Do you still use outdated systems for managing employee records?
Every time an employee gets a new address or contact number, you find a file you need to update. Then another. And another.
The process is endless!
Employee directory integration into your business solves these challenges by:
Centralizing all your employee records in one place.
Allowing you to search and connect with co-workers.
Updating data across records and apps as it changes.
And much more.
In this article, we'll discuss online employee directory solutions, including key benefits, features to look for, and a roundup of the best employee directory tools available in 2025.
What is employee directory software?
An employee directory software is a digital repository that stores all employee-related information, such as personal details, job roles, remuneration, documents, and other essential details, in one centralized system.
Say you have 50-pllus members in your company. It is difficult to maintain a spreadsheet and keep updating information as your employees change personal details, get promoted, or leave the organization.
Here's when employee directory software comes into play. It offers:
- A centralized hub for employee data management.
- Real-time access to employee information via self-serve and admin portals.
- Advanced search options to find and retrieve information based on name, department, skills, and other filters.
- Integrations with your existing tech stack to sync data across your business apps.
Many employee contact directory solutions even provide a mobile app, allowing you to retrieve contact information from anywhere.
Benefits of using employee directory software
Aside from being a digital database, an employee directory app has several benefits for HR teams.
- Improved communication: Consolidates scattered information into structured systems, eliminating data silos and allowing you to find and retrieve employee information quickly.
- Enhanced collaboration: Easily identify employees with the right roles and responsibilities to approach for specific tasks or projects, ensuring that projects are handled by qualified individuals.
- Streamlined onboarding: With employee directory solutions, like Softr, you can automate onboarding processes. Alongside, use hierarchy charts to assist new hires in understanding the organizational structure and familiarize themselves with co-workers.
- Data accuracy: Maintain up-to-date records by allowing employees to update their personal information while also integrating with your existing tech stack so the update is synced across all HR apps and accounting tools.
What does a great employee directory software look like?
According to Gartner, over 80% of HR software buyers (including directory software) regretted their decisions due to poor user experience.
So, we have compiled a list of the key factors that make a great employee directory software.
- User-friendly interface: A subtle and simple software design makes its adoption quick among peers. Things like easy navigation, click-and-done functions, responsive layout, and mobile accessibility prevent reluctance and make it easy to implement the software within your organization.
- Customizable profiles: The best employee directory tools allow complete customization of employee profiles. Look for features like custom fields for adding personal information, skills, performance reviews, personal anecdotes, and more.
- Search functionality: Choose employee directory software with advanced search functionality that lets you find employees using filters like job profile, country, or skills. Modern employee directory apps introduce AI and ML-powered search, making it easy to find employee contact information.
- Integration capabilities: Search for software that integrates well with existing HR systems like payroll, performance management, and communication platforms (e.g., Microsoft Teams or Slack).
- Security features: Find an employee directory app that provides robust security for your employees and business data. It must include core security features such as role-based access controls, encryption of sensitive information, and compliance with data protection regulations (such as GDPR).
The 5 best employee directory software tools
1. Softr
Softr is a no-code app builder that helps you build and deploy employee directory apps purposely designed for your business size and workflow.
Imagine an app designed by you for your business without heavy investments or technical know-how. Yes, that's on us!
Softr's Employee Directory Template is a great starting point. Use this template to build a cloud-based employee directory for free—store, manage, and update all your company and team information.
Customization is limitless and easy to learn. With Softr Studio, you can drag and drop from 100+ ready-made building blocks to create impressive, user-friendly UI designs for your app. Choose from different views, app layouts, content blocks, and more.
Connect the app with your employee data stored in Google Sheets, Airtable, Notion, monday.com, or any other cloud database. Customize employee profiles on the app to add fields or information that are unique to your employee database—contact information, pictures, HR documents, etc.
But here's the best part: employee directory apps created with Softr have built-in features. Let's have a quick look.
Softr key features
- Advanced permissions: Manage access levels for managers and employees, hide/show field-level information depending on who is logged in.
- Employee onboarding: Give new employees a form to fill out details, submit required documents, access training, and have them automatically added to the directory.
- Leave management: Allow employees to apply for leave and managers to approve or reject these requests efficiently through the portal.
- Enterprise-grade security: Ensure full compliance with SOC2 and GDPR. Allow users to sign in with Google, Email, SMS, or SSO (Enterprise plan).
- Active user community: Get access to an environment that allows you to quickly find solutions, learn from each other's experiences, share feedback, and stay updated with the employee directory best practices. Softr's team actively listens to community feedback, continuously improving the platform based on user suggestions.
- Powerful search: Find any information you need with a search bar that lets you filter and look for employees using their name, job title, skills, and other synonyms.
- Progressive Web Apps (PWAs): Transform your online employee directory software into a highly responsive mobile app for Android and iOS users.
Pros and cons
✅ Beginner-friendly, with powerful customization options.
✅ Excellent customer support via chat, email, and live community discussions.
❌ Softr is not a dedicated employee directory software. Some functions will require customization of our template. At the same time, customization is typically easier without developers, and you can also use Softr to build other tools for your business.
Pricing
Softr offers a generous free forever plan that allows you to build and publish one app. Invite as many collaborators to build together. Connect popular data sources and perform basic app customizations.
However, Free plans have a limitation on the number of application users, so if you need more people to have access, you may consider a higher subscription plan:
- Basic: $59 per month
- Professional: $167 per month
- Business: $323 per month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
See our full pricing comparison here.
Customer reviews
"It is very easy to implement, and with the 'preview' option, you can test everything before publishing. Customer support is always available and is not 'AI generated.' Real people for real questions!" - Pedro C, Business Owner.
"Within a couple of days, I was able to create a basic intranet/employee portal. By the end of my first week, I had built a remarkable tool that organized and streamlined our sales process. The monday.com integration made importing our data a breeze." - Em C., Team Lead.
Ideal for
Softr is ideal for businesses of all sizes, especially:
- Startups for being cost-effective and offering an impressive free plan with essential features.
- Small and medium-sized businesses because of no-code and low maintenance infrastructure.
- Large organizations love our customization and flexibility to build apps that align with their workflows and scale as they grow.
2. Pingboard
Pingboard is an easy to use employee directory software to organize and connect all employee information in the best, simplest way possible. It also provides tools for improved employee communication and engagement.
Key features
- Use in-feeds to keep employees updated with important dates, company announcements, employee statuses, and more.
- Create employee profiles with pictures, job roles, skills, interests, and other details, along with Slack and MS Teams links for direct chat.
- Develop an onboarding checklist for new hires, ask for documents, assign onboarding tasks, and add links to relevant resources.
- Visualize cross-functional team structure and organizational hierarchy using dynamic Org. charts.
- Connect to Slack or Microsoft Teams to share daily status updates, time off, and employee celebrations.
Pros and cons
✅ Has in-app games and quizzes to help employees and HRs learn about co-workers.
✅ Integrates with popular HRIS, identity management, and communication tools.
❌ Incidents of system slowness and longer rendering time.
Pricing
Pingboard offers a 14-day free trial. After which you can choose from its paid plans:
- Basic: $149 per month (billed annually)
- Essential: $249 per month (billed annually)
- Custom: Custom pricing
Customer reviews
Many users highlight customer support as a strong point for Pingboard. However, they struggled with complex navigation and system slowness as they scaled.
"Sometimes it is not easy to find individuals once the organization is large enough. When the group was around 300 employees, it was easier to navigate than when we hit 600." - G2 review.
Ideal for
Pingboard is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses looking for employee directory software with gamification and people management features.
3. Zoho People
Zoho People is an end-to-end HR management software. It is integrated with AI and allows management of employee data, attendance, and performance from a centralized hub.
Key features
- Get to customize employee profiles, forms, and workflows to include your business essential fields and tabs.
- Deploy self-serve portals for employees to update their profiles, request time-offs, and learn about co-workers.
- Automate employee onboarding workflows such as data entry and document collection.
- Use Zia (AI chatbot) to let employees and managers ask queries and submit time-offs via simple one-liner prompts.
- Enable field-level access controls and encryption measures to restrict information access based on job roles and responsibilities.
Pros and cons
✅ Highly responsive mobile app to access your employee contact directory on the go.
✅ Integrates neatly with Zoho app ecosystem and several third-party applications.
❌ Zoho’s mobile app features and layout aren’t as smooth and robust as the web version.
💡 Pro tip: Softr's Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) brush off the need to adjust software responsiveness for different screen sizes. With Softr’s PWAs, what you design for the web is what you get on the mobile app.
Pricing
Zoho People is free to use for up to 5 users. You can run basic HR functions for employee databases and time off management. However, the storage limit is capped at 250 MB for the free plan.
To scale up operations, Zoho offers tiered-based pricing, each with a 30-day free trial:
- Essential: $1.25 per month
- Professional: $2 per month
- Premium: $3 per month
- Enterprise: $4.5 per month
- People Plus: $9 per month
Customer reviews
User reviews for Zoho People reflect a favorable view highlighting its comprehensive HR toolkit and integration with the Zoho apps ecosystem.
However, overloaded features lead to a steep learning curve and make users turn toward easy-to-use employee directory solutions like Softr.
"The learning curve for Zoho People, according to some employees, is steeper, especially for brand-new users who are unfamiliar with the application. It could take some time and effort to navigate through the many modules and comprehend the setup options."
- G2 Review.
Ideal for
Zoho People offers a free employee directory software for small to businesses. However, it is most recommended for businesses and enterprises already part of the Zoho app ecosystem.
4. Connecteam
Connecteam is among the best employee directory solutions for SMBs. Along with putting together your team information, it features HR tools to streamline team communications, operations, and engagement.
Key features
- Offers a digital phonebook-style interface that lets you call, chat, and email co-workers, clients, or suppliers directly from the directory.
- Modify employee profiles to add custom fields for, say, emergency contacts and preferred calling hours.
- Advanced search to easily find all the right people by name, department, role, or any other custom field.
- Use role-based permissions to control who sees what with options to hide personal or confidential information for specific user groups.
Pros and cons
✅ Offers employee engagement features such as in-feed posts, real-time surveys, and internal ticketing systems.
✅ Supports electronic signature to ease document submission and approvals.
❌ Adding salary and pay rates are available only in U.S. dollars, making it less favorable for global teams.
Pricing
Connecteam provides a free forever small business plan for up to 10 users. You can access all core features of the employee contact directory, and limited features from other hubs.
Other than that, it has three premium plans:
- Basic: $35 per month
- Advanced: $59 per month
- Expert: $119 per month
Customer reviews
Small-business owners find the free plan ideal for getting started. However, after studying through user reviews, it was clear that users needed help navigating through the app.
"I would have liked better training on understanding the platform since, for some people, it is not as simple as it seems"
- G2 Review.
"I never know when I have a task until it is past due when I get a notification. It is hard to find comments or instructions on tasks, too. It would be nice to see more options in the directory and to see the staff/user directory on top rather than the other staff contacts. Would be nice to have a red dot over the time-off area if a request comes in too."
- G2 Review.
Ideal for
Connecteam is ideal for startups and businesses looking for free employee directory software.
5. BambooHR
BambooHR is among the top enterprise employee directory solutions. It's secure and helps you move your HR database from scattered spreadsheets to a digital workspace.
Key features
- Customize employee profiles to include unique data like photos, document tabs, favorite music, and more.
- Adjust access levels to allow employees to edit their personal information while limiting access to other profiles or sensitive company data.
- Create automated workflows for employee onboarding, request approvals, data entry, and more HR functions.
- Use Levels and Bands to establish and categorize employees based on job level and salary bands, assisting with timely employee promotions.
- Choose from a library of 40+ built-in reports for employee turnover, benefits summary, PTO usage, and more.
Pros and cons
✅ Shows version history for all changes made on the directory.
✅ Allows white-labeling account with your company brand logo and colors.
❌ Lacks database customization options.
Pricing
BambooHR has a 7-day free trial with unrestricted access to all features. After which, you can choose from its premium plans:
- Core: Custom pricing
- Pro: Custom pricing
Note: Several modules, such as time tracking, surveys, and performance management, are available as add-ons, meaning you do need to pay more to use them.
Customer reviews
User reviews highlight BambooHR as a comprehensive platform. However, they mention some major limitations.
“BambooHR struggles to stretch to meet all our needs. The limitations on how drilled-down approvals, finding and navigating the information can be a bit difficult, especially if you aren't 100% familiar with the software. Also, implementing the platform can be weeks long and challenging.”
- G2 Review.
Ideal for
BambooHR is ideal for SMBs and large enterprises. The absence of a free plan makes it a dicey choice for agencies and startups.
Wrapping Up
Employee directory integration into your business could improve organizational efficiency and communication by a huge margin. With the best employee directory tools, you can:
✅ Have all employee details under your fingers.
✅ Connect and broadcast information with a click.
✅ Get document expiration alerts and stay compliant with labor laws.
✅ Automate data entry and sync between your HR tech stack.
Want to build a custom employee directory to exactly fit your team needs? Get started with Softr Today!
Employee directory FAQs
1. What security measures should I look for?
Look for core security features that Softr offers, such as role-based access controls, encryption of sensitive information, and compliance with SOC2 and GDPR. Alongwith, multiple sign in options with Google, Email, SMS, or SSO.
2. How can I ensure the directory stays updated?
Consider employee directory software that offers periodic scheduling, reminders, document expiration alerts, and more. Tools like Softr allow creating custom workflows and self-service portals to allow employees to fill in or update details on their own.
3. Can it be customized for my organization?
Yes, customizable employee directory software like Softr lets you customize the directory interface, workflows, and employee profiles. You can add unlimited collaborators and build the platform together from scratch.
4. How does it integrate with existing HR systems?
Integration capabilities vary by platform. Some employee directory tools offer real-time connectors to sync employee data from existing HR systems automatically. Many directories provide API access, allowing for custom integrations with other software tools used within the organization.
What is Softr
Softr is the easiest way to turn your data into powerful business apps—no code required. Connect to your spreadsheet or database, customize layout and logic, and share with your team or clients.
Join 700,000+ users worldwide, building client portals, internal tools, CRMs, dashboards, project management systems, inventory management apps, and more—all without code.
Join 700,000+ users worldwide, building client portals, internal tools, CRMs, dashboards, project management systems, inventory management apps, and more—all without code.
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