This Folks HR review looks at what a Canadian HR platform actually costs a small employer, what it handles on the payroll side, and where it comes up short. Folks is a Montreal-based company that sells three products you can combine: Core HR, an applicant tracking system, and payroll. It reports more than 1,200 Canadian customers.
Software choices like this one sit next to your accounting stack, so read our guide to the best bookkeeping software for self-employed workers if your books still live in a spreadsheet. For everything else on running a company, browse the full business finance section.
What Folks HR Covers
Folks sells its platform in modules rather than one bundle. Core HR is the base, and you add the applicant tracking system, payroll, or both. The interface works in English and French, which matters if part of your team works in Quebec.
- Core HR: employee records, absence and time-off requests, onboarding plans, document management with e-signature, organizational chart, training and certification tracking, and HR reporting.
- Applicant tracking: job postings, a career page, job board publishing, resume parsing, and interview workflows.
- Payroll: pay calculations by province, pay statements, direct deposit, and government filings.
- Performance: review cycles and appraisals, sold on top of Core HR.
- Mobile app: time-off requests and access to profiles and documents from a phone.
Who Is Behind Folks
Folks raised $4.5 million on February 27, 2024, from Desjardins Capital and BDC Capital, and it stated more than 1,200 active SMB customers at the time. On November 27, 2024, the company announced SOC 2 Type 2 certification, after an earlier SOC 2 Type 1 report. For a payroll and HR system, that audit trail carries weight, because you are handing over social insurance numbers and salary data.
Folks HR Pricing in Canada
Folks publishes starting prices by module instead of named plan tiers. The figures below come from the Folks pricing page, consulted in July 2026.
| Module | Starting price | Billing basis |
|---|---|---|
| Core HR | $6 per employee | Per month |
| Applicant tracking (ATS) | $99 | Per month, flat |
| Payroll | $3.50 per employee | Per pay run |
| Implementation | From $500 | One time, per plan |
Folks states that the final price varies based on the number of employees, the modules you select, and the plan you choose. Nonprofits qualify for adapted rates. Because the company quotes rather than publishes tiers, treat these numbers as a floor.
What Folks Costs a 25-Person Company
Starting prices tell you little until you run them against a real headcount. Take a company with 25 employees on a bi-weekly payroll, which means 26 pay runs a year.
- Core HR: 25 employees at $6 per month equals $150 a month, so $1,800 a year.
- Payroll: 25 employees at $3.50 per pay run across 26 runs equals $2,275 a year.
- Applicant tracking: $99 a month equals $1,188 a year, whether you post one job or twenty.
- Implementation: $500 minimum, charged once.
All three modules together run about $5,763 in year one and $5,263 after that, or roughly $17.54 per employee per month on an ongoing basis. Drop the applicant tracking module and the first year falls to about $4,575, then $4,075 a year, close to $13.58 per employee per month.
Payroll and Canadian Compliance
Payroll is where a Canadian platform earns its price, since the filings differ by province and by government. Folks lists the following coverage on its payroll page.
- Deductions: income tax, CPP or QPP, and EI, calculated on provincial rates.
- Remittances: submissions to the Canada Revenue Agency and to Revenu Québec.
- Year-end slips: T4 and RL-1 filing with the tax authorities.
- Records of employment: filed with Service Canada when someone leaves.
- Multi-province payroll: rates applied by location for teams spread across provinces.
Folks also sells payroll at three service levels. You can run it yourself, take an assisted setup with guidance, or hand the whole cycle to a managed service delivered with its partner Komplice. Consequently, a company without an HR generalist can outsource the calculations and the filings instead of learning them.
Where Folks Fits
Strengths
- Canadian filings included: CRA and Revenu Québec, T4 and RL-1, plus records of employment.
- Bilingual interface: English and French for employees and managers.
- Modular pricing: you can buy Core HR alone at $6 per employee per month.
- Managed payroll option: the Komplice service covers calculations and compliance.
- SOC 2 Type 2: announced in November 2024, after a Type 1 report.
Limitations
- Implementation fee: $500 minimum applies to every plan, including payroll.
- Payroll billed per pay run: a weekly cycle costs twice a bi-weekly one.
- Flat ATS price: $99 a month is heavy for a company hiring twice a year.
- No published tiers: you need a quote to know your real monthly cost.
- Integrations unnamed: the site does not publish a vendor-by-vendor integration list.
How Folks Compares
Four platforms cover most of the Canadian SMB market. The table below uses published prices only, so a blank quote means the vendor keeps its rates behind a sales call.
| Platform | Built for | Payroll | Published starting price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Folks | Canadian SMBs | Add-on module | Core HR $6 per employee per month, CAD |
| Rise People | Canadian SMBs | Included in every plan | Start plan $8 per employee per month, CAD, plus a base fee |
| Employment Hero | Canada and 180+ countries | Separate payroll plan | Payroll $7 per employee per month, $70 monthly minimum |
| BambooHR | US-centric | Add-on, US employees only | Core US$10 per employee per month |
Two details matter more than the price gaps. First, Humi now trades as Employment Hero in Canada, and its HR plans require a quote with a 10-user minimum. Second, BambooHR sells its payroll add-on for US employees only, so it cannot issue a T4, no matter how strong the rest of the platform looks.
Rise People is the closest comparison to Folks, since both target Canadian employers and both bill per employee. Rise includes payroll in the Start plan at $8 per employee per month, though it adds a base fee. Folks starts lower at $6, then charges payroll separately per pay run, which means the ranking flips depending on how often you pay your team.
Bottom Line
Folks suits a Canadian employer between roughly 15 and 200 employees that wants HR records and payroll under Canadian rules, in both languages, without an enterprise contract. The Quebec filings and the managed payroll option are the strongest arguments in its favour. A five-person shop, by contrast, will find the $500 implementation fee and the $99 applicant tracking module hard to justify.
Ask for a written quote against your own headcount and pay calendar before you set it against our comparison of payroll software in Canada. While you are reviewing your setup, check that the rest of your back office holds up: see our comparison of business bank accounts in Canada and our guide to QuickBooks for small business accounting. For new guides as we publish them, subscribe to our newsletter.
Frequently Asked Questions about Folks HR
Here are the questions Canadian employers ask most often before they sign with an HR platform.
