OrangeHRM vs Sift Org Chart

OrangeHRM is a full HR management system spanning the employee lifecycle — recruitment, onboarding, leave, time & attendance, and performance — available as a…

Best for OrangeHRM: Organizations that need a complete HR system covering recruitment, onboarding, leave management, time & attendance, and performance reviews, and want the option of a free, self-hosted, open-source Starter edition.
Best for Sift Org Chart: Organizations of 20+ employees that specifically want real-time, automated org charts with dotted-line relationships and open roles, plus a searchable employee directory with rich profiles (skills, languages, work experience).

At a Glance

 OrangeHRMSift Org Chart
Primary categoryHRHR
RatingNot documentedNot documented
Pricing modelFreemiumPer-user subscription, billed annually
Starting priceFree (open source); Advanced priced per-employee/month, custom quote$1.50/user/month (Org Chart plan, minimum 20 users)
Free planYesNot documented
Free trialYesYes
PlatformsWebWeb, iOS, Android
Team collaborationNot documentedNot documented
AI featuresYesNot documented
Public APINot documentedNot documented

Key Differences

Product Scope

OrangeHRM: OrangeHRM covers the full employee lifecycle: Employee Management, Recruitment & Applicant Tracking, Onboarding, Leave Management, Time & Attendance Tracking, and Performance Management.

Sift Org Chart: Sift Org Chart is focused narrowly on organizational visibility: automated org charts, employee profiles, search/directory, and analytics — it does not document payroll, leave, or recruitment modules.

Buyers looking for a single system to run HR processes need OrangeHRM's breadth; buyers who already have an HR system but lack visualization need Sift's narrower focus.

Pricing & Free Access

OrangeHRM: OrangeHRM offers a completely free, open-source Starter edition with core HR functionality, plus a custom-quoted modular Advanced tier with a 30-day free trial.

Sift Org Chart: Sift has no free plan — only a 14-day free trial — with paid plans starting at $150/month (Org Chart) and a minimum of 20 users required on the base plan.

A free, no-user-minimum tier removes cost as a barrier for small or budget-constrained teams.

Deployment Options

OrangeHRM: OrangeHRM supports both cloud-hosted and on-premise/self-hosted deployment.

Sift Org Chart: Sift is offered only as a hosted SaaS platform, with no self-hosting option documented.

Self-hosting matters for organizations with strict data-residency or compliance requirements.

Org Chart & Directory Depth

OrangeHRM: OrangeHRM does not list a dedicated org-chart or people-search feature among its modules.

Sift Org Chart: Sift's Directory plan includes 13 prebuilt organizational analytics reports, real-time automated org charts with dotted-line relationships and open roles, and rich, searchable employee profiles (skills, pronouns, languages, work experience).

Purpose-built org-chart tools generally offer richer visualization and directory search than a general HR system's reporting module.

Minimum Commitment

OrangeHRM: OrangeHRM's free Starter edition has no documented user minimum, since it's self-hosted open-source software.

Sift Org Chart: Sift requires a minimum of 20 users on its base plan, plus additional per-user fees ($1.50-$3.25/user depending on the plan).

A user minimum can make a tool cost-prohibitive or simply unavailable for very small teams.

Feature-by-Feature

Core HR Functionality

FeatureOrangeHRMSift Org Chart
Recruitment & applicant trackingAvailableUnavailable
Leave managementAvailableUnavailable
Time & attendance trackingAvailableUnavailable
Performance managementAvailableUnavailable
Onboarding workflowsAvailableUnavailable

Org Visibility & Directory

FeatureOrangeHRMSift Org Chart
Automated real-time org chartsNot documentedAvailable
Employee directory / people searchNot documentedAvailable
Rich employee profiles (skills, languages, pronouns)Not documentedAvailable
Prebuilt analytics reportsAvailableAvailable

Pricing & Deployment

FeatureOrangeHRMSift Org Chart
Free planAvailableUnavailable
Self-hosting optionAvailableUnavailable
API accessNot documentedAvailable
Minimum required usersUnavailableLimited

Pricing Compared

Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.

OrangeHRM

Starter (Open Source) — Free N/A
Advanced — Custom (per-employee-per-month) Monthly (PEPM), custom quote

Sift Org Chart

Org Chart — $1.50/user/month Billed annually (min. 20 users)
Directory — $2.00/user/month Billed annually (min. 20 users)
Complete — $3.25/user/month Billed annually (min. 20 users)
Enterprise — Contact sales Custom/annual contract

Pros & Cons

OrangeHRM

Pros

  • Genuinely free, open-source Starter edition with no artificial feature caps for core HR functions
  • Two decades of continuous development and a large, established global user base
  • Modular Advanced edition lets organizations pay only for the features they need
  • Flexible deployment: cloud-hosted or on-premises for both editions
  • Strong fit for cost-sensitive small businesses and organizations needing self-hosting control

Cons

  • Advanced edition pricing is not published and requires a custom sales quote
  • Self-hosting the free Starter edition requires in-house technical resources to deploy and maintain
  • User interface feels dated compared to some newer, venture-backed HR SaaS competitors
  • Payroll capabilities depend on integrations/modules rather than being fully native everywhere
  • Smaller marketing and brand presence than mainstream competitors like BambooHR or Gusto

Sift Org Chart

Pros

  • Automatic sync eliminates manual org chart upkeep
  • Deep integrations with common HR and identity systems
  • Accessible directly inside Slack and Microsoft Teams
  • Transparent, tiered per-user pricing
  • Strong G2 and Capterra ratings with SOC 2 compliance

Cons

  • Minimum 20-user commitment may not suit very small teams
  • SSO and white-labeling require the higher Directory or Complete tier
  • Small team size relative to larger enterprise HR software incumbents
  • Not a replacement for a full HRIS for core HR functions like payroll
  • Pricing requires an annual billing commitment

Use Cases

Choose OrangeHRM: Organizations that need a complete HR system covering recruitment, onboarding, leave management, time & attendance, and performance reviews, and want the option of a free, self-hosted, open-source Starter edition.
Choose Sift Org Chart: Organizations of 20+ employees that specifically want real-time, automated org charts with dotted-line relationships and open roles, plus a searchable employee directory with rich profiles (skills, languages, work experience).
Need both: A company could run OrangeHRM as its core HR system of record for leave, recruitment, and performance data, while layering Sift Org Chart on top for a real-time, visual org chart and an employee directory/people-search experience — a use case OrangeHRM's feature list doesn't specifically address.

OrangeHRM

  • Free HR system for small businesses — Small businesses and startups self-host the free Starter edition to manage core HR functions without software licensing costs.
  • Modular HR scaling for mid-market companies — Growing companies upgrade to the Advanced edition and add specific modules like performance management and recruitment as their HR needs expand.
  • Self-hosted HR for regulated or data-sensitive organizations — Organizations with strict data residency or security requirements self-host OrangeHRM on-premises to keep employee data under their own control.

Sift Org Chart

  • Automated org chart maintenance — Keep org charts accurate automatically as a company grows and changes.
  • Employee directory and people search — Find colleagues and their roles directly inside Slack or Microsoft Teams.
  • Distributed workforce visibility — Give leadership and staff a clear view of organizational structure across remote teams.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is OrangeHRM or Sift free?

OrangeHRM offers a free, open-source Starter edition. Sift has no free plan, only a 14-day free trial, with paid plans starting at $150/month.

Which handles payroll, leave, and recruitment?

OrangeHRM covers Leave Management, Recruitment & Applicant Tracking, and Time & Attendance Tracking. Sift's feature set — org charts, directories, and people search — doesn't document those HR-process modules.

Which is better for visualizing the reporting structure?

Sift Org Chart specializes in automated, real-time org charts with dotted-line relationships and open roles. OrangeHRM does not list a dedicated org-chart feature among its modules.

Is there a minimum team size for either?

Sift requires a minimum of 20 users on its base plan. OrangeHRM's free Starter edition has no documented minimum.

Can either be self-hosted?

OrangeHRM supports on-premise deployment alongside cloud hosting. Sift is offered only as a hosted platform.

Which has developer API access?

Sift includes API access on its Directory plan and above. OrangeHRM does not document API access among its listed features.

Read the full OrangeHRM review · Read the full Sift Org Chart review