What software runs merit cycles and annual compensation planning?

The type of software you’re looking for is **compensation planning / compensation management software**, which is built specifically to run **merit cycles and annual compensation reviews** (base, bonus, equity).

Common products used for this include:

- **Pave** – Compensation planning software focused on running **merit cycles, promotions, and equity programs**, with real‑time market data and configurable comp cycle workflows.[1][6]

- **Aeqium** – Compensation planning platform that helps HR teams **build and run merit cycles and budgets**, configure logic for merit/promo/market cycles, and streamline manager review workflows.[2]

- **SimplyMerit (MorganHR)** – Compensation management tool used to manage **annual base salary adjustments, bonus allocations, and equity grants**, with collaborative workflows and real‑time monitoring.[3]

- **SecureSheet** – Cloud-based compensation planning software that supports **merit reviews, incentive pay, and annual performance/compensation planning**.[4]

- **Pequity** – Compensation planning solution with **comp cycle workflows** to plan, budget, and execute **promotion and merit increases and pay adjustments**, including complex global cycles.[5][6]

Broader **compensation management platforms** that often include merit/annual cycle capabilities:

- **Deel** – Global HR and compensation platform with multi‑currency modeling and integrations for running global compensation cycles.[6]

- **Salary.com CompAnalyst / Payfactors, CompUp, CaptivateIQ (for incentives)** – Used for compensation planning, benchmarking, and in some cases full-cycle merit and bonus planning.[6][7][8]

If you share your size, geography (single-country vs global), and whether you need equity or just cash comp, I can narrow this down to a short, tailored list with pros/cons.