Honest ELMO Software Review 2025: Pros, Cons, Features & Pricing

ELMO Pricing

ELMO offers pricing by quote only, which is fairly common for HR software since much depends on how many employees your business has and which features you need. I couldn’t get concrete pricing information from the ELMO sales rep I spoke with, but reviews on SelectHub indicate that the software starts at $35/user/month for the HR Core package, which includes basic people management tools.

It’s not clear whether ELMO offers packages that combine multiple services, like HR Core, Payroll, and Recruitment, or whether these software tools must be purchased a la carte. There are also add-ons available for each package—like surveys for HR Core and expense tracking for Payroll—that’ll increase your total cost.

Unfortunately, there’s no free trial or demo available for any ELMO product.

Plan	HR Core	Payroll	Recruitment	Performance Management	Learning Management
What’s it for	Centralizing employee data	Payroll processing	Posting jobs and screening candidates	Evaluating employees and boosting productivity	Providing training for employees
Key Features	-Employee self-service portal -Leave management -Employee analytics	-Multi-country payroll processing -Seamless integration with HR Core -Expense tracking add-on available	-Centralized database for candidate data -Interview scheduling -Collaborative candidate evaluations -Onboarding add-on available	-Library of goals, professional development objectives, and skills -Coordinate and record 1:1 meetings	-400+ built-in courses -Custom course builder -Completion tracking and analytics

Without more information about how much ELMO charges for deployments that include several of these tools, it’s difficult to compare it directly against other HR and payroll software. That said, knowing common industry pricing can help you better understand how much you can expect to pay.

Team Size	ELMO Software	Subscribe HR (Standard)	Bright HR (Core)	Connecteam (Expert)
	View pricing	View pricing	View pricing	View pricing
10 Users	Custom pricing	$70/month	$181/month	Free for life — All features and dashboards
20 Users	Custom pricing	$140/month	$312/month	$99/month
30 Users	Custom pricing	$210/month	$450/month	$99/month
50 Users	Custom pricing	$350/month	$560/month	$159/month
				Learn more about Connecteam.
* All prices show the monthly cost when billed annually as of April 2025.

ELMO Usability and Interface

ELMO requires new users to book an appointment with a sales representative to get pricing information and sign up for the platform. I submitted an appointment request, and a sales agent quickly got in touch by email—but never followed up when I asked for a demo and pricing information.

To provide a comprehensive review, I explored ELMO’s online documentation, watched videos of the software in use, and analysed customer feedback across various review platforms.

Based on my findings, ELMO’s web interface is pretty easy to use. It’s well-organized and highly customizable, with plenty of options to tailor ELMO to your business’s needs with visual workflows and adjustable fields.

The main administrator interface keeps things fairly uncrowded while also making it easy to access all the platform’s different modules. One thing that requires a bit of a learning curve is the navigation menu. Depending on which modules of ELMO you pay for, the menu can include close to 20 different items. However, getting used to this seems easy, and I like that you can access all features from one place.

One major hiccup in ELMO’s usability? The payroll module isn’t fully integrated with the rest of the platform. This is because while most of ELMO’s features were designed in-house, the company licenses its payroll software from KeyPay. 

This means only certain types of data sync between ELMO’s HR module and the payroll module. One reviewer noted: “Payroll and HR do not integrate well together. E.g. if there is a change of manager/position title, that doesn’t flow into payroll.”

ELMO says it’s been actively working on the payroll integration, and reviewers note that the integration has improved over time.

Mobile app

ELMO offers 2 different mobile apps. Both are available for iOS and Android.

The ELMOHR app is used solely for non-HR employees to complete training courses from anywhere. You can’t use the mobile app to design or edit courses, and it doesn’t integrate with any of ELMO’s HR or payroll tools.

ELMO’s payroll app offers more capabilities, including a self-service portal for employees to track expenses, submit timesheets, request time off, and view pay stubs. However, since this app is part of the payroll module and isn’t fully integrated with ELMO’s HR module, employees can’t use the app to modify their personal information. 

The app doesn’t offer any admin features, so there’s no way to use it to approve timesheets or run payroll.

The lack of a substantial mobile app was a major sticking point for several customers who reviewed ELMO. One wrote, “There isn’t a fully functional app with everything in one place.”

Here’s how the functionality across the 2 mobile apps compares with the web version of ELMO:

Menu item	Admin		Employee
	Website	Mobile App	Website	Mobile App
HR
Leave management	✅	❌	✅	✅
Employee self-service portal	✅	❌	✅	✅
Custom reporting	✅	❌	❌	❌
Payroll
Time and attendance	✅	❌	✅	✅
Approval workflows	✅	❌	❌	❌
Expense tracking	✅	❌	✅	✅
Analytics dashboard	✅	❌	❌	❌
Recruitment
AI-generated job ads	✅	❌	❌	❌
Interview scheduling	✅	❌	❌	❌
Applicant tracking system	✅	❌	❌	✅
Performance management
Goals library	✅	❌	❌	❌
Employee feedback loops	✅	❌	✅	❌
Learning management
Custom course builder	✅	❌	❌	❌
Personalized learning content	❌	❌	✅	✅

ELMO Core Functionalities

HR

ELMO’s HR module includes the basic features you need to keep track of a large workforce. It helps centralize employee documents, enables you to create custom organizational charts, and offers a streamlined employee directory. Plus, ELMO offers a leave management system with an employee self-service portal, which employees can use to track their time off balances and submit requests.

While this covers HR essentials, I was surprised to learn there isn’t much more to ELMO’s HR software. For example, you can’t use ELMO to build automated HR workflows or set up automated reminders for employees to update certifications. One user stated, “It would be nice if you could save individual items like qualifications in ELMO, and set specific dates for when each individual item needs to be renewed.”

This contrasts with competitors like Connecteam, which automatically alerts you before employees’ certifications expire.

ELMO does offer a survey tool so you can collect feedback from employees, but this is an add-on feature.

On the upside, the HR software is easy to use and doesn’t overwhelm users with features. It’s nice when used in combination with the other modules, but I wouldn’t recommend the HR module on its own.

Payroll

ELMO offers a white-labelled version of Keypay, a third-party payroll system used by several competing HR platforms in Australia and around the world. This is important because while payroll is offered alongside all of ELMO’s other modules, it’s not well integrated into the rest of the platform.

That said, I found the payroll module to be very feature-rich. Automations enable you to run payroll at regular intervals or based on specific triggers, and it’s easy to run payroll manually with a single click. Employee pay settings are highly flexible, enabling you to assign different pay rates for different types of work. Alerts ensure that you’re always in compliance with Fair Work’s Modern Award.

The payroll module also offers some tools for timekeeping. Employees can use a self-service portal to report their hours and view past timesheets or pay stubs. Approval workflows enable managers to review and submit timesheets for payroll. However, the functionality is pretty basic compared with what competing platforms like Connecteam offer, and there’s no built-in time clock to help employees track their hours.

Aside from data-syncing issues, I think this is a comprehensive and flexible payroll system that can scale up seamlessly as your company grows.

Recruitment

ELMO offers a feature-rich recruitment module that companies can use to post job ads, manage applicants, and hire. It’s an impressive applicant tracking system that offers tons of customizability and a smooth experience.

To get started, administrators can quickly craft a job posting using templates that include your company’s brand logo and other key information. You can write job ads yourself or use ELMO’s built-in AI tools to generate job descriptions automatically. The platform integrates with LinkedIn, Seek, and Indeed so your job description lands in front of various potential applicants.

You can manage applicants with customizable workflows that let you assign tasks like resume reviews, phone screenings, and interviews to specific employees on the hiring team. ELMO also offers note-taking tools so your hiring team can share thoughts on each candidate, including during interviews. An interview scheduling hub helps speed up the hiring process.

I especially like that ELMO includes features to help you make offers to candidates you want to hire. You can customize and send premade employment contracts, and your candidates can review and accept contracts on any device. Any candidates you liked but didn’t hire can be added to a ‘talent pool’, which serves as a searchable database of potential applicants the next time you’re hiring for a similar role.

I think ELMO’s recruitment module is a highlight of the platform. It’s on par with dedicated applicant tracking systems and integrates seamlessly with the HR features to make onboarding a breeze.

Performance management

ELMO’s performance management module offers various tools to help your employees reach their full potential and track changes in performance over time.

To start, the module includes customizable templates you can use for structured 1-on-1 reviews and check-ins. These can be sent directly to employees, and results are visible to managers and HR administrators. 

Notably, most questions accept text-response answers. While this gives employees tons of leeway to discuss how they’re feeling, it can make quantifying performance difficult. I’d like to see ELMO implement key performance indicators (KPIs) alongside these open-ended questions. It’d also be nice to see employee timelines—like Connecteam’s employee timelines.

ELMO comes with a library of ready-made development goals. Employees can reflect on which goals they most identify with, and managers can use this information to find ways to better support employees. At the administrator level, I like that you can view which goals are most important to your workforce—which could inspire new employee programs or training.

One feature I found especially interesting is the succession management panel. This lets you take notes on high-potential employees who could move up through your company. You can record information about how likely they are to stay with your company and which future positions they’re suited for. You can even assign them a mentor within ELMO, although the software doesn’t offer much support beyond this for establishing a mentorship program.

Learning management

The learning management module offers an easy-to-use learning management system that’s compatible with SCORM content and includes a library of more than 400 courses.

You can fully customize the courses to include quizzes, acknowledgments, and your company’s training materials and documents. My impression from watching videos of the course builder is that it looks somewhat clunky, but reviews indicate that it works well enough for building simple courses or modifying existing ones.

ELMO enables you to put all your company’s courses in one place for employees to explore, and you can set up enrolment rules to control which employees can sign up for which courses. I particularly like the software’s personalized learning approach, which lets you suggest courses for specific employees based on their job titles or departments.

You can track each employee’s learning progress and receive alerts when employees fall behind on required training. 

Integrations

ELMO offers just 11 integrations. Several are for popular recruiting websites. The software also integrates with Flare, an employee rewards platform, and accounting platforms Xero, MYOB, and Webexpenses. However, ELMO doesn’t have any integrations for workforce management systems.

While I’d like to see a few more integrations, especially for accounting and payroll systems, I like that the existing integrations are fairly customizable. For example, when using Flare, you can decide which rewards to toggle on or off for your employees. It’s also nice that all integrations are included with every ELMO license at no extra cost.

ELMO Security

ELMO is built with a security-first mindset to protect sensitive employee and company data. The platform uses multiple forms of security, including:

• Two-factor authentication (2FA): Administrators and employees must use a secondary device, like a smartphone, to log in.
• Role-based access permissions: Administrators can assign distinct user roles to employees, giving them different levels of access to view or modify data.
• Encryption: All data is encrypted at rest on ELMO’s servers and during transfer to your local system.
• Audit logs: Administrators can track which employees access which data records.
• Security audits: ELMO undergoes internal audits every 6 months to ensure system security.

ELMO holds an ISO 27001 security certificate—widely seen as the gold standard for business software security. Additionally, it complies with major data privacy regulations like GDPR.

ELMO Reporting and Analytics

ELMO provides distinct reporting dashboards for each of its modules, which is good and bad. On one hand, I like being able to drill into specific data sets, like leave data or employee performance review responses, with dedicated reports. On the other hand, jumping around the software when you want to generate multiple reports that involve different modules can be cumbersome.

Perhaps the biggest issue with this approach? ELMO doesn’t have a unified reporting dashboard you can populate with the data that matters to you. Any time you want to build a report, you must navigate to the relevant module and generate the report from scratch.

Despite this, I found the reporting tools to be fairly flexible and thought the graphics were informative. It’s possible to export data to a CSV—so you can slice and visualize your data in ways beyond what ELMO supports.

ELMO Customer Support

I had a difficult time getting information from ELMO’s sales team. I heard back quickly after submitting the company’s contact form, but the sales rep never followed up when I requested a demo or pricing information. I reached out several times but never heard anything more.

Despite this, I was able to get in touch with the customer service team, which is available by email and phone from 9am-5pm Monday-Friday (AEST). I called and was connected to a helpful representative right away.

Customers also praised the responsiveness of ELMO’s customer service team. One said the “customer support team is second to none and extremely responsive.”

ELMO has an online help centre, but it’s available only to existing customers, and I couldn’t access it.

What are ELMO’s Review Ratings from Review Sites?

(As of April 2025)

Capterra: 4.5/5
G2: 4.5/5
Software Advice: 4.5/5
TrustRadius: 8/10
GetApp: 4.5/5
Google Play Store: No reviews yet
Apple App Store: 3.4/5

ELMO App Review

ELMO is a well-rounded and easy-to-use HR, payroll, recruiting, and learning management platform for businesses in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. 

Because of the platform’s all-in-one approach, I think it’s best suited for medium and large businesses.

ELMO excels at recruitment and employee training—but falls short in payroll, mostly because the payroll module isn’t well-integrated with the rest of the platform. I’d also like to see ELMO build a comprehensive mobile app for administrators and employees.

Connecteam: The Better ELMO Alternative

Connecteam is the best alternative to ELMO for companies needing an all-in-one employee app and more features for work management.

Connecteam goes beyond basic HR to offer tons of advanced features like employee ID cards, customizable organization charts, a built-in document management system, and more. It also offers more comprehensive performance management and training features than ELMO. For example, you can quiz employees on critical topics and recognize outstanding performance with gift card rewards for employees.

Connecteam offers a wide range of integrations with popular payroll tools, ensuring you can use your favourite software to pay your workforce.

Unlike ELMO, Connecteam puts a lot of emphasis on productivity, with features to help your teams operate effectively on a day-to-day basis. You can use the employee scheduler to assign employees to work, communicate about work with a built-in online team chat, and even track time with a time clock for more accurate payroll and project billing.

My favourite thing about Connecteam is its mobile app, which is built for employees on the go. It’s a big contrast from ELMO’s very limited apps. Connecteam takes all the features of the web platform and puts them in a convenient, user-friendly package. Admins can use the app to keep your HR systems running smoothly, while employees can use the app for everything from requesting time off to reviewing pay stubs to completing training courses.

I also appreciate that Connecteam is completely free for small businesses with up to 10 employees, and plans for larger businesses start at only $29/month for up to 30 users, plus $0.50/month for each additional user. 

FAQs

ELMO doesn’t offer a free trial. However, you can contact the company to get a free demo. I requested a demo but never heard back.

No, ELMO isn’t HIPAA compliant. It’s designed for companies in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, which have their own privacy laws and aren’t subject to HIPAA. For companies needing a HIPAA-compliant HR software, Connecteam is a better option.