Built in Australia. Designed for the world.
HiveRef was created by a team of recruitment and HR professionals who got tired of watching small businesses make high-stakes hiring decisions with the wrong tools. We built the platform we wished existed: a faster way for teams everywhere to run reference checks, no HR team required.
We have been on both sides of the hiring table.
The HiveRef team has spent decades placing candidates, advising hiring managers, building HR functions, and managing reference processes across four continents. We have run references by phone, by email, by spreadsheet, and by guesswork. Every method had the same problem: too slow, too inconsistent, and too easy to get wrong.
We built HiveRef for the businesses being left behind by the market: growing teams that take hiring seriously but do not have the headcount, the budget, or the time for enterprise-grade HR software. These are the businesses where one bad hire genuinely hurts, and where the person running references is also running the payroll, the office, and probably the coffee order.
Our background is not in software for its own sake. It is in understanding what a hiring decision actually costs when it goes wrong, and building the simplest possible tool to reduce that risk. For how the product works today, see how it works or why teams choose HiveRef.
The reference check was always the last step that nobody had time for. We built HiveRef so it becomes the step that runs itself, and produces something you can actually use.
HiveRef founding team
Industry depth
- Executive and volume recruitment
- HR operations and compliance
- Talent strategy and workforce planning
- SaaS product development
More than 50 years of recruitment and HR experience, built into every decision.
HiveRef is not a software product that consulted the industry. It was built by people who spent careers inside it.
Volume and executive recruitment
We have run high-volume hiring processes and placed senior executives. We know exactly where reference checking breaks down at both ends of the spectrum.
Employment law and compliance
The compliance guardrails in HiveRef are not generic legal disclaimers. They reflect real experience with what gets hiring teams into trouble and how to stay on the right side of it.
International hiring operations
Our team has operated across Australia, Europe, the USA, and SE Asia. That is why HiveRef supports global hiring workflows from day one, not as a bolt-on feature added later.
SMB hiring from the inside
We have worked inside small businesses and advised them as external consultants. We know the difference between what enterprise HR software promises and what a 20-person company actually needs.
Data integrity in hiring
The fraud detection signals in HiveRef are grounded in patterns our team has encountered in real hiring processes: coached referees, shared networks, and references that do not hold up under scrutiny.
Report design and evidence standards
The structure of a HiveRef report reflects how experienced hiring managers actually want to read reference data: clearly, quickly, and in a format that holds up as a documented hiring record.
International experience. One consistent platform.
Our team has operated hiring and HR functions across four regions. That is why HiveRef works the same way whether you are hiring in Sydney, London or Singapore.
Australia
Where HiveRef is headquartered. Deep experience across SMB, professional services, and enterprise hiring under Australian Privacy Principles and Fair Work obligations.
Europe
Operational experience across GDPR-regulated hiring environments. HiveRef uses GDPR-aligned data protection as its baseline, reflecting this first-hand knowledge.
Data protection guideUnited States
Experience in high-volume and executive hiring across North American markets, where reference checking standards and legal sensitivities differ significantly.
SE Asia
Hands-on experience building and scaling hiring functions across diverse South-East Asian markets, where informal reference practices are common and structure adds real value.
Hiring teams in Australia, the United States and Canada
Australia, the United States, Canada, South America, Europe and Asia
Designed for small and medium businesses. Built to scale with you.
HiveRef is deliberately designed for businesses that hire without a dedicated HR department. The typical HiveRef user is an office manager, a founder, or a people and culture lead who is also doing three other jobs. Every product decision is made with that person in mind.
That does not mean HiveRef stops being useful when a business grows. The platform is built on infrastructure used by some of the largest technology companies in the world. A 10-person business and a 500-person business run exactly the same workflow, at very different volumes.
For larger organisations that want the rigour of a structured reference process without the cost and complexity of an enterprise platform, HiveRef is a genuinely cost-effective self-service path. No custom quotes, no implementation projects, no annual contracts. Compare plans on our pricing page.
Who uses HiveRef
- SMB: 5 to 50 employeesCore market. Simple setup, immediate value, no HR team required.
- Mid-market: 50 to 250 employeesGrowing teams that need repeatability, multi-user access, and proper records.
- Larger organisations: cost-effective self-serviceEnterprise-grade infrastructure, published pricing, no implementation overhead.
All plans start with 4 free checks. No credit card required. Get started free
Enterprise-grade technology. SMB-friendly pricing.
HiveRef runs on established, managed infrastructure for data, hosting, payments, email and security. Small businesses on HiveRef get genuine scalability without paying for it upfront.
What this means for you
- Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest
- The platform handles high volume without degrading for small accounts
- Security and compliance posture matches what larger organisations expect
- No bespoke infrastructure to build or maintain on your side
Database, auth and storage
Managed, open-source database infrastructure with built-in authentication and row-level security. Reference data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
Encrypted at rest and in transitHosting and deployment
A managed deployment platform that powers HiveRef's web application with global edge infrastructure and automatic scaling.
Global edge networkPayments and billing
Every HiveRef subscription, overage charge, and plan change on the web is processed through a PCI-compliant payments platform. In-app purchases are handled by the app store.
PCI-compliant paymentsAI question generation and report summarisation
The AI layer behind HiveRef's question generation, compliance scanning, and report summaries. Built on models from an established AI safety research organisation. Humans always make the hiring decision.
AI assists, humans decideTransactional email delivery
Every referee invite, reminder, and notification from HiveRef is delivered through dedicated, high-deliverability transactional email infrastructure.
Dedicated transactional emailBot protection and security
Bot protection and security infrastructure in front of HiveRef protects sensitive public-facing forms from automated abuse.
Bot and abuse protectionFour principles that drive every product decision.
The constraints we apply when deciding what to build, what to skip, and how to treat customers.
Simplicity is the product
Every feature we do not build is a feature a busy office manager does not have to learn. We deliberately resist complexity, even when adding it would look impressive on a feature list.
Pricing you can find before you commit
We publish every rate, every overage cost, and every plan limit on our pricing page. If you need to call us to find out what HiveRef costs, we have failed at transparency.
Reference data is sensitive data
Employment references contain personal and legally significant information. We treat it that way in everything: how data is stored, what gets sent to AI providers, and how long we retain it. See our Privacy Policy and sub-processors list.
The hiring decision stays with you
HiveRef surfaces structured evidence and flags things worth checking. It does not make hiring decisions, score candidates automatically, or pretend AI judgment is a substitute for yours.
Ready to see it for yourself?
Start with 4 free reference checks. No credit card, no sales call, no commitment. Questions before you sign up are welcome.