Home
/
Reviews
/
Top Benefits Administration Software

11 Best Benefits Administration Systems (2024)

The best benefits administration systems, hand-picked and field-tested by SelectSoftware Reviews' HR tech experts. See info on pricing, features, integrations, and more below.

Phil Strazzulla
Written by
Phil Strazzulla
HR Tech Expert, Harvard MBA, Software Enthusiast
Contributing Experts
No items found.
We are a reader supported site with strict editorial standards, clicks may earn a fee which supports our testing. Learn More
Last Updated: Mar 28, 2024
TOP
401K provider for SMBs
ForUsAll
4.8
Popularity Score
4.6
User Score
4.9
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
401K provider for SMBs
ForUsAll
4.8
Popularity Score
4.6
User Score
4.9
Product  Score
Learn More
TOP
Payroll and benefits administration platform for global teams
Deel
4.4
Popularity Score
4.6
User Score
4.5
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
Payroll and benefits administration platform for global teams
Deel
4.4
Popularity Score
4.6
User Score
4.5
Product  Score
Learn More
TOP
HRIS system with payroll and benefits
Gusto
4.0
Popularity Score
4.0
User Score
4.1
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
HRIS system with payroll and benefits
Gusto
4.0
Popularity Score
4.0
User Score
4.1
Product  Score
Learn More
TOP
Employee communication platform with social intranet
Workvivo
4.1
Popularity Score
4.8
User Score
4.3
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
Employee communication platform with social intranet
Workvivo
4.1
Popularity Score
4.8
User Score
4.3
Product  Score
Learn More
TOP
Highly Intuitive People Analytics Platform
Crunchr
4.6
Popularity Score
4.9
User Score
4.9
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
Highly Intuitive People Analytics Platform
Crunchr
4.6
Popularity Score
4.9
User Score
4.9
Product  Score
Learn More
TOP
Top freelance management platform with solid project management tools
Worksuite
4.0
Popularity Score
4.6
User Score
4.3
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
Top freelance management platform with solid project management tools
Worksuite
4.0
Popularity Score
4.6
User Score
4.3
Product  Score
Learn More

Top Benefits Administration Software

BennieFree tool for finding and managing great benefits
RemoteBenefits administration for remote teams
Papaya GlobalBenefit management for global teams
NamelyGreat for Midsized businesses looking for a full HR suite
Maxwell HealthGreat for companies that want Sun Life insurance
RipplingSpend management tool in HRIS

OnPay

: Affordable payroll, HR, and benefits admin

TOP
401K provider for SMBs
ForUsAll
4.8
Popularity Score
4.6
User Score
4.9
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
401K provider for SMBs
ForUsAll
4.8
Popularity Score
4.6
User Score
4.9
Product  Score
Learn More
TOP
Payroll and benefits administration platform for global teams
Deel
4.4
Popularity Score
4.6
User Score
4.5
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
Payroll and benefits administration platform for global teams
Deel
4.4
Popularity Score
4.6
User Score
4.5
Product  Score
Learn More
TOP
HRIS system with payroll and benefits
Gusto
4.0
Popularity Score
4.0
User Score
4.1
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
HRIS system with payroll and benefits
Gusto
4.0
Popularity Score
4.0
User Score
4.1
Product  Score
Learn More
Over 3 million HR leaders trust our advice

Introduction to Benefits Administration Systems

As a benefits leader, you have the rewarding job of making your company a great place to work. After all, employee benefits packages and other perks can help you attract top talent, retain current employees, and build a culture that aligns with your values. 

The downside, of course, is all the administrative work that benefit plans and benefits enrollment creates for you. Fortunately, benefits administration software can help you automate your benefits management, improve efficiency, and streamline open enrollment — all while staying compliant.

Benefits administration software serves as a one-stop-shop for all your employee benefits. With everything centralized, the setup and management is easier for you and open enrollment is easier for your employees. 

The result? Employees make smarter, more informed decisions about their benefits, and you have less administrative work to manage. To help you find the right benefits management software, we put together the following guide with top software platforms, features to look out for, common mistakes to consider, pricing, and more.

Show More +
Show Less -

Our Criteria: Here's How We Chose The Top Benefits Administration Software

We assessed dozens of benefits administration software platforms with special consideration given to the three most critical functions performed by this type of tool: integration/configuration, self-service for employees, and compliance.

We used our HR industry experience to refine the scope of our research and applied our multi-dimensional assessment process to test each contender for these quality standards.

  • Integration and Configuration: First-class benefits administration software integrates smoothly with each customer’s tech stack.To test for this, our team compared the quality and quantity of integration partners against a list of common business ops tools.

Our HR tech experts also determined the most important workflow automations, and we audited each product for the ease with which a user could configure these features.

  • Self-Service for Employees: Self-service features reduce the burden of data entry on your HR team, improve the accuracy of employee information, and support employee empowerment. Our expert researchers performed simulations using each tool as if they were an employee and graded each platform's performance on the ease with which they could enter and change information across different data types.
  • Compliance: Legal compliance is imperative, so we scrutinized the fine print, checking for each company’s capacity to keep customers complaint. We considered the product's state-by-state adaptability, as well as its capacity to handle multi-national organizations.

We’re data nerds and love a good dashboard, so we also checked for each tool’s reporting and analytics capacity. To learn more about how we approach our work from the granular to the gigantic, read this article on how we assess HR tech vendors.

Show More +
Show Less -

Compare the Top Benefits Administration Software

Popularity Score
Best for
Key Differentiator
Pricing
Free Trial
Customers
Users Score
Product Score
4.8
Cost-conscious SMBs starting to scale
Highly customizable and built to scale
Starts at $120/mo
Get pricing info
No
Not disclosed
4.6
4.9
4.4
Multinational companies focused on compliance
Offers financial products beyond what's required
Pricing: Starts at $19/mo
Get pricing info
No
Well in the thousands
4.6
4.5
4.0
SMBs with a growing headcount
No long-term contract
Starts at $49/month
Get pricing info
No
400,000+ Customers
4.0
4.1
Phil Strazzulla
HR Tech Expert, Harvard MBA, Software Enthusiast

Need Help? Get Custom Recommendations for Top Benefits Administration Software

Talk to An Advisor

Detailed Reviews of the Best Benefits Administration Systems

ForUsAll

Visit Website
ForUsAll
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.8 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4.9 / 5

Why we picked ForUsAll

ForUsAll is a great choice for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) because it is very quick to set up and quite affordable.

PROS

CONS

ForUsAll Review

ForUsAll is a cloud-based 401(k) administration platform for small and medium-sized businesses. Acting as both your 3(38) and 3(16) fiduciary, ForUsAll ensures you stay compliant while automating manual tasks such as contributions, 401(k) loans, eligibility tracking, hardships, and notifications. You can integrate ForUsAll with most cloud-based payroll systems for an automatic synchronization of your data. Payroll integration also allows it to automatically update deferrals, notify new participants when they become eligible, and more.

ForUsAll Customers

CMC Properties, Lever, Arbor Lodging, Smart Biz, Bolt Threads

ForUsAll Pricing

ForUsAll costs as follows: 

  • For the employer: Employers using ForUsAll pay a base monthly fee of $120 with an addition of $6 per participant per month.
  • For employees: Employees pay 0.50% of assets under management annually.

How has ForUsAll Changed Over Time?

Best For

ForUsAll in action
No items found.

Deel

Visit Website
Deel
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.4 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4.5 / 5

Why we picked Deel

Deel localizes your offerings in accordance with local guidelines so that you can stay compliant with your global workforce.

PROS

  • 24/7 in-app support and an impressively fast onboarding speed of 2-3 days.
  • Access to local payroll experts in various jurisdictions, and support is available for contractors navigating the process of setting themselves up as an LLC.
  • Self-service approach with tech-enabled features helps workers swiftly adopt the tool.
  • Worker identity verification is reported to take less than 24 hours on average, and sometimes mere minutes.
  • Offers APIs as well as over 100 native HR software integrations.
  • Automated invoices (English language only).
  • Excellent 24/7 customer service with fast onboarding (2-3 days) and local payroll experts in each jurisdiction.
  • Seamless integration with platforms like QuickBooks, BambooHR, and Greenhouse, plus custom integration options.
  • User-friendly, self-service features enable quick setup; identity verification often takes under 24 hours.
  • Automated invoices simplify payments, provided they're in English.

CONS

  • Some of Deel’s best features, like onboarding automation, are add-ons, which can be cost-prohibitive.
  • Modifying contracts or service agreements with Deel is difficult and often requires addendums for any changes.
  • Each payout comes with a $5 fee.
  • Invoicing feature is limited to generating invoices in English, with no option for other languages.
  • Key features like onboarding automation are add-ons, which may increase costs.
  • Limited flexibility in modifying contracts or service agreements; changes often require an addendum.
  • Invoices cannot be generated in languages other than English.

Deel Review

If your benefits-management needs feel complex due to the presence of team members in different geographies, Deel is worth looking into.

Deel benefit administration tool

Deel can help with hiring and providing benefits and perks for people in various geographies. The benefits themselves would vary depending on the region. Still, you’d streamline their management through the same platform you’d use for payroll, contracts, timesheets, invoicing, and even some core HR functions.

As to the specific benefits offered, the best way to vet them is to go to their benefits tool on their website. You select a country and the type of benefits, and they present what they can provide.

For example, if you want to hire in Canada, you can choose Statutory and/or Common benefits. These include employment and worker compensation insurance, transportation and electronic coverage, and certifications.

Deel Customers

35,000+ companies, including Andela, Brex, and Makerpad.

Deel Pricing

Deel offers various payroll and benefits solutions:

  • Contractor: $49/month for onboarding, compliance, and payments for contractors.
  • EOR: $499/month enables hiring employees in foreign countries without a legal entity.
  • Payroll: $29/employee/month for all-in-one international payroll management.
  • US Payroll: $19/employee/month for US payroll services.
  • US PEO: $89/employee/month for end-to-end HR solution including payroll, benefits, and compliance.
  • Immigration: Customized pricing.

How has Deel Changed Over Time?

As a new product, Deel has changed a lot since its inception. Its newest offering, DeelHR, allows companies to complete most of their HR operations tasks in Deel.

Best For

Deel is a good bet for those businesses that want to provide benefits on top of payroll for an overseas workforce, whether it’s through an EOR arrangement or for their contractors. It’s worth noting that they have a way for you to offer interesting perks apart from the law-required benefits.

Deel in action
Reviewer's Rating
10/10

We use Deel to pay our international contractors. When we process our bi-weekly payroll for our company, we run a separate payroll in Deel for these individuals. We have contractors in multiple countries, such as Jamaica, Brazil, Dominican Republic, and Uruguay. The tool is used by myself as the Head of People as well as our Controller and Assistant Controller.

What do you like about this tool?

Deel makes it easy for us to pay our international contractors. It ensures we are adhering to each country's legal and compliance standards. It is very easy to process separate payroll along with our regular payroll system. The tool is affordable and straightforward, and it only charges us for what we use each month.

Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

We implemented Deel in order to pay our international contractors. The software we were using did not offer international payroll services and it became a necessity for us to look for one that offered such a feature. In addition, we also had to adhere to the compliance and pay standards of other countries, so we needed a third-party payroll system. We've been using Deel for over 2 years now, helping us solve all the problems we had before.

What do you dislike about this tool?

It does not integrate with our HRIS, Rippling. It does integrate with several other HRIS tools, however. No other negative feedback to share.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

I like how simple Deel is. I can create contracts and payment schedules for contracts easily. I can terminate a contractor quickly and I feel confident that I am doing so in a compliant way. It is easy for new admins to be added to the tool so my finance team is involved with payments and contracts.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

You should use Deel if you have international contractors. If your current payroll tool does not offer an easy or affordable way to pay global employees, consider using Deel.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

Some new features I've seen in the tool include an onboarding tracker and a global payroll feature with more robust offerings. They add new countries as well and service 90+ countries currently.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

One with global contractors.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

If you do not have international employees or contractors, you would not benefit from this tool.

Gusto

Visit Website
Gusto
Learn More
Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4 / 5
Product Score
4.1 / 5

Why we picked Gusto

Gusto provides full-service payroll services with benefits and HR. The software takes care of the administration and deductions by syncing them with payroll and makes things easier for you and your employees with its built-in employee self-service.

PROS

  • Gusto has an eye-catching UI and is compatible with several devices.
  • Automatic payroll deductions for easier benefits administration.
  • The dashboard feature keeps tabs on compliance tasks.
  • The hiring and onboarding sequence is nicely streamlined between HR and the new hire
  • Post-offer, pre-start tasks are made easy with integrations like CorpNet and Checkr.
  • Easy payroll for U.S.-based W-2 folks, domestic and international contractors.
  • Phone support, email, and other customer service resources.
  • Licensed benefits advisors for all plan users.
  • The business model is responsive to customer needs.
  • Transparent pricing structure. Doesn’t require long-term contracts.
  • Free account setup.
  • Ability to create onboarding checklists, send offer letters, collect signatures, and store all onboarding documents online.
  • The dashboard feature keeps tabs on compliance tasks
  • The hiring and onboarding sequence is nicely streamlined between HR and the new hire
  • Post-offer, pre-start tasks are made easy with integrations like CorpNet (state tax set up) Checkr (background checks)
  • Easy payroll for U.S.-based W-2 folks, domestic, and international contractors
  • Person-to-person phone support, email, and other customer service resources
  • The business model is responsive to customer needs

CONS

  • Gusto facilitates payments for international contractors but not for employees.
  • There is no built-in accounting feature, so the management of earnings and expenses can’t happen in one place.
  • Analytics dashboard capabilities are underwhelming
  • Simple plan users do not have access to native time tracking, necessitating third-party integrations.
  • Users of the Simple plan cannot access federal and state compliance alerts – they are not even available as add-ons.
  • Plus plan users have access to compliance alerts, but they must be added on.
  • No free trial or free version
  • Gusto can support payments for international contractors, but not employees
  • No native accounting feature to keep earning and spending under the same roof
  • Analytics dashboard is simplistic

Gusto Review

We have had a positive experience with Gusto's benefits administration features. The software seamlessly integrates payroll and benefits administration, simplifying the process with automatic deductions and syncing capabilities. The built-in employee self-service functionality is also a nice touch that makes it easy for employers and employees to manage benefits and access relevant information.

Gusto's user interface is visually appealing. Being browser-based lets it provide a smooth user experience across multiple devices. Additionally, Gusto provides licensed benefits advisors to assist and guide users in optimizing their benefit plans.

We appreciate Gusto's customer-centric approach, as they remain responsive to customer needs and continuously improve their services based on feedback. Their transparent pricing structure and flexibility without long-term contracts add to the appeal. Moreover, Gusto offers free account setup, making it convenient for businesses to get started.

The availability of person-to-person phone support, email assistance, and other customer service resources reflects Gusto's commitment to providing excellent support. However, it's worth noting that some features, such as federal and state compliance alerts and integrating existing broker and health insurance plans, are only available in the Premium plan or as add-ons for the Plus plan. Simple plan users may need to consider third-party integrations for certain functionalities like time tracking.

While it doesn't offer a free trial, Gusto's consistent focus on core functionalities sets it apart from other platforms that often get sidetracked by unnecessary features.

Gusto Customers

Gusto powers HR and benefits management for over 400,000 businesses across the U.S.

Gusto Pricing

Gusto’s benefits management tools are part of its HR software packages, with pricing starting at $49 per month plus $6 per employee. Premium plans cost more but unlock expanded HR features, including access to certified HR experts and advanced benefits administration tools.

How has Gusto Changed Over Time?

Best For

Even budget-strapped startups can afford Gusto’s basic plan. For companies with some bank capital to invest in human capital, the top-tier Premium plan is a great choice, especially if they have an HR department of one person.

Gusto in action
Reviewer's Rating
8/10

I'm an HR Generalist, so I mainly use Gusto to add new hires, update salaries, and ensure that payroll is correct. I also use Gusto to disperse employee documents for signature/acknowledgment (Employee Handbook) and to store employment documentation (offer paperwork, background checks, etc.). Others on my team use it to run payroll and enroll in state tax registration.

What do you like about this tool?

I love their customer service, they always have an answer for you and make my job so much easier. The interface is fantastic, and the design is very appealing, which is a huge factor for someone that uses it quite often. I also really like the admin dashboard, Gusto will list outstanding tasks with their deadlines and will prompt you with helpful information to finish the task.

Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

My company is a portfolio company for High Alpha Innovation. Gusto is the go-to HRIS for all portfolio companies. We have been using it since we started in 2020 and have even used it for one of our own portfolio companies. Gusto is a very easy-to-use tool that has fantastic customer support. When you're working for a start-up, you don't want to spend a long time on payroll and Gusto really helps with that. It's also very easy to set up a new instance of Gusto for a company - it took like two hours and was a painless experience due to Gusto's interface.

What do you dislike about this tool?

Sometimes the outstanding tasks aren't accurate, we recently had tasks pop up for an employee that has been gone for two years. This is very specific, but I wish that you could make some employee documents private to employees, all the documents you upload are automatically public and don't give you an option. I dislike their benefits -- we ran a quote before and it took a few weeks to get back the quote and it was incredibly expensive.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

The only similar tool I've used is a PEO called Justworks. I'm not sure if it's a fair comparison, since PEOs pretty much do everything for you. I will say, it was nice that you could set up Gusto in a day and run payroll the next day if needed. For Justworks, you have to wait until the system start date, which can be weeks later.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

I think that customer service is a huge buying criteria, especially if you have an inexperienced team. It's invaluable to have experts that you can call or chat with at any time. Cost is definitely a big factor that differs from organization to organization. It's sometimes worth it to pay a little bit more to make your life easier and that's what we've found with Gusto. Lastly, I think that it's important to have an easy-to-use system for both HR and employees. Payroll is VERY important which makes it vital to have a system that is easy to comprehend.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

Gusto has become more well-rounded over the years. Last year, they added performance reviews into the mix. It's definitely not perfect and not very customizable, but it's a free add-on, which can be a huge value to organizations that don't have performance management built out.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Small to mid-sized organizations. I think it could work for a small start-up, but would be better for slightly more mature organizations.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Gusto would not be good for a small startup that doesn't have someone with HR experience on its team. Definitely would recommend a PEO over Gusto.

OnPay

Visit Website
OnPay
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.3 / 5
User Score
4.8 / 5
Product Score
4.7 / 5

Why we picked OnPay

OnPay ensures compliance and takes no upfront payment for its benefits administration software. When you decide to use it, you'll be connected with their team of licensed brokers so that your employees can get their favorite benefits from the best companies.

PROS

  • Transparent pricing is among the most budget-friendly in the industry.
  • Offers a one-month free trial.
  • The plan combines payroll, benefits, and HR tools.
  • Supports several pay types: regular hours, salary, overtime, and bonus. You can also create your own.
  • Ability to act as an insurance broker to help businesses find medical, vision, and dental insurance in 50 states.
  • Special payroll services for certain industries like restaurants, farms and agricultures, churches and clergy, and nonprofits.
  • Free tax form handling for W-2 employees and 1099 contractors.
  • Some HR services included within the plan at no additional cost.
  • 30-day free trial available (starts after OnPay verification).
  • Well-developed online help resources.

CONS

  • Incompetent mobile app with poor ratings (2.1/5) from iOS users.
  • Limited integrations.
  • Takes two to four days for direct deposit. No faster direct deposit option is available.
  • Lacks advanced HR features like employee surveys and performance reviews.
  • Poor functioned employee mobile app.
  • Requires payment four days before payday for direct deposit.
  • Doesn’t support automatic payroll.
  • Customer support sometimes hard to reach.

OnPay Review

We recommended OnPay because, besides being a solid cloud-based payroll software solution, it also offers features for HR management and benefits administration at an affordable, transparent monthly price. For businesses in certain industries like restaurants and agriculture, the platform also provides special payroll services (tip calculations, separate tax filings, etc.) without charging additional fees.

OnPay partners with several low-cost benefits administration providers so that you can choose several health insurances and 401(k) retirement plans for your employees. While we found that OnPay’s integration is quite limited compared to its rival Gusto, its feature-rich HR tools are offered without requiring users to upgrade their plans or pay more, making the platform a more cost-effective option for several startups and small businesses.

OnPay Customers

OnPay Pricing

  • OnPay charges a base fee of $40 plus $6 per employee per month.
  • Setup and migration of employee data are free of charge.
  • You can use the price calculator on their website to see exactly how much it’ll run you for your team size.
  • One-month free trial is available on the website.

How has OnPay Changed Over Time?

Best For

Businesses looking for an affordable software tool that can carry HR, payroll, and benefits in one place. Its special payroll offerings also make the software a better bet for businesses in industries like restaurants, farms and agricultures, churches and clergy, as well as nonprofits.

OnPay in action
Reviewer's Rating
8/10

We use Onpay weekly for our payroll runs, and it's become an essential part of our routine. The key workflows we rely on include calculating and processing employee salaries, handling automated tax filings, and managing direct deposits. This is challenging for us because we have employees on several different types of contracts. Onpay’s benefits administration feature simplifies enrollment and tracking for our team. It also keeps all our employee records up-to-date and compliant, ensuring everyone gets paid accurately and on time. We've also minimized payroll complaints from staff, which is a significant improvement.

What do you like about this tool?
  1. Super Simple: Onpay is easy to use, even for someone who’s not a payroll expert.
  2. Tax Magic: It takes care of all our tax filings automatically, saving us a lot of time.
  3. Great Value: For what it offers, the price is excellent, especially for a smaller team like ours.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

We bought Onpay because our previous payroll system was outdated, causing delays and errors that made payroll days difficult. We needed something reliable and easy to use, especially for our small team. Onpay met all our requirements with its straightforward interface, automated tax filings, and affordable pricing. It also integrates well with benefits and handles employee onboarding efficiently. I've been using Onpay for about a year now, and it has significantly reduced our administrative workload.

What do you dislike about this tool?
  1. Limited Customization: I wish there were more options to customize reports and dashboards.
  2. Customer Support: The support can be slow at times, which is frustrating when you need quick assistance.
  3. Advanced Features: It lacks some advanced features that larger businesses might need, making it feel a bit basic for more complex needs.
How is this tool different than their competitors?

Onpay stands out with its straightforward, user-friendly interface and great value for money. Unlike some other tools I've tried, it's incredibly easy to navigate and doesn’t overwhelm with unnecessary features. I appreciate that it automates tax filings, which many other tools don't do as effectively. While it might lack some advanced options that larger businesses may need, for a small team, it offers the right balance of functionality and simplicity at a great price.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?
  1. Ease of Use: Choose a tool that is easy to navigate, so you’re not stuck figuring out complex menus.
  2. Automation: Ensure it handles tax tasks and direct deposits automatically to make payroll days stress-free.
  3. Support: Verify that the support team is helpful and quick to respond when needed.
  4. Cost: Make sure it fits your budget without sacrificing essential features.
How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

Onpay has improved over time by keeping things simple and adding useful features. They have perfected automating tax filings and direct deposits, making payroll days easier. The interface has become increasingly user-friendly, which is a big plus.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

It is ideal for small to mid-sized businesses that need a payroll system without extra complexity. It’s perfect for those who want an easy-to-use platform that handles all the payroll essentials, such as automated tax filings and direct deposits. If you’re running a business and want something straightforward and affordable without all the complicated features, Onpay is an excellent choice.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Onpay wouldn’t be a great fit for large organizations with complex payroll and HR needs. If you require advanced features, extensive customization, or robust integration with other sophisticated systems, Onpay might feel too basic.

Bennie

Visit Website
Bennie
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4 / 5
Product Score
4.3 / 5

Why we picked Bennie

Designed to make benefits more accessible and less complicated, Bennie is available both as a web and a mobile app. With it, employees can track claims spending, estimate cost of care, find a doctor, access a live concierge team, and more.

PROS

CONS

Bennie Review

Bennie is a hub for your employee benefits information on a mobile-first platform. If employees have any questions about their benefits, they simply go to the app and interact with Ask Bennie, a smart healthcare concierge.

For employers, Bennie skips the typical brokerage experience. Instead, Bennie partners with major regional and national carriers to bring your company more personalized benefits. HR teams have their own backend to manage everything in one place. Customers also get access to strategic benefits and HR technology consulting.

Bennie Customers

  • Schedulicity
  • Superhuman
  • Nabis

Bennie Pricing

The Bennie app is free to use for your company and employees. Bennie shops around for the best plan for your company, and takes a commission from the insurance company you decide on.

How has Bennie Changed Over Time?

Best For

Companies in the 50-500 employee range.

Bennie in action
Reviewer's Rating
7/10

We use Bennie regularly to manage and streamline our employee benefits processes, ensuring that our team has easy access to the information they need. The platform is especially helpful during open enrollment periods, allowing employees to compare options and make informed decisions effortlessly.

The integration with our HRIS system and real-time support features has made it a valuable tool for reducing administrative work. Bennie’s educational resources also help employees better understand their benefit options throughout the year. Overall, it improves the benefits experience for both employees and the HR team.

What do you like about this tool?

The platform makes it simple for employees to navigate benefits options and access important information without confusion. Bennie provides fast and reliable customer service, helping employees and HR teams resolve benefits-related questions efficiently. The clean and well-organized dashboard ensures a smooth user experience, making it easy to find what you need quickly.

Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

Our organization purchased Bennie to address inefficiencies in managing employee benefits and improve accessibility for our workforce. Before Bennie, navigating benefits enrollment and handling HR inquiries was very time-consuming.

We needed a user-friendly platform that could simplify benefits selection, provide guidance to our employees, and integrate with our existing HR systems. Bennie has significantly streamlined our processes by offering personalized benefits recommendations, cost transparency, and real-time support for employees.

What do you dislike about this tool?

While Bennie offers great features, the pricing can be steep for smaller teams looking to manage costs effectively. Expanding the range of benefits, such as additional wellness perks or financial planning tools, would make the platform even more valuable. Some features could offer more flexibility to tailor the experience to our company’s specific needs.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

I prefer all-in-one solutions such as Rippling and Justworks. However, Bennie provides a strong option for benefits management, especially for smaller organizations that do not want to invest in the higher cost of platforms like Rippling.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

Buyers should consider the size of their company—Bennie is well-suited for smaller organizations. It's important to evaluate how the platform integrates with existing systems and whether it offers the flexibility to scale up or down as the company grows.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

Bennie has remained fairly consistent over time, without significant changes or updates to adapt to evolving user needs. While the platform continues to provide a simple and intuitive interface, there haven't been many enhancements or expanded features beyond its core offerings. Users who have been on the platform for a while may notice that benefit options and integrations have stayed largely the same.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Bennie is best for smaller organizations.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Larger organizations would likely benefit more from an all-in-one solution such as Rippling.

Remote

Visit Website
Remote
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.2 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4.5 / 5

Why we picked Remote

While Remote is mainly known for their global payroll product, teams interested in options for benefits administration for internationally distributed teams should pay attention! That is because, unlike many vendors, Remote owns local entities in the countries in which they operate. This means, in very general terms, that its customers can offer their employees a more straightforward, more “local” experience regarding payroll and benefits.

PROS

  • Remote provides flat rates, so you can easily compare its pricing with other vendors. The platform doesn’t add a markup on any benefits premiums.
  • Self-service options for employees.
  • Local specialists provide 24/7 support.
  • Benefits plans are locally curated. Health, dental, vision, life, mental health support, and disability are all covered, as is pension/401(k).
  • Helpful resources are available on their site, offering tips for specific to geographic regions.
  • Equity-based compensation is available.
  • Fast and compliant payroll in 170+ countries.
  • Live chat support with local payroll experts.
  • Flexible, localized benefit packages.
  • Flat-rate pricing structure, no deposits or hidden fees.
  • Mobile app streamlines expense reimbursement with autofill from receipt photos.

CONS

  • Some employers reported a steep learning curve in learning to navigate the software.
  • No off-cycle pay runs are available at the moment.
  • Though the current live chat and email support have been great, there is no phone support users can reach out to.
  • Remote offers limited integration options, yet you can access its custom API for free.
  • Doesn’t have a free trial.
  • Redundant for organizations solely recruiting within the U.S.
  • Help center documentation isn’t easiest to understand.

Remote Review

Remote lets you offer customized benefits packages to fit each country where you have employees. The platform enables compliance by providing country-specific benefits and perks that adhere to local laws. We like that Remote is one of just a few vendors that own local legal entities in countries that the platform services. Since it has no intermediaries, it can offer more flexibility and speed.

Though they were a bit hard to locate in their respective app stores, both the Android and iOS apps are in good shape – they are easy to use and equipped with essential features.

Remote Customers

Arduino, GitLab, Paystack, Loom, cargo.one, Secureframe, Phaidra.

Remote Pricing

  • Contractor Management plan:  $29/contractor/mo
  • Employer of Record plan: $599/employee/mo (when paid annually)
  • Global Payroll and Remote Enterprise plans: Customized pricing – contact Remote for details
  • Startup and nonprofit discount: Eligible startups and nonprofits can get 15% off EOR and Contractor Management services for 12 months.
  • Refugee discount: Up to 10 employees free when hiring refugees

How has Remote Changed Over Time?

Best For

Remote is a robust solution for startups and distributed teams to provide their employees and contractors with country-specific benefits and easy onboarding and payroll.

Remote in action
Reviewer's Rating
8/10

We use Remote to maintain and track payroll and PTO for our international hires.

What do you like about this tool?
  • Very organized to track international payroll and PTO.
  • User friendly for both hiring manager and employee.
  • Great dashboard and easy to navigate.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

We made international hires. Remote provided a safe space for us to negotiate, track and provide timely payments to our international employees. Remote provides similar HR/Payroll usage as another in-house system for example like TriNet.

What do you dislike about this tool?
  • If you’re unfamiliar with international payroll processing, it can be confusing.
  • Invoices need to be attended to so employees do not miss timely payouts.
  • Benefits and policies can be different country to country.
How is this tool different than their competitors?

Remote is the only platform I have used for international hiring purposes.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?
  • What does the hiring manager and employee need access to regarding payroll, benefits and HR purposes when hiring internationally.
  • Confirmation that Remote can support the respective country you are hiring someone
How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

I’ve used Remote for about 6 months now and it’s worked like a charm. They provide a great customer support team that is responsive and knowledgeable about everything related to hiring and payroll policies with respect to regions and countries.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Companies that are looking to expand hiring internationally.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

This tool would not be a fit for departments outside of talent acquisition, payroll and/or HR. Remote is primarily used for hiring and tracking invoices of international hires. It would not make sense for someone in sales, marketing or CS to ever use remote.

Papaya Global

Visit Website
Papaya Global
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.3 / 5
User Score
4.5 / 5
Product Score
4.4 / 5

Why we picked Papaya Global

Papaya Global lets you manage payroll and provide benefits for your employees and contractors, wherever they are. They operate in 160+ countries, most of them through their EOR model. Their benefits offering has evolved notably with time, encompassing telehealth services and other forms of holistic wellbeing.

PROS

  • Employees get a personalized physical and mental health plan tailored to their location. They can then access these services through the web and mobile versions of the platform.
  • Papaya ensures prompt payouts within 72 hours across 160+ countries through the platform.
  • Transparent pricing with a 60-day money-back guarantee.
  • Dedicated customer success managers in your time zone for localized assistance.
  • The starter monthly fee is reduced to $12 per employee for full-service payroll.

  • Papaya Global packs the EOR services you need to do global payroll and employment compliantly in over 160 countries.
  • Automated payments in over 100 currencies, 80 of them directly to the worker's bank account through its global banking partners.
  • Dedicated customer support providing locations-specific knowledge regarding employment and payroll.
  • End-to-end payroll guaranteed payouts in 72 hours.
  • Offers four standalone solutions: data and insights, supplemental benefits & immigration support, payment services, and employee data management, making the platform more affordable and scalable.

CONS

  • Lacks local entities in some of the countries they operate in; no tax penalty guarantee information available.
  • No free trial or plan is offered.
  • Additional fees include setup, onboarding, cycle per employee, year-end fees, and a required deposit.
  • Limited existing integrations, but free use of pre-built APIs and custom API integrations.

  • No free trial or free plan.
  • Doesn’t own entities in all the countries it serves. The platform forms relationships with existing local in-country partners to handle employment in a specific region on the client’s behalf.
  • BI analytics reports and global immigration services cost additional fees.
  • Charges extra fees for setup, onboarding, employee cycle, and tax filing. Also requires a refundable deposit.
  • Built-in integration options aren’t very robust. However, the platform does offer pre-built APIs, SFTP, and custom API integrations for free.

Papaya Global Review

Paya Global is one of the best platforms for handling international benefits and payroll. With Papaya Global, you offer an overseas employee a similar benefits package (including equity) as if you had an operating entity in their region.

They can do this both through the Employer of Record and Contractor models. Of course, the pricing varies for both cases. It’s also worth mentioning that the global benefits offering is an add-on, starting at $190 per employee per month.

Papaya Global has garnered high praise from both users we've interacted with and our editorial team. Our familiarity with the tool dates back to early 2021, and it immediately impressed us with its transparent pricing, extensive HR capabilities, robust BI analytics, and localized customer support.

The platform serves both employers and employees, offering seamless access to payroll, payments, and workforce analytics. It guarantees automated payments in local currencies, personalized benefit packages, and multilingual pay slips across 160+ countries.

That said, when considering Papaya Global for your global payroll software, remember that it may not have a local entity in the particular service region you need one and, when that is the case, they rely on third-party local partners. Note that while pricing transparency is a strength, additional expenses like setup fees per location, onboarding fees, cycle fees per employee, year-end tax filing fees, and a refundable deposit should be considered.

Papaya Global Customers

Wix, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Toyota, Deezer, Fiverr, Microsoft

Papaya Global Pricing

  • Full-Service Payroll service: Starts at $12 per employee per month, with flexible options based on operational needs.
  • Payroll Platform License service: Begins at $3 per employee per location for tech upgrades.
  • Data and Insights Platform License service: From $150 per employee per month, offering real-time analytics on payroll costs and headcount.
  • Payments-as-a-Service service: Starting at $3 per employee per month, delivering a dedicated workforce payment platform.
  • Global EOR plan: Ranges from $650 to $1000 per employee per month for comprehensive EOR management.
  • Contractor Management & IC Compliance plan: Tailored services for outsourced contractors, starting at $2 per contractor per month.
  • Global expertise services: Starting at $190 per month per employee, this lets you add the global health plan, immigration support, and global equity for employees.

How has Papaya Global Changed Over Time?

Papaya Global's benefits offering has evolved to focus more on holistic well-being, covering mental health and featuring e-services like telehealth and self-care tracking apps. Their equity management tool now supports a vast spectrum of options, including (NQSOP; ISO; ESOP), Restricted Stock Units, Cryptocurrency, Employee Share Purchase Plans, and even Phantom Stock Plans.

Best For

Papaya Global is a top choice for streamlining global payroll and benefits operations in countries with established entities, especially for businesses with international hires located within Papaya Global’s extensive country coverage.

Papaya Global in action
Reviewer's Rating
9/10

We started by using the payroll functions to consolidate our global payroll teams into a single platform that headquarters could manage. The success of this initiative led us to expand our use of Papayaglobal, incorporating additional functions such as global recruiting and the employer of record service. This allowed us to streamline our employee experience across all locations. Eventually, we added the employee portal feature, further enhancing the consistency and efficiency of our HR processes worldwide.

What do you like about this tool?
  1. The tool ensures compliance with employment legislation across different countries.
  2. It handles payroll functions, including currency and tax laws, specific to each country.
  3. The platform provides a unified experience for all employees globally, which can be managed from a central location.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

The organization I worked for needed to streamline its payroll and HR platform to cover all global locations. We were struggling to manage payroll efficiently while complying with various employment laws. The financial burden of maintaining multiple teams to oversee these functions was also a concern, as it was costly to ensure accuracy and compliance. Payroll was our primary focus, so we sought a platform that could handle these tasks without requiring a large, expensive team in each country. We have used this tool for several years now, with significant improvements in efficiency and cost savings.

What do you dislike about this tool?
  1. The primary support is via chat, which can be inconvenient during urgent situations.
  2. The cost might not be suitable for startups or small businesses.
  3. The learning curve is steep for large companies, requiring significant time to implement and integrate fully.
How is this tool different than their competitors?

Papayaglobal offers a globally integrated service that ensures compliance with employment and tax legislation. Compared to similar tools, it is user-friendly once you become familiar with it. The ability to manage all employee functions from headquarters on a single platform distinguishes it from others, making it a valuable investment.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

Papayaglobal is ideal for large companies with multiple global locations seeking a unified platform for HR and payroll management. It is particularly beneficial if you want to manage these functions centrally while providing a consistent experience for all employees.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

Papayaglobal has become more user-friendly and has expanded its support options. It now offers more integrations with other software, making it even more versatile and useful.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Papayaglobal is excellent for large, multi-location organizations. It is particularly useful for companies with global operations looking to consolidate HR and payroll functions into a single team at their headquarters.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Papayaglobal may not be suitable for startups or small businesses with limited locations. The cost may outweigh the benefits for smaller operations. However, it could be worth considering as part of a global expansion plan.

Namely

Visit Website
Namely
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.7 / 5
User Score
4.1 / 5
Product Score
4.6 / 5

Why we picked Namely

Easy to navigate, Namely is extremely organized and uses the best-in-class technology. Its benefits administration software is integrated with its HR and payroll system to save time and complexity.

PROS

  • Namely’s user interface is highly praised for its intuitiveness and cleanliness, allowing users to navigate the platform effortlessly despite its extensive features.
  • Users appreciate Namely's employee onboarding module, which includes a user-friendly wizard that helps new hires quickly understand their tasks and responsibilities.
  • In addition to the platform's built-in tools for data management, recruiting, onboarding, time off tracking, payroll, and benefits administration, Namely offers managed payroll and benefits administration services, alleviating the workload for internal teams.
  • The majority of users are able to navigate Namely without any issues. They find the UI to be intuitive and clean, despite the fact that the platform has lots of features. 
  • Namely’s employee onboarding module gets a alot of praise from users. It features an easy-to-follow wizard, which helps new hires get on quickly and be clear on what they need to do. 
  • Besides the platform’s built in features for data management, recruiting, onboarding, time off tracking, payroll and benefits administration, there are also managed payroll and benefits administration services you can opt for to reduce the burden on your internal teams. 

CONS

  • Namely's primary focus is on the U.S. market, limiting its suitability for those seeking a global payroll and benefits provider.
  • Implementing Namely can take a while, with an average implementation period of 6-8 weeks, according to the platform's own team.
  • Namely lacks dedicated features for employee development, such as skill training, career pathing, and succession planning.
  • Users should verify if Namely is compatible with their existing benefits provider, as there have been reports of Namely's team persuading customers to switch to providers that charge higher fees.
  • Namely primarily operates in the U.S., which means if you’re looking for a global payroll and benefits provider, this platform isn’t for you.
  • Though many praise the platform’s ease of use, it does take long to implement it. Namely’s own team says that an average implementation takes between 6-8 weeks.
  • For a platform of Namely’s size, there currently aren’t any features that focus on employee development such as skill training, career pathing, succession planning etc. 
  • You’ll need to check beforehand if Namely can work with your existing benefits provider, if you have one. There have been a few reports (but not few enough to ignore) about Namely’s team convincing customers to change their benefits provider to providers that charged them more. 

Namely Review

Namely’s comprehensive HR suite packs a range of features that make it an excellent choice for benefits administration. You can enroll your employees in, track, and manage various benefits programs such as health insurance, retirement plans, and flexible spending accounts. All of this is simplified through customizable online enrollment forms that provide employees with plan details. The software also allows for seamless integration with insurance carriers and third-party administrators to automate data transfers and reduce manual entry errors.

We appreciate a good reporting module, and the one Namely has can not only generate reports but also give you deep insights into benefits utilization, costs, and trends, which is a nice feature to have if you want to frequently improve your benefits plans and compete in today’s super competitive hiring landscape.

Namely Customers

Over 1200 companies use Namely, including Greenhouse, The Channel Company, Life is Good, and OneLogin.

Namely Pricing

Namely does not disclose their pricing upfront. However, having no benchmark provides the unique opportunity to negotiate with sales to determine the right price for your company specifically.

How has Namely Changed Over Time?

Best For

Namely targets mid-sized companies. They specifically mention companies with 50-1000 employees.

Namely in action
Reviewer's Rating
10/10

We currently utilize Namely for managing payroll, which has been essential in ensuring timely and accurate compensation for our employees. Namely is used daily for onboarding new employees, streamlining the process and making it more efficient. It has also been valuable in tracking new employee benefits and was particularly useful during our company-wide open enrollment period in July. Supervisors use Namely for conducting yearly performance reviews for all employees, which has significantly reduced the need for paper-based evaluations. Additionally, Namely helps us with quarterly and annual data tracking for State and Federal reporting purposes, ensuring compliance and accuracy.

What do you like about this tool?
  1. Namely offers excellent benefits brokerage and administration, making it easy to manage employee benefits.
  2. The customer service provided by Namely is outstanding, with quick and helpful responses to our needs.
  3. The onboarding process for new employees is streamlined and efficient, reducing the time and effort required to bring new hires on board.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

My organization plans to expand in the next two years, and we were looking for an HRIS software that is manageable for both supervisors and employees. We needed a system that could effectively track new employees throughout their tenure with the organization, and management agreed that we required software capable of scaling as we grow. After going through a thorough selection process with various HRIS companies, we found it challenging to choose the best fit for our organization. However, we were impressed that the team at Namely answered all of our questions and provided excellent guidance during the implementation process. We have been using Namely for about one year, and we are very satisfied with it so far.

What do you dislike about this tool?
  1. Uploading form templates into Namely can be challenging, requiring additional time and effort.
  2. The ability to add e-signatures to documents is limited, which could be improved for better functionality.
  3. Making edits within the platform can sometimes be difficult, causing frustration when changes are needed.
How is this tool different than their competitors?

I like that Namely is good for small and mid-size companies just starting their HR Department. They don't oversell products like some other HRIS software - they give you what is needed.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

When purchasing Namely, it's important to consider its functionality and whether it meets the specific needs of your organization. It is also essential to evaluate whether the pricing fits within your budget, especially if you are a new or smaller company. Namely’s capacity to grow with a company is a key advantage, making it a good option if your organization is planning on expanding in the near future.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

Namely has evolved to be very user-friendly for both employees and administrators, making it easier to navigate and use on a daily basis.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Namely is particularly well-suited for small to mid-sized companies looking for a comprehensive HRIS solution that can grow with their needs.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Namely may not be the best fit for large companies with more complex HR needs, as its features are tailored more towards smaller and mid-sized organizations.

Maxwell Health

Visit Website
Maxwell Health
Learn More
Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4.3 / 5
Product Score
4.1 / 5

Why we picked Maxwell Health

A one-stop technology solution that merges your HR ecosystem with benefits administration system, Maxwell Health helps employees save time and make sound decisions about their benefits.

PROS

CONS

Maxwell Health Review

Maxwell Health, now owned by Sun Life Insurance, offers companies a modern approach to managing benefits for employees. From open enrollment to COBRA, they can help you stay compliant, and give employees a wide range of options all available through an easy to use mobile interface.

Maxwell Health Customers

  • Rose Street Advisors
  • Taney County, Missouri
  • Harrisburg University of Science and Technology

Maxwell Health Pricing

Maxwell does not release their pricing online. You will have to contact a sales representative.

How has Maxwell Health Changed Over Time?

Best For

If your company isn’t picky about what insurance company to work with, Maxwell Health’s partnership with Sun Life Insurance is ideal. You get a simplified end-to-end experience, requiring even less administrative work on your part.

Maxwell Health in action
Reviewer's Rating
8/10

We used Maxwell primarily for open enrollment. It also allowed employees to manage their benefits throughout the year. The platform was instrumental in streamlining workflows for employee benefits administration. It was utilized year-round, ensuring employees could access and update their benefits as needed.

Employees also used it to make personal changes to their benefits, such as updating dependents or coverage options.

What do you like about this tool?
  • The platform is user-friendly for both employers and employees.
  • It provides a centralized system to manage all employee benefits.
  • It simplifies and streamlines the open enrollment process.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

Maxwell Health was provided to my company through our insurance provider. Prior to this, my company did not have a centralized platform for managing employee benefits. Maxwell streamlined our open enrollment process and overall benefits management. It provided a single platform for employees to access and manage their benefits easily.

Additionally, it simplified benefits administration for the HR team, making the process much more efficient.

What do you dislike about this tool?
  • It can be challenging to get direct support within the system.
  • There were occasional issues with employee records after they updated their personal information.
  • From an employer’s perspective, it was difficult to make changes during open enrollment once the official deadline had passed.
How is this tool different than their competitors?

Maxwell offers a simplified and user-friendly platform that employees can easily navigate and understand.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

Pricing should be a key consideration when selecting a platform. Ensure the tool is user-friendly for both employers and employees to avoid unnecessary complications. Integration with your payroll platform is highly beneficial for seamless administration.

Confirm that it is compatible with your offered benefits and your insurance broker’s platform(s) to avoid technical issues.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

he platform has undergone slight modifications to improve usability, making it more user-friendly for employees.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Maxwell is well-suited for organizations that provide multiple benefits to their employees.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

It may not be ideal for companies that offer only a few employee benefits, as the platform’s capabilities might be underutilized.

Rippling

Visit Website
Rippling
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.2 / 5
User Score
4.2 / 5
Product Score
4.1 / 5

Why we picked Rippling

Rippling is geared toward SMBs with its terrific automation and built-in integrations. Besides common features like self-service and onboarding, the benefits administration tool lets you work with your picked broker within the app and choose benefits packages from over 4,000 plans.

PROS

  • Rippling can operate globally with almost any currency.
  • 500+ integrations.
  • Automates issuance processes.
  • Provides a holistic view of company outflows—headcount costs included.
  • All-in-one platform for employee management + PEO services offered, and even a suite of other IT products 
  • With 500 integrations, it’s very likely that they integrate with other key tools from your tech stack.
  • Operates globally with any currency
  • Workflow automation
  • Analytics opportunities
  • Provides a holistic view of company outflows—headcount costs included

CONS

  • Total buy-in to Rippling is essential.
  • No free trial.
  • Phone support is available via the HR Help Desk service, which costs extra.
  • Very SMB-oriented, so perhaps not the best option for larger companies.
  • Total buy-in to Rippling is essential 
  • Very SMB-oriented, in case you’re a larger company. 
  • New features tend to be buggy in ways that tech teams are not accustomed to fixing

Rippling Review

Rippling is in a class by itself compared to other benefits administration software. With a remarkable 500 app connectors, it surpasses most vendors we've tested across multiple categories. This helps the tool not only perform standard features an average benefits tracking system does, like parsing a paper receipt image captured with a phone but can also contextualize spending activity within the larger framework of employee data.

We tested Rippling's benefits management features and discovered that despite being a relatively new solution, it stands out for its strong emphasis on automation. Alongside standard functionalities like online onboarding, benefits enrollment, and employee self-service portals, Rippling offers unique capabilities.

One notable feature is the ability to add your existing broker as a user or receive recommendations if you don't have one. Additionally, Rippling excels in automation by automatically updating employee deductions when qualifying life events occur, such as location changes or marital status updates.

In the past two years, Rippling has expanded its offerings to include time and attendance, talent management, learning management, licensed PEO services, and global payroll. Remarkably, the platform has maintained its eye-catching UI despite the additions. However, there are a few aspects to keep in mind.

While you have the flexibility to select and purchase modules separately, Rippling’s core HR offering is the starter plan for all iterations.

Rippling Customers

Vox, Maximum Games, Superhuman, Compass Coffee, Highnoon.

Rippling Pricing

Rippling's Core HR platform starts at $8 per employee per month. Contact Rippling regarding a custom Benefits Administration quote.

How has Rippling Changed Over Time?

Best For

Rippling is best for small to medium-sized companies, globally or nationally distributed with multiple levels of organization.

Rippling in action
Reviewer's Rating
8/10

I am a Super Admin in Rippling for my company. I use it almost every day, even though we only have five employees. I process payroll twice a month, set up new employees, and terminate exiting employees.

I also monitor the benefits plans. I’ve learned how to set up new policies within the system and have implemented two so far.

What do you like about this tool?
  • Rippling is easy to reach when I have a question; if the chatbot can’t answer, they immediately connect me with a live representative.
  • The apps/icons on the homepage make it easy to find what you need, and the interface is very user-friendly.
  • I hired an hourly employee, needed to set up the timekeeping system, and the integrations were straightforward.
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

We bought Rippling because the CEO had used the system before. We began searching for a tool in Q1 2025 and started using Rippling in April 2025. We are a small startup with only a handful of employees, and we initially needed a solution to manage our benefits plan and employee payroll.

Their customer service was known to be great, and the integration and setup were easy. Rippling's chatbot is convenient and quick when we have questions. I’ve used it to set up new policies, such as the time-off policy, in the system.

What do you dislike about this tool?
  • Rippling sends a lot of notifications, and there’s no way to reduce the number.
  • The icons on the left aren’t customized to what we use—instead, everything they offer is listed.
  • I don’t really have another con.
How is this tool different than their competitors?

I like the large icons on the Rippling homepage. It simplifies navigation throughout the platform. I also really appreciate the chatbot feature, which can be used for any question. If it can’t provide an answer, it offers to connect you to a live agent. This is much faster than the service provided by the last two tools I used.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

Being charged per user could be expensive for companies with a high number of employees, so pay attention to that detail. We are very small, so Rippling works well for us. Before buying this type of tool, make sure the interface is intuitive and user-friendly for both users and admins. Depending on your current systems, double-check the integration capabilities.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

Rippling hasn’t changed since we started using it. We were told they’ve had some recent AI enhancements and tools.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Small to medium-sized companies. Rippling’s especially good for startups because it’s easy to get started and use.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

In my opinion, Rippling wouldn’t be ideal for extremely large organizations. It could become costly.

Why Use Benefits Administration Software

As an employer, you are required to offer certain benefits (like health insurance and Social Security), while others are “nice-to-haves” that can help with recruiting and retention. 

The more benefits you offer, the more administrative work you have to manage — unless, of course, you use benefits administration software. If you offer any or all of the following benefits, a benefits admin platform can streamline how you manage them — and how employees sign up for them:

  • Social Security: A federal benefits program that provides insurance for older workers and their spouses, those whose spouse or qualifying ex-spouse have died, and the disabled.
  • Worker’s Comp: Benefits given to employees who suffer work-related injuries or illnesses. It helps cover medical care, wages from lost wok time, and more.
  • Health Insurance: A type of insurance that covers medical and surgical expenses. This is arguably your biggest benefits expense.
  • Unemployment Insurance: A state-provided insurance that workers are eligible for if they lose their job and meet other requirements.
  • Family Medical Leave: The Family and Medical Leave Act (also known as FMLA) provides up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave per year to care for a seriously injured or ill immediate family member (i.e. spouse, child, or parent). While the leave is unpaid, FMLA requires that health benefits remain intact.
  • Vacation Time & Other Paid Leave: This can include a certain number of PTO days, sick days, and parental leave for your full-time employees.
  • Affordable Care Act (ACA) Coverage: The landmark health reform, also known as Obamacare. Under the ACA, employers with 50 or more full-time employees are required to offer affordable, essential coverage to their full-time employees or choose to pay a tax penalty.
  • Dental Insurance: A type of insurance that covers certain dental procedures and expenses.
  • Vision Insurance: A type of insurance that covers certain vision procedures and expenses.
  • Pet Insurance: A type of insurance that covers certain veterinary costs when your pet gets sick or injured.
  • Wellness Programs: While these differ per company, wellness programs are designed to promote long-term health for employees. Some programs include discounts on gym memberships, providing on-site fitness classes, offering preventative health screenings, hosting stress management workshops, stocking kitchens with healthy snacks, etc.
  • Financial Wellness: Financial wellness programs are designed to help employees take control of their finances so they can spend smarter, reduce debt, and save more money. Such programs include retirement/401k plans, student debt repayment, and more. 
  • Education Benefits: Also known as tuition benefits, education programs are designed to give employees opportunities to further their education. For example, some companies offer employees a reimbursement benefit up to a certain amount that covers classes, courses, certifications, etc. 
  • Life Insurance: A type of insurance that provides a lump-sum payment to the insured’s beneficiaries upon the insured’s passing.
  • HSA & FSA: Pre-tax dollars that can be used for health-related and other approved expenses.

If you're not sure what benefits to offer at your company (besides, of course, the bare minimum requirements), consider who your full-time employees are. 

In other words, what is important to them? For example, if the bulk of your employees are fresh out of college, a financial wellness benefit that helps them pay off their student debt will be a very attractive offering. You could also survey your employees if you're on the fence about a certain benefit to see if it’s something they actually want and would use.

Pro Tips on Benefits Administration Systems

Considerations for Employee Benefits Admin — Plus, Common Mistakes to Avoid

The features we just listed are pretty comprehensive, but benefits admin software won't take everything benefits-related off of your plate. Not only that, benefits management in general has its share of challenges. To make sure you do benefits "right," have successful open enrollment periods, and don't blow your benefits budget, here are six considerations and common mistakes to look out for:

  • Choosing benefits that fit your company's need vs everything: As you probably already know, there are seemingly endless benefits you could offer to your employees. While it might be tempting to offer everything under the sun (which can be a great recruiting tool), you might end up creating more work and spending more money than it’s worth. In other words, you could wind up offering (and paying for) benefits that your employees don’t actually use. So think about what makes sense for your company and your employees — and start there.
  • Not allowing employees to pick and choose benefits: By nature, people like having choices and making informed decisions for themselves. So give them different options so they can pick and choose the benefits that are right for them.
  • Compliance with mandated benefits: Under laws like the Affordable Care Act, certain benefits are required for businesses of 50 or more full-time employees. If you don’t stay compliant, you could be charged fees. Fortunately, many benefits admin solutions offer automated compliance workflows so you can get the right forms to the right regulatory bodies when you need to.
  • Knowing which benefits are offered tax free: Offering tax-free benefits are a win-win for your company and your employees. For example, tax-free benefits like health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts, commuter benefits, even tuition benefits can save your employees — and your company — money. After all, the income your employees set aside pre-tax for these benefits does NOT count toward your payroll tax dues. So, you could be leaving money on the table if you don’t offer tax-free benefits — or if your employees aren’t taking advantage of them.
  • Costs can get high quickly: Your benefits offering can get expensive very quickly, especially when it comes to healthcare coverage. There are a variety of ways to keep your costs in check — from cost-sharing with employees (i.e. with increased employee contributions and higher deductibles), to changing vendor partners (like moving retirees from group plans to Medicare), to managing pharmacy spend (for example, encouraging the use of generic prescriptions or adding a narrow network).

Benefits & ROI

Benefits admin software can help your company in a myriad of ways. Here is a summary of the benefits we’ve mentioned:

  • Compliance: At the most basic level, you’re required by law to offer certain benefits — and benefits admin software makes it easier for you to stay compliant with these laws.
  • Less Busy Work: Because benefits admin software lets you automate the paperwork-heavy busy-work associated with benefits, your team will have more time to focus on other high-priority areas.
  • Employee Satisfaction: Open enrollment will no longer feel like a chore for your employees — instead, they’ll be able to make smart enrollment decisions online and, in most cases, with just a few clicks. Offering a full-suite of benefits (that are easy to elect) will help you attract top candidates to your organization — and keep them once they’re hired.
  • Smarter Investments: Because benefits admin software offers reporting, you’ll be able to see what benefits are being utilized the most — and which ones aren’t worth investing in further.

To get an idea of what benefits like these can actually do for your bottom line, check out our HR Tech ROI Calculators.

Pricing: What Employee Benefits Admin Platforms Cost

Most benefits admin platforms charge on a per-employee-per month basis and offer tiered pricing depending on the amount of features and functionality you’re looking for. We’ve seen pricing start as low as $8/employee/month. 

When you have your demo(s), you should get a pricing plan that is customized for your company and needs. Just make sure that each quote you get breaks down the features that are included so you can easily compare and make the most informed investment for your company.

Features: What You Can Expect from Benefits Administration Software

Benefits administration software isn’t just a way to centralize your benefits management and alleviate the burdens of paperwork and other administrative tasks. They also offer a host of integrations and features to make your job easier, keep you compliant, save you money, and promote employee engagement. Let’s take a look:

  • Suite of Benefits: Depending on the vendor you choose, you can manage all of your benefits in one place. We’ll talk about this later in the guide, but remember to ask your vendor(s) of choice which benefits are included with their solution.
  • Online Enrollment & Self-Service for Employees: Allow employees to opt-in to their benefits elections themselves — and say goodbye to endless paperwork. With a safe and secure benefits admin platform, your employees can easily enroll in their plans of choice online — or even through a mobile app.
  • Plan Configuration: Easily set up and manage all plans and benefits in one place. This not only makes things easier for your HR/people operations team, it also makes benefits shopping easier for your employees. They can more easily compare plans and sign up online.
  • Payroll Integration: Integrate your benefits and payroll data so the right deductions automatically sync to each employee’s payroll record.
  • Simple Onboarding: Make onboarding easy for new employees by centralizing all necessary paperwork and enrollment opportunities in one place. What’s more, if an employee leaves your company, you can just as easily un-enroll them and initiate COBRA.
  • COBRA: Easily manage COBRA eligibility and compliance with automated reporting to your COBRA administrator. 
  • ACA Reporting: The Affordable Care Act requires employers with 50+ full-time employees to report healthcare coverage to the IRS. With benefits administration software, you can easily generate forms 1094 and 1095 and submit your reports for you so you stay compliant (and avoid fees).
  • More Compliance: In addition to ACA and COBRA compliance, benefits administration software can help you stay compliant in other areas — and get ahead of changing regulations. This includes compliance with HIPAA (i.e. protecting employees’ Personal Health Information, or PHI), ERISA, the Dept. of Labor, the IRS, and OSHA.
  • Reporting: Automate reporting of your HR data — including billing insights, headcount and attrition reports, job and salary reports, and more — to make more strategic, data-driven people decisions. You could even benchmark against other companies in your space to see if there are opportunities or areas of improvement. 

As you develop your full benefits package, think about the features that would benefit your employees the most AND that would help make your job easier.

Demo Questions: What to Ask About Benefits Administration Software

We always recommend demoing a couple vendors so you can see their platforms in action before you actually invest. To prepare for your demos, create a list of questions specific to your company’s benefits needs. Here are some sample questions to get you started:

  • What benefits does your platform have?
  • What benefits do you find are most attractive to employees like mine?
  • How can employees sign up for benefits?
  • Can employees access their benefits plan on their phones?
  • How does HR create a benefits plan?
  • How will this solution fit into the rest of my tech stack and therefore what integrations do I need?
  • How will others in the organization use this solution?
  • What are the key features I want to ask about?
  • What are the things that would make me nervous about buying this sort of solution?

Implementation: Getting Your Employee Benefits Software Off the Ground

The first step to implementing benefits admin software is figuring out what your suite of benefits looks like. From there — and based on the information you gathered during your demo — you’ll know what is required to get your platform of choice up and running. For example, you might need to engage your IT team to help with any necessary integrations.

Then, you’ll need to encourage utilization of the platform during open enrollment periods, for new employees who are onboarding, and for employees who are leaving and need to sign up for COBRA. To get employees to make their benefits elections before your open enrollment period ends, we recommend a variety of touch-points, including:

Software Training Sessions: If you're using a new system, you're going to need to train your HR or People Ops team on setting up and managing each benefit. Then, you'll need to introduce the platform to your employees so they know how to use it. You could do this a number of ways:

  • Ask your vendor if they have pre-recorded training videos that you can share with your employees
  • Meet with individual teams to walk them through the platform
  • Give a brief demo of the platform at an all-staff meeting

All-Staff Emails: Send a note to the entire company at the beginning of open enrollment with instructions on how to use the platform, what actions they need to take by the deadline, what happens if they don't do anything, etc. Then follow-up with "last-call" reminders as the deadline approaches.

Engage Team Leads: Ask team leads and managers to remind their direct reports to make their benefits selections before the deadline.

Benefits Administration Software FAQs

What is benefits administration software?

Benefits administration software are platforms built specifically to plan and provide benefits packages to employees, while also maintaining compliance with government regulations.

Why use benefits administration software?

Benefits administration software streamlines all benefits operations, saving your HR team much needed time. In addition, all employee benefits data is held in one portal, meaning you can analyze all benefits information and create detailed reports about what benefits are used most or least. This provides you with valuable action points for benefits administration. Finally, letting software maintain compliance for you ensures simple, fast, and accurate reports to the IRS and other government entities.

What are some features of benefits administration software?

Features of benefits administration software include reporting, ACA and COBRA compliance, onboarding tools, plan configuration, self-service portal, online enrollment, and payroll integrations.

Next Steps for Your Employee Benefits Administration

Broadly speaking, there are two ways to get benefits admin support: a platform that only focuses on benefits admin or a more comprehensive Human Capital Management (HCM) suite that offers benefits admin as one of many HR features. 

So, you’ll need to figure out which one will make the most sense for your company. We recommend demoing a couple vendors that fit into these two buckets so you can see how their solutions and features align with your needs and budget.

About the Author

Phil Strazzulla
HR Tech Expert, Harvard MBA, Software Enthusiast
LinkedIn logoTwitter logo

Phil is the founder of SelectSoftware Reviews, a website dedicated to helping HR and Recruiting teams find and buy the right software through in-depth, expert advice. He has bought over $1 million worth of HR and Recruiting tools. Additionally, as of 2023, nearly 3 million HR professionals have relied on his advice to determine which business software they should buy.

Phil studied finance at New York University and started his career working in venture capital before getting his MBA from Harvard Business School. His in-depth understanding of the Saas landscape, especially HR Tech, stems from nearly a decade of researching and working with these tools as a computer programmer, user, and entrepreneur.

Featured in: Entrepreneur Harvard Business School Yahoo HR.com Recruiting Daily Hacking HR Podcast HR ShopTalk Podcast Employer Branding for Talent Acquisition (Udemy Course)

About Us

  • Our goal at SSR is to help HR and recruiting teams to find and buy the right software for their needs.
  • Our site is free to use as some vendors will pay us for web traffic.
  • SSR lists all companies we feel are top vendors - not just those who pay us - in our comprehensive directories full of the advice needed to make the right purchase decision for your HR team.

Get expert advice on

Get in touch with

Step 1 of 2

How many employees are in your company?

Thank you!
We'll get in touch with you shortly.

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
100% free service
Customized recommendations
1 on 1 help
No items found.