Frontier Software is an enterprise-grade human capital management platform. It offers integrated recruiting, payroll, learning, and performance management tools in one unified system.
However, it also has some trade-offs. While Frontier excels at payroll compliance and comprehensive HR operations, its recruitment capabilities lack the AI-driven intelligence that modern hiring teams expect.
Our research team invested over 40 hours analyzing the product, features, verified user reviews, pricing, and integrations to give you an unbiased Frontier Software review.
Why Trust Our Frontier Software Review?
To deliver this honest and detailed Frontier Software review, our team evaluated features directly from the official platform. Our review methodology includes:
- Official Product Analysis: Evaluated all modules, recruitment, payroll, learning, performance management, and workforce management directly from Frontier's official website and product documentation.
- Verified User Reviews: Analyzed patterns from verified reviews on Capterra, SoftwareSuggest, Digital Directions, and Trustpilot to identify genuine user highlights and limitations.
- Role-Based Use Cases: Assessed value for HR leaders, recruiters, TA heads, payroll teams, and employees across recruitment, learning, performance, and analytics.
- Implementation & Support Research: Cross-referenced customer experiences with Frontier's 40-year track record and service delivery model.
This review contains no affiliate links, sponsored content, or paid placements. We focus solely on delivering actionable insights to help you make an informed decision.
Frontier Software Overview
Frontier’s core product family revolves around ichris (also marketed as Frontier e-HR / chris 21 in some regions). The suite covers HR, payroll (available and maintained for 26 countries), workforce management, recruitment, onboarding, learning, and reporting.
Frontier offers SaaS/cloud and bureau/outsourced payroll options with implementation and support services tailored to enterprise needs. The product emphasizes statutory compliance and robust payroll accounting.
Key Frontier Software Features
Below are the standout features of Frontier:
- Global Payroll (pay21 / Payroll module): Full payroll engine supporting statutory tables, reporting, and multi-country payroll processing; accounting entries are automated.
- Human Capital Management (ichris / e-HR): Central employee records, organization charts, workflows, and HR reporting. Designed for complex employee data across multiple entities.
- Recruitment Management: Web applicant portal, job advertising, candidate screening, and collaborative shortlisting to reduce time-to-hire.
- Time & Attendance: Real-time attendance capture, manager portal for approvals, and integration with payroll to remove manual timesheet errors.
- Workforce Scheduler & WHS (Health & Safety): Shift planning, rostering, and incident/claims logging for compliance and operational visibility.
- Mobile HR / Employee Self-Service: Mobile app for payslips, leave, timesheets, and approvals, enabling HR transactions from phones.
- Reporting & Business Intelligence: Pre-built and custom reports deliver payroll, recruitment and workforce analytics for operational decisions.
- Integrations & Connectors: API access and Workato connector support for linking ichris to other HR, finance or recruiting tools.
- Payroll Outsourcing / Bureau Services: Tiered service levels (Payroll Bureau, Part-Managed, Fully Managed) for organizations that want a hosted payroll service.
Frontier Software Pricing
Frontier publishes product and delivery models on its site, but does not list fixed public pricing for software licences or per-user fees.
Pricing is custom and depends on modules, deployment (cloud vs on-premise), country payroll coverage, and service level (implementation and ongoing support).
Pros and Cons of Frontier Software
Here are the highlights of Frontier Software:
- Strong Payroll & Compliance: Our multi-country payroll engine manages statutory rules and tax changes reliably. This reduces compliance risks for large, regulated organizations.
- Comprehensive HCM Suite: Integrated HR, recruitment, time, learning, and payroll modules centralise processes. This cuts data silos and improves visibility across teams for mid-to-large firms.
- Flexible Deployment & Outsourcing: We offer cloud SaaS, on-premise, and bureau payroll services. Organizations can choose between managed or self-service models based on their capacity and compliance needs.
- Strong Integration Capabilities: APIs and connectors allow easy integration with finance, ATS, and middleware. This simplifies data flow and lowers the need for manual updates across systems.
While Frontier Software excels in various areas, below are the identified limitations:
- Dated User Interface: Many reviewers find the UI outdated and not user-friendly. This increases training time and cuts productivity for new or casual users.
- Steep Learning Curve: The powerful features require setup and training. Small teams often struggle to onboard without dedicated admin resources and extra vendor support.
- Inconsistent Module UX: Users note that while payroll is solid, some HR and recruitment modules lack modern workflows. This leads to a mixed experience across the suite.
- Limited Pricing Transparency: There are no public price lists. Enterprises need to request quotes, making early vendor comparisons and budgeting tricky for smaller buyers.
How Can Integrating Skima AI Handle Frontier Software Limitations?
Skima AI adds an intelligent candidate intelligence layer to Frontier's recruitment module, addressing the hiring team's need for smarter candidate matching, automated screening, and explainable AI decisions.
When integrated with Frontier via APIs or connectors, Skima AI enhances recruitment outcomes without replacing the platform.
Hiring teams can continue using Frontier's vacancy management, applicant tracking, and workflow automation while gaining advanced candidate insights, resume parsing, skill matching, and rediscovery capabilities.
Key benefits of Frontier Software integration with Skima AI:
- Candidate Rediscovery: Automatically find past applicants who now qualify for open roles. No more manual database searches.
- AI-Powered Match Scoring: Each candidate gets a clear match score. This shows why they fit a role. It helps recruiters focus on top candidates and justifies choices to hiring managers.
- Automated Resume Parsing: Extract candidate details from various resume formats. This cuts down manual errors and speeds up processing, all within Frontier's interface.
- Seamless Frontier Experience: No extra logins, no data exports, and no new systems to learn. Skima AI integrates directly into Frontier's recruitment module, enhancing it without replacing it.
Who Should Consider Frontier Software?
Frontier is the right choice for:
- Large enterprises with multi-country payroll needs. If you need statutory payroll in several countries and robust payroll accounting, Frontier is a fit.
- Organizations that require a single HR/payroll system. Firms that want one system of record for HR, payroll, time & attendance and recruitment.
- Businesses that plan for configuration & support. Companies that can invest in implementation and change management will extract more value.
Who Should Avoid Frontier Software?
Frontier is not ideal for:
- Small teams that need plug-and-play simplicity. If you want instant onboarding and minimal configuration, modern lightweight ATS/HR tools may be faster.
- Organizations with tight fixed budgets and no appetite for enterprise projects. Quote-based pricing and implementation costs can be a blocker.
- Teams that prioritize the slickest consumer-grade UI. If recruiter or employee UX is your number-one selection criterion, consider newer HR startups or best-in-class ATS alternatives.
Final Verdict
Frontier Software is a solid, compliance-focused HCM suite. It’s designed for organizations needing one system to handle global payroll, workforce scheduling, recruitment, and HR tasks.
If your business needs complex payroll rules, timely statutory updates, and a vendor for bureau or fully managed payroll services, Frontier is a great choice.
However, it may not suit you if you prioritise quick setup, a modern user experience, or clear self-service pricing. These aspects can be challenging for smaller or fast-moving hiring teams.
If you appreciate Frontier’s HCM and payroll capabilities but want quicker sourcing and smarter shortlisting, consider integrating Skima AI. This approach can speed up hiring without replacing Frontier as your main system.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Frontier Software?
Frontier Software is an enterprise-grade Human Capital Management and payroll suite. It includes HR, global payroll, recruitment, time and attendance, and workforce management. This suite is designed for complex, multi-country organizations that need compliance and scalability.
2. Is Frontier Software legit?
Yes, Frontier Software is a reputable vendor with decades of global HCM and payroll experience. They serve large companies in many countries. Customers often praise their reliable payroll and strong implementation support.
3. Can Frontier Software integrate with Skima AI?
Yes, Frontier supports API and connector-based integrations; Skima AI can map candidate, resume, and status data into Frontier’s recruitment objects. This enables automated parsing, matching, and status sync, while keeping Frontier as the system of record.
4. How does Skima AI improve Frontier’s recruitment process?
Skima AI accelerates sourcing by parsing resumes, scoring candidates, and surfacing best matches from existing applicant pools, reducing manual screening time. This also enhances the quality of shortlists before syncing decisions into Frontier.
5. What industries use Frontier Software?
Frontier serves government, healthcare, education, retail, manufacturing, and large service organizations. These sectors need complex payroll rules, multi-entity HR, and compliance with regulations. This is especially true for businesses with global workforce operations and scale.
6. How customizable is Frontier Software?
Frontier offers extensive customization through configuration, workflows, and APIs; implementations often require vendor consulting to tailor payroll rules, reports, and recruitment workflows. This can raise both time and costs, but it ensures a better fit.
