BambooHR licensing is the set of terms under which Bamboo HR LLC sells its hosted human resources information system (HRIS) and related modules. The Terms of Service describe the Service as “a proprietary human resources information system” designed to assist organizations in HR functions, and state that it is intended “solely for legitimate human resources management purposes within your organization”.[1] The agreement is formed by the Terms of Service together with any applicable Order Forms and addendums, and the “Order Form” is the written or electronic ordering document that identifies the subscribed Services, pricing and duration, and states whether the subscription is month-to-month or for an extended term.[1]
BambooHR is unusually open about its price list and its contract. The pricing page publishes per-employee package prices, the Terms of Service is public and detailed, and the Legal Hub lists more than a dozen addenda for payroll, benefits, time clocks, AI, compensation management, e-signature, employer of record and developer access.[3] This makes the vendor a useful reference for a licence manager because a counting basis, a minimum and a termination rule can all be read from public documents.
Editions
BambooHR sells three packages of its core HR platform and a group of add-on solutions. The packages are named Core, Pro and Elite. The pricing page describes Core as “foundational HR automation and insights”, Pro as adding performance management, employee community, recognition and rewards, and Elite as adding compensation management, custom dashboards, HR benchmarks and premium services.[2] The catalog rows are Core, Pro and Elite; the deeper article on packages sets out the contents and prices.
Add-on solutions listed on the pricing page are Payroll, Benefits Administration, Time & Attendance and Global Employment (powered by Remote).[2] The Terms of Service call these and others “Additional Services”, state that they may be subject to “separate fees, implementation requirements, and addenda”, and provide that an Additional Term prevails over the main terms in a direct conflict.[1]
Metrics
The billing unit is the employee. The Terms of Service state that the customer agrees to pay fees “including fees for all non-terminated employees in the Service”.[1] The catalog row for this is Non-terminated employee. The Terms refer to “Per-Employee-Per-Month (“PEPM”) list pricing”, recorded as Per-Employee-Per-Month (PEPM).[1] The pricing page confirms the model: “Pay per employee, per month.”[2]
Two minimum constructs appear in extended term contracts: the Employee Minimum and the Product Minimum, both set on the Order Form. A third pricing construct, the Flat monthly rate (25 employees or fewer), applies to small customers.[2] Package allotments (job openings, compliance training courses and premium services hours) are recorded as separate metric rows.
Counting and floors
The counting rule for billable employees is “all non-terminated employees in the Service”, which means that the count follows the employee records and their termination status in the system and not, for example, the number of employees who log in.[1] That has two consequences for a licence manager. Records of former employees must be terminated in the system to leave the billable count. And the billable count is a property of data, so it moves when an HR administrator imports or archives records.
For extended term subscriptions, section 5.6 of the Terms of Service creates a floor: “Your minimum bill will be based on the Employee Minimum and all applicable Product Minimums for the duration of the Extended Term Subscription, regardless of actual usage”.[1] If actual counts exceed the minimums the customer pays on the actual counts, and any decrease below the minimums does not reduce fees owed.[1] This is a ratchet in one direction only for the Term. The minimum values are not public, since they are on the Order Form.
Virtualization and partitioning
Not applicable. BambooHR delivers a hosted service: “Nothing in this Agreement obligates BambooHR to deliver or make available to you any copies of computer programs or any of the software used to provide the Service”.[1] The one hardware product, the time clock Device, comes with an embedded Software licence described in the Time Clock Addendum.[7]
Cloud and BYOL
There is no bring-your-own-licence construct. The right granted is “a limited, revocable, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, non-exclusive right to access and use the Service” for internal business use.[1] Affiliates are bound by the agreement but “if you would like a separate instance of the Service for an affiliate, that affiliate must purchase its own subscription to the Service and separately accept this Agreement”.[1] Employer of Record employees hired in other countries are employees of Remote and not of BambooHR, and Remote’s terms must be accepted before EOR Services are used.[9]
Programs
Two subscription programs organize the contract. A Month-to-Month Subscription renews monthly, may be terminated at any time with effect from the end of the subscription month, and allows price changes on at least 60 days’ notice, no more than once a calendar year per package. An Extended Term Subscription is non-cancelable until the end of the Term, renews for twelve months unless 60 days’ notice is given, and keeps the price fixed during the Term other than headcount or service changes.[1]
Discount programs are stated publicly. Volume discounts “are applied automatically to all accounts based on headcount”, registered nonprofits receive an additional 15 percent, and a 15 percent bundle discount applies when Payroll and Benefits Administration are combined with any plan for US-based employees.[2] The bundle discount is lost if a bundled Service is terminated.[1]
Out of scope
This article does not give negotiated prices, which are on Order Forms, or the minimum values in any contract. It does not reproduce the privacy notices, the data processing agreement or the business associate agreement, which are separate documents in the Legal Hub. It does not cover litigation: no court case about BambooHR software licensing, licence audits or licence scope was identified in the sources used. It does not evaluate the claims BambooHR makes about time savings or customer counts.