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Comparison · HR
HiBob vs Ashby
A side-by-side editorial comparison of HiBob and Ashby — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
HiBob vs Ashby: at a glance
What is HiBob?
HiBob keeps widening its public API, now with bulk reads of custom employee tables
HiBob's changelog since September is a run of partner-facing and integrator APIs: background checks and assessments inside Bob Hiring, an Applicant API feeding Pending Hires, a Retirement Partners API on US Payroll, and steady Employee data API coverage. The latest addition lets integrations read one custom table for many employees in a single paginated call instead of looping per employee.
What is Ashby?
Ashby adds threaded comments to AI Notetaker, so interview debriefs stay next to the transcript.
Ashby ships small admin, form and scheduling changes almost daily. On November 12 AI Notetaker gained threaded comments pinned to moments in the recording, a day after Transcript Only mode let teams keep notes without storing audio or video. The same 24 hours added required reasons for force approvals, resending of skipped Quality of Hire surveys and a cleaner take-home layout in interview briefs.
HiBob vs Ashby: editorial side-by-side
HiBob
5.0HR
HiBob keeps widening its public API, now with bulk reads of custom employee tables
◆ Current state
HiBob's changelog since September is a run of partner-facing and integrator APIs: background checks and assessments inside Bob Hiring, an Applicant API feeding Pending Hires, a Retirement Partners API on US Payroll, and steady Employee data API coverage. The latest addition lets integrations read one custom table for many employees in a single paginated call instead of looping per employee.
◆ Where it's heading
The Employee data API is being filled in table by table: CRUD for built-in tables in August, schema metadata in early November, and now bulk reads for custom tables. Alongside the Marketplace OAuth partner APIs, the direction is making Bob the system other HR tools read from and write into without workarounds.
◆ Prediction
Bulk endpoints are likely to spread to the remaining per-employee reads or to writes on custom tables, since the new endpoint explicitly excludes out-of-the-box tables and write paths.
Ashby
5.0HR
Ashby adds threaded comments to AI Notetaker, so interview debriefs stay next to the transcript.
◆ Current state
Ashby ships small admin, form and scheduling changes almost daily. On November 12 AI Notetaker gained threaded comments pinned to moments in the recording, a day after Transcript Only mode let teams keep notes without storing audio or video. The same 24 hours added required reasons for force approvals, resending of skipped Quality of Hire surveys and a cleaner take-home layout in interview briefs.
◆ Where it's heading
AI Notetaker is turning into the place where hiring teams discuss a candidate, with privacy controls and collaboration arriving in the same week. Around it, Ashby keeps adding audit and governance options, such as approval reasons, that larger customers ask for.
◆ Prediction
Expect AI Notetaker comments and notes to feed scorecards or debrief summaries next; the entries do not yet show that link.
Alternatives to HiBob and Ashby
Other HR products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either HiBob or Ashby.
Leapsome
Leapsome publishes another batch of HR templates and software roundups.
Ever Gauzy
Ever Gauzy links time logs to invoice lines so the same hours are never billed twice.
Teamtailor
Teamtailor shows every time in the reader's own time zone, for recruiters and candidates.
Workable
Workable turns its report builder on interviews, assessments and video screens.
Fountain
Fountain opens a skills marketplace for its Cue assistant and adds a compliance review queue.
Recent activity from HiBob and Ashby
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoAshbyUpdated take-home and submissions tabs in interview brief
- 1d agoAshbyAdd and require reasons for force approvals
- 1d agoAshbyResend skipped Quality of Hire surveys
- 1d agoAshbyLeave comments in AI Notetaker
- 2d agoAshbyTranscript Only mode for AI Notetaker: Capture interview context without storing audio or video
- 3d agoAshbyGrouped Interview Plan updates
- 5d agoHiBobEmployee data API: bulk read for custom tables
- 11d agoHiBobGoals API: dueDate added to key results
- 12d agoHiBobAttendance Projects API: supports project owners
- 12d agoHiBobEmployee data API: Metadata for out-of-the-box employee tables
- 1mo agoHiBobBob Hiring new Assessments API for Marketplace partners
- 1mo agoHiBobEmployee data Webhooks: Immediate access revocation
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between HiBob and Ashby?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. HiBob and Ashby are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is HiBob better than Ashby?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. HiBob and Ashby are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other HR products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to HiBob?
Top HiBob alternatives in HR are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "HiBob alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/hibob for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Ashby?
Top Ashby alternatives in HR are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Ashby alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ashby for the full list with editorial commentary on each.