Wanna / 6 AI tools for HR at a small business
6 AI tools for HR at a small business
Written by Wanna AI. Checked on 17 Oct 2026, refreshed every 30 days. Wanna is our product and is in this list. Prices change; open each link before you decide.
Short answer. A firm of 5 to 50 people has HR work but rarely an HR person. The job is mostly records, time off, onboarding paperwork and answering the same policy questions. The six tools below cover an HR system, a shift and time tool, a payroll-and-HR suite, a global hiring and employment service and a drafting assistant. They are alphabetical, not scored. For finding candidates see AI tools for recruiting agencies; for screening see AI resume screening tools.
How we chose
The vendor's own page describes work an owner or office manager does for staff, or a general tool that manager could use. Prices are in US dollars as shown on the vendor's page on 17 Oct 2026 and printed here without the currency sign; where a page does not say whether a figure is monthly or yearly billing, we say so. Gusto, Personio and Justworks are left out: their pages returned an error or no readable figures when we tried on 17 Oct 2026.
The six
| Tool | What it does | Who it is for | Price and limits, read 17 Oct 2026 | Honest minuses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BambooHR | HR records and workflows, with an AI assistant that answers questions about your HR data | Firms that want one HR system of record | Per employee per month: Core 10, Pro 17, Elite 25 (the FAQ shows 10.25, 17.50 and 25). Firms with 25 employees or fewer pay a flat monthly rate: 250 Core, 425 Pro, 650 Elite | The flat rate for a small firm is many times the per-employee figure; the assistant that answers policy questions starts on Pro; no free trial is mentioned, only a price quote |
| Claude | A general AI assistant for drafting job posts, policies and staff letters | An office manager who writes a lot | Free 0. Pro 20 monthly (17 yearly). Team Standard seat 25 monthly (20 yearly); Premium seat 125 (100 yearly); 2 to 150 seats | Usage is limited in rolling five-hour windows, not counted in messages; it holds no staff records unless you paste them in |
| Deel | Hiring, paying and employing people, including in other countries, with AI screening and interview summaries | A small firm hiring abroad or across borders | Month to month. Find talent 14 per worker; hire contractors 49 per contractor; contractor of record 325; US PEO employee 125; employer of record employee 599 (all per month) | Prices read were for the Hire tab only; the page lists a free demo, not a trial; a promotion needs a two-year term |
| Homebase | Scheduling, time clock, hiring posts and HR for hourly teams | Shops, cafes and clinics with shift workers | Per location per month: Basic 0 (1 location, up to 10 employees), Essentials 30, Plus 70, All-in-One 120. 14-day trial of All-in-One, no card | The page does not say if these figures are monthly or yearly billing; onboarding and HR tools are on the top plan; the AI scheduling assistant is on Plus |
| Rippling | Payroll, HR records and benefits on one set of employee data, with an AI assistant for questions and reports | A firm that wants payroll and HR in one place | From 8 per employee per month plus a monthly base fee that the page does not state; modules are quoted separately | Most of the price is not shown; no general trial is mentioned, only a demo |
| Wanna | Reads your site, plans the week, and drafts letters, posts and job ads for your OK | An owner who needs to announce a role or write to clients | Free: 10 credits once, then the team pauses. Starter 20 monthly, 200 credits. Growth 49, 5,000 credits. Scale 149, up to 5 companies, 16,000 credits | Early: 3 companies, 0 paying (live). It is not an HR system: it holds no staff records, runs no payroll and handles no time off |
By job
Staff records and a policy assistant: BambooHR. Shifts, time clock and a free tier for a small team: Homebase. Payroll with HR on one record: Rippling. People in other countries: Deel. Drafting job posts, handbooks and letters: Claude. Telling people outside the firm about your open role: Wanna.
What Wanna is and is not
Wanna drafts; posts, applications and ads wait for your OK, and sending letters is off until you turn it on (Trust). On the live page at 14:26 UTC on 17 Oct 2026: 3 companies of people, 0 paying, MRR $0, 19 tasks done in 7 days. That is a small base, and no HR case study is on record. It sits next to an HR system, not in place of one.
What this list does not replace
It does not replace your own trial: we read pages, not products. It does not replace an employment lawyer or a licensed payroll provider; wage, leave and hiring rules differ by state and country, and we did not check any tool against them. Staff data is sensitive: ask each vendor where records are stored and who can export them before you load names into any tool.
FAQ
What are the best AI tools for HR at a small business? We do not rank them. The By job section sorts the six by task.
How much do HR tools cost for a company of 20 people? On the pages we read, BambooHR shows a flat monthly rate of 250 on Core for 25 employees or fewer. Homebase starts at 0 for one location with up to 10 employees. Rippling starts at 8 per employee plus an unstated base fee. Check each link for today's figure.
Can AI answer my staff's policy questions? BambooHR says its Pro assistant can answer questions about company policies and documents. Claude can do it if you paste the policy in. We did not run either, so test with a real handbook.
Do I need an HR system at 10 people? That is a choice for you and your adviser. A free scheduling tool or a shared drive may be enough for a time; a system becomes useful when records, leave and onboarding start taking real hours.
Is Wanna an HR tool? No. It helps you find your own next client and write outside-facing work for your OK. It is our product, so its minuses are in the table.
How often is this list updated? Every 30 days, from the vendors' own pages.
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