What performance management software costs and what its AI does with a rating

This guide covers 33 products. In Confirm, Leapsome, Topicflow and Teamflect, the AI can suggest or change a rating. Effy AI, Teamflect, Topicflow and Windmill let a small team start free. Where a contract renews by itself, the notice to stop it runs from 30 to 90 days.

By Ashish Manchanda Published 16 Oct 2026 Last updated 16 Oct 2026 33 products

Performance management software runs your review round. It collects ratings, comments and goals, and it keeps the record. Many products now add an AI assistant. The 33 products here differ most in three ways. Some come inside an HR system. Their AI does different things with a rating. Their contracts differ in how hard they are to leave.

In Confirm, Leapsome, Topicflow and Teamflect, the AI can suggest or change a rating

Many products now include an AI assistant that writes review text. Writing text is one job. Setting a score is another. Ratings often feed pay and promotion decisions. Calibration is a meeting where leaders compare ratings and adjust them so they are consistent across the company. Several laws treat the two jobs differently, as the legal section below shows.

AI that suggests or changes a rating

Confirm Drafts the rating

Confirm’s AI assistant drafts answers to manager review questions, ratings and rating comments included. It leaves promotion recommendation questions out. An administrator allows the AI question by question. The manager edits the draft.
Leapsome Suggests a calibration score

In Leapsome’s calibration screen, the AI shows a suggested score and the reason for it. Accepting the suggestion changes the calibration score and adds a note.
Topicflow Adjusts a rating

Topicflow’s AI can adjust a rating, add a calibration comment and mark a calibration as complete. The person sees a preview of each change and approves it.
Teamflect Recommends a nine-box placement

A nine-box grid places each person by performance and potential. With its AI nine-box setting on, Teamflect recommends a box from the review ratings and the written feedback. The setting is opt-in. The reviewer can pick another box.

AI that points out people or ratings for someone to check

Klaar Flags ratings that do not match the evidence

Klaar’s AI assistant, Scout, flags ratings that do not match the evidence before they reach calibration.
Effy AI Shows where ratings differ

Effy AI’s calibration help shows where ratings differ between managers and teams.
TalentGuard Flags inconsistent raters

TalentGuard flags raters who score inconsistently and ratings that shift over time.
Rippling Marks new hires as “High Potential” or “Pay Attention”

Rippling invited customers to a trial of Talent Signal on 27 December 2024. Ask whether it is on sale now. It reads a new hire’s first 90 days of work. That work includes engineers’ code, sales call transcripts and support chats. It then marks people as “High Potential” or “Pay Attention”.

AI that leaves the rating to a person

15Five Never assigns a score

15Five’s AI-Assisted Reviews does not answer rating questions and never assigns a score.
Culture Amp Will not suggest a final rating

Culture Amp’s AI Coach will not suggest a final rating. The manager sets it.
Trakstar No link to the scoring system

Trakstar’s AI summary has no link to the scoring system and does not assign or influence a rating. Its writing tool, Refine, cannot change a rating.
Peoplebox Writes comments only

In Peoplebox’s link to outside AI assistants, the AI writes comments only. A person always chooses the ratings and scores.
Windmill Drafts text answers only

Windmill’s AutoDraft writes the text answers only. The reviewer completes the ratings. Its calibration summary compares each manager’s average team rating with the group average. It does not change ratings.
Workleap Proposes no rating by default

Workleap’s Review Agent does not propose a rating by default.
Risely Coaches the wording, leaves the rating to the manager

Risely’s AI coach, Merlin, helps a manager write review feedback. Merlin coaches the wording and leaves the rating to the manager. Risely does not run review cycles, so it sits outside the 33 products.

You can switch AI off in several products. Betterworks and Trakstar ship with AI off until an administrator turns it on. PerformYard does the same for its Premium licence, which used to be called Enterprise. In 15Five, Lattice and Topicflow, one setting turns off every AI tool. In Culture Amp, one AI feature cannot be switched off. It sorts comments by topic and reads whether each one is positive, negative or mixed.

Three questions for the first demo. Which AI actions can change a rating, a score or a placement? Which of them are on the day you start? Who on your team can switch each one off? Ask to see the settings screen itself. A good answer covers every AI action that touches a rating. For each one, the answer includes whether it starts on or off and who can turn it off.

Seven jobs bring people here, and each needs a different kind of product

Each job below points to a different kind of product. Find yours, then read the groups that follow.

Run one review round for everyone

A product built around the round

ClearCompany runs annual, semi-annual, quarterly and new-hire rounds from templates. Rippling sets who is reviewed by department, tenure or work location. Ask each one for a trial that uses your own review form.

Write better review feedback

Coaching for managers, or the writing tool in a review product

15Five, Confirm, Lattice and Windmill include an AI that drafts review text. Risely’s AI coach, Merlin, coaches the manager instead of writing the review for them. An administrator sets up the company’s feedback guidelines in Risely. Merlin then helps a manager draft review feedback against those guidelines. A manager can also upload feedback already drafted, and Merlin coaches them on how to align it with the guidelines. Merlin also coaches managers on giving constructive feedback. Review-feedback coaching is part of Risely’s enterprise plan.

Keep ratings fair between managers

Check the plan for calibration

Plans differ on calibration. Mesh includes it from its $4 plan. Lattice puts it in its base Performance product. Betterworks puts Anytime Calibration in its $9 plan and not its $8 plan. Talos Perform, formerly Appraisd, sells its calibration tool at an early-bird price of 5% extra on licence fees. The minimum is £400 a year in the UK and $550 in the US.

Link ratings to pay

An add-on or your HR system

15Five sells a compensation package at $9 per user per month. Lattice adds compensation for $6 and Peoplebox for $5. Rippling lets a review round include a compensation stage. ADP sends finalised pay decisions to Workforce Now payroll. Lattice writes ratings and weighted scores into Workday. Windmill only reads from Workday.

Set goals and track them with OKRs

A goals-first product

OKRs are objectives and key results. Peoplebox sells Performance Management with OKRs as one plan. Profit.co sells goals, performance and projects on one platform. Mesh includes Goals and OKRs in the same plan that carries its calibration. Lattice sells Goals and OKRs at $8 as a separate part, and Effy AI sells them at $2. Ask each one how a goal links to the rating in a review.

Build a 1:1 and feedback habit between reviews

A product inside the tools managers already use

Teamflect is built for Microsoft Teams and Outlook. Effy AI runs reviews, goals and 1:1s in Slack, Teams or a browser. Lattice includes 1:1s with its Performance product. A 1:1 is a regular one-to-one meeting between a manager and an employee.

Add performance to the HR system you already pay for

Your HR system first

Rippling sells each HR product only with its core platform. ADP sells Performance Management as an add-on to Workforce Now. BambooHR carries 360 review cycles and 1:1s in its Pro plan. A 360 review collects feedback from several people who work with the employee. Workday’s Sana Coach is still a trial. Ask whether you can buy it now. Its goals and check-ins are not yet on sale. Check what your current plan includes before you buy a second product.

A small team can start free, and larger plans carry yearly minimums

Effy AI, Teamflect, Topicflow and Windmill let a small team start without paying. Effy AI’s free plan covers up to 5 users with full access to 360 reviews. Teamflect and Topicflow each have a free plan for up to 10 users. Windmill’s first 10 users are free, and each user after that costs $10 a month. Ask each vendor whether the free plan runs a full review cycle with a rating.

Many paid plans set a yearly minimum, so a small team pays that floor whatever its size. Each one appears in the cost table below. Talos Perform asks £4,750 for up to 50 employees on a two-year term.

Some vendors aim at a certain company size. The table gives the size each one aims at.

Who each one suits
Product	Size it suits
Effy AI	30 to over 1,000 people
PerformSpark	about 15 to well over 1,000 people
Peoplebox	100 to 1,000 people
emPerform	150 to 3,000 people
Confirm	100 to over 10,000 people
Mesh	50 to 5,000 people on shift-based or deskless work
Betterworks	most value above 500 people
TalentGuard	500 or more employees, or an HR team of at least 10 people
ADP	Workforce Now is built for midsized and large businesses
PeopleFluent	mid-size and large enterprises

The 33 products, grouped by what they come inside

The groups below follow what each product is sold inside. Every product appears once.

Inside an HR, payroll or talent system

Six come inside a system that also holds your people records

With these products, one vendor holds your people records and your reviews. See the jobs section for what Rippling, BambooHR and ADP include. See the cost section for how SAP SuccessFactors and Workday price. Empxtrack sells an HR platform and a performance product.

Sold with a wider people package

Eleven sell reviews next to surveys, learning, pay, hiring or other talent tools

15Five sells Engage next to Perform. Lattice sells Performance, Goals and Engagement as separate parts. Culture Amp sells a Perform Only plan. Quantum Workplace sells tools for engagement, performance, development and recognition. You can buy them together or one at a time. ClearCompany sells a package of performance, engagement, learning and pay. Trakstar sells a suite that also covers hiring. Leapsome tells buyers to start with its HR platform and add parts. Klaar sells Develop, Engage and Reward as add-ons. Engagedly sells tools for performance, learning, engagement, rewards and moving people between roles. Workleap sells a suite for employee experience, performance and operations. PeopleFluent sells a talent management suite of performance, succession and development tools. Its performance products are PeopleFluent Performance and Reflektive.

Goals and OKRs first

Two start from goals

Peoplebox is an OKR, talent management and people analytics platform. Performance Management is its base plan. On AWS Marketplace, Amazon’s software store, each Profit.co part bills on its own user count.

Built around the review round

Thirteen sell the review round as the main product

Windmill works with Slack and Google. emPerform includes every feature in one yearly fee. Mesh comes from Netchex, which also sells payroll and HR. Appraisd is now called Talos Perform, which Talos360 launched on 29 April 2026. See the cost section for the published prices of most of the rest.

Skills and talent first

One starts from skills

TalentGuard’s AI writes job profiles, skill definitions and skill-level descriptions for people to check.

TalentGuard

What a year costs for 100 people, and what the renewal terms say

This table works out one year for 100 people from each list price. It multiplies the monthly price by 100 people and 12 months. Where a vendor offers a monthly price and a yearly-billing price, the table uses the yearly-billing price. Add-ons and minimums change the real bill.

Published prices for 100 people
Product	Plan and list price	One year, 100 people
Effy AI	360 Reviews at $3 per person a month for one review a year, or the Performance suite at $9	$3,600 to $10,800
Synergita	Perform at $4 per user a month	$4,800
PerformSpark	$4 to $8 per user a month, with annual minimums. The $4 price is a limited offer, and PerformSpark decides who qualifies during evaluation	$4,800 to $9,600
Mesh	Foundations at $4 per person a month, with a $6,000 yearly minimum	$6,000
PerformYard	$5 to $15 per person a month, by headcount and products	$6,000 to $18,000
Engagedly	Performance Suite at $5 to $8 per user a month, with a $7,500 yearly minimum	$7,500 to $9,600
Teamflect	Essential at $7 per user a month, billed annually	$8,400
Leapsome	Performance Reviews at €7 per employee a month, on top of its HR platform	€8,400 plus the platform
Talos Perform	From £95 per employee a year, with a two-year minimum contract	£9,500
Betterworks	Performance at $8 per user a month, plus a one-time implementation fee	$9,600
Peoplebox	Performance Management at $8 per employee a month	$9,600
Windmill	$10 per user a month after the first 10 users	$10,800
Lattice	Performance at $10 per user a month, with a $4,000 yearly minimum	$12,000
15Five	Perform at $11 per user a month	$13,200
Quantum Workplace	Packages from $15,000 a year	$15,000 minimum
Profit.co	Performance Management on AWS Marketplace at $180 per user for 12 months	$18,000
Topicflow	Ultimate at $15 per user a month, the plan that runs review cycles	$18,000
BambooHR	Pro at $17 per employee a month on its pricing card, with the HR system included	$20,400
Workleap	Standard from $4,999 a year plus $32 per manager a month. Above 250 people, Workleap asks you to contact its team	$4,999 plus $384 for each manager

Confirm prices Perform from $8 per user a month, billed annually, for a company of 200 people. Empxtrack gives 5 appraisals free. It sells more appraisals inside the product at rates set by country. A UK reseller sells SAP SuccessFactors Performance and Goals from £2.53 per user a month for 1 to 2,000 users. The price rises 3.3% each anniversary.

Workday charges for the work its AI agents do through Flex Credits instead of per person. ADP shows its price only to logged-in customers on its app store. Eleven vendors need you to ask them for a price. They are ADP, ClearCompany, Culture Amp, emPerform, Klaar, PeopleFluent, Primalogik, Rippling, TalentGuard, Trakstar and Workday. Ask for a written price for your headcount, with every add-on you plan to use.

Some costs sit outside the plan price. 15Five charges $2 per employee a month for its meeting notetaker. It charges $19 per manager a month for its AI coach. Lattice adds development tools for $4. Peoplebox charges $8 for its 360 feedback add-on, the same as its base plan. Talos Perform adds 20% to licence fees for its AI notetaker. SAP counts AI use above a yearly allowance as “Premium AI” and sells it under a separate licence. Betterworks charges for implementation and for Signature Support, its paid support tier. Lattice includes AI review drafts at no extra cost, and Culture Amp includes its AI Coach in every plan.

NoticeStopping a renewal needs 30 days’ notice at 15Five, Lattice, Mesh, Peoplebox, Teamflect, Topicflow, Windmill and Workleap. PeopleFluent needs 30 days too under its Reflektive terms. BambooHR, PerformYard and Trakstar need 60 days. Betterworks, ClearCompany, Culture Amp, Synergita and Talos Perform need 90 days.

Price risesLattice caps a renewal rise at 5% above list price. Leapsome allows up to 5%. Talos Perform allows up to 5% each year. PerformYard allows up to 20% above the prior term. Betterworks can raise renewal fees on 120 days’ notice. 15Five charges whatever its price is on the renewal date.

Fewer users15Five and Leapsome do not let you cut users during a term. Teamflect holds the count on annual plans until the term ends. Lattice gives no refund for a user you drop. At renewal, Workleap bills the higher of your current scope and your actual use. You can change that by telling it before its cutoff date.

Leaving earlyMesh gives no refund and keeps all committed fees payable if you end early. Talos Perform makes all outstanding amounts payable at once. Leapsome keeps you liable to the end of the term. BambooHR offers a month-to-month subscription you can end at any time. Effy AI also lets you cancel at any time.

Legal duties, vendor terms and your exit

The rules below put the duty on the employer. Most of them turn on one question. Does the tool decide, or does it help a person decide?

EUThe EU AI Act puts AI that judges workers’ performance on its high-risk list, unless an exemption applies. The rules for those systems apply from 2 December 2027. Employers must tell workers and their representatives before they use one. AI that only does a preparatory task, without materially influencing the outcome, can be exempt. AI that profiles people is never exempt. A profile is a score or label built from data about a person. High-risk systems bring duties such as human oversight and keeping logs for at least six months. Employer breaches carry fines up to €15 million or 3% of worldwide turnover.

UKThe UK rules on decisions made only by automated means changed on 5 February 2026. The law adds extra protections for decisions that have a legal or similarly significant effect on a person. The UK data regulator is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). In its view, a decision that changes someone’s pay based on performance is likely to have that kind of effect. Dismissal is the same. It also tells employers not to assume a bought package follows data protection law.

United StatesColorado’s law covers decisions made from 1 January 2027 and counts employees as consumers. It excludes a tool that only summarises or drafts for human review and gives no score or recommendation. California’s rules for automated tools in significant decisions apply from 1 January 2027. Those decisions include pay, promotion and termination. Illinois has required notice to employees about AI used for promotion, discipline and discharge since 1 January 2026. New York City requires a bias audit and notice when a tool helps screen employees for promotion.

Works councilsA works council is an elected staff body that an employer must inform or consult. In Germany it has a say over technical systems that monitor behaviour or performance. In the Netherlands it must agree to a staff appraisal scheme. In France, employees must be told how they will be evaluated before the method is used. The French staff committee is consulted on monitoring tools. In Italy, employers must tell workers about fully automated systems that give signals on performance.

Vendor terms15Five forbids using output about a person for uses with legal or material impact, including employment decisions. BambooHR bars its AI from high-risk, significant or consequential decisions. ClearCompany, Teamflect and Workleap bar using AI output as the only basis for employment decisions. In North America, Leapsome bars automated employment decisions without meaningful human review. Peoplebox requires users to check AI output before relying on it for any performance evaluation or employment decision. It also bars using it for biased employment practices. Synergita bars relying only on AI for critical business, legal or compliance decisions. Teamflect calls any AI use in employment or worker management decisions a “High-Risk Use”. Lattice makes you solely responsible for AI policies, notices, consents and human oversight. Betterworks makes you solely responsible for making sure AI content follows the law.

LeavingBambooHR, Culture Amp, Leapsome, Teamflect and Trakstar give 30 days after the contract ends to export your data. Quantum Workplace and PerformSpark give 60 days. 15Five deletes personal data within 90 days. Lattice keeps data inactive for six months and then deletes it. Culture Amp has no export of all data at once, so you export feature by feature. Windmill’s export link works for 48 hours. Talos Perform includes a standard export file at no cost and charges for a custom format.

Which route fits which situation

Your HR system may already have it

Check your plan first. See the jobs section for what BambooHR, Rippling and ADP include and charge for. Ask your current vendor what performance costs on your plan, and test it before you buy a second product.

A small team that wants to start free

See the size section for the free plans. Teamflect’s free plan carries all nine of its parts for up to 10 users. Check what the free plan leaves out before your first review round.

You want better review writing without new review software

Merlin works on the writing, not the review round. Risely’s AI coach, Merlin, coaches managers on their feedback wording against your company’s guidelines. The manager still gives the rating. This coaching is part of Risely’s enterprise plan.

You want AI to leave ratings to people

See the AI and ratings section for the products whose AI leaves the rating to a person. Ask for that promise in your contract, in the words that fit the product you pick.

You want the lowest published price

Effy AI starts at $3 per person a month for 360 reviews. Synergita and Mesh start at $4. PerformSpark’s $4 is a limited offer that it sets for each employer. Check the minimums first, because Mesh asks for $6,000 a year.

You want goals tied to reviews

See the goals job above for who sells goals and reviews together and who sells them apart. Ask how a goal feeds the rating before you compare prices.

You have 500 or more people

Check the size table first. For ADP, TalentGuard and PeopleFluent, ask for the price in writing.

You want an easy exit

See the leaving-early row for the products that let you cancel at any time. Where a contract renews for a full term, note the notice date in your diary.

You want all 33 side by side

Read all 33 against the same questions, side by side. Compare the 33 researched products.

Buying is one route. You could also build agents that run review steps on your own systems. The HR Agent Map

More in this guide

The Performance management software guide
Compare the 33 researched products how each of the 33 researched performance management products runs reviews, what its AI does, what it costs and what its contract says.
Mid-market companies which performance management products suit a company of 200 to 2,000 people, what they cost and what to ask before signing.
Enterprise companies which performance management products suit a company of 2,000 people or more, what they cost, how the contracts run and what to ask.
Frontline and deskless teams how performance reviews reach staff who do not work at a desk, what that costs and what to ask vendors.