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Sep 18, 2023
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Rippling Payroll Review 2023: Is Rippling Right For Your Business?
Rippling is more than just payroll; it's a full employee management platform that offers many benefits to businesses of all sizes.
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WRITTEN & RESEARCHED BY
Senior Staff Writer
Last updated onUpdated
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REVIEWED BY
Lead Staff Writer
Advertiser Disclosure: Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity.
Rippling
| Total Rating | 4.0 |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Fair |
| Features | Good |
| Customer Service | Fair |
| Integrations | Excellent |
| Reviews | Excellent |
Payroll Processing Time
2 DaysPricing
Starting at $8/month per employeeBusiness Size
Small to enterprise-sized businesses with 2-2,000+ usersRippling At A Glance
- Rippling is an HR and IT management solution designed for businesses of all sizes — from two-person teams to enterprises with 2,000+ employees.
- As a part of its HR cloud solution, Rippling provides businesses with payroll management, employee management solutions, compliance support, benefits administration, time tracking, benefits administration, and PEO services.
- Rippling’s Unity service package serves as the software’s base product and treats all HR, payroll, and IT management solutions as add-ons, allowing new customers to build custom service packages.
Pros
- 500+ integrations
- Pay global contractors and employees
- Full-service payroll tax support
- A complete suite of HR and IT management solutions
- Supports businesses up to the enterprise level
- PEO services
Cons
- No free trial
- Payroll is an add-on only service
- Non-transparent pricing
- Many customer support complaints
Table of Contents
What Is Rippling?
Rippling is an employee management and business software suite offering extensive HR solutions, IT management tools, PEO services, and finance management options. Rippling boasts an extensive feature set, including full-service payroll, benefits administration, time and attendance management, applicant tracking, corporate cards, employee management, and much more.
Rippling is a scalable solution that can be used by small businesses and enterprises alike. While small businesses can use Rippling for payroll, its modular pricing model that treats payroll as an add-on and its overly robust feature set may be too much for smaller businesses looking for a comprehensive, payroll-first solution. Small business owners may be wary of the software’s reviews citing poor customer service.
Rippling Payroll Pricing
| Rippling Plans | Price | When To Use |
|---|---|---|
| Rippling Unity | Custom pricing starts at $8/month per user | This core plan is required to add on Rippling's payroll, HR, and IT solutions |
Rippling Payroll’s pricing starts at $8/month per person and does not offer a free trial. However, for an accurate price estimate, businesses will need to reach out to Rippling for a custom quote. Requesting a custom quote via Rippling’s website will only generate an email reiterating that Rippling’s pricing starts at $8/month per person and you’ll be asked to set up a demo for further pricing information.
Rippling operates under a custom pricing model, in which businesses purchase Rippling Unity (the core program) and add on payroll, time tracking, benefits management, applicant tracking, learning management, app management, and all IT management features.
This pricing model further underscores the fact that Rippling is an HR, IT, and finance management software solution offering payroll services, not simply a payroll service provider like Gusto or OnPay. In short, businesses that are only looking for payroll services without the bells and whistles should consider other options (like the ones listed above).
Rippling Unity
Rippling Unity uses custom pricing and includes:
- Workflow automation
- Workforce directory
- Onboarding automation
- Offboarding automation
- Positions management
- Employee mobile app
- Permissions and approvals management
- Analytics
- Admin privileges management
- Document storage
- eSigning
Extra Rippling Costs & Fees
| Rippling Extra Costs | Price |
|---|---|
| Payroll | Custom |
| Time & Attendance | Custom |
| Benefits Administration | Custom |
| ACA & COBRA Administration | Custom |
| Applicant Tracking | Custom |
| Learning Management | Custom |
| Rippling Pulse (employee surveys) | Custom |
| App Management | Custom |
| Device Management | Custom |
| Inventory Management | Custom |
Rippling operates under a base subscription model with optional add-on services, so Rippling’s payroll product, other HR solutions, and IT management solutions are considered add-ons.
Unfortunately, this pricing model tends to lead to higher prices than other solutions with tiered service plans. However, it’s difficult to determine whether that’s the case with Rippling because its pricing is mostly unpublished.
Smaller businesses looking for simple payroll software may consider seeking out more affordable payroll software solutions.
Is Rippling Easy To Use?
Rippling’s interface is clean and relatively intuitive, though new users may have to overcome a bit of a learning curve as the software is so robust.
Rippling Payroll’s cloud-based software can be used on the web and includes a well-rated employee mobile app on iOS. However, the software’s Android app is not well-rated and frequently receives user complaints.
Additionally, some users may find it challenging to use Rippling’s customizable automation features, as Rippling’s automation features utilize if/then logic and commands. Fortunately, Rippling hosts a library of prebuilt automations, which they’ve termed “recipes,” so users shouldn’t have too much trouble learning how to use them.
If you’re interested in exploring the Rippling software suite, you can request a live software demo or watch Rippling's product video tour.
Rippling Features
| Rippling Features | Availability |
|---|---|
| Payroll Tax Support | |
| Auto-Schedule Payroll | |
| Bonus Payroll | |
| Off-Cycle Payroll | |
| Employee Management | Add-on |
| Paid Time Off | Add-on |
| Time Tracking | Add-on |
| HR Support | Add-on |
| Onboarding Support | Add-on |
| Benefits Administration | Add-on |
| Number Of Reports | Customizable |
Although Rippling only offers payroll as an add-on service, it’s not lacking in functionality.
Rippling users can easily run payroll, manage employees, handle benefits administration, track time, recruit talent, and much more. If there’s a specific service that Rippling doesn’t offer or you’d prefer to use a different solution, Rippling’s plethora of third-party integration options can help you build the best software stack for your business.
While Rippling is a great solution for businesses with complex payroll and HR needs, small businesses or those needing a simple payroll solution may be happier with a solution such as Patriot Payroll or QuickBooks Online Payroll.
Additionally, Rippling is still very much a newcomer to the payroll processing scene, while its users are generally happy, many cite issues with intuitiveness. Fortunately, those same users are quick to note that Rippling works to improve things and regularly updates its software.
Payroll Processing
Although Rippling’s payroll solution is an add-on, it’s highly functional and can handle both simple and complex payroll needs. For those businesses looking to save time when running payroll, Rippling’s automations and integrations can drastically reduce time spent on tedious payroll tasks, such as new-hiring reporting or calculating payroll taxes per pay period.
Here’s a look at Rippling’s payroll features:
- Time and attendance sync
- 50 state and international payroll runs
- Pay contractors and employees
- Garnishments
- Deductions
- Federal, state, and local payroll tax support
- Employee mobile app
- Direct deposit or check-printing
- Workers’ compensation
- New hire reporting
- Multiple pay rates and schedules
- Job costing
- W-2, W-4, and 1099 filing
- Set custom payroll alerts
- Payroll compliance support
- PTO tracking
- Custom payroll reports
Employee Management & PTO
Rippling’s employee management features enable businesses to keep up with employee morale, recruit top talent, easily onboard new hires, and much more. Check out Rippling’s top employee management and PTO features:
- Employee surveys
- Employee mobile app
- Employee self-service portal
- Online document storage
- eSigning
- PTO requests
- Workforce directory
- PTO tracking and accrual
- Time off and PTO alerts
Time Tracking
Rippling’s time-tracking solution is a worthwhile add-on for businesses looking to integrate payroll and time-tracking seamlessly. The software’s time-tracking features support employee clock-ins, compliance support, job costing, and more. Here’s a look at Rippling’s time-tracking features:
- Scheduling management
- Calendar integration
- Web-based or mobile app employee clock-ins
- Time-tracking automations
- Time tracking issue alerts
- Job costing
- Labor compliance support
- Time clock security features
- Review and approve employee hours
Reporting
Rippling uses a unique system of recipes to manage its reporting. Users can create custom recipes to pull reports and run other workflow automations. In action, there are virtually no limits to the number of payroll reports a business can build.
In a sense, Rippling’s recipe system mimics software scripting and allows users to take control of and automate their workflow, including anything from report generation to setting custom hiring alerts.
Unfortunately, most users looking for a traditional built-in reports system may find this new system challenging to maneuver.
HR & Onboarding
Rippling’s HR and onboarding features are customizable and include eSigning, applicant tracking, learning management, and compliance support. The software emphasizes automation in the hiring process, so your business can create custom hiring workflows to improve your onboarding process.
Additionally, Rippling has been focused on adding more extensive HR features in the past year, including the launch of Rippling Recruiting, headcount planning, and compensation band management. Here’s a more in-depth look at Rippling’s best HR and onboarding features:
- Applicant tracking
- Library of premade courses
- Upload custom employee courses
- Custom hiring workflows
- Employee learning management
- Compliance courses
- Job postings
- Self-service online onboarding
- Document storage
- eSigning
- Headcount approval and tracking
- Compensation bands/salary range management
Benefits Administration
Rippling’s benefits administration is fully-fleshed with options ranging from health insurance to commuter benefits packages. Beyond allowing employers to offer customizable benefits packages, Rippling handles benefits administration compliance on behalf of your business, including sending out notices and automating payroll benefits deductions.
Here’s a breakdown of Rippling’s benefits administration features:
- Health insurance
- 401(k) retirement accounts
- Commuter benefits
- FSA and HSA account options
- Dental and vision insurance
- COBRA compliance
- Automatic new-hire enrollment invitations
- Automatically send ACA notices
- Broker referrals or bring your own broker
- Sync payroll deductions
- Employee benefits self-service portal
Rippling Customer Service
| Rippling Support | Availability |
|---|---|
| Phone Support | |
| Email Support | |
| Support Tickets | |
| Live Chat | |
| Dedicated Support Representative | |
| Knowledge Base or Help Center | |
| Videos & Tutorials | |
| Company Blog | |
| Social Media |
Trouble reaching customer support is one of the most common customer complaints about Rippling. This is relatively unusual, as most negative reviews regarding payroll software typically cite trouble getting problems solved rather than being unable to reach customer support.
Additionally, although Rippling offers a variety of customer support options, it seems that live chat serves as the primary point of contact. Customers may ask to convert their chat to a live call, but that doesn’t often happen, according to Rippling’s customer support statistics.
In short, Rippling’s customer support has some room for improvement, and users requiring reliable support from their payroll software may consider looking into other options.
Rippling Integrations
Rippling supports over 500 third-party integrations, making it one of the most well-integrated payroll solutions on the market. Rippling’s app integration shop is well organized and includes useful information on pricing, sign-on requirements, and notable features for each solution.
Rippling’s most notable integrations include QuickBooks Online, Slack, 15Five, Toggl, Guideline, Xero, Sage, NetSuite, Checkr, and many more. Rippling also offers an API for partner application developers and customers.
Rippling Payroll Reviews
Rippling Payroll reviews are impressively excellent across the board. Across 6,100+ total reviews, Rippling has earned 4.8/5 stars on G2, 8.7/10 stars on TrustRadius, and 4.9/5 stars on Software Advice. That kind of unanimous admiration is pretty unheard of for a payroll software solution. Users cite Rippling’s ease of use, employee management features, and robust feature set as some of their favorite things about the software.
However, Rippling is not without its downsides. Customer support is one of the most frequently cited downsides of Rippling’s software. It’s not just that users are having trouble getting their problems solved. They’re having trouble actually reaching customer support outside of the live chat option. Further, some users wish for more customization options, including the frequency of notifications and automated log outs.
Negative Rippling Reviews & Complaints
- Poor customer service
- Challenging to make account changes
- Confusing UI choices
- Longer payroll processing time
- Lacking customization options
Positive Rippling Reviews
- Excellent automation support
- Many integrations
- Very easy to use
- Useful employee mobile app
- Great employee management features
- Unified HR and payroll platform
Is Rippling Secure?
Rippling takes security seriously and boasts an impressive array of security measures and protocols to keep your data safe. Additionally, Rippling allows companies to customize user permissions and privileges so that you can protect data access within your internal network. The company does not have a history of data breaches.
Rippling’s security features include:
- SOC 2 Type II Certification
- GDPR compliance
- CCPA compliance
- Complete data encryption
- Employee security training and requirements
- Regular security monitoring and testing
- AWS infrastructure
- Data access controls
- Vulnerability reporting program
The Final Verdict: Is Rippling Worth It?
| Rippling Review Summary | |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Starting at $8/month per employee |
| Choose If You Need |
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Rippling is a highly-reviewed, easy-to-use HR, payroll, and IT management software solution for small and large businesses. With Rippling, businesses can customize service packages to include employee management, time and attendance tracking, payroll, benefits administration, device and software management, running reports, recruiting talent, and more.
Rippling would be a great option for a larger business with complex payroll needs and the know-how to use the software’s robust automation customization options. For smaller businesses or those needing strong customer support, Rippling may not be the best option.
The software’s pricing model and complaints about customer support may give some business owners pause, but all signs point to Rippling being a reliable and powerful business solution. If you’re ready to try Rippling, reach out for a live software demo and pricing information.
If you’re still on the fence about Rippling, plenty of other payroll software options are on the market. Check out our post on the best payroll software for small businesses. Our guide breaks down the top payroll software solutions, features, pricing, and more to help you make an informed payroll software decision.
Rippling FAQs
Davina Ward
Senior Staff Writer
Davina joined Merchant Maverick in 2022, covering small business payroll and accounting. She began writing for small businesses in 2018 and has since gained expertise in the SaaS industry. She earned her Bachelor’s of Arts in English Literature from SUNY Geneseo in 2018. She currently resides in New York.
View Davina Ward's professional experience on LinkedIn.
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The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
|
Rippling
|
|---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Rippling for yourself.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
|
Rippling
|
|---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Rippling for yourself.
