Rippling PEO Review and Pricing

Why We Chose Rippling for Scalability

We were impressed that Rippling’s technology lets businesses create workflows and automate virtually any HR process. Since the platform syncs each HR process, it can scale with your hiring process easily as you add more staff and grow your business. Additionally, we like that you can remove or add features as needed to create the right HR solution at every stage of your business.

Once your company grows to a certain size, you may be ready to bring on an internal HR department. That could mean switching out of the PEO model and adopting a stand-alone HR platform. Instead of essentially starting over with a new HR solution, we love that Rippling makes this process an easy transition. Rippling’s ability to act as either a PEO or a stand-alone HR platform is one of its best features.

We appreciate that once you move out of the PEO offering, you won’t have to start from scratch with separate HR features. All your company’s information and data are stored safely within Rippling’s platform. You won’t have to onboard existing employees again or update any company information; you can switch from Rippling’s PEO to its HR service quickly and easily.

We also like that you can purchase Rippling’s services on an a la carte basis: You can buy stand-alone IT or HR services. This feature is ideal for new and growing companies looking to scale quickly. For these reasons, Rippling is our top choice for the best PEO for scalability.

Rippling’s timecards make it easy to see exactly when employees have clocked in and out. Source: Rippling

Ease of Use

We were impressed that Rippling’s approach is tech-forward without being complicated. Rippling’s intuitive PEO software requires minimal user training. Additionally, its extensive third-party integrations were by far the best and easiest to implement of any other PEO platform we evaluated. You can hook up your PEO platform ― and all the valuable information it contains ― with more than 500 popular workplace apps like Slack, Google Workspace and Zoom.

We like that Rippling is a cloud-based PEO platform, making it truly scalable. We were impressed by its IT features, including remote laptop management, app integration management and single sign-on features. Most competitors don’t offer such comprehensive IT features. Additionally, we like that you can enable apps for new employees, disable them for departing employees and create a mission-control dashboard to manage your software.

Rippling is one of the easiest services to implement, onboard and offboard of any PEO we reviewed.

In this demo, we show just how easy it is to onboard an employee with Rippling.

Features

Rippling provides a wide range of standard PEO services and unique features for businesses of varying sizes. The specific features you can access depend on your plan. However, since Rippling is highly scalable, you can add or remove many of these tools as needed.

HR services

Rippling facilitates some of the most advanced HR services of all the PEOs we analyzed, including:

• Job board integrations
• A unified employee database
• Customizable screening questions
• Messaging templates
• Customizable HR reports
• Automated on- and offboarding
• Customizable fields and alerts
• Electronic document management
• Position and task management
• Approval and workflow automation
• A mobile app
• Applicant tracking and recruiting software
• Calendar integrations
• Headcount planning
• HR customer support

Rippling provides extensive and secure electronic document management features. Source: Rippling

Employee benefits

As your business scales and you add more staff to your team, you’ll likely want to provide comprehensive employee benefits. We like that with Rippling, all your company’s medical, dental, vision and 401(k) plan information is accessible in one benefits dashboard. We also like that Rippling provides new-hire enrollment, third-party broker support and online open enrollment. As an added plus, it offers payroll deduction synchronization, online employee self-service, and small and large group benefits packages. These benefit offerings are on par with other top PEOs we reviewed.

Rippling walks employees through the process of selecting insurance. Source: Rippling

Payroll and taxes

Rippling is one of the only companies we reviewed that provides local tax registration. This is an excellent feature for companies that hire employees in multiple states. We also like that Rippling provides time and attendance features, overtime and break tracking, garnishments, and payroll processing in all 50 states and internationally. In addition, it offers direct deposit, tax form creation, new-hire filing, job codes and multiple pay rates. Perhaps ironically, though, the IRS has not certified this vendor.

Rippling makes it easy to process payroll in all 50 states. Source: Rippling

Although Rippling provides excellent payroll services, another top payroll provider is Gusto. It’s an HR platform (as opposed to a PEO) that can also provide international payroll services. Check out our Rippling vs. Gusto breakdown to see how these two vendors compare.

Risk and compliance

Rippling’s compliance-driven technology stood out during testing. For example, its compliance dashboard details legal infractions and suggests ways to remedy them. Your administrators can get notifications about these violations and update policies as needed. Rippling also offers critical HR compliance measures like employment practice liability insurance, workers’ compensation, state and local payroll tax creation, and state and local guidance.

Pricing

We like that Rippling operates on a per-employee pricing model with no hidden fees. This is ideal for new and growing businesses that want to predict costs accurately. In contrast, some other PEOs we reviewed use a cost structure where monthly prices change with payroll percentages.

Rippling’s small business services start at $8 per employee, per month. However, you’ll have to work closely with a Rippling sales representative to get an accurate quote for your company; you can choose the features you want included in your package. Based on the services you want ― i.e., workforce management platform and HR, IT, and finance clouds ― the vendor will develop a custom bundle and price.

Rippling’s flexible pricing model is one of the distinct advantages of working with the vendor. You can elect to pay for stand-alone services and transition out of the PEO model later, if that’s what your company needs. This ability to mix and match makes Rippling ideal for small businesses — especially those looking to scale quickly.

Implementation/Onboarding

Rippling’s easy usability, scalability and tech-forward approach are part of its appeal. When we tested the software, we found that getting team members up to speed was straightforward. We also liked how you can automate the employee onboarding process on the Rippling dashboard. Little to no training is needed for implementation.

Once your employees are in the system, you can link it with other IT features, such as third-party apps. We didn’t see many other PEOs offer this level of IT support. However, remember that customizing the solution with third-party integrations can add to your setup time and learning curve.

We were impressed that Ripping’s sleek, cloud-based platform lets employees access relevant information from any internet-connected computer or smart device. You can complete crucial tasks easily — such as running payroll and generating HR reports — on the go. Once your company is set up on the system, your data will be stored securely. If your business transitions to another type of service from Rippling, you won’t have to update or reenter any information ― it’s all saved in the cloud.

Customer Support

During testing, we found Rippling’s customer support to be on par with other services we reviewed. Clients can receive support online via email or live chat. We appreciate that Rippling provides a real-time support status on its website — letting you know the expected wait time for responses and how often cases are resolved on first contact. We like this transparent commitment to quality support. However, it’s notable that Rippling’s customer support prefers to communicate via email or chat instead of phone. Keep in mind that customer support chats can be converted into virtual calls.

Rippling also has valuable online resources, including a help center, glossary, webinars, e-books and recipe templates. We also like that the company provides live one-on-one health-care guidance for your employees via Rightway Health Guide. This added feature isn’t something all PEOs offer.

Rippling provides a real-time support status to let businesses know how long they should expect to wait for chat responses. Source: Rippling

Limitations

Despite Rippling’s exemplary services, the vendor has a few drawbacks to keep in mind. For one, Rippling is not accredited by the Employer Services Assurance Corporation (ESAC) or certified by the IRS. These are two of the PEO industry’s significant accreditors; they review such organizations regularly and test their services to ensure quality. To learn about accredited PEO services, read our review of ADP TotalSource and our review of Paychex.

Another potential downside to consider is that you must have at least five employees to qualify for Rippling’s PEO services. Although this is somewhat standard in the industry, it is a limitation for some businesses. If you fall into this category, check out our review of Justworks; it only requires you to have two employees on staff.

Methodology

We researched and analyzed dozens of the top PEO service providers. We identified the top PEOs to help businesses find the right PEO service for their needs. We looked at pricing, contract requirements, bundled vs. a la carte features, minimum requirements, employee benefits administration and time-tracking tools. We also went over payroll processing and taxes, administrative HR functions, talent management features, integrations, legal risk and compliance assistance, accreditations and customer support. We conducted demos, took advantage of free trials and watched product videos when possible. To find the best scalable PEO solution, we paid particular attention to onboarding, implementation, automation, usability, scalability and integrations.

Bottom Line

We recommend Rippling PEO for …

• Companies that want a PEO that can scale with their business.
• Businesses that want to transition between a PEO service and HR software.
• Ventures that want to automate several HR processes.

We don’t recommend Rippling PEO for …

• Businesses that want an ESAC- or IRS-accredited PEO.
• Companies with fewer than five employees.
• Companies that need frequent phone support.