If you've been researching HR software, you've probably seen both "ATS" and "HRIS" thrown around, sometimes interchangeably, which doesn't help. They sound similar, they both live under the HR umbrella, and vendors don't always make it easy to tell them apart.
But they do very different jobs. Knowing which one solves your actual problem will save you a lot of time, money, and frustration down the road.
The short version: an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is built for hiring, it helps you manage candidates before they're on your payroll. An HRIS (Human Resource Information System) takes over after the hire is made, handling everything from employee records to time-off requests. Two different phases of the employee lifecycle, two different tools.
Let's break down what each one actually does.
Post a job online and you'll know the problem pretty quickly. Applications come in fast and unless you're organized from the start, they pile up in your inbox with no clear way to track who you've contacted, who's been interviewed, or who's waiting on a decision. For most hiring managers, especially in high-volume industries like restaurants and retail, that chaos costs real time and real candidates.
That's the problem an ATS is built to solve.It's a software platform that organizes your entire hiring process from the moment someone applies to the moment they get an offer. You have all of your job postings, applications, interview notes, and candidate communications in one place, instead of scattered on your email, a spreadsheet, and a pile of printed resumes.
An ATS not only helps to stay organized but also automates the repetitive parts of recruiting, confirmation emails, interview scheduling, candidate follow-up, multi-job board posting. That level of automation makes a real difference for a hiring manager who’s juggling a bunch of open roles.
Once someone is hired, they move into an onboarding platform, which handles paperwork, background checks, and new hire documents digitally. In many cases, the ATS and onboarding tool work together so the handoff from "candidate" to "employee" is seamless.
The bottom line on an ATS: it's about speed and organization at the front end of hiring. The faster and more smoothly you can move candidates through the process, the better your chances of landing the right person before someone else does.
Where onboarding ends, an HRIS begins. Once a person is officially on your team, you need a place to store and manage everything about their employment, and that’s what an HRIS does.
Think of this as the system of record for your team. It contains employee information like the job title, salary, start date and personal information. It also tracks vacation balances, processes time-off requests, holds compliance documentation and keeps emergency contact information on file. Depending on the system, it can also include employee handbooks, training records and performance reviews.
One thing people often don’t think about until it matters: compliance. An HRIS stores identification records, tax information and employment history in an organized, accessible format. This is important when dealing with audits, regulatory requirements or any type of HR dispute.
Most HRIS platforms are cloud-based, so your HR team can update records and pull reports from anywhere. That also means employee data is stored securely rather than sitting in a filing cabinet or a folder on someone's desktop. When an employee wants to check their remaining vacation days or update a beneficiary, many HRIS platforms let them do that themselves through a self-service portal, which takes the small stuff off HR's plate.
|
ATS |
HRIS |
|
|
What it does |
Manages recruiting & hiring |
Manages employee data & HR admin |
|
When it's used |
Before the hire |
After the hire |
|
Who uses it |
Hiring managers, recruiters |
HR teams, managers, employees |
|
Core data |
Applications, interviews, offers |
Salaries, compliance, time-off, performance |
|
Main benefit |
Faster, more organized hiring |
Centralized long-term employee management |
|
Example tools |
HigherMe, Greenhouse, Lever |
BambooHR, Rippling, Workday |
Not necessarily, but for a lot of businesses, the answer is yes.
If your biggest headache is that hiring is slow, unorganized, or you keep losing good candidates because the process takes too long, an ATS is where to start. If you're already hiring fine but employee records are a mess, time-off requests are coming in by text, and your HR data lives in a spreadsheet, an HRIS is the right call.
If both of those sound familiar, you're not alone. Most growing businesses eventually run into challenges on both sides. In that case, running both systems together makes sense. An ATS to handle recruiting, an onboarding platform to bridge the gap, and an HRIS to manage employees long-term.
The good news is that many platforms integrate with each other. HigherMe, for example, connects directly with payroll and HR platforms like ADP, Paychex, and Netchex, so once a candidate is hired, their information moves into your HR system automatically. No double data entry, no gaps.
On cost: both ATS and HRIS tools have become significantly more affordable as the market has matured, especially for small and mid-sized businesses.
Here's a simple way to think about it:
If you're asking "how do I find and hire better people, faster?", that's an ATS problem.
If you're asking "how do I keep track of the people I've already hired?", that's an HRIS problem.
An ATS like HigherMe is built specifically for businesses that need to hire at volume and move quickly, particularly in industries like restaurants, retail, and franchise operations where turnover is high and speed matters. You'll spend less time chasing down applications and more time actually evaluating people.
An HRIS is the right tool when you've got a team in place and need a reliable, organized way to manage them day to day, from payroll records to compliance to performance tracking.
And if you need both? That's a completely normal place to be, and building that stack is more straightforward than it used to be.
Want to know more? Visit higherme.com.
1. What is the main difference between an ATS and an HRIS?
Timing. An ATS manages candidates during the hiring process. An HRIS manages employees after they've been hired. They serve different stages of the same journey.
2. Can an ATS and HRIS work together?
Yes, and they work best when they do. Most modern platforms offer integrations so employee data moves from your ATS into your HRIS automatically when someone is hired. HigherMe integrates directly with several payroll and HR platforms to make that handoff seamless.
3. Do small businesses need an ATS?
If you're posting jobs and managing applications manually, yes. An ATS isn't just for large companies. Tools like HigherMe are built specifically for smaller operations, restaurants, franchises, retail stores, where hiring fast matters but resources are limited.
4. What data does an HRIS store?
An HRIS typically holds employee contact details, job title, salary history, start date, tax and compliance documentation, vacation balances, emergency contacts, and in many cases training records and performance notes.
5. Is HigherMe an ATS or an HRIS?
HigherMe is an ATS and also full talent acquisition platform – it does job posting, applicant tracking, onboarding, compliance and also offers optional payroll. Designed for industries with hourly workforces and compatible with HRIS and payroll platforms, it integrates with your current HR setup not replaces it.