Access PeopleHR alternative for small EU teams (2026)
PeopleHR (now Access PeopleHR, part of The Access Group) is a capable, established UK HR platform. For a 200-person organisation running UK payroll, recruitment and performance from one vendor with a dedicated account manager, it is a sensible shortlist pick. But if you are the founder or ops person doing HR for a team under 50 in the EU or Caucasus, with no HR hire and no appetite for an implementation project, the per-seat-from-day-one pricing and the depth you pay for but do not use are a mismatch. HourSquare is the simpler, self-serve, EU/GDPR-native option you set up yourself in an afternoon, free up to 10 employees.
Who this is for: Teams under roughly 50 employees in the EU or Caucasus, run by a founder or an ops/office manager rather than a dedicated HR department, who want a flat-priced or free HRIS they can stand up themselves without a demo, a sales call or a multi-week implementation. If your buying process expects vendor-led onboarding and a named account manager, PeopleHR is built for that and HourSquare is not.
About Access PeopleHR
UK-built, modular HR and payroll platform for SMBs and mid-market, AI-assisted and backed by The Access Group ecosystem (1000+ integrations, dedicated support).
Where Access PeopleHR is genuinely strong
- Modular depth across four tiers (Starter, Core, Pro, Elite+), adding performance management, timesheets, surveys and automated workflows (Ripple) as you grow
- Wide integration surface, marketed as 1000+ pre-built integrations and 94 API endpoints
- Payroll under one roof — native payroll SaaS plus managed-payroll packages
- Recruitment/ATS, appraisals, an AI assistant (Co-Pilot) and a learning module all built into the suite
- Established and proven — markets 680,000 users worldwide, backed by The Access Group
- Guided, vendor-led setup with a dedicated account and support relationship for buyers who want one
Where it tends to fall short for our typical buyer
- Best features are paywalled into higher tiers — performance (Pro) and automated workflows/advanced analytics (Elite+) are contact-us, and AI depth is gated
- Setup is a project — meaningful time to customise fields, build workflows and import data, per independent reviews
- Dated UI and workflow friction reported in reviews — quick auto-logout and clunky non-leave approvals
- Support quality is inconsistent in reviews — slow responses and hard-to-reach phone support, no live chat
- UK-centric and English-first, with no free-forever tier — per employee from day one with only a 14-day trial
- No public EU data-residency guarantee — the old security/GDPR page now redirects to a general Access Group privacy notice that omits hosting location and certifications
Starting price: From £3 / employee / month (Starter); Core £5.50, Pro £8 and Elite+ £9.50 are contact-us; 14-day trial, no card (source)
Feature by feature
| Feature | HourSquare | Access PeopleHR |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Free for all sizes through 2026, then free forever for teams of 10 or fewer | No free plan; 14-day trial only |
| Entry price | Free | From £3 / employee / month (Starter) |
| Self-serve setup (no sales call or implementation) | Yes — register and configure it yourself | Pro and Elite+ are contact-us; setup is a guided project |
| Sweet-spot team size | Under ~50, especially with no dedicated HR hire | SMB through mid-market and larger |
| EU / GDPR hosting | EU-hosted, encrypted, audit-logged; GDPR-native data model | Access Group-backed; no public EU data-residency or hosting-location claim |
| Onboarding / offboarding automation | Yes — auto-starts on contract effective date with task fan-out | Yes (onboarding from Core tier) |
| Time tracking / timesheets | Yes | Yes (Pro tier and up) |
| Payroll | Settings + payslips, Georgian-Labor-Code-aware, accountant-exportable | Native payroll SaaS plus managed payroll (add-on packages) |
| Performance management | Not a core focus | Yes (Pro tier and up) |
| Recruitment / ATS | No | Yes |
| Integrations | Focused / lean | Marketed as 1000+ pre-built, 94 API endpoints |
| Anonymous whistleblowing (EU Directive) | Built in | Not a highlighted feature |
| Languages | Bilingual EN + KA | English-first (UK) |
| AI features | Reports / AI summaries on the post-beta roadmap | AI assistant (Co-Pilot), gated to higher tiers |
The short version
PeopleHR is the deeper, integration-rich, payroll-inclusive platform for larger or multi-entity UK and EU organisations that want vendor-led setup and do not mind paying per seat from day one. HourSquare is the simpler, self-serve, EU/GDPR-native option a small team can run itself — free up to 10 employees through the open beta and free forever for teams of 10 or fewer afterwards.
Neither is better in the abstract. The right answer depends on your size, where you operate, and whether you have someone whose job is HR.
Where PeopleHR is genuinely strong
- Modular depth across four tiers, adding performance management, timesheets, surveys and automated workflows as you grow
- A wide integration surface, marketed as 1000+ pre-built integrations and 94 API endpoints
- Payroll under one roof — native payroll SaaS plus managed-payroll packages, so a UK org can buy HR and payroll from one vendor
- Recruitment/ATS, appraisals, an AI assistant and a learning module built into the suite
- Established and proven — 680,000 users worldwide, backed by The Access Group
Where the fit breaks down for small EU and Caucasus teams
- The best features are paywalled into Pro and Elite+ (contact-us pricing), so Starter and Core can feel thin
- Setup is a project, not an afternoon — fields to customise, workflows to build, data to import, plus a learning curve
- Reviewers report a dated interface and workflow friction, and inconsistent support with no live chat
- UK-centric and English-first, with no free-forever tier — per employee from day one, 14-day trial only
- No public EU data-residency claim — the old security page now redirects to a general Access Group privacy notice
What HourSquare does differently
- Free up to 10 and self-serve — no demo, no sales call, no implementation project; you configure your whole team yourself
- EU-hosted, encrypted, audit-logged and GDPR-native by design
- Bilingual EN + KA, with Georgian-Labor-Code-aware payslips and holiday calendars for 100+ countries
- Anonymous whistleblowing aligned with the EU Whistleblower Directive, built in rather than an add-on
A note on security and data residency
Be careful with security claims about either product. The former PeopleHR security/GDPR page now redirects to a general Access Group privacy notice that does not publicly state ISO 27001 certification, encryption standard, or where data is hosted. Older third-party summaries cite ISO 27001 and AES-256 — treat those as approximate and verify directly. HourSquare is EU-hosted, encrypted and audit-logged. If data residency matters to your team, confirm the current commitments of both vendors in writing rather than trusting any comparison table, including this one.
Why HourSquare wins here
- Free forever for teams up to 10, full feature set, no card and no trial clock, versus per-employee pricing from day one
- Self-serve from the start — a founder or ops person is productive in an afternoon rather than weeks
- EU-hosted, encrypted, audit-logged and GDPR-native by design, where PeopleHR no longer publishes a hosting-location claim
- Bilingual EN + KA with Georgian-Labor-Code-aware payroll and 100+ country holiday calendars
- Anonymous whistleblowing (EU Directive) built in, not an add-on
- Flat free pricing below 10 employees means cost does not creep up with each new hire
When Access PeopleHR is the right call
- You are a larger or multi-entity UK/EU organisation that needs depth — advanced performance management, recruitment/ATS, and native plus managed payroll
- You want a wide integration surface to connect existing finance, payroll and ATS systems
- You expect formal implementation help and a dedicated account or support relationship
- HR and payroll from one vendor, billed per employee, is acceptable or even preferred for your finance team
Frequently asked
- Is HourSquare really free, and how does that compare to PeopleHR?
- Yes. HourSquare is free for every team size through the end of 2026, then free forever for teams of 10 or fewer, full feature set, no card. PeopleHR has no free plan; it offers a 14-day trial and then charges per employee per month, starting around £3 for the Starter tier (source: peoplehr.com/en-gb/pricing). Above 10 employees after the beta, HourSquare moves to talk-to-us pricing and your data carries over.
- Can I move from PeopleHR to HourSquare without a big migration?
- For a small team, yes. HourSquare is built for self-serve setup, so you import employee data and configure leave, onboarding and payroll inputs yourself, typically in an afternoon. The honest caveat: if you rely on PeopleHR recruitment/ATS, advanced performance reviews or its native payroll engine, HourSquare does not replace those one-for-one, so map those needs before switching.
- Which is better for a team of fewer than 50 people in the EU?
- For most teams under 50 in the EU or Caucasus without a dedicated HR hire, HourSquare is the closer fit: free up to 10, self-serve, EU-hosted and GDPR-native, bilingual EN/KA. PeopleHR is the better fit if you are toward the larger end, need recruitment, advanced performance management or native payroll in one suite, or want vendor-led implementation.
- Does PeopleHR handle payroll, and does HourSquare?
- PeopleHR offers native payroll SaaS and managed-payroll packages, so a UK org can buy HR and payroll from one vendor. HourSquare provides payroll settings and payslips that are aware of the Georgian Labor Code and exportable for an accountant, rather than a full multi-country payroll engine. If running statutory payroll in-house from your HR tool is a hard requirement, weigh that difference.
- Is PeopleHR a good choice for cross-border or multi-entity organisations?
- It can be. PeopleHR sits within The Access Group mid-market suite, positioned for larger and multi-entity UK/EU organisations. We could not verify cross-border policy harmonisation as an explicitly named PeopleHR feature on its site, so confirm that capability directly with PeopleHR if it is central to your decision. HourSquare targets single-entity small teams.
See how HourSquare actually feels in your workflow.
Beta-free for everyone through 2026 — every feature, every team size, no card. Free up to 10 employees forever after. If it does not fit, the migration cost back is about an afternoon.
Free up to 10 employees · GDPR-native · Built for the EU