Finding the best HR software for your business is incredibly important. Top HR tools can help your team manage payroll, compliance, attendance, benefits, and a number of other administrative tasks. Rippling and Justworks are two leading solutions that address businesses' core HR needs.

Rippling offers advanced features like talent signal, PEO, headcount planning, and learning management that set it apart from basic HR software solutions. Meanwhile, Justworks provides comprehensive benefits management, and access to certified HR professionals for support. It also ensures compliance with local, state, and federal regulations to minimize risk.

This in-depth comparison of Rippling vs Justworks offers a comprehensive guide on both platforms, exploring their key and unique features to help you determine which solution best suits your business's HR and workforce management needs.

Rippling Vs Justworks: At A Glance

Feature

Rippling

Justworks

User-Interface

Intuitive and modern user-interface

User-friendly interface, easy to navigate the platform

Time-Tracking

Automated time-tracking with customizable workflows

Time-tracking with integrated PEO and payroll system

Payroll

Offers local and global payroll capabilities

Provides both local and global payroll solution

Benefits Administration

Wide range of benefits plans with open enrollment software and labor law compliance

Top-tier benefit plans offer options to integrate with the software’s PEO or payroll

PEO

Automated payroll, benefits, and compliance with expert HR guidance

Automated payroll, time-tracking, benefits, and compliance

Pricing

Customizable plans to meet specific business needs

Three paid plans. Starting at $8/month/person plus $50/month base fee

What Is Rippling?

Rippling is a comprehensive platform designed to streamline HR operations by offering features such as recruiting, payroll management, PEO, performance management, and many more in a single platform. These features allow businesses to automate their HR tasks, increasing overall efficiency and productivity.

As your business grows, Rippling can be easily configured to match changing business needs. Various industries and sectors, including construction, retail, financial services, non-profits, restaurants, and healthcare can use the software to streamline their HR processes.

Unique Features

  • Headcount Planning: Simplifies workforce management by helping organizations assess staffing needs and distribute headcount across departments. Employers can combine plans into a single interface so that they can easily view available headcounts
  • Administrative Service Offering: Provides businesses with a simplified approach to HR compliance and administration, eliminating the need for a co-employment model. Users can automate local and state payroll tax registration
  • Employee Survey: Streamline the feedback collection process using the software’s employee survey tools. Choose from the range of survey templates to gather feedback instantly or customize your own using survey builder

Pros And Cons

Pros

  • Responsive customer support
  • Reports can be customized offering detailed analytics
  • Built-in expense management with advanced reporting capabilities

Cons

  • Reimbursement requests for errors often decline
  • The software’s wide range of features can be overwhelming

What Is Justworks?

Justworks is a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) designed to simplify HR, payroll, and compliance management for small and medium-sized businesses. It streamlines workforce management by offering an integrated system for payroll processing and benefits administration.

Additionally, it provides access to certified HR professionals for support with questions or concerns. The software can be used by various industries and sectors, including professional or financial services, construction, manufacturing, healthcare, and many more.

Unique Features

  • Compliance Management: Enable businesses to stay compliant with the ever-changing employment regulations. It includes tax filings and on-time payments, compliance across multiple states, and free training resources
  • Integrations: Allows businesses to integrate with a variety of third-party applications. It includes Vanta for compliance, Carta for equity management, Xero or QuickBooks for accounting, and many more
  • Paid Time Off (PTO): Enables teams to set their PTO requests and see the sick leave policies. Employers can view their team’s requests and approve them from a single platform

Pros And Cons

Pros

  • Offers flexible benefits plans
  • The software’s mobile app allows clock-ins from any location
  • Easy-to-use platform with minimal setup and 24/7 customer support

Cons

  • Lacks proper records for insurance coverage details
  • The software offers few advanced features as compared to competitors

User-Interface

Rippling’s modern and sleek design delivers an exceptional user experience. The intuitive interface ensures seamless navigation across integrated HR functions, including payroll, benefits, IT, and more. The platform excels with its emphasis on automation and customizable workflows, streamlining critical tasks such as payroll and employee management.

Justworks offers a user-friendly interface that prioritizes simplicity, making it easy for users to manage compliance and HR tasks. Its straightforward design ensures accessibility and ease of use, particularly for small businesses looking for an efficient HR solution.

Winner: It's a tie , as both platforms are user-friendly, making it easy for businesses to navigate them right from the start.

Time Tracking

Rippling’s time tracking feature makes it easy to manage employee time tracking and payroll all in one place. It streamlines the process by automatically syncing approved hours with your payroll system, minimizing errors common with manual methods. Businesses can customize workflows to suit their needs, whether it’s assigning job codes, applying overtime policies, or sending timecards to managers for approval before payroll is finalized.

Justworks' offers a time management feature that is designed to boost efficiency and ensure compliance for businesses with both remote and on-site teams. It seamlessly syncs approved shifts with its PEO and payroll systems, making it simple to manage employee hours and guarantee timely payments. The software’s easy-to-use interface assists with straightforward time logging.

Winner: Justworks wins this section due to its integrated time-tracking capabilities that connect with its PEO and payroll system to enable geofencing and overtime tracking.

Payroll

Rippling offers a comprehensive and customizable payroll solution while offering compliance automation, configurability, and accuracy. Its automation ensures taxes are automatically calculated and filed with the right local agency or federal state. The software automatically syncs with expense management and benefits administration, ensuring all the data is easily shared in real-time.

Justwork offers a simple payroll solution for small businesses with a user-friendly interface. It provides a variety of payment methods, such as multi-state payroll, custom pay schedules, external or contractor payments, and digital pay stubs. Payroll reporting enables businesses to stay on top of compliance management.

Winner: It's a tie as both platforms offer advanced payroll capabilities, enabling businesses to get started quickly and run payroll within minutes.

Benefits Administration

Rippling Rippling's benefits administration platform simplifies employee benefits management by handling everything from plan selection, and broker partnerships to payroll, and HRIS under one unified system. The platform automates benefits enrollment for new hires, showing them only the plans they’re eligible for.

It also ensures compliance with ACA (Affordable Care Act) and COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) regulations, helping businesses stay aligned with federal and state requirements effortlessly.

Justworks' benefits administration feature is designed specifically for small businesses, offering competitive benefits packages to attract and retain top talent. The platform streamlines managing health insurance plans and wellness perks, simplifying tasks like handling qualifying life events (QLEs), and managing new hire open enrollment. It also helps businesses stay compliant with regulations like HIPAA and ACA.

Winner: This section ends with a tie as both platforms offer robust benefits administration capabilities, enabling businesses to provide competitive benefits plans.

PEO

Rippling's PEO service simplifies payroll, benefits, HR, and compliance management. It enables companies to offer competitive employee benefits without the hassle of complex administration. The software automates all manual tasks, such as state payroll tax registration and COBRA administration. This service also helps businesses stay compliant with changing federal and local regulations.

Justworks' PEO service is tailored to help small businesses manage essential HR functions like payroll, compliance, and benefits administration. The software also helps teams navigate complex federal, state, and local employment laws, offering resources to ensure compliance with tax regulations, workers’ compensation, and state unemployment insurance.

Winner: This section also ends with a tie , as both software offers advanced features to meet businesses' needs. Both handle crucial HR functions like compliance management, benefits, and payroll.

Final Verdict: Which Software Is Better?

HR departments need the proper tools to streamline their HR tasks, employee engagement, and compliance management. Platforms like Rippling and Justworks are designed to meet these needs, offering specialized tools for businesses of various sizes and demands.

Rippling is ideal for companies seeking a flexible, all-in-one solution for HR and IT management. It is a highly customizable platform, with global payroll capabilities that make it an excellent choice for businesses operating internationally. The platform stands out due to its advanced automation capabilities, which allow companies to switch between PEO and non-PEO features as needed.

On the other hand, Justworks excels in benefits administration, payroll management, and compliance support. It is well-suited for small to medium-sized businesses that prioritize ease of use and efficient benefits management.

The ideal software for your HR department depends on your business's specific needs. You can also check out other HR software options like Zenefits, BambooHR, or ADP to find the best fit for your organization.