Boardon vs HollyHR
Boardon
boardon.io
HollyHR
hollyhr.comSide by side
| Figure | Boardon | HollyHR |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $58/mo | £1/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 8 | 9 |
| Spec score · Employee Onboarding Software | 9.1 (#4) | 8.8 (#5) |
| API availability | An API is offered for enterprise customers and is described as a way to automate adding users and other workflows. | API and MCP reads are included on every plan, while governed writes require Standard, explicit scopes and administrator approval. |
| Documents | New employees can download onboarding documents, read and update documents, and upload them again for an administrator’s document overview. | Private employee files, compliance requirements, expiry visibility and policy acknowledgements are attached to records. |
| Headquarters | The company lists Fredrik Jahns gränd 1, Nacka, Stockholm, Sweden, with an additional Göteborg location. | The registered office is 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, United Kingdom. |
| Maker | The service is delivered by Boardon AB, described as a Swedish EdTech company founded by learning specialists. | HollyHR says founder-operator Paul Gould started it after more than 25 years running small businesses; its about page names Holly Software Limited. |
| Rating on Software Advice | 4.6 out of 5 from 13 reviews. | No rating shown from 0 reviews |
| Reporting | Administrators can follow newcomer progress with reports and statistics. | Built-in reports cover headcount, turnover and time off, with CSV and PDF export plus a read-only organisation chart. |
| Support | All plans include administrator email or in-product support; paid plans receive priority support and enterprise customers can receive phone support. | Free users receive the help centre and email support; Standard adds priority support with a one-UK-business-day target. |
| What it does | Boardon is a cloud onboarding and preboarding portal that gives new employees a branded introduction experience through email or text invitations. | HollyHR is UK-focused core HR software for small teams covering employee records, leave, sickness, documents and onboarding. |
Plans
Boardon
- FreeFree
- Mini$58 a month
- Small$120 a month
- Medium$200 a month
- Large$317 a month
- Enterprise$500 a month
- Start-up offering$3,390, paid once
- Packages$58,317 a month
HollyHR
- FreeFree
- Standard£2 a month
- Plus£4 a month
- FreeFree
- Charity Standard£1 a month
- Charity Plus£2 a month
- Plus (coming soon)£4 a month
- Standard annual£20 a year
- EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Boardon
Boardon is a web- and API-based service for creating branded preboarding and onboarding portals for new employees. Administrators build timeline-based plans with tasks, learning content, reminders, messages, quizzes, surveys, articles, videos, and files. Invitations can be sent by email or text; new employees can open them on a phone or by email. They can download onboarding documents, update them, and upload them for administrator review. Managers, recruitment officers, and HR staff can monitor progress through reports and statistics. Companies can brand the portal with their name, logo, and colors; Enterprise users can also change its CSS. Administration is listed in English, with German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Finnish among the languages offered. The free account allows one active user and one administrator, five text messages per month, and 10 MB of storage; it is removed after 12 months without activity. Paid plans start at $58 a month, are based on active users, and require at least a three-month purchase. Hosting is in Sweden with global reach.
HollyHR
HollyHR is core HR software for small UK teams, bringing people records, working patterns, leave, documents, starter processes and reports together. Teams can manage leave requests and approvals, balances, sickness records and UK public holidays, with a shared Who’s Away calendar. Reusable onboarding packs create individual journeys with due dates and owners; private files, right-to-work evidence and policy acknowledgements stay with employee records. Built-in headcount, turnover and time-off reports export as CSV or PDF. Organisation export includes CSV data, available uploaded files and a manifest. HollyHR connects with services including Zapier, Make, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Claude, Google Calendar, Outlook and Xero Payroll UK, with differing capabilities and availability. Approved leave can be sent to Xero after employees and leave types are matched, but salary, tax, bank, pay-run and employee-creation data do not sync. API reads and signed webhooks are available on every plan; creating records through the API or integrations requires Standard and System Admin permission. A free plan covers up to 10 active employees; Standard starts at £2/user/mo. The service runs on web and through an API.