Managing employee performance on the daily is a lot like orchestrating a circus act, and choosing the right performance management software can be just as challenging when budgets are tight.

Whether you’re a startup just getting off the ground or an established organization looking to cut costs temporarily, here are the top five free performance management software that make performance management a breeze. Let’s dive right in!

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Article Roadmap

• Best Free Performance Management Software
  • Profit.co
  • Sentrifugo
  • Odoo Appraisals
  • SnapEval
  • Effy
• Benefits
• Key Considerations
• Next Steps

Best Free Performance Management Software

Free performance management systems offer an attractive alternative, especially when you’re not ready for a substantial investment but still need an effective solution.

Here are our top recommendations:

Profit.co

Profit.co is a versatile cloud-based performance management system available for on-premise deployment. It focuses on talent advancement, task management, progress evaluations aligning goals with suitable OKRs, progress evaluations and employee check-ins. Its responsive web design ensures a consistent user experience across all devices.

Additionally, this system provides free email support for all users. You can also access a free trial of the Growth plan and a free demo of the Enterprise plan when you’re ready to scale up.

What We Love: Profit.co’s free plan includes a robust OKR-based performance management system, making it ideal for aligning objectives and tracking key results.

OKRs alignment tracking in Profit.co.

Top Benefits

• Set Relevant OKRs: Say goodbye to the month-long OKR creation cycle. Craft precise OKRs within dedicated timeframes, ensuring your teams stay focused and productive without spending months on prolonged OKR planning.
• Rely on Check-in Alerts: Never miss a check-in. Send personalized email reminders with prompt updates to enhance accountability and progress.
• Streamline OKR Conversations: Tag conversations by categorizing and gaining insights into common challenges. Identify training needs and make informed decisions to boost your team’s performance.
• Create Dynamic Workspaces: Create private or public team workspaces to manage their tasks efficiently. Let teams track and monitor progress by status on task boards.
• Visualize Tasks Effectively: Get a comprehensive task overview and maintain project control with multiple visualization options like Kanban, list, calendar and timeline views.

Primary Features

• OKRs Creation: Set and schedule OKRs that align employee and company goals. Assign targets, due dates and priorities to each goal to drive focus, measure progress and achieve strategic alignment across the organization. Leverage pre-built and custom OKR training templates to ensure efficient implementation.
• OKR Levels: Define and communicate company-level focus for each OKR and facilitate transparency in actions taken at lower organizational tiers.
• Task Management: Create major tasks and develop subtasks to effectively break down complex projects, streamline workflows and enhance overall project organization and execution. Assign employees to tasks and track progress on task cards.
• Performance Check-Ins: Conduct regular check-ins to assess employee progress, gauge their confidence levels and gather insights into their achievements, challenges and future outlook. Review quarterly OKRs based on these insights. Carry forward and eliminate certain goals to optimize alignment.
• KPI Library: Choose from about 300 built-in KPIs. Select from a diverse range of KPIs and customize unique KPIs explicitly tailored to your business needs.

Limitations

• Lacks 360-degree performance review feedback in the free version.
• Can’t create eNPS, pulse or satisfaction surveys in the free version.
• Doesn’t include assignments to develop employees into senior roles within the organization in the free version.

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Sentrifugo

Sentrifugo is a cloud-based open-source performance management platform that grants complete customization freedom to meet organizational needs. It’s cost-effective, without hidden costs or trial periods, and offers learning materials and live online and in-person training.

What We Love: Sentrifugo combines performance management with essential HR functionalities, making it a one-stop solution for organizations.

A typical dashboard in Sentrifugo.

Top Benefits

• Enable Feedforward: Empower employees to assess their line managers with tailored questions, performance evaluation feedback and comprehensive rating systems. Activate the two-way feedback system to drive growth and accountability. Additionally, direct management to access the employee feedforward status for enhanced transparency and engagement.
• Tailor Appraisal Eligibility: Fine-tune the appraisal process by defining employee categories like full-time, contract or permanent jobs. Precisely align performance appraisal tools with organizational needs.
• Create Custom Employee Groups: Categorize employees within specific business units or departments to streamline performance evaluations. Define instructions to assess and appraise groups with relevant parameters.
• Enhance Skill Profiles: Effortlessly showcase specific skills and detailed descriptions in employee profiles. Highlights unique talents and expertise, ensuring a robust understanding of your workforce’s capabilities.
• Elevate Employee Development: Encourage skill development with actionable feedback. Choose from flexible star and number-based rating scales, spanning from five-point to ten-point scales. Provide nuanced feedback by attaching meaningful comments that drive professional growth.

Primary Features

• Appraisal Frameworks: Let employees submit self-appraisal information, including ratings and comments, accessible to line managers for additional assessment and commentary. Deliver performance feedback and recommendations to employees. Create customized questions and send forms to individuals or employee groups.
• Goal Management: Define and assign short-term and long-term goals and corporate targets. Set multiple goals tailored precisely to your organization’s unique requirements, ensuring a dynamic and adaptive approach to achieving success.
• Appraisal Plans: Leverage performance appraisal modules to assess employee’s efforts across designated timeframes. Seamlessly develop appraisal cycles with customizable due dates and set schedules to recur quarterly, semi-annually or annually.
• Employee Appraisal Status: Monitor appraisal cycles and progress by accessing the status at each stage. Label phases as completed, pending, pending manager ratings, pending employee ratings, pending L1 ratings and more. Access self and team appraisal history to make informed decisions.
• Organizational Hierarchy: Develop an organizational hierarchy model based on the manager-employee relationships to conduct appraisals. Configure line managers at each level to evaluate selected departments or business units.

Free Version Limitations

• Doesn’t offer peer reviews.
• Lacks multi-language support.

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Odoo Appraisals

Odoo Appraisals is a cloud-based performance management platform integrated into the powerhouse Odoo suite. It provides a free trial and a free version with unlimited users, making it ideal for small and medium-sized organizations. You can tailor your tech stack with other Odoo modules and products to your company’s requirements.

What We Love: Odoo Appraisals stands out for its integration capabilities, making it a top choice for businesses using Odoo for their day-to-day operations.

Appraisal tracking and follow-up management in Odoo Appraisals. Source

Top Benefits

• Simplify Evaluation Planning: Say goodbye to the hassle of manual interview requests and evaluation schedules – the system takes care of it for you. Manage various evaluation types like self-assessments and manager-led final evaluations to hear and value everyone’s voice.
• Enhance Survey Objectivity: Put fairness at the forefront by randomizing survey questions. Present questions randomly to ensure a bias-free experience, enabling employees to share their thoughts freely.
• Test Surveys With Confidence: Test surveys with colleagues and managers before rolling them out to employees. Seek input, refine content and ensure surveys are impactful and engaging.
• Engage in Live Sessions: Foster lively conversations through structured feedback sessions. Set the stage with time limits and share session codes for dialogue. Reward those quick to respond, igniting a culture of active participation and boundless enthusiasm.
• Integrate Seamlessly: Enjoy the benefits of full Odoo app integration like Employees, Bills, Recruitment and Surveys. Simplify your HR journey with connectivity with other apps to enhance the overall HR management experience.

Primary Features

• EvaluationSurveys: Leverage pre-built templates or customize surveys from scratch to create multiple surveys for each evaluation process step. Add crucial questions with multiple choices, open-ended answer tabs and matrices to the questionnaires.
• Goal Creation: Create and assign individual goals and set deadlines, descriptions and action plans.View goal progression in percentage to numerically measure goal completion.
• 360-Degree Feedback: Gather comprehensive input from a diverse array of sources, including employees, colleagues, peers, and managers. Empower employees to seamlessly create and access self-evaluation feedback for a well-rounded perspective on performance.
• Feedback Creation & Appraisal Status: Use feedback templates to create and edit feedback at specific appraisal cycle stages. Use filters to sort appraisals by employees, statuses, deadlines, appreciation messages and plan names to get a clear overview.
• Calendar View and Reminders: Track upcoming evaluations and check-ins with an organizational-level calendar view. Set personalized reminders and receive timely alerts, ensuring you never miss a performance evaluation meeting and effortlessly stay on top of your schedule.

Free Version Limitations

• Can’t directly integrate with payroll software.
• Doesn’t offer succession planning frameworks.

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SnapEval

SnapEval is a cloud-based performance management solution offering a free version for up to ten users, including free phone or email technical support. Customizable branding allows you to tailor the platform to your organization’s identity. It’s perfect for organizations emphasizing frequent check-ins and real-time feedback.

What We Love: SnapEval’s real-time feedback and employee recognition features foster collaboration and continuous growth, making it an excellent choice for those moving away from traditional annual reviews.

SnapEval offers a built-in voice-to-text feature to capture feedback. Source

Top Benefits

• Empower Candid Conversations: Empower employees to engage in open and honest conversations by enabling them to send their colleagues anonymous feedback.
• Nurture Respectful Communication: Bring an air of professionalism and respect to your feedback culture by leveraging a built-in language filter with an extensive dictionary of over 400 words.
• Reduce Oversights: Automatically queue submitted feedback for HR review and approval. Ensure all employee feedback is constructive and aligned with your organization’s values.
• Gain Real-time Insights: Capture feedback instantly from the desktop and smartphone apps with automatic real-time employee performance tracking. Access actionable data immediately to make informed decisions, drive continuous improvement and enhance organizational effectiveness.
• Voice Your Appreciation: Make feedback sharing accessible, swift and hassle-free with the voice-to-text conversion feature. Ensure a seamless and convenient experience by capturing feedback through effortless conversations.

Primary Features

• Live Organization Charts: Create dynamic organizational charts that best reflect team structures. Craft these charts effortlessly through drag-and-drop functionality, fostering meaningful relationships. Enjoy live access and conveniently export charts in PDF, PNG, SVG or CSV formats.
• Goal Management: Streamline goal creation and update teams, managers and individuals about changes. Seamlessly align department-level goals with the organizational vision, ensuring everyone is on the same page and working harmoniously towards shared objectives.
• Feedback and Review Management: Collect 360-degree reviews from peers, teams and managers and effortlessly develop performance summaries. Involve external stakeholders like partners, clients and customers to provide feedback by scanning the employee QR codes. Collect and share responses with intuitive snapshots called “Snaps” and automate scoring feedback with preset weights.
• Employee Recognition: Shine a spotlight on exceptional performance. Share feedback on the recognition dashboard and let your employees bask in praise. Additionally, extend a personal touch by sending praise by email to foster a deeper sense of appreciation and motivation.
• Insights and Reports: Gain a deeper understanding of every department, role and individual’s performance by tracking performance on custom dashboards. Generate tailored reports easily and export them to CSV files, empowering data-driven decision-making and fostering growth.

Free Version Limitations

• Doesn’t not allow creating eNPS or pulse engagement surveys

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Effy

Effy is a cloud-based performance management software with an intuitive and simplistic performance platform in its free plan. It covers essential aspects like setting goals, progress tracking and fostering employee growth, making it a great choice for budding organizations seeking effective performance management capabilities.

What We Love: Effy excels at providing straightforward performance management solutions, offering a user-friendly approach to goal setting and performance tracking.

Engagement surveys in Effy.

Top Benefits

• Receive Prompt Reminders: Make the feedback journey stress-free and empowering for everyone by sending gentle reminders to complete surveys, send feedback and stay on top of upcoming evaluation meetings. Ensure everyone has the time and support they need to provide thoughtful reviews.
• Champion Honest Feedback: Lead by example and encourage your team to embrace open and candid conversations. Create an environment where honesty thrives and assure employees that only reviewers can access the feedback.
• Personalize Notes: Encourage teams to add nuanced feedback by adding private notes. Foster deeper connections and understanding by mentioning colleagues and highlighting vital text in meeting notes and review summaries.
• Harness AI: Take employee reviews to a new level by leveraging AI-generated insights. Create comprehensive summaries for each team member powered by data-driven excellence. Support targeted growth by discovering standout strengths and areas where you can offer support.

Primary Features

• Question Templates: Access unlimited questionnaire templates for appropriate performance evaluation stages. Design 360-degree feedback, annual performance reviews and appraisals with extended flexibility with the option to tailor your question templates. Add up to ten questions into forms in the free version.
• 360-Degree Feedback: Enhance team performances by collecting reviews from managers, teammates, and selected peers. Offer self-reviewing options to let employees take charge of the evaluation process. Set reviews to recur annually, biannually or quarterly.
• Review Scores: Effortlessly calculate and export review scores to Excel sheets. Use data like employee averages, manager appraisals and peer scores to light the path to recognition and growth.
• Review Progress Tracking: Track progress effortlessly and stay informed about review status, receiving feedback and pending peer insights in a customizable dashboard. Seamlessly monitor review advancements across active pipelines and appraisal cycles.
• Admin Access Settings: Effy allows setting access levels to the review results and admins to the review result visibility. Fine-tune visibility to meet your organization’s unique needs, preserving the integrity of the review process.

Free Version Limitations

• Lacks the feature to create role-specific reviews.
• Doesn’t provide customizable reports.

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Primary Benefits

A recent Talent Strategy Group report found that about 80% of surveyed companies revamped their performance management models. Smaller companies tend to lag as more businesses move from the old annual review system to continuous performance management.

If you’re a startup or a modest business, splurging on an expensive performance management system probably isn’t your top priority. In times like these, free solutions come to the rescue.

Besides being cost-effective, free options offer these benefits:

• Accessible To Small Businesses: Small businesses often face an uphill battle when competing with larger counterparts. Free solutions level the playing field by bringing structured performance evaluation without the hefty price tag. This accessibility empowers startups and smaller enterprises to establish structured performance evaluation processes, fostering growth and competitiveness.
• Quick Implementation: Time is money, and speed matters in the business world. Free performance management lets you skip long waiting periods associated with setting up complex systems. Simplified setups and user-friendly interfaces help you start quickly.

Key Considerations

Free software plans are a viable option that doesn’t burn a hole in your pocket. However, it’s essential to thoroughly assess a system’s suitability for your specific HR needs and to have a backup plan in case a free system doesn’t suffice as your company grows.

Remember the following when opting for a free solution:

1. Vendor Reliability: Don’t hitch your HR wagon to any free software. Check if your chosen vendor has a reputation for dependable service and a commitment to maintaining and updating the software.
2. Hidden Costs: Free software can be a siren song, but beware of hidden traps like costly add-ons, upselling tactics and premium versions that raid your budget. Delve into what’s truly “free” and whether the services match your requirements without costly upgrades.
3. Data Ownership: Scrutinize the fine print regarding data ownership. Some free software may restrict data export or even claim ownership of your input data. Ensure you can access and export your data using a different system.
4. Limited Support and Resources: Free software often leaves you fending for yourself, navigating forums and leaning on online docs for support. Evaluate whether the available support options are sufficient for your organization’s needs.
5. Scalability and Performance: Free solutions stretch to meet your evolving needs like a rubberband. But they can snap when faced with larger data volumes and user loads. Determine if the software aligns with your growth plans or if it’s time to level up to a robust paid solution.

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Next Steps

This concludes our list of free performance management software. All that’s left to do is use this list in your software selection process. Need help determining your company’s requirements? Hop over to our requirements template – it helps you select the features you need in an ideal system, and it’s free!

Did we miss any tools you think belong on this list? Let us know by leaving a comment below!