One HR platform or best-of-breed tools at 30 people?
A 30-person company is usually better served by one platform for people and projects. Specialist tools stay for jobs with their own rules, such as pay runs and accounting. At that size nobody owns integrations full time. PeopleMuster covers leave, attendance, timesheets, capacity and client projects for $3 per person, per month.
Best-of-breed sounds sensible one tool at a time. A leave tracker here, a time tracker there, a scheduling tool for the delivery team, a spreadsheet for laptops. Each one is good at its job. The trouble is the space between them.
Look at the price list first. As of September 2026, Timetastic Business lists at $1.50 per user a month for leave. Harvest Teams lists at $9 per seat a month billed annually for time tracking, and Float Starter at $7 per scheduled person a month. Each price is fair for one job, and each covers only that job.
Now count the copies. Leave approved in one tool has to reach the schedule in another. Hours logged in a time tracker have to reach whoever works out utilisation. A new joiner needs an account in every tool, and so does every change of manager.
Leavers show the real cost. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics put total separations at 3.3% of employment per month on average in 2025. Apply that rate to your own headcount. You'll see how often somebody has to close accounts in every tool, recover a laptop and hand over projects.
One platform turns those copies into one record. In PeopleMuster, approved leave shows on the capacity grid at once and timesheets feed utilisation directly. An offboarding checklist runs against the leaver, with the device register beside it. Nobody reconciles two lists on a Friday.
Specialist tools still earn a place where the job has outside rules. Pay runs stay with your accountant or payroll provider, and invoices stay in your accounting software. Meeting recording stays with Fireflies, which PeopleMuster connects to so transcripts file against the right project.
Run a quick test before you decide. Write down every place a fact is typed twice each week, and every account a leaver needs closed. If either list runs past three items, the joins are your real cost.
PeopleMuster includes every module at $3 per person, per month, with no seat minimum. You can switch off the modules you don't need yet, and every new team gets 14 days free with no card.
Related questions
When does best-of-breed make sense for a small company?
When the job follows rules from outside your company, such as pay runs and accounting. Those stay with specialists. Leave, time, capacity and projects share the same people, so they belong in one record.
How many HR tools does a 30-person company need?
Usually two or three: one platform for people and projects, plus your payroll provider and your accounting software. Every tool beyond that adds another account per person and another copy step each week.
What should stay outside an all-in-one HR platform?
Pay runs and bookkeeping. Pay runs stay with your accountant or payroll provider, and invoices stay in your accounting software. PeopleMuster holds the attendance, leave and hours those processes start from.
Does switching off a PeopleMuster module change the price?
No. The price is $3 per person, per month, whichever modules you use. Modules switch on and off to match how your team works.