Name: Calamari
Brand: Calamari

Expert review

Stackfix's Rating

6.4 / 10

Last updated on

Reviewed by Steph Leung

Stackfix Product & Operations Lead

SL

Key findings

Calamari is a reliable, entry-level HRIS for small teams with minimal HR needs. While it offers only core functions like employee database and time-off tracking, the platform is user-friendly, exceptionally easy to set up, and supported by excellent, responsive customer service.

However, Calamari is limited to these basics and lacks features like performance management, surveys, and custom workflows, making it unsuitable for any teams looking for anything beyond the basics. Despite its extremely limited functionality, it has a frustrating minimum pricing requirement of 10 employees, which makes us struggle to identify who Calamari is best for.

Pros

Exceptional easy to set up and use

Mostly due to Calamari's limited feature set, Calamari requires almost no set up time. We also found the platform to be remarkably user-friendly - the interface's intuitive organization and well-structured tabs make navigation effortless, ensuring a smooth onboarding experience.

Clean, minimalist interface

Calamari's interface is simple, clean and minimalist with quick page loads, making it visually appealing and practical for daily use.

Responsive customer support

We were impressed by Calamari's customer support, which consistently responds to inquiries in under 10 minutes through their in-platform chat function. Their help center also provides comprehensive, well-explained articles for self-service support.

Cons

Only offers core HR functionality

Calamari really only offers the HR basics. Beyond that, it lacks key features such as performance reviews, employee engagement surveys, and workflow automation - while not pre-built integrations with any of these specialist tools. Teams will likely outgrow Calamari quickly beyond 20 employees.

Limited pre-built integrations

Calamari's selection of pre-built integrations is incredibly limited. It lacks connections with even the most popular HR tools, such as QuickBooks (accounting), Lattice (performance management), and Workable (ATS), while also not offering these functionalities itself. Be prepared for manual data transfers, or to build your own custom connections.

Basic Reporting

We found Calamari's reporting functionality to be absolutely dismal. The platform lacks basic HR insights dashboards and offers no custom reporting options. The pre-built reports are repetitive and unhelpful, merely showing the same information in different formats.

Calamari is best for

Businesses with 10-20 employees
Who only need core HR functionality (employee database, time-off management and time tracking)
And want a user-friendly platform that requires almost no setup time

Calamari is less good for

Businesses with >20 employees
Who need anything beyond the HR basics, such as surveys, performance management

Gallery

Calamari - Contacts list

Calamari pricing

Pricing calculator

Billing cycle	Core HR $2.50 employee / month Billed monthly
Restrictions
employees	No limit
Common features
Store employee information
Advanced features
Create reports and dashboards
Store employee documents
Store employee work locations
Create custom fields
Automate the collection of personal, payroll & tax information from new hires
API
Slack
Google Calendar
Outlook Calendar

Calamari doesn't have any other plans

Calamari - Review & Pricing 2025