Rippling Review: Plans, Features and Pricing

Managing a device with Rippling. Source: Rippling

Rippling is an all-in-one workforce management platform that brings payroll, HR, IT and spend management together under one unified system. While Rippling is designed for companies of all sizes, our research determined its multi-country payroll and automation capabilities make it especially useful for growing or international teams.

That said, Rippling won’t be a natural fit for all businesses. Smaller companies with very basic payroll needs may find the platform more complex — and potentially more expensive — than payroll solutions for small businesses, like Moorepay or ADP.

Read on for our review of Rippling’s services, and explore how UK businesses can benefit from its comprehensive HR and payroll software offerings.

Rippling logo
Rippling is our top recommendation for international businesses of any size

With its user-friendly interface and top-notch HR capabilities, Rippling can enhance your efficiency and reduce errors, saving time, effort and money.

Rippling Review: Key Takeaways

  • All-in-one platform: Rippling combines payroll, HR, IT and spend management into a single, unified system.
  • Global payroll: It supports both UK and international payroll, making it ideal for multinational teams.
  • Automation and efficiency: Automated payroll, HR workflows, and reporting reduce errors and save time.
  • Data security: End-to-end encryption and access controls protect sensitive employee and business data.
  • Scalable for growth: The platform is designed for medium to large businesses and can scale with expanding teams.
Why Trust Us?

At Expert Market, we’ve spent the last 17 years helping UK businesses make smarter buying decisions by analysing and comparing essential software and services.

To review Rippling, we followed a rigorous, data-driven research process, evaluating the platform across five key categories — control, data security, expertise, scalability and customer support.

Head down to our methodology section to learn more about how we create impartial reviews for services like Rippling.

What Is Rippling?

Rippling is an all-in-one HR, payroll and IT platform that allows businesses to manage their workforce from a single system. It centralises employee data, allowing companies to run payroll, manage benefits, track time and handle onboarding through one platform, rather than switching between different systems.

The platform supports both domestic and global payroll, enabling businesses to pay employees in multiple countries and currencies. With built-in reporting, compliance tools and IT management features, Rippling is designed to streamline operations and support growing teams.

What services does Rippling offer?

Rippling offers four main products: human capital management (HCM), payroll, IT management and spend management. Here’s a closer look at its different services:

ProductKey Capabilities
Human capital management (HCM)Rippling’s HCM platform offers employee data tracking, onboarding, performance management, time tracking and benefits administration
PayrollRippling’s payroll services include UK and global payroll, tax filing, contractor payments and employer of record (EOR)
IT managementRippling offers IT features such as device management, access control, identity protection and inventory tracking
Spend managementRippling offers granular control over company spending, with expense tracking, bill payments, and global spend controls

Rippling human capital management (HCM) features

Rippling offers human capital management (HCM) software that seeks to make HR more strategic for businesses. Let’s break down the HCM features that Rippling offers.

  • Human resources information system (HRIS): Manages HR tasks like employee onboarding, salaries, health insurance, retirement plan administration and paid leave. Also manages recruiting tasks such as posting job listings, fielding applicants, conducting interviews, conducting background checks and sending offer letters.
  • Recruiting: Rippling helps you post job listings online, manage applicant tracking, conduct interviews, manage team growth and headcount needs, and optimise team dynamics. Its helpful data and reporting also simplify the task of understanding and meeting your hiring needs.
  • Workforce management: Manage headcounts, team budgets, workforce spending, budget allocations and more, all in one place. Managing your workforce effectively ensures your teams remain well staffed, able to meet goals and deadlines, and satisfied with their work/life balance.
  • Performance management: Easily track employee performance, set goals and provide feedback with built-in performance management tools and employee portals.
  • Compliance: Automated tax calculations, payroll taxes and information reporting help ensure your business remains compliant with HMRC regulations.
  • Documentation: Manage sensitive business and employee documents in a secure location with end-to-end SSL encryption.
  • Time tracking: Allow your HR staff to monitor employee time and attendance easily. If your business already uses time-tracking software, you can use third-party integrations to connect it with Rippling’s software.
  • Employee surveys: Easily create and disseminate surveys to employees to better understand their sentiments, engagement and satisfaction. Surveys can be anonymous, allowing you to get real data from workers.
  • Employee education: Assign and manage the ongoing education of your employees.

Rippling payroll features

Rippling’s Payroll platform offers payroll processing features, payroll filing, compliance management, tax calculation and reporting, various payment options, and more. Here’s a closer look at Rippling’s payroll features:

  • Payroll automation: Rippling allows users to automate payroll calculations, deductions and direct deposits, saving you and your team time and money every pay period.
  • Automatic HMRC regulation updates: Rippling regularly updates its software to reflect the latest HMRC regulations and tax law changes.
  • Various payment options: Offer employees and contractors the convenience of direct deposit, cash or check payments, salary sacrifice schemes, and other flexible payment options.
  • Detailed reporting: Access detailed payroll reports and analytics to gain insights into workforce productivity, costs and budgeting.
  • Benefits: Manage the disbursement of employee benefits such as paid leave, retirement account contributions, health insurance and more.
Managing payroll with Rippling. Source: Rippling
Managing payroll with Rippling. Source: Rippling
Rippling logo
Rippling is our top recommendation for international businesses of any size

With its user-friendly interface and top-notch HR capabilities, Rippling can enhance your efficiency and reduce errors, saving time, effort and money.

Rippling IT features

Rippling’s IT platform helps businesses secure employee data, control system access and manage company devices from one centralised system. Let’s explore the specifics below.

  • Identity and access management: Rippling allows users to track and manage the identities and access abilities of all employees and contractors, regardless of their location. Additional standout features include dynamic multi-factor authentication (MFA) and single sign-on (SSO).
  • Device management: Rippling’s device management features include automated device monitoring, dynamic security policies that update to suit the device being used, visibility and reporting on devices with software access, Apple and Windows mobile device management (MDM), endpoint protection, zero-touch deployment, and more.
  • Device inventory management: Rippling can help track and manage shipping and retrieval of business devices like laptops, phones, checkout systems, card readers and hard drives. It can warehouse as well as digitally wipe, physically clean and test devices on behalf of your business, so you know that each device is ready for the next employee.
Managing a device with Rippling. Source: Rippling
Managing a device with Rippling. Source: Rippling

Rippling spend features

Rippling’s spend management tools give businesses full visibility and control over company spending, from employee expenses to payroll costs and vendor payments. Here’s what you get with Rippling’s spending management software:

  • Expense management: Rippling allows users to track and automate expenses, block out-of-policy expenses, create spending policies and terms, set up expense approval chains with role-based rules, and give teams instant visibility into their spending.
  • Payroll expense tracking and data: Develop a better understanding of your business’ payroll expenses, including base pay, overtime, bonuses, taxes, health insurance, paid leave and retirement contributions.
  • Headcount cost planning: Gain visibility into your total, group and team headcounts, and the costs related to employing and contracting these workers. Develop a better understanding of each team’s efficiency and strategise ways to reduce costs while maintaining efficiency and output.
  • Bill payment solutions: Rippling’s bill pay software allows businesses to pay, track and manage any bill from anywhere in the world. Users can generate bills with the click of a button, pay vendors using any method (credit card, check, bank transfer and more), and pay vendors in their local currency — wherever they are.
Rippling's headcount planning tool. Source: Rippling
Rippling's headcount planning tool. Source: Rippling

How Much Does Rippling Cost?

Rippling does not publish its pricing publicly, so you’ll have to contact it to get a quote tailored to your budget, business needs and workforce size. The benefit is that you’ll only pay for what you need and use. The downside is that you won’t know the cost upfront, which can make it difficult to compare Rippling with other HR and payroll providers.

Be warned that Rippling doesn’t offer a free trial and requires users to agree to a minimum contract. This means you could be locked into a year-long contract, even if you realise another HR or payroll provider is better suited to your business.

How Good Is Rippling’s Customer Support?

Rippling employs an excellent customer service team that can answer questions and help solve problems with your HR, payroll, IT and spending plans. It can handle most issues right away and solve more complex issues within 24-48 hours.

The customer service team can be accessed via several methods: phone, live chat on the website, email or online help centre.

Rippling also provides a helpful blog where you can ask questions, a resources library to learn about Rippling and find a solution to your problem, and a “recipe” library you can use to streamline the service and solve hundreds of common and advanced scenarios.

Who Is Rippling a Good Fit For?

Rippling is a versatile HR and payroll platform, but its features and pricing make it better suited to certain types of businesses. Next, we outline which businesses Rippling is likely to be a good fit for, and why.

Rippling is ideal for:

  • Medium to large businesses – The platform’s highly capable payroll processing, automation capabilities and global payment support make it ideal for organisations managing payroll at scale.
  • Global companies – Unlike payroll providers, like Moorepay, Rippling lets you run payroll in multiple countries, with multiple currencies, making it especially well-suited to multinational businesses with distributed teams.
  • Businesses seeking all-in-one HR solutions – Rippling’s comprehensive HR tools allow companies to manage hiring, benefits, employee data and workforce planning, all in one unified platform.

Rippling is not ideal for:

  • Small startups or budget-conscious businesses – Rippling’s pricing tends to be on the higher end, which may not be cost-effective for smaller companies with simpler needs.
  • Businesses wanting to test before committing – The lack of a free trial may deter organisations that prefer to evaluate software hands-on before making a financial commitment.
  • Businesses after a very simple payroll solution – Companies with straightforward payroll requirements (e.g. a small, single-location team with fixed salaries and minimal HR processes) may find Rippling overly complex and unnecessary.
Rippling logo
Rippling is our top recommendation for international businesses of any size

With its user-friendly interface and top-notch HR capabilities, Rippling can enhance your efficiency and reduce errors, saving time, effort and money.

How Did We Review Rippling?

We regularly research a wide range of market-leading payroll products and services to evaluate them in terms of functionality, usability, data security and customer support, so we can make the most useful recommendations for UK businesses.

Our rigorous research process means these products have been scored and rated in five main categories of investigation and 10 subcategories — in fact, we covered 56 areas of investigation in total. We then gave each category score a ‘relevance weighting’ to ensure the product's final score perfectly reflects the needs and requirements of Expert Market readers.

Our main testing categories for payroll products and services are:

  • Control: The level of customisation and flexibility provided by the payroll software in managing and processing payroll, such as the ability to define pay periods, set up tax withholding rules and manage employee data.
  • Data security: The measures and protocols implemented by the payroll software to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of sensitive payroll information.
  • Expertise: The level of knowledge and guidance provided by the payroll software vendor or support team. This can include resources such as documentation, tutorials and training materials.
  • Scalability: The ability of the payroll software to accommodate the growth and changing needs of a business, including the capacity to handle an increasing number of employees and support multiple locations or entities.
  • Customer support: The various channels and methods available for users to seek assistance and support from the payroll software vendor, such as email or ticket-based support, phone support, or live chat.
Verdict

Managing HR and payroll tasks can feel overwhelming, especially for businesses juggling multiple systems and spreadsheets. Rippling offers a compelling solution by streamlining payroll, benefits, hiring and HR functions into a single, user-friendly platform.

Rippling’s services may feel unnecessary for small to mid-sized businesses, those with simple HR and payroll needs, or those with smaller budgets. But for large businesses, Rippling could be a perfect solution to improve HR and payroll, and streamline operations.

FAQs

What is Rippling’s pricing model?
Rippling’s pricing structure is bespoke, which means you have to request a custom quote for your business. Rippling likely charges a subscription fee based on the services you require, plus a per employee, per month, fee each time you run payroll.
Can Rippling handle complex payroll scenarios, such as multinational and multi-currency payroll runs?
Yes, Rippling can handle virtually any payroll scenario, from a small local business with employees in one location to a large multinational corporation with payments in multiple currencies.
Written by:
Isobel O'Sullivan
Isobel O'Sullivan (BSc) is a senior writer at Expert Market with over four years of experience covering business and technology news. Since studying Digital Anthropology at University College London (UCL), she’s been a regular contributor to Tech.co, Startups.co.uk, and Market Finance. Isobel’s always up to date with the topics in employment and data security and has a specialist focus on POS systems.