HiBob

Track basic people records and approvals without compensation or payroll processing

NOT REALLY · consider alternatives
price variesestimated build time closest consolation build: one sittingreplaced by 0 people

A consolation build is possible, but the paid product's decisive value sits outside a solo rebuild. For HiBob, track basic people records and approvals without compensation or payroll processing. The hard boundary is enterprise hr data, workflows, analytics, payroll integrations, compliance, and support, plus compliance, payroll, and regulated integrations.

Build verification: not recorded. How we judge buildability

What you give up

  • enterprise HR data, workflows, analytics, payroll integrations, compliance, and support
  • payroll rails
  • tax and labor-law compliance
  • benefits integrations
  • identity checks and global employment infrastructure

Why people still pay

People still pay for HiBob because HR platforms survive because mistakes affect pay, benefits, immigration, and legal obligations, not because forms are difficult to render. The recurring cost buys sensitive data, access, retention, audit, payroll calculations, filings, benefits, employment law, incident response, and support, not just the visible interface.

Your build guide

The stack, security requirements, and agent rules for a focused replacement.

Before you start

  • PostgreSQL
  • private self-hosted deployment
  • strict admin access
  • documented retention policy
01
Use Next.js 15, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM, and Docker Compose.
02
Model employees, leave requests, approval decisions, policy versions, and audit events; keep stable source IDs and timestamps.
03
Interface for this HR, recruiting, payroll and workforce operations workflow: a local web page with input, progress, review, and export views.
engineering roadmap

Implementation plan

1

Phase 1, architecture and data

Use Next.js 15, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM, and Docker Compose. Model employees, leave requests, approval decisions, policy versions, and audit events; keep stable source IDs and timestamps.

2

Phase 2, implement

Implement employees, teams, roles, documents, leave requests, equipment, onboarding tasks, and acknowledgements.

3

Phase 3, implement

Add approval workflows, expiry reminders, export, retention, deletion holds, and encrypted backups.

4

Phase 4, review and output

Keep compensation fields optional and never calculate payroll, taxes, benefits, or statutory filings. Add approval workflows, expiry reminders, export, retention, deletion holds, and encrypted backups.

5

Phase 5, recovery and acceptance

Ship Docker Compose, health checks, disaster recovery, and an emergency-access procedure. Verify this invariant with a saved fixture: A rejected or withdrawn request cannot change the approved balance; a policy edit must not rewrite past decisions. State the practical limit: enterprise HR data, workflows, analytics, payroll integrations, compliance, and support.

the pro prompt
Build me a focused HR, recruiting, payroll and workforce operations workflow for the personal core of HiBob. Requirements:

- Use Next.js 15, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM, and Docker Compose. Model employees, leave requests, approval decisions, policy versions, and audit events; keep stable source IDs and timestamps.
- Paid product context: Track basic people records and approvals without compensation or payroll processing. Build only this DIY scope: Track basic non-sensitive people records, maintain approvals, and export data without processing compensation, calculating payroll, or making employment decisions.
- Implement employees, teams, roles, documents, leave requests, equipment, onboarding tasks, and acknowledgements.
- Add approval workflows, expiry reminders, export, retention, deletion holds, and encrypted backups.
- Keep compensation fields optional and never calculate payroll, taxes, benefits, or statutory filings.
- Use a local web page with input, progress, review, and export views. Required input or access: private self-hosted deployment; strict admin access.
- Recovery: Ship Docker Compose, health checks, disaster recovery, and an emergency-access procedure.
- Acceptance: with one labelled sample, show the input, saved intermediate state, and exported result; verify this invariant: A rejected or withdrawn request cannot change the approved balance; a policy edit must not rewrite past decisions.
- Out of scope: enterprise HR data, workflows, analytics, payroll integrations, compliance, and support; payroll rails. Keep this a personal, inspectable workflow.
- Include a README with setup, a sample input, required keys or permissions, data location, and the supported scope.

$ open in your agent (prompt prefilled, you press enter), copy the prompt or copy AGENTS.md · generated from this app's build plan

share on X ↗

Alternatives to building your own

Frappe HRA complete HR suite without the license bill; the server, backups and upgrades are now in your job description.8.5kaug 2026open source↗Horilla HRHire-to-leave HR in Docker; free forever means you own the updates and backups.1.4kjul 2026open source↗OrangeHRM StarterThe old-school HR suite: records, leave, attendance and approvals, with a real server and no fashion budget.1.1kjun 2026open source↗

all 4 free alternatives to HiBob →· no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real

HiBob pricing

planmonthlyannual (per mo)what you get
bob——Per-employee quote; no public numeric employee, record, document, workflow, or storage capsCore HR is the base; modules and integrations are selected separately.

free tierno free tier; demo only

billingcustom contract; price depends on headcount, modules, and region; billing cadence not published

hidden costsCore HR is only the base package; payroll, compensation, time, performance, learning, workforce planning, and integrations can be separate quote-priced modules.

pricing sources checked 2026-08-10 · pricing source ↗

Questions about HiBob

Can you build your own HiBob with AI?

A full replacement is not the recommended project. A consolation build is possible, but the paid product's decisive value sits outside a solo rebuild. For HiBob, track basic people records and approvals without compensation or payroll processing. The hard boundary is enterprise hr data, workflows, analytics, payroll integrations, compliance, and support, plus compliance, payroll, and regulated integrations.

What does the HiBob build prompt cover?

The prompt starts with this scope: Track basic non-sensitive people records, maintain approvals, and export data without processing compensation, calculating payroll, or making employment decisions. Full-product capabilities excluded from the comparison include: enterprise HR data, workflows, analytics, payroll integrations, compliance, and support; payroll rails; tax and labor-law compliance. Follow the implementation plan and its prerequisites before expanding the build.

How do I use the prompt, AGENTS.md and agent skills?

Start with the HiBob prerequisites and stack, then copy the prompt into your coding agent. Save the project rules as AGENTS.md in the project root. Linked skills are optional packages or source instructions for specific tasks; review their current contents and install only those matching the chosen stack. A skill does not supply API credentials or verify the finished app.

How long will this HiBob project take?

The catalogue estimate is closest consolation build: one sitting for the limited scope. Setup, integration approvals, debugging, deployment and ongoing maintenance can add time. This is an estimate, not a delivery guarantee.

What would I give up by replacing HiBob?

enterprise HR data, workflows, analytics, payroll integrations, compliance, and support; payroll rails; tax and labor-law compliance; benefits integrations; identity checks and global employment infrastructure. People still pay for HiBob because HR platforms survive because mistakes affect pay, benefits, immigration, and legal obligations, not because forms are difficult to render. The recurring cost buys sensitive data, access, retention, audit, payroll calculations, filings, benefits, employment law, incident response, and support, not just the visible interface.

What can I use instead of building HiBob?

Frappe HR: A complete HR suite without the license bill; the server, backups and upgrades are now in your job description. Horilla HR: Hire-to-leave HR in Docker; free forever means you own the updates and backups. OrangeHRM Starter: The old-school HR suite: records, leave, attendance and approvals, with a real server and no fashion budget. Compare all listed options at https://howtovibecodeit.dev/hibob/alternatives. Check each option's license, hosting needs and feature limits.

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