As businesses modernize through technology, their need for efficient human resources (HR) platforms is increasing. This warrants the use of a user-friendly, scalable, and feature-rich HR platform. Rippling HR and Paylocity are two renowned names in the HR landscape that check these boxes. These platforms help companies set and meet goals while managing an expanding workforce and staying compliant with taxes and employment laws.

Let's find out which among them is a better fit for your organization in this comprehensive Rippling Vs Paylocity comparison. 

Rippling Vs Paylocity – A Brief Summary

Feature 

Rippling

Paylocity 

Recruitment 

  • Links with 25,000+ job boards 
  • Offers pre-built hiring templates 
  • Automated, AI-powered recruitment
  • Links with 20,000+ job boards 

Time And Attendance 

  • Automated time and attendance
  • Facilitates accurate billable hours monitoring 
  • Centralized time and attendance
  • Facilitates geolocation for accurate monitoring 

Payroll Processing 

  • Unified payroll functionality 
  • Unlimited payroll runs 
  • Automated payroll processing 
  • 40+ configurable audits to ensure accuracy 

Benefits Administration 

  • Offers 4,000+ benefit plans across the U.S. 
  • Syncs workforce data with payroll for auto-enrollment 
  • Seamless integration with HR and payroll
  • Ensures compliance with FSA, HSA, COBRA 

Learning Management

  • Pre-built courses for law compliance and anti-harassment
  • Automated employee enrollment 
  • Offers 100+ pre-built courses
  • Efficient monitoring of employees' progress 

What Is Rippling?

Leveraging the power of artificial intelligence (AI), Rippling is a cloud-based software solution that provides extensive human resource management services. It caters to start-ups, small and mid-sized businesses, and large enterprises, enabling them to effectively manage their administrative functions. The platform’s services benefit various industries, including healthcare, construction, retail, non-profit, and manufacturing.

By offering global payroll functionality, Rippling serves businesses operating in multiple currencies and helps them seamlessly handle their finances. Whether it's monthly expense monitoring or enhancing employees' skill sets, the platform enables employers to handle all of this and more. 

Unique Features Of Rippling 

  • Compensation Bands: With Rippling, businesses can make compensation or salary bands for their workforce and link eligible employees to the right bands. Every time an employee’s location changes, the system notifies the managers to enable them to adjust salary bands accordingly
  • Device Management: Companies can maximize their device security with Rippling’s device management feature. Administrators can allow limited access to employees while gaining real-time insights into security status 
  • Global Spend: The software enables employers to monitor their global expenses by offering real-time insights into currency exchange rates. It helps companies stay compliant with tax laws while managing all types of spending in different locations 
  • Corporate Cards: Businesses can issue corporate cards based on employees' job roles, departments, and locations in both physical and virtual forms. Employers can set usage rules on these cards, including purchase categories, spending limits, etc. 

Pros And Cons Of Rippling 

Pros 

  • Comprehensive HR management functionality that streamlines tasks and saves employers’ time 
  • Efficient mobile application that facilitates easy data access from anywhere
  • Automates most of the administrative functions that save resources and time and reduce potential human errors 

Cons 

  • Does not offer a free trial, so there is no way to test its functionality before purchasing a subscription 
  • The software charges extra cost for additional features that creates budget challenges for some businesses 

What Is Paylocity?

Paylocity is a cloud-based HR platform that utilizes the power of AI to streamline regular HR functions. It serves businesses of all sizes across a wide range of industries, including information technology (IT), education, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, and finance. From recruitment and onboarding to accurately processing payroll, the software assists administrators in all tasks. 

Additionally, it facilitates global payroll management, which enables multinational businesses to pay their employees on time and without hassle.

Unique Features Of Paylocity 

  • Airbase Spend Management: Managers can optimize and gain real-time information about the company's expenses. By utilizing Paylocity's AI-generated spending reports, employers can improve finances and have better control over their expenses 
  • On-Demand Payment: Paylocity enables employers to pay a percentage of employees’ paychecks before payday. The workforce can view and track their earned wages and request the required portion either through mobile application or desktop computer
  • Employee Voice: Employers can benefit from the software’s ‘Employee Voice’ feature and gain real-time insights into employees’ sentiments regarding company culture. Companies can use its built-in, custom surveys to collect employees’ information, such as t-shirt size, favorite sports, etc., before organizing a fun event 
  • Video Platform: Companies can ensure clear internal communications by utilizing Paylocity’s ‘Video Platform.’ It helps increase employee engagement and reduce paper waste by offering video messages and journals 

Pros And Cons Of Paylocity 

Pros 

  • Provides a centralized solution for all administrative activities, including HR, payroll, timesheets, etc.
  • Highly customizable features that enable managers to tailor tasks based on their company’s criteria 
  • Efficient recruitment functionality that seamlessly integrates with HR to streamline all hiring tasks

Cons 

  • The system can glitch at times by notifying the evaluation manager that their comment has been saved without saving it 
  • The mobile application can lag at times, especially while clocking in and out

Recruitment

Rippling enables organizations to link with more than 25,000 job boards, post new job openings with a single click, and attract a diverse pool of qualified candidates. It allows different teams to collaborate and ensure a seamless hiring process by reviewing applicants’ resumes, scheduling interviews, and sharing notes.

It also offers pre-built, customizable hiring templates to ensure effective recruitment.

Paylocity automates the hiring process by enabling companies to post job openings across 20,000+ job boards. Administrators can use AI assistance, and generate customized job descriptions or utilize the platform’s pre-built templates to highlight their company’s core values and objectives.

The software offers integrated tools for efficient applicant tracking, interview scheduling, and transparent communication, thereby enabling an efficient recruitment experience.

Winner: While both platforms offer comprehensive hiring functionalities, enabling recruiters to track applicants, parse CVs, and schedule interviews, Rippling wins this round for integrating with more online job boards and attracting a better candidate pool.

Time And Attendance

Rippling automates time and attendance, helping businesses monitor employees' billable hours and stay compliant. The workforce can clock in and out via computer, physical time clocks, and mobile applications. The time management feature also integrates with the payroll functionality and facilitates error-free payroll processing.

Moreover, the time management feature can be integrated with scheduling tools to create custom schedules and reduce no-shows.

Paylocity offers a centralized approach to time and attendance management. Employees can clock in and out either through mobile applications, desktop computers, or kiosks, and the platform saves their attendance data. Moreover, it also enables geolocation tracking, allowing employers to track the workforce's punch-in and punch-out location.

The software connects with the payroll tool and simplifies payroll calculation by offering precise accounts of billable hours and making it error-free.

Winner: As both software run even in facilitating smooth time management, it is a tie.

Payroll Processing

Rippling offers a unified, fully automated payroll functionality that facilitates both U.S. and global salary processing. Managers can assess changes in payroll data by comparing them with the old records and track gross changes across the entire organization. From processing multi-currency calculations across different states to syncing payroll with benefits and attendance tools, Rippling offers a full-service payroll tool.

In addition to running unlimited payroll cycles, it helps enterprises stay legally compliant and file taxes with the right local, state, and federal agencies. Rippling enables employers to choose different pay types, such as bonuses or rewards, and personalize them to their company’s needs.

Paylocity enables employers to automate payroll processes through a centralized platform. Its 'Payroll Readiness Dashboard' helps companies get a detailed overview of their salary data and ensure accuracy. To reduce errors, the software offers 40+ configurable audits that help identify any mistakes before finalizing paychecks. Administrators can personalize the entire process and easily handle different pay types.

Using Paylocity, businesses can also configure a general ledger (GL) to stay compliant with changing local and global tax laws. Paylocity syncs with other systems to facilitate 401k plans and other benefit programs while allowing managers to pay their regional and international employees on time.

Winner: From automated processing to global payroll and syncing with time management, both software offers effective payroll functionality. However, by providing 40+ pre-submit audits, Paylocity claims victory.

Benefits Administration

Rippling enables employers to enroll employees in more than 4,000 benefits plans offered by top U.S. carriers. Businesses can enroll new hires in benefit plans based on their eligibility. Once enrolled, the system syncs employees' data with payroll. Anytime there is an important event, such as a change of marital status or location etc., it automates salary deductions.

Moreover, the platform assists businesses in automating Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) compliance and Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting.

Paylocity empowers employees to choose benefit plans that suit their needs. By seamlessly integrating benefits with payroll and HR, the software streamlines salary deductions and ensures precision. Companies can configure healthcare plans, including vision, dental, and medical, for their workforce.

The platform helps businesses stay compliant with COBRA, Health Savings Accounts (HSA), and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA).

Winner: While both software offer comprehensive benefits administration, by providing easy access to 4,000+ plans across the U.S., Rippling emerges victorious in this round.

Learning Management

Rippling offers pre-built courses covering everything about anti-harassment laws across all 50 states and compliance training, including OSHA health. It also enables employers to create and customize courses as per the company's learning criteria and help the workforce professionally grow.

The software automates the entire process and eliminates the need to manually enroll employees in different courses.

Paylocity, in addition to the 100+ pre-built courses, assists managers in creating learning courses based on their company requirements. They can assign courses, set due dates for completion, and track employees’ progress. Besides, companies can assign subject matter to experts so they can better guide the workforce about its intricacies.

The software enables managers to build course content, add multimedia elements, and offer a dynamic understanding of key subjects.

Winner: Paylocity wins this round by providing a diverse library of 100+ pre-built courses and enabling employers to assign courses and monitor employees’ progress.

Final Verdict

Both platforms offer efficient HR services along with global payroll and employee management. However, if you are focused on your employees’ upskilling and efficient progress tracking, Paylocity is the ideal choice for you. On the other hand, Rippling is a better option for businesses managing large workforces that need extensive reporting capabilities.