Cast HR vs HollyHR

Cast HR is an HR platform for managing team processes in one place. Core HR includes an employee directory, leave management, and document storage. The Recruitment add-on covers job posting, candidate hiring, and onboarding. Performance tools support 180° or 360° feedback cycles, competency frameworks, goals, and OKRs; engagement features include anonymous pulse surveys and eNPS trends by team or tenure. The site names Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, Outlook, and Google Calendar sync among its integrations. Professional lists REST API access and webhooks. The platform is available on the web and through an API. The Startup plan is free forever for up to 20 employees. Basic is free for teams with 20 or fewer employees and costs $2 per month otherwise. Professional costs $3.50 per month and includes compensation management, workflow automation, HR insights, API access, webhooks, and audit log and export. A 30-day trial is listed. The pricing page notes that module prices may be based on Core employee count and exclude applicable taxes.

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.