Rippling is a workforce management platform made up of three essential elements: an HR Cloud, an IT Cloud and a Finance Cloud. These elements are a part of what Rippling calls its “Unified Workforce Platform” or “Rippling Platform.”
Each cloud product consists of multiple features and tools to help companies handle everything from payroll and benefits to security and devices. The extensive suite of products under one platform makes Rippling great for global companies, mid-sized brands and growing small businesses.
Read how we test and review HR software in our HR methodology.
What Is Rippling?
Rippling is a full-service HR software with workforce management capabilities. Commonly called the “Unified Workforce Platform” or “Rippling Platform,” the software combines three key products: the HR Cloud, IT Cloud and Finance Cloud.
The HR Cloud helps companies scale to 2,000 or more employees. The IT Cloud helps businesses set, secure and manage their employees’ work devices, and the Finance Cloud allows brands to manage and report on all their spending.
Each cloud has multiple features within it. Some of Rippling’s major features include:
- Payroll processing
- Benefits administration and enrollment
- Device management
- Expense management
- Bill pay
- Integrations
Rippling Pricing and Plans
Rippling’s pricing structure is not straightforward because it’s customizable based on each company’s needs. The only thing the company makes obvious is that Rippling Platform starts at $8 per month per user and works for businesses with at least two employees.
There are four plans you can choose from to use Rippling Platform. Rippling doesn’t provide the pricing for these plans, so you will need to book a demo to get a custom quote. Also, keep in mind that your base monthly price will fluctuate depending on the HR Cloud, IT Cloud and Finance Cloud products you include in your plan. Rippling does not require the purchase of Rippling Platform to purchase other Rippling products; they now offer standalone Spend and IT products that do not require the purchase of Rippling Core.
Here’s a look at what each of the four plans offers:
| Core | Pro | Unlimited | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global employee graph to store employee data | Everything in Core | Everything in Pro | Everything in Unlimited |
| Global org chart to view employee data in one place | Workflow studio for all employee events | Unlimited advanced reports | Rippling API |
| Global workforce analytics to report on employee data | Up to 10 advanced reports | Unlimited formula fields | |
| Automation of more than 1,000 workflows | Up to 10 formula fields | Unlimited custom workflows | |
| Role-based permission, approval and policy management | Up to 10 custom workflows | Third-party app integrations | |
| Document templatization and digitization | |||
| Automated compliance management with notifications and fixes | |||
| Vacation and leave management | |||
| Compensation bands with salary ranges for defined roles | |||
| Auto-localization for more than 150 countries | |||
| Workflow studio for onboarding events |
Rippling Free Trial
Rippling doesn’t offer a free trial. The only sneak peek available is with a product demo, which usually lasts around 45 minutes.
Rippling Pros and Cons
There are multiple pros and cons of using Rippling, and you should consider them before deciding whether to use the platform.
Benefits of Rippling
The biggest advantage of Rippling is that its platform has HR, IT and finance products, allowing you to handle all administrative responsibilities in one place. Rippling also has an app store to help your team integrate with Slack, Zoom, Zapier, PayPal, HubSpot, MailChimp, Salesforce and other apps. Finally, Rippling is highly customizable. You can buy the HR, IT and finance products you need while forgoing the ones you don’t.
Here are some other pros of Rippling:
- Pays global employees and contractors within minutes
- Submits local, state and federal payroll taxes
- Provides customizable reports
- Offers step-by-step setup instructions
- Partners with accountants, brokers, venture firms, accelerators and developers
- Has reminders, to-dos and tools on the platform’s dashboard
- Delivers an intuitive and easy digital experience
Limitations of Rippling
There aren’t many limitations with Rippling — but that doesn’t mean the platform is perfect. Rippling Platform is so robust that it may be intimidating for smaller companies. The platform may also be overwhelming if businesses only need assistance with one thing, such as payroll. In that case, software with a single functionality is best.
Here are some other cons of Rippling:
- You have to set up a product demo to get a quote.
- Its customized pricing can make it hard to compare it to other solutions.
Flip Card
Rippling Rating
Rippling HR Cloud Features
Rippling’s HR Cloud has the most features out of all its cloud products. This suite of tools is equipped with everything a business needs to manage its workforce — from onboarding to offboarding.
The HR Cloud does:
- Payroll
- Benefits
- Recruiting
- Performance management
- Time tracking and attendance
- Learning
- And more
Insight into some of these HR Cloud features is available below.
Recruiting
The HR Cloud’s recruiting feature lets you build and customize a repeatable hiring process for all of your teams. You can post positions on 25,000 job boards with just one click and see the submitted applications all in one place.
You can also customize the hiring process by setting up different interviews (e.g., ones with the hiring manager, the team lead and the CEO). You can schedule these interviews using Rippling’s calendar integrations and create in-depth reports about how they went after the fact.
Onboarding
Hiring is easy with Rippling’s HR Cloud. All you have to do is click “hire candidate” to start onboarding a new employee. Rippling claims you can onboard new hires in 90 seconds without any manual data entries. This quick onboarding process gives new hires everything they need to be successful, including training and devices, regardless of their location.
Payroll
Rippling’s payroll feature lets you pay employees and contractors in their local currency in minutes. The tool also automatically categorizes and syncs payroll and expense data to your company’s general ledger. Plus, it gives you the option to sync it to other human resources data, such as deductions, time off and hours worked.
You can choose which team members can see this payroll data. After building custom workflows to automate your payroll process, these members get notifications about important changes or tasks they need to complete.
Tax Filing
This specific tool automatically calculates and files employees’ payroll taxes. It doesn’t matter where your employees are located; the platform works worldwide.
Analytics and Reporting
Rippling allows you to add, update and manage employee information all in one place. To put this data to use, you can build reports about everything from PTO to location. And you don’t need to be a numbers wizard to make it happen. A few clicks will let you calculate, group, add and filter data to build the reports you want.
Mobile App
Rippling has a mobile app that employers and employees alike can access. The former can use the mobile app to track employee time and attendance. The latter can use the mobile app to clock in and out, submit hours, request time off, view pay stubs and manage benefits.
Rippling’s app is available on iOS and Android mobile devices and includes two-factor authentication. Employees who want to use the app must sign up through their company.
Rippling IT Cloud Features
Rippling’s IT Cloud manages employees’ work devices, apps, data and security regardless of where they work. This convenience provides multiple benefits, including the following:
- HR and IT teams can set up employees’ devices remotely and quickly.
- Companies can implement security best practices across all company apps and devices.
Additionally, this unified approach makes it easier to track company devices to manage the lifecycle of your equipment.
Rippling Finance Cloud Features
The final piece of Rippling Platform is the Finance Cloud. This product brings together four key features: expenses, corporate cards, bill pay and payroll. The last tool is available in the HR Cloud, but the other three are unique to the Finance Cloud.
The expense management feature, for example, lets you review, approve and reimburse employee expenses. The corporate card feature adds your business cards to your platform, and the bill pay feature pays your vendors instantly using checks, electronic payments or wire transfers. Using the Finance Cloud, you can bring all of this finance data together to create reports.
Rippling Customer Service
You can reach Rippling’s customer support team via email or live chat. If you want to speak with someone on the phone, you can request to have a chat session transition into a call.
Rippling is transparent about how long it usually takes to get a response from its customer support team. It shows a real-time support status to showcase the team’s response time to emails and chats over the last 90 days. Rippling also provides the percentage of chat sessions that turn into phone calls and the percentage of problems that get resolved after first contact.
Rippling Security and Compliance
Rippling complies with global security frameworks and data protection standards. The company hosts all of its data in Amazon Web Services facilities in the United States. These locations have on-site security and camera surveillance around the clock. Also, any data that’s sent to or from Rippling is encrypted.
Security is such a high priority for Rippling that employees must undergo thorough background checks and take regular training courses on how to mitigate security threats.
Best Rippling Alternatives and Comparisons
Rippling may be a solid workforce management platform, but companies have different needs. Your business may get more use from an alternative provider. Some of the best competing workforce management and HR platforms include Papaya Global, Paychex and Gusto.
| Monthly Price | Key Features | Customer Service | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rippling | Starts at $8 per user | Global payroll Onboarding and recruiting Expense management Tax filing IT and finance | 24/7 support |
| Papaya Global | Starts at $12 per user | Global payroll Virtual wallets Custom workflows and permissions Automation | Limited customer service hours |
| Paychex | Starts at $39 plus $5 per user | Hiring and onboarding Payroll app HR resource library | 24/7 support |
| Gusto | Starts at $40 plus $6 per user | Employee benefits Payroll | Limited customer service hours |
Now, let’s do a deeper dive into a few other competitors.
Rippling vs. Sage HR
Sage HR is an employee management software that handles administrative tasks, such as employee scheduling, submitting expenses, storing employee feedback, scheduling meetings, recruiting talent and tracking overtime. The software centers around HR, making it different from Rippling, which also has IT and finance products.
Additionally, Sage HR doesn’t offer payroll processing services like Rippling — if you want help with payroll, you’ll need to get one of Sage’s separate finance products. Still, a great benefit of Sage HR is that it offers a 30-day free trial, which isn’t possible with Rippling.
Rippling vs. BambooHR
BambooHR is another employee management software. Similar to Sage HR, BambooHR’s main focus is HR, so it won’t have the finance and IT features that Rippling offers.
BambooHR only handles domestic payroll, so it works for companies that have a U.S.-based workforce. Global companies will want to use Rippling, which offers domestic and global payroll services. Other than that, neither brand has a free trial nor is transparent about pricing until you contact their teams.
Rippling vs. UKG Pro
UKG Pro is a human capital management suite. The software shares some similarities with Rippling. Both platforms, for example, offer compliance and employee management. They also both do custom pricing.
Excluding those similarities, the platforms have two major differences. First, UKG Pro’s global payroll services are offered through third-party partnerships. Second, UKG Pro doesn’t unify HR, IT and finance services. Instead, UKG Pro is similar to Sage HR and BambooHR in that it’s primarily an HR platform.
Is Rippling the Best Software for HR?
Rippling is made for organizations that need a digital platform to unify HR, IT and finance. Large and rapidly growing businesses are not easy to manage. A unified, automated platform like Rippling can go a long way in simplifying their administrative tasks. That being said, Rippling may not be the best HR software for everyone. For instance, it’s likely too extensive for small companies that have basic HR needs.
The Bottom Line
Rippling is the way to go if you manage a large — or soon-to-be large — workforce. Having an HR Cloud, IT Cloud and Finance Cloud, along with customization, tight security and 24/7 customer service, gives big companies what they need to create the best possible employee experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Rippling has a mobile app that’s available on iOS and Android devices. Employers and employees can access it.
Rippling does not offer a free trial or free plan. Its services start at $8 per month per user, but you’ll need to contact its team to get a more accurate quote for your specific business.
Small businesses can benefit from using Rippling if they plan to experience accelerated growth in a short time frame. Rippling has all the bells and whistles for soon-to-be large companies.
Rippling is a workforce management platform with an HR Cloud for global and domestic payroll processing, employee onboarding, tax filing, employee benefits and more. Rippling’s platform also has an IT Cloud and Finance Cloud to unify the main components of workforce management.
Methodology
Choosing human resources (HR) software for your organization is an important decision. To help you with it, we at the MarketWatch Guides team have researched and reviewed 50 leading HR software companies, including Paycor, ADP, Workday, Gusto, ZipRecruiter and Clockify. These providers help with some or all of the following HR disciplines:
- Payroll
- Time tracking and workforce management
- Recruiting and job posting
We conducted a survey in 2024 of 200 professionals who were currently using HR software or had used HR software within the past year. We analyzed the results of this survey to determine the following rating criteria:
- Features (25%)
- Value and Pricing (25%)
- User Experience (20%)
- Customer Support (15%)
- Reputation and Reviews (15%)
Visit the full HR methodology page for more details on our rating system.
If you have feedback or questions about this article, please email the MarketWatch Guides team at editors@marketwatchguides.
