Head-to-head

CLEAR Talent vs Leapsome

Leapsome brings reviews, goals, engagement surveys, 1:1s and learning into one people platform. CLEAR Talent goes deeper into what a rating is made of. Which fits depends on how much of the people process you want from one supplier.

See the Comparison Book a Tailored Demo

Leapsome and CLEAR Talent answer the same first question — how do we run reviews, goals and 360° feedback without a spreadsheet — and then grow in different directions. Leapsome extends sideways, putting engagement surveys, 1:1 meetings, learning and onboarding on the same platform as performance. CLEAR Talent extends downwards, into the competency framework and the evidence behind each rating.

So the decision is less about which product runs a better review cycle and more about shape. If you want one supplier across performance, engagement and learning, breadth is the argument. If ratings have to hold up later — to an employee, a works council or a remuneration committee — and the competency model has to be the standard people are actually assessed against, depth is. If you run reviews across several countries and languages, add a third question: can every employee complete the cycle in their own language, on a phone? A standard demo will not settle any of this, so bring your own scenarios.

How Leapsome describes itself

Leapsome positions itself as a people enablement platform covering performance reviews, goals and OKRs, 360° feedback, engagement surveys, 1:1 meetings, and learning and onboarding. Its appeal is one platform across those areas rather than a separate tool for each. Modules and packaging change, so confirm which ones the plan you are quoted includes directly with Leapsome.

The short answer

Which one fits the problem you actually have.

Most shortlists are decided by one requirement, not twenty. These are the requirements that point to CLEAR Talent, and the ones that point to Leapsome.

Choose CLEAR Talent when

A rating has to hold up to a sceptical reader later. Self, assessor and final ratings are stored separately with their own comments, and competency ratings can be configured to require written evidence before submission.
Competencies are the framework, not a tag: behavioural indicators at every proficiency level, scales from three to seven levels that can differ by job family, and role profiles carrying required competencies and target levels.
Goals should not be able to float. Strategic Linked Goals requires every individual goal to connect to a parent objective, and goal scores form one weighted stream of the rating, with competency assessment as the other.
Reviews run in more than one language: 16 languages, with AI-generated summaries and recommendations delivered in each employee’s preferred language, and native iOS and Android apps with offline support from the Pro plan.
You need AI governance you can show a works council or DPO: Ava’s output is labelled, editable and approved by a person, every edit is logged, and it can be disabled per cycle, team or module.

Consider Leapsome when

Engagement surveys are part of the purchase. CLEAR Talent has no survey product — if you need one from the same supplier as performance, that is a genuine gap, and Leapsome presents surveys as part of its platform.
Learning belongs in the same purchase. CLEAR Talent development plans link to learning, but delivering courses is not a CLEAR Talent capability.
You want the shortest possible vendor list across the people process, and will trade some depth in assessment for one platform.
Your competency model is deliberately light, and gating ratings behind written evidence would be more process than your organisation wants.

Capability comparison

What we do, and what to ask them.

Requirement by requirement, with the specific question that settles each one in a demo.

We can describe CLEAR Talent precisely, because we build it. We cannot describe another vendor’s current packaging with the same authority, and pretending otherwise would make this page useless to you. So the CLEAR Talent column states what the platform does today, and the other column gives you the question to put to them — never a claim about a gap.

CLEAR Talent and Leapsome compared requirement by requirement
Requirement	CLEAR Talent	LeapsomeWhat to ask them
Performance depth
Organisation goals, OKRs and weighted KPIs	Strong / native Strategic Linked Goals cascades organisation objectives to team and individual level and requires every individual goal to connect to a parent, so orphaned goals cannot quietly accumulate. A KPI library holds reusable, role-aware metric templates with performance bands, weightings and guardrails.	Strong / native Goals and OKRs are part of the platform Leapsome presents. Ask whether an individual goal can be required to link to a parent objective rather than encouraged to, and whether weighted KPIs with performance bands can be modelled.
Review cycles and configuration	Strong / native Configurable self, manager, peer and multi-stage cycles, with configurable review templates and rating scales. Each stage carries its own deadline and automated reminders, quarterly and annual cadences can run side by side, and a closed period stays closed.	Strong / native Performance reviews are core to the product. Ask to see a multi-stage cycle built with your own stages, templates and rating scale, and how much of it an administrator can change without vendor support.
Competency frameworks and evidence	Strong / native A central library with behavioural indicators at every proficiency level, scales configurable from three to seven levels that can differ by job family, and role profiles carrying required competencies and target levels. Ratings can be configured to require written evidence before submission.	Confirm Ask how a competency is defined, whether behavioural indicators exist at each level, how many levels a scale can carry, whether scales can differ by job family, and whether a rating can be blocked until written evidence is attached.
360° multi-rater feedback	Strong / native Rater groups are configurable across managers, peers, direct reports and cross-functional stakeholders, raters are anonymised within their group and minimum-rater thresholds apply. Input is structured against the competencies in the role profile rather than collected as open text.	Strong / native 360° feedback is part of the platform Leapsome presents. Ask how rater groups are configured, what the anonymity and minimum-rater rules are in a small team, and whether input is structured against your competency model or gathered as open text.
Development, calibration and succession	Strong / native Skills-gap analysis feeds individual development plans, calibration runs before ratings go final, and 9-box, readiness and succession workflows sit on the same record. Individual, team and organisation reports export to PDF or Excel in one click.	Confirm Ask which of development planning, calibration, 9-box and succession are in the plan you are quoted, and how a calibration session works before ratings are released to employees.
Reach and governance
AI assistance and its governance controls	Strong / native Ava drafts review narrative, summarises multi-rater input into themes, generates competency frameworks and prompts reviewers on possible rating patterns. Output is labelled, editable and approved by a person, every edit is logged, and it can be disabled per cycle, team or module.	Confirm Ask what any AI in the platform writes, what it reads to write it, whether its output is labelled as AI-generated, whether it can be switched off for a cycle or a team, and what is recorded when a manager edits it.
Mobile and multilingual participation	Strong / native Web plus native iOS and Android apps with biometric sign-in, push notifications and offline support for sites where the signal drops, and 16 languages — with AI-generated summaries and recommendations delivered in each employee’s preferred language.	Confirm Ask which languages employees can complete a review and a 360° in, and have them show one full review completed on a phone by someone without a company laptop.
Scope boundaries
Employee engagement surveys	Not core Not a CLEAR Talent capability. If engagement or pulse surveys are a required part of this purchase, CLEAR Talent does not cover them and you would need a second tool.	Strong / native Engagement surveys are part of the platform Leapsome presents. Confirm whether they are in the plan you are quoted, and how survey results connect to the performance record.
Learning delivery	Not core Not a CLEAR Talent capability. Development plans link to learning; delivering courses is left to the learning platform you already use.	Strong / native Learning is part of the platform Leapsome presents. Confirm what it covers, whether it is licensed separately, and how completed learning shows up in a development plan.
Payroll, attendance and applicant tracking	Not core Not a CLEAR Talent capability, deliberately. The platform is built to run alongside the HRIS or payroll system you already have rather than replace it, which is what keeps the implementation narrow.	Confirm Confirm what sits inside Leapsome and what you would still need from your HRIS or payroll platform, so the two quotes cover the same ground.

Performance depth

Organisation goals, OKRs and weighted KPIs

CLEAR TalentStrong / native: Strategic Linked Goals cascades organisation objectives to team and individual level and requires every individual goal to connect to a parent, so orphaned goals cannot quietly accumulate. A KPI library holds reusable, role-aware metric templates with performance bands, weightings and guardrails.
LeapsomeStrong / native: Goals and OKRs are part of the platform Leapsome presents. Ask whether an individual goal can be required to link to a parent objective rather than encouraged to, and whether weighted KPIs with performance bands can be modelled.

Review cycles and configuration

CLEAR TalentStrong / native: Configurable self, manager, peer and multi-stage cycles, with configurable review templates and rating scales. Each stage carries its own deadline and automated reminders, quarterly and annual cadences can run side by side, and a closed period stays closed.
LeapsomeStrong / native: Performance reviews are core to the product. Ask to see a multi-stage cycle built with your own stages, templates and rating scale, and how much of it an administrator can change without vendor support.

Competency frameworks and evidence

CLEAR TalentStrong / native: A central library with behavioural indicators at every proficiency level, scales configurable from three to seven levels that can differ by job family, and role profiles carrying required competencies and target levels. Ratings can be configured to require written evidence before submission.
LeapsomeConfirm: Ask how a competency is defined, whether behavioural indicators exist at each level, how many levels a scale can carry, whether scales can differ by job family, and whether a rating can be blocked until written evidence is attached.

360° multi-rater feedback

CLEAR TalentStrong / native: Rater groups are configurable across managers, peers, direct reports and cross-functional stakeholders, raters are anonymised within their group and minimum-rater thresholds apply. Input is structured against the competencies in the role profile rather than collected as open text.
LeapsomeStrong / native: 360° feedback is part of the platform Leapsome presents. Ask how rater groups are configured, what the anonymity and minimum-rater rules are in a small team, and whether input is structured against your competency model or gathered as open text.

Development, calibration and succession

CLEAR TalentStrong / native: Skills-gap analysis feeds individual development plans, calibration runs before ratings go final, and 9-box, readiness and succession workflows sit on the same record. Individual, team and organisation reports export to PDF or Excel in one click.
LeapsomeConfirm: Ask which of development planning, calibration, 9-box and succession are in the plan you are quoted, and how a calibration session works before ratings are released to employees.

Reach and governance

AI assistance and its governance controls

CLEAR TalentStrong / native: Ava drafts review narrative, summarises multi-rater input into themes, generates competency frameworks and prompts reviewers on possible rating patterns. Output is labelled, editable and approved by a person, every edit is logged, and it can be disabled per cycle, team or module.
LeapsomeConfirm: Ask what any AI in the platform writes, what it reads to write it, whether its output is labelled as AI-generated, whether it can be switched off for a cycle or a team, and what is recorded when a manager edits it.

Mobile and multilingual participation

CLEAR TalentStrong / native: Web plus native iOS and Android apps with biometric sign-in, push notifications and offline support for sites where the signal drops, and 16 languages — with AI-generated summaries and recommendations delivered in each employee’s preferred language.
LeapsomeConfirm: Ask which languages employees can complete a review and a 360° in, and have them show one full review completed on a phone by someone without a company laptop.

Scope boundaries

Employee engagement surveys

CLEAR TalentNot core: Not a CLEAR Talent capability. If engagement or pulse surveys are a required part of this purchase, CLEAR Talent does not cover them and you would need a second tool.
LeapsomeStrong / native: Engagement surveys are part of the platform Leapsome presents. Confirm whether they are in the plan you are quoted, and how survey results connect to the performance record.

Learning delivery

CLEAR TalentNot core: Not a CLEAR Talent capability. Development plans link to learning; delivering courses is left to the learning platform you already use.
LeapsomeStrong / native: Learning is part of the platform Leapsome presents. Confirm what it covers, whether it is licensed separately, and how completed learning shows up in a development plan.

Payroll, attendance and applicant tracking

CLEAR TalentNot core: Not a CLEAR Talent capability, deliberately. The platform is built to run alongside the HRIS or payroll system you already have rather than replace it, which is what keeps the implementation narrow.
LeapsomeConfirm: Confirm what sits inside Leapsome and what you would still need from your HRIS or payroll platform, so the two quotes cover the same ground.

Status legend

Strong / nativeA clearly positioned core or native capability.

Not coreNot currently positioned as a core capability.

ConfirmScope, module, localization, or availability should be confirmed with the vendor.

Price and commercials

Compare quotes, not headline prices.

Per-seat figures are only comparable once both quotes cover the same modules, the same headcount and the same term.

CLEAR Talent

$39per month, Basic plan

CLEAR Talent publishes a list price rather than quoting from scratch: the Basic plan is USD 39 per month and covers 1 admin user and 10 staff users, with each additional staff user at USD 3 per month and each additional admin user at USD 9, up to the maximums stated on the plan. The Pro plan is USD 295 per month and covers 3 admin users and 50 staff users. Past those limits the Enterprise plan is quoted. A final quote is confirmed at demo; modules, localisation, implementation scope, taxes and commercial terms all move the number.

Leapsome

Check directwith the vendor

Read Leapsome’s current pricing page, then confirm exactly which modules — reviews, goals, surveys, learning — the plan you are quoted includes before comparing per-seat figures. A bundle that includes surveys and learning and a performance-only price are not the same purchase.

Put these questions to every vendor

Which modules are inside the quoted price, and which are licensed separately?
Is the price per employee, per active user, or per licence — and how are leavers treated mid-term?
What is the minimum seat count, and what happens to it if headcount falls?
What is the implementation fee, what does it cover, and what is billed hourly afterwards?
What is the contract term, and what is the uplift at renewal?

CLEAR Talent’s figure is the published list price of its entry plan, not a quote for your headcount — the plan covers a fixed allocation of users and adds a published per-user rate above it. No competitor price is stated on this page, because published vendor pricing changes and a figure repeated here would be out of date before you read it.

Where we stop

What CLEAR Talent does not do.

A comparison page that lists no limits is a brochure. These are the boundaries most likely to matter in this particular decision.

Employee engagement or pulse surveys.
A learning management system. Development plans link to learning; delivering courses is not a CLEAR Talent capability.
Payroll, time and attendance, or leave administration.
Recruitment and applicant tracking.
A prebuilt, automatically syncing connector to any named HRIS. Data moves by import, API access and export.

CLEAR Talent is a performance and development layer. It is designed to run alongside the HRIS or payroll platform you already have, and that boundary is what keeps the rollout measured in weeks.

Buyer questions

Questions buyers ask about Leapsome.

The answers a shortlist actually turns on, rather than the ones a feature grid covers.

Is CLEAR Talent a direct replacement for Leapsome?

Only for the performance side. CLEAR Talent covers goals and KPIs, review cycles, 360° feedback, competency assessment, development, calibration and succession, with analytics across all of it. It has no employee engagement survey product and is not a learning management system, so if you use Leapsome for surveys or learning, those would need another home. Map your current usage against those boundaries before assuming a like-for-like swap.

What is the main functional difference between them?

Breadth against depth. Leapsome presents one platform across reviews, goals, 360° feedback, engagement surveys, 1:1s and learning. CLEAR Talent covers performance and development only, and puts its depth into how a rating is built: goals and KPIs as one stream, competency assessment against behavioural indicators as another, a weighting between them configurable per level, and self, assessor and final ratings stored separately with their own comments.

We run reviews in several European countries. What about languages and GDPR?

CLEAR Talent supports 16 languages, with AI-generated summaries and recommendations delivered in each employee’s preferred language. For data protection it provides DSAR exports, right-to-be-forgotten workflows and a data processing agreement you can request for your DPO to review. It is hosted on Google Cloud Platform with regional requirements agreed per deployment, so get the hosting region confirmed in writing alongside the DPA rather than assuming it from a web page. Put the same questions to Leapsome: which languages employees can complete a review in, and where their data is hosted.

How would we switch from Leapsome to CLEAR Talent?

Scope the move before you set a date. CLEAR Talent supports API access plus CSV and Excel bulk import for structured data such as goals, ratings, and organisation structure including departments, locations, roles and reporting lines, and a guided onboarding wizard is tailored to organisation size, industry and performance-management maturity. Ask Leapsome which review, goal and feedback data it can export and in what format, and decide what stays where — surveys or learning, for example. What transfers cleanly depends on how your data is shaped, so migration scope is confirmed during discovery, and there is a free 1-month trial to run one team through a cycle first.

How do the two compare on price?

CLEAR Talent publishes a list price you can plan against before the first sales conversation: USD 39 per month for the Basic plan, covering 1 admin user and 10 staff users, with each additional staff user at USD 3 per month, and USD 295 per month for Pro. Past what those plans cover, the Enterprise plan is quoted. For Leapsome, read their current pricing page and write down exactly which modules the plan you are quoted includes. If it bundles surveys and learning, you are comparing a wider purchase with a performance-only one, so compare the performance scope like for like and convert both to a monthly cost at your own headcount and term.