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Pulse HR

pulsehr.it

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Spec score 7.6 #19 of 40 in Employee Engagement Software

What it is

Pulse HR is an open-source workspace for individual contributors, focused on status, growth, recognition, and wellbeing. Its listed surfaces include Status Log, Growth, Kudos, Moments, Workload check-in, Leave journal, Pulse, and People Insights. Status Log supports written async standups in a three-line-per-person team feed with a manager-safe sentiment recap. Growth brings achievements, challenges, skill paths, and kudos together; Kudos supports peer recognition with reasons, teammate coins, and leaderboards that reset weekly, monthly, and yearly. Workload check-ins show managers an eight-week trend rather than individual responses, and the anonymous weekly Pulse mood heatmap appears only when at least three people respond. The product is intended to run alongside an HRIS, not replace it: it does not cover payroll, time tracking, recruiting, project allocation, or document e-signature. It can be self-hosted with Docker or Kubernetes, with Helm and Terraform support. The site describes a REST API, webhooks, and TypeScript, Python, and Go SDKs. The PWA works on macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android, with some recent views and drafts available offline. The public demo is frontend-only and its records stay in the browser.

Spec sheet

Purpose
Pulse HR describes itself as an open-source workspace for individual contributors, focused on status, recognition, growth, and wellbeing.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Product
Pulse HR describes itself as an open-source workspace for individual contributors focused on status, growth, recognition and wellbeing.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Audience
The maker highlights individual contributors, teams seeking an alternative to daily standups, and people who want to self-host.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Platforms
The maker says Pulse installs as a PWA on macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android, with selected views and drafts available offline.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
API
The site describes a REST API, resource-event webhooks, TypeScript, Python and Go SDKs, and a standard-tier limit of 1,000 requests per minute.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Support
The security page gives a 24/7 on-call rotation and says its P0 SLA is 15 minutes to acknowledge and two hours to provide a workaround.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Company
The site names Davide Ghiotto and Niccolò Naso as maintainers and describes them as two developers building Pulse in public.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Demo status
The public demo is a frontend-only mock, and its records run in the browser; the page says feedback is the only part that talks to a real backend.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Features
Its listed surfaces include Status Log, Growth, Kudos, Moments, Workload check-in, Leave journal, Pulse and People Insights.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Growth and kudos
Growth brings achievements, challenges, skill paths, and kudos together, while Kudos supports peer recognition with reasons and leaderboards.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Integrations and API
The maker describes a REST API, resource-event webhooks, and maintained TypeScript, Python, and Go SDKs; its site says an MCP server is planned for a later release.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Maintainers
The site names Davide Ghiotto and Niccolò Naso as maintainers.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Offline and platforms
The site says the product installs as a PWA on macOS, Windows, iOS and Android, with recent views and status and kudos drafts available offline.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Privacy and certifications
The security page states GDPR compliance by design, EU data residency options in Frankfurt and Dublin, SOC 2 Type II in progress, and ISO 27001 on the roadmap.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Privacy threshold
The anonymous weekly Pulse mood heatmap appears only when at least three people respond.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Product limits
Pulse says it does not cover payroll, time tracking, recruiting, project allocation or document e-signature, and is intended to run alongside an HRIS.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Product scope
Pulse HR says it is intended to run alongside an HRIS and does not handle payroll, time tracking, recruiting, project allocation, or document e-signature.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Product status
The public demo is a frontend-only mock; its records stay in the browser, and the maker says the backend is not wired up yet.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Recognition
Kudos supports peer recognition with reasons, teammate coins and leaderboards that reset weekly, monthly and yearly.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Security and compliance
The security page describes GDPR compliance, Frankfurt and Dublin data residency, AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit, and says SOC 2 Type II is in progress and ISO 27001 is on the roadmap.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Security controls
The security page lists AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit, SAML 2.0 or OIDC SSO, SCIM provisioning and append-only audit logs.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Self-hosting
The site says the open-source product can be self-hosted, and lists Docker or Kubernetes deployments with Helm and Terraform support.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Status Log
Status Log supports written async standups with a three-line-per-person team feed and a manager-safe sentiment recap.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it
Workload and leave limits
Workload check-ins show managers an eight-week trend rather than individual answers, and the Leave journal has no approval workflow.Read 8 Oct 2026 · pulsehr.it

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Open-source and free.
  • Includes written async standups and peer recognition.
  • Offers self-hosting with Docker or Kubernetes.
  • PWA supports macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android.
  • Recent views and drafts are available offline.

Limits

  • Does not cover payroll, time tracking, or recruiting.
  • Leave journal has no approval workflow.
  • Public demo backend is not wired up.
  • Mood heatmap appears only after three responses.

Who it suits

Pulse HR suits individual contributors and teams seeking an alternative to daily standups, peer recognition, and wellbeing check-ins. It may also suit organizations that want to self-host and already use an HRIS for functions Pulse does not cover.

Verdict

Pulse HR focuses on status, recognition, and wellbeing rather than a full HRIS feature set. Its self-hosting and offline PWA support are useful options, but the public demo is only a frontend mock.

Where Specifiction places it

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