Rippling Versus the Competition

Rippling is an employee management platform for everything between onboarding and offboarding. They stand out for having a very appealing UI, with design that we find soothing to the eye. They also offer PEO services that you can keep track of through the platform.

If you're ready to get a Rippling demo, we suggest getting in touch for a look at the product and quote. Otherwise, read on!

Ratings

4.8

Ease of Use

Best For

Key Differentiator

Price

Starting at $40 + $8 PEPM

Free Trial

No

PROS

  • 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 
  • 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

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Rippling Review

Rippling is a relatively new player in the HR tools market, with a focus on helping SMBs manage HR and IT in one solution. They focus specifically on businesses with less than 2,000 employees. 

An interesting thing about them is that they are very vocal about trying to make their software easy-to-use and intuitive not just for HR professionals and recruiters, but for the CEO, IT staff, and any team member that will interact with the product. 

For example, recruiters are able to get into the tool and see all the necessary HR information related to their profile that they need to consult sometimes. For example, download their pay stubs, consult PTO, number of sick days, or even check out who’s off when. 

Rippling started with offering core HR, payroll, and benefit management tools with a strong focus on automation. In 2022, however, they incorporated many new modules to their offering, like time and attendance, talent management, learning management, even licensed PEO services, and then a full global payroll suite by the end of the year.

Their global payroll offering, which includes many ways to manage an international payroll (including EOR), is one of the best products in the category. They handle all aspects of paying people overseas instead of aggregating outside services from third-party providers, which is new in the space, at least in 2023. Aside from a demo of this new part of the platform, we interviewed several users of the tool, and have found the experiences are overwhelmingly positive.

They now also have an IT cloud product, for app and device management. As with the HR side of it, it was always supposed to be a very self-service approach. Rippling’s products are meant to be something that you can sign up for and get cracking within a few minutes, with no long meetings or training sessions, at least after you’ve gotten a custom quote from their team. 

As to the look and feel, it is exactly what you'd expect from a silicon valley-based startup, with a modern UI and eye-catching design that’s been interesting to watch evolve over the years since we first came across Rippling. 

Notably, and finally, they also have over 500 integrations with everything from Slack to Github.

What users think of Rippling

Reviewer's Rating
8/10

We use Rippling for onboarding and offboarding, document and task management, performance management, time and attendance, reporting, and payroll. As part of onboarding, all new hires sign their offer letters and complete position- and location-specific paperwork within Rippling.

The system automatically assigns their time-off policies and sends reminders to their manager and other stakeholders. Approved tracked time and time off automatically flow through to payroll.

The payroll interface displays how much more or less is to be paid compared to the previous payroll, which helps us identify discrepancies quickly.

What do you like about Rippling?

I like Rippling’s onboarding and offboarding workflows. The ability to requisition software and hardware for new hires is very helpful. I also appreciate the payroll interface and how easy it is to use.

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

My client bought Rippling to better automate their onboarding and offboarding processes. They also needed the ability to requisition software and hardware for remote, global team members.

Prior to using Rippling, they tracked everything in separate Google Sheets, and their processes were very manual. They did not have comprehensive onboarding and offboarding checklists, which Rippling now provides as part of the system. Rippling has helped standardize these processes and increase overall efficiency.

What do you dislike about Rippling?

While I do not remember the exact cost, I believe Rippling is relatively expensive. Each module is sold separately, so pricing can add up quickly as functionality increases. Configuring workflows can also be time-consuming.

How is Rippling different than their competitors?

Rippling’s technology is more advanced than that of other HR and payroll software. The automation capabilities are also superior.

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

Consider the type of workforce you have and whether you need to requisition software and hardware. It’s also important to evaluate whether cybersecurity is a key concern for your organization, as Rippling addresses this well.

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

Rippling now offers a PEO option, which adds flexibility for businesses seeking a co-employment model.

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

Rippling is especially effective for tech companies with globally dispersed teams.

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

Rippling may not be well suited for blue-collar industries.

Reviewer's Rating
9/10

I use Rippling for a wide range of functions: creating workflows to automate key processes, conducting performance reviews, adjusting payroll and expenses, onboarding and offboarding, and generating ad hoc reports to support business needs. Compliance is a priority, and Rippling helps ensure everything is handled properly.

The payroll application is effective for processing payments to contractors in multiple countries. The built-in currency exchange feature is simple to use and ensures accurate payments, which is essential.

What do you like about Rippling?
  • Rippling is highly versatile, and the workflow builder is easy to use and customize.
  • It scales well with business growth, making it a sustainable long-term solution.
  • The platform supports comprehensive employee life cycle management, including onboarding, offboarding, performance reviews, and training.
Why did your organization buy Rippling, and how long have you used it for?

I have been using Rippling for about a year. Our organization became increasingly reliant on global contractors, and Rippling has made it easy to manage contractors from different countries around the world. Payroll is highly efficient, and benefits administration is simple.

The reporting tool is user-friendly, allowing accurate reports to be generated with just a few clicks. The workflows and IT functions are powerful and straightforward, offering a high level of versatility across the platform.

What do you dislike about Rippling?
  • When modifying a workflow trigger, the entire workflow is deleted, which is frustrating.
  • The cost can be high for small businesses, as each app comes with separate pricing.
  • Rippling’s interface is not very user-friendly and has a learning curve, although manageable with time and effort.
How is Rippling different than their competitors?

Rippling stands out with its strong global support and nearly 24/7 live chat. Specialized support teams are available to help tailor the platform to specific organizational needs.

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

Consider how the organization plans to scale and whether the investment aligns with long-term growth. Training requirements should also be factored in, as the platform requires time to learn to use effectively.

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

Rippling’s support has improved significantly, with faster response times that enhance the overall user experience.

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

Rippling is well suited for small to medium-sized organizations that employ global contractors and are experiencing growth.

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

Rippling may not be ideal for small businesses with limited HRIS experience or those without the resources to manage a complex system.

Reviewer's Rating
9/10

I use Rippling every day for payroll processing, which occurs twice a month. We also use it for performance management, which we implemented this year through a three-step review process during the school year.

Rippling has helped automate our internal processes, particularly for time-off requests. Additionally, we use it for time and attendance tracking, among other HR functions.

What do you like about Rippling?
  • Rippling allows for organizational growth while providing flexible options to manage various HR and payroll functions.
  • The chat support feature provides quick responses for most inquiries without requiring a phone call or ticket submission.
  • The payroll and benefits modules are robust, allowing organizations to automate much of the process.
Why did your organization buy Rippling, and how long have you used it for?

We purchased Rippling to streamline our processes. As a small organization, we primarily relied on physical copies of employee documents. We transitioned to Rippling about seven months ago.

Previously, we used ADP for payroll processing, but due to the size and needs of our organization, ADP was not a good fit. Rippling provided a more flexible solution that aligned better with our operational requirements.

What do you dislike about Rippling?
  • When issues require escalation to a specialist, response times can be very slow, often taking 5–7 days or longer.
  • The documents module needs improvement, particularly in allowing multiple employees to access the same file and enabling employees to upload their own documents, such as course certificates or TB risk assessment results.
  • The platform can become expensive, as additional modules, such as talent acquisition management and extra workflows, come at an added cost.
How is Rippling different than their competitors?

Rippling has a robust system with strong integrations, and its modules are built within the platform rather than being a collection of separate acquired tools, like ADP. I prefer its benefits and time-off modules because they are easy to update and manage.

However, the performance management, documents, and payroll sections can be challenging, requiring either manual work or additional paid features to achieve desired results.

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

Company size is a key factor to consider. After using Rippling for several months, I believe it is better suited for larger organizations. Cost is another consideration, as it is more expensive than options like BambooHR but still slightly more affordable than ADP.

The system offers numerous features, which can be overwhelming, so organizations should focus on their specific needs and choose a solution that simplifies their processes.

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

Since I started using it, Rippling has introduced a few new features in the documents section. However, I have not observed any major improvements.

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

Larger organizations with complex needs will find Rippling useful.

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

Smaller organizations or those with simpler HR and payroll needs will be overwhelmed with all the different functions that Rippling provides.

Rippling Alternatives:

Deel

Deel HR offers a simple, effective HRIS for remote and international teams that need a way to compensate their employees, and a system for record-keeping.
Popularity Score
4.4 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4.5 / 5
Visit Website

Deel

Deel HR offers a simple, effective HRIS for remote and international teams that need a way to compensate their employees, and a system for record-keeping.
Popularity Score
4.4 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4.5 / 5
Learn More

Paylocity

Paylocity offers a wide range of modules for the entire employee lifecycle. Although it markets itself as supporting all business sizes, its strong focus on automation, customization, and compliance — plus a higher starting price, according to user reports — makes it a better fit for midsize companies with more than 300 employees.
Popularity Score
4.2 / 5
User Score
4.3 / 5
Product Score
4.1 / 5
Visit Website

Paylocity

Paylocity offers a wide range of modules for the entire employee lifecycle. Although it markets itself as supporting all business sizes, its strong focus on automation, customization, and compliance — plus a higher starting price, according to user reports — makes it a better fit for midsize companies with more than 300 employees.
Popularity Score
4.2 / 5
User Score
4.3 / 5
Product Score
4.1 / 5
Learn More

HiBob

Bob is a global HR software platform that provides customizable features to streamline HR processes, including advanced functions such as compensation and workforce planning. But Bob particularly stands out for its focus on employee experience — from its funky, colorful interface reminiscent of 1970s disco, to employee recognition and interest groups that foster workplace connection. Bob is well-suited for most SMBs, but if your goal is to manage HR processes and improve platform adoption and engagement with employees, I recommend Bob. It's both fun to use and a powerful tool to manage people processes.
Popularity Score
4.5 / 5
User Score
4.4 / 5
Product Score
4.3 / 5
Visit Website

HiBob

Bob is a global HR software platform that provides customizable features to streamline HR processes, including advanced functions such as compensation and workforce planning. But Bob particularly stands out for its focus on employee experience — from its funky, colorful interface reminiscent of 1970s disco, to employee recognition and interest groups that foster workplace connection. Bob is well-suited for most SMBs, but if your goal is to manage HR processes and improve platform adoption and engagement with employees, I recommend Bob. It's both fun to use and a powerful tool to manage people processes.
Popularity Score
4.5 / 5
User Score
4.4 / 5
Product Score
4.3 / 5
Learn More

BambooHR

BambooHR has been a go-to HR solution for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) for years, with modules covering nearly every HR process — from hiring to payroll, benefits, time tracking, and performance management. BambooHR stands out to me for its plug-and-play HR workflows, pre-built reports, and easily navigable interface that requires little training.
Popularity Score
4.5 / 5
User Score
4.5 / 5
Product Score
4.4 / 5
Visit Website

BambooHR

BambooHR has been a go-to HR solution for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) for years, with modules covering nearly every HR process — from hiring to payroll, benefits, time tracking, and performance management. BambooHR stands out to me for its plug-and-play HR workflows, pre-built reports, and easily navigable interface that requires little training.
Popularity Score
4.5 / 5
User Score
4.5 / 5
Product Score
4.4 / 5
Learn More

Rippling

Rippling is an all-in-one HR platform with an intuitive design and thoughtful UX that handles everything from onboarding to offboarding. It's long been on my shortlist simply for its powerful, no-code automation tools that let you streamline complex HR processes across multiple HR modules, such as payroll and performance management. It also offers EOR, professional employee organization (PEO), and HR services — all of which you can turn on or off as your business scales. This, along with its IT device and inventory management for remote teams, makes Rippling the strongest option if your business needs are rapidly evolving and you want to stay on one platform as you grow.
Popularity Score
4.2 / 5
User Score
4.2 / 5
Product Score
4.1 / 5
Visit Website

Rippling

Rippling is an all-in-one HR platform with an intuitive design and thoughtful UX that handles everything from onboarding to offboarding. It's long been on my shortlist simply for its powerful, no-code automation tools that let you streamline complex HR processes across multiple HR modules, such as payroll and performance management. It also offers EOR, professional employee organization (PEO), and HR services — all of which you can turn on or off as your business scales. This, along with its IT device and inventory management for remote teams, makes Rippling the strongest option if your business needs are rapidly evolving and you want to stay on one platform as you grow.
Popularity Score
4.2 / 5
User Score
4.2 / 5
Product Score
4.1 / 5
Learn More

Who shouldn't buy Rippling

Rippling has always been about catering to the SMB market, who value having easy to use tools in a single place where the whole team can access them. Enterprises looking for a more robust platform might find it too simple. We would also argue that, since larger companies are not really their niche, the CS team might not be very used to dealing with larger teams.

Rippling Customers

Proxy, Dwell, Superhuman, Expensify, Checkr

Rippling: HRIS & Advanced Spend Management
visit Rippling

Rippling Key Features

  • Manage devices: Among other things, Rippling lets you manage and protect the computers, phones, and tablets that your employees use for their work.
  • App management: Another feature that's particular to Rippling is their mission control for work apps. In brief, you can manage users and their access for tools like Slack, Office, Google Workplace, and Dropbox.

Rippling also offers:

  • Payroll
  • Benefits
  • Talent Management
  • Time & Attendance
  • Automated Onboarding & Offboarding
  • PEO

Rippling Key Integrations

When it comes to integrations, Rippling is one of the leaders in the HR tech space, being able to integrate with over 500 tools. Some of them are Lever, Greenhouse, and Quickbooks, for example.

Rippling Pricing

Rippling starts at $8 per month per user, but the final fee you pay will vary depending on which modules you'd like to use (or if you want the whole platform) and for how many people.

Rippling is Best For

Rippling is a good bet for SMBs that prioritize user experience and would appreciate having most of the HR tools in one platform. They’ve designed the product to be friendly for all the company to use and they have tried to incorporate all the HR tools a regular department would need. 

How has Rippling Changed Over Time?

Although they have always been geared towards small and medium-sized businesses, Rippling has consistently been adding new features and modules year on year. For example, their HR offering was basic at first, and now, in 2023, it features everything you’d expect from an ‘all-in-one’ HR platform, such as Benefits, Talent Management, Time & Attendance, and Payroll, making it a fully-fledged HRMS. This continual improvement means that the product is steadily catching on with companies of all sizes, even on the enterprise level.

Rippling Implementation

Typically, Rippling takes around 2 weeks to implement, but times will vary depending on the scope of each project.

Rippling Customer Success

Rippling has a Customer Success department, a CSM toolkit, and a help center.

About Rippling

Rippling has an interesting origin story, in big part because they were founded by the former Zenefits CEO and one of its Co-Founders, Parker Conrad, after a somewhat dramatic exit. Conrad co-founded Zenefits in 2012. Part of what inspired him to help create the product was the launch of Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act and his experience as a cancer patient.

Zenefits became one of the quickest-growing tech startups of its era, getting valued at $4.5 billion within two years of its inception. Since then, it has remained a constant household name in the world of HR software for American SMBs. Even after some controversy.

In 2015, it was reported by Buzzfeed News that the startup had allowed salespeople to sell health insurance that they were unlicensed to sell, since in the US the law requires insurance brokers to be licensed. The company came under heavy scrutiny for failing to enforce these legal requirements, to the point that Conrad had to step down from his role as CEO.

From the ashes, Parker Conrad teamed up with Zenefits’ former director of engineering and founded Rippling. The driving idea was to create a platform that could simplify HR in general through automated workflows. The focus was on going beyond benefits and payroll and touching upon everything that HR is traditionally supposed to do.

Founded in 2016, the product caught on somewhat slower than Conrad’s former project, but they solidly built a name for themselves by orienting their product towards companies with less than 2000 employees.

Rippling secured $1.2B in funding across five rounds, with their latest funding raised on Mar 17, 2023, through a Series E round. The company is backed by 33 investors, with Greenoaks and Empede Capital being the most recent contributors.

To this day, they continue to grow consistently and are considered one of the top players in the HRMS space for SMBs. Also, they now hold their own licenses for insurance services, PEO, and payments. You can consult the exact info on those via their website.

Company HQ

San Francisco, CA

Number of Employees

1290+

Year Founded

2016

Amount Raised

Last raised $250M via series D funding.

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Rippling Alternatives

Deel

Best for running global HR without silos

Popularity score
4.2 / 5
user score
4.6 / 5
Product score
4.5 / 5
Paylocity

Best for mid-sized businesses.

Popularity score
4.2 / 5
user score
4.3 / 5
Product score
4.1 / 5
HiBob

Best for employee experience.

Popularity score
4.5 / 5
user score
4.4 / 5
Product score
4.3 / 5
BambooHR

Best for small-and-medium-sized businesses.

Popularity score
4.5 / 5
user score
4.5 / 5
Product score
4.4 / 5
ADP

Best for scalability.

Popularity score
4.3 / 5
user score
4 / 5
Product score
4.1 / 5
HiBob

Culture-focused HRIS for multinational organizations

Popularity score
4.5 / 5
user score
4.4 / 5
Product score
4.3 / 5
Gusto

Best for startups.

Popularity score
4.3 / 5
user score
4 / 5
Product score
4.1 / 5

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