We devise and analyze $C^0$-conforming hybrid high-order (HHO) methods to approximate biharmonic problems with either clamped or simply supported boundary conditions. $C^0$-conforming HHO methods hinge on cell unknowns which are $C^0$-conforming polynomials of order $(k+2)$ approximating the solution in the mesh cells and on face unknowns which are polynomials of order $k\ge0$ approximating the normal derivative of the solution on the mesh skeleton. Such methods deliver $O(h^{k+1})$ $H^2$-error estimates for smooth solutions. An important novelty in the error analysis is to lower the minimal regularity requirement on the exact solution. The technique to achieve this has a broader applicability than just $C^0$-conforming HHO methods, and to illustrate this point, we outline the error analysis for the well-known $C^0$-conforming interior penalty discontinuous Galerkin (IPDG) methods as well. The present technique does not require bubble functions or a $C^1$-smoother to evaluate the right-hand side in case of rough loads. Finally, numerical results including comparisons to various existing methods showcase the efficiency of the proposed $C^0$-conforming HHO methods.