AI HR assistants for mid-sized companies

Before you compare prices, find out who can read your employees’ HR chats. Some assistants let more people read them than you would expect. If your HR system has its own assistant, try that first. If it has none, compare stand-alone assistants. Workativ’s Business plan costs $349 a month.

By Ashish Manchanda Published 3 Oct 2026 Last updated 3 Oct 2026

Try first

The assistant in your own HR system. Workday, SAP and Oracle each offer one without an extra licence. Workday counts each use against a yearly allowance.

Also ask

UKG, Dayforce, ADP and HiBob also have assistants. Ask each what its assistant costs.

If you have none

Workativ · Atomicwork · Salesforce Agentforce HR Service · Freshservice HR Agent if you run Freshservice

Ask for a size match

Leena AI · Moveworks · Wisq Harper. Their customers on this page range from 2,800 employees to over 100,000.

Your size

The plan a vendor quotes may stop at a headcount, so check it covers all your employees. Who can read the chats does not change with company size.

Watch

In Rippling, a reply in a channel shows to everyone there. Microsoft ships its harassment and discrimination safeguard switched off.

Check that the plan covers your headcount, then try your HR system’s own assistant

Vendors draw the line for a mid-sized company in different places. Workday markets HR software for companies under 3,500 employees. SAP offers its HR help desk to midsize and growing companies through a programme called GROW with SAP. In 2022 Personio aimed at companies of 10 to 2,000 employees. Atomicwork’s Professional plan allows up to 250 end users.

Try the assistant in software you already pay for

Workday’s Self-Service Agent needs no extra licence. Workday counts each use in units called “Flex Credits”.

SAP includes Joule Base, its AI assistant, in standard cloud subscriptions. Joule Premium is billed monthly by use. SAP SuccessFactors Enterprise Service Management is an HR help desk with Joule inside it. SAP may use customer data to build new AI features, under terms in your contract.

Oracle’s AI assistants come at no extra cost in Oracle Fusion Applications. Using Oracle’s ready-made user roles might still count toward your subscription, even for a service you did not buy. Ask Oracle what that means for your bill.

UKG sells Bryte as its own service for UKG Ready and UKG Pro. Dayforce builds its assistant into Dayforce. Employees can ask it about pay, benefits or schedules. ADP Assist runs inside Microsoft Teams for six ADP products, including ADP Workforce Now and RUN Powered by ADP.

HiBob’s Bob AI answers HR policy, payroll and benefits questions inside HiBob. Employees can also ask it in Slack. A person must approve any action that changes company data. HiBob prices by proposal.

Microsoft’s Employee Self-Service Agent works inside Copilot, the AI assistant in Microsoft 365. IT admins have to set it up and switch it on first. Employees need a Copilot licence, or can use Copilot Credits through Copilot Chat. For now it works only in the Copilot chat. Its Teams app has open issues.

Workativ and Salesforce publish prices a mid-sized company can buy

Workativ connects to more than 100 HR systems, including Workday, ADP and BambooHR

Workativ’s Business plan costs $349 a month. It includes 500 chat sessions, two AI assistants and three admins. It keeps your data for 60 days. Every connection can both read and update records in your HR system. Employees can use it in Slack, Teams, WhatsApp or on a website. GoTo, with 5,000 employees, runs it in Slack for IT and HR.

Atomicwork gives HR its own workspace on its Business and Enterprise plans

Atomicwork sells AI assistants it calls “AI Coworkers”. Its HR roles include onboarding, offboarding and benefits. HR gets its own workspace on the Business and Enterprise plans. Ask what those plans cost, and which plan includes the HR roles. The Professional plan includes two AI Coworkers. Extra AI Coworkers cost $499 each a month. It connects to Workday, ADP, BambooHR, Rippling and Gusto. Atomicwork customers include Catalyst Education, with 200+ employees, and Pepper Money, with 800+. Zuora, with over 1,600 employees, cut ticket volume by over 50%.

Salesforce charges $15 a user a month for its entry edition

Salesforce Agentforce HR Service costs $15 per user per month in its AI Agents for Employees edition, billed yearly. The HR Service Desk editions cost $50 and $75. Employees reach it in Slack, Teams, a portal or web chat. It connects to Workday, SAP and ADP. Salesforce’s own HR team settles 96% of employee questions without an HR person stepping in.

Freshservice HR Agent works in BambooHR and runs in Teams and Slack

Freshworks makes Freshservice. Freddy AI Agent Studio is Freshservice’s tool for building and running AI assistants. Freshworks offers it free to eligible Freshservice Growth, Pro and Enterprise customers until 31 December 2026. It will share prices closer to that date. The ready-made HR Agent takes actions in BambooHR. It shows leave balances, applies for leave and shows profiles, timesheets and dependants. Ready-made assistants come with no knowledge sources attached, so HR loads its own policies. It runs in the support portal, Teams and Slack, in over 40 languages.

Applaud, Simpplr, Rippling and Personio quote prices or come inside a larger product

Applaud prices per user per month. You can start with as few as 500 users, and you contact Applaud for the price. It works in Teams, Slack, mobile and WhatsApp. Simpplr puts its assistant in a company intranet and tailors the quote to your size. Rippling AI is built into the Rippling platform and needs a custom quote. Slack and Teams access has a waitlist. Personio Assistant answers questions about leave, payslips and HR documents.

Eight AI assistants side by side
Product	What it sits on	Price on its website	Who sees a sensitive question	A customer and its size
Workativ	Your HR system. It connects to more than 100.	Yes. $349 a month for the Business plan.	HR’s shared inbox. Its contract bars health data.	GoTo, 5,000 employees.
Freshservice HR Agent	A Freshservice help desk, with actions in BambooHR.	Free until 31 December 2026 for eligible customers.	Anyone with Studio access can read every chat.	Ask for one.
Atomicwork	Its own IT and HR support platform.	HR gets its own workspace on the Business and Enterprise plans. Ask for their price. Professional starts at $25,000 a year.	If it cannot help, a person gets the full chat and profile.	Catalyst Education, 200+ employees.
Salesforce Agentforce HR Service	Salesforce’s employee service software.	Yes. $15, $50 or $75 per user a month.	A person takes personal topics such as bereavement.	Salesforce itself, 76,000 employees.
Applaud	Its own employee portal, linked to your HR system.	Quote only. Start from 500 users.	Hands off to HR. Every chat is logged.	Ask for one.
Simpplr EX Agent	Its company intranet.	Quote only. A 14-day trial, with limited space.	Complex questions go to the right person.	Cook Media, 300 employees.
Rippling AI	Built into the Rippling platform.	Quote only. Most products bill per employee.	Use a direct message. A channel reply shows to everyone there.	NinjaTech AI, 24 employees.
Personio Assistant	Personio’s HR software.	Ask. Some Personio AI features cost extra per use.	Personio stores chats. Only switching the Assistant off stops that.	Ask for one.

Ask Leena AI, Moveworks and Wisq Harper for a customer near your size

Breeze Airways, with 2,800 employees, uses Wisq Harper. So does FICO, with 4,000. Moveworks serves Databricks, with 8,000+ employees, and Johnson Controls, with over 100,000. Leena AI serves Beacon Mobility, with 18,000. Leena AI gives you a price within one business day after six questions. Moveworks quotes on request.

ServiceNow completed its purchase of Moveworks on 15 December 2025. You can still buy Moveworks on its own.

Published prices start free for now and reach $450,000 a year for 500 users

Salesforce’s $15 edition costs $90,000 a year for 500 users. That assumes every employee is a user. The $50 and $75 editions cost $300,000 and $450,000 a year for 500 users. Atomicwork gives HR its own workspace on its Business and Enterprise plans. Ask for their price. Its Professional plan starts at $25,000 a year. Atomicwork also sells knowledge support at $1 per “outcome”, with a minimum of 25,000 outcomes a year. Ask Atomicwork what counts as an outcome.

Workativ’s $349 plan comes to $4,188 over twelve months at the monthly price. A chat session is one conversation, however many questions it holds. Freshservice’s studio for AI assistants is free for now for eligible customers.

Inside software you already pay for, Workday charges 1 Flex Credit for a question. A finished task costs 5. Workday also gives a free yearly allowance based on company size. Without a Copilot licence, each Microsoft query costs an average of 15 cents.

Applaud, Simpplr, Rippling, Leena AI, Moveworks and HiBob quote on request. Ask UKG, Dayforce, ADP, Personio and Wisq what their assistants cost. Bring your headcount to each call, and your HR question volume if you track it.

Check chat access, sensitive topics, user limits and exit terms before you sign

Most of these risks stay the same at any company size. User limits and minimums are the exception.

A sensitive question needs a route to a person

Microsoft ships its harassment and discrimination safeguard switched off. When it runs, it tells the employee to contact a representative and ends the chat. Salesforce passes personal topics, such as bereavement, to HR. Workativ sends out-of-scope matters to a shared HR inbox. Its contract also bars you from sending health or religion data.

Contracts and user limits can cost you more than you plan

Atomicwork’s Professional plan allows up to 250 end users. Applaud starts at 500 users and does not let you cut your user count during a term. Workativ renews automatically at its standard price. Workday orders cannot be cancelled, and payments are not refunded, except where the agreement says otherwise. Atomicwork may charge a fee when you end the contract.

The exit windows are short

If you use Simpplr Classic, its support ends on 31 October 2026. After that date, moving off it is at your cost or needs a fresh setup. Freshworks allows export for 14 days after an account closes. Simpplr makes your data available only if you ask within 30 days after the contract ends. Applaud wants a written request for your latest backup within 10 business days after the contract ends. If you miss it, Applaud may destroy your data. After you close your account, Workativ keeps your data for 2 months, then deletes it.

What should you ask each vendor before signing?

Workday: How many units will our ten most common questions use? What is our free yearly allowance? Good answer: A unit count per action and a written allowance.
SAP: Will you leave our data out of your AI product development? Good answer: Yes, in the contract.
Oracle: Will the ready-made user roles count toward our subscription? Good answer: A written answer for the roles we plan to use.
Workativ: Are the 500 chat sessions a month or a year? What will renewal cost? Good answer: A written session period and the renewal price.
Freshservice: Is the HR Agent inside the free offer? Does it work with our HR system? Who on our team will see conversation logs? Good answer: A yes in writing to the first two, and a short list of named admins.
Atomicwork: Which plan gives HR its own workspace and covers all our employees? What counts as one outcome? Good answer: One plan name and a written definition of an outcome.
Salesforce: Which edition do we need? How many of our employees count as users? Good answer: One edition and a user count in writing.
Applaud: What is our price per user? Can we lower the count at renewal? Good answer: A written rate and a lower count at renewal.
Simpplr: Does the assistant cost extra on top of the intranet quote? If we use Simpplr Classic, what will moving off it cost? Good answer: A price on the quote and a written migration cost.
Rippling: Is the AI included in our quote? Is Slack access live for us today? Good answer: A yes in writing and a live date.
Leena AI, Moveworks, Wisq: Which customer near our size can we speak to? Good answer: A customer within our headcount range who will take a call.
Personio: Can we keep the Assistant on and stop it storing chats? Good answer: Yes, in writing.

Larger companies and frontline staff have their own guides

If you have thousands of employees, read the enterprise guide. If your people have no company laptop or email, read the guide for frontline staff. The comparison puts all eighteen assistants side by side. The guide to AI HR assistants covers the whole market.

More in this guide

The AI HR Agents guide
All eighteen assistants side by side on what each completes in the chat, which HR systems it reaches, how it is charged and who reads the chats.
Mid-market companies which assistants come with an HR system, help desk or intranet, and the one standalone assistant that shows a price, Workativ at $349 a month.
Enterprise companies when to turn on an HR suite’s own assistant, and which three to demo when one assistant must reach several HR systems.
Staff without a company laptop or email which six assistants name a way in for these staff, and the question to put to eleven others.