HourSquare vs Jostle

HourSquare is an HR platform that brings onboarding, leave, time tracking, payroll, a people directory, and anonymous whistleblowing together around a shared employee record. Approved timesheets and leave feed payroll, while onboarding checklists can begin when a person is added and assign work to IT, managers, and the new hire. Payroll includes tax packs for 24+ countries, payslips, and payment and accountant exports. Integration options include a public API, OIDC single sign-on with Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, or Google Workspace, calendar feeds, and CSV import. Signed webhooks are not available yet; the developer page advises polling time entries with a cursor in the meantime. HourSquare says it is EU-hosted, encrypts traffic in transit and sensitive database fields, logs sensitive access and employee-record changes, and supports data export and erasure. Speak up reports are stored without the reporter’s name or account. Web, iOS, Android, and API are listed, although the features page describes mobile access as a phone layout of the web app and says there is no native app. Teams of up to 10 employees can use every feature for free; larger teams are asked to contact HourSquare for a written plan price. Recruiting, applicant tracking, and job postings are outside the bundle.

Jostle is an employee success platform for sharing company news, finding information, and connecting colleagues across office, field, remote, and branch locations. It combines targeted content, discussions, email newsletters, mobile access, and digital signage with people profiles, organizational charts, recognition, company values, and birthday and hire dates. Its Library holds curated information, while JostleAI provides answers contextualized by role, location, and department. Integrations include Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack, Bonusly, Zapier, HRIS/HCM systems, SSO, and a platform API. All plans include integrations, SSO and provisioning, APIs and SFTP sync, custom branding, engagement analytics, unlimited storage, governance features, and multiple languages. Bronze includes news, an activity feed, recognition, discussions, email digest, and mobile apps. Silver adds the Library, questions, links, custom views, and one add-on; Gold adds three add-ons plus onboarding and full support; Platinum includes all add-ons and support. Pricing is on request. A free 30-day trial unlocks Platinum features for up to 15 users. Jostle says data is encrypted in transit and at rest, backed up daily, and hosted in customer-selected data centers in the US, Europe, Australia, or Canada.