Mellow vs HiBob
Enterprise features without enterprise pricing
UK payroll included. No £32M acquisition required.
Assistants that take action
Mellow’s agents generate contracts, run payroll estimates, start compliance workflows, and produce audit-ready documents — not just answer questions.
HiBob
Israeli-built, global-focused
100–5,000 employees
From ~£10+ PEPM (estimated)
Mellow
UK-built, UK-first
10–500+ employees
From £4/employee/month
Things to consider
- ✗Native UK payroll (via Pento) is a paid add-on on sales-gated, unpublished pricing
- ✗No IR35 determination engine
- ✗Pricing not publicly listed
Feature comparison
| Feature | Mellow | HiBob |
|---|---|---|
| Core HR | ||
| Employee records | ||
| Absence & time off | ||
| Onboarding | ||
| Performance management | ||
| Compensation management | ||
| Workforce planning | ||
| Payroll | ||
| Native UK payroll engine Full PAYE/NI to the penny — included from £12 PEPM | Native via the Pento acquisition (2024) | |
| Payroll included in published price Included from Professional (£12 PEPM, published) | Payroll is a paid add-on; pricing sales-gated | |
| Compliance | ||
| ERA 2025 compliance built in | ||
| IR35 determination | ||
| Tribunal risk scoring | ||
| AI | ||
| Specialist AI assistants AI assistants graduate by tier, up to a People Coach on Intelligence | Bob AI copilot + Manager Co-Pilot — assistive, human-in-the-loop; not autonomous | |
| AI manager coaching (People Coach) Coaches managers through conflict & team dynamics, grounded in your own data | Manager Co-Pilot surfaces talking points & summaries — not interactive coaching | |
| People | ||
| Adjustments Passport Living per-employee record of agreed workplace adjustments, per-country legislation, AI-drafted wording | No equivalent — adjustments tracked ad hoc | |
| Team-health index from operational signals Fused from workload, ER, absence & recognition — no survey required | Mature engagement analytics, but survey/eNPS-based + a narrow attrition flag | |
| Pricing | ||
| Transparent published pricing £4–£30 PEPM published | Pricing requires sales contact | |
Our take
HiBob is a genuinely strong platform with real depth in performance, compensation, and workforce analytics — a good fit for many companies. HiBob now runs native UK payroll too (via its Pento acquisition), but it's a paid add-on on top of sales-gated pricing, its ERA 2025 and IR35 depth isn't built in, and its AI is an assistive copilot rather than a suite of specialist assistants. With Mellow, native UK payroll and ERA 2025 compliance are included from £12 PEPM, with AI assistants included at every tier — up to a People Coach for managers on the Intelligence tier at £30, on published pricing. And Mellow computes the numbers from your data and the legislation; the AI explains them, it never invents a figure.
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