mixed bag. The software offers standard API access and integrates well with popular tools like Slack, Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365, which covered most of our basic needs. Setting up these core integrations was straightforward and helped us automate notifications and synchronize employee data across platforms without much technical overhead. However, when attempting to connect CakeHR with our existing tech stack beyond these mainstream tools, limitations became apparent. The API documentation, while functional, lacks comprehensive examples for custom implementations. We had to allocate additional development resources to build workarounds for connecting with our project management and accounting software. For startups with limited technical resources, this could present a challenge. Since Sage's acquisition, there have been improvements to the integration ecosystem, but it still falls short compared to more developer-friendly HR platforms. The pricing model ($5.5-$7.0 monthly per employee) makes CakeHR accessible for growing startups, and the core HR functionality delivers good value. But when factoring in potential development costs for custom integrations, the ROI calculation becomes more complex. For startups with straightforward needs or those already in the Sage ecosystem, CakeHR provides adequate integration capabilities, but those requiring extensive custom connections should carefully evaluate if the platform can grow with their increasingly complex requirements.
Integration
As an Enterprise IT Manager, I've implemented CakeHR across our organization primarily to streamline leave management and attendance tracking. From an integration perspective, CakeHR offers basic API capabilities and some pre-built connectors, but falls short of enterprise-grade integration requirements. While the Sage acquisition has improved some aspects, the integration ecosystem remains limited compared to enterprise-focused competitors. The software provides standard REST API access which allowed our team to build custom connections to our existing ERP system, though this required significant development time. The available Zapier integrations helped connect with some cloud tools, but many enterprise-specific integrations required custom work. Single Sign-On capabilities exist but implementation was more complex than advertised, particularly when integrating with our existing identity management solution. Data export/import functionality is adequate but batch processing capabilities could be improved for large-scale operations. For an organization with moderate integration needs, CakeHR can work well, especially if you're already in the Sage ecosystem. However, enterprises with complex IT landscapes will find themselves building numerous custom bridges. The software seems to prioritize user experience over deep integration capabilities, which is understandable for its target market but creates challenges in enterprise environments where seamless system communication is critical.
Pricing Plans
Standard
- ✓ Leave management
- ✓ Attendance tracking
- ✓ Employee directory
Professional Popular
- ✓ Standard features
- ✓ Performance management
- ✓ Advanced reporting