BrightHR vs Factorial (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, BrightHR and Factorial share a 2.0 GPA, neither has a free plan, and Factorial starts cheaper, at $8 a month for each person against about $22.34 a month for each person.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
BrightHR
HR software with holiday, rota and absence tools and advice lines
Factorial
HR, time, shifts, expenses and IT for small firms, quoted by module
Which one is for you
Pick BrightHR if
- Fits if you run a small UK firm and want an employment-law advice line with the software
- Works for shift-based teams that need rotas and holiday cover on one screen
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you are in the US, as no US edition was found
- Pricey if you add support: £21.20 for the advice line, £31.30 with health and safety
- Watch out: prices exclude tax, and insurance is quoted separately
- Watch out: contract length isn't stated beyond 'fixed-term', and the FAQ says quotes come from a demo
Pick Factorial if
- Fits if your staff work shifts and clock in by QR code or location
- Works for firms that want HR, expenses and company devices in one place
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a full price on the page, as only $8 and up is published
- Not for you if you want to try it first, as no trial is on record
- Pricey if you add lots of modules, since each one is quoted on top
- Watch out: monthly plans bill for everyone on staff at the start of each month
- Watch out: the site gives both 12 and 120 customer countries and doesn't list where payroll works
How we grade them
| 2.0GPABrightHRFair | 2.0GPAFactorialFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C£16.67 per employee a month excluding tax, about $22, near the top quarter of the category. £83.35 a month at 5 employees; advice lines and safety tools push it to £31.30. | CFactorial starts at $8 a user a month, so a ten-person company pays $80 and up, right on this category's middle. That's for Core, with records, onboarding, payslips and e-signatures; any modules you add are quoted on top. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan and no trial is on record in the listing or on its pricing page. | FNo free plan, and the trial links on its pages led to a missing page, so no trial is on record. |
| Features | BHoliday, absence, rotas, overtime, expenses, documents and reporting, plus a payroll navigator. The listing names no gap in the core HR work; payroll itself is not run. | BRecords, documents and e-signatures, time off, clock-ins by location or QR code, shift planning, hiring, reviews, training, expenses and device management. The whole job, with a fair bit more besides. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Holiday rules, rotas and documents need setting up. | CNo App Store rating on record, and picking modules with sales, then setting up shifts and policies, takes a while. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb plus iOS and Android apps, with an integrations page (5 on record). No desktop app. | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with Slack, Google Workspace, Zapier, DATEV, Sage 200, Okta and Power BI. No desktop app. |
| Best for | UK small firms wanting HR software with advice lines | shift-based teams wanting HR and rotas together |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: BrightHR and Factorial. How we grade
Price against what you get
BrightHR starts at about $22.34 a month for each person and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Factorial starts at $8 a month for each person and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Factorial starts $14.34 a month lower. Of the other HR software on the chart, 1 scores higher than BrightHR for less, and none scores higher than Factorial for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- BrightHR also covers reports, payroll and time clock.
- Factorial also covers time tracking, expense tracking and applicant tracking.
At a glance
| BrightHR | Factorial | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | £16.67 per employee / month (£83.35 a month at the smallest size shown) | $8 per user / month and up, by quote |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | BrightHR | Factorial |
| Price read from | brighthr.com | factorial.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Worth knowing
BrightHR
- Prices are in pounds, excluding tax, and the site is aimed at UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand; no US edition was found.
- The FAQ says prices start from £3.00 per person depending on business size and that quotes come from a demo.
- The pricing page does not state the contract length beyond calling them fixed-term contracts.
- Insurance is not in the online prices; it is quoted separately.
Factorial
- Only the $8 starting figure is published; the real price comes in a quote that depends on the modules and the headcount.
- Monthly plans bill for the employees present at the start of each month; annual plans bill extra only in months above the agreed count.
- Offices are in Spain, Germany and Mexico; the about page says both 12 and 120 countries for its customers and does not list where payroll works.
- The free-trial links on its pages lead to a missing page, so a trial could not be confirmed.
Key features
BrightHR
- Holiday and absence management
- A staff holiday planner with booking and approvals, plus tools for recording sick leave and lateness across the team.
- Shifts and rotas
- Create and edit shifts across any working pattern, including an open shifts feature, and let staff clock in and out from the Blip app.
- Expenses, documents and reporting
- Expense tracking, HR document storage and a custom reporting system sit in the core package.
- Advice lines and templates
- Higher packages add a 24/7 HR and employment law advice line and a library of HR document templates.
- Health and safety software
- Accident and near-miss reporting, 600+ risk assessment templates, task reminders and hazardous substances management.
- Payroll navigator and payroll service
- A payroll navigator is in the core package, and a separate payroll software and managed payroll service is sold on its own pages.
Factorial
- Core HR and documents
- Every plan has the employee directory, onboarding and offboarding, payslip distribution, bulk document sending, fillable PDFs and legal e-signatures.
- Time off and time tracking
- Unlimited time-off policies and custom absence types, plus clock-ins by geolocation or QR code with overtime compensation.
- Shift planning
- Build shifts in bulk, set rotating patterns or generate them automatically, and share the schedule with staff.
- Recruiting, reviews and training
- Post jobs to several boards with AI CV parsing, run 360-degree performance reviews, track goals and manage training with certificates.
- Expenses, projects and IT
- Read receipts with OCR, route expenses through multi-step approvals, log hours to projects, and manage devices and SaaS licenses.
- One, the AI assistant
- An AI agent that searches and analyzes company data, builds reports and prepares policies, contracts and payroll documents for review.
Plans
BrightHR
Core HR software£16.67
per employee / month, excluding tax
Holiday planner, rotas, absence, performance, overtime and expense tools, reporting, and a payroll navigator. £83.35 a month at 5 employees.
Enhanced HR support£21.20
per employee / month, excluding tax
Core package plus a 24/7 HR and employment law advice line and document templates. Insurance is quoted separately. £106 a month at 5 employees.
Full HR, health and safety support£31.30
per employee / month, excluding tax
Enhanced package plus health and safety software and advice and a wellbeing portal. £156.50 a month at 5 employees.
Factorial
Tailored plan$8
per user / month and up
Factorial Core (directory, onboarding, payslip delivery, bulk documents, e-signature) plus the modules chosen. Quoted and sold through sales.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, BrightHR or Factorial?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Factorial is cheaper to start with: $8 a month for each person, against about $22.34 a month for each person for BrightHR. BrightHR starts at £16.67 per employee / month (£83.35 a month at the smallest size shown), and Factorial starts at $8 per user / month and up, by quote.
Which has a free plan, BrightHR or Factorial?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither BrightHR nor Factorial has a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.