Gusto vs. Rippling

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Gusto
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Gusto offers payroll, benefits and compliance capabilities. Gusto is scaled for small to mid-sized businesses, and emphasizes an easy to use interface.
$49
per month
Rippling
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Rippling’s platform for HR, IT, payroll, and spend management automates the entire employee lifecycle, ensures compliance, supports device management, and provides real-time financial visibility from a central dashboard.
$8
per month per user
Pricing
GustoRippling
Editions & Modules
Simple: A streamlined set of automatic payroll features and benefits integrations
$49/month + $6/mo per person
per month
Plus: Comprehensive payroll, benefits, and HR tools for employers building a great place to work
$80/month + $12/mo per person
per month
Premium: Scalable payroll and benefits, expert HR, and dedicated support for the complex needs of growing teams
$180/month + $22/mo per person
per month
Recommended
$8.00
starting price per user, per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
GustoRippling
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsGusto offers three pricing plans for payroll, benefits, and HR.For additional pricing details visit the Rippling pricing page.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
GustoRippling
Considered Both Products
Gusto
Chose Gusto
I think gusto is better than Rippling. Rippling can be very difficult to use and there needs to be a lot of controls in place to make it work. Gusto is much easier for the employee to use and since it is a more established company there is not all the uncertainty of working …
Chose Gusto
In my opinion, ADP is a nightmare by comparison. Awful to onboard, awful to use - even logging in can be a total nightmare. One time I had to call some hotline just to be able to login because it kept going in loops and wouldn't let me in my account. The error was on their …
Chose Gusto
Gusto is better than Square, but more expensive. Worse than Rippling, which is a very advanced offering with a ton of features and customization, but it is more expensive More features than Quickbooks payroll as well and slightly cheaper
Chose Gusto
Gusto is the easiest to use out of all the payroll programs that I have tried out at various companies. Manually entering time is less complicated and requires less time on gusto than on the others.
Chose Gusto
cost effective, one stop shop, easy to use
Rippling
Chose Rippling
I like Rippling better than Gusto because it feels more professional. Rippling has a premium UI and makes the process more efficient.
Chose Rippling
At a previous company, we used Gusto, and Rippling stacks up just as well if not better.
Chose Rippling
Gusto was severely lacking in terms of FSA/HSA management.
Chose Rippling
Gusto seems to not be as scalable or a suitable option for larger companies. When we used Gusto we had occasional issues that caused a delay.

Once we transitioned to Rippling I was considered there would be onboarding issues, but everything went over smoothly and there was no …
Chose Rippling
Rippling is much more useful for me to navigate my company since it's almost 10-20x the size of my previous organization. For instance, I could identify who was who in my company, and how long they have been working in NYLAG. I had a better sense of how to utilize my benefits. …
Chose Rippling
Simply put, Gusto was a great tool when we were a smaller company. Rippling fits our needs as a growing company with the variety of tools available to us.
Chose Rippling
With Gusto, payroll was consistently late, which was frustrating. Rippling, on the other hand, has been rock-solid when it comes to ensuring paychecks are always on time.

Ontop was also good, but we had to manually transfer our pay to our bank accounts, which added an extra …
Chose Rippling
Rippling is much more comprehensive than Gusto. With Gusto, we had to use several different HR apps to have the complete experience that Rippling offers. In fact, we could probably get rid of a few apps and software that we still use, and switch entirely over to Rippling.
Chose Rippling
I was not involved in the process of choosing our HR software. However, I am glad we switched to Rippling from Gusto because it's easy to use, and from an employee self-service perspective, it makes accessing my benefits, pay schedule, tax documents, and other HR needs easier …
Chose Rippling
Light years better from a usability standpoint. Easier to scale with than Gusto, which really starts to fall apart at about 100 employees. And finally, the ability to integrate with a majority of the systems we're already using today and to provision (and deprovision) those in …
Chose Rippling
Rippling provides a higher level of customization and flexibility compared to Gusto. Including workflows, and reporting. Rippling provides a robust self-service portal where employees can manage their own benefits, time off, and other HR-related tasks that I haven't found as …
Chose Rippling
Rippling beats Gusto on a few things. Rippling is more suited for growing and scaling a remote team in different states from a pricing perspective. Rippling does customer support significantly better than Gusto and is staffed with agents with technical backgrounds who can help …
Chose Rippling
Honest they are all better than Rippling in their respective areas, Deel.com international payments / contractor management, and tax filings, Bamboo much better for hiring, and data integrity. Gusto overall easier platform to set up and maintain. Rippling does the best job at …
Chose Rippling
Rippling is the perfect balance between a PEO and a standalone payroll system. They have all the functions, features and support that a company needs, but allows the user (company) the flexibility to utilize the system with control. Other systems were missing this feature, …
Chose Rippling
Significant more features and a much better mobile application. Rippling's mobile application is a serious win! Our employees love the ability of submitting human resources related tasks through their phone at any time. In addition, Rippling has a significant larger pool of …
Chose Rippling
Rippling was the only vendor that allowed us to consolidate all our payroll operations. Had all of the requirements we needed, from HRIS to payroll, document management, reporting automations, etc. and far better functionality and easy of use than the other platforms we tested.
Chose Rippling
In my opinion, superior reporting and easier access to manage HR & Benefits. Not too many bells and whistles, the user-friendly platform and data set pulls are great for myself and my clients.
Chose Rippling
Better benefits overall and lower price to us. The key facotr for us to make this decision was twofold. First, what is the total cost to the company. In this aspect Rippling placed first. Second, was the benefits and options provided to employees, in which Rippling also placed …
Chose Rippling
RIppling feels flexible, innovative and enterprise like while being a very powerful under the hood.
Chose Rippling
We liked the simplicity of Rippling as well as the deep integrations.
Chose Rippling
I believe our team availed Rippling because it offered many services so the value for money is on point! We also didn't face any issues with our pays so far, which makes us, the user, happy because we receive our pays in a timely manner!
Chose Rippling
Rippling has one of the best UI, customer service was incredible, lot more offerings for the value of money we are paying to them. We also noted that other service providers HRIS system was not as great as Rippling where it can connect with ERP (without syncing errors) and …
Features
GustoRippling
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
9.1
514 Ratings
10% above category average
Rippling
9.2
871 Ratings
14% above category average
Pay calculation9.5493 Ratings9.2774 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors8.58 Ratings00 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.8358 Ratings8.9772 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.4497 Ratings9.5765 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management9.2383 Ratings9.3561 Ratings
Reimbursement management9.5127 Ratings9.3480 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings9.2511 Ratings
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.2
826 Ratings
16% above category average
Employee demographic data00 Ratings9.2573 Ratings
Employment history00 Ratings9.0589 Ratings
Job profiles and administration00 Ratings9.3683 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.00 Ratings9.3593 Ratings
Organizational charting00 Ratings9.3707 Ratings
Organization and location management00 Ratings9.2617 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)00 Ratings9.3479 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.2
769 Ratings
14% above category average
Approval workflow00 Ratings9.2742 Ratings
Balance details00 Ratings9.3693 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment00 Ratings9.1499 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.4
916 Ratings
15% above category average
View and generate pay and benefit information00 Ratings9.4869 Ratings
Update personal information00 Ratings9.3905 Ratings
View company policy documentation00 Ratings9.6740 Ratings
Employee recognition00 Ratings9.1478 Ratings
View job history00 Ratings9.3632 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.3
368 Ratings
14% above category average
Tracking of all physical assets00 Ratings9.3368 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.1
435 Ratings
19% above category average
Report builder00 Ratings9.1421 Ratings
Pre-built reports00 Ratings9.2400 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data00 Ratings9.1352 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.4
637 Ratings
17% above category average
New hire portal00 Ratings9.5621 Ratings
Manager tracking tools00 Ratings9.3466 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.2
325 Ratings
15% above category average
Corporate goal setting00 Ratings9.2272 Ratings
Individual goal setting00 Ratings9.2294 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility00 Ratings9.3273 Ratings
Performance tracking00 Ratings9.3290 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.4
377 Ratings
18% above category average
Performance plans00 Ratings9.3328 Ratings
Performance improvement plans00 Ratings9.2310 Ratings
Review status tracking00 Ratings9.3330 Ratings
Review reminders00 Ratings9.5355 Ratings
Multiple review frequency00 Ratings9.5298 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.1
280 Ratings
15% above category average
Create succession plans/pools00 Ratings9.2227 Ratings
Candidate ranking00 Ratings9.3240 Ratings
Candidate search00 Ratings9.1247 Ratings
Candidate development00 Ratings9.1235 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
Gusto
-
Ratings
Rippling
9.4
318 Ratings
19% above category average
Job Requisition Management00 Ratings9.2250 Ratings
Company Website Posting00 Ratings9.3240 Ratings
Publish to Social Media00 Ratings9.5212 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting00 Ratings9.5218 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention00 Ratings9.5220 Ratings
Applicant Tracking00 Ratings9.4233 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts00 Ratings9.4292 Ratings
Best Alternatives
GustoRippling
Small Businesses
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.1 out of 10
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
GustoRippling
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(538 ratings)
9.2
(964 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(12 ratings)
9.1
(15 ratings)
Usability
9.5
(362 ratings)
9.3
(961 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
1.2
(25 ratings)
9.3
(771 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.2
(1 ratings)
8.5
(4 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
GustoRippling
Likelihood to Recommend
Gusto
Gusto is a great fit for small teams and startups that want a simple, reliable way to run payroll, manage tax filings, and give CPAs access without constant micromanagement. It’s especially useful for founders who need something that “just works.” The human support has been excellent—especially when forwarding confusing IRS mail.
That said, it’s a bit less intuitive when it comes to benefits and compliance for fully remote companies. For example, labor law poster distribution isn’t streamlined for digital teams, and setting up benefits felt more complex than it needed to be. Still, I’d recommend Gusto to any startup looking to get payroll right from day one.
Read full review
Rippling
Rippling has been fantastic for me as I work for two entities. I can easily alternate between the two for time-tracking purposes on Rippling, whereas I used to do it manually by hand. This has made submitting my hour totals for payroll so much easier. Rippling is probably less useful for those who are salary and don't need to track their hours as meticulously as I do
Read full review
Pros
Gusto
  • Gusto really kills it on the simplicity. The app and website are very clear and straightforward.
  • Gusto also does a great job at being easy to navigate, visually pleasing, and logically posed.
  • Gusto communicates very clearly and provides just the right amount of communication.
  • Gusto makes the onboarding process very easy. I recently started at a new company and the process of filling out the necessary documents, filling out forms, and getting my benefit information input was soooooo easy!
Read full review
Rippling
  • I did not expect Live Chat Support and Email Support when we moved to Rippling. Their Support team is quick and very knowledgeable. I have had multiple instances where we have gone back and forth on a situation to come to the correct conclusion, never feeling they were trying to just close the case unsolved.
  • Being able to manage employees from application to separation is huge. Having a built in ATS that we can hire candidates from directly, and immediately have their payroll, benefits and employee profile setup has saved me countless hours for each hire.
  • Rippling allows us to manage retirement plans across the US, Canada and UK with automation and file feeds. Before Rippling I manually managed these in multiple portals, now Rippling does it for me automatically.
Read full review
Cons
Gusto
  • Adding in previous time manually could be more accessible.
  • Notifications for when employees manually change hours.
  • We should allow 1099 users to use the mobile app instead of restricting them to the website, especially since they can just log into the full website on their mobile device.
Read full review
Rippling
  • Could clarify what is being asked when creating expense reports.
  • It could make 2FA more intuitive on mobile, such as allowing iPhone users to use Face ID as an alternative if the device is locked.
  • Overall avoid using too much jargon when asking questions.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Gusto
Unless they break it, I'm never leaving. It's just too easy. Gusto is also really affordable, and for what I pay, it's worth having the historical record within the system. I like that I can go back and pull up W2's for year's past. This sort of easy access reporting, has been helpful especially when getting reports for PPP loans.
Read full review
Rippling
Rippling continues to innovate and amaze me with their new innovations and features. Product feedback is taken seriously so I always give it whenever I can and end up seeing results. Rippling is the new wave of HRIS that cannot compare against others in the industry just due to the fact they are super user friendly!
Read full review
Usability
Gusto
The overall platform and its speed of response are amazing. I would recommend this to any other business owner for ease of use and reliability. Email reminders are great if I’m super busy and have forgotten a few tasks. The price point compared to local payroll service is hands down a huge win.
Read full review
Rippling
Rippling is a great product that has streamlined our payroll and leave management processes. The interface is intuitive, and it’s very convenient to manage everything in one place. While the initial setup was a bit lengthy and the mobile experience can sometimes be a little slow, overall, it’s been a reliable and effective solution for our needs.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Gusto
No answers on this topic
Rippling
I like that the availability in using Rippling at any given time is useful to me. Getting on the site freely when I need gives me security of knowing that I can be in control of viewing health insurance and hours information. I have yet to get any errors in using the Rippling app.
Read full review
Performance
Gusto
No answers on this topic
Rippling
Rippling's performance has been great, no errors or glitches yet so far. I am confident that Going from one page to the next and all its complexity usage does not lag or times out, it works effectively and efficiently. While using Rippling and other apps it does not tend to slow it down, works great. No complaints.
Read full review
Support Rating
Gusto
Gusto's customer service has really deteriorated lately and they seem to have really changed their focus. It used to be when you called you were routed to an individual who knew about payroll, benefits, reporting, etc. but now you get someone who seems to have not received the correct training. My last call about a dismissal payroll took me over an hour of my time and the person still could not help me and finally transferred me to someone else.
Read full review
Rippling
When I did have to reach out to Rippling for assistance I was able to get quick help and my problem resolved in a time efficient manner with out any type of hick up. The customer support team is professional, kind and always available. This makes Rippling more welcoming to use on a daily basis.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Gusto
No answers on this topic
Rippling
The trainer went slow and and answered our questions.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Gusto
Reach out to support immediately if you are having trouble setting up Gusto. Rather than being confused and trying to figure it out yourself, it's much better to talk to someone who knows what they are doing. Save yourself time and frustration and reach out to support
Read full review
Rippling
It's really easy to implement in comparison to other tools or applications. Different key points are easily configured and implemented as per need, having different configurations in systems. Implementation is something which binds the different parameters of an organization in a single row. Implementation of rippling is much easier, quicker, and error free than any other software. I recommend it strongly!
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Gusto
It's been a while since I used QuickBooks for payroll, but it doesn't even come close to it. Gusto is infinitely easier, allowing for employee time tracking, handling calculations and payments of payroll and payroll taxes, managing regulatory compliance in the background, and more. I had a lot of moments using QuickBooks Payroll where I thought, "Am I even doing this right?" — it felt like you had to have additional knowledge of HR regulations in your state to do everything correctly. Gusto has it ALL handled so you can focus your time on higher-impact tasks in your business.
Read full review
Rippling
Rippling has a better user experience, is more easy to use and more comprehensive. This is more related to feelings but with Employee Navigator I felf my data was not being protected because the platform looked very old and outdated. With Rippling the feeling is the opposite because I think is more up to date. Also, the gifs they send when is pay day are super nice and fun lol
Read full review
Scalability
Gusto
No answers on this topic
Rippling
I can go on here and see all my hours and pto plus health benefits. I like to have the work handbook handy to refer to legal things. How to work my role within it's limits. Being able to put in my hours and view when they are approved is a huge benefit for me.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Gusto
  • For me, it is hard to quantify payroll software as having an ROI. It does save quite a bit of time per pay period, so perhaps we could assign a theoretical number to an employee taking that time. I'd say, at the least, it saves 30-60 minutes a pay period compared to a more difficult-to-use payroll software.
Read full review
Rippling
  • Routine things like PTO requests and document uploads now take a few clicks instead of hours of email back‑and‑forth. I’d estimate I spend at least half the time on those tasks compared to before, which frees me up to actually help employees.
  • What used to drag on for days now gets done in a morning - I've just asked them this now. New hires can log in, set up their tools, and start training almost immediately, so they’re productive much sooner.
  • Payroll and benefits errors used to pop up regularly, but now I almost never have to fix things or follow up on missing info. That means less stress for me and for everyone involved.
  • Having everything in one platform cuts out the “where did you send that?” and “who approves this?” questions. It feels like we’ve reduced our back‑and‑forth by at least a third.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Gusto Screenshots

Screenshot of Gusto's automated payrollScreenshot of the time-off tracking interfaceScreenshot of the source of truth for HR data

Rippling Screenshots

Screenshot of the Rippling Dashboard: Employees' home for their payroll, benefits, documents, devices, expenses, and apps.Screenshot of Rippling Payroll: Runs payroll in 90 seconds. Pays employees and contractors around the world. Automatic tax filing.Screenshot of Rippling Benefits Administration: For the management of employees' Medical, Dental, Vision, 401K, FSA, HSA, and commuter benefits.Screenshot of Rippling Single Sign-On: Employees can access all of their SaaS apps in one click from their Rippling dashboard.Screenshot of Rippling’s Time & Attendance platform. This integrates with the rest of the product suite so that when employees clock in, their approved hours automatically synced with payroll and accounting systems.Screenshot of Rippling Mobile Device Management: To manage employees' computers and devices 100% remotely.